Chapter 73 - Rest

Sweetwater Creek State Park is located just outside of Douglasville and can be reached directly from the interstate. Not far away is Austell County, so this park is also located in two counties in between.

In the past, this place was a good place for leisure trips for residents of nearby cities, but after the apocalypse, this place became a deserted park. It may not be long before this place becomes a paradise for the infected.

At that moment, there was a faint smell of gunpowder smoke everywhere in the park, and bright lights illuminated the entire dark park. There were large pits sunk one after another on the brick and dirt roads, and several military trucks seemed to have been hit, as if burned by a fierce fire, the whole car became as black as ink and there were still wisps of black smoke floating out of the car.

Dozens of corpses lay on the ground covered in snow and scarlet blood was scattered in every corner. You can imagine what kind of fierce fighting took place here not long ago.

At that moment, more than a dozen survivors and soldiers were working together to move the corpses on the ground, and then turned over the snow to cover all the blood.

At the entrance to the reception desk in the center of the park, dozens of people in civilian clothes or soldiers' combat uniforms knelt down, their hands cuffed behind their backs, knelt in the snow and shivered, letting the cold wind blow.

Surrounding these people were a dozen heavily armed soldiers, their rifles on standby. If any of these people made any moves, they would shoot directly.

The interior of the reception hall has already been cleared and the entire interior space is filled with tents. Countless survivors are walking inside, and army medical soldiers are also tending to wounded survivors.

All the tents here are abandoned tents that are located in the warehouse of a tent specializing in the sale of tents in the park. Most are incomplete or have holes, but they can still be used reluctantly after a few repairs.

Although it certainly smells bad and uncomfortable to sleep in, at this point no one is picky about it anymore. At least it can withstand some cold.

Brian was sitting in one of the shops, leafing through a book. The constantly moving crowd around him had no impact on him, because his mind wasn't on the book at all and he kept thinking about what happened before.

At that point, it had been a full 10 hours since they exited the interstate ramp. It was already 8 p.m. and the sky had darkened.

The park location is only ten minutes from the ramp. Since the distance is very short, they planned to stop in the distance to observe the situation before deciding whether to go ahead.

But when they were less than halfway there, they suddenly and strangely discovered that the park's motion had suddenly disappeared. At that moment, everyone felt a little uncomfortable and didn't know what to do next.

But they discussed it again and decided to proceed according to the original plan. Unexpectedly, when they had just passed an intersection and were about to stop the car, four soldiers with rifles ran out of the woods on either side pointing at them.

Faced with the sudden arrival of several soldiers and the black muzzle of the weapon, they didn't even have time to raise the weapon. Without hesitation, they raised their hands and surrendered without hesitation.

But thankfully, these people wearing soldiers' combat uniforms were not hunters in disguise, but actual army soldiers stationed in the park. Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but it also made them look at him from the side. It was the army that won this battle.

So, under the leadership of one of the soldiers, they were taken to the park and then witnessed the tragic situation in which the park was vandalized. Several people were stunned, although this was for those who had actually been on the battlefield, for the soldiers, it was just a small fight, but for people like them living in a peaceful country, it was really shocking.

While talking to the soldier on the way, they learned that the explosion on the ramp had attracted the army's attention, so the commander asked someone to contact the garrison on the ramp to inquire about the situation.

Unexpectedly, the liaison officer was unable to contact the soldiers stationed at the ramp crossing. Instead, he received an urgent message from an outside soldier, who put the entire army on alert immediately.

And those hunters who pretended to be survivors knew that they were about to be exposed when they heard the noise, but they didn't know that the army had already received the news and thought that it would take some time for them to realize the situation, although time was already a bit tight, they still spent some time preparing.

It was during this time that the army noticed something strange about them and launched a surprise attack before these people acted.

There are a large number of these hunters, and they also got a lot of ammunition and equipment from the previous convoy, and they have ambushed some people outside the park. If the army had not made preparations in advance, I am afraid they would have been beaten by them.

Except for a few of these hunters, most of them were simply ordinary civilians. After experiencing such a brutal fight, many of them couldn't bear it, fell to the ground and surrendered, or turned around and fled.

After annihilating the dozen or so people who were in the lead, it took the army less than half an hour to resolve the battle.

"Come, eat something."

Just as Brian was thinking about what happened, he was suddenly handed a piece of bread contained in a plastic bag.

The sudden voice instantly returned it. He raised his head and looked at the other party. He slowly closed the book, reached out to take the bread, and said, "Thank you."

"Oh, you're so nasty!" Tracy sat unceremoniously at the door of the store, opened the bread in her hand, took a bite, and said as she chewed, "The notice has come, tomorrow we're going out and going straight to the Atlanta quarantine area. Tonight is our last stop."

"So fast?" Brian frowned and was a little surprised. You must know that less than a thousand survivors came here today, but most of the survivors have not come, so aren't these survivors simply abandoned?

"Didn't you say they would stay here for two days? Why are they so eager to leave suddenly?"

Tracy looked around cautiously, hesitated for a moment, and then leaned into Brian's ear to whisper:

"In the previous conflict, someone blew up our supply truck. We don't know who it was. After tonight, we have no food left ready to distribute. If we do not take advantage now that everyone has enough strength and energy to leave quickly, in a couple of days hunger will have exhausted everyone.

That was the worst situation, and many of our people were injured and seriously ill so if we delay it, it will take us more than two days."

"..."

After hearing this answer, Brian was suddenly shocked. He looked at the survivors around him who were eating with delight and fell silent. This decision was probably the best option in the current situation.

He pondered for a while and then continued to ask, "What about cars? Although the number of people is much smaller, the vehicles here alone cannot transport as many people."

"Don't worry about the car," Tracy said, pointing to the hunters outside who were being punished. "These guys looted a lot from other people who drove desperately, but they were all concentrated elsewhere. Ours has already departed and should be able to return soon.

After saying this, he ate all the bread in his hand, clapped his hands, got up slowly, and looked at Sarah and Allan, who were sleeping soundly in the tent.

She already knew the news of Sylvia's death and was still a little sad. At the same time, she was also angry about Wilfred's decision at that time, but she was already used to the separation of life and death, so she just sighed softly and said, "Go to sleep, tomorrow we will go out very early."

After that, Tracy didn't stay here anymore. He came just to check on the children. After walking to the gate and exchanging a few words with the soldiers guarding them, he left.

After a while, the army broadcast what had just happened, which led to a mutiny without any surprise, but was quickly suppressed by the military.

Perhaps because of those hunters, the military's current attitude toward survivors is very harsh, which is very different from previous handling methods.

Although they were very unhappy, the survivors said nothing more after learning about the cause and effect. In addition, tomorrow they would leave for the quarantine area, so they chose to surrender temporarily and vent all their discontent with the people outside.

At that moment, Wilfred, Anna, and Lucy also entered from outside, holding thick quilts in their hands, which was a kind of compensation for delivering the supplies to the truck.

To be honest, if it wasn't for the purpose of entering the quarantine area, they wouldn't deliver all the supplies. It would be a shame if they fought so hard and had others seize the supplies.

But no one could claim with certainty that Wilfred's statement at the time was completely incorrect, because no one knew if the army would win. Moreover, the hunters stationed on the ramp were really weak, unable to get vehicles or supplies on their own, and no one would question it.

What they didn't expect was to have overestimated their combat power, while the army finally achieved victory, they should just wait a little, by not doing so, this made it seem like that reckless decision had cost Sylvia's life in vain.