Doomsday America

Chapter 121 Gunshots by the Lake, New Survivors.

When Gavin and his companion returned to the manor, everyone was still moving things out.

It wasn't that they were moving too slowly, but rather that there were just too many and too heavy items this time!

The M2 Browning heavy machine gun weighs 38 kilograms on its bare body, while the tripod supporting the gun weighs between 17 and 20 kilograms.

In other words, an M2 with a tripod is heavier than a 50-kilogram barbell, and its weight distribution is far less even than that of a barbell.

Only strong men like Gavin and Madison could lift one of these massive creatures by hand.

As for everyone in the manor, especially Nikita and Winnie, even when they worked together to move an M2, they were still struggling, and climbing stairs was even more difficult.

As for bullets, of the twenty-two boxes of machine gun ammunition Gavin found, only twelve boxes contained M33 universal ammunition for the M2 heavy machine gun, and each box contained 210 rounds.

A box of bullets contains only 210 rounds, but weighs about 30 kilograms. Twelve boxes of bullets together contain only about 2,500 rounds, but weigh about 700 kilograms, which is more than half a ton!

As for the remaining twelve boxes of ammunition, they were even heavier, as they were all bullets for the PKM machine gun.

One box of these bullets weighs 45 kilograms, and each box contains 1,000 rounds.

It's easy to imagine that, apart from Madison, the rest of the family, even in pairs, would have a hard time dealing with such a large and heavy ammunition box.

If the transport carts could be moved upstairs, Winnie would have liked to go to the cold storage at the chicken farm and push the carts and other items back.

Once Gavin and Steve returned, the moving work sped up considerably.

On the one hand, Gavin had no problem carrying the ammunition boxes himself, and even carrying two boxes at a time was not difficult; at most, his field of vision would be slightly limited.

As for Steve, he teamed up with Eugene, while Martin teamed up with Madison. The two of them quickly moved the ammo boxes in just a few trips.

This morning, Gavin and Madison almost entirely carried everything onto the car by themselves.

As for why Madison couldn't team up with Eugene to move things...

Stop joking. The height difference between them is obvious. Making them move goods together is no different from making Eugene move them by himself.
After the goods were settled, everyone finally sat down at the dining table. Even Horst sat at the very back, silently eating his meal.

It seems he chose to have his only meal of the day at noon.

As for the dishes for lunch, well, they were a little simpler than yesterday's, and the variety of vegetables was not as good.

Obviously, serving thirteen mouths at the same time, especially several big eaters, is not as easy as it seems.

Even though American cuisine is relatively more rustic, no matter how simple the dish is, if the quantity is large, the preparation and cooking alone will take up a lot of time.

So at this moment, Gavin was truly grateful to have met Doris.

After all, good food can significantly boost team morale.

With countless thoughts swirling in his mind, Gavin quickly fed himself and then hurried to the broadcasting room.

He replaced William, and old Bert went to the sentry post to replace Winnie, telling the two of them to hurry up and eat lunch.

After William finished his meal, he returned to the broadcasting room to continue his work, allowing Gavin to take a nap.

Gavin didn't refuse and went straight back to the sofa to sleep.

As Horst passed through the second-floor corridor, he couldn't help but stop and look in Gavin's direction, silently watching the sleeping Gavin.

Noticing Horst's gaze, old Bert, who was on guard duty, grinned and asked Horst a question.

"What, you coward? Do you have something to say to Gavin?"

"what?"

Horst was slightly taken aback by Old Bert's sudden call, then silently shook his head.

"Could you please not call me a coward, sir?"

"Old sir? Aha! How long has it been since I heard that address! Someone like you must be having a terrible time in Texas! Because we Texans don't like pretentious manners, it just looks hypocritical!"

Old Bert grinned and then waved to Horst.

After a moment of silence, Horst took small steps to old Bert's side.

When Horst came to him, old Bert nodded and said softly.

"You haven't spoken to anyone since last night, have you?"

"Otherwise what? I know what they'll say to me, why would I want to make a fool of myself?"

Horst replied to old Bert with his head down.

Upon hearing this, old Bert chuckled mischievously, then changed the subject and continued to ask.

"how old are you?"

"Twenty-six years old."

"Oh, he's a year older than Gavin, the same age as my youngest son."

