"What?"
After hearing Wilfred's words, Brian's attention was instantly drawn. He turned around and looked back. He saw dozens of buses slowly coming in from the park gate, heading toward where they were.
When he turned, he saw that Wilfred had already left, he was walking towards the reception hall.
Brian stood there, staring at Wilfred's back in the distance. If the other party was in a bad mood yesterday, today it can be said that it has simply become slow. Such a strange change made him feel that something was very wrong. Based on the plot development of the zombie movies he had seen, the other party should be infected with... a virus?
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt excited. He didn't dare to think about such things. He took a deep breath and walked towards the reception room, but for some reason, he remembered Wilfred's abnormality yesterday and now. It just kept going around in his mind.
When Brian returned to the entrance of the reception hall, all the cars were parked and the military had begun using the radio to notify everyone to prepare for departure. Sarah and others also packed up their belongings and waited at the door.
"Brian, what are you thinking?"
Sarah, who was standing on the stairs, saw Brian approaching with a distracted look, quickly went downstairs, ran up to him, and asked.
Hearing someone talking next to him, Brian immediately came back to his senses, turned his head, and looked at Sarah's curious face. He suddenly became playful and couldn't help but reach out, pinch the other person's nose, and say, "Nothing."
Sarah yelled strangely as her nose was pinched, she opened Brian's hand, and angrily said, "What are you doing!"
Then he fiddled with his face with both hands, grimaced at the other person, then turned around and ran away.
"Haha!" Seeing Sarah's amused look, Brian's originally depressed mood suddenly improved.
At first she was worried that what happened yesterday would affect Sarah's mood, but now it seems that she has adjusted well. Maybe... she is adapting to the departure of someone close to her... This can be considered a kind of growth. ...
Following Sarah's movement, Brian saw Wilfred looking tired. At this time, Anna was looking at him with concern and kept talking, while Wilfred's face was smiling and nodding in response to Anna from time to time.
Suddenly, the idea he had suppressed resurfaced again. Although he was still unsure, he decided to pay more attention.
"Attention! Please line up at the designated spot and board the bus one by one as instructed by the soldiers. This time we will go directly to the Atlanta quarantine area. God bless us!"
As all the vehicles were ready, the survivors boarded the bus in order. However, because there were too many survivors and there weren't enough buses, basically all the buses were full of people, not even the passage corridors were spared.
When there was nothing else to do, the army reorganized and freed up as many military trucks as possible to transport the remaining survivors who could not get into the trucks.
Fortunately, Brian and others were assigned to the truck and did not have to get on the bus. In addition to the reason why they willingly handed over the supplies at that time, of course, there was also Tracy's special care.
The army specially hung signs in the most visible places in the park, saying that the army had left here and headed to the Atlanta quarantine area. There were tents in the reception room to provide rest.
As for what this place will look like after they leave, it's none of their business.
.....
The park has two ramps that connect it to the interstate: an entrance and an exit. The entrance, where Brian and the others had left the day before, was now occupied by nearly a hundred infected. Although there were not too many of them, their presence represented a considerable risk for the team.
Therefore, they decided to use the exit, which had fewer infected, but was blocked by several abandoned cars. To make way for the convoy, they had to use trucks to move vehicles and clear a road wide enough for safe travel.
Returning to the road, looking at the deserted cities on either side, everyone felt an unreal feeling as if they were in another world.
The snow on the ground still prevented the team from driving too fast. Although the trip that originally only took 20 minutes almost doubled, they could accept it as long as it was safe enough.
But this stretch of interstate was just an appetizer. The real crisis came when they left the interstate and entered downtown Atlanta. That was the most dangerous place on the trip.
Sitting in the bumpy truck, Brian would sit in the innermost seat, keeping his eyes on the vehicles behind him, but out of the corner of his eye, he would always look at Wilfred sitting next to him, intentionally or not.
Perhaps because he was aware of Brian's gaze, Wilfred kept his head down and pretended to close his eyes to rest, but kept his fists tightly clenched, as if he was trying his best to contain something.
The two were watching each other intentionally or not, while the other pretended not to notice and had no visual communication with the other person.
Half an hour passed without them noticing, and finally the caravan entered the urban area of Atlanta. From the road, the infected could be vaguely distinguished wandering aimlessly through the streets. In the distance, to the northeast of the city, stood a quarantine zone surrounded by high walls, visible even from a distance.
Everyone on the bus suddenly got excited. Their eyes looked expectantly in the direction of the isolation area and an uncontrollable emotion appeared on their faces.
But as the convoy reached the exit of the ramp and drove slowly down the interstate, everyone's expressions immediately took a 180-degree turn and began to feel uncomfortable inside.
When entering the city, the convoy cannot drive in a straight line as on the interstate. The streets here are lined with cars covered in ice and snow, especially near the freeway entrance, where there are several cars blocking the intersection. They drove all the way without seeing a single car on the road. They were all trapped here.
The truck leading the convoy sped up without hesitation, as soldiers worked in coordination to push the cars blocking the intersection sideways. Fortunately, a layer of ice covered the asphalt, and the worn tires of the abandoned vehicles offered little resistance.
Although the noise caused by the slow-moving vehicle was not too great, it still frightened the people on board, fearing that an alarming number of infected people would suddenly appear out of nowhere, such as in the hospital.
Finally, they managed to clear a passage wide enough for the trucks to move forward smoothly. However, when it was the passenger car's turn, the bodies of the abandoned vehicles on both sides rubbed hard against the front of the car. Although he could technically move forward, the loud sound of metal scraping against metal caused the soldier at the wheel of the bus to brake immediately, hesitant to continue for fear of causing further damage or getting stuck.
This harsh sound was louder than the movement of the car at that moment, which made all the soldiers getting out of the guard car nervous.
Fortunately, no infected person seemed to notice the movement. In the end, the soldiers worked together to push the car a little further back, allowing the bus to pass safely.
With the main lanes blocked by abandoned vehicles, the convoy was forced to zigzag along bike lanes and sidewalks, heading with difficulty to the northeast of the city. Not stopping at isolation nets or minor obstacles, the trucks crashed into them directly to make their way.
Interestingly, they did not find large groups of infected people during the journey. It seemed that these had already been displaced previously. Only a few isolated infected approached the convoy, attracted by the noise. However, most could barely stand due to the state of their legs, which were in deplorable condition. Even when they managed to get close, they staggered and fell to the ground, becoming obstacles that were easily crushed by the vehicles behind them.
Seeing this, everyone rubbed their hands happily and silently prayed that nothing would happen afterwards, so that they could arrive safely at the quarantine area.
After the convoy exited the most congested section of the road, it was finally able to drive onto a spacious avenue, which was different from the traffic-congested road behind. It could be said that there were almost no cars here, which greatly accelerated the speed of the convoy.
"Something is wrong, how is it possible that these are the only people infected?"
Brian in the van eventually didn't focus on Wilfred anymore. He stared at the situation outside, feeling a little nervous in his heart. After all, it was a city with a population of one million. It's just amazing that they can get around the city so easily.
Of course, he wasn't the only one in the entire convoy who had such doubts. Almost everyone in the convoy felt a little unbelievable in their hearts, but they were already here. They could not leave, even if they wanted to. They were only a few miles away from the quarantine area, you can tell they're very close and not very willing to give up like that.
What's more, not even the army commander issued a statement. The army was not in a hurry, so they simply did the same.
Just as the convoy turned a corner at the intersection ahead, the entire convoy stopped as if it had received an order and everyone's doubts would soon be revealed.