“Sarah, I’m going to put you down in a moment.
Go over there, find Brian, and hide with him!” Joel was deeply shaken by the sight of the Soldier executing Survivors; he dared not leave the fate of his group in the Soldier’s hands, especially with his daughter among them.
“Okay.” Sarah, traumatized by the journey, looked listless, but she knew that continuing to let her father carry her would only slow him down, so she agreed obediently.
“Damn…
did anyone ask for my opinion!” Watching the interaction between father and daughter, Brian couldn’t help but grumble internally, yet when Joel set Sarah down, he still reached out to pull the girl over.
During this, the girl’s injured leg was inevitably bumped; no matter how much it hurt, she bit her lip and didn’t make a sound.
“Take the Firearms, I’ll take Sarah and hide in those bushes over there!” Letting Sarah lean against the rock, Brian hesitated for a moment, walked behind Joel, used his back as cover, and tucked his pistol into Joel’s pocket.
“Alright, I understand.” Feeling the pistol in his pocket, Joel felt much more at ease.
Then, he heard Brian say: “My watch has a timer function, it’s set for three minutes from now.
I’ll throw it into the bushes to the right of that Soldier.
If he…
it should be able to distract him.” Hearing this, Joel fell silent.
He hadn’t expected The Boy to think of so much; it seemed he had underestimated The Boy.
“Then…” He turned his head, intending to ask Brian why he was doing this, but saw that behind the rock, both children had already disappeared.
On the slope, the Soldier was feeling conflicted about the people in front of him.
His mission was to clear out dangerous targets in the vicinity, and he had no other orders.
Helpless, he opened his radio and asked for instructions: “Found a few civilians on the perimeter, requesting instructions.” Soon, the radio connected, and a male voice came through, issuing an incredibly cold order: “Execute on sight, no matter who they are.” Hearing the order, the Soldier found it unbelievable.
He didn’t know why such an order was given; it clearly violated morality and law.
“But sir, there are children here…” “Execute the order!” “But…” “Enough, Soldier, you just need to obey!” The Soldier had wanted to argue further, but hearing the increasingly cold voice on the other end, he didn’t dare to continue, and could only say: “Understood, sir!” “I’m sorry.” Silently apologizing in his heart, the Soldier raised his rifle, wanting to put an end to the men and children opposite him.
But just as he shouldered the assault rifle, he realized the girl held by one of the men was gone, and the other boy standing aside was also missing.
His attention had been mostly on the radio and Tommy, who had Firearms in front of him, so he really hadn’t noticed what happened on the other side.
“Damn it, where did those two kids go!” Sensing something was wrong, the Soldier immediately demanded an answer from the two men.
But they had heard everything he said on the radio.
Although they didn’t know what order had been given, looking at the Soldier’s reaction, they could guess, so naturally, they wouldn’t say anything.
Joel silently calculated the time, pointed to the empty rock behind him, and said carefully: “They were tired, so I let them rest against it…” “Make them come out.” “But sir, my daughter’s leg…” “I said, make them come out!” Seeing the Soldier raise his rifle, Joel’s heart grew increasingly anxious, and cold sweat slowly dripped down his forehead.
“Beep—!” Just then, a rustle came from the bushes on the right.
The Soldier was startled, and instinctively fired a burst of bullets in that direction.
But after firing a few shots, he realized something was wrong.
He quickly turned his gun, ignoring the children, and prepared to shoot the two men.
But Joel wouldn’t just sit and wait for death.
He was waiting for this opportunity.
The will to survive made his movements incredibly swift; he pulled out the pistol and pulled the trigger at the Soldier’s head.
Unfortunately, because he was too hurried, the bullet didn’t hit the target’s head, but instead hit his chest.
“Ah!” With his chest hit, the Soldier fell backward.
The intense pain made him subconsciously press the trigger, and the muzzle flare sprayed wildly into the air, with bursts of gunfire echoing continuously.
Tommy, who was standing aside, after the Soldier was distracted by the watch, lunged forward to grab the pistol on the ground.
Before the Soldier hit the ground, he accurately shot through his skull.
“Phew…” Seeing the crisis averted, both brothers couldn’t help but exhale.
