Excessive

Back in his RV, Brian sat blankly in his chair, staring at the morphine placed on the table, feeling very complicated.

Morphine injection is a powerful pain reliever, but it's also addictive. It can be said that it is a disguised drug, but the time of addiction will be longer.

Brian didn't understand why Antoine had such a thing. Recalling the other party's strange behavior and their habit of drinking every day, he surmised that the other party might be suffering from some kind of illness and that drinking alcohol was just to numb his own nerves and relieve pain.

But, although she felt sad for Antoine, she couldn't help but feel a bit of secrecy in her heart, because this powerful painkiller could be used to save lives at certain critical moments, which would have a huge impact on her subsequent trip in Atlanta, playing a key role.

Night.

Brian was lying in his bed, and now he and Sarah were the only two people left in the RV, so it wasn't as crowded as it used to be and they could sleep in a bed.

But for some reason, his mind was filled with so many thoughts that he couldn't fall asleep for long. Suddenly, I missed Osborne's daily snoring and the two girls' whispers.

Suddenly, Brian felt his quilt being lifted and then a girl climbed into his bed. She knew without guessing that this person was Sarah.

Sarah got out of bed, rested her head on Brian's arms, put her legs on Brian's body, hugged him tightly, and found the most comfortable position and posture. This set of actions was extremely slick, as if it had been done countless times.

The two hugged each other without saying a word. The long time they spent together allowed them to clearly understand each other's thoughts and be very aware of each other's mood swings.

Feeling the wetness in his chest and the slight trembling in the girl's body, Brian understood that the departure of all his friends and Antoine's suicide today had brought him unspeakable pain. He patted her gently on the back, trying to ease her sadness in this way.

He stared at the roof of the car, feeling more confused than ever. I didn't know what the future would look like, what difficulties they would face, and where their end point would be...

Feeling Sarah's slight body temperature in his arms, Brian subconsciously hugged her tightly, no matter what the future held for her, right now he just wanted to protect the girl in his arms, keep her safe, and be with her on the journey.

....

Two days after all the people selected by lottery entered the quarantine area, the relevant lists of other quarantine areas were also published one after another. Since they were all randomly assigned and there were no cumbersome steps for selection, the time this time was very fast.

The military placed the lists on the bulletin board in order of distance, and informed the people on the list of such-and-such quarantine areas to gather at this or that location, and warned that, if the people on the list did not show up, there would be consequences if they were caught in the city.

At the same time, dozens of cargo trucks were slowly leaving the quarantine area, followed by neighbors who had previously entered. However, their faces did not reflect the same happiness with which they had arrived; rather, they seemed to have been struck by something, as if a heavy shadow had hung over them, leaving them lethargic.

The vehicles headed to pharmacies, hospitals and other locations in Dallas. Each truck was guarded by more than a dozen soldiers. Residents in the quarantine area entered and loaded all medicines and supplies onto trucks.

Once the trucks are fully loaded, they head straight to the quarantine area to unload and then leave empty. The cycle begins again and again. It looks like they're moving all the important materials out of the quarantine area.

Three days later, the convoy from the quarantine zone closest to Dallas slowly entered the city, under the direction of the city's soldiers, and stopped at the designated location.

Then the broadcast also began notifying the first group of evacuated residents on the list of a certain quarantined area to prepare what they needed to bring and gather at a certain location in Dallas, and then there were some words of warning.

After everyone has arrived, a dozen soldiers will hold the list and compare their identities and faces, while making sure no one is missed, they will also be careful to prevent people who have gone to other quarantine areas from blending into the crowd.

As time went by, convoys from other quarantined areas also arrived one after another. Groups of Dallas residents either voluntarily or were forced into cars. The sadness of being separated from their family and friends invaded the entire city.

Of course, several minor things also happened during this period, and one of them made Brian feel very embarrassed.

