Invasion of America

Chapter 129 Exploration
The “Playground” shelter is located in Cumberland County, Virginia, with the James River flowing nearby and the nearest town called Avone.

As the expedition team prepared to set off, a "Warthog" took off first, with an electro-optical probe mounted under its belly, looking down at the ground from an altitude of two thousand meters.

The all-electric "Warthog" frequently performs reconnaissance missions. The upgraded "Holy Light One" boasts a cruising radius of 500 kilometers, enabling it to conduct searches over a wider area.

Based on intelligence gathered over the past year, the town of Awoni had two to three thousand residents before the outbreak, but its current population is no more than one hundred.

This scale is relatively controllable, and even if the expedition team encounters unexpected situations, there is enough capacity to safely evacuate without being trapped in the area.

At seven o'clock in the morning, five modified electric pickup trucks slowly drove out of the shelter gate and sped along the road.

About half an hour later, the convoy arrived on the outskirts of the town of Awoni and stopped by the roadside. The carriages opened, and the five mechanical dogs were released one by one.

They carried small weapons on their backs and moved somewhat clumsily along the town streets, their metal skeletons clattering softly.

Zhou Qingfeng sat in the driver's seat of the lead car, intently watching the live feed transmitted through the in-vehicle screen. All he could see was utter silence.

The once bustling town is now extremely deserted.

Rows of two-story wooden villas, each occupying hundreds of square meters, line both sides of the street. The lawns are unkempt, growing wildly to the height of a person. Dusty cars are everywhere, appearing in every corner.

The mechanical dog would advance one hundred meters, and the expedition's convoy would cautiously follow one hundred meters.

When they encounter a house, the team members will carefully enter to search for any possible survivors and to gather any usable supplies.

However, the initial search of more than a dozen houses revealed that they were empty, without even basic furniture and appliances, let alone any signs of having been lived in.

“That’s how it is in dire towns,” Congus said, sitting in the passenger seat, looking out at the desolate scenery with a sense of resignation.

"Most of the people left in these towns are elderly people with limited mobility; the young people have all left for bigger cities."

“No, it must have been moved away.” Zhou Qingfeng carefully examined the peeling marks on the floor of the house, shook his head and said, “The survivors in the town ransacked all these houses.”

Just as the atmosphere was becoming somewhat somber, the robotic dog on reconnaissance duty ahead triggered something, resulting in several gunshots that rang out abruptly and dangerously.

The members of the exploration team tensed up instantly, gripping their weapons tightly and watching the direction of the gunshot with wary eyes.

"What happened?" Zhou Qingfeng asked over the walkie-talkie.

"This is Team A. Someone is shooting at our robotic dogs," Chen Rui replied over the radio. "The survivors in town are clearly not very friendly."

“Whoever they are, let them be friendly if they’re not,” Zhou Qingfeng replied. “We’re not here to do charity.”

As soon as these words were spoken, a drone in the team took off, carrying two homemade bombs—glass bottle bomb bodies, ammonium nitrate and sugar as explosives, bullet primers, detonation upon impact, and badminton shuttlecocks as tail fins.
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Avoni is a dying ghost town, and Nedved is one of the few "living things" left in the town.

At this moment, he was huddled in his self-built "doomsday fortress"—a two-story building reinforced with layers of wooden planks and discarded furniture—his nerves taut as he stared intently at his home security screen.

On the screen, a mechanical dog, appearing out of nowhere, skillfully weaves through the obstacles he has carefully set up, persistently trying to break through the defenses he has built outside the house.

Americans, having never experienced hardship or suffering, have a romanticized view of the apocalypse, resulting in countless novels, comics, and films about it.

According to the clichéd plots in those movies, the best place to survive the apocalypse is either a bottomless underground bunker or an impregnable nuclear war shelter.

Nedved did not have any special advantages; all he owned was a reasonably spacious two-story house.

A year ago, the Delta strain swept across the globe like a ruthless death, and the small town of Awoni, which lacked medical resources, was instantly overwhelmed by the virus.

The town had only two clinics, which closed their doors immediately upon the outbreak of the virus. The clinic staff, in an attempt to protect themselves, fled like frightened birds, their whereabouts unknown.

