"What... What do you mean?"
On the bus, everyone was confused when they heard Brian say that they should get off the bus. They didn't understand why the other party suddenly said those words.
After hesitating for a while, Brian looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them. He walked a few steps closer and told everything he had just experienced in the nightmare in a voice that only a few people around him could hear.
"Brian, do you know what you're talking about?"
Listening to Brian slowly recount his experience, everyone's expressions showed disbelief and everyone looked at him with an expression that suggested he was confused by the dream.
Seeing that several people didn't seem to believe him, Brian also felt a little helpless. In fact, it was a bit absurd to use his nightmare to reflect reality. If he hadn't been the one who dreamed it, they probably would have paid attention to it.
But the extremely real scenes that happened in the dream have been swirling around in his mind, as well as the familiarity of seeing the soldiers outside the car just now, and even the palpitations in his heart seemed to urge him to get out quickly, so many things connected to each other make it impossible for him to sit here any longer.
Unlike the incredulous expressions of others, Wilfred's expression didn't change at all. As an experienced adult, you have your own set of standards for judging things. Perhaps no one, except his daughter Anna, can affect his judgment.
From the moment Brian recounted his experience, his eyes had been watching all the subtle expressions on the boy's face to determine if the other party might be lying.
It's not that I thought the boy had other intentions. After getting along with him for the past few days, he could see that the boy was not bad, and the other party had no reason to hurt them, but after all, they are not close relatives and must be on guard.
Until Brian finished speaking, Wilfred didn't detect any hint of lying in his words. If it wasn't an extraordinarily convincing performance, then he must be telling the truth. Although both possibilities were plausible, Wilfred tipped the scales towards the first option: distrust, as always, seemed safer.
With the trial in mind, he hesitated. In fact, in the final analysis, it could be that the other party was affected by the nightmare. Even if what he said was true, he didn't know if he should take it seriously.
But when Wilfred saw his daughter Anna by his side, he remembered all the scenes described by Brian and gradually made a decision, no matter if the nightmare things would happen or not, there was nothing wrong with hiding first. Anyway, there won't be any loss. After all, your daughter's safety is the first priority. What if this really becomes a reality?
After looking deeply at Brian, he said, "Okay, let's go out and avoid it for the time being..."
"Ah?"
Sylvia and Anna, who originally thought Brian had nightmares and was a little unconscious, were shocked when they heard Wilfred suddenly speak and agree to leave temporarily, they looked at him in shock.
But before they could recover, Sarah and Allan on the other side also gave their answers.
"We also thought we should get out."
As the two real kids on the team, they have the best relationship with Brian, a pseudo-boy, and will never think that the other party will hurt them. Although they think this matter is somewhat absurd, they still choose to do it unconditionally. Believing Brian, they all nodded and accepted the proposal.
"..."
Sylvia and Anna observed the sudden serious expressions of the people around them and were a little confused. They didn't understand how to take a nightmare so seriously.
Now that Wilfred had spoken, Anna decided not to contradict her father. If that was his decision, he had no intention of arguing. Noticing that the others had already left, Sylvia did not want to be left alone either. After a moment of silence, they both nodded, accepting the situation without further ado. In the end, they thought, there was nothing to lose; at least they could see it as a breath of cold air in the midst of so much tension.
Now that they had decided to go out for shelter, the six people immediately began to pack their things. Fortunately, they were all backpacks and things that could be easily carried. After a while, everyone gathered their things and walked forward from the hall.
The six walked to the front of the vehicle carrying large bags, which naturally attracted the attention of everyone in the car. They looked curiously at the strange combination of three adults and three children, wondering what was going on.
"You... what are you doing?"
Tracy was leaning against the seat with her eyes closed to relax when she heard a sudden argument and a burst of footsteps behind her. She thought something had happened, so she immediately opened her eyes, turned her head and looked back, only to find several people came to her and she knew most of them, although she was a little confused, she still waited for them to come over and asked them in a gentle tone.