First, when soldiers were patrolling the city, they discovered a strange fire in an office building. However, due to the recent departure of a large number of residents, the building had already been emptied and no one was inside.

Confused soldiers entered the building to check and found dozens of adult men, women and children hiding inside, as well as a large amount of supplies.

Later, after investigation, it was discovered that all these people were residents heading to other quarantine areas. They had stockpiled a lot of supplies when the disaster struck. They were not satisfied with the quarantine area system and were unwilling to donate them. They collected these supplies and formed a team. They planned to wait until the matter was over, then take these supplies and leave to build their own utopia.

As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest, so they decided to hide in that building as soon as they met, right under a lamp. Everything went smoothly and no one noticed his presence. However, they did not anticipate that one of the children would accidentally start playing with fire in the room, attracting the attention of the man in the face. It was a tragic turn for a situation that had been so well planned.

Second, during a certain identity comparison, a soldier discovered that a resident was very unusual. He was scruffy and had a beard. It was impossible to know if he matched the person in the photo.

The soldier immediately ordered his face to be wiped and wanted to take a closer look, but when the resident heard this, he panicked and became nervous instantly. He also stuttered and slurred his words, which made the soldier more suspicious of the other person.

In the end, the resident appeared cornered, and with a fierce look in his eyes, he pulled a pistol from his arms and nearly shot the soldier.

Fortunately, when the soldier sensed that something was wrong, he was always alert to the other party. The moment he pulled out his gun, he took action directly and pushed the suspect to the ground.

When this man was subdued by the soldiers, a man with the same appearance as him in the crowd also panicked, turned around secretly, and wanted to leave.

But how could his behavior go unnoticed by the guards on the perimeter? Shortly after, he was subdued. Later, he discovered that the two were companions, but had been assigned to a relatively distant isolation area. They didn't want to take any chances, so they decided to turn around and find out which isolation area was closest. Once there, their plan was to find their target, steal their ID card, and kill them to avoid exposing their identity, trying to go unnoticed in this way.

These two incidents alone involved the life and death of dozens of people, but for Dallas, where people die every day, this can only be considered a minor matter.

As for what made Brian feel embarrassed, when he woke up one morning, he suddenly felt that his lower body seemed to be soaked with something.

For a moment, he thought it was him... But then he realized that the position was wrong. He quickly opened the quilt to check it, but discovered with some embarrassment that there was a scarlet color there, and the source was Sarah, who was. sleeping next to him.

... Yes, this girl who has turned thirteen years old has begun her menarche.

After waking Sarah from her sleep, she looked at the other party who still had a confused and ignorant expression on her face. It seemed that no one had told him about this experience. Brian couldn't laugh or cry when he saw this, and he covered his face to express his lack of words.

Trying to remember the knowledge about women in his mind and thinking about those strange things, Brian felt that suddenly his whole body felt bad.

He asked Sarah to stay in the car, changed his clothes, and planned to go out to the supermarket to see if he could find what he was looking for, but when he searched several places, he was completely dumbfounded because everything was gone.

Reluctantly, Brian struggled with himself for a moment, but eventually washed his face and returned to the management office to look for Clarisse. He planned to ask him for something shamelessly, wanting to know what he should keep in mind in this situation. After all, she now understood that women, and she in particular, were the only ones she could still find in the midst of all this.

When Clarisse saw Brian again, she was also very surprised. When he discovered the purpose of Brian's visit, his nostrils turned to the sky and he laughed loudly.

In the end, Brian blushed and held a cardboard box, and ran out of the administration center in embarrassment. Hearing the laughter of the woman behind him, he finally understood how the bald man felt.

Back in the RV, he handed the things into Sarah's hands and then, in fits and starts, told her that knowledge. To be honest, it really made him feel weird, talking about these things.

So, as the number of people in Dallas dwindled, October passed quietly. The military also began forming a convoy toward the Atlanta quarantine zone, and they were about to leave the city and embark on an unknown journey.