Doomsday America.

Chapter 237 Arrival, Cedar Camp

Chapter 237 Arrival, Cedar Camp (7k)

"Okay, tsk tsk, sixteen kilometers, you actually remember the distance."

Listening to Gavin's words, Philip couldn't help but smack his lips twice, feeling that Gavin was being a little too cautious.

Edward turned around, grinned mischievously at Philip, and said...

"No way, remembering the path you've taken is the foundation of survival in the apocalypse, isn't it? You can't forget the way, Philip?"

"What? I can't remember the way? Don't be ridiculous, I remember I've been to this Holland Town before, I just can't remember the approximate distance, but I know which fork in the road to take!"

Philip gave Edward the middle finger, while Eugene in the driver's seat turned the car around and drove away from Holland Town, crossing the Gransos River again.

Their journey there was peaceful, and naturally, no zombies suddenly appeared on their way back.

Although zombies may change their routes and locations due to various accidents, such changes always require a living person or animal to make a sound as a trigger.

Just like Holland Town, if Philip hadn't passed through a few days ago, the zombies in Holland Town wouldn't have left the town and wandered around the crossroads outside the town.

So Gavin and his group safely crossed the Gransos River again, took another route, and continued their journey toward Lake Granger.

Although this road is nearly 2,200 kilometers longer, at least it doesn't have the slightly troublesome clusters of houses blocking the way like in Holland Town.

The few zombies they occasionally encountered on the road, Gavin and Edward didn't open the window to try and kill them, but instead let the scattered zombies foolishly chase after the car.

After all, the sound of a car engine can only attract zombies within a distance of about 140 to 200 meters.

Once the gunshots rang out, the zombies within a radius of 800 meters would likely rush towards the path the group was taking.

Not firing wasn't out of soft-heartedness; they simply wanted to avoid the scattered zombies on the road because they didn't want to cause themselves any trouble.

After about an hour and ten minutes, the group's car finally stopped on the shore of Lake Granger.

Granger Lake is located next to the town of Granger, and around the lake are three large farms arranged in a triangle, almost completely surrounding half of the lake's shore.

The farmland along the lake shore was neatly divided into different sections, but now there are no people to cultivate it, making the entire area appear empty and desolate.

Eugene drove through the farmland until he stopped the car at the edge of the lake and then turned off the engine.

After checking the surroundings, Gavin opened the car door, got out, and pointed to the windmill 300 meters away.

"Let's go up to the windmill and look around. Let's find the locations of these farms' estates; that's our natural safe haven."

"These farms aren't very big; they probably can't even muster twenty or thirty cowboys. We just need to clear out one farm to make room for us to rest."

"No problem~"

Hearing Gavin's words, Eugene put down his sniper rifle, picked up his own rifle, and left the car with Gavin.

Edward and Philip didn't bring any heavy equipment either; the three of them, carrying only regular gear, followed Gavin, striding across the rugged river area toward the distant windmills.

A moment later, the three stopped in front of the windmill. Philip peered through the gate and laughed.

"This is a really old-fashioned mill; I'd guess it's at least 150 years old!"

"Ha, it might be even longer than 150 years. After all, this area is either Holland or Taylor, which were most likely established by those old devils who came from Europe."

Edward agreed, then drew his tactical dagger and reached for the old wooden door lock, inserting the dagger into the broken door and forcefully prying open the lock.

Kara————

With the sound of prying open the door, Edward pulled it open, revealing the dusty mill.

Gavin went into the mill, found the stairs leading to the upper ventilation shaft, and climbed up with a frown.

After arriving at the mill's platform near the windmill blades, Gavin took out his binoculars and looked down at the distant scenery.

At the same time, Edward climbed up and stood next to Gavin, fixing his gaze on a small house in the southwest direction.

Near the small house was a distinct garden and a shady area hidden by a forest.

Looking in that direction, Edward spoke.

"Boss, the small house in the southwest direction is probably the stable or cowboy barn of a nearby farm. As for the farm owner's house, I guess it's in that grove of trees. The location of this house should be good, as it's completely hidden by the trees."

"Perhaps. Hopefully, the farmer's house still has enough ham and canned goods, and even more so, he hopes that his ham and smoked meat haven't had time to rot."