Several people stopped little by little. Wilfred took the lead and walked over to Tracy, bowing slightly as he spoke softly:
"It's very cold in the car. One of our colleagues is injured, and the affected area causes him a lot of discomfort. We all thought about seeking temporary shelter in the surrounding houses, lighting a fire to warm us up and relieve some of their pain."
As he spoke, he also pointed to Sylvia, who was pretending to be weak and leaning on Anna, saying that what she said was true.
This was the strategy they had previously devised. They knew that using something like a "nightmare" to justify a crisis would be absurd and wouldn't allow them to get off the bus. So they used Sylvia's injuries as an excuse: it was a credible reason, capable of generating sympathy, and convincing enough to allow them to get out of the vehicle.
In addition, there are many people who chose not to get into the vehicle, but dispersed to the surrounding houses to hide alone. However, they will not receive help from soldiers and, in addition, must be responsible for their own safety. Even if the soldiers wanted to rescue them, the heavy snowstorm made it difficult to know if they could hear their cries for help.
"this..."
Tracy was a little surprised when she heard Wilfred's words. Following the direction of his finger, he saw Sylvia somewhat weak. Of course he knew how the other side was hurt. He still had some admiration and looked at that look of pain. It didn't seem like an act.
He thought for a while and felt that everything should be fine, so he nodded, but still reminded him loudly: "If you want to go out and warm up, I won't stop you, but I still have to remind you." "Once you get out of this car, before you enter the hospital, you will not receive our protection for the time being and you must be responsible for everything yourself."
"... No problem."
After hearing the other party's gentle reminder, Wilfred pretended to hesitate for a moment, pretending to be confused, and then nodded heavily to show that he understood.
Looking at this group of women, injured people, and children, Tracy frowned slightly, she really didn't want these people to risk going out, no matter how you look at it, it can be said that this group of people look weak and pitiful, not to mention that she still feels some affection for her acquaintances.
But he had no reason to stop the other party. After all, this had nothing to do with her. After hesitating, he looked around and then in the direction of the hospital, after confirming that nothing was wrong, he slowly got up and walked in front of it and said:
"Forget it, it's not safe for you to go out like this. I'll accompany them to the place and then I'll come back."
Seeing Tracy suddenly stand up and say that she wanted to help them, Wilfred and the others were stunned, not understanding how the other party could make such a decision.
"Ken, first take a look here and open the door." Without waiting for them to refuse, Tracy said directly to the soldier in the driver's seat.
Ken, who was driving the bus, nodded, gave a thumbs up, and then reached out and pressed the button to open the door.
When the car door slowly opened, the cold wind came into the car, Tracy's body shivered slightly, she waved to Wilfred and the others, and then got out of the car.
Seeing that Tracy had already gotten out of the car, Brian and the others said nothing more and did the same.
The cold, biting wind penetrated desperately through the hollows of their clothes and snowflakes crunched on their bodies, covering everyone with a layer of white snow.
This made the few people who had just gotten out of the still-warm car feel a little uncomfortable. They took a breath of cold air, immediately picked up their clothes, and walked in the agreed direction.
Because the wind and snow were too strong and they weren't sure if Brian's nightmare scene was real or fake, they couldn't choose a place too far away, but if it was true, they would inevitably suffer a disaster if they were too close.
After arguing for a while, they finally decided to look for a house 100 meters from the road, wait and observe for a while. This distance would allow them to observe the situation on the side of the convoy without being too close to escape.
On the way, Brian saw vague firelights in the surrounding houses. I knew there was someone inside. He turned around and looked at the convoy, feeling that as the distance grew more and more, the feeling of pounding in his heart gradually diminished. He slowly faded away, as if telling himself that the choice was right.
Covering his heart with his hand, he now vaguely believed that everything in the dream might be true, but... why would he have such a dream?
"Good."
Sighing slightly, Brian didn't think too much. He noticed that Sarah and Allan behind him were having some difficulty moving forward. He took a step back and stood behind them.
"I'm here to help you!" he said loudly, then stretched out both of his hands, pressed them behind them, and pushed forward slightly to help them move faster.