Doomsday America

Chapter 172 I Might Have to Break My Promise

Looking at Tara like this, Madison couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Just when he thought he had said goodbye to the past, a part of the past was entrusted to Tara and returned to his side!
but……

Thinking of this, Madison's eyes showed two hints of sadness and guilt.

His gaze couldn't help but drift towards the Black child not far away.

Looking at the child, Madison felt increasingly regretful.

Why didn't he have the courage to travel thousands of kilometers back to his hometown for a visit?

Damn it, if other people's children are so young and can survive, what about my own child...?

My eldest child is already eight years old, so maybe he has a chance to survive too. It's just that he can't call me on the first day of the apocalypse!
If that's the case, wouldn't it be equivalent to abandoning my own child?
Will my own child end up like the black child in front of me, struggling to survive alone in the apocalypse, barely making ends meet with the charity and rare acts of kindness from others?
Or perhaps he will simply fall into the hands of a cult, be molded into the world's trash by the cult, or even worse, end up being killed by the cult.

"Damn it!"

Thinking of this, Madison helplessly covered his head.

At that moment, he mentally told himself not to act impulsively, as his wife and children were very likely already dead, just like Gavin's parents.

He further convinced himself that Texas was too far from Chicago, and he simply couldn't find his way back by himself. He also couldn't possibly put any team member in danger because of his own situation!
In any case, he must not act impulsively; remaining calm is the first essential element for survival in the apocalypse!

But no matter how much he tried to convince himself, the feeling of regret kept crashing over his head like a tide, plunging him into sadness.

His extremely distressed mind was filled with images of his wife and children struggling to survive in the apocalypse, helplessly calling his name when they encountered difficulties, but he was unable to respond.

His inner turmoil grew increasingly intense!

Across from her, Tara suddenly noticed that Madison was acting strangely, so she reached out and grabbed Madison's arm, whispering something to him.

"Hey, Wheat, what the hell are you thinking about? Why do you look so pale? Are you still upset about me touching your butt?"

"Or are you saying that you're a big shot now and look down on your fellow Black people, so you're upset that I brought up the time you touched my butt?"

"Tsk tsk, don't tell me you've turned into that kind of bastard too. How many people are there in this camp? I don't want my old friends to be turned into bastards by this apocalypse!"

"Say something, Xiaomai, what the hell are you keeping silent about? Have you been unable to forget my butt all this time? Why don't you come and touch it now?"

"what?"

Hearing Tara say this, Madison finally shook off his guilt and hurriedly shook his head.

"Stop fooling around, Sister Tara. You should take good care of that patient."

"As for your two children, I took them to Hela. Hela is a teacher, she can take care of the children without any problem."

As soon as he finished speaking, Madison prepared to leave, because his thoughts were tormenting him and he was no longer in the mood to talk to anyone else.

Watching Madison turn around, Tara remained silent for a moment before speaking to Madison's retreating figure from a distance.

"Hey, Wheat, if you have something on your mind, don't keep it bottled up. Keeping it bottled up for too long will turn you into a monster. I don't want another good person to turn into a monster in the apocalypse."

"If you don't want to talk to me, then go and have a good talk with the person you trust most. Aren't you and Gavin teammates?"

"I see!"

Upon hearing this, Madison agreed without turning his head, and then went to the two kids.

"Kid, there's nothing to see here. The patient is almost fully recovered. No matter how long you wait, you won't see her taking off her clothes. Come with me!"

"Hey, I didn't want to see that!"

Hearing Madison's words, the black kid retorted with dissatisfaction, while the white kid followed Madison in silence.

Seeing that the white children had already started walking, the black children had no choice but to follow. Soon, they were thrown over to Hela.

Watching Madison leave with the child, in the examination room, old Bert observed the effects of Nancy's inhaler treatment while pursing his lips and saying to Nancy.

"Flat-chested girl, guess what that dark-skinned guy was thinking? Tell me what he had to say, and I'll see how your recovery is going."

"Uh...sigh...I feel much better!" Nancy quickly replied to old Bert.

Upon hearing this, old Bert shook his head in annoyance.

"I asked you what you think Madison is thinking, you know, that big black guy!"

"I don't know, but if he didn't lose anything extra in the days after the apocalypse, then he's probably thinking about his family or friends, which is all he had before the apocalypse. After all, I'm often tormented by everything that happened before the apocalypse."

Nancy immediately and fluently agreed.

Hearing this, old Bert finally nodded in satisfaction.

“That’s right, little girl. Your asthma isn’t serious. The reason it was so bad when you arrived at the camp was simply because you hadn’t used an inhaler for too long.”

