I Don't Like Taking Risks

"Fine, forget I said anything..."

Madison suppressed a laugh and patted the carpet, then gradually reined in his amusement.

Once he had completely calmed down, he turned his gaze to Gavin.

Meeting Gavin's steady gaze, Madison spoke.

"Forget that piece-of-shit Aston Martin, Gavin."

"To lure the zombies near the helicopter to the other end of the parking lot, someone has to go outside, stand on the terrace, and throw bottles."

"So let me throw them. I'm a pretty good passer."

As soon as he finished speaking, Madison moved toward the door. He even raised the liquor bottle and gestured for Gavin to open it.

But Gavin stopped Madison at the door and said quietly,

"It's nothing worth getting all fired up over. This room does give us a bit of security, but it can't protect us."

"We were bound to leave this room sooner or later. There's no point in you stepping outside before me, especially when I still have some details to observe."

With that, Gavin pushed Madison aside and stood before the door himself.

Looking at the huge mass of zombies in the distant parking lot, he took a deep breath and continued,

"When I open this damn door, if it makes some unexpectedly piercing noise and draws the zombies' attention..."

"We run straight for the owner's room."

"As the manor's owner, his room should be better equipped than the guest bedrooms. If we hide in there and withstand the first few waves, we might still have a chance of surviving."

"Besides that, I'm worried there are still scattered stragglers in the other rooms of the villa."

"I'm even more worried they weren't drawn away by the helicopter crash, but will be attracted by the bottles I throw and get agitated enough to make noise inside the villa, drawing the zombie horde outside into attacking the villa or even flooding the hallway."

"So, Old Mac, if things go that way, be ready to clear a path for me!"

After saying that, Gavin looked deeply at Madison.

After a brief silence, Madison nodded heavily and replied,

"I know how to fight for my life!"

With that, he stood alertly behind the door, leaving Gavin plenty of room.

Seeing Madison clench his teeth, Gavin nodded and continued,

"Of course, if something really does go wrong, there are countless possible situations."

"If I think our rooms are better for hiding, or if making a run for your car gives us a better chance, I'll call out to you."

"Keep your eyes on me. Don't miss my signal, Madison."

"I will, Gavin. Just like during a game!"

"That's right. Just like during a game!"

Gavin and Madison bumped arms, then Gavin turned the doorknob and pulled the door open as quietly as possible.

Opening the door meant losing their soundproofing advantage, so Gavin was especially careful. It took him more than ten seconds to open it.

Of course, taking longer was not a bad thing. The near-silent movement of the hinges, quieter than breathing, failed to draw the zombies' attention.

After confirming it was safe, Gavin stepped out of the villa and stood on the terrace connected to the stairs, staring over the entire parking lot.

At that moment, the zombie horde was gathered at roughly a sixty-degree angle to the left of the terrace.

Because there were so many of them, the zombies on the outskirts of the horde were only about fifty meters from Gavin.

After confirming again that he had not attracted the zombies, Gavin rolled up his right sleeve, gripped the liquor bottle, and hurled it viciously toward the far right side of the parking lot.

As a Quarterback, long passes were only a basic skill. Less than two seconds later, the piercing sound of shattering glass came from the distance.

Along with the breaking glass came the alarm of a Chevrolet. Gavin's bottle had smashed its window.

The instant those two sounds rang out, hundreds of zombies snapped their heads in that direction!

Then, the zombies closest to the source sprang into motion like cheetahs, charging madly toward it.

Their movement triggered a chain reaction. The zombie horde surged forward like a tide, rushing mightily into the distance.

The sheer numbers and the sight of it made the hairs on Gavin's back stand on end, even under the relatively dim night sky.

But despite his lingering fear, Gavin still braved the cold February wind and moved closer to the terrace, carefully observing the details of the zombies' movements.

He was not only judging their average running speed, but also noting their common choices when dealing with obstacles and their reaction times.

The helicopter's crash site and the bottle's landing spot were about one hundred and ten meters apart.

Gavin played football and was sensitive to distances, so his visual estimate was fairly reliable.

That one hundred and ten meters took only nineteen seconds—from the first zombie starting to run to the last zombie lunging at the sound's source in search of a target.

It did not sound especially fast, but many obstacles had affected them along the way.

Every zombie that encountered an obstacle had to jump or hurdle it, slowing a considerable number of them down.

After briefly recalling how often the zombies had encountered cars as obstacles, Gavin realized that on a completely clear road, they would probably cover one hundred and ten meters in only fourteen seconds.

Maybe even less!

What did that mean?

An ordinary man's one-hundred-meter sprint usually took around thirteen to sixteen seconds.

For women, it was about a second slower, around fourteen to seventeen seconds.

In other words, once zombies spotted a target, they would immediately run at the absolute limit of that body's speed.

And zombies that felt no pain at all were certainly not going to become tired like humans.

Never mind how many ordinary people could outrun a zombie. How far could an ordinary person keep running at a one-hundred-meter sprinting pace?

Five hundred meters?

A thousand meters?

And zombies...

Gavin stopped thinking about it and continued observing the zombie horde with a grim expression.

After all the zombies reached the sound source, they did not stop moving immediately. Instead, like wary dogs, they kept moving excitedly, trying to get closer to the beeping alarm.

Each burst of the alarm made the zombie horde contract as a whole, piling over one another.

Even after a minute had passed and the alarm finally fell silent, the zombies remained alert. They continued tightening their circle and maintaining a density comparable to a pile of bodies.

Gavin lowered his head to check his watch, then raised it again to continue observing.

One second...

Two seconds...

When the zombies finally stopped piling around the car with the alarm and gradually spread out to patrol the surrounding area, Gavin looked down at his watch.

Thirty-four seconds had passed.

That meant that once he was spotted by zombies, even if he made it into a safe area, he would have to hold them off inside while remaining silent for at least half a minute before they might give up on him as a target.

And that was only a possibility, since he still had to account for how sight and smell affected zombies.

But after observing and analyzing this much, Gavin felt it was probably enough.

As for how sensitive zombies were to light and how far away they could detect it, or the relationship between sound volume and their hearing range...

He could test those things after escaping Party Manor alive, finding a suitable camp, and stabilizing it.

Gavin slowly backed away, and with Madison anxiously receiving him, quietly shut the door.

"Ha..."

Even Gavin could not help letting out a long breath when the door closed.

Beside him, Madison swallowed and asked quietly,

"How are you?"

"What do you mean, how am I? The plan?"

Gavin patted Madison's shoulder and said,

"The plan's fine. Nothing unexpected happened just now. Next, we'll go to your room and the terrace on the other side of the villa to keep throwing bottles."

"Let's hurry. I don't want to spend another second in this godforsaken place."

With that, Gavin headed straight toward Madison's room.

Madison held the two military knives on his back, making sure they did not bump into the potted plants lining both sides of the hallway as he said,

"Gavin, you looked just like you did when we played in the finals. One tactic and plan after another—you thought of almost everything you could."

"What else was I supposed to do?"

Without turning around, Gavin replied,

"Grab any random idea and charge ahead, then ask Lady Luck to handle the parts I couldn't be bothered to think about?"

"Give me a break. I don't like taking risks, and accidents are part of risk. That's why I like making extra plans for every possible accident, Madison."

With that, Gavin entered Madison's room and went to observe from the window.