Doomsday America

Chapter 166 Chain Reaction
They rested for several hours amidst laughter and joy.

Gavin took his buddies for a shotgun stunt, had a few beers, and chatted with them. The atmosphere of last night's party hadn't dissipated by lunchtime.

Gavin ate his lunch while enjoying the lively banter with his friends.

Although the camp was small and the number of people was small, and the people had different personalities, he couldn't find anything to complain about in the camp.

With that in mind, Gavin finished his lunch and reminded the field staff to gather at one o'clock.

Then he mounted Octavian, took a few dogs, and planned to go out for a ride with the horses and dogs.

The dogs actually get plenty of exercise, since the estate is so big that they can expend enough energy just by moving around there.

But Octavian.

This handsome fellow can really get grumpy if he doesn't move around for too long.

In the distant manor, seeing Gavin leave and mount his horse, the men who were still hanging around the hall exchanged glances. Then Martin strode out of the manor and came to the makeshift horse pen set up at the camp, where he spoke to Gavin.

"Boss, want to go for a walk?"

"Um, want to come together?"

Gavin extended an invitation to Martin.

He originally planned to tidy up Octavian and then take Nikita out for a stroll, but bringing Martin along wouldn't be a problem either.

Martin nodded without hesitation in the face of Gavin's invitation.

"Of course, that's why I came to talk to you about this. It's not safe for you to act alone. It's a rule you set for not to act alone, boss."

"Yes, it was my rule, so I was waiting for Nikita. She's probably gone to pack her gear."

Gavin shrugged at Martin, who immediately felt a little embarrassed.

Martin paused for a moment, then said with amusement.

"Okay, I see. You two play then, I'm going home to lie down..."

"It's alright, we're just taking the horses for a spin, it's fine if we go together. Let's go."

Gavin interrupted Martin, gently waving his hand to him, signaling him to hurry up and mount his horse.

Martin nodded with a wry smile, calmed his horse, and mounted it.

After the two rode their horses around the manor gate for a couple of steps, Nikita changed her gear and came outside. When she saw the two of them side by side, she was genuinely taken aback.

However, she didn't say anything, but naturally mounted her horse and came to the two of them, especially to Gavin.

After calling for Bruce the Golden Retriever to follow her, Nikita looked at Gavin and asked softly.

Where shall we go for a horse ride?

"Ha, the best exercise for walking horses is naturally catching them. Let's go to the place where the horses have been recently spotted and bring back another batch of horses. There are more and more people in the camp, and they will need them."

Gavin responded to Nikita.

Hearing Gavin's words, Martin paused for a moment, then muttered something with a bitter expression.

"Well, no wonder you two were working together and didn't mind me getting involved. Turns out you were there to do some work!"

“Otherwise, Martin, should Gavin and I be having an affair? That would be neither apocalyptic nor a survival exercise.”

Nikita replied to Martin expressionlessly.

Upon hearing this, Martin shrugged noncommittally, and the three of them immediately set off towards the stables.

Gavin really brought Martin along for nothing. With this guy on board, the search for the horses became much easier. Martin quickly followed the latest movements of the herd and tracked their trail.

The group chased the horses for about four kilometers, crossed a river, and found them on a plain directly downstream from Lake Richards.

They were caught for about forty minutes, and when they got home, they had a total of eleven horses.

After tying the new horse to the stable, Gavin returned to the hall.

It was almost 1 a.m., and the field staff had already gathered in the lobby.

Seeing this, Gavin spoke crisply and decisively to the field staff.

"The field team will split into two groups: Nikita, Eugene, Martin, Barn, Abraham, Diana, Anthony, and I will be in one group. We'll be driving three cars to Richard Town!"

“The field pilots will form a group, with Steve and you all together. Since you are still in your training period, why don’t we test fly to the vicinity of Livingston Lake, record the surrounding environmental data, and then go home to contact the astronauts?”

"The others should form their own groups and conduct a thorough search of the area around the manor, bringing back as many necessary resources as possible!"

"The search area includes the Richards Lake resort area, the farm town, and every building within the farm premises, as well as other farms surrounding the farm!"

"It's a long and arduous job, but I think you should understand that action and search are the work that we explorers are destined to do for the rest of our lives!"

"I don't expect everyone to find enjoyment in exploration, but in any case, stay alert, be vigilant, and be patient with the hard work!"

"Besides, Father Hogan, ZT, and Li Qing, although you three are field agents, you have your own things to do, and I don't need to emphasize that much."

"ZT will continue to be in charge of broadcasting; that's your favorite job, isn't it?"

“Father Hogan, you will need to build your church yourself. If it is not necessary, the camp does not have enough manpower to allocate to you for the time being, because the camp’s future defenses and concealment will require more manpower to participate.”