"Inhalers and oral medications need to be used together to effectively control asthma relapses, but were you only using oral medications before?"

At this point, old Bert couldn't help but purse his lips. Through Nancy, he could already see the future of many patients who were still alive.

What a bleak future that is.

They had escaped the fate of becoming zombies, but they were still tormented by the apocalypse with its lack of medical care and medicine.

In old Bert's opinion, it would be better to simply become a zombie than to be tormented by illness.

Anyway, becoming a zombie will only be painful for a short while, sigh...

Across from her, seeing that old Bert had turned the topic to his illness, Nancy couldn't help but purse her lips.

"Doctor, my name isn't 'Little Girl,' I'm Nancy, Nancy Hewitt!"

"Hmm, I understand, but it doesn't matter whether I know or not. I only care about treating illnesses; knowing your name doesn't guarantee I can cure you, tsk tsk~"

Old Bert smacked his lips twice, then steered his wheelchair toward the door of the examination room.

As he walked toward the gate, he waved to Tara and Nancy.

"Alright, I'm going to get some sleep. I drank a lot last night and was having an amazing time. I don't want to be disturbed by you guys."

"That Tara, right? Just keep an eye on her. If her asthma symptoms don't bother her until evening, then she can move around freely. Salbutamol is as effective as ever."

"By the way, Thomas should be looking for you in a bit to arrange your rooms and explain your future roles."

"He's basically Gavin's butler now. Gavin is the boss of the camp, you all know that, right?"

"Uh, I did notice that. The cowboy who saved us called him Boss Gavin more than once!"

Tara pondered before replying to old Bert.

Upon hearing this, old Bert nodded, then turned and left the examination room, leaving the room to Tara and Nancy.

Seeing that old Bert had left, Tara and Nancy were stunned for a long time, then looked at each other in disbelief and said.

"They just left us here like that?"

"Otherwise, do you want them all to rush towards us?"

Tara chuckled and shrugged at Nancy.

Hearing Tara's words, Nancy rolled her eyes and shook her head with amusement.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant I thought they would do something like Pierce, confiscating our weapons and food.”

“Isn’t that what Pierce did a few days ago? When I first ran away from home to join you, Pierce took all my weapons and supplies. I thought it would be the same here.”

At this point, Nancy couldn't help but roll her eyes again.

Tara spat dismissively and cursed.

"Don't even mention that bastard Pierce, he's a self-important piece of trash. I never imagined he was that kind of person, otherwise I wouldn't have let him into my gym on the first day I met him!"

At this point, Tara glared at him resentfully.

Although the gym wasn't a well-stocked survival camp, it was still her home and the culmination of half her life's work!

Her kindness led him to accept the Pierce couple, but they turned around and seized control of the gym with two guns and the ruthlessness to the point of daring to use knives on humans.

If that guy hadn't thought the two kids were a burden, he wouldn't even have been able to bring Nancy out. That guy had been eyeing Nancy for a long time.

Fortunately, his wife was quite fierce, which prevented him from acting recklessly in front of others. Otherwise, Nancy would probably have been ruined by that bastard long ago!
Thinking of this, Tara sadly sat down next to Nancy and took Nancy's hand.

"Don't think about those things anymore. Pierce is a thing of the past. Forget about him."

“Gavin’s camp is obviously different from our previous gym. There are more people here, and it looks more orderly. If it weren’t for the zombies nearby reminding me that the apocalypse is coming, their atmosphere would have made me forget about the apocalypse.”

"And Gavin, he's a great guy, you'll see. I was his personal trainer for two years, and he never acted like a big shot. He has a wonderful personality!"

"Is it?"

Upon hearing Tara recount Gavin's past, Nancy finally became interested.

Before the apocalypse, Nancy didn't watch football, but she was still a fan of Gavin, after all, Gavin was a big star.

And so, Tara and Nancy began to talk about Gavin's past.

Meanwhile, Gavin, whom they were talking about, was standing in the helicopter cabin, watching the farm town gradually approach.

In his eyes, a torrent of at least tens of thousands of zombies was currently cutting the area leading from the farm town to the northeastern airport in two.

In addition to human zombies, the zombie horde also included a large number of zombie dogs, which increased Gavin's fear of the zombie horde.

As time goes by, the number of zombie animals is bound to increase rapidly. Compared with ordinary zombies, zombie animals have a more acute sense of smell and are faster. Their danger when they gather in groups far exceeds that of ordinary zombies, but Gavin really can't stop their birth.

Thinking of this, Gavin shook his head and spoke into the helicopter's intercom channel.

