The four on night watch—Erbao, Fatty, Xiaoxuan, and Fenglin—were startled when I suddenly came downstairs with a stranger. They immediately surrounded Second Brother.
"Enough, he's just a local farmer who's starving and came looking for food. Don't give him a hard time," I briefly explained.
"How did you get in? We've been watching. Did you climb in through a window?" Fatty questioned Second Brother sharply.
"Stop asking. From now on, don't doze off while on duty. It's fine if a person slips in, but if it were a zombie, you'd be done for," I cut off Fatty's interrogation. Truthfully, this happened because someone fell asleep on watch, but I didn't want to ask who—it would be embarrassing. Surviving together is hard enough!
Moreover, after a day of frantic travel, everyone's nerves were stretched taut, and they were undoubtedly exhausted to the limit at night. These guys had to stay on watch without sleeping—they were already working hard enough. If I found out who was solely responsible for the lapse that allowed Second Brother to sneak in, the blame would be severe. The other three might even criticize them. I didn't want any internal conflicts, so I stopped Fatty from questioning further.
Of course, maybe Fatty was the one who messed up, hence his preemptive strike. I glanced at him and chuckled inwardly.
Everyone fell silent when I spoke.
"Is there any food left in the cafeteria?" I asked Erbao.
"Sis, yes! I'll go with you—I'll heat it up for you," Erbao said eagerly.
"No need. Is the cafeteria unlocked? I'll take him there myself. You all focus on guarding the main building. The cafeteria isn't far; don't worry about me. If anything happens, I'll shout, and you'll hear me." Considering Second Brother's shyness, I decided to take him to get food myself.
"Sis Duo, you must be careful! We don't know this guy!" Xiaoxuan, more cautious, didn't quite trust strangers.
"Heh, it's fine. Thank you, but I'm not going far—just step outside to the cafeteria. Nothing will happen! And he's not dangerous—trust me!" I patted Xiaoxuan's shoulder and led Second Brother out of the main building.
Outside, it was much brighter than inside the building. The moon was particularly good tonight—I didn't even need a flashlight to see everything clearly.
The vehicles parked in the courtyard lay quietly like a herd of giant beasts. There was no electricity in the wilderness, but the air was clear, making the moon seem even brighter!
The cafeteria door was ajar, the lock hanging loosely. I removed the lock, pushed the door open, and shone my flashlight inside—it was very quiet.
We went to the kitchen and found a few unopened cans on the stove. Looking into the large rice pot, there was still some rice left.
"I don't cook much usually. I'll just simply fry some rice with beef canned food for you—don't mind if it doesn't taste great." After saying this, I found a large plate, scooped out the rice, opened a beef can, turned on the stove, and by flashlight, fried a plate of rice for him.
Second Brother hopped around anxiously behind me, scratching his ears and cheeks—the rumbling from his stomach almost drowned out the sound of me cooking! He was truly starving!
When I handed him the fried rice with beef, he had already found a large spoon somewhere—wait, was this a spoon for eating? It looked more like a soup ladle—so big! But he had taken a liking to it! He started eating eagerly, hissing from the heat.
"Second Brother, slow down. No one's fighting you for it. Dawn is still far away; you can eat slowly." Seeing him act like a child, I found it quite amusing. I sat beside him, propping my chin in my hand, watching him eat.
"So delicious, oh my... this is the most delicious meal I've ever eaten in my life..." Second Brother kept exclaiming while eating. When you're starving, anything tastes delicious—how true!
By the time Second Brother finished eating, the sky was getting light outside. I checked my watch—5 a.m. Time flies!
Second Brother held his stomach, satisfied, burping. I went to get him a bottle of water, which he chugged down in one go, overjoyed.
"Sis Duo, it's so great being with you—I get to eat my fill! Sis Duo, how about I become your bodyguard? Okay? Don't say no! If you don't take me in, I might starve to death in the wilderness!" Second Brother said, looking at me pitifully with eyes like a stray animal!
Actually, even if he hadn't said it, I had already thought about recruiting him. This guy had skills—moving silently upstairs in the middle of the night, carrying a bow and arrows. Although I didn't know his skill level, he was definitely trained—no ordinary person. Our team needed to strengthen itself, and he was a good candidate.
Moreover, if we didn't take him in, he'd be alone in this desolate area with no food source. Even without the threat of zombies, survival wouldn't be easy.
"You must follow orders and not be willful. Can you do that?" I remembered the three questions Rick asked survivors in The Walking Deadwhen taking them in: How many walkers have you killed? Have you killed humans? But I wouldn't ask those. I wasn't a leader like Rick; I only knew that if the person before me was a living, breathing human who couldn't survive alone and didn't seem like a bad person, that was enough to join our big family. Especially since this Second Brother was a protective force.
"Sis Duo, I can't promise about others, but I'll definitely listen to you! If you take me in, my life is yours! I mean what I say! How about we pinky swear!" Second Brother seriously extended his little finger. Though he looked to be in his twenties, he clearly had a child's temperament!
"Okay! Pinky swear, sealed for a hundred years, no changes! Second Brother listens to Sis Duo, no regrets!" I didn't scold him for being childish but also seriously extended my little finger to pinky swear with him. It wasn't that I was childish too, but being with Shuai Shuai had taught me that to respect a child, you must communicate with them in their way. Even if the person before me was an adult with a grown man's body, already 29 years old but with a child's heart, I would interact with him in his way. This was my change after becoming a mother.
