Doomsday city

Old John showed Esther the wound, a blackened bite mark on the side.

"Oh, damn it, if I knew there was something like that in the barn, I wouldn't have opened it." Putting down the sweater, Old John lay back on the sofa tiredly, wrapped tightly in the warm three-layer fleece, "even if there is something like that in it." Neither is gold, I mean seriously, look, what's the use of money now? I dare say someone in such a big snowstorm will use 1000 million to start a fire, just use money to burn, ha!"

Esther quietly poured him a glass of warm water.

"Thank you, child," Old John coughed lightly after taking the water glass, "Kunna is very kind, even though she is always so rude, after all, she has no mother, her mother passed away from brain cancer when she was three years old, She's so young, yeah, she can't even speak clearly, and she thinks her mother is going to her aunt's to put up a Christmas tree."

"I'm sorry." Kunna's mother was the wife of Old John, and such bad news was always a pity.

"Oh, I'm not sure, look at this horrible world, maybe she's smart enough to leave, or else get bitten by a monster like me, and then lie here to die? It seems that Lilian is too smart, she always Smarter than me, aren't you?" The aging face stretched into a gentle curve, then twisted again, and Old John coughed more violently than the day before.

"Why... are you willing to believe me?" Esses asked without answering the question.She doesn't care if Old John's wife is smarter than him, she just wants to know why Old John wants to keep her, especially after he knows that he is a felon, he keeps her in the house instead of killing her like a rat in a stinky gutter Get out.

She's a criminal, even if she never actually kills.

Old John gasped, covering his mouth, and the smile melted around his mouth, "I've seen many potatoes, good, bad, misshapen, different varieties, imported, but guess what?" He provoked Those eyebrows are as white as snow, "It's all potatoes!"

Esses blinked, adjusted a comfortable sitting position and leaned against the sofa.

"They are all slightly mucus but delicate and tender when cut, like a child's skin, smooth potatoes. No matter how strange the appearance is, as long as the potatoes are not damaged, they should be like that," he said on his forehead. He said, with such a firm and confident tone, "And you—child, you are just as good as hundreds of billions of potatoes in the world. What's inside you doesn't change."

"Inside?" Esther repeated uncertainly.

"Yes, it's here," Old John pointed to his heart, and winked playfully at Essers, "Believe me, I've seen more potatoes than you, and there's nothing wrong with that. I knew when I saw you that you were a nice kid, or maybe you should say you were a normal kid? Like those little ghosts at Aunt Bisha's house, God knows what they were called, but my instinct told me that those innocent little brats They're all good potatoes, yes, average but good, nothing to be thankful for."

"Hey, can someone help me?" Kunna appeared disheartened and holding a wrench.

Essers turned her head to look at her, pressed the quilt for Old John, and followed her into the basement. Although the iron chain was untied by Kunna, Esses was urged to go downstairs, and there was no chance of escape.The furnace system failed last night, and old John was afraid of the cold, so Kunna went downstairs at dawn to work, apparently she still can't deal with the old wood-burning stove.

"Help me carry this, yes, hold it well," Kunna broke the iron plate, and leaned half her body into the stove to find faults, "So, what were you talking about just now?" A voice echoed from the boiler , which sounds dull and rumbling.

"Potatoes." The lingering sounds in her ears were not over yet, and Esther frowned and said.

"Hey, it turned out to be this thing, I'll turn it away now, give me the screwdriver," Kunna finally found the sticking point, and rudely used the screwdriver to dig out the clogged wood ash, turned around and got out of the stove neatly, "If it If something goes wrong again, I will dismantle it and go to the electrical supply store fifty miles away to grab an electric heater and come back. Damn, I didn’t expect that people are still using this old antique.”

Esther took over the wrench and the screwdriver, and Kunna threw the wood into the iron stove one after another to ignite it. After confirming that it was operating normally, she looked at the woman beside her, "So, the potato theory, huh? I have seen more potatoes than you have seen." There are many more people." Kunna smiled and showed her neat and white teeth.

"Yes." Esses stared at her vigilantly, and took a step back.

"He was an amazing farmer, raised his daughter on his own, sent his daughter to the police academy, gave flowers to his parents at graduation, and he sent a box of potatoes and said you're an amazing guy, look, that's him, frank A stubborn old farmer, a very special father, right?" When she was speaking, there was love for her father and affection in her eyes, which Essers would never understand.

"Yes, your father... loves you very much, and you love him too." Esther could tell.

"What about you?" Perhaps reading her loneliness, Kunna took out a cigarette and put it on her lips and asked, "Have you contacted your family after the monster wave broke out? Or looked for them?" She took out a lighter and put it on her lips. The cigarette is lit, and when you take a deep breath, the butt of the cigarette is brightly lit, and then dims.

