As the sky gradually turned white, the gunfire in the city gradually disappeared. The flames continued to burn the houses, but the momentum was no longer as fierce as it had been at first.
With the last infected falling out of the line of defense, it was also fully announced that the entire convoy had overcome this crisis.
If you look at the entire city of Waskom from the sky, you can see that last night's battle turned half of the village into ruins.
At that time, people came and went through the streets of the small town. People danced with joy, revealing a sense of excitement about surviving the disaster.
Perhaps because they faced life and death together and fought side by side during this crisis, the relationship between everyone has obviously become much closer.
Compared to when the convoy first departed, where they only communicated with people they knew.
Now, both soldiers and civilians were talking to each other and even greeting each other. The whole convoy is no longer indifferent as at the beginning. Perhaps everyone has begun to realize that only by standing together can we survive in this dangerous world.
Whether it was the soldiers and civilians who had fought hard all night, or the women and children who had been hiding in houses and fearful all night, almost all of them had not closed an eye and had stayed up all night.
Although this crisis has been overcome, there are still many trivial matters that need to be addressed and most people still cannot rest immediately.
The first step is to count the number of victims. Although they managed to survive this crisis, the number of victims is not really small counting those who died in the battle with the infected. There were 356 soldiers in total and more than 200 civilians who died or were infected.
The second is the question of how to treat soldiers and civilians who were scratched and bitten in hand-to-hand combat with these infected people. After one night, some people's wounds began to rot and their eyes began to turn black, although this may be a bit ruthless, but they were already infected by the Cordyceps fungus and could not continue to move forward with the convoy.
And just in case, Commander Harry also ordered everyone to be scanned to make sure there were no hidden dangers.
As for their own fate, those who have been infected have long hoped that even if they leave with the convoy, they will not escape the fate of death and may even threaten the safety of their family and friends.
Since they will die sooner or later, they better stay and spend the rest of their time in this small town. Some of them took out pen and paper and wrote their suicide notes, asking those who left to send the envelope into the hands of their relatives in a certain quarantine zone, some say goodbye to their relatives in the caravan, hug each other in pain and sadness and give final instructions.
Then there is the question of supplies. The first task of his convoy is to clean up infected people in the villages along the road and ensure the safety and tranquility of the road. Every time they pass by a place, they must leave relevant messages to the convoy that will come behind them.
Although they managed to eliminate a large number of infected people during this crisis, the fuel in the tanker proved to be an insurmountable obstacle. Except for the dozens of improvised firebombs they threw at the beginning, the fire that burned behind them ended up spreading uncontrollably.
However, the amount of ammunition is not optimistic. Almost a third has been consumed, which will be very detrimental to the next trip. Some people even proposed going to the Shreveport quarantine zone in search of supplies.
But he was quickly rejected. As all the troops and civilians entered the quarantine zone, the rest of the city had already become the territory of the infected. It was impossible for them to enter the city at the risk of being besieged again by the infected.
After some discussions, they decided to continue to move forward as per the plan, but on the subsequent trip, they must strictly control the use of ammunition and collect as much as possible along the way.
The last to try are those who hid in houses so as not to fight the infected, trying to escape the battle, those who are resentful of having been punished, and try to take advantage of the chaos to seize supplies when the infected attack. All were detained one by one and collectively escorted to the city center.
Of course, the luck of these people will not be too good. They will be expelled and their food and firearms will be confiscated. They will stay with the infected in the village.
As for the seven people who took revenge and took advantage of the infected to seize groceries and drive, although the leader was dead, the remaining six people were in dire straits. They were tied up and dragged to the central square and lined up in a row, sentenced to death and shot on the spot for multiple crimes, including murder and endangering their personal safety.
Among the soldiers who were to carry out the execution was Tracy. When she saw the colorful hair, she felt that it looked very familiar. When he got closer, he saw Kim who was full of fear and crying bitterly: "In fact, you dared to run over and grab the truck. I thought you didn't have the courage. Then I looked down on you. I admire you!"
After saying that, he didn't care what Kim said behind him, turned around and walked back to the tail, raised the rifle in his hand, and aimed at the target in front of him.
In the end, except for Chad, who deserved it, the remaining five people who should not have died like this, due to their inner resentment and greed, were assaulted and had their heads exploded amidst the angry and ridiculous reprimands of many people, and fell helplessly to the ground.
When everything was arranged, it was almost noon and the convoy could not delay any longer. The high-pitched speaker had already begun to speak, telling everyone to get ready and they would leave in ten minutes.
Before leaving, some soldiers left some weapons and ammunition. The meaning is obvious. These weapons can be used to kill people who are about to become infected or if they decide to commit suicide.
After saying goodbye to the people who stayed in the city behind them, the convoy returned in a westerly direction.
Since the remaining three directions of the city, whether it is the main road or other small roads, are basically blocked by the infected, and the scenes are too bloody and violent, in addition to fires, they must first leave the city to the west, then it is necessary to turn around from the outside, and then return to the road to the east.
At that moment, on the bus, everyone except the driver who offered to take the first rest shift was completely exhausted. Some men, after leaning against the seats, fell asleep so soundly that not even a loud noise could wake them.
Brian was speechless as he listened to those snores, feeling helpless. Damn, I wouldn't even let anyone sleep well.
Then he turned his head slightly and looked down at the back row of the car, where an unconscious African-American woman lay.
Originally, there were no seats together available on the bus, but after most witnessed his heroics and thanked him for saving their lives, they decided to give him space. In addition, the crisis of the previous night had left many empty seats. Therefore, they organized to free up three rows, making sure that he could rest comfortably.
Brian gently hugged Sarah, leaned back in the seat, and closed his eyes. It was strange that the soldiers saw clearly that a shotgun killed Joseph last night, but no one raised any questions. This doubt has been present in his mind.
But he couldn't understand it after thinking about it a lot, so he just stopped thinking about it. Anyway, the ship would go straight when it reached the bridge. Maybe the soldiers didn't really react?
Last night it was hard to see because of the flames burning in the city, but after getting out, he realized that the snow on the road was already as high as a finger and looked at the snow falling outside the car, there is no sign of stopping. It seems that they need to speed up the next trip, otherwise once the snow cover is too thick, the next road will be difficult to travel.
The convoy veered off a small road on the outskirts of Waskom town and drove bumpy for half an hour before returning to the main road.
After continuing to drive a short distance, they arrived at a small town called Greenwood. They watched the broken, blood-stained scenes mixed with the snow in the village, as well as the stench coming from the air.
Obviously there used to be a lot of infected people here. Considering the distance between here and Waskom Town, everyone understood that those infected people were probably from this town.
Shortly after entering Greenwood, the caravan's advance suddenly stopped again, causing people who had fallen asleep to get up from their seats and look around hurriedly.
By no means, yesterday's experience had left a shadow in everyone's mind, as if every tree and shrub concealed imminent danger.
But thankfully, Tracy, who got the news, immediately told the people in the car what happened up ahead. This relieved everyone.
It turned out that when the convoy was halfway there, a dozen survivors were calling for help and blocking the convoy's path.
After the convoy remained on site for more than ten minutes, no one knew how the conversation took place on the front lines, saying that these survivors would join the convoy and go to Atlanta together.
After the scan confirmed that these people were not infected, more than a dozen people were sent to the bus separately. They still needed to be watched for a while, and naturally they couldn't be put on the same bus.
When the car door slowly opened, Brian saw a middle-aged muscular man, a cute brown-haired girl, and a miserable man with a cockscomb coming from outside.
The appearance of the three attracted everyone's attention, everyone whispered to each other and looked at these new survivors.