The safe zone was shrouded in a thin mist in the early morning.
I was checking equipment with my teammates, preparing to head to an abandoned research facility about ten miles away.
We heard that it had the last ingredient we were missing.
It could be used to develop the latest anti–virus serum.
Just as we finished preparations and were about to set off, we suddenly saw Mia pulling
Jake towards us.
“Alex, let… let me go too.” Mia stood in front of me, her fingers nervously fidgeting with
the hem of her shirt.
She looked more haggard than a few days ago, with obvious dark circles under her eyes.
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“I… I learned first aid at the hospital before, I was a nurse. If anyone gets hurt, I can help…”
Jake beside her also tremblingly volunteered:
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“I may not have any special skills, but… but I’m a man after all, I have strength… Let me help carry things.”
“You?” The deputy commander sneered, pointing at Jake’s still–bruised eye, “A weakling who can’t even beat a woman dares to say he’s useful? Don’t make me laugh.“”
The surrounding team members also burst into laughter.
Mia’s face turned pale, but she stubbornly stood her ground: “I know we’ve made mistakes… but… but please give us a chance to make amends. I promise to follow orders
this time.”
But everyone knew very well that they were just eyeing the generous rewards for this
mission.
They just wanted to get a share of the spoils by following us.
I raised my hand to signal everyone to be quiet, then turned and said to my teammates in
a low voice:
“Let’s bring them along. Just in case… if we encounter any danger, we can throw these two troublemakers behind as a distraction. They might buy us some time.””
Hearing me say this, the team members finally put aside their complaints.
They reluctantly agreed to Mia’s request.
On the way out, Mia insisted on sitting in the lead car that I was driving.
She remained quiet the whole time, only stealing glances at me through the rearview mirror from time to time.
“Want some water?” Halfway through the journey, she suddenly handed me a military
canteen.
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I shook my head and continued to focus on the road.
But Mia stubbornly pushed the canteen to my hand: “Alex, your lips are all chapped. At least take a sip, it hurts me to see you like this…”
Seeing this, the deputy commander said sarcastically: “Oh! Now you know how to care for others? How come I didn’t see you being so attentive before?”
Mia’s hand froze in mid–air, her lips trembling:
“I… I was thoughtless before. I caused a lot of trouble for everyone, and… and put Alex in a difficult position. It was all my fault.”
“But I’ve realized my mistakes now. I… I just want to make up for my past wrongs.”
The convoy bumped along the desolate road, while Mia’s tears fell silently in the car.
No one paid attention to her sobs. The teammate in the passenger seat even deliberately turned up the volume of the car’s music.
By dusk, we finally reached our destination.
The gate of the abandoned research facility was half–open, pitch black inside.
After deploying the team’s tasks, we cautiously entered.
With Jake and Mia taking the lead at the front.
If zombies suddenly appeared, they would make perfect meat shields.
However, this abandoned research facility seemed to be free of danger.
Along the way, we didn’t even see a shadow of a zombie.
This mission turned out to be unexpectedly smooth. In less than twenty minutes, we found the precious sample stored in the freezer.
