Doomsday America.

Chapter 320 The First Day of the Expedition

"Wuhu, Weike City, such a familiar place."

Upon hearing Gavin's words, Madison, who was driving, patted the steering wheel, gave Gavin a hopeful smile, and continued.

"While I was recovering at home, I often heard the field crews mention Waco, especially this past month. Abraham's team has been moving supplies around Waco, but it would take them at least several months to empty the city!"

Upon hearing this, Gavin nodded in agreement.

Madison was right. Waco, as one of the major cities on the outskirts of the Dallas metropolitan area, had indeed become a target for the field operations recently. The core of the camp's field operations' exploration over the past month had mainly focused on the cities closest to the camp: Corsica, Athens, and Waco. However, Corsica and Athens are both small cities, one with a population of just over 20,000 and the other only a little over 10,000. This size made the movement relatively convenient, and the zombie density had been barely controlled after numerous attempts by the field operations to lure and kill them.

But Waco...

That's a large city with a population of around 130,000, making it the most populous city on the outskirts of the Dallas metropolitan area.

Therefore, Abraham was extremely cautious when leading his team to explore Fonko. They not only dared not venture too deep into the city, but their exploration was also conducted in complete secrecy, for fear of accidentally activating the entire city's zombie horde. Moreover, a city with a population exceeding 100,000 contained far too abundant resources; even if Abraham and his team had a year, they wouldn't have the chance to clear out the entire city of Vic. As for Gavin's expedition, if possible, Gavin really didn't want to approach that city, because Waco was too large and would bring considerable risks to the operation. Therefore, after hearing Madison's words, Gavin tapped the map and said softly.

"Hopefully, the situation in Hillsborough is simple enough that we can break out directly from Hillsborough and get to Highway 20 as soon as possible." "Once we successfully reach Highway 20, we can speed up our operations as much as we want, because most major highways are not congested these days. After all, 3 a.m. when the apocalypse breaks out is not a time when highways are usually congested."

"By using the 20 freeway, we can easily bypass the edges of major cities without having to venture into the urban areas. We can simply bypass them from the outskirts." "Only in that way can we reach New Mexico as soon as possible. Once we get to New Mexico, the cities there will be much more open, and the journey will be much easier, because New Mexico is not as bustling as Texas."

At this point, Gavin looked out the car window, his gaze falling on Lake Richard.

The car had now passed the lakeside villa area and crossed the Richard Bridge, and Gavin, sitting in the car, could see the yachts constantly moving on the lake. Ever since Gavin discovered the bulletproof zombies covered in hard fungi near Houston, Li Qing and the astronauts had been investigating those zombies. They quickly concluded that the behemoth-like zombies covered in bulletproof fungi were a result of excessive moisture affecting the fungus. In other words, zombies floating in the lake would grow a large amount of hyphae due to the lake water, and these hyphae would accumulate within the increasingly swollen float-like bodies of the underwater zombies. When the underwater zombies were still in the water, the abundant hyphae within them helped them float on the surface as much as possible, allowing them to drift with the current and avoid sinking to the bottom. And when those enormous underwater zombies, seemingly floated like blister packs, finally re-entered land…

Once the obese zombies venture onto land, the large amount of fungal hyphae within their bodies will quickly burst forth, helping them regain their mobility and, more importantly, allowing them to utilize the abundant hyphae to grow bulletproof fungi with a texture almost exceeding that of rubber tires, thus providing protection for the behemoth zombies.

This phenomenon is very common. Astronauts have conducted experiments on it more than once, and almost every zombie that has been submerged in water will develop bulletproof fungal clumps after being removed from the water. However, depending on the length of time a zombie has been submerged, some zombies that have been submerged for a shorter period of time do not have enough fungus to cover their entire body. As a result, even among the giant zombies, there are many unfinished products that cannot be fully protected by bulletproof fungus.

In short, ever since we learned that water helps zombies...

The cleanup operation at Lake Richard from Camp Gavin has intensified.

Originally, only Father Hogan's three-man squad considered clearing zombies from the water as their daily work.

But now, almost every day there is at least one ten-person task force constantly dealing with the zombies floating on the water!

The existence of the giant bulletproof zombies means that a significant number of them exist near almost every lake and other water source, creating considerable uncertainty for any potential invasion. While the giant bulletproof zombies are much less agile than ordinary hunters, a number exceeding one hundred can overwhelm them, even with light machine guns. Therefore, the floating zombies in Lake Richard must be dealt with.

