Chapter 43: Airplane
The moment he finished speaking, Kevin Keane strode toward Luna Dawson.
Luna felt the aisle beside the bed shrink under Kevin Keane’s towering frame. His masculine presence bore down on her, enveloping her completely and creating an intense, oppressive feeling.
Startled, she subconsciously took half a step back, looking up to glare at him, her whole body instantly tensing with vigilance, like a leopard about to pounce.
But Kevin Keane simply gazed at her tense face with his wolf-like eyes and suddenly chuckled softly. His expression, however, was incredibly resolute as he spoke with great solemnity, "Little Boss, from now on, we’ll all listen to you."
"Luna, we’ve known Brother Evan for many years, and this whole time we’ve seen you as a real sister," Aaron Palmer quickly jumped in, his tone urgent and sincere. "That initial partnership... we weren’t trying to force you. Don’t take it to heart. I definitely choose the first option!"
As he spoke, he kept glancing at Blake Blue and Lynn Shelby, his eyes urging them to follow his lead.
Blake Blue gave a slight nod, his gaze gentle as he looked at Luna. "Thank you and Evan for being willing to treat us as one of your own. My position has never changed."
Finally, it was Lynn Shelby’s turn. His fox-like eyes curved into a slight smile, glinting with a light that was both cunning and sincere.
"Since all three of them have pledged their loyalty, I don’t have much of a choice, do I? Boss, from now on, please don’t hesitate to give me plenty of ’trouble.’ Don’t treat me like an outsider."
Watching the four of them state their positions one after another, Luna secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Evan Olson, who was standing to the side, walked over and patted her on the shoulder, saying with a smile, "Luna, don’t worry. These guys might not be saints, but they wouldn’t do something as treacherous as breaking their word. I’ll keep an eye on them from now on, so you can rest assured."
Now that Luna had cleared the air, a weight was lifted from everyone’s hearts. In the perilous apocalypse that lay ahead, they would form a proper team and face it together!
In the days that followed, the family continued to split their time between the morning and afternoon, killing zombies around the villas, gathering supplies, and training their superpowers.
During this time, some clueless people tried to cause trouble for Luna’s family, but they were all beaten into submission by their weapons and fists.
Everyone in the villa complex feared the Dawson family. After all, every time they were seen, each member was carrying a gun.
They also occasionally ran into Shane Shaw and Nancy Sullivan, who would silently trail the Dawson family to kill zombies. Everyone gradually became more familiar with each other.
Nancy Sullivan, who at first only dared to watch others kill zombies, slowly began to learn how to fight them herself.
The first few times, she threw up almost every time she cut off a zombie’s head.
Eventually, she got used to it, and now she could dispatch a zombie quickly without her expression changing.
After several consecutive days, the zombie-clearing team grew larger and larger.
Neighbors who had previously hidden in their houses, afraid to show their faces, now started to voluntarily trail behind the Dawson family, forming a large procession like they were clearing a dungeon raid.
"Hey, hey, hey, there’s another plane in the sky!" someone yelled at the top of their lungs, pointing at the roaring sound overhead.
The crowd instantly fell into chaos. People living nearby excitedly rushed home. "Quick! Get the red bedsheets! Make a big SOS!"
Shortly after, the sound of fireworks came from two distant villas. From afar, everyone could vaguely see puffs of smoke exploding in the sky.
In an instant, the zombie-clearing team almost completely scattered.
The villa complex gardens were filled with brightly colored bedsheets and various banners. Fireworks BANGED and CRACKLED into the sky, and the shouting almost drowned out the sound of the plane engines.
But the transport planes and fighter jets just flew past as if they hadn’t seen anything, not pausing for even a second.
"I give up. This is a complete waste of effort!" someone said, slumping onto the lawn in defeat.
Miles Dawson, holding a machete, had just cut down a zombie. He caught a glimpse of the fireworks out of the corner of his eye, and his own eyes went wide. "What the hell? Who’s so awesome they actually have fireworks?!"
