Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

by Mel Dawn

Wei survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding in tiny crawl spaces that an adult could never reach. Or a zombie for that matter. 

Currently her tiny figure hid under some shrubbery, hiding from the swooshing, squishing noises that were coming her way. She pushed back against the bushes, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stopped when the fence blocked her from moving further. 

She jumped a bit when the fence creaked. But the zombies stomping by didn’t take notice, as they were making their own sounds. The zombies comprised a large  population in Shanghai, China. There had been a gazillion humans, so it stood to reason that there were now a gazillion zombies.

Wei hadn’t seen a human being for over three months now. She wasn’t concerned that there was such a huge crowd of zombies, as she was used to staying motionless for hours at a time. She had a few supplies in her backpack, in case she got hungry or thirsty. Many times she would just fall into a slumber and wait for the zombies to pass. 

One time two zombies did see her hidden, and headed her way. They tried to reach into her space, but she was too far back for them to get in. Eventually, they heard other sounds behind them, and soon turned to investigate.

She lived off mostly packaged food from the local markets and braved the overwhelming stench of animal carcasses that hung from the rafters. She would toss aside soy flour, not knowing what to do with it. Fortunately, there were plenty of nuts and dried fruit to be found. She missed the taste of rice but setting up a fire to cook it would draw the zombies to her. She hadn’t had a hot cooked meal for months now.

Wei decided to leave her crawl space after the zombies had passed. She headed down an alley as she saw the sign of another fruit and vegetable market, that may have something different that she could eat. She was tired of eating the same old things. She noticed as she stepped foot in the market that she heard groaning noises coming from behind her. 

She was going to duck further into the market, when she realized that the zombie sounds were actually coming from inside. The zombies soon caught up with her. She had nowhere to run. She looked around while looking for a weapon but all she saw were rotting bananas and bags of rice. 

Just as the zombies were circling her, she felt something touch her head. She brushed it away, thinking it was cobwebs from the ceiling. A red envelope slowly floated into her arms. She grabbed it and looked at it, taking a break from the zombies that were almost within her reach. 

“What the hell,” she said in Mandarin and tore open the envelope. Inside was a cruise ticket. 

Next... Chapter Four – Ritta.