At dinner time, watching Alice wolfing down her food at the table, Clemens smiled and turned to the elderly couple, asking, "You really aren't planning to come to the airport with us?"
"There are troops there, so it will be safer."
Old Horney tapped his plate with his spoon and said loudly, “Son, let me teach you something. There are two unreliable groups of people in this world. One is politicians, and the other is the military.”
Holding a bowl of taro soup, Vanya said to Clemens, who looked embarrassed, "Don't mind what this old man says. That war from back then is what makes him complain every day."
Old Horney, his neck stiff, said, "I'm stating the truth!"
Vanya tossed a spoonful of taro paste into Horney's bowl: "Shut up and eat."
Liz put down her cutlery, glanced at Clemens, and then cautiously asked the elderly couple, "Our vehicle is broken down, and the road to Sandstone Airport is quite long, so I wanted to ask..."
Honey swallowed a mouthful of taro paste and said nonchalantly, "Do you need a vehicle? There's a white Ford in the back garage. It used to belong to my son, but he hasn't been back for a long time... You can use it."
Clemens and Liz exchanged a glance, and both of them breathed a long sigh of relief.
Clemens said, "I can't express my gratitude to you in words. Once we've settled down, we'll definitely find a way to contact you."
Vania sat down next to Alice, looking tenderly at the girl, and said softly, "We have a granddaughter, just like this child. She used to love coming here and having her grandfather take her skiing. If it weren't for..."
The old woman only said half of what she wanted to say, and Clemens was about to ask when Liz tugged at his clothes, signaling him not to ask any more questions.
Vania rubbed her eyes and said to Clemens, "The rooms upstairs are ready, so you can rest easy tonight."
"I'll get up a little earlier tomorrow to make breakfast, remember to come and eat together."
"The car keys are on the wall near the lobby bar."
After finishing dinner and washing up, Clemens went to his room on the second floor of the hotel.
Alice, who had gone to bed early, was already fast asleep, while Liz was sitting at her desk examining a map.
Before Clemens could do anything, he gently wrapped his arm around Liz's waist from behind, when the woman suddenly said, "The airport is closed off."
Clemens asked in surprise, "Closed? Why?"
Liz turned on the walkie-talkie she had taken from the soldier's body.
All that could be heard inside, accompanied by the crackling of electricity, was a voice repeating the following.
"Shashi Airport has been occupied by infected individuals, and all rescue operations have been cancelled! Repeat, Shashi Airport has been occupied by infected individuals, and all rescue operations have been cancelled!"
As if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head, Clemens anxiously asked, "If the airport is closed, where should we go?"
Liz gestured for him to continue listening.
Another recording began playing on the walkie-talkie: "At 6:45 a.m. tomorrow, the military will launch a cleansing operation on the Mother..."
Clemens: "The purge? What's that?"
Walkie-talkie: "Please evacuate immediately. Temporary shelters include the following locations."
Dry Lake Range
Crescent Island
Sheep Peak Camp
...
Liz marked all the refuges on the map, and then studied them with Clemens.
After comparison, the closest location to Payut Snow Mountain is Sheep Peak Camp.
However, to get there, one must cross the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.
Clemens looked at the winding path on the map and remarked with a sigh, "That's a very long road."
Liz said, "But this road is sparsely populated, which means it poses the least threat."
Clemens nodded, gently kissed Liz, and said, "Go to sleep early. We'll set off after breakfast tomorrow."
Nothing was said that night.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.
Clemens and Liz, still asleep, were suddenly awakened by a gunshot.
Sitting up in bed, Clemens looked at Liz in shock, as if trying to confirm whether the gunshot had just been a nightmare.
But soon, a second gunshot rang out from downstairs.
Clemens quickly jumped out of bed, quickly dressed, and crouched down to go to the second-floor corridor.
Clemens clung to the corridor handrail and looked down, where he saw a scene that froze his blood.
On the hotel lobby floor, old Horney lay motionless in a pool of blood, his shotgun lying beside him.
Not far from him, Vanya, who had been shot in the leg, struggled to crawl forward, blood spreading far behind her.
A face Clemens knew all too well, Mr. Goodman, was pointing a pistol and yelling furiously.
"Damn it! Damn it! This son of a bitch! It's all this old bastard's fault!"
"I won't shoot unless he points a gun at me!"
"I was defending myself, I did nothing wrong!"
Goodman's suit was already tattered and torn, and he was filthy from head to toe, like a beggar fleeing a disaster. Only the madness on his face remained unchanged.
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