And so, the new member with a simple, reckless, ghost-like silent walking personality, who could decisively deal with zombified relatives but felt shy because of hunger—Second Brother—officially joined our team.
When day broke, everyone was up.
In these chaotic times, no one had the chance to sleep in—not even the children.
Breakfast was simpler: each person received a packet of biscuits and a bottle of water.
The younger children were more troublesome. We boiled water and made a bowl of rice cereal for each, coaxing and feeding them.
Shuai Shuai was being disobedient this morning. He refused to eat his cereal. When fed a spoonful, he would stick out his little tongue and push it out. Seeing him waste food like this, I couldn't help but feel anxious. Things weren't like before when you could just buy more if you ran out. Our large truck didn't have much baby food left—it might run out soon, and these children would have to eat the adults' rice porridge.
Rice porridge was bland—how could it compare to the fragrant baby cereal? And he didn't appreciate it now!
In our family, except for Grandpa, everyone educated the children rationally and didn't treat them like little emperors. So when strictness was needed, we were very strict.
Normally, if he refused to eat properly, I would let him go hungry for one meal. When he realized how uncomfortable hunger was, he would eat the next meal obediently.
But now was different. If he didn't eat this cereal properly, he might only have baby biscuits to eat all day—that wouldn't provide adequate nutrition for a child.
Just as I was worrying, Second Brother suddenly came over. He made faces at Shuai Shuai, who was surprised by this new face and stared intently at Second Brother. After successfully capturing Shuai Shuai's attention, Second Brother took the bowl from me and said to Shuai Shuai, "Little brother, you don't want to eat? Such delicious cereal—mmm, so fragrant! Then big brother will eat it for you!" After saying this, he gulped down the entire bowl of cereal in large mouthfuls.
Both Shuai Shuai and I were stunned. You should know, we had used this trick at home before—If Shuai Shuai doesn't eat, Grandma will eat it... If Shuai Shuai doesn't eat, Grandpa will eat it...—but we were only pretending. Shuai Shuai had always been disdainful of this trick of ours. But Second Brother was playing for real!
Obviously, the real deal worked on Shuai Shuai. Seeing his cereal completely devoured, he panicked, reaching out with his little hands to grab the bowl, shouting, "Eat, eat, baby eat..."
Second Brother wiped his mouth contentedly, holding up the empty bowl and saying to me, "Sis Duo, hurry and make another bowl for Shuai Shuai. If he doesn't eat it this time, I'll eat it for him again!"
Laughing, I went to prepare another bowl. And so, under Second Brother's watchful gaze, Shuai Shuai wolfed down this bowl of cereal, glancing at Second Brother squatting beside him while eating to prevent him from stealing his food again.
My parents laughed heartily beside us, praising Second Brother's ruthless effectiveness!
Second Brother said proudly, "Don't think children are stupid! They know the difference between pretending and being serious. Hey, by the way, what is this stuff the kid eats? It's really fragrant..."
Laughing, I thought to myself that perhaps this guy's scaring Shuai Shuai was just an excuse—he really wanted to steal the cereal himself. I hadn't forgotten that Second Brother was essentially a child at heart too.
Although Second Brother had stolen Shuai Shuai's cereal, Shuai Shuai developed a strong interest in Second Brother. Usually unwilling to be held by strangers, he now specifically asked Second Brother to hold him. Second Brother was overjoyed, shaking his head happily—sometimes lifting Shuai Shuai overhead, sometimes letting him ride on his shoulders. Shuai Shuai laughed happily nonstop.
Watching this big boy and little boy, we couldn't help but smile too.
From then on, Second Brother and Shuai Shuai were inseparable. At night, Second Brother insisted on sleeping next door to us, unwilling to be far from Shuai Shuai.
He treated Shuai Shuai as his own little brother and strictly protected him.
My husband and I also trusted Second Brother completely. As long as Second Brother was with my parents and Shuai Shuai, we felt very at ease.
After the whole group was reorganized, we left the White Swan Resort and set off again. When leaving, Sixth Brother very carefully locked the main building and the large iron gate. Whether we would have a chance to return or not, this place was one that Sixth Brother deeply respected.
Back on the road, heading towards the distant farm—let's go!
The road to my husband's family farm wasn't all highway; it passed through many villages and small towns along the way.
Two hours after leaving the resort, we needed to exit the highway and enter the first village.
Because the snowplows were huge and couldn't travel fast like normal vehicles—even at maximum horsepower they were very slow—they limited our overall progress speed.
We had discussed whether to abandon the snowplows. My husband strongly opposed this. He knew this road well—many places had steep slopes on both sides of the road, with fields below. If a zombie horde blocked the road, the coaches and large trucks couldn't go down the slopes to detour. Without the snowplows as zombie-crushing tools, we couldn't deal with blocking zombie hordes.
So we had no choice but to be patient and move forward slowly. At this rate, a journey that should take one or two days might take us about a week—and that's assuming smooth sailing.
The village was right before us. We hadn't seen a single farmer on the road, and everyone grew solemn.
With Second Brother protecting Shuai Shuai and playing with him, Shuai Shuai was now willing to let my husband and me leave. Now we were sitting in a Land Rover leading the convoy at the front, together with Qin Goodluck.
"Everyone slow down. Something's wrong with the village ahead," my husband warned everyone over the walkie-talkie.