The convoy stretched so far down the highway that Colonel Wei Guang from the Northern Provinces couldn’t see the middle or the end of it.

Armored military transports rolled steadily across the cracked asphalt while supply trucks, fuel carriers, communications vehicles, refrigerated food trailers, and reinforced RVs filled every lane behind them. Floodlights mounted along the sides of the heavier transports swept constantly across the road ahead, illuminating overturned civilian cars and dried blood stains left from traffic jams that had happened weeks ago.

The engines alone sounded like a moving city, and the fact that there was more than 600 support personnel alone meant that they weren’t fucking around.

Wei stood near the open side door of the lead armored transport with one hand braced against the frame while military chatter crackled steadily through the radio clipped to his vest.

Soldiers moved alongside the convoy in organized rotations, some riding on top of vehicles while others jogged between positions checking equipment, tire pressure, and fuel connections.

Everyone was absolutely exhausted, but nobody dared slow down anyway. This convoy mattered too much. The very hope for humanity was insulated in it.

"Colonel Wei."

Wei turned his head slightly as one of the communications officers climbed up beside him holding a tablet in both hands.

"Updated route projection," the officer said quickly. "If road conditions stay clear, we should reach the Rongdu downtown research district before nightfall tomorrow."

Wei grunted softly and took the tablet long enough to glance over the highlighted route. The original highway path remained marked in green while three alternate emergency routes spread outward through nearby suburbs and secondary roads.

"Zombie density?" he asked, his deep voice completely flat.

"Higher near urban centers. Lower in residential zones." The officer hesitated slightly. "But the animal variants appear to be increasing."

Wei handed the tablet back without comment. Of course they were. Every report from the last two weeks had gotten worse. More mutations. More aggressive behavior. Larger groups moving together instead of wandering randomly.

The scientists riding comfortably behind him kept arguing over terminology every time new reports came in, but the soldiers actually fighting outside knew the truth already.

The zombies were changing faster than humans could keep up.

Wei looked back toward the center section of the convoy where several reinforced RVs traveled between armored transports under heavy military escort. Thick blackout curtains covered the windows while portable satellite dishes and communication equipment had been mounted onto the roofs above them.

The scientists barely came outside anymore. Everyone here knew that they were too important to take the chance of being injured in any way, shape, or form.

Thirty of the smartest people left in the country sat somewhere inside those vehicles arguing over infection rates, mutation theories, tissue degradation, behavioral adaptation, and enough scientific language to make Wei’s head hurt if he listened too long.

According to his higherups, humanity was only two months away from a solution.

Wei personally thought that sounded optimistic as hell. As far as he could figure, the scientists didn’t have a clue about where to even start looking for a cure.

Still, he wasn’t stupid enough to say it out loud.

The government had thrown everything into this operation. The best scientists, the best military personnel, the best communications specialists, the best logistics officers.

Even the cooks traveling with the convoy had supposedly come from military leadership divisions because nobody wanted the scientists distracted by things like food shortages or poor living conditions.

After all, Humanity needed these people functioning at their highest level.

That was what the President himself had said before the convoy departed.

Protect the scientists at all costs, even above the soldiers escorting them.

Wei’s fingers tightened slightly against the metal doorframe. The order still sat badly with him.

Not because he disagreed with protecting them so much as because every soldier in the convoy understood exactly what it meant.

If things went bad enough, they were expendable.

A burst of static crackled loudly through the convoy radio.

Then shouting.

Wei straightened immediately his head snapping forward. "Front line contact!" someone barked over comms. "Large-scale blockage ahead!"

The convoy slowed almost instantly as their brakes hissed at the demand of stopping vehicles this large.

Engines roared louder as vehicles adjusted formation automatically while armed soldiers moved into defensive positions around the outer lanes.

Wei jumped down from the transport before it fully stopped. "Report!"

One of the forward scouts sprinted toward him, breathing hard. "Highway blocked about eight hundred meters ahead," the soldier reported quickly. "Civilian pileup across all lanes. Zombie density extreme."

"How extreme?"

The scout hesitated just as distant gunfire started.

Wei didn’t need an answer anymore.

Automatic rifle fire echoed sharply across the highway while several explosions thundered from somewhere near the front of the convoy. Soldiers immediately began moving faster around him as officers shouted orders across the roadway.

Then came the screaming.

Not human.

Animal.

Wei’s expression darkened immediately. "Animal variants?" he snapped.

"Yes sir!"

Another explosion shook the road hard enough that several parked vehicles rattled violently.

One of the scientists suddenly appeared at the top of a nearby RV staircase wearing a wrinkled lab coat and holding a tablet.

"What’s happening?" the older man demanded irritably. "Why have we stopped? We need to get to the labs as fast as possible!"

Wei stared at him for half a second just as another scream ripped across the highway, followed by the unmistakable sound of something heavy slamming into metal hard enough to dent it inward.

The scientist flinched.

Wei did not. "Stay inside the vehicles," he ordered flatly before turning away.

The convoy had already begun deploying into defensive formation by the time Wei reached the forward blockade.

The highway ahead had completely collapsed into chaos.

Abandoned civilian vehicles clogged every lane as hundreds of zombies pushed between them in tightly packed waves, bodies stumbling over twisted metal and shattered glass while military gunfire tore through the front ranks.

Human zombies.

Dog variants.

Birds circling overhead.

And further back—

Wei’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Something huge moved between the overturned transport trucks near the center of the horde.

A fucking tiger. Or at least what used to be one.

Its fur hung in bloody strips from exposed muscle while one side of its face had been torn away completely, revealing yellowed teeth beneath rotting flesh. The thing slammed directly into an armored vehicle hard enough to rock it sideways before several awakened soldiers unleashed simultaneous attacks against it.

Flames exploded across the highway as metal spikes burst upward from cracked asphalt.

Gunfire roared continuously as his men used everything at their disposal. And still the zombies kept coming.

Wei looked once toward the endless convoy trapped behind them.

Then back toward the horde swallowing the highway ahead.

This was going to get ugly fast.