But just then, behind them, dense roars and footsteps suddenly erupted.
They froze, turned around, and saw a swarm of Infected appearing behind them like a tidal wave.
“Damn it, run!” Seeing this situation, Tommy understood these Infected must have been attracted by the gunfire, so he grabbed Joel and prepared to run.
“Sarah is still there!” At such a critical moment, Joel remembered that Brian and Sarah hadn’t followed, and turned to look for them.
“We can’t go look for them now.
Sarah’s leg is injured; you can’t run fast carrying her.
We can only draw these monsters away so they can be safer.” Tommy grabbed the anxious Joel and explained his reasoning, preventing him from doing anything foolish.
“But…” Hearing Tommy’s suggestion, Joel said nothing more.
He knew this was the best method for now, so he shouted toward the bushes on the right: “Brian, we’re drawing these Infected away!
You take Sarah to the highway, we’ll meet on the bridge!” After speaking, Joel didn’t hesitate, turned, and ran with Tommy toward the downhill slope on the left.
The road there was rugged and difficult to traverse, which could greatly slow down the Infected.
In the dense bushes not far away, Brian covered the girl’s mouth so she wouldn’t make a sound.
Sarah also understood the current danger and simply closed her eyes, no longer watching everything happening outside.
Feeling the Infected passing by them, both of their hearts were pounding wildly.
If they made even the slightest sound at this time, their fate would be miserable.
A few minutes later, hearing the footsteps gradually disappear into the distance, the surroundings returned to silence.
Brian let out a long breath and released his hand from Sarah’s mouth.
“Quick, get on my back, we need to leave here immediately.” Although the Infected had been led away by Joel and Tommy, no one could guarantee that other Infected wouldn’t come here, so it was better to leave early.
“What about my dad and Uncle Tommy?” Although her own crisis was averted, her family had led away so many Infected to protect her, and Sarah was deeply worried.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.
Let’s get to the bridge first.” Brian crouched down to carry Sarah, whispering to comfort the girl, and started walking with some difficulty.
Although she only weighed about 40 kilograms, don’t forget that he was only 13 years old.
Straining to walk up the dirt slope, he picked up the assault rifle from the dead Soldier and carried it on his back.
Although he didn’t know how to use it yet, having it was better than not having it.
He also obtained a pistol and several magazines from the Soldier’s waist, along with the radio, which Brian unceremoniously took.
After looting, the two set their sights on the direction of the bridge and walked forward slowly.
This time, Brian learned to be smart; he didn’t walk on the flat path, but instead chose rugged, tree-dense areas.
Although this would consume his stamina too quickly, he dared not gamble on whether he would encounter other Soldiers on the way.
Sweat kept rolling down his cheeks, and sharp branches in the dense forest constantly scratched his arms.
Every time he walked a distance, he had to stop and rest for ten minutes to recover his strength.
During one of these rests, Brian checked Sarah’s leg injury.
Before, because he had to avoid Infected and guard against the Soldier’s sudden attack, he hadn’t had time to look at it properly.
But when he rolled up Sarah’s pant leg, he found that the injury wasn’t as severe as he had imagined.
The small patch soaked with blood was just due to a skin abrasion.
The real reason Sarah couldn’t walk was that her lower leg was dislocated, causing her pain.
“Forget it, let’s get to the bridge first.” Back on the road, without a watch, time seemed to become incredibly long.
After an unknown amount of time, after climbing over a dirt slope, they could clearly see the guardrail of the highway not far away.
“Damn, finally here.” Seeing the long march coming to an end, Brian couldn’t help but have tears in his eyes; he almost cried.
It was just too hard!
“I wonder how Dad and the others are doing…” Looking at the bridge getting closer, Sarah felt both happy and uneasy.
But just as they were about to reach the highway, a static sound suddenly came from the radio Brian had taken from the Soldier, followed by a voice: “Number Six checkpoint, attention.
A large number of Infected are moving toward the bridge.
If you cannot defend, evacuate immediately.
Over.” “…” Hearing the content from the radio, Brian’s face became distorted in an instant, and he held his head in his hands, howling at the sky: “This is total bullshit!”