Gavin and his crew certainly didn't want hundreds or thousands of giant zombies to appear near their camp!

As for the yachts working on the lake at this moment, and the occasional gunshots coming from the lake.

Gavin sighed, then reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of iced cola.

"ha……"

After taking a refreshing gulp of cola, Gavin held the bottle and gazed at the lake.

Scarface Barn, sitting in the back seat of the car, couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"I wonder when we'll finally wipe out all the zombies. Damn it, each of us on the field is going through almost 300 bullets a day, but even so, it seems like we can't kill them all. What the hell!"

After he finished speaking, Barn stared intently at Lake Richard.

The salvage operation has been going on for so long, with at least a hundred dead zombies being pulled out of the lake and burned to ashes every day.

Even so, a steady stream of new zombies continued to flow downstream to Lake Richard, eventually gathering in the lake.

The killing spree has been going on for so long, but it seems like the killings are only increasing, which is really making people's scalps tingle with anxiety.

After Barn muttered something, Wang Ling, who was standing next to him with her eyes closed and holding a knife, couldn't help but whisper to Barn.

"Barn, even if our camp has ten thousand field agents, each of us would have to kill at least forty thousand zombies to have any chance of wiping out all the zombies on this American land." "What's more, that's far from all of them, since Mexico and Canada won't be short of zombies for us to kill either."

"So, unless those zombies die on their own under certain circumstances, we probably won't be able to kill them all in our lifetime." "Instead of fantasizing that there will be no more zombies in the world, let's get used to living with them."

"Besides, life is quite interesting now. I don't need to please the boss, nor do I need to please the troupe leader. All I need to do is eat, sleep, and fight off cults and zombies." As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Ling opened her eyes, grabbed a bottle of juice from the side, and sipped it a few times.

Her thinking is simple and pure, and she has long been accustomed to her current life.

Although life nowadays often involves taking some risks, the constant adrenaline rush is actually quite addictive. Wang Ling enjoys her life now!

I love it!

Upon hearing Wang Ling's words, Gavin turned his gaze away from the lake and smiled back at her.

He said in a soft, teasing tone.

"Eating, sleeping, and fighting zombies? Wow, that kind of life is really enviable. I actually want to live such a simple life too, but unfortunately, I still have to think about how to make everyone's lives better." "Boss, of course you and I can't be the same. Otherwise, if you guys didn't think about more things, how could I live this simple life?" Wang Ling gave Gavin a thumbs up and then continued drinking her beverage.

Their car, amidst banter and conversation, crossed the Richard Bridge and arrived beyond Lake Richard, drawing closer to the city of Cosicana, a place Gavin knew intimately. Cosicana had once been an obstacle on Gavin's way home.

Gavin and Martin also engaged in a thrilling chase and shootout on the highway outside the city, witnessing firsthand the resurrection of the dead as zombies. But now…

After several entrapments and killings by the field agents, Kosicana had become a city where the agents could do whatever they wanted. As the convoy approached the edge of Kosicana's city center, they spotted another field agent group from Gavin's camp—Anthony's ten-man squad. Just as Gavin noticed the cars parked in the distance, they noticed his convoy, and Anthony's voice came through Gavin's walkie-talkie. "Wow, boss, I just saw a huge convoy, that must be you guys, right?"

"That's right, Anthony, perhaps we can run into each other outside Cosicana."

Gavin responded to Anthony with a smile, then pointed to the two cars of Anthony's team.

Madison nodded knowingly, then completely disregarded traffic rules, traversing several lanes to slowly pull up near Anthony's convoy. Once the car stopped, Gavin opened the door and waved to Anthony's men.

Anthony, along with his men who were carrying clothes and bedding from a villa, approached the convoy, shared a cigarette with the members, and chatted for a few moments. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the convoy continued its journey, bidding farewell to Anthony's small team, who were moving like ants, and crossed the Kosicana towards Bloominggrove. On Highway 22 from Kosicana to Hillsborough, there were still more than four villages to pass through.

They are Barry, Blommingrow, Frost, and Mertens.