Most of the town's residents are elderly people who rely on their pensions to make ends meet. Faced with this sudden and deadly epidemic, all they can do is isolate themselves at home and hope that the government can provide some relief measures.

But the reality is that there is no rescue at all, and even if there were, they wouldn't come to this forgotten town.

As their food supplies dwindled, some desperate residents had no choice but to risk wearing makeshift masks and cautiously make their way to the town's supermarket for a final shopping trip.

The supermarket shelves were quickly emptied, and no more new daily necessities were delivered.

The town's residents are forced to face a cruel choice: either flee this death trap as soon as possible and seek a slim chance of survival in the outside world, or plunder their once-friendly neighbors in order to survive.

Nedved, being relatively strong and healthy, immediately began his "zero-dollar purchase," snatching a batch of essential supplies from his older and weaker neighbors.

Then, board up the doors and windows, block any possible entrances with discarded furniture, lay down some solar photovoltaic panels, and arm yourself to meet the severe test of this apocalypse.

The involutionary looting reduced the population of Avoni by more than half in less than a month, leaving the remaining people struggling on the edge of fear and hunger, waiting for an end that seemed to come at any time.

The survivors who had survived the virus infection did consider uniting. However, none of them would yield to the others, and they argued endlessly about the distribution of supplies.

No one was willing to hand over their supplies, especially food and medicine; they were only taking in and not giving out.

Nedved held his last ground, resisting any intruders who dared to trespass into his territory, whether human or cold mechanical creation.
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Less than 200 meters from Nedved's "Doomsday Fortress," gunshots could also be clearly heard from another stronghold composed of more survivors.

"Omar!" a skinny child shouted from the rooftop. "'Old Dog' Ned is in trouble! Someone is attacking his house!"

Beneath the roof was another "doomsday fortress" reinforced with junk, but compared to Nedved's hedgehog-like defenses, it appeared much simpler.

Inside the house were eight or nine survivors, men, women, and children. Due to the lack of water and electricity, the air was filled with a complex odor, a mixture of sweat and the smell of spoiled food.

The leader was a man in his forties named Omar. He was not a native of Awoni, but a refugee from Baltimore.

Before the disaster, bustling metropolises offered better living and employment opportunities. But after the disaster, places with more people are more prone to spiraling out of control, and the bloody tragedies that unfold are a hundred times more devastating than those in peaceful small towns.

During their escape, Omar's car ran out of gas just outside town. Forced to stay, he and several other companions in the same predicament found refuge in a relatively intact house. The other people in the house mostly shared similar experiences: a taciturn middle-aged couple, a mother and child huddled together, and several children separated from their parents, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.

The group was like hedgehogs huddling together for warmth in the cold night, carefully maintaining this fragile alliance for survival, yet unable to fully trust each other.

With more people, the consumption increases, and disputes inevitably follow.

Omar was racking his brains trying to figure out how to solve the increasingly scarce food problem—the most direct way was to rob Nedved, the reclusive but well-stocked old man who lived closest to them.

Another, more disturbing option was to expel the few children from the shelter to alleviate the food shortage.

Neither of these options is a good way out.

Although Nedved was alone, he was clearly well prepared. He had hidden a lot of weapons in the fortress and rarely showed himself, like a vigilant old fox.

Attacking him rashly would inevitably come at a heavy price, and neither Omar nor his men were willing to risk their lives, as any casualties would be unbearable.

As for the children, the cruel life in the apocalypse had tamed them into being exceptionally sensible. They silently did whatever chores they could manage, and their meager rations were reduced again and again, leaving them as thin as sticks of firewood.

Even if we drive them away, we won't save much food. Instead, it will easily arouse dissatisfaction and vigilance from others, shaking the foundation of this fragile alliance.

As for the other scattered small groups in town, Omar had also secretly observed them, and none of them were easy to deal with. Everyone was like a frightened bird, willing to do anything to survive.

As the days of the apocalypse grew worse, just as Omar felt his future was bleak, the sound of vehicles driving outside the town came out of nowhere.

Gasoline supplies have long been interrupted, and even with sporadic solar power generation, it is difficult to fully charge an electric vehicle.

