“It is reported that a virus called ‘cordyceps’, abbreviated as ‘CBI’, is rapidly infecting and spreading across the globe.
The southern region has now completely fallen, and large numbers of Infected patients have also begun to appear in the east and west…” “The World Health Organization, in conjunction with elite Medical teams from various countries, is making every effort to overcome the ‘CBI’ pathogen, with hopes of producing a related vaccine by next year…” “The Government has urgently established the ‘Federal Disaster Relief Agency’, equipped with the newly developed ‘Infection Scanner’.
They will do their utmost to save all compatriots trapped in the Infected areas, while also isolating all personnel detected as Infected by the scanner…” “Large numbers of protesters have appeared on the streets of all cities, condemning the Government’s epidemic isolation policies.
They demand democracy and freedom…” Brian sat on the sofa, his left hand constantly switching channels on the radio, while the pen in his hand wrote rapidly on paper, recording the information he heard.
A full week had passed since the outbreak of the plague, and he and Sarah had also stayed here for a full week.
From beginning to end, the figures of Joel and Tommy never appeared.
After Sarah’s leg had healed, they searched every area near the bridge and even followed the path from where they had parted ways, but they did not see a single person.
Gradually, they learned to accept reality, realizing that the people they were looking for might never appear again.
“Barton, be careful.” “Hee hee, Sister Sarah, catch!” Hearing the playful sounds coming from outside, Brian put down the pen in his hand, closed the notebook, stood up, and walked to the doorway to look outside.
Although the signals they sent out did not bring back Joel and Tommy, they did attract two families of Survivors who were fleeing nearby.
Three figures were playing wantonly on the lawn outside the house, passing a soccer ball back and forth between their feet.
There was a campfire by the lake with an iron pot set over it, light smoke rising.
Two women were busy nearby, and Brian could smell the wafts of fish scent coming from the pot even from a distance.
On the perimeter of the house, a middle-aged White Man was using a knife to sharpen long pieces of wood into stakes, then driving the stakes into holes that had already been dug to form a fence.
Beside him, standing on the roof of the utility room, was The Black Man, who held a pistol and vigilantly scanned the surrounding situation, while the two chatted intermittently.
The White Man was named Kenneth, and the second day after the signal was released, he had brought his wife, Kathy, and his 10-year-old daughter, Angela, to this place.
The Black Man was named Tyler, and he and his wife, Yvette, had come here after being chased by Infected.
The black boy, Barton, who was playing on the lawn, was their son.
Although everyone gathered together for mutual support, as the number of people increased, a huge food burden followed.
Fortunately, their residence was close to the lake, allowing them to obtain food by fishing, and recently they had also teamed up to scavenge supplies in the town a few times, otherwise, they would be worrying about filling their stomachs now.
Watching Sarah playing with Barton and Angela, Brian smiled slightly.
It was fortunate that these two children were keeping her company; otherwise, Sarah might still be immersed in the pain of losing her loved ones.
Subsequently, he leaned against the door, starting to seriously consider his next destination.
Although everything here currently looked so peaceful and comfortable, since the people he wanted to find were no longer there, he had no reason to continue staying here.
Brian did not want to remain in this dangerous place forever.
Especially recently, the abnormalities in the bodies of the Infected made him feel a faint unease.
He discovered that on the heads of some Infected, very strange red and white lumpy objects were beginning to grow, though the quantity varied.
From the radio broadcast, he learned that this was something derived from the virus invading the human body and absorbing the nutrients within it—fungal spores.
The one Brian had seen with the most, half of its head had already been eroded by these fungal spores.
This mutation was very bizarre, and in his view, it might even produce some degree of “evolution,” which was one of the reasons he did not want to continue staying here.
Leaving here, he currently only had two places to choose from.
The first was to choose to go to Dallas to find Arman.
Brian still kept the note left by this old man, but he could not be sure if the other party could really take him in.
After all, Dallas could also be said to be a mess right now.
Even if Arman was willing to take them in, would his daughter and son-in-law be willing?
And the second path was to go to Washington to find his parents.
Although occupying their son’s body made Brian always afraid to face them, there was no doubt that this was indeed an excellent place to go.
The only thing that gave Brian a headache was that this distance was just too far.
He roughly estimated it, and it had to be a journey of nearly 2,000 kilometers.
