Chapter 19: Descent of the Celestial Being
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While Madison was intimidating Eugene, William finally regained his freedom.
He rolled and scrambled over to his father, silently shedding tears as he stared at the old man’s corpse.
“Madison!”
Nearby, Gavin wiped clean his tactical knife, stood up, and called out to Old Mac, who was still holding Eugene down.
“Quit messing with him. Bring him over here. I have some questions for him!”
“Yes, boss!”
Madison answered loudly. When he deliberately emphasized the word “boss,” he leaned close to Eugene’s face and stared hard into his eyes.
Under Madison’s gaze, Eugene nodded repeatedly.
“I understand. I understand.”
“Good. That’s what I like to hear!”
Madison snorted, then grabbed Eugene by the shoulder and walked toward Gavin.
Eugene’s feet barely touched the ground as Madison dragged him along. In the end, he was roughly dumped in front of Gavin.
Gavin stood over him and looked down at Eugene’s face as it lifted from the asphalt.
“How’s Ennis?”
“What else could have happened? I’d only just reached the edge of town when I saw thousands of zombies surrounding that RV and charging straight at me!”
“How many?” Gavin frowned.
“I don’t know, but at least a thousand. You know Ennis—it’s a big town!”
“And then?” Gavin narrowed his eyes.
“Then William saw his dad embedded in the bumper—”
“I’m asking about the horde!”
Gavin abruptly cut Eugene off and looked down at him, stressing every word.
“When you left Ennis, did the horde keep following you, moving toward our current position?”
As he spoke, Gavin bent down and hauled Eugene to his feet.
Using Gavin’s strength to steady himself, Eugene was just about to dust off his clothes when Gavin suddenly seized him by the throat!
With one hand alone, Gavin lifted Eugene clean off the ground by the neck.
He watched Eugene struggle helplessly in his grip for a moment before turning to Madison.
“Old Mac, there’s an unconscious woman in the RV. Go check on her.”
“Hah! Now this is satisfying. I’m on it!”
Laughing loudly, Madison walked toward the RV, opened the door, and climbed inside.
Only after Madison was aboard did Gavin stare at Eugene for another moment before tossing the purple-faced man aside.
Thud.
Eugene hit the ground and, without even having time to feel the pain, hurriedly clutched his throat and began coughing.
After coughing violently more than a dozen times, Eugene gasped his way back to his feet and glared viciously at Gavin.
“Lucky you’re tough!”
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“Cut the crap. What’s the horde doing?” Gavin asked coldly.
At that, Eugene rubbed his neck vigorously and said sheepishly, “All I know is that the last time I saw them, they were still chasing our two vehicles nonstop.
“As for what happened afterward, how the hell would I know when I couldn’t even see them anymore?
“Anyway, the road ahead is definitely blocked by the horde. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
As he spoke, Eugene suddenly realized how bad the situation was.
He had already traveled in the direction of Dallas. The roads over there had long since been overrun by the horde, and he had even hit several zombies.
And now the roads near Ennis were blocked by zombies too!
Eugene’s expression immediately turned awful. Gavin, meanwhile, let out a breath of stale air.
“We’re still a long way from being cornered. So stop looking like your mother just died. I’ll go check the situation around Ennis. Maybe there’s still a way through.
“As for you, keep an eye on that cop who’s only got half a father left. His crying is about to summon every zombie in Texas!”
With that, Gavin raised a hand and pointed toward William and his half-intact father.
Eugene could not help snorting.
“Bullshit. I’m not some little sidekick who follows you around and plays ball at your heels. You—fuck!”
He had only gotten halfway through the sentence when his pupils suddenly contracted. Rubbing his neck, he inconspicuously took a step backward.
When Gavin showed no reaction, Eugene finally let out a breath and grumbled as he dragged William away from his father.
“Let go of me! Let me look at my dad one more time! How could you kill him like that? He might still be alive! He’s still moving! He—?!”
William kept struggling, spouting one absurd thing after another. Eugene grew sick of listening and drove his knee hard into William’s neck.
In the end, William lost consciousness completely and was tossed into the passenger seat of the old Ford.
