Doris, Be Strong!

Hearing Eugene's lament, Gavin shook his head and chuckled.

"If the zombies in Mexico weren't about to charge across the border into Texas, I'd be just as grateful to Mexico as you are."

With that, he waved a hand at Eugene.

"Go get the car. I don't like being this close to the zombies."

"Fuck, big shots always have demands, while the little guys just want a soda and a quarterback!"

Eugene laughed it off, returning to the Old Ford with a cheeky grin.

Watching Eugene's retreating back, Madison sneered and remarked.

"What a damn hypocrite."

"Better a hypocrite than someone without a conscience."

Gavin patted Madison on the arm and climbed into the Tyrannosaurus on his own.

After finishing the entire bottle of soda, Madison strode back to the RV.

Seeing Madison board, Winnie left the bed at the back of the RV and came to the sofa behind the driver's seat, gripping the back of the sofa as she asked Madison.

"Are we going to Palmer, just like the boss said?"

"Heh, you learn fast. That's right, Gavin is the boss—the best boss I've ever followed. He's brought me countless honors and money!"

While chatting, Madison started the RV. As he followed the Tyrannosaurus in making a U-turn, he continued to speak to Winnie.

"Don't worry, kid. In less than ten minutes, we'll be watching the sunrise over the artificial lake outside Palmer Town."

"I'm not worried, I'm just a little hungry. Maybe when we get to the lake, I can wake up Mom and have her make us some breakfast?"

As she spoke, Winnie turned her head back worriedly to look at her mother, who was still unconscious on the bed.

This elementary school student had already begun to worry about her mother's standing within this group.

Back at their school, the girl bullies loved to pick on people like her mother.

Winnie even felt that if she could shrink her mother down and put her in their elementary school, she could make her mother cry all day long.

Hearing this, Madison accelerated while patting his stomach.

"Breakfast, tsk tsk. Gavin and I only had a burger this morning. It would be great if there were some stew."

At this point, Madison tilted his head and asked Winnie.

"Kid, is your mom a good cook?"

"Of course she is. After all, all she ever did was cook and clean the house. But I never expected the boss to be Gavin! I even have his poster at home!"

"That's right, haha. Gavin King, the most famous big shot in Texas."

"As for me, I'm Madison. Madison Kornasek. And you?"

"Winnie Baker. Thank you for saving us!"

Winnie reached out to Madison with gratitude.

Seeing this, Madison chuckled and shook her hand, then continued.

"Are there many kids like you at school? Are all children this precocious nowadays?"

"What do you mean precocious? I'm already twelve! I'll be in middle school next year!"

"Is that so? Middle school, huh? When I was in middle school, I was running with my cousin's gang. Too bad I never got the chance to steal a car."

The two of them chatted back and forth just like that.

Madison had been around many children; although he was young, he was quite experienced in dealing with them, and he soon had Winnie giggling.

Amidst that laughter, the woman unconscious in the back of the RV slowly shook her head and actually managed to wake up.

"Winnie..."

The woman called out weakly, but neither Old Mac nor Winnie could hear her.

"Winnie... are you there?"

The woman gradually sat up, propping herself up on the bed, and in her confusion, she saw a massive figure occupying the driver's seat of her RV.

"Ahhh!!!"

In the blink of an eye, a scream filled the cabin, startling Madison and Winnie so much they nearly jumped out of their skins.

"Oh my god!"

Winnie's mouth fell open in shock, and she hurriedly jumped off the sofa and ran toward her mother!

"Mom, be quiet, please stop screaming! You're scaring me!"

As she spoke, Winnie threw herself heavily onto her mother's lap, reaching up to cover her mother's mouth.

Once she confirmed her daughter was unharmed, the woman let out a sigh of relief, then suddenly snapped to her senses and pulled Winnie tightly into her arms.

"Dear God..."

The woman wept as she clutched Winnie tight, her stifled sobs filling the entire vehicle in an instant.

Listening to her mother's crying, Winnie rolled her eyes, patted her mother's leg, and said, "Doris, be strong. That's what you taught me!"