However, of these four towns, the largest, Blooming Grove, had over eight hundred residents, while the smallest, Mertens, had only a little over a hundred. For towns of this size, Gavin had no need to avoid them; they could simply drive straight through. Although there were still a number of zombies in the towns, Gavin didn't even bother fighting them. The zombie hordes in these small towns were neither enough to stop the convoy's advance nor could they possibly catch up; they were merely a spectacle in the apocalypse. Of course, Gavin didn't intend to waste bullets on them either. After all, they would encounter far too many towns on this journey, and if they had to fight their way through each one, they simply wouldn't have enough ammunition. Even though gun shops were everywhere in Texas, resupplying ammunition would inevitably waste time, and Gavin had no time to waste. And so, the convoy drove straight through the four towns, leaving hundreds of small hordes of zombies chasing behind, finally arriving on the outskirts of Hillsborough. Upon arriving here, the number of zombies visibly increased. After all, Hillsborough's population was approaching ten thousand, and Gavin's field team hadn't conducted any operations in Hillsborough before. Furthermore, every road converging on Hillsborough had to pass through the city itself, which presented another problem—the city lacked a ring road. Therefore, Gavin had to choose: pass directly through Hillsborough, or bypass the city altogether and take Highway 22 to Highway 171 on the outskirts. The latter would mean a long detour, heading towards Bynum, passing through several small towns, and finally reaching Abilene, where Highway 20 was located. Gavin immediately signaled Madison to stop the car.

As Madison slowly came to a stop, the entire convoy also came to a halt. Eugene and Edward from the back car got out and approached Gavin's vehicle. The view from the roadside was exceptionally clear; apart from a dozen or so zombies loitering about 300 meters away, there were no other zombies in sight, making the environment very safe. Gavin then got out of his car, grabbed a map and binoculars, and approached the two men.

As Gavin slapped the map into Edward's hand, he climbed onto the roof of the car with binoculars, silently observing the situation in Hillsborough. Since there was very little human activity in Hillsborough, the hunters in the city swaggered around the streets. The density of zombies also made Gavin shake his head in dismay.

With zombies basically taking over the streets, trying to cross the city directly is almost an impossible task.

After a brief observation, Gavin jumped out of the car, put away his binoculars, and said...

"Everyone, get back to your cars. We need to take a detour."

"Our convoy is too large, there's absolutely no room for error. If any vehicle gets stuck in the city by zombies, the zombies in Hillsborough alone could completely overwhelm our convoy." "Hillsborough isn't a large city, and the houses are quite densely packed, there's simply no way we can escape the zombies."

"Although taking the detour will add about 150 kilometers to the journey, it's the only option. Let's go and hurry up."

Gavin patted Edward on the shoulder, and then the three of them returned to their respective cars. The convoy then turned around completely and headed back the way they had come. After traveling fourteen kilometers, they finally came to a fork in the road that offered a detour.

Traveling in the apocalypse is so troublesome; as soon as you encounter even the slightest obstacle, you have to go around and find a way out.

This is also why Gavin doesn't like to travel far.

Although the straight-line distance between Camp Gavin and the Brotherhood camp in New Mexico is only about 1,100 kilometers, in reality, considering all the detours, they would probably have to travel more than 2,000 kilometers just to get the convoy to Silver City.

This is only because Texas has many towns and a well-developed transportation system; even if one road is blocked, you can always find another one by taking a detour of a few dozen kilometers. Things would get much worse once the convoy left Texas and entered New Mexico.

Because traffic in New Mexico is far less convenient than in Texas, if the convoy wanted to take a detour, it might have to travel more than 200 kilometers to find another suitable route. In any case, the convoy slowly began to move, heading towards another road leading to Interstate 20.

It just goes around and around like that.

We kept going around until about 4:50 pm

Gavin and his group finally arrived in Stephenville.

It was only about 30 kilometers away from Highway 20, and there was only one road, with no other towns blocking the way. And by this time, the sky was already showing the colors of sunset.

The straight-line distance that Gavin's team covered on the map was only about 200 kilometers.

Don't think it's too little; this is already the limit that the team can achieve.

The straight line distance of 200 kilometers on the map, when laid out on the intricate network of roads, means the convoy actually traveled approximately 470 kilometers today. The convoy set off around 9:00 AM, and by about 5:00 PM, they were actually moving over 60 kilometers per hour—that was their limit. And now…

After watching the convoy successfully cross Stephenville from the ring road and he himself successfully reach the final stretch of road leading to Interstate 20, Gavin finally breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the walkie-talkie and spoke into the channel.

"Guys, we're only thirty kilometers away from the 20 freeway, where we can significantly increase our speed." "Later, once we get to the freeway, we can find a roadside motel and have a good night's rest."