"Of course we have to go!"
As soon as Allan said these words, Sylvia immediately straightened up and said loudly without thinking, her sister is still in Atlanta, no matter how dangerous the road ahead, even if there are no soldiers in the convoy, she must reach Atlanta.
The sudden voice startled Allan and his body trembled. Fortunately, Sarah saw him like this and quickly helped him calm down.
"yes, we're definitely going to Atlanta."
Seeing that Allan was okay, Brian nodded, agreed with what Sylvia said, and slowly said, "Now the whole convoy has dispersed. It's still winter and it's very dangerous outside. The closest and safest place to us is the Atlanta quarantine zone. Instead of wandering around in fear all day, it's better to go there."
Wilfred thought for a while, picked up the kettle in his hand, and took a sip of water. I still had some doubts about whether to go to Atlanta. For most, everyone had reasons to go there, but he and his daughter Anna might not need to go to the quarantine zone.
You should know that the quarantine zone is located northeast of Atlanta, which means that they have to cross at least half of the city to get to it. There are many large cities in the United States. The number of infected people is no joke, adding that they now have no vehicles. Even if there is asylum, it is still unknown if they will be able to arrive safely.
For Wilfred, his daughter's safety is the most important thing. He will not run such a great risk for a few people he has known for a few days and for the so-called safe quarantine zone.
Seeing the worried look on her father's face, Anna, who was sitting across from him, could guess what he was thinking. Since his mother's departure, his father valued his life above all else. This time was no different. As far as she knew, he most likely didn't choose to go to Atlanta.
But I didn't want to go on living like this, wandering around in panic. He hadn't slept well for a long time, for fear that the infected would bite off his neck. that's enough!
Anna slowly got up from the ground, sat down next to her father, and whispered a few words in his ear, not knowing what he was saying.
After a while, Wilfred turned his head and argued with her for a few moments. Finally, looking into his daughter's steady eyes, he nodded and said with a helpless sigh, "If you want to go, then let's go. Oh, if you can, just find the trucks and join them... If we are with them, the possibility of arriving safely in the quarantine zone will be much greater."
Seeing that everyone had chosen to go to Atlanta, Sylvia felt a little relieved, her body slumped, and her expression looked sad. Although everyone was determined to go to Atlanta, without the escort of soldiers, she wasn't sure she could make it, she didn't have much hope of making it to the quarantine area alive. She asked other people about her decisions because she just didn't want to go alone.
After Wilfred finished speaking, no one continued to speak. Everyone fell silent again, and the scene suddenly fell silent again.
"The commander will inform us of the location!"
At that moment, a dry voice suddenly sounded, and everyone was stunned. They then followed the sound and found that Tracy had come to their side at some point, but she no longer had the weakness she had just now.
Rubbing her red eyes, Tracy returned to her seat and sat back down, took out her walkie-talkie, gently put it on the ground, looked at everyone, and said, "When we left Dallas, we assumed something like this could happen, but now that it's over, the commander will shoot a flare into the sky and make a call on the public channel to inform everyone of the specific location of the meeting."
Having said this, she turned her head and looked at the snowstorm that was still raging outside, and said a little tiredly, "It's just that... They may not begin to implement this until the snowstorm has passed."
"Okay..." Upon learning that the convoy might reunite, Wilfred let out a long sigh, with a hint of joy on his face: "Anyway, our plan is to wait until this snowstorm passes."
Several people around him breathed a long sigh of relief when they heard that the army would drop flares and reorganize the convoy.
"Okay, Allan, Sarah, let's drag the couch over there."
Seeing that there was nothing left to talk about, Brian slowly got up and called out to the people next to him.
The two walked with him and he had just seen a very large sofa in the office in the first-floor reception lobby that could be used as a bed.
The three of them entered the office, cleared all the debris from the road, and dragged the sofa to the fire little by little before everyone's eyes.