His whole family had hoarded supplies until they were blue in the face, but they’d never thought to stock up on that stuff. This villa complex was really full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
Shane Shaw, who was still clearing zombies nearby, smiled gently. He split a zombie’s head with his blade and chimed in, "Those two families with the fireworks are in the fireworks business. Our country has strict regulations, so it’s probably just leftovers their kids played with. They won’t have much more."
Aaron Palmer patted his chest, still shaken. "Thank goodness the meteorite didn’t hit them! By the way, which houses are they in? If they have a large stockpile, wouldn’t that just be a ticking time bomb?"
"Don’t worry, they don’t have much," Nancy Sullivan said, adjusting her hat. "Several families went to their doors before to ask for some, saying they’d use them as signal flares, but both families chased them all away."
Wayne Dawson kicked away the zombie remains at his feet and sighed. "And here I thought the neighborly relations in our villa complex were so harmonious. Turns out we have these kinds of freeloaders causing trouble too."
Shane Shaw’s voice grew grave. "In chaotic times, you get all sorts of people..."
Hearing this, Nancy Sullivan glanced toward Hector Miller’s villa. ’I wonder how those two are doing...’
During the zombie cleanup, the roar of transport planes and helicopters could be heard passing overhead almost every day. Many people still excitedly and relentlessly tried to attract the attention of the aircraft.
Gradually, people began to occasionally see a few scattered planes that seemed to suffer a sudden malfunction or get attacked by a flock of mutated birds. After a period of violent turbulence and losing control, they would plummet straight to the ground. The thick smoke rising into the sky could be seen from far away.
Everyone’s hearts clenched when they saw it. In this apocalypse, there was truly no such thing as absolute safety, no matter where you hid.
At this point, the people in the villa complex completely lost hope. They abandoned their wishful thinking and obediently followed the residents of Villa 101, gripping their weapons to clear out the remaining zombies.
More than half a month passed like this, and the villa complex was basically cleared of zombies.
After the water was cut off, many people drove to the lake to break the ice and collect water. When Luna’s group passed by one time, they happened to see the two Kramer sisters also gathering water.
The moment she saw them, Yolanda Kramer got scared and pulled her sister, running straight for their car. She looked at Luna as if she had seen a ghost.
Shay Kramer, however, stared intently at Luna, reluctantly being pulled away by her sister.
As for that strange Ian Young, no one ever saw him leave his house again. However, the ever-increasing pile of zombie corpses inside and outside his yard was a testament to the villa owner’s morbid level of strength.
The day after the zombies in the villa complex were cleared, the Shaw siblings, Shane and Nancy, came to the Dawsons’ gate carrying two boxes of smoked bacon and cured sausages. They said it was to thank everyone for their help and instruction. Luna said she couldn’t accept it, but Nancy threw a fit, insisting that Luna had to try them.
She said they were a specialty from her hometown, and that the sausages even came in a spicy mala flavor that Luna would definitely love after trying. The two of them put the boxes down at the gate and ran off. Luna couldn’t even call them back and could only accept the gift with a helpless sigh.
...
Ever since the zombies stopped roaming the villa complex, people who had been cooped up in their homes for a long time started to come out and about, resuming their fake and boring social interactions.
On this day, Wayne Dawson came in from the entrance, wiping his hands. "A few more families we don’t know just knocked on the door, inviting us to a gathering to discuss the situation and make plans. I turned them all down."
Luna commented lazily, "I can’t be bothered with that commotion. It’s a complete waste of time."
Before long, the courtyard gate’s bell rang again, and Mrs. Dawson and Wayne Dawson had to go out to deal with it.
A short while later, Mrs. Dawson returned carrying several beautifully packaged bags. She said, "A Mr. Howard from the investment world? Howard what? I didn’t quite catch it. He even brought six bodyguards. What an entourage."
Wayne Dawson looked at Luna helplessly. "The man was very polite. He kept thanking our family for taking the lead in killing zombies and clearing the hidden dangers from the villa complex. He had his bodyguards give us a lot of dried seafood to show his gratitude."