After responding, Gavin gestured for Edward to get down, and the two left the high point, leading the team out of the mill and towards the forest they had just discovered.

On flat ground, all they could see was a forest; they couldn't even see the not-so-big cowboy hut.

From this perspective, if that small forest really is the farmer's estate, then this location is perfect!

His own little forest naturally serves as a visual barrier!

With a hint of anticipation in their hearts, the Kaibaihe Battle Shield finally arrived at the edge of the forest.

Eugene followed the tire tracks near the forest for a few laps and finally found a road leading deeper into the forest, so the car drove on.

After driving for about 900 meters, a small manor that blends almost seamlessly into the forest came into view.

"Wuhu, this is a nice garden. There's even a mermaid sculpture in the courtyard."

Philip looked at the layout of the manor and smiled as he spoke to Gavin.

Gavin nodded, then waved slightly, signaling Eugene to drive the car into the estate.

The estate wasn't very large; apart from a fairly spacious courtyard, there was only one main residence, a three-story villa with only twenty-four windows.

Even if there are two or three zombies in every window and every room, there shouldn't be more than a hundred zombies in the manor. That number would hardly be able to shake the Kaiberheh Shield.

As for the warehouse, stable, cowshed and pigsty on the right side of the main manor?

The area was completely unobstructed, with no trace of zombies whatsoever. Only two gray-furred huskies were wandering around the stable.

Upon seeing the car appear, the husky rushed towards it, barking foolishly.

But the barking of these two dogs didn't attract any zombies!

Listening to the barking of dogs, and looking at the main body of the manor that remained completely still.

Gavin narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Strange, the windows of the manor are completely undamaged, so why haven't any zombies appeared? Was there no one in this manor when the apocalypse broke out?"

"Who knows, boss?"

After listening to Gavin's words, Eugene parked the car about twenty meters in front of the manor gate, and then sat in the car with the engine running.

Gavin and his two companions took the opportunity to get out of the car, and Edward was the first to walk towards the two dogs.

As Edward approached, two skinny huskies came closer, whimpering pitifully, and lay down in front of him without any sense of wariness.

After confirming that these were not zombie dogs, Edward bent down, rubbed the dogs' heads, and stroked their backs and bellies before whispering to Gavin.

"Boss, these two dogs have been starving since the apocalypse. I bet they haven't had five proper meals in the past month."

"It's alright, they'll have food soon. Let's go check the back of the manor first."

Gavin responded to Edward, then led the group around the manor to the back.

Behind the estate is a dirty swimming pool, two small gardens, and a small parking lot, where a Maybach and a Volvo are parked.

Gavin ignored the two cars and instead focused his attention on a zombie about three meters from the edge of the pool.

At that moment, the dripping wet zombie was lying on the ground, dragging its two motionless legs, and crawling towards Gavin and his two companions.

Seeing this, Edward drew his tactical knife and walked toward the zombie, while looking up at the glass at the back of the manor and speaking.

"Boss, before we arrived, it seems something lured the zombies out of the house from the room with the broken glass on the third floor."

"I guess it must be a survivor, because of all the rooms in the whole house, only the glass on the back of the third floor is broken, which means that something lured the zombies to the third floor before they rushed out of the house."

"Judging from this, it's clear that a survivor first escaped to the third floor, then had to jump out of the window to escape. I guess he probably jumped directly into the swimming pool from the third floor!"

At this point, Edward had already walked up to the zombie with the broken leg. He kicked away the zombie's hands that were supporting it on the ground, then stepped firmly on the zombie's back and drove the dagger into the zombie's head.

After dealing with the zombies, Edward straightened up and continued to observe.

Gavin then walked past Edward and into the swimming pool overgrown with mycelium.

Gavin shook his head and cursed as he looked at the mycelial clumps in the dirty pool that were clearly different from the green algae.

"Damn, there must have been zombies in the pool for quite a while, otherwise, I doubt there would be so many fungal mycelia left here."

"However, there probably aren't many zombies around here. Let's go inside the house and check it out."

After saying that, Gavin went to the back gate of the manor and tentatively opened it.

The door wasn't locked at all, and Gavin easily pulled it open and strode inside.

Apart from some dust, the manor looked very clean, and there were no footprints on the floor.

