When he finished speaking, Gavin smiled at everyone, doing his best to put their unease at ease.
Then he turned around, raised his binoculars, and studied Corsicana more carefully.
Six highways led out of Corsicana in different directions.
The first was the highway Gavin was on. One end led to Dallas, and the other to Houston.
Next was their intended route: Highway 283, which led to Chambers Reservoir and Richard Natural Scenic Area, cut through Gavin's family farm, and stretched all the way to Palestine City.
The other two roads led to Tyler City and Waco City, both of which were larger than Corsicana.
The last road lay west of Corsicana. It ran straight to Hillsboro, where they could turn toward Dallas or Austin, the Texas state capital.
Since Corsicana was a logistics hub, a vast area east of the city, where the highway connected to it, was occupied by logistics and storage centers.
The warehouse district was also connected to the Corsicana train station—that was the area currently engulfed in a series of fiery explosions...
Gavin peered closely at the explosion site. Zombies had already surrounded it completely.
But what made his scalp prickle was that, even as the zombies on the outskirts of the horde were drawn by the faint explosions and kept surging toward the site, the ones closer to the center were growing less eager to charge.
In fact, the zombies nearest the explosions—only thirty meters away—weren't moving forward. They were actively dodging the shockwaves and flames, even trying to retreat!
The area around the explosions looked like a besieged city. The zombies on the outskirts wanted to get closer, while those nearest the center wanted to get away!
Gavin swallowed with difficulty.
He could be fairly certain that zombies had retained some basic animal instincts.
And they definitely didn't rely solely on their hearing to hunt.
If they couldn't see, they should have blindly charged toward the explosions and perished alongside the burning oil train and all the other vehicles!
But the scene before him proved that zombies prioritized targets by sound. Once they got close to the source, they also used whatever vision they retained to lock onto their prey with a second sense!
Eugene and William had been incredibly lucky back then.
The zombies could see. They just hadn't noticed Eugene and William!
And now, once the zombies realized the train explosions weren't the prey they craved, they had to possess the animal instinct to avoid danger before they would retreat from the blast zone!
And avoiding danger, animal instincts...
Damn it, that was not good news!
Gavin exhaled heavily. The zombies he was facing were nothing like those in any zombie story he'd ever seen!
Based on what he knew so far, he had to admit that these zombies were like a combination of World War Z and I Am Legend!
They might look like dead people, but they were more like animals.
Animals that were fast, tireless, and undeterred by injury—nearly mindless, yet still driven by instinct!
Gavin's hand tightened around the binoculars.
He kept reminding himself not to think about anything too far beyond his reach. He had to focus on what mattered most right now!
After taking a few seconds to compose himself, Gavin finally pulled free of his nightmare-like thoughts and resumed surveying the route his group would take.
After studying the highway from several angles, Gavin lowered the binoculars and turned his back to everyone as he composed his expression.
Once he was sure he wouldn't give away how he felt, Gavin turned around with a smile, still holding the binoculars.
"I've got good news for everyone. Corsicana's seen an unexpected chain of train collisions and explosions, but the blast hasn't damaged the ring-road overpass!"
Gavin raised a hand and pointed toward the overpass stretching into the distance.
"From here on, we'll stick to the ring road as much as possible and stay well away from the city center."
"Our route does cross the railway explosion zone, but you can see for yourselves—it's an overpass, and the explosions are happening underneath it!"
"We just need to get across quickly, loop around the east side of Corsicana to the west, and we'll reach the next key location!"
As he spoke, Gavin spread the map across the road and crouched to point things out to everyone.
Winnie wanted to crouch down and take a look too, but Madison had taken up a huge amount of space by himself. With Eugene and the quiet William crowding in too, there wasn't room for her.
So Winnie made a face at their backs, then took her mother's hand and waited off to the side.
Meanwhile, Gavin pointed to the west side of Corsicana on the map.
"We'll need to go halfway around Corsicana. We can't see the rest of the way through the binoculars, so I'll show you on the map."
"After we cross the blast zone on the overpass, we'll drive about four and a half kilometers. Then we'll leave the overpass at the roundabout on the west side of the city."
