2
The rescue helicopter also closed its doors at this moment, flying away from the hellpad with some of the evacuees on board.
The team members left behind cursed loudly in anger.
“Mia, you f*cking psycho! You’ve cut off our last chance of survival!”
“And that good–for–nothing! Why the hell did you have to run back home to grab a guitar the night before evacuation? Who were you planning to play for, the Grim Reaper?!”
A chorus of curses filled the helipad. Jake was so frightened his face turned ashen.
“I’m… I’m sorry, this guitar is my most treasured possession. I didn’t think it would delay everyone’s evacuation…”
9:48 AM
<
Seeing the hateful glares from everyone around, he quickly hugged his guitar and hid behind Mia.
The team members were also quite dissatisfied with me at this point, giving me looks of disapproval.
“Alex, you’ve led us through life and death situations so many times before. We trusted you as our leader, but how… how could you be so
foolish?”
I put on a guilty expression and patted the team members‘ shoulders:
“This time it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let emotions cloud my judgment. But there’s no use talking about this now.”
“Don’t panic everyone. I know of a temporary shelter nearby where we can take refuge for now.”
Mia, arm in arm with Jake, snorted disdainfully:
“Bunch of cowards. Isn’t Alex still here? He’s the one who’s led us through three zombie hordes before. So what if we missed this evacuation?
There’ll be another one next time.”
Hearing this, the team members became even more furious. But given the current crisis, they had no time to waste words arguing with Mia.
Half an hour later, our group finally reached the temporary shelter.
As the heavy blast doors slowly closed, the roars of those zombies were shut out.
“Finally safe…” Everyone let out a long sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.
But at this moment, one team member suddenly cried out: “This is bad! I just received news that today was the last batch of evacuation helicopters. The military… the military is abandoning this area!”
“Does that mean the military’s evacuation operation is completely over and we’re trapped in this godforsaken place forever?!”
The team members‘ faces turned pale, their voices trembling.
At this point, Mia dismissively pursed her lips:
“Look at how pathetic you all are. The shelter’s food supplies are sufficient to last us at least three months. Even if the military doesn’t come to rescue us, we can always migrate on our own later.”
I opened the military communication device and skillfully entered the password: “Everyone, don’t panic. I’ve already contacted the military high command. They’ve promised to send special forces to pick us up in three days. Let’s all rest up and adjust our condition these few days.”
Hearing this news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Mia was also beaming with joy, holding Jake’s hand excitedly: “Jake, that’s great! We’ll be rescued in three days!”
Seeing the two of them cheering jubilantly, the team members‘ faces all darkened.
“Alex.” The deputy commander lowered his voice and pulled me to a corner, “Is the number of rescue spots you applied for from the military enough? Including those two, we have a total of eight people.”
I nodded slightly: “That’s right, but I only applied for seven spots.”
Hearing this, the deputy commander first looked confused, then seemed to understand something.
He probed in a low voice:
“Then doesn’t that mean one of us won’t be able to get on the plane?”
glanced at Mia, who was feeding water to Jake, a cold smile tugging at my lips.
“Don’t worry, your spots are secured. As for this extra person, we’ll see how she chooses when the time comes.”
We exchanged knowing looks, while the oblivious Mia was gently wiping the sweat from Jake’s forehead:
9:48 AM
<
“Jake, don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get to the safe zone safely.”
Watching this scene, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anticipation.
When the new round of rescue arrives, how will Mia choose?
Will she keep her promise to Jake as she swore?
Or will she expose the ugliest side of human nature when faced with a life–or–death decision?