After dealing with William, Eugene returned to Gavin’s side and stood there awkwardly for a while.
The longer he stood there, the more uncomfortable he became. Finally, he spat and said, “I’ll go check on that woman you mentioned too. I learned how to treat minor injuries in the army. It’s all fuck—” He coughed. “I mean, experience!”
Without waiting for Gavin to respond, Eugene walked toward the RV.
Gavin, meanwhile, came up behind the little girl who was vomiting and silently watched her.
Sensing him approach, the girl dry-heaved twice, then raised her head and looked at Gavin with pale blue eyes.
When he saw the vomit around her mouth, Gavin’s Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.
“That’s disgusting,” he muttered.
He went back to the Tyrannosaur, fetched a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and held it out to the girl.
“Rinse your mouth.”
“Th-thank you—ugh!”
Before the girl could finish thanking him, she caught sight of the young zombie not far away and promptly vomited again, crying as she did so.
Gavin did not urge her to hurry. Instead, he leaned against the RV and lit a cigarette.
He had taken only two drags when the girl had composed herself. After rinsing her mouth, she lifted her head.
“Thank you!”
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She spoke earnestly.
“I’m Winnie. Winnie Baker. I know who you are. My brother loves watching you play football!”
At that, Winnie looked sadly toward her brother.
After carefully examining the bloody hole in his head, she dry-heaved again, then turned back to Gavin.
“My parents and I thought he was just sick, but that wasn’t an illness, was it?”
“Maybe it was an illness, maybe it wasn’t. Either way, I didn’t want him to have a chance to infect anyone else.”
Gavin took another deep drag from his cigarette.
Watching the smoke slowly drift away, Winnie drew a deep breath and continued.
“I know. A lot of people came down with the same illness just now. They knocked my dad down, and my mom almost got dragged out of the vehicle too. After she slammed the door shut, she hit herself and passed out.”
“So you were the one who drove the RV out. You’ve got guts, kid.”
Gavin nodded approvingly.
The situation with the family in the RV was obvious. They had only managed to escape Ennis because the little girl behind him had stepped on the accelerator and somehow played the hero.
It matched Gavin’s judgment perfectly. Even those lucky enough to survive the early days of the apocalypse needed a certain level of ability if they wanted to make it far.
Eugene had decisiveness. The little girl had composure and courage.
As for luck, that hardly needed mentioning.
After all, once everyone else had become a zombie, every person who had not turned was already being favored by fortune.
Having been praised by Gavin, the girl did not beam with childish pride like most children would. Instead, she shook her head with the solemnity of a little adult.
“I don’t know how to drive. I’d only watched my dad drive before. Once the RV started moving, I didn’t know what to do anymore. You helped me.”
“Forget it. Even God didn’t mind giving you a hand. Why should I be stingy and only carry you halfway? Do I really need to prove I’m even colder than God?”
Gavin exhaled a plume of smoke and beckoned to the girl with his cigarette.
“Come on. Let’s go check on your mother. Hopefully, her condition won’t delay us for too long.”
With that, Gavin turned and walked toward the RV. The girl followed close behind, lost in thought.
As an American girl, she had been splitting off into little cliques with the other girls in her class since third grade.
So, in this group of strangers, was the person most likely to be their leader actually worried that her mother would continue delaying them?
Winnie’s small face tightened in thought. Then she suddenly turned and looked toward the passenger seat of the Ford.
When she saw the unconscious police officer, her eyes lit up at once, and she wore an expression that seemed to say, “I’m so smart.”
By then, Gavin had already reached the RV. Madison was helping the woman sit up inside, while Eugene was cursing angrily on the steps.
“If you ask me, two slaps would wake her right up. She’s only got a little cut on her head. Two slaps and she’d be fine!”
“Shut your mouth, redhead!”
Madison hurled the insult back at Eugene while gripping the woman’s chin and shaking her head back and forth. He seemed to be shaking her rather vigorously, because the woman opened her eyes in a daze.
“What is this...? Wait—Edward! Winnie!”
The moment she regained consciousness, the woman screamed and tried to sit up. But as soon as she exerted herself, the world spun around her, and she staggered backward.
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