Yarman couldn't wait to take the letter from Brian and read the contents:
dad:
I don't know if you can see this letter. The situation outside is in chaos now. There are constant sounds of gunfire and explosions. All the news are reporting that infected patients are rioting in the city. All of this makes me feel very uneasy.
But fortunately, I don't live in the city. I 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.
After reading the content and learning where his daughter was, Yarman breathed a sigh of relief. He felt a lot more relaxed. He put the letter into his backpack and said to the two children in front of him, "Austin has fallen now. When I came here, the infected people on the other side of the bridge were all moving here. It will soon be unsafe here. I plan to go to Dallas. Do you want to come with me?"
Brian fell silent for a moment at this invitation. He glanced at Sarah who was also silent on the bed, hesitated for a while, shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Sarah's father and uncle haven't been found yet. We need to find them!"
"well!"
Yarman was obviously expecting this answer. He just sighed softly and said nothing more. He took out a pen from his pocket, wrote an address on a piece of paper next to him, and stuffed it into Brian's hand.
"This is where I'm going, if... I mean if, you don't find them. You can come find me here."
After saying that, Yarman did not stay here. He picked up the shotgun beside him, rubbed Sarah's little head again, said goodbye, then turned around and went downstairs and left.
Pedal...
Listening to the footsteps going away downstairs, Brian stared blankly at the note in his hand and said in a low voice:
"Thanks."
After Yarman left, Brian also had his own plans for today. Sarah's legs were still in the recovery period and she couldn't do strenuous exercise, which meant that he couldn't leave the area too far.
Brian took out two cans of food from his backpack and ate breakfast. He thought for a while and came up with an idea. 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, piled it together, and then lit them all with a lighter.
The raging fire burned the dry wood, and the thick darkness drifted into the air, which looked particularly eye-catching from a distance.
Looking at his masterpiece, Brian nodded with satisfaction. After finishing all this, he did not sit idle and began to search for all available supplies in the house.
After placing all the available supplies on the table in the living room, he carried Sarah down from upstairs, gave her a pen and paper, and asked her to count the items and the quantities.
Brian then went outside to the utility room where he had seen the toolbox and stacked wooden boards when he had found the kerosene lamp last night.
He remembered that Yarman said that the group of infected people on the bridge were moving in this direction, and he didn't know when Joel and Tommy would be able to come, so it would be better to seal all the windows and reinforce the house.
...
On the other side, the highway kilometer bridge.
The battle last night was extremely brutal. Hundreds of dead bodies were piled on the bridge. Blood dyed the entire bridge red, emitting a strong smell of blood.
The quarantine checkpoint was already empty. Apparently, the military soldiers could not withstand the overwhelming attack of the infected and chose to evacuate.
On a high slope not far away, through a telescope, Joel saw hundreds of infected people continuing to move forward along the bridge, and it seemed that they were heading towards the next city.
But he was in no mood to pay attention to these things at the moment. He kept moving the telescope to scan the area near the bridge, feeling extremely anxious and tired.
Last night, after he and Tommy got rid of the infected people, they headed towards the bridge. But just as they got close, they heard fierce gunfire and explosions. From a distance, they saw large numbers of infected people attacking the checkpoint.
Although he knew it was very dangerous, he discussed it with Tommy and felt that if Brian saw the situation here, he would definitely not choose to continue approaching, but would find a place to hide nearby.
So they used the checkpoint as the center and searched around the bridge for traces of the two children.
However, the explosions coming from the direction of the bridge attracted the attention of all the infected people in the surrounding area. They were almost discovered by the infected people several times, and were even almost hit by the bullets fired by the soldiers.
They had no choice but to evacuate temporarily. They did not come out to search until the troops in the checkpoint withdrew. They have been searching for nearly an entire night.
"Damn it, where on earth did you go!"
Just at this moment, Joel heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around and found it was his younger brother Tommy, who was carrying an unconscious man on his back.
"Aren't you searching over there? Who is this?"
"Hold on."
Tommy spoke first to stop his brother from continuing to speak, then put the man on his shoulder to the ground, took out a rope from his waist and tied the man's hands behind his back, then took out a document from his pocket and said to Joel, "I accidentally noticed him when I was searching over there. He sneaked out of the checkpoint. He is a civilian staff member. He should be someone who didn't have time to evacuate last night. We haven't found Brian and the others for so long. Maybe they were found by these bastards."
Hearing his brother say this, Joel also thought it was very likely. He grabbed the kettle next to him and took a big gulp, then with a "puff" sound, the water sprayed onto the man's face.
The man was sprayed with water and woke up instantly. He opened his eyes suddenly and saw two strange men standing in front of him. He felt his hands were tied and said in fear: "Who...who are you and why are you arresting me?"
Seeing that the man was awake, Joel took out his pistol, squatted down, looked directly into the man's eyes, and said, "Did you catch two children last night, a boy and a girl, both 13 years old? The girl's right leg was injured. You'd better answer me honestly, otherwise the bullet in my pistol will put a hole in your body."
Looking at the gun pointed at his head, the man's eyes were filled with fear. He didn't hear clearly what the other party said. He trembled all over and begged for mercy: "I... I don't know anything, I'm just a recorder, please... ah!"
But before he could finish his words, Joel, who had no intention of listening to his nonsense, stood up and stomped hard on the other's knee.
Ever since the soldier shot at them last night, he had hated these damn guys very much. If it weren't for these people, he and his daughter would not have been separated, so he naturally showed no mercy when he attacked the man.
Crouching down again, looking at the man's face flushed with pain, Joel took out a photo of himself and his daughter Sarah, placed it in front of the man and said, "I'll ask you one last time, have you seen this girl?"
The man was completely honest now. He endured the pain from his knee and said painfully, "I...I really haven't seen it. I was recording the data last night. I really don't know."
But then the man seemed to remember something crucial and continued:
"No...but last night before the infected attacked us, we did rescue dozens of surviving citizens near the bridge. We have escorted them to the quarantine camp in Houston in accordance with regulations. The person you are looking for should be there."
"Nonsense!" The man's answer hit Joel's sore spot. He grabbed his collar and yelled, "If you were really searching for survivors, why did you shoot at us last night!"
"What?" Joel's question obviously surprised the man. He said in disbelief, "It's impossible. Our mission is to search for uninfected survivors and escort them to the quarantine camp for centralized management."
Joel and Tommy were both stunned when they heard this. At first they thought the military's order was to eliminate all survivors and infected people, but now it seems that things are not quite what they imagined.
They looked at each other and suddenly a terrible guess came to their minds. It seemed that they had accidentally discovered some terrible conspiracy.
The man obviously figured out the key. He kept struggling and twisting his body and said to Joel: "You must let me go. This matter must be reported immediately, otherwise more innocent people will die!"
"Shut up." Joel felt his mind was in a mess. He stood up and pulled Tommy aside to ask him what he thought.
"What should we do with him now?"
"Let him go!" Tommy responded decisively. He could tell that what the man said was 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."
"good."
Joel lowered his head and thought for a while about Tommy's suggestion, then nodded in agreement. He turned around, walked over to the man and threw a dagger at him, saying, "I won't kill you. Find a way to leave."
After saying that, he turned around and moved towards the small town with Tommy. This place was more than 200 kilometers away from Houston, so they had to find a car.
But just ten minutes after they turned and left, a cloud of black smoke slowly drifted out from the woods not far from where they had just been.