"As for Li Qing, I have high expectations for your biology lab, especially the antibiotic cultivation that you and I have mentioned."

"But in any case, please be careful while you are collecting the items needed for the lab, and communicate and cooperate with the office staff as much as possible. I will provide you with assistance."

"Besides, you're from the same hometown, so I shouldn't need to worry about your communication, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin looked at Li Qing, who nodded heavily.

With the work assignments basically completed, everyone began adjusting their equipment according to Gavin's instructions.

The people who went to Richards with Gavin had more work to do; they had to deliver liquid carbon dioxide tanks to heavy trucks.

Upon seeing this, Thomas, the butler who had just finished setting up the task board, immediately wrote down the urgent task of moving the tanks on the task board.

This also demonstrates the value of the task board. Gavin didn't need to spend extra energy giving orders, and soon, five or six logistics men gathered around the field staff to help move the large tanks.

With their help, it didn't take more than a few tens of minutes.

Two tons of large tanks, totaling twenty-five large tanks, were neatly arranged inside the heavy truck.

Meanwhile, the flight team had already set off, and the remaining field crew had also left to search the small town where the farm was located.

Father Hogan went to the library and found books on architecture, then began studying them with a headache...

Don't think that building a house is a simple matter.

In particular, the building he wanted to construct was a church.

Therefore, he will need to study for a while to figure out exactly what materials are needed.

At this point, Gavin and his group of eight, in two armored vehicles and a heavy truck, headed towards Richard Town.

It was the same familiar road. Gavin, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn't help but smile expectantly as he watched the power plant pass by.

Once that aggregate is dealt with, Richard Town will be completely wiped out.

At that time, while sending people to Richardtown for a routine search, he could also lead a team to attempt to empty the power plant.

The power plant is a little different from Richard Town, since the power plant is a single building where all the zombies hide.

Richardtown, on the other hand, is an open environment.

Compared to the open-world Richard Town, the number of zombies at the power plant won't be too high, but Gavin will have to go inside the building to clear them out.

This environment is not much different from that of a prison.

And so, filled with hope of reclaiming the power station, the convoy finally stopped at the gates of Richardtown.

Upon arriving here, Eugene opened the window of the lead car, leaned out, and shouted to Gavin.

"Boss, should we fire a few more shots?"

"Come on, after all, it's never wrong to be cautious."

Gavin gave Eugene a thumbs-up.

Upon seeing this, Eugene immediately stuck his revolver out the window and fired six shots into the sky.

After finishing, he loaded the cartridge and waited a moment with Gavin.

More than a minute passed, and still no other zombies appeared in the town.

The convoy then restarted and gradually approached the center of the town.

Although Gavin's team had already emptied the town long ago.

Continuing to fire and wait at this point would seem foolish.

But at that moment, no one in the convoy thought it was foolish to do that. As Gavin said, caution is never wrong.

Moreover, the town was filled with empty buildings, making it look like a ghost town, which gradually made the team members feel depressed.

Firing a few shots to ease the team members' worries and reduce the tension is hardly a bad thing.

In short, the convoy finally stopped more than sixty meters away from the aggregate.

Gavin took a deep breath as he looked at the aggregate in the distance, and then addressed the crowd.

"Let's move out. First, plant the time bomb on the heavy truck, then remove the cab and use the armored vehicle to push the truck's cargo compartment into the aggregate's counterattack range."

"Eugene, control the detonation time well, give us time to push the warehouse."

"Received. I'll try my best. I guarantee the time of the explosion will be accurate, but I can't guarantee anything else."

Eugene responded to Gavin from a distance, then got out of his car and went to the vicinity of the heavy truck.

Martin continued to approach the aggregate in his heavy truck until he was only seventeen or eighteen meters away, at which point he stopped the vehicle with a pounding heart!

This distance is already the limit. If he drives any closer, it will be very difficult for his truck to turn around after the trailer is unloaded.

Seeing the car stop, Eugene immediately climbed onto the cargo hold and began preparing his large bomb.

Martin unloaded the trailer, carefully turned around and left, leaving the cargo hold behind.

Gavin activated his battle shield and positioned himself directly on top of the cargo hold, ready to ram it into the aggregate at any moment.

On the warehouse floor, Eugene crouched amidst a pile of liquid carbon dioxide cylinders, silently fiddling with bombs.

He fiddled with it while wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Damn it, I haven't done such a stressful job in ages."

He couldn't help but mutter something under his breath, then unconsciously pressed his legs, which started to tremble again.

He knew that if anything went wrong with his actions, he would not only kill Gavin and his group on the spot, but also leave no trace of his own body.

