November 8, 2013.
It's been 2 months since the Cordyceps fungus appeared.
At this time, the streets of Dallas have been extremely deserted. Now it's rare to see one or two people on the streets. With the month-long migration of residents, there are now less than one million residents left in the city. All of them will have to wait until only the second or third batch can be evacuated.
"Attention, all residents who go to Atlanta, bring their belongings, go to the bus terminal to pick them up and bring their ID card. We will identify your identity and information."
At the large bus terminal on the outskirts of the city of Dallas, there are countless large buses parked in the large open space, with heavily armed soldiers outside, not far away, an endless sea of people heading this way.
In the area outside the main station, there were carefully arranged military trucks, and troops escorting civilians were also gathered there. They strutted around and quickly formed square formations, listening to the instructions of the commander in front of them.
Brian took Sarah's hand and walked through the crowd. The two carried bulging backpacks on their backs and a travel bag in their hands. They slowly entered the military-designated assembly point as the crowd slowly entered.
The first group of people who went to the Atlanta quarantine area was not large, with fewer than 5,000 people. Under the disposition of more than a dozen soldiers, these thousands of people slowly lined up in order, and in each column there is a soldier in front who verifies their identities in order.
Brian and Sarah were at the front of the same formation, so it didn't take long for the inspection troopers to stand next to them.
The soldier stood next to Brian, put the list down in his hand, looked around, and asked, "Kid, is there an adult with you?"
"No." Brian shook his head and told the other party that there was no adult with him, at the same time, he pointed to Sarah behind him and said, "We are together."
"Well, I get it."
Hearing these words, a trace of pity flashed in the soldier's eyes, but he didn't show much surprise. Although it was rare for children to be together without an adult around them, she had also seen him in over a month. There wasn't much confusion, so he routinely said, "Then please show your ID!"
Feeling the pity in the soldier's eyes, Brian pursed his lips slightly. He didn't like the way the other party looked at him, but he still took out the two identity cards from his pocket and handed them to him.
After confirming the information and photographs on the ID card, the soldier looked up to confirm his appearance, nodded and handed it back to Brian, then searched the two of them and found their guns on their backs, but he didn't care.
Because under the regulations, each member can carry a weapon for self-protection, but any additional weapons must be surrendered immediately. If the soldiers find it, they will be severely punished.
Seeing nothing unusual, the soldier immediately turned his gaze to his backpacks and said, "I still need to check your backpacks."
"Yes, it's okay."
Leaving the three backpacks on the ground, Brian crouched down and opened only a small gap, signaling to the soldiers that they could check it out. He just saw the person in front of him doing this, so he did the same thing. He guessed he was afraid that others would see what was inside.
The soldier knelt down, opened the hole, and looked inside. He was a little surprised to see that it was full of food. I didn't expect these two little guys to be pretty rich.
Then he reached in and searched a few times and found that there was nothing else, he searched in the other backpack and still found nothing unusual, and finally focused on the travel bag.
Seeing the soldier looking at the travel bag, Brian's pupils narrowed and he began to feel nervous.
Slowly opening the gap, the soldier was about to crouch down, but he was stunned for a moment because he found that he was full of "that thing" for women, which made him lift his head and look at Sarah next to him.
Feeling the other party's gaze and looking at the open travel bag, Sarah felt a little embarrassed, and turned her head to the side so as not to look the soldier in the eyes.
Although the soldier felt a little embarrassed, he still reached in and rummaged, but only flipped through it twice. When he saw that there was still the same thing underneath, he quickly took out his hand and helped up the zipper. He got up and walked over to the next person. Maybe he thought it was impossible for the two children to have other weapons.
Seeing the soldiers interrogate the people behind him, Brian was relieved. He quickly bent down to pack the backpack on the floor, put it back on him and Sarah, took the travel bag, and waited quietly.
His shotgun was placed under the travel bag. This was a very risky move. If this soldier had caught them at this time, the result would have been tragic.