Old Bert smiled, clapped his hands, and then continued.

"You know, on the day the apocalypse broke out, I had a high fever and slept fitfully until morning before I could call everyone I could."

"Of course I contacted my sons, but they didn't respond. When I was angry because they didn't answer my calls, I never imagined that it would be the moment I said goodbye to them forever."

"And you, Horst, a young man of only twenty-six, who did you lose in the apocalypse?"

At this point, old Bert looked up, smiled, and asked Horst.

Upon hearing this, Horst remained silent for a full twenty seconds, but old Bert did not interrupt him until Horst himself could no longer bear the quiet atmosphere, at which point he finally spoke.

"everything……"

"Everything... alas, losing everything is the first gift that the apocalypse gives to each of us."

As he spoke, old Bert turned around, turning himself back to face the view outside the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

In the view through the floor-to-ceiling windows, five wooden stakes suddenly appeared amidst the beautiful scenery, and the zombies writhing on the stakes made Old Bert frown uncomfortably.

He continued speaking to Horst while frowning.

"Would you mind talking about how you survived? I wouldn't ask anyone else this question."

“Even a gentle woman like Doris in our camp has done the feat of breaking through hordes of zombies.”

"And little girls like Nikita, along with Gavin and his group, had to be covered in zombie blood and empty several magazines of shotgun shells before they were even qualified to sit at the dinner table alive."

"But what about you? Your reaction to the zombies doesn't seem like someone who has ever encountered zombies before."

"Want to chat with this old man? Anyway, I might die anytime soon. Besides, no matter how embarrassing your escape was, it won't be more embarrassing than mine."

"Guess how I was rescued? I was naked, with a sprained back, crawling up the stairs looking for medicine when Gavin found me. Can you be more ridiculous than me? Haha~"

At this point, old Bert chuckled self-deprecatingly and looked up into Horst's eyes.

Meeting old Bert's gaze, Horst couldn't help but take a breath, then avoided his eyes.

Looking at Horst's slightly messy stubble, old Bert couldn't help but fall silent for a moment.

Horst stopped looking at old Bert and turned to the view outside the window, saying...

“My family lives near Fairfield. My parents run a small farm, which is only about 200 acres.”

"Yes, that's right, our area is full of small farms~"

Old Bert couldn't help but laugh, nodding in agreement as he did so, adopting a listening posture, but Horst didn't even glance at him.

After old Bert finished speaking, Horst continued.

“I’ve been staying with my parents for a while now, but I’ll be leaving them during the day to go to Dallas.”

“I used to sell car insurance, but I’m actually unemployed. I don’t dare to… and I don’t want my mom to know. Yes, I actually leave home during the day to go to Dallas to look for work.”

"The reason I go home at night is because I can no longer afford the rent in Dallas."

"If the end of the world hasn't come yet, then I might... break down soon."

"But just before I broke down, that night, I heard my mother screaming in the house."

"I opened the door and saw my mom being tackled to the ground by my dad. Then, the two of them rushed towards me together."

At this point, Horst couldn't help but grit his teeth, and his fists clenched slightly.

Noticing Horst's condition, old Bert pondered for a moment before asking a question.

"You just ran away, didn't you? Are you feeling guilty for not trying to save them? If so, you don't need to feel guilty at all. Morality can't bring back the dead. You did the right thing by running away."

"No, I don't feel guilty at all!"

At that moment, Horst abruptly interrupted old Bert, and continued speaking through gritted teeth.

"Why should I feel guilty? Why do you think I should feel guilty? They are dead. No matter how much I love them, they are still dead, while I am alive!"

"I closed the door, jumped out of the attic window, and landed on the roof of the first floor before I finally reached the horse and rode it away."

“I’ve sold cars before, so I know how to make a car run without a key. So I stole a car and kept going!”

“I ran from Fairfield to Teague, and from Teague to Buffalo, but it was full of zombies, absolutely full of them!”

"I finally ran into Mr. Martin when I had run out of options and started running towards Dallas!"

At this point, Horst's tone became a little more impatient, and his lips trembled involuntarily.

He continued, his emotions slightly agitated.

"Look, I ran away, I escaped, so I survived. I was right. Why should I feel guilty for running away? I was right. Only by running fast enough can you survive!"