Having only known Gavin for less than ten days, although he admired Gavin as the leader, to be honest, Gavin's life was not as important to him as his own for the time being.

The crucial point is that if they fail, he'll be the first one to die...

Suppressing his fear, Eugene took one last look, then turned to Gavin and asked, "Boss, the bomb's ready. We can start the countdown anytime. How long do you think should be set?"

"How long is appropriate?"

Upon hearing Eugene's question, Gavin took a deep breath and responded.

"Half a minute!"

"Half a minute?"

Eugene stared wide-eyed at Gavin in horror.

Gavin nodded with absolute certainty and then spoke to Nikita in the car.

"Nikita, open the back door and be ready for Eugene to get in!"

"The bomb's timer can't be set for too long, otherwise, I'm worried that after the aggregate reacts, it will quickly abandon the warehouse and return to its original location, just like we did back then!"

"Half a minute is already the limit right now; any shorter and I can't be sure of our safety."

"If this method doesn't work, then we'll take it slowly, demolish the surrounding buildings, dig wider isolation zones and pits, and try to ensure that the aggregate can't move around with flames, then burn it to the ground!"

At this point, Gavin glanced at the already open back door and the tense men inside, then turned to Eugene and called out.

"Eugene, set the timer, and get in my car as soon as it's done!"

"Roger that!"

Upon receiving the order, Eugene felt a chill run down his spine and set a timer.

Then he took off running, faster than a monkey, and in less than three seconds, Eugene had jumped onto Gavin's car.

Once Eugene was confirmed to be on board, Gavin slammed on the gas, and the War Shield immediately pushed the cargo hold toward the aggregate.

One meter... two meters...

In about five seconds, Gavin pushed the warehouse into the aggregate.

The aggregate immediately began to wriggle, dragging its hideous body toward the warehouse.

Seeing this, Gavin quickly shifted gears and reversed to escape.

After drifting in reverse, Gavin drove off, but before he could even get two hundred meters away, when there were still at least eleven or twelve seconds left before the bomb exploded...

boom! ! !
Boom! ! !
Boom boom! ! !

A loud explosion came directly from the back of the car!

boom!
Gavin's mind was immediately jolted violently, and his car was also splashed with terrifying shockwaves and blood and flesh everywhere.

The shockwave even caused Gavin's car to accelerate briefly, while the men inside were momentarily stunned by the shockwave.

"Fuck!"

Feeling the tinnitus and dizziness, Gavin looked up at Eugene and cursed him without hesitation.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I don't know, I really don't know! This definitely wasn't the time I set! That big guy must have caused the pressure tank to explode!!!"

Eugene shook his head, especially covering his ears as he shouted at Gavin.

Gavin continued to accelerate while glancing at the aggregate through the rearview mirror...

Ok?
Where is this so-called polymer? What would be the effect of an explosion of two tons of liquid carbon dioxide?
If these liquid carbon dioxide tanks were arranged reasonably and evenly in the mountains, they could almost collapse a small mountain.

While Gavin and his group's arrangement of the liquid carbon dioxide tanks was not scientific, they were simply piled together.

But precisely because of this, the power of the explosion was more concentrated and more intense.

As a result, the aggregate was shattered into many pieces, with large chunks of flesh even flying through the air and slamming into the surrounding buildings.

In the town of Richard, nearly a third of the glass shattered completely at the same time.

There were even more than 30 houses that were directly destroyed by the explosion, and 70 or 80 houses were damaged beyond recognition by the flying chunks of flesh!

Fortunately, the crew in the other two cars had already driven far away, and Gavin and his group were in an armored car, which had driven a couple hundred meters away.

Otherwise, if the explosion had happened two or three seconds earlier, he probably would have been meeting God!

Still feeling a lingering fear, Gavin parked his car about 350 meters away from the explosion site.

They were almost out of town by this distance.

At this point, Gavin finally got out of the car to check the power of the explosion.

The crew members from the other two cars beside him, along with the people in his car, also got out and came to check the area.

Following his gaze, Gavin saw nothing but utter devastation; the town center looked as if it had been hit by a small nuclear bomb.

The entire central area was reduced to ruins, and ruins covered in blood!
The surrounding area also appeared chaotic, with broken buildings everywhere.

This scene successfully silenced everyone present for a brief moment.

tick...

tick...

At the rear of the tank, splattered blood mixed with an extremely putrid stench dripped down the vehicle and onto the ground.

That was the only sound that kept coming from the scene...

After two minutes of silence, Martin finally reacted and immediately started cursing at Eugene.

"What the hell did you make? Why did it explode so quickly? You almost killed us!"

