Well Done, Buddy

"Rice?"

Doris was a little surprised; she hadn't expected Gavin to like such food.

After all, in America, rice was primarily grown for export; the locals rarely put it on their dinner tables.

However, they did actually have a small bag of rice in the vehicle. After recalling where it was, Doris wiped away her tears and went to the cupboard to retrieve it.

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

Satisfied that she could basically satisfy the appetite of her boss, Gavin, Doris breathed a sigh of relief and placed the herb-rubbed meat into a frying pan.

As the meat sizzled, Eugene leaned against the window by the dining table, his gaze gloomy as he stared outside.

On a nearby sofa, Madison shifted back and forth several times, feeling that there was some strange noise, so he spoke up to scold Eugene.

"Can you fucking stop shaking your leg!"

"Huh? Was I shaking my leg?"

Eugene was taken aback. He instinctively planted his feet firmly on the ground and then gave his thigh a heavy pat.

"Alright, buddy, I'll keep an eye on this leg of mine. You know, a man's foot is like a cat's tail; sometimes I don't even notice it, haha~"

With a light chuckle, Eugene's expression seemed to improve, though his eyes, fixed on the window, dared not show the slightest bit of relaxation.

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

His left hand rested naturally on his chest, while his right hand hung curved by his waist, his fingertips faintly touching the grip of his Colt Python. Gavin said lazily, "Nervousness is the most useless emotion. When we have time later, I'll take you out to scavenge, and we can find some fun with the zombies. You won't be nervous then."

"Ha? Nervous? Me? How is that possible!"

Hearing Gavin's words, Eugene shook his head incessantly and sneered.

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

"Quarterback, don't you fucking take me for some Hollywood sissy. I'm a real tough guy, the kind who's been on the battlefield!"

As he finished speaking, Eugene tapped the dining table in annoyance.

Gavin just chuckled softly and closed his eyes silently.

On the sofa, Madison spat and sneered, "You? A tough guy? Wait until you stop shaking your leg before you say that to us!"

"Gavin and I fought our way out of an estate crawling with zombies. What about you? What have you experienced? Staring soulfully at a little cop's dad while driving a piece-of-junk car?"

"Fuck you, Madison! Can you shut your stinking mouth!"

Eugene gave Madison the middle finger in frustration, and Madison returned the gesture with both middle fingers.

Amidst their bickering and the sounds of Doris frying, roasting, and stewing the meat, Gavin fell into a deep sleep.

It was unclear how much time had passed when Gavin suddenly woke from his slumber.

The very first instant he woke, his right hand instinctively grabbed his Colt Python and drew it.

As he cocked the hammer, Gavin sat up from the passenger seat and looked toward the source of the rapid footsteps that had woken him.

He saw William holding binoculars, running quickly from the back of the vehicle toward the front.

"What happened!"

Madison hadn't been sleeping, so he asked immediately upon seeing William running.

At the same time, Eugene scrambled up from the dining table, drool hanging from half his face, and asked sleepily and frantically, "What's the situation? Are the zombies here... slurp..."

Halfway through his sentence, Eugene noticed his own drool, so his face darkened, and he hurriedly wiped his mouth vigorously with his sleeve.

Not far away, Doris, who was stewing the meat, saw Eugene wiping his mouth with his sleeve and quickly lowered her head.

They're so dirty, so disgusting, boo-hoo... God...

Just as Doris was wallowing in self-pity, William nervously handed the binoculars to Madison and said, "It looks like there are zombies coming!"

"Is that so? Let me see!"

Eugene immediately interjected and tried to grab the binoculars, but Madison quickly pulled them away and cursed, "Go back to sleep, you pig of a 'tough guy' who claimed he was going to keep watch. Shit!"

After scolding Eugene, he raised the binoculars to look outside, but after staring for a long time, he didn't see a single shadow of a zombie.

At the same time, Gavin walked over to Madison with his gun in hand and placed a hand on Madison's shoulder.

"Let me see."

"You're awake? You only slept for such a short while?"

Madison asked in surprise, handing over the binoculars.

Gavin took the binoculars while holstering his pistol, though Eugene frowned as he watched the weapon slide back into its sheath.

"Tsk tsk, that Colt is damn beautiful. Truly a rich man's gun; it's probably worth thirty iPhones!"

While he joked, Eugene was inwardly contemplating how Gavin had instantly sobered up and instinctively drawn his weapon, secretly astonished by his vigilance.

Hearing Eugene's remark, Madison instinctively retorted.

"You've got no eye for quality. That's a revolver in the same style as Elvis's; you couldn't get it for less than the price of fifty iPhones!"

"That's enough."

Gavin prompted while bracing the binoculars, and Madison fell silent at once, with Eugene also holding his tongue.

Gavin peered toward Ennis for a moment, and after confirming he saw nothing, he immediately turned to look toward Palmer.

While scanning for the location of the zombies with the binoculars, Gavin asked William.

"The zombies are coming from the direction of Palmer, right?"

"Ah, yes, that's right, not from Ennis!"

William nodded heavily, and Gavin exhaled, saying calmly.

"Make that clear the first time next time."

"I know..."

William lowered his head, silently leaning against the carriage and keeping his mouth shut.

After observing and confirming the trail of the zombies, Gavin immediately spoke to the waiting group.

"Don't worry, the scale of the horde is much smaller than the one from Ennis, and they're over two kilometers away. The number is about... six or seven hundred?"

"I suspect they tracked Eugene's Old Ford all the way from Hutchins."

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

The binoculars were passed from person to person, and just as Winnie crowded in to take a look, Gavin walked to the front of the vehicle door.

Giving William's shoulder an encouraging pat, Gavin smiled.

"Good job, man."

"I'll do my best... my best not to let us end up like my dad!"

William gritted his teeth in response, and Gavin nodded before pushing open the RV door.

Clatter!

The sound of the door opening startled Winnie, and she nearly dropped the binoculars.

Under the worried gazes of the group, Gavin calmly jumped off the vehicle and went to the bed of the Tyrannosaurus to grab a bottle of mineral water.

After taking a satisfying drink, he waved the bottle at the group inside the RV window and smiled.

"Come get whatever you want to drink."

"Shit, one would think you're here on vacation. You were so uptight before, why don't you care now?"

Eugene muttered, then strode off the RV to pick out two glass bottles of cola, opening them both.

William took a deep breath and followed Eugene off the vehicle, reaching out to take the extra cola Eugene had grabbed.

To his surprise, Eugene dodged his hand, laughing and cursing at him.

"This isn't for you, sissy. Go get your own, damn it."

With that, Eugene handed the cola to Winnie, who had just stepped off the vehicle, and said.

"Hold onto this, kid. Don't let the unweaned cop steal it."

"Bullshit, why would I steal from a kid!"

William retorted, grabbing his own cola to open it, taking a large, defiant gulp.

Watching William's behavior, Eugene nodded and smiled.

"Finally starting to look like a cop."

"Pfft!"

William flipped Eugene off, but Eugene just turned away, unbothered, and leaned against the RV to look at the road near Palmer Town.

Watching from afar as hundreds of zombies jogged past Palmer Town, Eugene tilted his head back, looked at the sky, and cursed.

"Fuck it, are we going to have to live alongside those things from now on? This goddamn zombie apocalypse!"

"Enough. I haven't even complained yet. Guess what kind of life I lived before, then look at it now—heh."

Gavin tightened the cap on his mineral water and said to Eugene with a smile.

Meanwhile, Madison stepped off the vehicle, looked at the vaguely visible swarm of zombies, and asked Gavin.

"Boss, the zombies from Hutchins are heading toward Ennis. Does that have any impact on our plan?"