Anyone who can drive at this time is definitely not from an ordinary force.

Omar immediately became alert and signaled to the children to carefully climb onto the roof with the only telescope they had to keep an eye out.

Sure enough, a group of "uninvited guests" were spotted slowly approaching on the road outside the town.

The other party appeared unusually cautious, stopping their vehicle before entering the town and then, like a pack of wolves on a hunt, beginning to search each house one by one.

The other side also deployed several robotic dogs as vanguards, remotely controlling these fearless devices to traverse the abandoned town, making people wary.

Omar climbed onto the roof, grabbed a telescope, and observed his neighbor. He immediately saw a drone carrying a bomb flying over.
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The badminton bomb was controlled by Chen Rui. The guy grinned, staring at the screen on the remote control, and kept chuckling coldly.

An unknown survivor on the other side fired a few shots into the air, and the drone could clearly capture the unshaven, rough face of the person.

"Dare to shoot me?" Chen Rui hovered the drone at a height of over 200 meters, pressed the release button, and watched the bomb spiral down, propelled by the tail fin of a badminton shuttlecock.

In just seven or eight seconds, two clouds of gray smoke burst from the ground, followed by a muffled explosion about half a second later.

Instead of standing casually within the enemy's firing range, Zhou Qingfeng assessed the 'bombing' effect through the mechanical dog's camera.

"The power was too weak. Even against wooden structures, our bombs didn't cause much damage; the shockwave was mostly absorbed by the roof."

Kangus shook his head dismissively. "Unless it's a large-caliber heavy artillery piece, even military weapons would have a hard time causing fatal damage to this kind of wooden structure."

Roger, who was acting as a military doctor, chimed in, "The ammonium nitrate we're using was originally fertilizer, so its explosive power is inherently small, far less than that of TNT."

Marco also offered his opinion, "Use incendiary bombs; these wooden buildings are most vulnerable to fire."

The expedition team had incendiary bombs; the fuel was simple to obtain—just stuff scrap plastic into an iron drum and perform atmospheric distillation. It wasn't ideal for driving, but it was perfect for starting fires.

However, everyone immediately dismissed Marco's suggestion, thinking to themselves, "Using incendiary bombs is easy, but the people inside might be doomed. What if there are girls among them? Wouldn't that be a waste?"

Zhou Qingfeng and his team could calmly assess the results of their 'bombing' from a distance of 100 meters.

Nedved, on the other side, was terrified by the two explosions and hurriedly left the second floor of his "fortress," hiding inside and preparing to put up a last-ditch effort.

Omar, watching from a distance, was horrified. He immediately realized that the group that had come today was far stronger than him and was most likely a band of bandits. He knew that there was absolutely no chance of winning if he fought them head-on.

"Gina," Omar called into the house, summoning a thin little girl who looked only seven or eight years old. "A group of people have come from outside town. Go ask them for some food and, while you're at it, ask them what they want."

The little girl nodded, staggered out of the house, and walked along the road toward Zhou Qingfeng and the others.

The first thing she encountered was a robotic dog responsible for perimeter security. Terrified, she said, "Dog, don't bite me, I want some food."

The mechanical dog didn't have a loudspeaker, but it circled the little girl once and then ignored her, remaining in place to keep watch.

The members of the expedition team behind them scratched their heads, unsure of what to do.
“Be careful, it could be a suicide bomber,” Congus warned. “I received relevant training in the military back in the day.”

The first ironclad rule: Do not trust any woman or child; do not indulge in excessive compassion; do not be complacent, especially in uncontrolled areas.

The expedition team had to be on high alert, given the extensive and profound experience the US military had in this area.

All the ironclad rules of the battlefield are truly earned with lives at stake; ignoring them is tantamount to playing with the lives of yourself and your comrades.

"What should we do then?" Zhou Qingfeng asked, looking at the young girl coming from the other side.

“Have her undress and come over; we must confirm her safety,” Kang Ge gave his answer.

When the team members all felt that this idea was too perverted, the sheriff turned to the only woman in the team and said, "Jennifer, you'd be better off handling this."

(End of this chapter)