Clearly, the zombies in the manor were lured out by possible survivors not long after the apocalypse began.

From there, the three began exploring the manor room by room. The entire manor had about thirty rooms, but only two bedrooms still had two zombies remaining.

After dealing with them, the house was completely empty, and Gavin then called Eugene off the shield.

The three sat around in the lobby on the first floor. Gavin lit a cigarette, smiled, and waved to the staff.

"It's already noon, let's rest at this manor for a while, and then continue our journey at 12:30."

"Let me see. There's still a little over an hour until 12:30, which should be enough time for us to have a meal."

"Edward, you and Philip go and look for food and the kitchen on the estate. See if you can cook something hot, and it would be even better if you had some fried ham."

"Eugene, let's go find a generator to restore power to the manor."

"No problem, boss, just wait and see my cooking skills!"

Edward gave Gavin an OK sign, then left with Philip to search the manor.

Gavin and Eugene left the manor together to continue exploring the nearby warehouse.

During this process, Edward not only found the kitchen, but also dog food for the two dogs.

Good heavens, he hadn't seen dogs eat so frantically in a long time. The moment he poured the dog food onto the floor, the two beady-eyed huskies went crazy, as if they wanted to chew up the floor as well.

Meanwhile, the two continued to find all sorts of canned goods, cream, flour, cheese, and sesame.

Eugene also found the generator, took two barrels of fuel from the battle shield, and restored the power supply to the manor.

Most American plantations and farms, except for old-fashioned farms that still use wells for water, are connected to their own groundwater systems, and this farm is no exception.

Once the power to the manor was restored, most systems returned to normal, and the water supply in the kitchen was also working again.

When Gavin and Eugene returned to the kitchen, Edward was frantically washing his hands.

While washing, he listened to Gavin and the other man's footsteps as they returned, and said without looking up.

"Boss, you three better not sit idle. Don't expect me to feed everyone by myself."

"If we rely on myself alone, we might not have eaten by 12:30."

"I'll go knead the dough in a bit and make some pancakes for you guys. I found some honey syrup in the cupboard, the really good kind, but you don't really like sweets, right, boss?"

"Philip just found a lot of beef in their cold storage. Although the power to the cold storage was cut off for a while, the temperature hasn't been too high lately. And since their cold storage is underground, it's a natural underground ice cellar, so the meat is preserved pretty well. We can cook some steaks."

"Eugene, don't look at me like I'm a cook. Go see if there are any tomatoes at home. If not, find a can of tomatoes and cook some pasta."

"Boss, could you fry some bacon and ham for me? Do you know how to cut ham?"

At this point, Edward pointed to the ham in Philip's arms.

Gavin rolled his eyes and laughed as he looked at the ham with its faint mold spots on the thigh.

"Edward, I'm just richer, that doesn't mean I'm lazy. Do you really think I can't even cut a ham?"

As he spoke, Gavin reached out and took the ham, walking to the kitchen counter.

They found hooks and ham holders, which are quite common in most American households that are relatively well-off.

After Gavin secured the ham, Philip tossed him a ham knife, and Gavin gently peeled off the skin, revealing the glistening flesh.

After further removing the fat layer, Gavin slowly and steadily began to slice the ham.

Not far away, Eugene lit the stove, while Philip went over to fry bacon and thaw the beef he had found, chopping it into minced meat so he could fry a few hamburger patties.

The onion hasn't completely rotted even in the low-temperature air; after peeling off the outer layer, the inside is still usable.

After Eugene found all sorts of still-living vegetables, he picked out the usable ones, washed them clean, and left them for Philip to clean up.

No one was even bothered to go to the dining table, so they simply ate in the kitchen.

Edward tossed the pancake to Gavin and laughed.

"Boss, the pancakes are ready. Try one first. I didn't add any extra syrup. If you like them salty, you can go to Philip's place and get some hamburger patties to eat with it."

"OK, you guys get the ham yourselves. Let me try the flatbread. Hmm, it tastes pretty good."

Gavin rolled up the piping hot pancake and put it in his mouth, taking a delicious bite.

Well, although Edward's cooking is definitely not as delicious as Doris's, it's still a meal that everyone cooked together, and food made by yourself always tastes better!

And so, the men ate right there in the kitchen. Eugene even cooked a pot of curry onion beef soup and served one to each of them.