"Zombies are too dangerous. Why do we have to face them? All we need to do is run. They can't catch us at all. Why do we have to fight them like barbarians!"

“That’s just how Mr. Martin is. After I met him, even though I told him how terrible the zombies in Teague and Buffalo were, he still left me behind and went out to risk his life like a madman. He dumped me!”

"Mr. Eugene was the same. I swear I yelled at him after I saw those two horrible zombies. I told him to run, run, get in the car and drive away!"

"But he acted like a madman, walking towards the zombies with a gun. What did he think he was, a hero from a myth? I think he was more like Don Quixote. No matter how brave he was, he would eventually die on the road because he was too reckless!"

"And you, Mr. Albert, can't you see the problem with this camp? Everyone here is going crazy. They treat deadly dangers as a game, and they've even kept terrifying zombies around the camp!"

"This will set a bad example for the children. Ms. Doris's child is so young. If she is misled by you into wanting to practice against zombies, it will be a tragedy. You are all wrong!"

"Hey! Calm down, kid, calm down!"

Hearing this, old Bert had to interrupt Horst, because his voice was getting louder and louder and was sure to disturb Gavin.

Old Bert wanted Gavin to rest a little longer, so he tentatively reached out and grabbed Horst's hand, trying to calm him down.

Realizing his wrist was being grabbed, Horst jerked his hand away.

Seeing Horst's strong reaction, old Bert shook his head and reminded Horst.

"Kid, you better keep quiet, unless you want to wake Gavin up!"

"I... okay, I know... he's a big shot, an enviable big shot, before the apocalypse, and after the apocalypse... he still is!"

Horst lowered his voice and gritted his teeth as he responded to old Bert's words, then continued speaking in a low voice.

“Mr. Albert, you should understand what I mean. I told Eugene to run with me, but he wouldn’t listen to me at all. He put himself in danger on his own. It wasn’t me who abandoned him!”

"What if he hadn't hit the zombies? What if there were even more zombies behind them? What if he had gotten on the bus with me from the beginning? Then none of this would have happened!"

"I don't care that he beat me. I experienced too many similar things when I was in college. Mr. Eugene is like every school bully, reckless, impulsive, doesn't like to think, and is willing to praise himself!"

"As for now, the big shot gave me a punishment that wasn't really a punishment. I like the safe environment of the manor, and I won't starve to death even if I only have one meal a day."

"But even if it's just to thank him, I must point out your mistakes. You're all on the road to madness. We shouldn't have provoked the zombies. We..."

"Ah ha, old Bert, what the hell are you talking about with that idiot? I don't think you're the kind of person who would have a good time talking to a coward!"

Suddenly, Martin's voice came from afar. He shouted at old Bert while raising his hand to show him the beer.

"Wait for me, old buddy. A patient can't be without beer. I'll bring you some wheat juice right now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Martin walked through the lobby on the first floor and came to the corridor on the second floor.

Horst took two quick breaths, then abruptly shook off old Bert and went back to his room, refusing to come out again.

Watching Horst's retreating figure, Martin scoffed disdainfully, moved closer to old Bert, and handed him a beer.

As he bumped into old Bert, Martin asked a question.

"What's going on? What are you talking about with that guy? Look at his excited, red face, I thought he was going to ask you to buy sex!"

"Shit..."

Hearing Martin's words, old Bert smiled, shook his head, and cursed.

"If he's interested in an old guy like me, then isn't it even more likely that something will happen between you two after spending several days with him?"

"Tch, him? If Gavin likes my ass, I wouldn't mind loosening my belt, but him? Screw him. Even if he stuck his sexy little ass out in front of me, I wouldn't bother coming closer, because I don't like cowards who abandon their buddies, even if they've only known each other for half a day!"

As Martin answered, he waved to old Bert and went back to his room to drink his wine.

After Martin left, in the empty hall, old Bert looked around to make sure everyone's doors were closed before speaking to Gavin.

"Gavin, you heard what that guy said, so what do you think?"

"Yeah, I heard it. He was so loud it gave me goosebumps."

Gavin responded, sprawled on the sofa.

Upon hearing this, old Bert chuckled and shook his head, then continued to ask.

"I'm asking what you think, not if your scalp feels numb, kid."

