Arman couldn’t wait to take the letter from Brian and began to read the contents: “Dad: I don’t know if you will be able to see this letter.
Everything outside is in complete chaos; there is constant gunfire and explosions.
All the news reports say that Infected patients are rioting in the city, and it all makes me feel very uneasy.” “But fortunately, I am not living in the city center.
I have decided to take Angelina to Dallas to find her father.
If you see this letter, please come to Dallas to find me as soon as possible.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Your daughter, June.” Seeing the contents and learning his daughter’s whereabouts, Arman let out a long breath, and his whole body felt much lighter.
He tucked the letter into his backpack and said to the two children in front of him: “Austin has fallen.
When I came, the Infected near the bridge were all moving this way.
It won’t be safe here for long.
I plan to go to Dallas.
Are you coming?” Regarding this invitation, Brian fell silent for a moment.
He glanced at Sarah, who was also silent on the bed, hesitated for a while, and then shook his head: “I’m sorry.
Sarah’s father and uncle haven’t been found yet.
We need to find them!” “Sigh!” This answer was clearly within Arman’s expectations.
He just sighed softly without saying anything more.
He took a pen from his pocket, wrote an address on a piece of paper, and stuffed it into Brian’s hand.
“This is where I am going.
If…
I mean if you don’t find them, you can come here to find me.” After speaking, Arman did not linger.
He picked up the shotgun beside him, rubbed Sarah’s little head again, said goodbye, and then turned to go downstairs and leave.
Thump, thump, thump…
Listening to the fading footsteps downstairs, Brian looked blankly at the note in his hand and whispered: “Thank you.” After Arman left, Brian had his own plans for the day.
Sarah’s leg was still in a recovery period and she couldn’t move vigorously, which meant he couldn’t leave this area too far.
He took two cans out of his backpack and ate them for breakfast.
Brian thought for a while and came up with a solution: since he couldn’t go out to find people, he could let Joel and the others come to find him!
There was a dense forest near the house.
He picked up a lot of dry firewood from it, piled it together, and used a lighter to set it all on fire.
The raging fire burned the dry wood, and thick black smoke drifted into the sky, appearing particularly conspicuous from a distance.
Looking at his masterpiece, Brian nodded with satisfaction.
After doing all this, he didn’t stay idle and began to search the house for all available supplies.
He put all the usable supplies on the living room table, carried Sarah down from upstairs, gave her paper and a pen, and let her count the items and quantities.
Then Brian walked to the utility room outside.
When he found the kerosene lamp last night, he saw a toolbox and stacked wooden boards in there.
He remembered Arman saying that the group of Infected from the bridge were moving in this direction, and he didn’t know when Joel and Tommy would be able to come over, so it was best to board up the windows and reinforce the house.
…
On the other side, the highway bridge.
The fighting last night was extremely brutal.
Hundreds of corpses were piled up on the bridge deck, and blood had stained the entire bridge, emitting a heavy, bloody stench.
The quarantine checkpoint was empty.
Clearly, the Military Soldiers could not withstand the tide-like offensive of the Infected and chose to evacuate.
On a high slope not far away, Joel looked through binoculars and saw hundreds of Infected continuing to move forward along the bridge.
It seemed they were heading toward the next city.
But he was in no mood to pay attention to these things at the moment.
He kept moving the binoculars to scan the area near the bridge, feeling incredibly anxious and exhausted.
After he and Tommy got rid of those Infected last night, they headed toward the bridge.
But as soon as they got close, there was intense gunfire and explosions.
Looking from afar, they saw large groups of Infected attacking the checkpoint.
Although he knew it was dangerous, he and Tommy discussed it and felt that if Brian saw the situation here, he certainly wouldn’t choose to continue approaching, but would find a place nearby to hide.
So, they used the checkpoint as the center and searched the area around the bridge for traces of the two children.
But the explosions from the bridge attracted the attention of all the surrounding Infected.
Several times they were almost discovered by the Infected, and even almost hit by bullets fired by the Soldiers.
Helpless, they had to retreat temporarily.
It was not until the Military inside the checkpoint evacuated that they chose to come out and search.
They had been searching for almost an entire night.
“Damn it, where on earth did you go!” Just at this moment, Joel heard footsteps behind him.