"Steve, lower the altitude and see if you can lure those damn zombies away!"

"Roger that, boss."

Steve immediately descended, and when the helicopter dropped to below two kilometers, the zombie animals in the horde already reacted!
Wang Wang Wang!
Ouch!

Various roars and screams even reached Gavin's ears, so he frowned in annoyance and said with amusement.

"These zombie animals are so loud! Damn it, I can hear them even with my headset on!"

"We're continuing to descend. The zombie animals are reacting to our presence, which is a good sign. Maybe we can disrupt the horde's advance!"

"Roger that!"

After Steve agreed, he continued his descent methodically. Finally, when the helicopter reached an altitude of 800 meters, some of the zombies raised their heads!

Gavin confirmed the phenomenon through his binoculars, while the helicopter continued its descent until it was only about 500 meters from the ground.

At this moment, Gavin hurriedly urged Steve.

"Steve, keep moving as you descend. Don't create another aggregate on the farm, or we're really doomed!"

"I know, boss, I'm moving!"

Steve agreed while steer the plane to continue its descent.

When the plane was only about 80 meters from the ground, a group of zombie animals on the ground began to chase after the helicopter.

The zombie humans, however, numbered only a small fraction, and followed behind the zombie animals, chasing after Gavin's helicopter.

Seeing that the helicopter wasn't attracting many zombies, Gavin couldn't help but frown.

Beside him, Nikita spoke up.

“Gavin, the logic of zombie animals and zombie humans seems to be different. I’ve noticed that it seems like every animal is chasing us, but very few zombie humans are interested in us!”

"That's right!"

Gavin nodded emphatically as he listened to Nikita's words and added.

"This phenomenon is worth recording. I suspect that the aggregates have little effect on zombie animals, at least that's what it seems!"

"As for why there are zombie animals following the migrating horde of zombies, I guess it's because the migration of zombie humans makes too much noise, and the zombie animals join the migration because they follow those sounds!"

"Of course, this is just speculation, but it would be a good thing to lure the zombie animals away!"

"Besides that, damn it, the influence of the aggregates on zombie humans is too great. I glanced at them and it seemed that only one or two out of every ten zombies had caught up with us!"

By the time Gavin finished speaking, the helicopter had already moved sideways away from the horde of zombies.

Where the helicopter passed, thousands of zombie dogs rushed toward the helicopter like arrows, while only less than three thousand zombies followed behind them.

As for the remaining zombies, they continued running with the group, only glancing up at the helicopter twice, completely ignoring its noise!
Clearly, the aggregate has a higher priority than the prey, which is not a good thing.

Gavin's brow furrowed deeper and deeper, because the zombie's current behavior proved that it was possible for the zombie to become social.

Because the signal given by the aggregate has overcome most of the zombie hunting instincts!

Commands can supersede instincts, and instincts can be overcome; isn't that a prerequisite for the socialization of organisms?

Gavin worries that future zombies will become real hunting teams controlled by aggregates!

And the rest of humanity...

They already have a hard time fighting the zombies, and Gavin really doesn't want to see future humans having to outwit zombies!
Thinking of this, Gavin spat and then raised his gun.

"Steve, circle the horde twice, fire a few shots and see if we can attract more zombies!"

"Roger that!"

Steve accepted the order and began circling around with the zombie animals on the ground.

Gavin and his two companions in the cabin pointed their guns at the horde of zombies and began firing into them.

With the help of bullets, a small group of zombies were indeed attracted.

But it wasn't until the very end, until Gavin and his two companions had emptied several magazines, that things changed.

There were only a few thousand zombies following the helicopter.

After realizing he couldn't lure any more zombies, Gavin let out a sigh of relief and then spoke to Steve.

"Alright, Steve, take the zombie animals we lured away from the farm and lead them in the direction they came from!"

"By the way, can our helicopter radio contact Sean and his group?"

"If I remember correctly, we're both flying farm planes, so we should have our own channel, right?"

At this point, Gavin turned to look at Steve, who was piloting the plane.

Steve nodded quickly and responded to Gavin.

"That's right, boss. Let me adjust the channel. I remember what channel their plane was on!"

After speaking, Steve operated the controls for a moment, then quickly turned around and shouted to Gavin.

"Alright, boss, we've managed to contact them!"

"OK!"

Gavin nodded, then adjusted his headset and spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"This is Gavin, calling Sean Flight Team. Can you hear me?"

"Ah, sir, your call format is absolutely awful, but I'm still happy to hear your voice!"

A moment later, Sean's excited voice came through the earpiece.