Esther was stunned for a moment, she looked at the tip of her shoe calmly, and almost murmured, "My father died before the sentence, my mother passed away when I was in college, and my brother died after my mother left. Crazy, if he is still alive, he should be in a mental hospital in Zein State, if he is still alive..."

"Oh, I'm hugging..."

"No," interrupted Esses, who kept her eyes on the ground, preventing Kunna from saying sympathetic words to her, "it's nothing, really, I don't feel sad or upset, because that's how my family is. "A girl who was forgotten by her father, hated by her mother, and despised by her elder brother—or a devil, she is not worthy of sympathy, at least her family never sympathized with her.

"Come on?" Kunna handed her the half-smoked cigarette.

Esther glanced at the cigarette and took a deep breath, then coughed wildly.

"Cough, cough, cough..." The acrid smell of smoke lingered in her nostrils, she shed physical tears from the choking, gradually bent down while hugging her stomach, and squatted on the ground as if she was about to vomit.

"I know this brand is bad, and to be honest, I hate it too, but I can only live with it until I find a better one," Kunna took the cigarette between Esses's fingers and put it back to her mouth, patted her trembling violently with one hand back, "You know? Most murderers will become ticking time bombs because of childhood life that is not warm and insecure, or has the existence factor of family mental illness, and you—Esthers, in fact, you don't Killed people, never killed a living person, right?"

Esses curled up and didn't look at Kunna, but her voice was so close, it was kind of whispering.

"I have, Esses, I have," Kunna's words made her raise her head involuntarily to meet her gaze, and then a puff of acrid smoke was blown on her cheek, "I once broke into a room when I was chasing drug lords. Three shots were fired in a private house under pressure and within a limited time, one shot was shot at the window, one shot was shot at the sofa, and the other shot was shot at the forehead of the hostess," she pointed her index finger between Esther's eyebrows, "the poisonous Xiao Xiao escaped, and I was arrested and detained, and sentenced to 12 years in prison." She threw the butt of the cigarette she had smoked on the ground and stamped it out with her feet.

The only sound left in the basement was the crackling of wood.

"...I'm sorry." Esses heard herself make a weak voice, and she didn't know whether this regret was for the hostess who was shot dead, or Kunna who was standing beside her.

Kunna shrugged, as if she did and accepted it.

"I know what you're thinking, Essex, it's obvious from the moment you step into my house that you're intimidated by my 'collection', aren't you? I know, those guns with no clips are there It's a bit weird, and you obviously don't want those guns pointed at your friends," Kunna pulled her up from the ground so that they could look at each other, "I don't have to exchange you, or should I say I don't start a gunfight, but You have to stay, even if I am a policeman who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, do you agree?" Her smile reflected a unique charm beside the firelight, her short red hair stained with ashes, her dirty face, and her clean and neat face Teeth and a light, easy smile.

Choose to join her or go back to be buried with her.

Esther felt that she could not speak, at least not 'yes' or any positive sentence.

So she stretched out her right hand.

Kunna raised her eyebrows and shook hands with her with a big smile, "Haha! Dad is right, you are a good potato."

When the two walked back to the living room, Old John coughed badly. He lay under the quilt and covered his mouth with a scarf to lower his voice, but the violent shaking still made Essus unbearable to watch, let alone Kunna.In fact, they all knew that people who were bitten by zombies had no way to recover, at least those who were bitten to death never lived well.

Old John was bitten, and there was no doubt that he would turn into a zombie.

Essers felt her eye sockets hot, and she shed tears before she could understand the reluctance. She covered her mouth and turned her back, just in time to meet Kunna's eyes. Her eye sockets were also red, but tears were locked in her heart. where to see.

"He won't live long." Kunna said hoarsely.

Esther looked away, she was unwilling to agree with this sentence, but when Death wanted to take him away, no one could stop him.

They are human beings, they can't decide the life and death of Old John, they can't even do anything about the Heno virus.

"Do me a favor, some clothes upstairs haven't been sorted yet." Kunna patted her on the shoulder, making Essus avoid it.

There are some things that she has to talk to old John alone, and only she has the right to do so.

Essers went upstairs quickly with her head down. She shut herself in the empty room, knelt by the window and clasped her hands.This move has never been done since her mother's death, because when Esther doesn't believe in a god, everything seems meaningless, but tonight, only at this moment, she is willing to pray for old John.

"Great Father God, may your angel lead John Greco's soul to your kingdom, may his soul rest in peace in heaven, I sincerely and humblely beg you to lead John, let this kind apostle go to your kingdom Kingdom, go to heaven, I beg you..."

The trembling body is as tight as a string, which will break if you pluck it.

She muttered words until there was a loud gunshot downstairs.