"Heh, what else can I say? His theory doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and it's so cowardly it's alarming. He said so much, but he never mentioned his real mistakes, so what else can I say?"

Gavin rolled over and spoke to old Bert from a distance.

"His only mistake was abandoning Eugene and running away. Don't be ridiculous. His real mistake was taking the only car that could get Eugene out of danger!"

“If he just takes off running towards the manor, neither Eugene nor I care how fast he runs.”

"Or rather, that's what I hope for. Although I hope that the logistics team can develop some skills to fight zombies, for logistics members who don't have that ability, once faced with a crisis, logistics personnel without combat capabilities should run faster and not become a burden on the battlefield, causing trouble for the field operations."

At this point, Gavin couldn't help but yawn.

Old Bert nodded slightly and smiled wryly.

"Yes, running away was his own choice. If his choice doesn't affect others, then it's fine for him to run away. As long as he can help us with some of the daily work, he's a useful and good guy."

After he finished speaking, old Bert remained silent for a moment, then glanced out the window.

After confirming that there was no danger outside the window, old Bert turned back to Gavin and asked in a low voice.

"So what are you planning to do? Based on my experience, that guy is already showing signs of danger."

"It's just the beginning."

Upon hearing this, Gavin thoughtfully responded to old Bert.

“If he continues to remain silent and doesn’t utter a single word, I’ll be more worried.”

"But he opened his mouth, old man. He was like a child who had sworn never to speak a word to his parents again. He broke his vow after a short while and couldn't help but pour out all his thoughts and grievances."

At this point, Gavin lay there and made a shrug, which old Bert did exactly the same way.

They looked at each other and chuckled softly. After the chuckle, Gavin lay there, pursed his lips, and continued speaking.

"Old buddy, when he's so eager to vent his frustrations, what is he really hoping for? Is he really hoping to change our entire camp with his ideas?"

"Stop joking. He just wants to find a reason for himself to stop being ostracized by everyone, or an excuse to prove that he is not wrong."

“I’d even bet you that if the camp really becomes what he says, and everyone loses the courage to face zombies, then Horst will be the one who panics the most.”

"Horst's current situation is that he is struggling to free himself from isolation while also wanting to enjoy the protection of fieldwork with a clear conscience."

"It's like wanting to be a prostitute and also wanting to maintain a virtuous image!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin buried his head in the armrest of the sofa.

Old Bert chuckled, then looked at Horst's door and laughed.

“Gavin, it’s been two years. You’ve matured a lot. I thought you would want to get rid of him, since he could be a bit of a problem.”

"Heh, how do you know I haven't thought that way?"

Upon hearing this, Gavin lay there and gave his final response to old Bert.

Upon hearing Gavin's words, old Bert paused for a moment, then burst into a satisfied laugh.

While laughing, old Porter patted his thigh and said.

"That's right, Gavin, always keep your eyes open..."

From then on, old Bert remained silent, observing his surroundings in quiet contemplation.

Gavin fell into a deep sleep, managing to get a good hour of sleep, and got up promptly at one o'clock.

After rubbing his eyes, stretching, and exhaling a breath of stale air, Gavin turned on his walkie-talkie and urged the field staff.

"Guys, assemble in the lobby."

As Gavin urged them on, Nikita and Madison had already come out of the room.

The three of them sat in the lobby for about a minute, and then all the field staff gradually gathered in the lobby.

Looking at everyone, Gavin spoke softly.

"This afternoon, Eugene, arrange the positions of the five machine guns, preferably on the edge of the third-floor roof and the second-floor terrace."

"Over the next few days, go to the old manor's warehouse and find some metal and welding rods. Try to weld a few simple bulletproof barriers around each machine gun."

"Roger that, boss. I like this job, but I'm not very good at soldering. Could you ask Old Bert to take a look?"

As Eugene answered, he glanced at old Bert, who gave him an OK sign.

As a professional blacksmith, and someone who had spent his entire life working with iron, old Bert's welding skills, while not outstanding, were at least somewhat proficient.

Seeing Eugene and old Bert reach an agreement, Gavin nodded and then spoke to Martin.

"As for you, Martin, this afternoon, go to the vicinity of the stables and find some readily available timber to build a few roadblocks."

