"A bacteria called "cordyceps unilateralis" or "CBI" for short is reported to be spreading rapidly around the world. The southern region has now been completely occupied and a large number of infected patients have begun to appear in the east and west. ..."
"The World Health Organization, together with the elites of medical teams from various countries, is doing everything possible to defeat the "CBI" bacteria, and is expected to produce related vaccines next year..."
"The government urgently established the 'Federal Disaster Relief Agency', equipped with the newly developed 'infection scanner', will do its best to save all compatriots trapped in the infected area and also detect all those infected by the scanner so that they can be quarantined..."
"There are a lot of protesters on the streets of all cities, they condemn the government's policy of isolating the epidemic, they need democracy, freedom..."
Brian sat on the couch, his left hand kept changing channels on the radio, and the pen in his hand kept writing quickly on the paper, recording all the information he heard.
It had been a whole week since the plague broke out, and he and Sarah had been here for a whole week as well.
Joel and Tommy did not show up from beginning to end, after Sarah recovered her legs, they searched all the areas near the bridge, and even went all the way to their separate places, but they did not find anyone.
Gradually, they learned to accept the reality that the person they were looking for would never appear again.
—Barton, be careful.
"Heh heh, Sarah, catch the ball!"
Hearing the party from outside, Brian put down the pen in his hand, closed the notebook, stood up, walked through the door and looked out.
The signal they sent out, while not attracting Joel and Tommy, did attract two nearby surviving families who were on the run.
The three figures were playing recklessly on the grass outside the house, the soccer ball being passed back and forth between their feet.
There was a fire at the edge of the lake with an iron pot on top. A light smoke rose. Two women were busy beside it. Brian could smell the fishy scent coming from the pot from a distance.
Outside the house, a middle-aged white man was sharpening a long log with a knife to make a stake and then driving the stake into a hole that had been dug to make a fence.
On top of the utility room next to him stood a black man. He was holding a gun and was intently looking at the surrounding situation. During the period, the two chatted.
The white man, named Kenneth, arrived the next day with his wife, Kathy, and 10-year-old daughter, Angela.
The black man named Taylor, he and his wife Yvette arrived here only after being chased by the infected, and the black boy Barton, who was playing on the grass, was his son.
Although everyone gathered together to report to the group to keep warm, as the number of people increased, there was a huge burden of food. Fortunately, their residence was near the lake and they could obtain food by fishing. Recently, they also formed a team and went to the city to collect supplies several times, otherwise, they would have to worry about filling their stomachs now.
Looking at Sarah playing with Barton and Angela, Brian smiled slightly. Fortunately, these two children were playing with her, otherwise, Sarah might still be immersed in the pain of losing her loved ones.
Then he leaned against the door and began to think seriously about his next destination, although everything here seems so comfortable for the moment, since the person he was looking for is no longer there, he doesn't have to stay here. I don't want to stay in this dangerous place forever.
In particular, the recent abnormality in the infected person's body made him feel a little uneasy. He found that very strange red and white lumps began to grow on the heads of some infected people, but the number was small.
From the radio broadcast, he learned that this is something derived from nutrients in the human body after the virus invades the human body: fungal spores.
The one Brian has seen the most, half of his head will be eroded by this fungal spore. This kind of mutation is very strange. In his opinion, it may even have a certain degree of "evolution", which is why he doesn't want to be here, that is one of the reasons for leaving.
Leaving here, he currently only has two options to choose from, the first is to go to Dallas to find Yarman, Brian still keeps the note left by the old man, but what he can't be sure of is whether the other party can really take them in.
After all, Dallas is arguably a mess right now. Even if Yarman is willing to take them in, will his daughter and son-in-law be willing to?
The second way is to go to Washington to find his parents, although Brian has been reluctant to confront them over his son's body, there is no doubt that this is an excellent place.
The only thing that gave Brian a headache was that the distance was not too great, he roughly estimated that it would have to be around 2,000 kilometers.
"Oh, let's take it step by step."
"What are you thinking about?" Just as Brian was immersed in his own thoughts, he suddenly heard someone talking beside him. He looked up and it turned out that Sarah had walked up to him at some point and was a little worried looking at him.
"I've been watching you alone in a daze for the past two days. Is something wrong?"
After a moment of silence, Brian walked to the door, then looked at Sarah, patted the seat next to him, and motioned for her to sit down and talk.
As the girl sat down, she looked at the people around her and made sure no one could hear them, then said, "I'm going to leave."
But who knew that Sarah didn't show too much surprise, she just said calmly: "Okay, when will we leave."
"Do you know what I'm going to say?" Hearing Sarah's flat tone, Brian turned his head to look at the other party's calm face and asked in surprise.
"Um."
Sarah nodded. In fact, she had already noticed that Brian's mind was not here at all. She saw that the other party was paying attention to the information outside every day, and was also storing some food that was easy to carry and preserve. Consciously or not, from then on, she knew that the other party would leave here sooner or later.
"I didn't expect you to know me very well," Brian raised his eyebrows, leaned against the pillar, gently took Sarah's hand and said, "Do you want to be together?"
"Of course, I'll go wherever you go!"
.....
In the evening, when everyone was sitting around the iron pot drinking the fragrant fish soup, Brian stood up and announced that he and Sarah were leaving.
"Why do you want to leave, aren't we okay here?"
Hearing Brian say that 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. Even in the city, it might not be better than here. It's better, at least here you won't be harmed by the infected as long as you don't make too much noise.
"Taylor, don't say it. After all, they still need to find the whereabouts of their relatives. We must express our understanding."
At this moment, the white man Kenneth also spoke, unlike Taylor, he obviously hoped that the two of them could leave here, so instead of saying something to stop him, he stopped the black man from wanting to continue holding back his words.
He always felt that Brian and Sarah were a burden, and that they had no other use than to consume his little food, in his opinion, even the last time he went out to collect supplies, it was also to his and Tyler's credit.
And what made Kenneth most dissatisfied was that he knew that there was an assault rifle in Brian's room. He felt that this gun should be handed over to him to protect everyone's safety, but when he asked for it at that time, he refused to hand over the gun to him, so when he knew that the other party was leaving, he didn't stop him either, but rolled his eyes and thought of something else in his crooked mind.
As for Kenneth's thoughts, Tyler actually knew everything, because he heard the other party secretly complain that there were two redundant people in the camp more than once, but he actually agreed with Kenneth's thoughts in his heart, hesitated for a moment, asked: "When are you going to leave? Have you decided where to go yet?"
"Ah, we'll go to the village tomorrow to pick up some supplies, and then we'll spend the night in the village. If it goes well, we'll leave the day after tomorrow. As for where to go... It should be Dallas."
Brian pretended not to notice the thoughts of the two that had been written on his face, and said with a smile, but he sneered, that it was another reason why he didn't want to stay here, if he continues to stay in the team, sooner or later problems will arise.
Hearing that they were going to spend the night in the city, Kenneth's eyes suddenly lit up, he sat up suddenly and patted his chest with a look of loyalty and said: "It's too dangerous for you two to go to the city, so I'll be with you tomorrow. Let's go together, I'll see you off and go back."
Looking at Kenneth with a half smile, Brian did not refuse and said, "Then I will trouble you, Kenneth."
Then he looked at Angela and Barton, who were reluctant to surround Sarah when they knew they were about to leave. He took the bowl of fish soup and said, "Hurry up and drink the soup, or it will be cold later."
When everyone heard this, they picked up their bowls and drank the fish soup in their respective bowls in silence. Casey and Yvette didn't speak from beginning to end. It's not a bad thing to have two useless children on the team to divide the food.