Doomsday America.

Chapter 265 Temporary Evacuation and the First Death

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin placed the large mushroom covered in blood and tissue fluid between his hands and gently pried it apart.

Because he didn't use enough force, he couldn't pry it open at first!

Seeing this, Gavin pursed his lips and forcefully tore at the mushroom in his hand.

It was just a mushroom about the size of two palms, and it looked quite dirty, but even with seventy percent of his strength, he couldn't tear it in half! Come to think of it, it made sense; he had previously thought that this mushroom looked somewhat like a tire, and its texture was similar to that of a tire.

Who could easily tear apart a tire that is at least four centimeters thick?

Besides the rubber-like texture, Gavin also felt that this mushroom was somewhat similar to... the mixture of resin and mud that wild boars rub against! In short, it can be summed up in one word.

Resilient!

That's incredibly resilient!

Watching Gavin break mushrooms apart, Eugene frowned and whispered to Gavin.

"Boss, why can this thing grow such tough mushrooms? Has it mutated?"

"If so, why did he mutate? Is there some kind of nuclear radiation around Houston?"

Because of movies and TV series, nuclear radiation has long been perceived by the public as the starting point for most biological mutations. It's understandable that Eugene would think this way.

His words did indeed startle Gavin.

Gavin glared at Eugene, then muttered a curse under his breath.

"Shut your mouth, don't fucking scare me, it's a ghost!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin waved to Edward, who was standing to the side.

"Edward, find me a bag. Let's take this home and let Li Qing study it."

"Didn't that guy find some equipment for cultivating antibiotics in Athens? There should be equipment in there to observe the giant mushroom, right? Let him study it first." As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin raised his hand and tossed the giant mushroom to Edward.

Edward reluctantly accepted the giant mushroom and said to Gavin with a wry smile.

"Boss, this thing might actually be radioactive, right? I didn't bring a radiation detector. How about we leave it here and go home first, then find some radiation detectors at the military base?" To be honest, Edward was also a little panicked.

After all, this is Livingston Lake!

As is well known, most of the nuclear power plants in the United States are located in areas with abundant water, such as the coast.

Houston itself is a city that exists because of the ocean.

Livingston Lake is some distance from Houston, but only a little over 100 kilometers away, and the nearest coastline is only 125 kilometers away. Such a distance…

Okay, it's still more reliable than Chernobyl. After all, after the Chernobyl disaster, the government only cordoned off a 30-kilometer-wide no-life zone around Chernobyl. Livingston Lake, on the other hand, is over 100 kilometers away from the many nuclear power plants near the coastline!

but……

This distance wasn't enough to put Gavin at ease, given that there were more than one known nuclear power plant along the Houston, Texas coastline. What kind of overlapping radiation effects might have occurred after these power plants melted down?

Gavin and his men weren't academics; the so-called radiation zone was a no-go zone in their eyes. He didn't want to expose himself to any place where he might be affected by radiation! With that thought in mind, Gavin pursed his lips and then waved to Edward.

"Let's put this thing away properly first, wrap it in as many layers as possible."

"Let me think... Let's set up the tents first, put all the supplies we brought inside, and then... let's cancel today's operation!" "Your idea is good. When exploring the Houston area, we'd better get some radiation detection devices!"

"Anyway, the docks are located at both ends of our chosen camp area, so we can retake them anytime!"

At this point, Gavin frowned and kicked the mushroom zombie at his feet.

Eugene glanced at Edward with amusement, while Edward, helpless, grabbed the mushroom and went to find some tinfoil.

Don't think that aluminum foil is anything rare. Because of America's strong oven culture, aluminum foil is almost a must-have barbecue item in every household. Even among the survival supplies that Gavin and his group brought to Livingston Lake, there was a certain amount of barbecue aluminum foil.

After wrapping the giant mushroom in layers of aluminum foil, Edward hung it in the helicopter and then joined the others in setting up tents. It took about seventy minutes, and after setting up six or seven tents, the temporary camp at Lake Livingston was almost ready. While the last tent was being secured with ropes, Gavin and the rest of the crew, having nothing else to do, gathered the zombies together, including the mushroom zombie, and burned them all. The others then gathered around the fire, chatting leisurely with beer and drinks.

This is really not a good habit, but Gavin's love for partying around the campfire has already infected the guys.

As a result, once the guys gathered a bunch of corpses and started a fire, they instinctively wanted to have a small bonfire party...

Initially, Gavin did this to dispel people's fear and confusion about death at the party, and to use the presence of the zombie torches to alleviate their fear of zombies. But now…

There was definitely no longer any fear; in fact, it was a bit of an overreaction, because once the fire was lit, the guys would habitually start partying. But this was still better than a somber atmosphere where someone would contemplate suicide at any moment.

So Gavin didn't mind the guys' fun-loving atmosphere and drank two bottles of beer with them.

The fire continued until it died down and the men had completely extinguished it.

The flight squadron then dropped off the newly set up camp, boarded the helicopters that Sean and his team had already done some basic maintenance on, and flew towards their homes. After about an hour and a half of flying, the helicopters landed together on the roof of the manor.

Gavin led his men off the roof, while Edward, looking wary, carried the large mushroom wrapped in layers of cloth and frowned as he followed the group back into the manor. Gavin didn't leave Edward alone to worry; not long after they got home, he took the large mushroom.

I went down the stairs and came to the lobby.

Jia Wen wanted to go in the direction of the old manor to find Li Qing, because Li Qing had set up his studio and laboratory in the old manor.

He wanted to give the big mushroom to Li Qing.

But just as he arrived at the main gate of the manor, pushed open the gate and stepped outside...