"A length of 150 centimeters and a height of about 50 centimeters is sufficient. Then, add some things to the crossbars that can knock down zombies, such as nails, iron bars, or some fishing nets and rotten ropes."

At this point, Gavin sat on the sofa and rubbed his head.

He was just about to explain something to everyone.

"Because the residents will actively change locations to fill the empty houses we have cleared, it would be a waste of time for us to continue exploring room by room."

"Therefore, we must change our exploration mode, directly lock onto our target area, and set up simple roadblocks to ensure our safety when we are in the target area."

"If we don't encounter any howlers while exploring the target area, we can simply put away the roadblocks after we finish exploring."

"If we trigger the howlers and cause a disturbance in the horde, the roadblocks will trip up the zombies and create obstacles to help us buy time, which will greatly reduce our risk."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin stood up and waved to everyone.

"That's all for this afternoon. The four of us will continue to move things from the gun shop. This time, we'll try to open the door to the gun shop's basement. Hopefully, there are more machine guns and bullets inside."

"As for the time, no matter how much supplies we move, we must be back before four o'clock."

"After four o'clock, Steve, Eugene, and I will take a helicopter and explore the area towards Livingston Lake before it gets dark."

"Without the geographical data of Livingston Lake, the astronauts cannot begin the final calculations. If they want to calculate the survival route, they should at least be able to do so based on the landing point."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin waved to everyone, and they immediately split into three groups.

Gavin and his three companions drove to Richardstown to continue moving the guns from the shop, while Eugene went to the armory to dismantle the tripod and slowly transported the M2 machine gun to the edge of the third-floor rooftop.

As for Martin, he carried a beer, lit a cigarette, slung a pistol over his shoulder, and carried a crossbow. He got into his pickup truck and headed towards the stables.

Watching Martin head alone toward the stables, old Bert silently shifted his binoculars and focused his gaze on Martin.

Although Martin had only been at the farm for a day, he was still working hard, except that he was a little listless and also liked to drink a couple of beers due to withdrawal symptoms.

At least old Bert liked him quite a bit.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Texas is a state that highly values ​​tough guys, so an old hunter like Martin who walks the wilderness would naturally be well-received by Texans.

In short, time passed slowly, and by the time Gavin and his three companions drove back to the manor, it was nearly 3:40.

This time, Gavin's haul was even greater; he not only brought two more M2s, but also managed to acquire five rocket launchers.

One of them is the M72LAW, which is anti-armor, and the other is the AT4, which is anti-bunker. However, both of these are disposable and can be put into the armory as trump cards.

As for the remaining three, two of them are SMAWs, equipped with twelve armor-piercing rounds and eight high-explosive rounds.

The last one is the M141, which is equipped with an additional five thermobaric rounds!
In addition to machine guns and rocket launchers, Gavin also got his hands on a Gatling gun that spewed blue flames, but it only had about 8,000 rounds of ammunition, which would be used up in just over a minute.

As for hand grenades, there weren't many, only about fifty in total, including fourteen M67 fragmentation grenades and eight M61 safety fragmentation grenades, the kind used in small quantities by the U.S. National Guard.

In addition, Gavin found fourteen MK3A2 shockwave grenades and a total of twenty-two AN-M14 incendiary grenades.

I doubt many people in Richardstown would buy stun grenades and incendiary bombs.

Upon seeing the shipment Gavin brought back, Eugene, who had been studying the ammunition belts, became excited again.

He roared and lunged at Gatling, grabbing it in his arms.

The Gatling gun was quite heavy, which was tough on Eugene's small frame. Fortunately, the Gatling gun wasn't loaded yet, so Eugene eventually managed to lift it up.

He strained to hold the Gatling gun at his waist, excitedly making a "rat-a-tat-tat" sound at Gavin and his group.

Faced with Eugene's invitation to play the game, Madison instinctively grabbed an RPG and, yelling, briefly played with Eugene for a few seconds.

A few seconds later, Gavin clapped his hands with amusement, interrupting the two of them, and gave an order.

"Stop messing around and get the stuff inside. We need to take the helicopter in a bit, so hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah, damn it, I feel like I've never been this busy even when I was in the army, especially since I'm not just busy with firing guns now~"

Eugene laughed as he propped up the Gatling gun and offered one hand in a salute to Gavin.

