Why had this happened?
He was sure he'd been careful enough. He'd even rolled up his sleeves in advance, and aside from the dull sound of his knife stabbing into the zombie's head, he hadn't made a sound!
But even so, the zombie in the convenience store had spotted him. Why?
Could zombies be more sensitive than humans to sudden dull noises, but less sensitive to ordinary sounds like the wind, insects, or breathing?
Unfortunately, he had no time to think it over with things as they were.
The instant Gavin and the zombie locked eyes, the zombie inside the store sprang into action, charging straight toward him and slamming into the glass storefront!
Gavin immediately dashed for the convenience store entrance, keeping a close eye on the zombie's position.
At a glance, he saw that there were no obstacles between him and the zombie. As long as he stopped it from crashing into the storefront and breaking the glass, he could take it out safely!
Once his instincts had made the decision for him, he immediately changed the angle of his sprint and ran parallel to the storefront. He needed to buy time before the zombie hit the glass.
He was about thirteen meters from the convenience store entrance.
The zombie, meanwhile, was only a little over four meters from the entrance and less than two meters from the storefront!
So he had to change the direction of its pursuit as quickly as possible, forcing it to adjust its footing and buying himself that fraction of a second he needed to stop it from crashing into the storefront!
As Gavin ran parallel to the storefront toward the entrance, the zombie did indeed change direction to follow him.
The zombie had originally been charging straight at Gavin, which would have sent it crashing into the storefront in a little over a second.
But running parallel to the storefront let Gavin redirect the zombie's gaze and pursuit faster than running diagonally toward the entrance would have.
The zombie turned its neck more than thirty degrees to follow Gavin, then abruptly changed direction less than a meter from the storefront.
Screech!
The zombie's shoes immediately scraped across the convenience store floor. It was clear that once zombies started chasing, they put every last ounce of strength into it!
That scrape and turn bought Gavin a second. He had gained more than eight meters on the zombie and was now just two steps from the entrance.
He quickly planted a foot, spun around, and lunged for the entrance, yanking both doors open with all his might.
Whoosh...
There was no time to secure the doors before the zombie reached the entrance.
Seeing the direction it was lunging from, and the small clear space directly inside the entrance, Gavin whipped up a leg and kicked the zombie hard in the stomach, keeping it from crashing into the glass doorframe!
The zombie went flying from the kick and slid three meters across the floor, snarling as it tried to get up.
While the door was still swinging shut, Gavin rushed inside, gripping his knife with both hands. He dropped to his knees on top of the zombie, clamped his mouth shut, and stabbed it in the face again and again.
He stabbed it six times in a row before finally letting out a long breath. He pulled the knife from beside the zombie's nostril and carefully wiped the blood off on its clothes.
After cleaning most of the blade, Gavin stood up and went to a nearby shelf for some wet wipes. Then he walked to a mirror not far away and checked his reflection.
Sure enough, he'd been too close to the zombie this time, and droplets of blood had splattered onto his face.
The man in the mirror, with his dark blond hair slicked back and his distinctly Texan cowboy looks, actually bore some resemblance to Arthur Morgan, a character from a certain cowboy game.
The difference was that he was more handsome than Arthur Morgan, and his face and neck didn't have the sunburnt redness most traditional cowboys had.
Redneck cowboys only existed out on the western plateaus.
Texas had a varied geography. Its eastern half was mostly plains bordering the East Coast, while its western half formed part of the Edwards Plateau.
So only Texans who had lived for a long time on the western plateaus became the famous rednecks of America.
As for eastern Texas—the Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio triangle—
the people there had grown plump and fair in the humid air from the East Coast.
After locating the blood on his face, Gavin took out the wet wipes and carefully cleaned it off, bit by bit.
That wasn't enough. He then found some tissues, dampened them with alcohol, and wiped his face more than once.
When he was done, he went to the sink in the back of the convenience store and washed his face thoroughly.
He grabbed a clean towel at random and dried his face. Then Gavin pushed open the store door, stepped out into the road, and waved at the vehicle.
On the road, Eugene anxiously gripped the binoculars.
Something had seemed wrong ever since Gavin began sprinting, but Eugene couldn't see what was happening inside the store. All he could do was wait as Gavin disappeared from view.
Now, seeing Gavin reappear, he finally let out a breath and drove over to him.
Once the vehicle stopped in front of the store, everyone got out. Gavin pointed at the corpses on the ground and inside the store.
"Eugene, William, move those two to the side of the road. Madison, tell Doris and Winnie to get out of the RV."
"What?"
Madison opened his mouth in surprise.
He wasn't usually the type to question Gavin, but this time he felt he had to say something.
He glanced instinctively at the RV to make sure Winnie and Doris hadn't heard Gavin, then spoke to him in a low voice.
"Boss, there's no need for those two to come along. They're only here to pick up a few supplies. It makes no difference whether they're here or not. I can find the things they need for them."
"I've bought stuff like this for my wife before. I know what women use, so don't worry!"
Madison nudged Gavin's arm and waited for his answer.
At that, Gavin grinned.
"Really? You know? Ha! Since when did you become such a simp?"
Gavin patted Madison's shoulder, amused, and explained.
"Don't be so quick to decide what other people need. I don't think Winnie necessarily needs you looking out for her. She might be tougher than all of you."
"Besides, it's safe around here. The nearest zombies are wandering around town, more than a hundred meters away. Even if we make a lot of noise, we'll have at least ten seconds to react."
"This is a good place to build experience, and it's just as good for toughening everyone up mentally."
"Look, here we can see the zombies and feel the pressure they bring, but we're still at a safe distance. The risk isn't too high to handle."
"What better place could there be to train? Or are you sure every one of us will live to a hundred in this apocalypse, keeping them protected behind us the whole time?"
"Hell, nobody could live forever before the apocalypse. So now that it's here, you, a jock, have suddenly unlocked your brain and turned into Lex Luthor, working on some grand human-evolution project?"
As he spoke, Gavin patted Madison's arm and pointed toward the convenience store.
"Forget it. I'll go tell them to get out. You go find a couple of power adapters and some fuel additive. I've got plenty of luxury cars back home, so the fuel additive might come in handy."
With that, Gavin waved for everyone to get to work, then headed toward the RV on his own.
Watching Gavin walk away, the others exchanged glances. Eugene couldn't help grinning.
"Just look at this damn big shot and that attitude of his. Every other word out of his mouth is an order!"
"If he weren't always charging into danger first, like Su Lian's political commissar, I'd cut off a zombie's dick and shove it in his mouth."
As he spoke, Eugene walked toward the zombie by the gas pump. Passing Madison, he patted him on the rear and said,
"As for you, tsk, you're better off just listening to your boss. Look how right he is."
"In the face of the apocalypse, even women have to become fighters!"
"Don't think we'll only have them picking up junk for now. Once we're settled, I'm going to teach that little girl how to shoot!"
"You might not know this, but female snipers have always been in demand internationally."
"I'm not a top-tier sniper, but as a spotter and backup sniper, I've made a confirmed kill at 1,600 meters. Teaching a little kid will be a piece of cake, haha!"
With a chuckle, Eugene picked up the corpse and carried it away. William silently went into the convenience store and found the body inside.
Meanwhile, Gavin reached the RV door and smiled at Winnie, who was blinking her big eyes again and again.
"Get out, kid. We're going shopping~"
Before you continue