Chapter 61 p2: Departure
Jiang Zao pushed the door open and got out of the car. She picked up her binoculars and climbed onto the roof of the car. She zoomed in, and a line of abandoned vehicles that stretched as far as the eye could see appeared in her field of vision. A few crows were cawing and circling overhead.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t encountered obstacles or abandoned vehicles blocking the road on their way here. They had either moved them by hand or used the Hummer’s strong power to tow them away. But in this situation, it was no longer something that the three of them could solve with manpower.
“Damn it, we can only take a detour.”
Jiang Zao cursed a few times. Choosing to take a detour would only delay them.
The bullet was still stuck in Little Mi’s body. Every minute and second now was a race against death.
Wen Zhao took out the oil drum from the trunk and shook it.
“The only good news is that we can get some oil here.”
After refueling, the group got back in the car.
Wen Zhao unfolded the map and spread it on her lap.
“Let’s take the national highway. Although the highway is fast and saves time, this highway that runs from east to west in China has a very high traffic volume even during holidays before the apocalypse, let alone now. Maybe there will be fewer cars on the national highway.”
There was no other way. Jiang Zao could only grit her teeth and drive back, getting off the highway and turning onto the national highway.
Perhaps because the coordinates of the survivor base had been made public, and the survivors were all rushing to the base to survive, even the number of abandoned vehicles and zombies on the national highway was unusually high. Moreover, on an unmanaged road, there would be many traces of natural disasters, such as rockfalls or landslides that blocked the originally passable road.
When they encountered a situation that was really impassable, they could only choose to take a detour, from the highway to the national highway, then to the country road, and even to an unnamed small road.
Fortunately, the off-road vehicle’s strong performance was not a problem even when crossing mountains and rivers.
Until night fell, the dashboard showed that they had already driven for more than seven hundred kilometers, but they were still more than five hundred kilometers from Dongyuan City. Counting the detours, they had actually only traveled less than half the distance. Wen Zhao and Jiang Zao had already taken turns to rest once.
The one driving now was Wen Zhao.
She looked back at Jiang Wuni’s listless expression in the back seat.
“Grandma, let’s rest for a while in the town ahead.”
Jiang Wuni quickly waved her hands. “No need…”
Before she could finish, her stomach churned again, and she picked up the plastic bag hanging in the car.
Jiang Zao also looked back at her. “Let’s just find a place to spend the night in front. It’s not safe to drive at night.”
The further they went towards Dongyuan City, the higher the altitude, and the more desolate the road became. It was either a Gobi desert or a gravel road over a snow-capped mountain pass. Sometimes they had to drive for a long time before they could see a village.
If it were a normal day, Jiang Zao would definitely have taken out her camera to enjoy it, but now her mind was full of Little Mi’s injury.
Although it was the town ahead, they had to drive for almost another hour to get there. After Wen Zhao had parked the car, she took Kele and got out first.
“You guys wait here. I’ll go and scout the way.”
Because it was already dark and it was the time when the zombies were out, they didn’t dare to go too far into the town. They parked the car on the edge of the town, and there was a house a few hundred meters in front.
Jiang Zao held her gun and was on guard.
A moment later, a voice came from the walkie-talkie.
“Little Zao, I’ve already cleared out the surrounding zombies. You can come over.”
Jiang Zao opened the car door, helped Jiang Wuni down, and then bent down to pick up Little Mi from the seat.
The weather in the mountainous areas was unpredictable. It had been sunny in the afternoon, but in the evening, the north wind was blowing, and snow pellets were falling.
Wen Zhao had already checked the entire house. It was an ordinary two-story rural building.
The bedrooms were on the second floor, and the living room was on the first.
For convenience and to be able to react quickly in case of danger, they all curled up on the floor of the living room.
A small sofa was given to Little Mi and Jiang Wuni.
Wen Zhao spread the floor mat on the ground, then found a quilt from the second floor and gently covered Little Mi with it, then prepared to get up.
“I’ll go get some water to cook.”
Jiang Zao gently held her wrist.
“Where are you going to get water so late at night? Why don’t we just make do with steamed buns?”
