Has Two Brushes

Hearing this, William immediately followed suit, pinching his ears hard.

As he endured the pain, his breathing gradually steadied.

Confirming that William's breathing was no longer erratic, Eugene grinned and continued to soothe him in a low voice.

"That's it, buddy, stay calm."

"The zombies arrived exactly after we climbed up; that bastard Gavin definitely had ill intentions. I bet even if I hadn't asked him for guns, he would have suggested it to me at the right moment."

"I fucking thought we were making our own choices, but now it looks like he probably chose everything for us. What a fucking asshole, haha~"

Saying this, Eugene reached out and patted William on the shoulder. They were lying head-to-head, very close to each other.

After further calming William's emotions, Eugene glanced at the distance of the zombies and said in a relaxed tone.

"But none of that matters. Whether we can see our loved ones is what matters most. No matter what you see in a moment, remember my words: pinch your ears hard with your nails, feel the pain, and adjust your breathing!"

"Believe me, after we get through this, Gavin will be begging us to do things for him."

"Even if he builds a massive doomsday camp in the future, we'll be the best explorers. So what if that bastard is the boss? He'll have plenty of times he needs to beg us, haha!"

Laughing, Eugene gave William's shoulder a hard pinch.

The zombies were getting closer and closer, and Eugene could no longer speak.

With that, the two fell into complete silence, with only the sound of light breathing rising and falling.

In the distance, at the temporary camp.

In Gavin's eyes, the zombie horde rushed out of the area obscured by the forest, running rampant along the road, sweeping past Palmer Town like a tidal wave.

Their limbs were twisted, their gait was stumbling, their faces were ferocious, and their targets were firm.

But they simply didn't notice William and Eugene...

During this process, eight zombies even bumped into the large pillars of the GG Billboard.

Eugene and William didn't cause any commotion either.

Seeing this, even though only half the zombie horde had passed the GG Billboard, Gavin stopped watching.

He leaned toward the RV, knocked on the window, and said to Madison with a smile.

"I'm certain that the zombies' sense of smell must be extremely poor."

"As for their eyesight, I can't judge, but at least I know they aren't good at searching for stationary targets, just like frogs."

After speaking, Gavin handed the binoculars to Madison.

After Madison looked, the binoculars were immediately taken by Winnie, and even Doris leaned over to take a look.

When the binoculars returned to Gavin's hands, he looked at the three excited people in the car and said.

"How about it? Feels great, right? After all, zombies aren't invincible; at least they won't find each of us with precision~"

"Yeah, Boss! We can play hide-and-seek with them!"

Winnie was the first to respond excitedly to Gavin's words.

Although Madison and Doris didn't say anything, Gavin could feel the boost in morale that the successful escape of Eugene and the other had brought to the team.

As for whether team morale would have dropped if Eugene and the other had died?

So what if it dropped? Letting everyone be further shrouded by the threat of zombies would also help them recognize reality and increase their vigilance, making it easier for Gavin to manage them.

Of course, there was no need to recognize reality now, so Gavin tapped on the window to remind them.

"Doris, how much longer for breakfast? I've been waiting so long I'm about to wither away!"

"Ah? Sorry... five more minutes, just five more minutes!"

Doris clenched her fists against her chest and promised Gavin with rare determination.

Taking advantage of Doris getting busy, Winnie pushed open the RV door and trotted toward Gavin.

She hugged Gavin's leg and whispered to him.

"I thought they were really going to die. You guessed they were safe all along, right? You wouldn't let us die in front of you, would you, Boss?"

After speaking, Winnie slowly let go of Gavin's pants.

She lifted her small face to look at Gavin, her blonde hair appearing even more dazzling under the morning sun, just as dazzling as the Gavin reflected in her eyes.

Meeting Winnie's expectant gaze, Gavin gave a wicked smile and reached out to flick her forehead.

"I was wrong to call you a kid; you're already trying to moral-shackle me at your age. You must have been quite the character in school, little brat?"

