Backstab

As he finished speaking, Gavin waved his hand at the group, signaling them to return to the vehicle and prepare.

However, having heard Gavin's words, the group couldn't simply let him act alone.

Madison was fine with it; he listened to whatever Gavin said, and when it came to execution, he now trusted Gavin almost unconditionally.

But Eugene...

"You're going alone?"

The moment Gavin finished, Eugene immediately questioned him with a strange look on his face.

"Are you kidding me? In case you run into some accident, who else knows the address to your house? I'm still waiting to eat that beef, goddammit!"

With that, Eugene patted William on the shoulder.

"Let William go drive the Tyrannosaurus and wait for us, I'm coming with you!"

"No need."

Gavin flatly rejected Eugene's proposal, pointing toward the Tyrannosaurus to urge him on.

"Go wait for me in the Tyrannosaurus."

"Why?"

Seeing that Gavin wouldn't give him a chance, Eugene spat on the ground in annoyance and said in a low voice.

"Quarterback, are you looking down on me, thinking I can't get the job done?"

"Screw you! When I was killing people in the Middle East, you were still in school hugging a football and screwing cheerleaders!"

"Do you know how many lives I have on my hands? My kill count would scare you to death—thirty-seven, thirty-seven!"

"If you gave me an MK22, I could blow your head off from a thousand meters away. You actually look down on me? You think I grew up eating fried chicken and watermelon?"

"Hey!"

At this point, before Gavin could say anything, Madison jumped in.

He raised his foot and kicked Eugene in the ass, cursing.

"Keep your mouth clean, goddammit. Don't make me beat the shit out of you and then keep beating you inside your own shit!"

"Aha, forgot about that. We've actually got a brother here. My bad, haha~"

Eugene laughed and grabbed Madison's arm to soothe him.

Afterward, he let go of Old Mac and continued to say to Gavin.

"Seriously, Gavin, you don't need to protect us during these scouting missions."

"In this shitty apocalypse, all of us second-in-commands, one by one, will have to face those zombies sooner or later!"

"If you go alone this time, maybe you'll go alone next time too. And what about us? Following behind your ass, waiting to eat the shit you drop on the ground?"

"I don't care about the others, but I'm not from the Scarab Constellation. I can help you, in every way!"

Having said that, Eugene put away his reckless attitude and tried his best to show his other side to Gavin.

Looking at Eugene now, Gavin did indeed see some qualities of a veteran American soldier: decisiveness, bravery, and a sufficient amount of rogue spirit.

But whether Eugene had killed people or not was not the reason Gavin decided to act alone.

Gavin shook his finger at Eugene and said softly.

"It has nothing to do with that, Eugene."

With that, Gavin tossed the binoculars to Eugene and explained.

"Look at the environment over there yourself. The zombie is at the fuel pump with its back to us, about sixteen meters from the convenience store."

"Look closely at the store window; there is another zombie inside."

"Once the zombie by the fuel pump is handled, if it attracts the one in the store, that zombie is very likely to shatter the window and create a piercing noise."

"And the convenience store is only ninety-some meters from the town. If a chain reaction is triggered, we'll have to see who can run faster!"

Gavin shrugged and smiled.

"In short, after I take out the zombie at the fuel pump, I still have to carefully open the store door and take out the one inside."

"Even I can't guarantee that this process won't make any noise, and I imagine you're the same."

"So it doesn't matter how many people go; what matters is that they have to run fast enough to return to the car as quickly as possible once an accident happens!"

"Let's put it this way: my personal best in the 100-meter dash is 9.64 seconds. What about you? How fast can your two little short legs run?"

"Eleven seconds? Or maybe a bit better, ten and a half?"

As he finished, Gavin pointed at the Tyrannosaurus and emphasized to Eugene in a warning tone.

"Go wait in the car. If the operation is aborted due to an accident, we'll head to the large open space near the Feed Mill to avoid the zombies."

"Of course, I judge the probability of the plan's success to be high. Once I succeed, you guys approach the gas station at a low speed. Don't you dare rev the engine, okay?"

Gavin glared at Eugene in particular, and Eugene curled his lip in annoyance.

"Fine, you win, Texas Bolt. My little short legs really aren't up to your standards, fuck!"

After rolling his eyes and flipping Gavin the middle finger, Eugene obediently headed toward the Tyrannosaurus.

While starting the engine, he opened the passenger door and gestured for Gavin to get in.

"I won't wish you luck, since you're obviously reliable, but if the mission fails, remember I'll be right here waiting for you, buddy!"

"Don't worry, it'll be a success."

Gavin nodded at Eugene, then waved at Old Mac, who immediately took William back to the RV and started the engine to wait.

Seeing Madison and William return, Winnie pulled Doris over to the sofa and asked them cautiously.

"Why did the boss go over there alone? Didn't anyone go with him?"

Well, although their conversation seemed intense, they were actually keeping their voices down because there were zombies in their line of sight.

This made it a bit hard for Winnie and the other woman to hear clearly.

While Madison took the time to explain to the two women, Gavin drew his tactical knife and strode toward the gas station.

When he was about a hundred meters away, he slowed his pace slightly.

And when he reached within sixty meters of the gas station, he crouched down and continued his advance in a stealthy posture.

Staring fixedly at the zombie's back, Gavin relaxed his upper body muscles while gradually tensing his lower body.

The moment he sensed any sign of the zombie turning around, he would break into a sprint!

This time, he wanted to ensure the zombie didn't even have the chance to let out a roar.

At the same time, he wanted to conduct a small experiment.

He wanted to see if it was possible to backstab a zombie, provided his footsteps were light enough.

Based on how Eugene and the other man had hidden on the GG Billboard to avoid the zombies, Gavin was basically certain that the zombies' sense of smell was shot.

If the zombies' noses were even half as sensitive as a dog's, Eugene and William wouldn't have survived.

As for whether the zombies' hearing was better or worse than a living person's, this attempt would be the test!

If the zombies' hearing surpassed that of a living person, then no matter how light Gavin's footsteps were, he wouldn't be able to pull off a sneak attack.

Because even the lightest footsteps were still footsteps, and unlike living people, zombies wouldn't have their attention distracted by miscellaneous information, which would otherwise prevent them from hearing subtle noises nearby.

Thinking of this, Gavin crouched and licked his lips, his right hand gripping the knife tightening involuntarily.

He was only about eighteen meters away from the zombie, and at this distance, he was exposed to the view from the convenience store window!

Using his peripheral vision to check the convenience store, he confirmed that the zombies inside were still wandering between the shelves and not looking his way.

Gavin pressed his lips together and continued his stealthy approach.

Fifteen meters away, the zombie by the gas pump swayed its upper body slightly.

Ten meters away, the zombie by the gas pump let out a breath and swung its arms naturally.

In the distance, Madison took a deep breath and kept rubbing the RV's steering wheel.

Eugene sat in the Tyrannosaurus, staring fixedly at Gavin through binoculars.

"Heh, it's almost fucking done!"

Just as Eugene muttered to himself, Gavin moved at an extremely slow speed until he was within two meters of the zombie.

At that moment, the zombie suddenly shuddered and whipped its head around!

But Gavin was faster!

Before the zombie had even finished turning, Gavin lunged at it, his right hand driving the knife downward and straight into the zombie's skull!

The zombie immediately went limp, and Gavin reached out with his left hand to grab its clothes, preventing it from hitting the ground and making a noise.

After slowly lowering the zombie to the ground, Gavin pulled out his knife and turned to look at the convenience store.

But as he looked toward the convenience store window, he was stunned to find something.

His gaze had actually locked onto a zombie inside the store!