Ronan Kendrick sat in the passenger seat. He had showered and changed into a black beanie and a red sweater, looking just as he did when they first met. Quincy had even secretly asked him if he’d taken some kind of miracle pill.
Evelyn Ford was staring, captivated, when Ronan Kendrick suddenly turned his head. Their eyes met. Evelyn smiled and held out her hand to him.
Ronan Kendrick leaned over slightly and rested his chin in her hand. Evelyn scratched it gently a couple of times as if petting a cat. Just then, Quincy walked over and, seeing the scene, let out two completely inappropriate squawks.
"Ugh, that sickening stench of love."
Evelyn shot him a look. "Spit it out."
"Wyatt Vaughn is awake."
Evelyn took a bottle from the medicine box beside her and tipped out three pills for Quincy. "Dissolve them in water. One pill per bowl. Give the other two bowls to Miles Vaughn and Joelle Finch."
Quincy took the medicine and left. With no internet, the RV’s GPS was useless.
"Tell Ethan Dawson to take the lead. His sense of direction is really impressive."
Without a compass, Evelyn didn’t dare to lead the way anymore.
"Evelyn, we’re not short on water now, are we?" Quincy asked cautiously, having returned just as quickly as he’d left.
Evelyn nodded. "We’re not. If you want to take a shower, go ahead. I can smell you from here."
The smile vanished from Quincy’s face. "Do I really stink?"
"Ask Ronan Kendrick."
Ronan Kendrick glanced at him without a word, his meaning perfectly clear.
"Oh, right. When you go deliver the medicine, tell Ethan Dawson to take the lead."
Quincy nodded. "Okay."
A moment later, Ethan Dawson drove his vehicle to the front. Evelyn closed the RV door, and the engine slowly started.
"Evelyn, we’re not short on gasoline, are we?"
"Don’t worry. We might be short on everything else, but not gasoline."
Quincy’s face flushed with excitement. "That’s great! And here I was, worried sick the whole time."
After the black fog dispersed, their field of vision opened up. Quincy stood in the back, chattering away. Ronan Kendrick would occasionally humor him with a response, but Evelyn focused on driving and ignored him completely.
"I have one last question, and this one is really important."
Evelyn scoffed. "You’ve already asked like twenty questions."
"This is really the last one." Quincy rubbed his hands together. "That cargo ship... is it still around?"
Evelyn nodded. "Of course."
Quincy clapped a hand over his mouth, then slapped his own cheeks. ’I’m not dreaming.’
"I knew it! When we had to abandon such a huge ship, everyone was heartbroken, but you two were so calm. No, wait, so was Officer Graham."
Quincy looked at Officer Graham, who was catching up on sleep on the sofa. "Officer Graham knew back then?"
’Probably,’ Evelyn thought, though she wasn’t entirely sure.
But Quincy was a straightforward guy. Although he felt a little bitter about not being the first to know, the thought of no longer having to worry about food and drink cheered him right back up.
Evelyn couldn’t stand his chattering any longer and shooed him away. "Go take care of Wyatt Vaughn. Stop bothering me. Oh, and there are clean clothes on the bed. Have Wendy take Zoe for a shower. She’s had a cold the last couple of days, and her clothes are covered in snot from wiping her nose."
"Okay! I’ll come back to chat with you guys later."
"Don’t. Go be quiet for a while."
After shooing Quincy away, Evelyn finally had a moment of peace.
Although this was a forbidden zone, it didn’t look much different from an ordinary wasteland. The only thing was that not a single blade of grass grew here, and even the ground was black, which was definitely a bit strange.
After driving for two hours, Evelyn saw numerous skeletons and skulls. She and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a look. Based on the weathering of the bones, these people had probably been dead for over a decade.
"Could the Savage Tribe actually exist? Before the apocalypse, there’s no way a tribe like that could still be in our country." Then Evelyn thought of something else.
"Ronan, if people really live in there, do you think they’re still alive?"
This place didn’t seem to have been affected by the earthquakes or other disasters. It was like a hidden realm, a mysterious region untouched and unknown to the outside world.
The people living inside might still be leading lives no different from the past.
Perhaps they had no idea what had happened outside.
The prospect of exploring an unknown territory sparked a faint sense of excitement and anticipation in Evelyn. ’If this place is safe, could we stay here and live?’
Driving through the vast, empty desert had the pleasant feel of a road trip. If one could ignore the human and animal skeletons scattered everywhere, everyone would have been much more relaxed.
「At 6:00 PM」
Evelyn had Quincy use the megaphone to tell Ethan Dawson to stop.
"Are we resting here for the night?"
Evelyn nodded. "There are no downpours, earthquakes, or wildfires now. We’re in no rush."
Evelyn looked at Ronan Kendrick. "What’s for dinner tonight?"
Whatever Ronan Kendrick wanted to eat would determine the quality of their dinner, so Quincy quickly scurried over.
"I want barbecue."
Ronan Kendrick smiled slightly, deliberately contradicting him. "I want hot pot."
Evelyn nodded. "Alright, hot pot it is."
"Wow, choosing your man over your friends."
Evelyn shrugged. "What can I say? I choose my man over my friends."
Although Wyatt Vaughn was awake, she still couldn’t get out of bed. She hadn’t lost her voice completely, but the cold air she’d inhaled had severely damaged her vocal cords, leaving her temporarily unable to speak.
Miles Vaughn and Joelle Finch were also awake, and their conditions were similar to Wyatt’s.
When Evelyn announced they were having hot pot for dinner, Ethan Dawson immediately came over to help.
Evelyn had placed a small refrigerator in the RV, and all the ingredients were inside: lamb, chicken, even various sea fish, vegetables, and fruits.
"Is that a watermelon? I’m not seeing things, am I?"
Quincy hugged a watermelon and pinched Ethan Dawson’s arm hard.
Ethan Dawson winced in pain. "Why’d you pinch me?"
"Does it hurt? Guess I’m not dreaming."
Zoe, who had never seen a watermelon before, circled excitedly around Quincy’s feet.
Peter Owens and Zion Lowell still looked dumbfounded. Clearly, they hadn’t processed everything yet. But when they looked at Evelyn, their eyes were filled with reverence.
Evelyn secretly asked Ronan Kendrick, "They don’t think I’m some kind of monster, do they?"
Ronan Kendrick chuckled. "It’s obvious they think you’re a goddess."
"There have been so many skeletons and skulls along the way. This Rocksea Forbidden Zone... it doesn’t really have Cannibals, does it?"
Ethan Dawson shook his head. "All sorts of theories used to circulate online, and since the government never debunked them, people started treating some of the more absurd ones as truth. But this place is definitely a forbidden zone. It’s said that the government once sent several expedition teams in, but none of them ever came out alive."
"There’s another theory that when satellites took pictures of the ground, the Rocksea Forbidden Zone was just a gray patch. They couldn’t capture anything."
Quincy was a bit surprised. "Is it really that mysterious? Now that you mention it, I’m getting a little scared."
"What’s there to be afraid of? There are so many of us, and Evelyn Ford and Mr. Ronan Kendrick are super strong. Even if there are Cannibals, we can take them all out."
Ethan Dawson couldn’t help but smile as he looked at Wendy’s earnest, righteous expression. ’Ah, the fearlessness of youth.’