“Sigh, forget it, let’s take it one step at a time.” “What are you thinking about?” Just as Brian was immersed in his own thoughts, he suddenly heard someone speaking beside him.
He looked up and saw that, unexpectedly, Sarah had walked to his side at some point and was looking at him with some concern.
“I’ve seen you dazing off by yourself for the past two days.
Is something the matter?” After a moment of silence, Brian walked to the steps at the doorway, then looked at Sarah and patted the spot next to him, signaling her to sit down and talk.
After the girl sat down, he looked around at the others, confirmed that no one could hear them speaking, and then said: “I plan to leave.” But who would have known that Sarah did not show excessive surprise.
She said with a calm face: “Okay, when are we leaving?” “You knew what I was going to say?” Hearing Sarah’s flat tone, Brian turned his head to look at the calmness on her face and asked with some surprise.
“Mm.” Sarah nodded.
She had actually long noticed that Brian’s mind was not entirely here.
She saw that he was paying attention to outside information every day and was intentionally or unintentionally storing some food that was easy to carry and preserve.
From that moment, she knew that sooner or later, he would leave here.
“I didn’t expect you to understand me so well.” Brian raised an eyebrow, leaned his body back against the porch pillar, gently held Sarah’s hand, and said: “Want to come together?” “Of course, wherever you go, I go!” …
At night, when everyone was sitting around the iron pot drinking fragrant fish soup, Brian stood up and announced that he and Sarah would be leaving.
“Why leave?
Isn’t it pretty good here?” Hearing Brian say he was going to leave here, Tyler seemed very puzzled.
He was very satisfied with the current living environment.
He knew that the outside world must be very chaotic right now, and even if they reached a city, it wouldn’t necessarily be better than living here.
At least here, as long as you didn’t make too much noise, you wouldn’t be harmed by the Infected.
“Tyler, stop talking.
After all, they still need to go find the whereabouts of their loved ones; we should show understanding.” At this moment, the White Man, Kenneth, who was to the side, also spoke up.
In stark contrast to Tyler, he clearly hoped that Brian and the other could leave here, so not only did he not try to stop them, but he actually stopped The Black Man from continuing to try to persuade them to stay.
He had always felt that Brian and Sarah were burdens, consuming their already scarce food without being of any use.
In his view, even the last time they went out to scavenge for supplies, it was his and Tyler’s credit.
And what made Kenneth feel most dissatisfied was that he knew there was an assault rifle in Brian’s room.
He felt that this gun should be given to him to protect everyone’s safety.
But when he asked for it, this damn yellow-skinned person refused to hand the gun over to him.
So, when he learned that the other party was leaving, he didn’t stop them; instead, his eyes rolled, and he started plotting other crooked ideas in his heart.
As for Kenneth’s thoughts, Tyler was actually quite clear about them, because he had heard the other person complaining in private more than once that there were two extra people in the Camp.
But he actually agreed with Kenneth’s idea in his heart.
After hesitating for a moment, he asked: “When do you plan to leave?
Have you decided where to go?” “Ah, we will go to the town tomorrow to collect some more supplies, and then spend the night in the town.
If everything goes smoothly, we will leave here the day after tomorrow.
As for where we are going…
it should be Dallas.” Brian pretended not to notice the thoughts already written on their faces and said with a smile, while inwardly sneering.
This was also another reason he didn’t want to continue staying here; continuing to stay in this team where everyone was at odds with each other would sooner or later lead to problems.
Hearing that they were going to spend the night in the town, Kenneth’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He suddenly sat up and, looking very loyal, patted his chest and said: “It’s too dangerous for you two children to go to the town.
How about this: I’ll set off with you tomorrow, and after I see you off, I’ll come back.” Glancing at Kenneth with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, Brian didn’t refuse and said: “Then I’ll trouble you, Uncle Kenneth.” Subsequently, he looked at Angela and Barton, who were gathered around Sarah expressing their reluctance after learning they were going to leave, and he picked up the bowl containing fish soup and said: “Hurry up and drink your soup, otherwise it will get cold later.” Upon hearing this, everyone picked up their bowls and drank the fish soup in their respective bowls in silence.
From beginning to end, Kathy and Yvette did not speak.
Accustomed to obeying their husbands, they had no thoughts of their own, and in their view, having two fewer useless children in the team to share food with was not a bad thing.