Doomsday America

Chapter 80 The Weight of Memory

At that moment, with just one glance, Octavian seemed to understand Gavin's purpose.

It excitedly raised its front hooves and stomped the ground repeatedly, its nostrils emitting heavy and rapid breaths.

snort!
snort!
While breathing heavily, Octavian slowly circled Gavin, repeatedly showing Gavin his belly, and stared at Gavin's eyes with a provocative look.

Watching Octavian's veins gradually dilate with excitement, and its skin quickly turning crimson due to the dilation of the veins.

Gavin grinned excitedly and said to Steve and Eugene, who were watching.

"Haha, did you see that? It's inviting me to take on the challenge, that's definitely what it means!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin made a soothing shushing sound while boldly leaning towards Octavian's side.

Sensing Gavin's approach, Octavian quickened the pace of his stomping, and his breath became three times heavier.

As Octavian grew increasingly excited, Gavin reached out and placed his hand on its broad belly and ribs.

Gavin gently patted Octavian's increasingly crimson golden fur, licked his lips, and leaped up onto Octavian's back!

"Xilulu!"

Octavian's eyes widened instantly, and he let out a heart-wrenching neigh. His horse reared up, displaying a powerful, archer-like posture.

Gavin raised his hand and gripped Octavian's platinum mane tightly, squeezing Octavian's belly and tensing his waist as much as possible, welding himself firmly to Octavian's body.

The next moment, accompanied by the neighing of the horse, Octavian began to sway and leap wildly in an exaggerated manner.

Gavin, like a small boat tormented by huge waves, rose and fell with Octavian's rhythm.

One minute, two minutes...

This frantic jumping continued for a full six minutes...

Octavian almost transformed from a golden horse into a crimson fire horse!
And Gavin.

Even with his physical condition, he was sweating profusely at this moment.

But at this point, Octavian was finally reaching its limit. After managing two more rounds of jumping, it finally stopped, panting, and began to walk slowly.

Beside him, Steve, who was both shocked and envious, swallowed hard and gave Gavin a thumbs-up in admiration.

"It's all thanks to you, brother. If it were me, I definitely couldn't have lasted this long without the saddle!"

"Octavian was truly a fine horse. I've heard that there was an emperor in the East who conquered an entire country because of this kind of horse!"

"Thirty million dollars, wow! Even if my Annie only had a fraction of that, I'd dream of sleeping with her!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Steve rode Annie to Gavin's side and tentatively reached out to Octavian's mane.

However, Octavian didn't give him any face. Seeing his large hand approaching, Octavian simply turned around and turned his back to Annie and Steve!

Upon seeing this, Steve broke out in a cold sweat and quickly helped Annie back a few steps.

As he backed away, he said with lingering fear.

"This guy has a terrible temper. He's about to kick me. I can't bear to see my Annie get kicked by him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Steve guided Annie toward the stables, then he jumped off his horse.

After searching the stables for a while, he found a saddle and waved to Gavin from a distance.

Seeing this, Gavin jumped off his horse and gently patted Octavian on the neck.

Octavian's skin had turned completely red after strenuous exercise. That's right, the so-called Akhal-Teke horse is actually the legendary Ferghana horse from the East.

In the East, it has an even more poetic name: the Jade Lion Illuminated by Night!

As a national treasure of Turkmenistan, there are fewer than 3,000 purebred Akhal-Teke horses in the world, each with a price of over ten million US dollars.

As for Octavian's price, it's clear that his parents won international competition trophies, causing its value to skyrocket to over thirty million dollars!

Even so, there is no market for them, because the Akhal-Teke horse is as important to Turkmenistan as the giant panda is to the East.

It was Gavin's five consecutive championships that propelled him to become the only god in American sports, far surpassing Jordan and Tiger Woods, which gave Gavin's father the opportunity to acquire such a top-tier horse.

At this moment, feeling Gavin pat his neck, Octavian exhaled a heavy breath and then unceremoniously shoved his head against Gavin.

Octavian rubbed his nose against Gavin's clothes for a long time, spraying Gavin with his breath, then turned his head and gave Gavin a proud glance, but his body moved closer to Gavin.

Gavin patted Octavian on the back and went to the side to take the saddle.

Seeing this, Octavian followed Gavin closely, resting his neck, with its bulging veins, against Gavin's body, and gently moving his front hooves.