After receiving a response, Gavin took a deep breath and then spoke to Sean.

"Sean, forget about all that crap about call formats, we'll have our own in the future!"

“Steve and I are in another helicopter. We tried to lure the largest horde of zombies on the farm, but with little success.”

"Where are you guys? Have you seen any zombie hordes in the direction of Dallas?"

At this point, Gavin remained silent and gave the radio frequency to Sean.

Sean then pondered and said to Gavin.

"Sir, we are heading to Dallas, and we are only about 30 kilometers away from downtown Dallas."

"Regarding your question, I have good news and bad news to tell you!"

"The good news, sir, is that on our way to Dallas, we only saw two small, scattered groups of zombies. The largest group didn't exceed two thousand zombies. We didn't see the million-strong zombie army we had speculated about. Doesn't that sound great?"

"That's fantastic, man, so what's the bad news?"

Gavin asked Sean with a smile.

Faced with Gavin's persistent questioning, Sean grinned, then shook his head helplessly and replied to Gavin.

"The bad news is really bad news, because I suspect there's an even bigger aggregate in Dallas, which is why the zombies in Dallas weren't attracted to the aggregate deaths in Richardstown!"

"Fake!"

Gavin was stunned when he heard Sean's words.

Even the wisest can make a mistake. Before Sean brought up the issue, Gavin had been focused on whether the farm would have millions of zombies as neighbors. He had completely overlooked the fact that Dallas might have its own aggregates!

As for whether Dallas will have a cluster...

Are you kidding me? Of course it happened!

How did the aggregates of Richardtown come into being?
It was caused by Gavin and Steve using a helicopter to attract zombies!

At that time, they were quite happy because they had found a good way to deal with zombies.

If you fly a helicopter over the zombies once, the zombies will trample themselves to death as they rush towards the helicopter!
This is the origin of the Richardtown complex.

If we apply that to Dallas, is it possible that no helicopters take off in such a large city as Dallas?
Moreover, helicopters aren't the only thing that attracts zombies to pile up and trample each other. Aren't there other sounds in the high-rise buildings of Dallas that could attract zombies?

Besides, there was no need to discuss Dallas. At this moment, Gavin simply thought of another city, Cosicana!

This is the last city Gavin and his group encountered on their way back to the farm!
At that moment, Gavin clearly remembered that when they crossed the Corsica, they took the viaduct that ran through the city.

Before they left, there were already piles of zombies under the overpass, and the scale of the piles was even larger than the aggregate in Richard Town!
So does Cossica also have aggregates, or even larger aggregates than Richardtown?
In addition, Gavin is still unclear about the specific causes of aggregates, as well as the minimum number of stacks required for aggregates to appear!

If an aggregate can be formed simply by a few dozen zombies being randomly trampled and piled up.

Wouldn't aggregates become commonplace in the apocalypse?
Thinking of this, Gavin suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Damn it, he's already got goosebumps several times today!
He forced himself to suppress his unease and spoke to Sean.

"Sean, since there isn't a large horde of zombies heading towards us from the Dallas direction, that's already fantastic news. Just go to Dallas and take a quick look around, but whatever you do, don't get close to any tall buildings in the Dallas city area!"

"Don't worry, boss!"

Upon hearing Gavin's instructions, Sean smiled and spoke to Gavin over the radio.

"I've seen the movie, so I won't lower the helicopter to the side of the building. I don't want any risk of my helicopter being knocked down by zombies jumping out of the building!"

"That's good. I hope you'll keep your word!"

Gavin nodded in satisfaction after receiving Sean's reply, then hung up the radio.

"Steve!"

He continued speaking to Steve.

"We've got good news from Sean's side. It's time for us to get back to work. Lure all the zombies we can get our hands on. Even if there aren't many, every little bit helps. We'll lead them back to where they came from!"

At this point, Gavin's helicopter continued to lure the zombies.

After luring in a group of zombies, they changed direction and went to other locations to find other relatively large groups of zombies to lure them in.

But about twenty-five minutes after Gavin took action.

Suddenly, Sean's voice came through their radio again.

The moment Gavin heard that voice, he felt uneasy.

Immediately afterwards, Sean spoke over the radio.

"Sir, this is Sean. I'm afraid I have to go back on my word, because I saw three survivors at the Omni Dallas Hotel, and they were three women!"

"Besides that, there is indeed a polymer in Dallas, and it's a terrifying polymer that's nearly eighty meters tall!"

"Although it's as quiet as an ordinary pile of corpses, I doubt that the massive, motionless pile of corpses surrounding the Target building could possibly be as quiet as it is!"

(End of this chapter)