"Wuu... I will, I... wuu-wuu-wuu... Kenny was bitten to death by them, I saw it with my own eyes. Your father, my husband, is dead, wuu-wuu..."

Even as she spoke of being strong, the image of her husband's death kept flashing before Doris's eyes.

Strong?

Can everyone's strength truly overcome the pain in their hearts?

Listening to her mother's wailing, Winnie bit her lip in worry.

She was terrified that a mother like this would be looked down upon by the leader of their group.

Just like those cliques of girls at her school, they would also despise and exclude the little idiots who did nothing but cry.

So, Winnie struggled desperately to break free from her mother's embrace, braced herself against her mother's leg, and said, "Mom, stop crying. If you keep crying, the boss is going to come and teach us a lesson!"

"Believe me, Gavin is terrifying. He picked up another man and threw him to the ground with just one hand!"

"Ah...?"

Hearing this, even though Doris was still heartbroken, she couldn't help but gape.

"What boss?"

"Our future boss, of course! Mom, you don't actually think the two of us could handle those man-eating monsters, do you?"

Winnie rolled her eyes so hard they nearly disappeared; when would her mother ever grow up?

As for Doris, she blinked in confusion, asking in a daze, "We're saved?"

"Obviously! If no one had saved us, I wouldn't even know how to park the car!"

"Wait, you don't even have a driver's license, how could you... God, what kind of sin have I committed for you to punish me like this!"

"And Edward, Edward he... wuu-wuu-wuu-wuu!"

"I have to call the police, I must call the police, I... I still have to call your grandparents!"

At this, Doris seemed to regain a bit of her senses, and her voice gradually grew quieter.

Once the sound faded from his ears, Madison in the driver's seat let out a long breath and kept his eyes locked on the Tyrannosaurus ahead.

Inside the Tyrannosaurus, Gavin held the steering wheel with one hand while using the other to check on Palmer's situation via his phone.

After watching a few promotional videos of Palmer, Gavin put the phone down and pondered the parts of the video that could be exploited.

While he thought, the Tyrannosaurus traveled sixteen kilometers, gradually approaching the Palmer region.

At this point, Gavin began to slow down, picking up his 8x scope to observe the surrounding environment.

When that artificial lake appeared in his field of vision, he exhaled, turned the vehicle off the road, and drove onto the increasingly open grassland.

As the RV rolled onto the grass, the jolting motion made Doris, who was silently weeping while clutching her phone, shudder violently.

Winnie jumped off the bed and said excitedly, "We're almost there!"

"Where? The police station, or a shelter?"

Doris sat up, clutching her phone, and crawled to the window to look outside.

The sky was beginning to reveal the light of the morning sun, and accompanied by the thin mist that often rose on the east coast at dawn, it looked truly dreamlike.

Gazing at the scene that felt like a dream, the corners of Doris's eyes grew damp; this was the view Kenny had wanted to show her.

But now...

God, why did she have to face all of this...

Fortunately, she still had her daughter.

If Winnie had also died, Doris would have wanted to curl up under her blankets and cry her heart out, then shove a gun barrel into her mouth and pull the trigger.

Perhaps that would have been a relief.

At this moment, the weeping Doris looked back at Winnie and couldn't help but bite her lip.

For her daughter's sake, no matter what she encountered, she had to at least persist and stay alive!

Doris, be strong!

After silently cheering herself on, Doris wiped away her tears and left the bed.

She went to the shower room, looked at the bloodstains on her forehead in the mirror, turned on the faucet, and cupped water in her hands to slowly wash the blood away.

She hadn't even finished washing her face when the vehicle came to a stop; the sudden jerk forced her to brace herself against the wall.

Immediately after, she felt something jump onto the roof of the vehicle, and the heavy footsteps made the hair on her arms stand on end.

Meanwhile, Madison in the driver's seat walked into the aisle after parking, glanced at the roof, and laughed.

"Gavin is certainly fast. Let's go, kid. Take your mom and get out of the car to have a look."

"Did you mention the stew to your mom? I'm really looking forward to it, and Gavin will definitely like the stew too, haha~"