He turned his head and found it was his younger brother, Tommy, who was also carrying an unconscious man on his shoulder.
“Weren’t you searching over there?
Who is this?” “Wait a second.” Tommy first spoke to stop his brother from continuing, then put the man on his shoulder onto the ground, took a piece of rope from his waist to tie the man’s hands behind his back, and then took out an ID card from his pocket and said to Joel: “I noticed him by chance while I was searching over there.
He snuck out of the checkpoint.
He is a clerk and was likely one of the personnel who didn’t manage to evacuate last night.
We’ve been searching for so long and haven’t found Brian and the others; perhaps they were found by these bastards.” Hearing his brother say this, Joel also felt it was highly likely.
He grabbed a water bottle from the side and took a big gulp, then with a “pfft” sound, sprayed it onto the man’s face.
Sprayed with water, the man instantly woke up.
He opened his eyes wide, saw two strangers standing in front of him, and felt his hands were tied, saying in terror: “Wh…
who are you?
Why did you catch me?” Seeing the man was awake, Joel took out his pistol, squatted down, looked directly into the man’s eyes, and said: “Last night, did you capture two children, a boy and a girl, both 13 years old?
The girl had an injured right leg.
You had better answer me honestly, otherwise the bullets in my pistol will make a hole in your body.” Looking at the muzzle aimed at his head, the man’s eyes were full of fear.
He didn’t hear what the other party said clearly at all, trembling all over, and begged for mercy: “I…
I don’t know anything.
I’m just a record clerk, I beg you…
Ah!” But before he could finish his sentence, Joel, who had no intention of listening to his nonsense, stood up directly and raised his foot to stomp hard on the other’s knee.
Ever since that Soldier fired at them last night, he had felt extreme disgust for these damn guys.
If it weren’t for these people, he wouldn’t have been separated from his daughter, so he naturally showed no mercy when attacking the man.
He squatted down again, looking at the man’s flushed face due to pain, and Joel took out a photo of himself and his daughter Sarah with a cold expression, placed it in front of the man and said: “I’ll ask one last time, have you seen this girl?” The man was completely honest now.
While enduring the pain from his knee, he said painfully: “I…
I really haven’t seen her.
I was recording data all night last night.
I really don’t know.” But immediately after, as if the man remembered some key information, he hurriedly added: “N…
no, but before the Infected attacked us last night, we did rescue dozens of surviving citizens near the bridge.
We have already followed regulations and escorted them to the Houston quarantine camp.
The people you are looking for should be in there.” “Nonsense!” The man’s answer hit Joel’s sore spot.
He grabbed his collar and roared: “If you were really rescuing Survivors, then why did you shoot at us last night?” “Wh…
what?” Joel’s questioning clearly made the man feel incredibly surprised.
He said with an incredulous look: “Impossible.
The mission we received was clearly to search and rescue uninfected Survivors with all our might and escort them to the quarantine camp for centralized management.” Hearing this, both Joel and Tommy were stunned.
At first, they thought the Military’s order was to eliminate all Survivors and Infected, but now it seemed things were not quite what they imagined.
They looked at each other, a terrible guess suddenly welling up in their hearts.
They seemed to have accidentally stumbled upon some terrible conspiracy.
The man clearly realized the key to this as well.
He kept struggling and twisting his body, saying to Joel: “You must let me go.
This matter must be reported immediately, otherwise more innocent people will lose their lives!” “Shut up.” Joel only felt his brain was in chaos.
He stood up and pulled Tommy aside to ask for his thoughts.
“What should we do with him now?” “Let him go!” Tommy’s reply was extremely straightforward.
He could tell that what the man said should be true.
“Joel, this matter has nothing to do with me.
My primary goal now is to find Sarah.
As for this matter, let this person worry about it.” “Fine.” Regarding Tommy’s proposal, Joel lowered his head and pondered for a while, then nodded in agreement.
He turned around, walked over, threw a dagger in front of the man, and said: “I won’t kill you.
Find a way to leave yourself.” After speaking, he turned and moved toward the town with Tommy.
It was more than 200 kilometers from here to Houston, and they needed to find a car.
But just ten minutes after they turned and left, not far from where they had just been, a plume of black smoke drifted slowly from the forest.