Towards the end, Edward's pancakes and Philip's hamburger patties were snatched up by the four of them as soon as they came out of the pan.

So the two of them simply started eating directly from the pot.

Half an hour later, everyone had finished their meal and drinks, and gathered around the tap to wash their hands.

After Eugene washed his greasy hands, he tossed Gavin a bottle of beer and clinked bottles with him.

Philip took his rifle to the living room. Because the manor was quite large, the air conditioning hadn't heated up the room yet, but he still leisurely lay down on the sofa.

The group gathered in the hall, found their own resting places, and took a comfortable nap.

While smoking and drinking, Eugene spoke to Gavin.

"Boss, haha, if every day in the future is like today, then the apocalypse would actually be pretty interesting!"

"hehe----"

Hearing Eugene's words, Gavin lay sprawled on the sofa, leaned back in his chair, nodded, and smiled.

"Of course I hope every day can go on peacefully like today, but it's not that I like to say discouraging things, it's just—damn it, I really don't want to receive news of any of you dying someday."

"Haha, me too! I can't even imagine a future without you, Gavin!"

Edward raised his beer to Gavin and they took a sip together.

Edward put down the bottle, leaned back on the sofa, glanced at his watch, and then shifted his position to make himself more comfortable.

Eugene, meanwhile, was swinging his boots on the sofa, smiling at Edward as he spoke.

"Tch, what's there to be afraid of? We'll all die someday. Who can live for ten thousand years?"

"Even if the eldest brother really dies one day, how should I put it, if the eldest brother had a child, that would be great. Damn it, at least I would feel like there's still some hope in life."

At this point, Eugene gave Gavin the middle finger and joked.

"By the way, boss, have you been trying anything lately? You and Nikita have been together for a while now, hasn't Nikita shown any signs of getting pregnant?"

"Bullshit, Redhead! No matter how hard I try, it's only been a few days. How could there be news so quickly!"

Gavin turned around and cursed at Eugene, who then burst into laughter.

His awful laughter made the two crows that had landed on the sofa stare at him blankly.

While Eugene was still laughing heartily, Philip suddenly remembered something, then rolled over on the sofa and asked Eugene from a distance.

"By the way, Eugene and Edward, have either of you found girlfriends in the apocalypse?"

"Of course, my girlfriend's name is Jennifer. I met her after the apocalypse. I'll introduce her to you when we get home."

Edward said proudly, giving Philip a thumbs-up.

After Edward finished speaking, Philip smacked his lips enviously and continued to look at Eugene.

And Eugene.

Meeting Philips' questioning gaze, he raised his middle finger and spoke.

"I don't have a girlfriend, but I have a fuck buddy, man. Although that woman has some minor health issues and a bit of a mental problem, she's a pretty good shot and just as good in bed."

"And, haha, my fuck buddy's figure is even more shapely than the boss's woman!"

"By the way, Edward's lover's figure isn't as good as my fuck buddy's. Tsk tsk, even among all the women I've ever slept with, that woman would be in the top ten. It was fucking exciting!"

At this point, Eugene licked his lips with a wistful relish.

Philip scoffed dismissively, slumped back onto the sofa, and closed his eyes.

Hearing Philip's disdainful voice, Eugene frowned and cursed.

"What the hell are you cutting me for? I'm better off like this than an orphan like you wandering the world, Philip!"

"At least I still have people who love me. Even if my fuck buddies don't love me, my boss and my buddies still love me."

"And you, haha, you're all alone in the wilderness, unable to even find someone to love you, you idiot!"

At this point, Eugene subtly raised an eyebrow at Gavin.

Gavin narrowed his eyes knowingly.

He understood what Eugene meant; Eugene wanted to keep Philip at the camp.

However, Gavin didn't hold out much hope. He always felt that Philip's intention to leave was an obsession, as if something was forcing Philip to return to Atlanta.

And indeed, that was the case. Faced with Eugene's undisguised persuasion, Philip remained silent for a moment, then shook his head at Eugene with amusement.

"Don't talk nonsense, Eugene. Do you think I'm a child?"

"Do you really think that if nobody loves me, it would break my defenses?"

"You only think I'm wandering alone, but the wind loves me, the light loves me, and so do the moon and stars."

