Chapter 479: Eternity 40.

"He’s checking the driver. We didn’t

know if you were real survivors or another group trying to take the

truck."

"Why would another group want your truck if it has turned over?" Bai

asked.

The girl gave a dry, almost angry laugh. "Because they want everything.

The truck, the supplies, the clothes we’re wearing. Doesn’t matter if

it’s broken. They’ll take it anyway."

Yan lowered her crossbow a little without putting it away. "Are there

infected nearby?"

"Some. They came after the crash. We got out through the cargo hatch

before they surrounded the cab. We crawled into the ditch and stayed

there until the knocking seemed safer than shouting." The girl glanced

toward the shed. "We have an old driver with us. His leg is bad. We need

help moving him."

"What’s your name?" Yan asked.

"Lin Yue."

"And your brother?"

"Lin Tao. The driver’s name is Uncle He." She hesitated, then looked

toward the caravan. "Can we trust you?"

Bai answered before Yan could. "You don’t have to trust us. You only

have to decide whether you want help. We’re not taking you anywhere by

force."

The girl seemed unprepared for the answer. Her grip tightened on the

pipe, but her shoulders eased by a fraction. "All right. But you need to

understand, we’re not hiding anything. We don’t have much left."

"We’ll see what we can do," Yan said. "First, show us where your brother

Don’t cross the open road until we clear the area."

Lin Yue led them toward the ditch, keeping low behind the overturned

truck. They found Lin Tao crouched near the rear axle, holding a short

kitchen knife and watching the space beneath the cargo bed. He was

perhaps twenty, lean and pale from lack of sleep. His left sleeve was

torn, and his arm was wrapped with a length of fabric that had soaked

through in one place. Behind him lay an older man with silver hair and a

heavy canvas jacket. The driver was conscious, but he had a deep gash

along his lower leg and a feverish shine in his eyes.

Lin Tao raised the knife when Bai came around the wheel. "Stay there."

Bai stopped immediately. "Fine. I’m staying."

Yan crouched a few steps away and showed him the small medical bag she

had brought. "We can help with the wound. But I need to know whether he

was bitten, and I need you to tell me the truth."

"He wasn’t bitten," Lin Tao said too quickly.

His sister turned to him. "Tao."

He looked away. The older man opened his eyes and made a sound of

impatience. "Stop arguing. I scraped my leg on broken metal. If I had

been bitten, I’d have said so. I’m old, not stupid."

Yan looked at the wound. The cut was ugly, but its edges were torn

rather than marked by teeth. The skin around it was red and hot, and the

man’s ankle had swollen. She asked him a few short questions about pain,

dizziness, and when he had last eaten. He answered in a rough voice,

occasionally interrupting to complain that the younger two were wasting

time worrying about him instead of finding a way out.

"What happened to the truck?" Bai asked.

"Road shifted under it," Uncle He replied. "Or at least that’s what it

felt like. The front wheel dropped into the ditch, and then the whole

thing tipped. I tried to get out through the cab. Hit my leg against the

frame. The kids dragged me out before the infected came. I told them to

leave me and go, but they didn’t listen."

"Good for them," Yan said as she began cleaning the wound.

"Don’t encourage them," Uncle He grumbled. "They’re stubborn enough

already."

Lin Yue crouched near his head. "You’d be dead if we had left you."

"Then I’d be dead quietly. Much easier for everyone."

"You’d still complain from the grave."

The older man’s mouth twitched, and the first hint of a smile broke

through his tired expression. Bai recognized the exchange for what it

was. These people had been frightened for too long. Their teasing was a

small way to prove that they were still themselves, that the days spent

hiding beneath a truck had not taken every ordinary part of their lives

away.

Yan’s treatment was quick and careful. She cleaned the wound, checked

for debris, and wrapped it tightly enough to control the bleeding

without cutting off circulation. Mother Yan came out when Yan gave the

agreed signal, carrying the larger first-aid case and a bottle of clean

water. She moved with the calm efficiency she had been practicing,

asking what was needed rather than waiting for someone to assign every

task. Lili stayed secured inside the caravan, and Mother Yan made sure

the vehicle’s outer door was shut behind her before kneeling beside the

injured driver.

"I can hold the light," she said.

Yan handed her a small lamp. "Please keep it steady, and tell me if the

driver becomes pale or starts shaking more than he already is."

Uncle He looked at Mother Yan, then at Yan. "You people travel with a

whole medical team?"

"Not exactly," Mother Yan replied. "We just try to be ready."

"Good habit." He grimaced as Yan tightened the bandage. "Wish I’d had

that habit before I agreed to drive a truck across a city full of dead

people."

Bai looked toward the road. "You said you had been collecting supplies.

From where?"

"Small warehouse behind the truck’s route," Lin Tao said. "We were

supposed to pick up boxes and deliver them to a local shelter. The

driver used to work for the owner. When things fell apart, he kept

making deliveries because people needed medicine and food. We helped him

because my sister and I were working nearby when it started."

"Did the shelter expect you?" Yan asked.

"We don’t know. We never reached it." Lin Tao glanced toward the

overturned truck. "The warehouse is close.

TO BE CONTINUED.