The night was slightly cool, and the faint smell of garbage and decay penetrated the nose through the night wind.
Following Sophia, Lin An silently observed the surroundings with a calm expression.
However, when he looked at Sophia, a hint of surprise flashed away.
"Captain Lin, is this how she avoided zombies?"
Following the little girl, Zhang Tie looked at the girl with emotion.
The girl was seen lying on the ground, as if crawling, her hands and feet moving forward carefully alternately. Regardless of the gravel on the ground hurting her palms, the girl seemed to be used to it, and used her body to feel the road conditions on the ground.
She had no eyesight and could not see anything. The girl used her tongue to touch the smell in the air to sense whether there was the unique rotting smell of zombies.
His nose twitched and his ears were always paying attention to his surroundings, like a bat, exploring the surrounding environment.
Compared with normal people to survive in the apocalypse, disabled people like girls will undoubtedly have to make great efforts.
The journey was not too far, and a few minutes later, Lin An saw the garbage treatment plant full of garbage.
I saw a rusty gate standing at the entrance of the park. A large amount of electronic waste and plastic bags were piled up. A thick stench hit my face.
There was sewage flowing across the ground, and some wriggling white maggots were burrowing around on the ground.
After sweeping away a large number of flies with his hand, Lin An looked around and found no trace of human existence.
As a garbage dump for processing electronic waste, the living environment here can be said to be the worst.
Compared to landfills where daily garbage is disposed of, there is no food here, and not even scavengers will visit.
"Arrived at Sophia's house"
Stuttering.
I don't know if she has returned to a familiar park. The girl who was lying on the ground and moving happily got up from the ground. With a careful smile on her face, she turned back and "looked" in the direction of Lin An.
Her nose could smell the aroma of the cans held in Zhang Tie's hands.
"Come here"
With a timid voice, Sophia waved her hand and led Lin An skillfully through the intricate mountains of garbage.
The small figure is extremely flexible. As she shuttles through the garbage dump, she is like an elf back in the jungle.
Smelling the chemical and plastic smell that would make ordinary people dizzy, Lin An frowned slightly, and his eyes of truth continued to scan the surrounding environment.
Normal people living here will probably suffer from various diseases before long.
The chemical pollution here is too serious
A few minutes later, with the little girl leading the way, a small hill made of waste materials suddenly appeared in front of Lin An.
I saw the little girl coming to a "door" made of iron frames, squatting on the ground and gently tapping the iron block with her palms.
"Dang-dang"
"Dang-dang"
Like some kind of code word.
The crisp knocking sound spread out in the night sky, and a moment later, a weak voice came from below the garbage mountain:
"Is it Sophia?"
The female voice hiding underground seemed to be aware of the approach of an outsider and did not open the door. Just standing behind the girl, Lin An noticed a gap next to the garbage mountain at a glance.
There, there was a pair of eyes staring at him warily.
Spreading his hands, Lin An realized that the owner of the eyes could see clearly, and nodded slightly to indicate that he was not hostile.
Looking sideways at Xiong Hanzi, Zhang Tie, who was familiar with his habits, immediately understood something.
"We brought something to eat! We're not bad people!"
I shouted, but the effect was not good.
The survivors hiding underground seemed to have been hurt in some way, and they still just looked at them warily.
Sophia, who was squatting on the ground, also realized that the teacher might be afraid of bad guys. She pointed anxiously at herself and then at Lin An behind her.
He screamed vaguely, as if to say that the person behind him was not a bad person.
After a while.
"Squeak-yah"
The old iron door was carefully opened, and a pale, stained face poked out from the crack in the door.
His eyes were questioning:
"Who are you?"
"We don't have anything here"
Despite Sophia's proof, the girl behind the door remained vigilant. But when she looked at the can that Zhang Tie put down, a clear sound of swallowing was heard at an inappropriate time.
"Don't worry, I'm not hostile."
Spreading his hands, Lin An slowly spoke to the survivor behind the door with a gentle tone, and a restricted breath spread like comfort.
After seeing the sincerity in Lin An's expression and the cans on the ground, the girl behind the door hesitated and finally slowly opened the iron door.
Faint light enters the door.
The moment he opened the door, Lin An immediately saw clearly the layout inside the door.
Inside the house made of iron frames and metal waste, a pair of eyes that were either dull or frightened were looking at him from behind the girl.
In an instant, Lin An's head sank, and a silent sense of depression pressed in his heart.
There is no other reason.
All the children in the house are disabled.
Including, the teacher who opened the door.
A bonfire was raised, and a faint warmth ignited in the abandoned warehouse.
Lin An couldn't help but feel a little silent when he looked at the "home" that was much bigger than he imagined.