Gavin then kicked him in the butt, which earned him an even louder curse from Eugene.

Amidst the curses, the group moved the equipment back and forth until it was all stored in the armory. Then Madison and Nikita took a break.

Gavin then took Steve and Eugene into the helicopter and flew towards the general direction of Livingston Lake.

Steve kept the helicopter at an altitude of about 1,400 meters, just enough so that the zombies on the ground could not detect it.

Sitting on the plane, Eugene, unusually, took out paper and pen and started writing and drawing.

While calculating something, Eugene irritably chewed on the cap of his ballpoint pen and cursed.

"Damn it, what did I learn in school? If you asked me to speak, I could definitely talk a good game, but why is it so hard to write it down?"

"Ha, that's how we are. We forget almost everything we learned in school once we leave, buddy!"

While controlling the plane, Steve spoke to Eugene through his headset, and the two immediately began a pleasant discussion about the issue.

Meanwhile, Gavin stood at the cabin door, peering through the helicopter window with binoculars, constantly observing the trail below.

Their investigation extends far beyond the area around Livingston Lake; they also need to document the environment along the route from the manor to Livingston Lake.

The general layout of the towns along the way, whether the roads are clear, and whether there are any signs of large groups of zombies moving around.

Moreover, every so often, Gavin would open the hatch a crack, pick up a stack of leaflets, and throw them to the ground.

They continued walking and throwing out flyers until they reached the vicinity of Livingston Lake, at around 5:10 p.m.

Livingston Lake is quite far away, so even though Steve was flying a medium-speed helicopter at over 260 km/h, it would still take about an hour to fly there.

Looking down at Lake Livingston, Steve circled the lake halfway around, avoiding several locations that were clearly resort areas and further away from the nearby villages, before landing the helicopter on a meadow without any forest cover.

As soon as he landed, Eugene hurriedly grabbed three different binoculars and went to the edge of the lake to observe something.

Seeing that Eugene was getting into work mode, Gavin and Steve leaned against the helicopter, smoking cigarettes and chatting for a bit.

After the smoke died down, Steve turned on the walkie-talkie and spoke to Eugene.

"Buddy, you have about twenty-five minutes left. If it gets too late and we can't get back to the farm area before the sun goes down, we might get lost."

"Don't fucking scare me. If we really can't find our way back, we can just find any open space to sleep for the night."

Eugene gave Steve the middle finger from a distance, then continued to observe and record along the lake.

Seeing Eugene's energetic appearance, Gavin gently patted Steve on the shoulder.

“Don’t interrupt him, Steve. This is a time for him to use his brain, not the tough soldier who only knew how to shoot…”

boom!
Bang bang bang!
boom!
Just as Gavin finished speaking, several barely audible gunshots suddenly rang out from the northwest.

Although the gunshots were barely audible, Steve had already stopped the helicopter, and without the noise of the rotors, they still managed to detect the gunshots!
In an instant, Steve rushed back to the helicopter cockpit and shouted to Eugene from afar.

"Shit, Eugene, get back on the plane! There are gunshots in the distance!"

"What are you scared of, buddy? Those gunshots are clearly from shotguns, and they're at least 800 or 900 meters away. Even if they exhaust themselves, they won't be able to hit us... Holy crap! There are survivors over here!!!"

When Eugene first heard Steve's words, he was still laughing at Steve for making a mountain out of a molehill.

But before he could finish speaking, he realized there was an even more crucial issue.

Zombies don't shoot!

In an instant, Eugene rushed to the helicopter, hopped back to his seat, and slammed the cabin door shut.

Gavin, clinging to the hatch, pointed to the forest park to the northwest and spoke.

"The gunshots likely came from Livingston Lake State Forest!"

As Gavin finished speaking, Steve had already started the helicopter and headed towards the forest park to the northwest.

They were not far from the gunshot, at most 800 meters away. However, the gunshot was inside the forest, and Gavin and his group had not noticed any signs of it even though they had just passed overhead.

As they gradually approached the sound of gunfire, they finally spotted a Hummer speeding recklessly on a small road in the forest park.

Gavin swore he didn’t see a moving Hummer when he was patrolling the area!

Once he confirmed that the moving vehicle had been spotted, Steve didn't hesitate and immediately chased after the Hummer.