Gavin held the saddle in one hand and ran his other hand along Octavian's back, shaking his head.

“In the past, I would at least have found some water at the right temperature and given this precious baby a good back rub.”

"But now it's a pity, buddy, I can't take care of you as meticulously as I did before the apocalypse."

"But I think you'll be fine. You're a warrior, I can tell."

“We’re not that delicate, are we, Octavian?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin patted Octavian on the neck, and Octavian exhaled a heavy breath in response.

Just then, Steve tossed Gavin a towel, which Gavin caught and gently wiped Octavian's entire body.

Gavin then placed a sweat pad on the horse's back; this was to prevent the saddle from slipping due to the horse's sweat after running.

Next, lay a soft saddle pad on the sweat pad to cushion the impact of the saddle on the horse's back.

Then, Gavin carefully placed the saddle on the saddle pad and found a girth to secure the saddle firmly to Octavian's back.

Steve tossed the stirrups and stirrup straps to Gavin, who then fastened them to the saddle.

By this time, the saddle was almost ready, and Steve went to find the reins.

He dared not help Octavian put on the reins, so Gavin had no choice but to take over and, rubbing the horse's face, tie the reins to Octavian.

Because there had been no riders available, Octavian was not used to his new gear.

Even with Gavin right beside it, it still kicked its legs restlessly, grumbling at Gavin as if complaining.

However, once Gavin jumped onto the saddle, Octavian finally calmed down and adjusted his direction left and right on the grassland, coordinating with Gavin's tightening of the reins.

After letting Octavian adjust for a minute or two, Gavin stepped on the stirrups and called out to Steve.

"Steve, adjust the length of the stirrup belt for me."

"Uh, are you sure he won't kick me? He has such a bad temper, I guess I'll just have to accept myself for now!"

Steve shook his head and responded to Gavin.

Upon hearing this, Gavin leaned down and hugged Octavian's neck, laughing.

"Don't worry, I can read my buddy's eyes. With me here, it won't be too unruly."

"Okay, I'll trust you this once. If I get hurt, damn it, there's no money for work injuries these days!"

Steve made a joke, but then snarled as he approached Octavian and casually adjusted Gavin's stirrup straps.

After adjusting, Steve patted Octavian's belly, took out two sugar cubes from his pocket, and tossed them to Gavin.

"Even good horses don't have the luxury of being pampered these days, but a few pieces of candy won't hurt."

"You got a great deal, Gavin. If this guy hadn't gone hungry all day, he could have jumped around for at least two more minutes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Steve left Octavian and returned to his Anne. Gavin, meanwhile, fed Octavian sugar cubes while turning the reins, guiding the horse to trot towards the pile of corpses.

"Eugene, let's go. Let's finish this work quickly so we can go home for dinner. I'll feed the horses while I'm at it."

"No problem, boss, but could you get me a horse this afternoon? I fucking love this kind of treasure!"

Eugene stuck his hand out the car window and gave Gavin and Steve a thumbs up.

Upon hearing Eugene's words, Steve laughed and patted Annie's mane in response.

"You don't even need to answer that question, boss, because we don't lack good horses, we only lack riders!"

"God, I can call out every single rider's name, but they all look like hungry ghosts and want to eat me up. I'm going to have nightmares tonight!"

At this point, Steve adjusted his cowboy hat, gazing at the distant pile of corpses that was faintly visible.

On the Raptor, listening to Steve's words, Eugene disdainfully gave Steve the middle finger and laughed and cursed.

"Nightmare? You? Don't fucking brag, buddy!"

"The moment I saw you, I knew we were the same kind of people, the kind who would never have nightmares!"

"Look at our grumpy faces! These are the kind of faces that only appear in other people's nightmares, haha!"

Amidst laughter, Eugene excitedly accelerated, kicking up a cloud of dust as he overtook Gavin and Steve.

Seeing himself overtaken by the raptor, Octavian sighed in annoyance, then suddenly accelerated and chased after the raptor.

"Fuck, my darling really does have a temper~"

Gavin tightened his grip on the horse's flanks while patting Octavian's neck with a smile.

Behind them, Steve drove Annie at high speed, finally stopping about twenty or thirty meters away from the pile of corpses.

Two people dismounted, and one person got off the carriage.

