Doomsday America

Chapter 9 I Don't Like Adventure
"Fine, forget I said anything..."

Madison patted the carpet, suppressing a laugh, before gradually calming down.

Once he had calmed down completely, he turned his gaze to Gavin's face.

Meeting Gavin's calm gaze, Madison began to speak.

"Let's not talk about that shitty Aston Martin, Gavin."

"To lure the zombies from near the helicopter to the other end of the parking lot, you have to go outside the villa, stand on the terrace, and throw bottles."

"So let me go out and throw it; I'm pretty good at passing."

Before Gavin could respond, Madison moved closer to the door, gesturing for Gavin to open it while holding up a bottle of liquor.

Gavin stopped Madison at the door and whispered something.

"Don't get so worked up about something so trivial. This room may provide a sense of security, but it can't protect us."

"Leaving the house is inevitable, so there's no point in you stepping out first for me. Besides, I still have some details to observe."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin pushed Madison aside and stood in front of the door by himself.

Looking at the large horde of zombies in the distant parking lot, he took a deep breath and continued.

"If this damn door makes an unexpected, jarring noise when I open it, it might attract the attention of zombies."

"Then let's run straight to the boss's room."

"As the owner of the manor, his room is better equipped than the guest room. If we can withstand the first few waves of attack after we hide inside, we might still have a chance to survive."

“Besides that, I’m worried that there might be a few stray fish in other rooms of the villa.”

"I'm more worried that they weren't drawn away by the sound of the helicopter crashing, but instead attracted by the bottle I threw and became so agitated that they made noises inside the villa, which further attracted the zombie horde outside to attack the villa and even surge into the corridor."

"So, Old Mike, if things develop that way, you'd better be prepared to pave the way for me!"

After saying that, Gavin looked at Madison with a deep gaze.

Upon hearing this, Madison paused briefly, then nodded emphatically in response.

"I know how to fight with all my might!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stopped warily behind the door, giving Gavin plenty of space.

Seeing Madison clenching his teeth, Gavin nodded and continued.

"Of course, if an accident does happen, there are countless possibilities."

"If the situation makes me feel that our room is a better place to hide, or if running directly to your car would give me a better chance, I will call you."

“You’d better keep a close eye on me and not miss my signal, Madison.”

"I will, Gavin, just like in the game!"

"That's right, just like during the game!"

Gavin and Madison bumped arms, then turned the doorknob and pulled the door open as gently as possible.

Opening the door would inevitably compromise its soundproofing advantage, so Gavin was extremely cautious and took more than ten seconds to open it.

Of course, taking a long time wasn't a bad thing; the sound of the door hinges moving, which was almost as quiet as breathing, didn't attract the zombies' attention.

After confirming it was safe, Gavin walked out of the villa in small steps, stood on the terrace connecting the stairs, and gazed at the entire parking lot.

At this moment, the horde of zombies is gathering at a 60-degree angle to the left of the terrace.

Because they were a large group, the zombies on the outer edge of the horde were only about fifty meters away from Gavin.

After confirming once again that he hadn't attracted any zombies, Gavin rolled up his right sleeve, grabbed a bottle, and hurled it violently toward the far right of the parking lot.

As a quarterback, long passes are just a basic skill. Less than two seconds later, the ear-piercing sound of shattering glass came from afar.

Following the sound of shattering was the alarm of a Chevrolet; Gavin's bottle had smashed its window.

The moment the two voices rang out, hundreds of zombies simultaneously flung their heads in!
Immediately afterwards, the zombie closest to the sound source started moving like a cheetah, rushing madly towards the sound source.

This trigger was a chain reaction; the zombie horde began to run like a tidal wave, rushing headlong into the distance.

The sheer number of people and the scene, even under the relatively dim night sky, sent chills down Gavin's spine.

Even though he was still shaken, Gavin braved the cold February wind to approach the terrace and carefully observe the details of the zombies' movements.

It's not just about judging their average running speed, but also about summarizing the common choices and reaction times of zombies when dealing with obstacles.

The distance between the helicopter landing point and the bottle landing point is approximately 110 meters.

Gavin plays rugby and is quite sensitive to distance, so his visual estimation is relatively reliable.

This distance of 110 meters, from the first zombie starting its attack to the last zombie lunging at the source of the sound to locate its target, took only 19 seconds. It doesn't sound very fast, but this was made possible by numerous obstacles.

Every zombie that encounters an obstacle has to leap or hurdle, which affects the speed of a significant portion of the zombies.

After briefly recalling how often zombies encountered car obstacles, Gavin realized that on a flat road, a zombie could run 110 meters in about 14 seconds.

It might even take less time!

What is this concept?
It's worth noting that the average man's 100-meter sprint time is between thirteen and sixteen seconds.

A woman's 100-meter speed is about one second longer, between fourteen and seventeen seconds.

In other words, once a zombie spots a target, it will run at the maximum speed that the body can withstand.

Moreover, zombies, who feel no pain, are destined not to feel tired like humans.

Let's not even talk about how many ordinary people can run faster than zombies; let's just talk about how far an ordinary person can run at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

Five hundred meters?
One kilometer?

And zombies...

Gavin stopped thinking about it and continued to observe the horde of zombies with a gloomy expression.

After the zombies all arrived at the source of the sound, they did not stop immediately. Instead, like alert dogs, they excitedly kept moving, trying to get closer to the beeping alarm.

Each time the alarm sounds, the zombie horde shrinks back in a stacked formation.

Even after a minute had passed and the alarm had completely stopped, the zombies remained vigilant, continuing to tighten their circle and maintaining a density comparable to a human pyramid.

Gavin glanced down at his watch, then looked up again to observe.

one second...

Two seconds...

When the zombies finally stopped piling up around the car that had issued the alarm, and instead gradually spread outwards and roamed around,

Gavin glanced down at his watch; thirty-four seconds had passed.

In other words, once he is discovered by zombies, even if he hides in the safe zone, he must hold off the zombies in the safe zone and remain silent for at least half a minute before the zombies might give up on him.

This is only a possibility, because we also need to consider the effects of sight and smell on zombies.

However, Gavin felt that his observations and summaries at this stage were probably sufficient.

As for the zombies' sensitivity to light sources and their receiving distance, as well as the ratio between sound decibel levels and listening distance...

Once we've escaped the party manor alive, found a suitable camp to settle in, and maintained its stability, then we can try again.

Gavin then slowly backed away, and quietly closed the door as Madison nervously greeted him.

"call……"

Even Gavin couldn't help but let out a long sigh as the door closed.

Beside him, Madison swallowed hard and asked in a low voice.

"How are you?"

"What do you mean, 'how'? Our plan?"

Gavin patted Madison on the shoulder and said.

“The plan is fine. Nothing unexpected happened just now. Let’s continue throwing bottles to your room and the terrace across from the villa.”

"Hurry up, I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin walked straight to Madison's room.

Madison, clutching the two military knives on his back to prevent them from hitting the potted plants lining the corridor, said...

"Gavin, the way you just looked was just like when we played in the finals, coming up with tactics and plans one after another, almost thinking of everything you could think of."

"if not?"

Hearing Madison's words, Gavin replied without turning his head.

"Otherwise, what should I do? Just grab whatever idea comes to mind and blindly rush forward, letting Lady Luck take care of the part I don't consider?"

"Stop joking. I don't like taking risks, and accidents are inherently risky, so I like to plan ahead for potential accidents, Madison."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin went into Madison's room and went to the window to observe.

(End of this chapter)