But he wouldn't easily hand over such a powerful weapon of self-protection to others. Also, the shotgun was not large and could be easily concealed when disarmed. So he put the shotgun at the bottom and the feminine products at the top, this being a very risky decision.
Brian then turned around and gave Sarah a vague thumbs up, indicating that the other party's performance at the time was very beautiful.
"Sir... Lord, I don't know why this weapon is here. I didn't really hide it on purpose. Someone must have framed me!"
Just when Brian was secretly grateful to have escaped a disaster, an anxious and pleading voice not far away attracted his and Sarah's attention.
As he turned his head to look, he saw an African-American man with a stubble beard. The backpack on the floor was open. The white soldier next to him held a revolver in his hand. Obviously he had found it inside the man's backpack.
After listening to the man's explanation, the soldier laughed noncommittally, called his companions in the distance, and said to the African-American man, "You'd better explain this matter to others!"
Seeing that the other party continued to explain, the man was so anxious that his head was sweating. Then he seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly looked at the fat man next to him with a big belly and a gloating look. And he said angrily: "Nelson, just now you were hanging around my backpack, did you put this gun away?"
"I... I don't!" The fat man named Nelson didn't expect the black man to suddenly point his finger at him. His expression tightened for a moment, he waved his hands and said, "Lord. Don't listen to his nonsense, I don't know him at all!
"Damn, try to say something else!" When the man heard that the fat man really said that he didn't know him, his angry expression turned to fury. He clenched his fists tightly and rushed towards him, ready to hit him.
"What are you doing!"
Just as the situation was about to deteriorate into a fight, an African-American officer in captain's uniform suddenly approached from a distance and shouted loudly.
The appearance of all the sound immediately calmed the three people present, and they all turned their eyes in the direction of the sound.
"Lord!" Seeing the appearance of the African-American officer, the soldier quickly put aside his indifferent smile, stood firm, and performed a standard military salute.
The officer stood there, his eyes sharp as a sharp knife, looking back and forth between the African-American man and the fat man, and asked calmly, "Soldier, report the situation."
The soldier then approached the officer and explained in detail what had just happened.
After hearing the whole story clearly, the officer nodded, pointed at fat Nelson, looked at the African-American man, and said, "You mean this man put that gun in your backpack?"
"Yes sir, you must have framed me." Hearing the other party's question, the man quickly said as if he had seen a savior.
When Fat Nelson heard this, he immediately became anxious and replied, "Sir, I really didn't. Don't listen to their nonsense."
"Man, you're really looking for death!"
"Enough is enough, shut up, everyone!" Seeing that these two people dared to argue in front of him, the officer frowned, snorted coldly, and looked at the two dissatisfied men.
After both of them calmed down, he thought for a while, and slowly said, "I don't care whose fault it is, and I don't have time to waste on your trivial matters. But for the rest of the trip, their daily supplies will be cut in half."
He stopped looking at the two men and told the soldier to keep checking and then turned around and left.
After receiving such an answer, the black man didn't say anything else. Instead, his face lit up with a relieved expression, as if he had escaped from great danger. On the other hand, the face of the fat man, Nelson, turned pale, like that of a wet dog, clearly nervous and dejected.
"Tell me, which one of them is lying?" Seeing that there was no more excitement to look at, Sarah felt a little bored, walked up to Brian, and asked him curiously.
"I don't know, think about it yourself."
After hearing Sarah's words, Brian remembered the expressions of the two just now. He already had the answer in mind, but he still shrugged and said that he didn't know very well either.
Seeing Brian's expression, Sarah, who already knew him very well, knew immediately that he was lying. She puffed out her cheeks and said dissatisfiedly, "Ah! Why are you like this?
"Ha ~~"
Looking at Sarah's cute expression, Brian suddenly felt in a good mood and couldn't help laughing out loud. However, he felt a sudden cold sensation on his face and made him touch his cheek unconsciously, but found that he didn't touch anything.
He subconsciously looked up at the sky and found that countless white dots were slowly falling from the sky and instantly disappearing when they landed on the ground.
It's snowing!