Chapter 44: The Frost Archer

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Smack! Madison slapped his own face. Being overpowered by Eugene felt far worse than death itself. Why hadn’t he learned any driving-related skills back then? For a moment, Madison regretted becoming famous too early. His athletic talent had already begun to shine in high school, attracting scouts from many universities—not only for football but even more so for basketball. In short, he had become famous too soon, making the streets feel wasted. Damn it!

Cursing silently, Madison grimaced and stepped aside to let Eugene pass, watching him head toward the Tyrannosaurus vehicle’s front. Seeing Eugene take over the repair work, William fell silent for a moment before limping toward the two corpses in the distance.

Gavin glanced sharply at William’s foot and chuckled softly. “Hey, rookie cop, your foot looks a bit better.”

“Better my ass, he’s just showing off!” Eugene muttered as he leaned on the engine bay, peering inside while continuing to speak to Gavin. “His foot isn’t broken, but it’s badly bruised. I’ve seen plenty of injuries like this back in the military.”

“Don’t let him fool you with his hopping now. Once we settle down, that energy will drain completely. If he stands up tomorrow, I might as well call him ‘Dad’!”

With that, Eugene lay across the still-warm engine, reaching deep to extract a lodged bullet. Gavin moved over to the camper, sitting on the steps and leaning against the door to rest a moment.

After the earlier high-speed chase, his adrenaline had spiked, so although he wasn’t exhausted, his muscles and mind felt a bit hollow.

Seeing Gavin sit down, Winnie pursed her lips and quickly ran over to her mother, whispering a few words.

Far away, William hobbled near the McLaren, first checking its condition. Confirming it wasn’t smoking or about to explode, he climbed inside to search.

Meanwhile, Madison returned to Gavin’s side, leaning against the camper and asking, “Boss, why do you think that bastard driving the McLaren shot at us?”

“Logically, he’d already sped off. With the McLaren’s speed, even without shooting, he could’ve easily left the zombies behind.”

“But that damn bastard still fired at us. I saw the co-driver side of the Tyrannosaurus got shot through... huh?”

Madison froze, glancing at Eugene. “Wait, the co-driver seat in the Tyrannosaurus got pierced. How did Eugene survive?”

“Ha! Not even a suicide bomber from the Middle East could kill me. You think some random bastard’s gunfire would?” Eugene twisted his hips arrogantly while lying on the engine. Madison spat to the side.

Gavin frowned slightly but spoke calmly. “I never hesitate to assume the worst about human nature. So, I don’t find it strange at all. We’re not the aggressors here—who knows what was going through his mind?”

“Maybe he was in the middle of something with that woman in the red dress, and our gunfire interrupted them, so he hated us.”

“Or maybe he had finally hidden safely in the mansion district, but our shooting scattered the zombies, forcing him to break through. So, he took revenge on us.”

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“Maybe the woman in the red dress was his daughter, and he’s a doting father, afraid we’d catch up and force him to watch how we handled his daughter.”

“Or maybe he’s just inherently evil, and to ensure a safer escape, he chose to leave us and the zombies stuck together in the wealthy area.”

Gavin grinned. “Stop overthinking the why. People like that deserve to die. We’re alive, and he’s dead—that’s the best outcome.”

He paused, then pursed his lips. After the high-speed shootout, he felt a bit thirsty—maybe a soda would help.

Just then, Winnie approached with a pink cup. “Boss, try this! My mom just made the coffee!”

Gavin glanced at the cup—good, it had a Hello Kitty print, just like that Ruger pistol. He squinted suspiciously and asked, “This isn’t your mom’s cup, is it?”

“Of course not! It’s mine—cute, right?” Winnie beamed cutely, nudging the cup toward him.

Seeing this, Gavin relaxed. Looks like this precocious kid isn’t trying to matchmake him with her mom. He had no interest in Doris, who was nearly fifty and looked even older—around forty-six or forty-seven. He’d eaten too much pork to care for such women.

Taking the cup, he sipped the warm coffee and gazed into the distance. What a beautiful view.

This was the road linking the Koskana wealthy district to the Koskana International Airport—nearly nine kilometers of flat, straight highway. On the left lay the tranquil Halbert Lake; on the right, a wildlife park.

Though it was February and the park’s grasslands weren’t as lush as in spring or summer, the vast openness still brought a contented smile to Gavin’s face. Some Texas wild wolves chased small herds of bison across the plains.

How wonderful.

Gavin smiled even wider—because those wolves and bison were neither zombies nor infected.

As Gavin enjoyed his coffee, Eugene emerged from the Tyrannosaurus engine bay, laughing loudly. “All done! The engine’s fine; just had to remove the foreign objects.”

He sidled up to Gavin, glancing at the coffee, and growled at Winnie. “Hey, kid, didn’t you see I just survived a firefight too? Why no coffee for me?”

“Chill out. You’ll get yours soon. Haven’t seen me with any yet either!”

Madison saw his chance to scold Eugene, who laughed heartily and leaned against the camper, joking with him.

After a brief chat, Doris brought more coffee, handing cups to both Madison and Eugene.

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Savoring the warm coffee, Eugene called out to William, who was inspecting the bodies. “William, come drink some coffee—stop hogging all the warm stuff!”

“Alright, I’ll be quick,” William replied, and true to his word, returned in under a minute carrying two packs of rock sugar.

Showing the sugar to Gavin, William said, “Gavin, we can confirm the driver was a drug user. Maybe he’d just taken some recently.”

“Oh, fuck, no wonder he acted like a war god. Turns out he was a drugged-up war god...”

Gavin cursed under his breath. He’d just been pondering why a high on drugs maniac would shoot at him—a futile thought!

After Gavin cursed, Madison rolled his eyes and remarked, “So he was a junkie. That explains everything!”

He made a funny face with his big mug and continued, “Who expects a tweaked-out guy to play by the rules? Not to mention firing two clips at us when he was already running away.”

“Even if he was like that ice-cold shooter from Florida, shooting zombies bare-assed, I wouldn’t be surprised. Ha!”

Laughter erupted, even Winnie’s slightly chubby cheeks reddened as she laughed nonstop.

Texas wasn’t Florida, but every American state bore a bit of Florida’s influence.

Amid the laughter, William smiled briefly but suddenly his eyes welled up.

Suppressing his emotions, he turned to throw the rock sugar off the road.

Noticing William’s action, Gavin thought for a moment before suddenly raising his hand. “Wait, don’t throw it away!”

“What?”

William turned, disbelief written across his face as he held the sugar packs. “Shit, my cowboy god, you’re not messing with that crap too, are you?”

Everyone stared at Gavin in shock.

Facing their gaze, Gavin waved dismissively and said with a scowl, “Get lost. I’m not that low to need rock sugar for dopamine. I don’t even touch leaves.”

“I just think keeping this stuff might come in handy.”

“For example, if in the future we need to pry some info out of someone who won’t talk no matter what,”

“then these things could be useful~”