"You're saying nobody loves me?"

"No, the people who love me are all around me; they are everywhere."

After saying that, Philip turned over, facing the back of the sofa, and waved to Eugene with his back to him.

"It's still forty minutes until 12:30. I'm going to take a short nap. Aren't you guys going to sleep?"

"Go to sleep, you rascal, but someone has to keep watch, so I'll keep watch."

Eugene chuckled and shook his head, then sat there muttering to himself.

"And it's fucking everywhere, which is quite romantic. Do you want to be a poet?"

Watching Eugene, who was making jokes, and Philip, who was resting with his back to everyone, Gavin raised his chin and thought that this moment was really poetic.

The outside world is a doomsday hidden in the unknown, while this place is an uninhabited, nearly abandoned manor.

Inside the manor are several men whose hearts are filled with stories, and time constantly slipping away on everyone's wrists.

The sound of beer being drunk could be heard from time to time, and wisps of smoke rose from their hands and then sank, carrying time with them as it flowed by like water.

Edward frowned as the smoke began to take shape, glancing at Eugene, who had already started snoring.

He stared at Eugene, who was snoring, and said to Gavin with a puzzled look on his face.

"Boss, are you asleep?"

"No," Gavin replied.

Upon receiving a response, Edward swallowed hard, then laughed and said sarcastically.

"Boss, that bastard Eugene said he'd be on lookout duty, but he's been acting like a pig!"

Haha~

Upon hearing this, Gavin smiled, pointed to himself, and said.

"Otherwise, why do you think I haven't slept?"

"Huh?"

Upon hearing Gavin's explanation, Edward scoffed and shook his head.

"So he's always been like this? Even during operations, he'll fall asleep at the drop of a hat? He's kind of like one of my comrades; they both love going to nightclubs, but during the day they'll sleep like logs whenever they get the chance!"

"Shit, I can hear you!"

Not far away, Eugene turned his back to Edward and gave him the middle finger before continuing to rest.

Edward shook his head to himself and lay down on the sofa to continue resting.

They rested until 12:30. Gavin and Edward got up at the same time. After exchanging a glance, Gavin kicked Eugene's butt, while Edward patted Philip on the shoulder.

Eugene sat up, drooling, and tried to wipe his mouth with his sleeve, but instinctively stopped his hand in mid-air the moment he raised it.

Then, he carefully reached into the lining of his clothes, took out a white handkerchief, and wiped the corner of his mouth.

It wasn't that he had become clean; it was just that his clothes were stained with too much zombie blood.

Although there were enough clothes in the camp, it was the apocalypse, and most normal people would advise themselves not to be too clean in such an apocalyptic world, just like Eugene couldn't bear to throw away his military uniform that was covered in blood.

At this point, the four of them shut down the generator, got into their car, and left the Granger Lake farm area, heading towards Austin, the capital city of Texas.

Lake Granger is less than 5,000 kilometers from Austin, and the straight-line distance from Lake Granger to Cedar Park is less than 55 kilometers.

Of course, that's just the straight-line distance; in reality, the area around Austin is a dangerous zone teeming with zombies.

To successfully reach the survivor camp that Philip mentioned, they would need to bypass the entire suburbs and satellite cities of Austin, then take a long detour, avoiding populated towns, and travel at least two hundred kilometers on sparsely populated roads.

So this time, Eugene sped up; he didn't want to spend another night outside.

Although the explorers' work inevitably involves spending the night away from home, Gavin was also in the team, and Eugene didn't want anyone to worry about Gavin's safety.

Thus, the Kaibaihe Battle Shield sped along, reaching a speed between 130 and 140 km/h.

Since Philip had just walked this route a few days ago, there weren't many zombies gathering on the path he chose; it was already a semi-developed road.

They drove for about an hour and a half without any incident, until Eugene turned onto another fork in the road.

Looking at a small hill nearly two kilometers away, Philip finally let out a breath and then spoke with anticipation in his eyes.

"Gavin, we're almost there. If we go another four kilometers or so, we can turn into the Cedar Camp."

"They were a small group, with more women than men, so they chose to settle in a nickel mine near the mountains and put up a short stretch of barbed wire around it."

"After we get there, park the car in front of the barbed wire fence and let me get out to chat with them for a bit!"

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