He finally saw that there were more than twenty people gathered in the open space near the cattle pen, doing something he couldn't tell them...

Noticing that scene, Gavin stopped in his tracks, puzzled, and then tossed the mushroom to Eugene.

"Eugene, give this to Li Qing and explain the consequences to him. I'm going to go see what's going on!"

"Roger that, boss."

Although Eugene was worried about radiation, he was still quite brave. After all, his boss had already taken the mushroom, so they might as well die together. With that, Eugene carried the mushroom toward the old manor, while Gavin led the men toward the crowd.

As he approached, the crowd immediately parted to make way for him.

"Boss!"

"BOSS".

"Boss Gavin."

"Mr. Leader"

"Boss!"

Amidst numerous greetings, Gavin walked past the crowd and focused his gaze on the center of the group.

When he saw the scene of being surrounded by a crowd, his eyebrows involuntarily rose slightly, then drooped heavily.

Right in the middle of the crowd, a clearly visible corpse stood out.

The cowboy looked to be only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. At this moment, the cowboy had a huge hole in his head, and there was a lot of blood on his chest and left rib area, as well as a huge laceration that was more than twenty-seven centimeters long!

Gavin recognized the young man; he was one of the cowboys who had joined Jonathan and others from Ranch 6666 on his farm.

Although he didn't have any special skills, this young man was naturally optimistic and easygoing, and occasionally he could tell a few funny dirty jokes. Gavin had also been amused by this young man before.

But at this moment, the cowboy's cold body lay on the cart, and a girl sat beside him, weeping bitterly.

The woman was a girl from Margaret's camp, and she was now weeping uncontrollably beside the young man's cold body.

It wasn't until Gavin arrived that the sobbing girl looked up and then, as if she had found her way, rushed towards Gavin.

She didn't say anything, but just sat down sadly on the grass in front of Gavin, hugging Gavin's legs and wiping away her tears.

Watching the woman wipe her tears and snot on her trouser leg, Gavin rubbed her hair, then looked at the young man's dead body and asked, "Can anyone tell me how he died, Steve?"

At this point, Gavin's gaze shifted back and forth between Steve and Thomas, who were in the center of the crowd.

Meeting Gavin's gaze, Thomas turned to Steve, who swallowed hard, pressed his cowboy hat to his chest, and took a step forward, whispering to Gavin, "Boss...it's my fault, I...sigh, this young man died while chasing wild horses with me."

"I took the cowboys to lasso the horses, but today's herd was a bit too close to the forest. In his panic, the horse he chose to lasso rushed into the forest." "I didn't call for a stop, and he immediately rode into the forest to chase after it. I made a mistake, boss, because I saw that the horse had only gone less than twenty meters into the forest when it reared up and neighed to stop, but I still didn't call for a stop for Simon."

That's right, the young man who died was named Simon, a veteran cowboy who had worked on a farm for twelve years.

Although he didn't have any skills that would make him stand out among all cowboys, he was undoubtedly an excellent cowboy.

But at this moment...

Looking at Simon's cold body lying on the cart, and listening to the girl's crying beside me.

Gavin took a deep breath and then spoke softly to Steve.

"and then?"

"Then... Boss, Simon encountered a bear. It wasn't a zombie bear, but a cautious, intelligent predator hiding in the thickets at the edge of the forest, waiting for the horses." "Simon saw the wild horse neighing and standing motionless at the edge of the forest, so he rode over and harnessed it. I didn't even notice the potential danger there." "Just like that, when the bear launched its attack, Simon and the wild horse were only six meters away from the thickets where the bear was hiding." "At that distance, the bear pounced on Simon's horse with a single pounce, and then tore open Simon's chest with a single bite."

"But Simon was a good man, a true cowboy. He shot a black bear through the mouth with a revolver, but his injuries eventually gave way..." At this point, Steve shook his head regretfully, then pulled the hat he had been holding to his chest back onto his head.

Gavin, standing beside Steve, took a deep breath after hearing what Steve said, then raised his hand and patted Steve on the shoulder.

After calming Steve down a bit with his gestures, Gavin turned to look at the crowd around him.

Those people were looking at him with confusion.

Meeting the bewildered and disappointed looks in everyone's eyes, Gavin pursed his lips and said softly.

"Everyone dies eventually, guys, but Simon, I respect him for dying bravely enough."

"He didn't panic, nor was he overwhelmed by fear and crisis. Even in his last moments, he fought back effectively against the beast that attacked him." "Steve, where's the bear? The damn bear that took my guy's life?"

At this point, Gavin suddenly looked at Steve, and a fierce look finally appeared in his eyes.

Steve swallowed hard, then pointed further into the crowd.

In that place, hidden from view by the crowd, on that open grassland, lies a bear and a horse.

Cowboys don't ride horses side by side while working.

So, it's quite clear that after being shot by Simon, the bear attacked Simon's horse, crushing the poor racehorse to death. And Steve and his group…

They were probably quite far away at the time and were unable to provide immediate assistance.

As for who is right and who is wrong in this incident...

Gavin really can't argue about right or wrong in this matter.

Cowboy actions are definitely different from explorer actions, and the logic behind cowboy actions is also different from the logic of explorers facing zombies. Especially in actions like lassoing horses, when cowboys chase each other's target horses, who knows how far they might end up.

How could Gavin possibly force them to, even when lassoing horses, to have a group of people chasing after a single horse and lassoing it repeatedly...?

and so……

There's no right or wrong in this matter; it's just... a normal loss!

Thinking of this, Gavin raised his hand, took off his hat, pressed the cowboy hat to his chest, and silently looked at Simon in the middle of the crowd.