"That's the edge of Corsicana's commercial district, also known as the Rich District. The roads there are lined with all kinds of movie theaters, hotels, clothing stores, and restaurants."
"But the important thing is that it doesn't have many homes. It's the Rich District, after all—spacious, sparsely populated, beautiful, and expensive."
"I can't rely on the map alone, so we'll wait until we reach the roundabout on the overpass before deciding what to do."
At that, Gavin turned and gestured toward the blast zone.
"Guys."
He smiled.
"Three in the morning isn't exactly rush hour, with half the city packed with commuters. We can see with our own eyes that there are only a few scattered, overturned or parked vehicles on the road ahead. Not a zombie in sight."
"Looks like the explosion drew the zombies off the overpass and down below. We've really got lucky, haha!"
Still chuckling, Gavin folded up the map and walked over to the Tyrannosaurus.
Then he waved to everyone.
"If there's nothing else, let's get moving."
"No problem!"
Madison nodded as if it were obvious. Eugene, standing nearby, cast a doubtful glance at the binoculars, then nodded too.
"Whatever you say. Let's go enjoy the good life on that big farm!"
With that, everyone got into their vehicles and followed the Tyrannosaurus along the overpass.
Gavin kept their speed at around seventy kilometers per hour. They met no obstacles and soon reached the area above the explosions.
When they got there, Gavin thought for a moment but ultimately decided not to stop and look.
The Corsicana overpass was only nine or ten meters above the ground. As they drove past, the zombies below were inevitably drawn to them, howling as they tried to chase the vehicles.
But the zombies were packed too tightly around the blast zone. Even those who tried to give chase had trouble getting past the living barriers formed by the others.
Besides, the constant crackle of the flames and occasional secondary explosions kept distracting the zombies, preventing them from focusing on Gavin's two vehicles.
Gavin had now passed the blast zone and was heading for the roundabout in the Rich District on the west side of the city.
As they approached the roundabout, Gavin slowed to a stop and looked ahead.
They would have to drive around the roundabout twice, spiraling down nearly nine meters before they could merge onto the road.
The point where the roundabout merged with the road was a full 180 meters from the roundabout itself.
The only problem was that the merge point was right in front of a movie theater and a hotel. About a dozen zombies were wandering around there.
And the road ahead cut straight through the Rich District, which meant Gavin and the others would have to cross it too.
After checking the area ahead, Gavin got out of the Tyrannosaurus and went to the roadside, leaning over the guardrail to look in both directions.
Straight ahead, the Rich District was less than 240 meters away.
Below them, the overpass was still nine meters above the ground. There were only three support pillars nearby.
Then he looked back at the blast zone, where the zombies had gathered.
It was at least two kilometers away. Gunshots wouldn't carry that far.
Within moments, Gavin had come up with a plan.
So when Madison got out and came over, he was surprised to see Gavin smoothly draw his Colt Python and raise it high.
Bang!
The gunshot stirred the zombies in the Rich District, and they charged toward Gavin.
Just as he'd expected, the area was far enough from the blast zone that plenty of zombies hadn't been drawn away. Gavin figured at least four or five hundred had poured out of the Rich District.
Madison hurried over behind Gavin and asked, "Gavin, you're going to lure all the zombies in the Rich District under the overpass, then take the roundabout down and drive straight through the district, right?"
"What else? There aren't that many zombies in the Rich District. They won't be able to climb up the roundabout onto the overpass. As long as we draw them out, the zombies gathered below the overpass won't pose any threat to us."
After answering, Gavin fired two more shots.
Bang!
Bang!
Ratatatatat!!!
"Huh?"
Gavin froze. He'd only fired twice, so where had that tractor-like noise come from?
Wait...
"Holy shit, who's shooting? Get behind the cars!"
Gavin didn't have time to look for the source of the gunfire. He shouted at everyone to take cover.
At the same time, he dove for cover beside the Tyrannosaurus's front wheel hub.
Nearby, Eugene ran toward Gavin, eyes wide, cursing furiously.
"Holy shit, there's a living person in that Rich District! And they've got a modified SCAR-PDW. Damn rich bastard!"
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