Upon seeing the three return, Madison stepped out of the pile of bones, staring at Octavian with astonishment, and let out a low growl in disbelief.

"Where the hell did this treasure come from? Can I ride this amazing thing too?!"

"You? Of course you can, but you'll have to ride a Shire horse or an Alden horse, since you're too big!"

Steve greeted Madison familiarly, then naturally moved closer, extended his right hand to Madison, and said...

"Madison Konasec, the royal bodyguard on the Gavin court, the best defender in America, I'm your fan, Steve Kennedy!"

"Wow, that's a really unsettling name, Steve. Do you know a one-eyed guy who talks like a mazzefist?"

Madison and Steve shook hands, and then Steve naturally took the shovel from Madison's hand.

At the same time, Gavin had already picked up a shovel and was tamping the soil as he spoke.

"With one more person, we should work faster and get the fire extinguished sooner so we can go back and eat our caramel apples, guys."

"What? Caramel apples? We have someone who can make desserts?"

Steve was slightly startled, then looked at Gavin expectantly.

Gavin understood the source of the expectation in Steve's eyes, so he calmly shook his head and responded.

"Steve, I have some good news for you. That old guy Albert is still alive, but his back is acting up."

"Wow, that's really lucky. I thought the survivors would all be strong and healthy young people. It's great to have an acquaintance here too."

Steve understood Gavin's meaning. Since Gavin emphasized that old Bert was still alive, what Gavin didn't say was naturally... that everyone else was basically dead.

Thinking of this, Steve swallowed hard, then buried his face in the ground and worked even harder.

If Gavin remembers correctly, the reason Steve asked about the chef is because Steve's girlfriend is Elisha.

The nutritionist who almost bit Eugene.

The last time Gavin spoke to his father on the phone, his father mentioned Steve and Elisha's wedding date.

To Gavin's parents, Steve was the farm's homegrown son and chief cowboy, a man who had lived on the farm for generations; he was practically their godson.

The same goes for Elisher; the farmer's nutritionist, doctor, and lawyer are all staunch allies, practically goddaughters to him.

As for this moment, after Steve continued to ponder Gavin's hidden words...

He immediately realized what the skeletons in front of him represented.

After working diligently for a while, he finally couldn't help but look up and ask Gavin a question.

"brother."

“Hmm? Go ahead and say it.” Gavin looked at him.

"You just said that the people burned here belong to the entire plantation and dairy farm, right?" Steve asked Gavin.

"Yes."

Gavin nodded expressionlessly, while Steve paused slightly.

Sensing the tense atmosphere between the two, Madison and Eugene understood what was going on, and they immediately sped up their shoveling.

At the same time, after a moment of silence, Steve stomped hard on the shovel, kicking up an unusually large chunk of dirt.

After scattering them heavily on the pile of bones, Steve leaned on his shovel and remained silent for a moment before speaking with utmost solemnity.

“I remember every single one of their names, brothers. I will write their names down and leave them here!”

"They...and her, they are definitely worth remembering."

“You’ve chosen a good spot, close to the forest and the water. Perhaps if the forest were to expand a little more, their souls would be obscured by the shade of the trees.”

"This damn world has finally become something I can't understand. I want to go to the town, look for my other friends, and kill every single undead person I can. It's my responsibility to send them back to the world of the dead!"

After he finished speaking, Steve lowered his head and quietly continued shoveling dirt.

Gavin glanced at Steve a couple more times, then continued working as if nothing had happened.

After working busily for more than twenty minutes, the soil kicked up by the four men had basically covered the entire pile of bones.

Gavin then led everyone to gently tread on the mound of earth, simply compacting a layer of soil.

Then, he went to the edge of the mound, mustered all his strength, lifted the shovel, and planted it heavily in front of the mound.

Seeing Gavin's hands braced on the shovel, Eugene and the other two silently took a few steps back and stood still, watching Gavin's back.

Gavin gripped the shovel with both hands and spoke in a calm voice.

"The world remembers your existence, and may you be in heaven watching over the shadow of every living being."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin turned around, leaving the shovel behind. Then he took off his gloves, put his fingers in his mouth, and whistled.

"call out!"

"Xilulu!"

Octavian leaped over, while Gavin mounted his horse, pointed in the direction of the manor, and said.

"We should go home."

(End of this chapter)