Wen Zhao glanced at the still-unconscious Little Mi.
“We can make do, but what about Little Mi? Don’t worry, it’s not far behind the house. I saw a small stream just now.”
They hadn’t brought much with them on their forced march. The few remaining bottles of water had all been drunk on the way. Fortunately, Jiang Zao still had a water bag in her bag. Wen Zhao filled all the water bags and also picked up some dead branches and dry grass by the stream to start a fire.
After the fire was started, the room became much warmer.
Wen Zhao also used a dagger to cut the dried meat into minced meat, put it in the pot to cook with the porridge, and then served a bowl for each of them. Jiang Zao lifted Little Mi’s head, gently placed it on her lap, scooped up a spoonful from the bowl, blew on it to cool it down, and brought it to her lips. She tried a few times but couldn’t feed her.
Jiang Zao wiped the food crumbs from the corner of her lips, her expression a little anxious.
“What should I do if I can’t feed her?”
Jiang Wuni took the bowl from her hand.
“Let me do it.”
“Gently pry open her teeth first, then send it in sideways. Don’t feed her too much at once, in case she chokes. When you were sick as a child and wouldn’t take your medicine, I also fed you like this.”
In Jiang Wuni’s chattering, Li Mi also gradually began to swallow. After drinking a small bowl of porridge, Li Mi’s fingers unconsciously moved, followed by her eyelashes.
Jiang Zao was overjoyed. “Little Mi, Little Mi, wake up. Can you hear me?”
“Big… big sister… Grandma…”
Perhaps she had sensed her call. Little Mi’s eyeballs moved with difficulty a few more times and finally opened her eyes with effort. She looked at each of them, and her originally crisp voice also became hoarse.
The few of them all gathered around.
Wen Zhao held her down. “Don’t move. You’re injured.”
Li Mi was not yet fully awake, and her expression was still a little dazed. Seeing the unfamiliar environment, she was a little panicked.
“Big sister, where… where are we?”
Jiang Zao gently stroked her head.
“Don’t be afraid. We’re on our way to the survivor base in Dongyuan City. Tomorrow… we should be able to get there tomorrow.”
“Dongyuan City…” Li Mi murmured this unfamiliar place name. So they had already left Yuanxi Village.
Big Sister Jiang had said that she would not leave the village. This was the place where she had grown up, and it also had everything she had worked so hard to stockpile.
Tears welled up in Li Mi’s eyes.
Jiang Wuni took out a dirty doll from the bundle behind her and handed it to her.
“Little Mi, look, what’s this?”
“This… this is…”
The doll that Big Sister Jiang had given her.
She had always loved it. She didn’t expect that Jiang Wuni had not forgotten to bring this for her when they were fleeing.
Jiang Wuni gently wiped the tears from her face with the back of her rough hand.
“Good child, don’t cry. Be strong. Hold this and have a good sleep. It’ll be fine when we get to the survivor base tomorrow.”
Li Mi nodded and gently closed her eyes.
Jiang Zao tucked her in and then sat down beside Jiang Wuni. “Why have you never been like this to me before?”
In her childhood memories, she had not dared to get sick. Instead of concern, she was first met with a storm of scolding.
It was as if the two of them could not communicate normally without using harsh words.
Jiang Wuni looked at her strangely.
“What are you jealous of? You never caught cicadas for me when I was taking a nap as a child, you never went to the fields with me when it was snowing, and you never even prayed to the Bodhisattva with me…”
Jiang Zao waved her hands repeatedly.
Alright, alright. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.
Jiang Wuni looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“But Zao’er, this is the first time you’ve taken me on a long trip, even though we’re fleeing.”
Perhaps every child, in their innocent words, had once promised to buy their family a big house and take them on a trip after they earned money. But in the long years, few remembered this sentence, except for their elders.
The year Jiang Zao had just graduated from college and started working, she had also received a call from Jiang Wuni. She had said excitedly on the phone.