"I almost blew myself up too, damn it, that had nothing to do with me, it must have been the aggregate that crushed the liquefied gas tank!"

Eugene had to repeat what he thought were the reasons to Martin again, then swallowed hard and rubbed his scalp with lingering fear.

"Damn it!"

He just rubbed his hair and said that.

"I was so close to death, damn it, this was really too dangerous!"

"Boss, in our future operations, we should try to avoid creating any more of these terrifying things like aggregates. Cleaning up these things could be deadly!"

"Whether we use fire or explosion, there is a considerable degree of danger. Unless we can get an air-to-ground missile to fire at the aggregate, it would be too terrifying for us to plant the bombs ourselves!"

"Although the liquid carbon dioxide tank is sturdy, the polymer itself weighs at least several hundred tons, and this weight can easily disrupt the tank's balance!"

"That's right!"

Gavin nodded emphatically after hearing Eugene's words, and then summarized.

"You're right, our method still has flaws. Using people to push the tank near the polymer is still a bit too dangerous!"

"If there is a next time, I think we should dig a pit in the ground and then pile the gas cylinders in the pit."

"At that time, we will actively attract the aggregates to run towards us, then avoid the pit and lure the aggregates into falling directly into the pit, which will then trigger the gas tank to explode!"

"Besides, damn it, we used a bit too many cans today. It feels like the power far exceeds the limits that the aggregate can withstand."

"If we encounter other aggregates, we need to adjust the scale of the explosion more rationally based on the size of the aggregates to minimize the risks we will face during the explosion!"

At this point, Gavin rubbed his face.

aside...

"vomit……"

Nikita couldn't help but gag.

Of course she's not pregnant; how could she be pregnant so quickly?

The air smells absolutely fucking awful!
Originally, when the aggregate could still be in a pile, although the odor was strong, the gradually drying and congealing flesh shell on the surface of the aggregate actually buried most of the odor inside the aggregate.

And now...

boom!
After a massive explosion, the aggregate opened its heart and soul to the world, revealing its most disgusting side.

Moreover, besides the aggregates, don't forget that there are still hundreds of corpses in Richard Town that haven't been cleared away.

Although many of the corpses were eaten by passing crows, a large portion remained on the ground to continue rotting. The smell was so strong that Gavin felt dizzy just from smelling it.

As the tension and fear gradually subsided, the crowd finally noticed the omnipresent smell.

For a moment, the sounds of retching rose and fell, and Gavin, looking pale, took out a mask and put it on.

"Put on your masks, guys!"

Although the mask couldn't block out all the smells, Gavin's complexion was at least much better.

He glanced around at the scattered, fragmented corpses of the aggregate, then waved to the crowd.

"Let's go, guys, go home and change vehicles, and bring a heavy truck and a forklift over with us."

"We need to hurry and collect all that disgusting stuff on the ground in Richard Town as soon as possible, and send it to our incineration site, the place where we had the party last night, to burn it again!"

"Damn it, there are way more corpses in Richard Town than we killed last night, and they're so rotten they're practically producing septic gas. If we don't clean them up and burn them soon, we won't be able to operate in this town anytime soon!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin quickly got into the car, and the others followed suit, driving towards the manor.

Before long, the group returned to the manor, leaving behind the blood-stained battle shield. They then switched to other vehicles, including bulldozers and heavy trucks, and headed back towards Richard Town.

But this time, just as Gavin led his team to the vicinity of Richard Reservoir, before they had even passed the power plant...

Suddenly, Lao Feng's urgent voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Boss!"

Old Feng shouted into the walkie-talkie.

"I am Feng. I am about nine kilometers away from the manor, near the border fence of the farm. A wave of zombies is attacking the fence!"

"What? How much!"

Upon hearing Lao Feng's report, Gavin quickly asked Lao Feng a question.

Old Feng then reported in a very fast-paced manner.

"At least two hundred, and the number is still increasing, probably reaching five or six hundred... wait!"

At this point, Old Feng abruptly stopped speaking, then continued shouting at Gavin.

"Boss, there's more than one group of zombies breaching the farm fence. I spotted another wave of zombies charging at the fence about 1.6 kilometers to the right. They've already knocked down nearly 30 meters of the fence and are rushing into our farm!"

At this point, Lao Feng briefly hung up the radio and planned to ride his horse to avoid the zombies rushing into the farm.

But just as he and his team turned their horses around, a new voice came through the walkie-talkie!
"Boss, this is Li Qing. I'm currently working with Adele, the office clerk, in the farm town area. The important thing is that I've also discovered a horde of zombies. The zombie horde is at least 150 meters long, and they're running around the farm in the direction of... wait, their direction seems a bit like Richard Town?"

(End of this chapter)