Gavin picked up his binoculars and began tracing the gunshots from the Hummer, searching for the location where the shots had been fired.

A moment later, Gavin spotted a house surrounded by bushes about 260 meters away from the Hummer. It looked like an ice cream shop, and also somewhat like a souvenir shop.

What he didn't know was that this forest was part of Livingston Lake State Forest Park, which receives a number of tourists every year.

Therefore, it's perfectly normal to have ice cream shops and souvenir vendors here.

Meanwhile, Gavin quickly assessed the distance between the ice cream shop and their previous location.

After a brief observation, Eugene spoke up.

"The gunshots just now should have come from the nearby ice cream shop. Maybe the people in that Hummer encountered zombies inside the shop."

"not necessarily!"

As soon as Eugene finished speaking, Gavin immediately retorted and then spoke up.

"I didn't see any moving Hummers when we arrived at the lake."

"We're not that high off the ground. If there really is a moving target, I'm sure my eyes won't miss it!"

"So, that Hummer has been parked near the ice cream shop for at least a while now. Under those circumstances, if there were zombies, the stranger survivors should have dealt with the zombie problem as soon as they arrived!"

“The buildings in the forest park are sparse, and there are no other buildings within 140 meters of the ice cream shop and two nearby stalls.”

“In this situation, whether the survivor is ambushed or stationed, his gunshot should not have been delayed for so long before it finally rang out!”

At this point, Gavin patted Eugene on the shoulder and continued.

"So either they encountered a zombie that had been lying in wait for a long time, so much so that the Hummer driver explored the ice cream shop for at least ten minutes before finally launching an attack, forcing the survivors to fire back."

"Or, I think the Hummer driver probably just ran into someone else!"

"You can tell a bit about this from the rhythm of the gunfire. Don't forget that after the first shot, there was a brief moment of chaos in the gunfire. Although they were all shotgun sounds, it didn't sound like a single gun making all that noise!"

"indeed!"

Eugene nodded heavily and then asked.

"It certainly didn't sound like a gun. So, boss, do you think there was a gunfight nearby just now, involving different survivors?"

"It's just speculation. It's also possible that there was more than one person in the Hummer. If it was two people fighting zombies together, then my speculation is invalid."

Gavin answered Eugene's question while patting his bulletproof vest.

If a gunfight had really broken out just now, Gavin couldn't guarantee that the guy who was shooting at others wouldn't also shoot him when he saw him!
Meanwhile, Steve had already caught up to the roof of the Hummer.

At that moment, the helicopter was about 120 meters above the Hummer, continuing to track the Hummer along the road.

The survivor in the Hummer must have noticed the helicopter's arrival, but instead of stopping, he quickly changed direction and drove straight to the edge of the road, seemingly trying to drive the Hummer into the forest.

Seeing the Hummer change direction, Gavin frowned and said.

"The survivors were extremely wary of strangers, preferring to risk driving into the forest rather than have any contact with us. They... um?"

Before Gavin could finish speaking, the Hummer, which was about to rush into the forest, suddenly slammed on the brakes and stopped at the edge of the forest.

Seeing the Hummer stop, Steve cautiously hovered the helicopter above it, hesitating to descend, while speaking to Gavin.

"Boss, he stopped the car. Should we go down? We don't know why the survivor stopped, but since he stopped, he probably won't refuse to communicate with us."

"Hold on."

Listening to Steve's words, Gavin stared intently at the Hummer and said softly.

"Let's see if he gets out of the car!"

"Boss, he's out. Is he... Asian? Is he Japanese, Korean, or Japanese?"

Eugene immediately shouted to Gavin, and at the same time, Gavin had already seen the man getting out of the driver's seat.

He had a neat short haircut, was about 183 cm tall, and of medium build. He carried a Remington 870 shotgun on his waist.

At that moment, the middle-aged Asian man was spreading his arms out, making a harmless gesture toward Gavin and his two companions' helicopter.

But his move was a bit cunning, because although he had loosened his shotgun and let it hang at his side, the muzzle was pointing towards the ground in front of him.

If he really wanted to shoot, even if he raised his hands, he only needed to shift his hand position and press down on the shotgun stock to aim and fire directly!
(End of this chapter)