“Zao’er, this year’s wheat harvest was great, and it sold for a good price. I earned more than two thousand yuan after deducting the costs! It’s also the slack season for farming, so a few of the aunts in the village have decided to join a tour group to Linhai City to see the sea and take a boat. The more people, the cheaper it is. I was thinking that if I go, I can also go and see you…”
Before she could finish, Jiang Zao, who was working overtime, had slammed down the phone. “Don’t come. I’m busy. I don’t have time to take care of you. Besides, I don’t have a place for you to stay in this rented house!”
From then on, Jiang Wuni had tactfully stopped causing her trouble. It wasn’t until this moment that Jiang Zao realized that she had traveled all over the country, standing on her shoulders and seeing the beautiful scenery, but Jiang Wuni had never even been on a plane.
Looking at her already stooped body and her increasingly sparse gray hair, Jiang Zao’s heart felt a little sour. She said with certainty.
“When… when the apocalypse is over, I will definitely take you on a trip, to any place you want to go.”
Jiang Wuni gently patted the back of her hand.
“Alright. It’s getting late. Go to sleep.”
Wen Zhao set the alarm on her watch for four hours later. Jiang Zao also lay down on the mat beside her.
Although Jiang Wuni’s conversation with her just now was soft, Wen Zhao had also heard it. She reached out and gently pulled her lover into her arms. “Good Little Zao, if you like, I can also coax you like this in the future.”
Jiang Zao turned around and hammered her shoulder, but the next second, she snuggled into her neck. Wen Zhao knew that too many things had happened in the past few days, enough to make her physically and mentally exhausted.
She lowered her head and printed a kiss on her forehead.
“Alright, I’m holding you. Go to sleep. Tomorrow… we still have to travel tomorrow.”
***
In the early morning, Jiang Zao was woken up by Jiang Wuni’s cries.
“Little Mi, Little Mi, what’s wrong?! Say something to Grandma! Weren’t you fine last night?!”
Jiang Zao sat up from the mat with a start and stumbled to the side of the sofa. Wen Zhao was already kneeling on the ground, touching Little Mi’s carotid artery with her fingers and listening to her heartbeat on her chest.
A moment later, her expression suddenly turned grim. She quickly undid Little Mi’s clothes and began to do chest compressions.
As she was pressing, she turned her head and said, “Take her blood pressure. Quick, be quick!”
Jiang Zao swept the things on the coffee table to the ground with a single motion, ran to the side of the backpack, took out the portable blood pressure monitor that she usually used to measure Jiang Wuni’s blood pressure, and wrapped it around Little Mi’s arm.
Looking at the constantly alarming numbers on the instrument, Jiang Zao couldn’t help but have red eyes. “What’s going on?!”
“I… I don’t know either! I said I would touch Little Mi’s hand in the morning. Who knew that as soon as I put my hand into the quilt, I felt that something was wrong. Her arm was frighteningly cold! I called her again, but she wouldn’t wake up no matter how I called. It’s all my fault. I should have watched her all night…”
In between the artificial respiration, Wen Zhao took a moment to look at the numbers on the blood pressure monitor. She straightened up again and pressed Little Mi’s chest hard.
“It should be hemorrhagic shock. Little Zao, untie the tourniquet on her shoulder and tie it again!”
Jiang Zao fumbled to do as she was told. When she untied the tourniquet, she found that the gauze that was stuffed in her wound was already soaked with dark red blood.
Her eyes were red. She pulled out the gauze again, sprinkled on some hemostatic powder, took out new gauze from the first aid kit, balled it up, stuffed it in, and then tied the tourniquet tightly.
Seeing that Little Mi’s chest was rising and falling again, Wen Zhao finally let out a huge sigh of relief. Her forehead was soaked with sweat, and she fell to the ground.
Jiang Zao took her blood pressure again. It was always hovering on the edge of the critical value and had not really escaped danger.
Wen Zhao glanced at Little Mi, whose face was as pale as paper.
She looked even weaker than yesterday, like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
The original plan was to arrive at the survivor base by this afternoon at the latest, but judging from the road conditions yesterday, there were many variables.
Wen Zhao didn’t dare to think about whether Little Mi could survive if she had to go through another rescue like this.
“This won’t work. She won’t be able to hold on until we get to the survivor base. We have to find some medicine… some emergency medicine to maintain her basic vital signs.”
