Good Job, Buddy

"Rice?"

Doris was a little surprised. She hadn't expected Gavin to like that kind of food.

After all, in America, rice was grown for export. Americans rarely put it on their own dinner tables.

But they actually had a small bag of rice in the vehicle. Once Doris remembered where it was, she wiped her tears and went to the cupboard to find it.

The small bag held only 5.4 kilograms—not much, but definitely enough for a few meals.

Once she was sure she could more or less satisfy Gavin's appetite, Doris finally relaxed a little. She put the meat tied with herbs into the frying pan to cook.

As the meat sizzled, Eugene leaned against the window beside the dining table, staring gloomily outside.

On the nearby sofa, Madison shifted from side to side a few times. Something about the noise struck him as odd, so he snapped at Eugene.

"Can you stop shaking your damn leg?"

"Huh? I was shaking my leg?"

Eugene froze. Instinctively, he planted his feet firmly on the floor, then slapped his thigh hard.

"All right, buddy, I'll keep an eye on this leg. You know how it is—men's feet are like cats' tails. Sometimes I don't even notice what they're doing. Haha!"

Eugene's expression eased a little as he chuckled, but his eyes stayed fixed on the window, not daring to let his guard down for a moment.

Gavin lay in the front passenger seat, tossed his cigarette butt out the window, then closed it and propped his feet on the dashboard.

His left hand rested casually on his chest, while his right arm hung bent at his side, his fingertips just brushing the grip of the Colt Python. Gavin drawled lazily, "Being nervous is the most useless thing in the world. When we have some time, I'll take you out to scavenge and have some fun with the zombies. Then you won't be nervous anymore."

"Huh? Nervous? Me? No way!"

At Gavin's words, Eugene shook his head quickly and scoffed.

"When I was fighting in Iraq, you were still playing football in college. You think I'd be nervous?"

"Quarterback, don't you fucking treat me like some Hollywood pansy. I'm a real tough guy—the kind who's been in combat!"

When he finished, Eugene rapped the dining table in irritation.

Gavin just chuckled and quietly closed his eyes.

On the sofa, Madison spat and sneered. "You? A tough guy? Come talk to us when you stop shaking your leg!"

"Gavin and I fought our way out of a manor crawling with zombies. What about you? What have you been through—driving a beat-up car and gazing into the eyes of some little cop's dad?"

"Fuck you, Madison! Can't you shut that foul mouth of yours?"

Eugene grumpily flipped Madison off, and Madison flipped him off with both hands.

Amid their low-voiced bickering and the sounds of Doris frying, roasting, and stewing meat, Gavin fell into a deep sleep.

Who knew how much time had passed when Gavin suddenly woke.

The instant he came to, his right hand instinctively grabbed the Colt Python and drew it.

As he cocked the hammer, Gavin sat up in the passenger seat and looked toward the hurried footsteps that had woken him.

William was running from the back of the vehicle toward the front, carrying a pair of binoculars.

"What happened?"

Madison hadn't been asleep. The moment he saw William running, he asked.

At the same time, Eugene jerked upright from the dining table, drool hanging from half his face as he asked drowsily and anxiously, "What's going on? Are there zombies...?" He sniffed.

He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed his drool. His face darkened, and he hurriedly wiped his mouth hard with his sleeve.

Nearby, Doris was stewing meat. When she saw Eugene wipe his drool with his sleeve, she quickly lowered her head.

They're so dirty, so disgusting, sob... God...

Just as Doris was feeling sorry for herself, William nervously handed the binoculars to Madison and said, "I think zombies are coming!"

"Really? Let me see!"

Eugene immediately chimed in and tried to snatch the binoculars, but Madison quickly moved them out of reach and cursed, "Go back to sleep, you idiot tough guy who said he'd keep watch. Shit!"

After cursing Eugene, he raised the binoculars to look outside, but even after a long while, he still couldn't see any zombies.

Meanwhile, Gavin came over with his gun and put a hand on Madison's shoulder.

"Let me see."

"You're awake? You only slept for a little while."

Madison asked in surprise and handed him the binoculars.

Gavin took the binoculars and slid his pistol back into its holster. Eugene frowned at the pistol going back into the holster.

"Tsk, that Colt sure is damn gorgeous. No wonder it's a rich man's gun. It's probably worth thirty iPhones!"

Eugene joked aloud, but privately he was still thinking about how quickly Gavin had woken and instinctively drawn his gun. He was secretly impressed by Gavin's alertness.

Hearing Eugene, Madison instinctively shot back, "You've got no taste. That revolver's got the same style as Elvis Presley's. It'd take at least fifty iPhones to buy one!"

"Enough."

Gavin held the binoculars up and warned them. Madison fell silent at once, and Eugene stopped talking too.

Gavin looked toward Ennis for a moment. Once he was sure he couldn't see anything, he immediately turned to look toward Palmer.

As he searched for the zombies through the binoculars, Gavin asked William, "The zombies came from the direction of Palmer, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Not from the direction of Ennis!"

William nodded firmly. Gavin let out a breath and said calmly, "Next time, make that clear right away."

"I understand..."

William lowered his head, then leaned against the side of the vehicle and fell silent.

After observing for a while, Gavin confirmed the zombies' location and immediately told the others waiting nearby, "Don't worry. The group is much smaller than the one coming from Ennis, and they're over two kilometers away. There are about... six or seven hundred?"

"I think they probably came from the direction of Hutchins, chasing after Eugene's old Ford."

When he finished, Gavin lowered the binoculars and handed them to Madison, who immediately looked toward Palmer.

The binoculars passed from one person to the next. Just as Winnie came over and peered through them, Gavin walked to the front of the vehicle.

He gave William's shoulder an encouraging pat and smiled. "Good job, buddy."

"I'll do my best... my best to make sure we don't end up like my dad!"

William gritted his teeth as he answered. Gavin nodded, then opened the RV door.

The door rattled open, startling Winnie so badly that she nearly dropped the binoculars.

As the others watched anxiously, Gavin calmly jumped down from the vehicle and went to get a bottle of mineral water from the bed of the Tyrannosaurus.

After taking a refreshing drink, he raised the bottle toward the people watching from the RV windows and smiled. "If you want something to drink, come get it."

"Shit, anyone would think you were on vacation. Weren't you all worked up before? Why don't you care now?" Eugene muttered. He followed Gavin out of the RV, picked up two glass bottles of cola, and opened them.

William took a deep breath and followed Eugene out. He reached out to take the extra bottle of cola Eugene had grabbed.

Eugene quickly pulled it away and grinned at him. "This wasn't for you, pansy. Go get your own."

When he finished, Eugene handed the cola to Winnie, who had just gotten out, and said, "Here, little one. Don't let that not-yet-weaned cop steal it."

"Bullshit! Why would I steal a kid's drink?"

William shot back. He found his own cola, opened it, and took a big, sulky gulp.

Seeing William like that, Eugene nodded and smiled. "Now you're starting to look like a cop."

"Yeah, right!"

William flipped Eugene off. Eugene didn't care and walked away, leaning against the RV as he looked toward the road near Palmer Town.

Watching hundreds of zombies jog past Palmer Town in the distance, Eugene tipped his head back toward the sky and cursed, "Fuck this! Are we really going to have to live with those things from now on? This goddamn zombie apocalypse!"

"Enough. I haven't even complained. Just imagine what my life used to be like, then look at me now. Heh."

Gavin tightened the cap on his water bottle and smiled at Eugene.

At the same time, Madison got out of the vehicle. Looking at the vague mass of zombies in the distance, he asked Gavin, "Boss, the zombies from Hutchins are heading toward Ennis. Will that affect our plans?"