Squatting on the ground, Zhang Tie looked at the children holding cans and devouring them with mixed emotions. He wanted to eat more slowly, but couldn't.
In front of me, there were twenty-seven people in total, most of whom were using crutches and wheelchairs.
Disability, blindness, deafness, dementia
None of the children here are sound.
Sitting in front of the campfire, Lin An looked at the teacher who was just sipping canned water and asked softly:
"Can I know what's going on here?"
Looking at everything in front of him, Lin An couldn't imagine how these children survived to this day.
Raising her head, the girl with dull blond hair who lacked nutrients smiled bitterly and spoke slowly while hesitating:
"As you can see."
"Here are all children from a school for disabled people."
"I'm their teacher, Eileen"
Lifting up her sparse short hair on her forehead, Irene glanced at Lin An gratefully:
"After the apocalypse broke out, my children and I hid in a school in the city over there. At first, the military said they would rescue us, but later, something happened to them too."
"There are a lot of zombies outside, and we dare not go out. There are also zombies in the school, but fortunately, those zombies are also disabled people and have difficulty moving."
"Relying on the food in the cafeteria, we persisted for more than a month. Later, we had no choice but to escape desperately."
As she spoke, Eileen looked at the child happily eating canned food with a sad look in her eyes:
"Many people died along the way, and when we got here, these were the only ones left."
"But at first we went to a gathering place to stay, not here. However, we were kicked out not long after the end."
Crackling, sparks exploded.
After listening to Irene's brief narration, Lin An nodded slightly and his eyes flashed.
Although the girl's narrative was short, he could imagine how a teacher who was lame himself could lead a group of children through the zombie siege and survive until now. As for what Irene said about being kicked out,
Lin An was not surprised at all.
Able-bodied children will be abandoned as a burden, let alone a group of disabled people.
On the side, Zhang Tie sighed, took out a can from behind and distributed it, and couldn't help but ask Irene:
"Then what will you eat when you get here?"
In his peripheral vision, Xiong Hanzi silently stared at the little boy sitting in the wheelchair. Although these children were sallow and thin, their limbs were as slender as matches.
But they didn't starve to death, which proves that the survivors here still have a source of food.
Listening to Xiong Hanzi's question, Teacher Eileen hesitated for a moment, lowered her head and said:
"As for food, I will first pick up some useful garbage, assemble it into something, and sell it at the gathering place."
"The children will also help me"
"Although the food exchanged was not much, at that time many houses still had food that had not spoiled, which was enough to eat."
"later"
As Irene spoke, her body trembled and she subconsciously looked at Sophia, who was sweetly eating canned fruit:
"Later, a group of survivors took a fancy to us and wanted to use these children as bait to attract zombies to search for supplies."
"We don't dare to pick up garbage and sell it."
"At that time, if Sophia hadn't awakened and gained some small abilities, we might have died."
With bitter memories, Teacher Eileen looked at the little girl drinking sugar water, her face full of pity and distress:
"Later, Sophia could only go outside to search for food with another child."
"That kid's name is Clark. His awakened ability is to run very fast, but he can't hear and his head is a little dull."
"So every time he went out, he would carry Sophia on his back, and Sophia would be responsible for snooping around. With the cooperation of the two of them, they found a lot of food."
Clark?
Lin An looked around and saw no able-bodied children among these children.
As if seeing Lin An's doubts, Teacher Aileen smiled bitterly and reluctantly raised her head:
"Keep the change, please."
"The child Clark was caught by a group of Awakeneds during an outing. They thought Sophia and Clark were thieves and stole the supplies they had designated. Neither child could explain, and Clark couldn't hear it.
When he tried to escape with Sophia, he was beaten to death by the awakened ones."
"Sophia was also imprisoned by them and used as bait."
The words were full of sorrow and self-blame. Irene turned her head unbearably, her voice trembling:
"I originally wanted to save Sophia, but I didn't have the ability at all."
"Fortunately, Sophia escaped during the chaos once when we were out. But when she came back, I realized how much abuse she had suffered."
"The group of people used knives to cut her and bleed her, just to attract zombies."
Covering her face, Erin's shoulders trembled and she spoke with a crying tone:
"When Sophia came back, her whole back was scratched. I don't know how she crawled back."
"In order to prevent the blood marks from attracting zombies, she kept crawling outside, covering the wounds with mud, and then crawled back after the blood dried."
"This child has suffered too much"
Low cries echoed in the warehouse. Sophia, who was licking up the last bit of sugar water, stared blankly in the direction of the teacher's cry.
The dirty little face was full of uneasiness.
She hurriedly waved her little hands, as if she wanted to comfort the teacher, and groped over.