Seeing that the others were still indifferent, Brian sat down on the sofa and slowly said, "You should also move some things to use as beds. No one knows what will happen to the snowstorm outside. We may still have to stay here for a few days. You don't want to spend the night on the floor, do you?
After hearing this, everyone laughed a couple of times and started looking for other sofas. Fortunately, there were many offices on the second floor, and basically all of them were equipped with sofas. They also found some thin blankets, although it was a bit difficult, but with the joint effort of several people they managed to lower him from the upper floor.
Soon, everything around the fire cleared. Four sofas were arranged in a circle around the fire. Several people lay down on the soft sofas, feeling the temperature coming from the center. They covered themselves with blankets and suddenly felt a warm sensation.
Then they began to discuss arrangements for the vigil. Although there was a snowstorm outside, it could be said that it was difficult for both humans and infected people to move forward, but there was always the possibility, so no matter what. The vigil was still necessary, and it must be carried out so that the risks are minimized.
Brian sat down on the couch and, after laying out blankets for Sarah and Allan, picked up some firewood from the floor and threw it into the fire from time to time to refuel.
The nightmare he had had not long ago left such a deep impression on him that he really couldn't sleep, so he took the initiative to take on the task of keeping vigil tonight.
Although Brian was just a child, after seeing his mind that was no different from that of an adult, no one else said anything and everyone lay on the couch to sleep.
Maybe it was because they were all too tired and the couch was too comfortable. After a while, all the people lying on the sofa were snoring slightly.
"Why, you're still not sleeping?" He raised his hand and looked at the time on his watch. Unbeknownst to her, it was almost one o'clock and she discovered that Tracy, like her, was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the flame in the middle.
"Um..."
Tracy looked at Brian, crossed her hands, rubbed her thumbs back and forth, her expression was very strange and she seemed to be struggling with something.
But she hesitated for a moment and then said, "I'm so sorry for what happened just now. I was a little impulsive. You really shouldn't blame yourself for what happened."
Brian raised his eyebrows and looked at Tracy in surprise, not expecting the other party to actually apologize to him.
Then he chuckled, waved his hands carelessly, and said, "Okay, I don't take it seriously. I just hope you don't tell anyone else."
Seeing that Brian didn't really mean to blame her, Tracy felt much more relaxed. When he heard Brian ask him not to tell anyone else, he said with a wry smile, "Just as you said, even if I tell it, I'm afraid no one will believe it at all."
"But I still hope you don't say a word!"
Brian picked up a few pieces of wood from the ground and threw them back into the fire, and said helplessly: "To be honest, even I haven't realized what happened so far, but if anyone interested knows, they will definitely think that I have some ability to predict danger, they won't care if it's true or not at the time, they will definitely find a way to catch me first..."
"..."
Hearing Brian's words silently, Tracy noticed the hesitation in the other person's tone and also understood that on this apocalyptic day, if a stranger really knew about this matter, then what the other person said would probably come true.
Thinking of this, he nodded vigorously, and said in a low voice, "Okay, then I won't tell anyone about this."
Then Tracy yawned subconsciously and felt a little tired, so she lay down on the sofa and muttered in a slightly confused tone, "I noticed that you don't seem to be a twelve- or thirteen-year-old at all. On the contrary, he looks like a sophisticated adult."
"Haha~"
Hearing this, Brian looked at the other person's eyes that were almost closing, smiled softly, and told himself that he was originally an adult, but I was forced to be younger, but he still replied, "Maybe my learning ability is better than others."
The corners of Tracy's mouth curled slightly, she closed her eyes, hummed twice in disbelief, and soon fell asleep.
After looking at the people sleeping on the couch, Brian slowly got up and arranged the blankets for everyone.
He then inspected the first-floor hallway again to make sure all doors and windows were closed and nothing was missing before returning to the fire.
He picked up the book they had prepared on the sofa and read it carefully with the help of the light of the flame, killing the difficult moment tonight.