"What are you talking about, Boss? I don't understand anything. I'm going to do my homework~"

Winnie immediately turned and ran toward the RV, but just as she was about to board, her footsteps came to a sudden halt!

"Wait!"

She widened her eyes, turned her head, looked at Gavin in disbelief, and asked.

"Boss, if everyone turned into a zombie, then my teacher is also..."

At this point, without waiting for Gavin to answer, Winnie let out a surprised "Oh!" and then waved her hands as she hopped into the RV, shouting impatiently at Doris.

"Mom! Woo-hoo! I never have to do homework again!!!"

"Fuck..."

Outside the RV, Gavin couldn't help but laugh and curse, then turned back to look at the GG Billboard.

After the horde of zombies had washed over like a river, Eugene and his companion waited until the zombies were at least a kilometer away before climbing down from the GG Billboard to get in the car and slip away.

Parking the Old Ford not far from the Tyrannosaurus, Eugene pushed the door open in silence, shaking his head as he walked over to Gavin's side.

Gavin tossed him a cigarette and asked.

"Why the head-shaking? Was the person you were looking for not in the horde?"

"No, it's that the person we were looking for is beyond saving."

Eugene took a deep drag of the cigarette and gave a bitter smile.

"Gavin, your advice was good. I never want to go home again, and I'm afraid William feels the same."

"You'll never guess what we saw. His younger brother was only a dozen meters away from my sister. My sister even lost her shoes running. To hell with this zombie apocalypse!"

As he finished speaking, Eugene blew a lonely smoke ring.

Hearing this, Gavin was silent for a moment, then pointed at William, who hadn't gotten out of the car, and asked.

"So, does he want to be left alone to have a moment?"

"Let him sit there and chew his nails while he cries. He's just a weaned brat, and I'm not wrong about that."

Eugene looked at William and curled his lip.

Gavin nodded thoughtfully and said.

"Alright then, let him be for a while. Let's go eat."

"What? The stew is ready? It's about damn time! Holy shit, that smells good!"

After taking a deep sniff, Eugene strode toward the Old Ford, kicked the door hard, and cursed.

"Stop with the damn sentimental brooding, you think you're Shakespeare? Come eat, you idiot!"

With that, regardless of whether William agreed or not, Eugene forcibly dragged him toward the RV.

Having dealt with William, Eugene went to the Old Ford, popped the trunk, and pulled out a twelve-pack of beer.

He waved the beer at Gavin from a distance and grinned broadly.

"Look at this, Quarterback. You ball-players never get a chance to drink the good stuff like this!"

"Fuck you, Eugene. Do you think we're monks? We don't just drink the strongest liquor; we only mess with the hottest girls!"

No sooner had Eugene finished speaking than Madison pushed the car door open, instinctively snatching the conversation to trade insults with Eugene.

Hearing this, Eugene shook his head dismissively and retorted.

"Screw you, man. Would it kill you to stop bragging?"

While cursing, he handed a bottle of beer to Madison.

Madison used his teeth to pry off the cap and downed more than half the bottle in one go, letting out a satisfied belch.

Not far away, Winnie climbed down from the RV carrying a camping blanket and slowly spread it out.

Seeing Doris place the most important pot of stew onto the blanket, Eugene hurriedly tossed a beer to Gavin and then scrambled to grab a spot on the blanket.

While Gavin was opening his beer, Doris brought over a plate of rice and asked Gavin nervously.

"I... I haven't really made rice before. Do you think this is okay?"

"Trust me, there's nothing better than this, Doris!"

Gavin provided some emotional support while carrying his plate over to the camping blanket.

He had barely sat down when Winnie scooped a large spoonful of stew for him, eight parts meat and two parts broth.

Gavin tasted a spoonful, and it was unexpectedly good. Although the style was different from his own chef's stew, the broth was rich and mellow, and the beef was tender and flavorful.

The little brat Winnie wasn't kidding; her mom really did have a knack for cooking!