RPAGF Chapter 14 Leaving
Chapter 14 Leaving
bang bang bang...
“Lori, Lori. It’s me, Sean…”
The person who arrived was Sean, who had rushed over.
As he drove into the neighborhood, he saw a group of people driving away from Rick's house, followed by a scantily clad female infected person.
Fortunately, the female infected person was identified as not Lori by her hair color.
Seeing that Rick's house was closed and undamaged from afar, Sean, though anxious about Lori and her child, did not rush over. Instead, he waited until the thugs' car had driven away before hurriedly driving over.
"Lori, it's Sean. Open the door! Are you and Carl alright?"
Lori recognized Sean's voice!
Her heart immediately calmed down, and she felt like she had survived a disaster.
She hurriedly wiped away her tears, let go of little Carl in her arms, ran to open the door, and sure enough, saw Sean standing anxiously outside.
"OMG, thank goodness, you're finally here..."
Upon seeing Sean, Lori was initially relieved, but then noticed that Sean was alone and there were no other police officers in sight.
She asked again, puzzled, "Why are you alone? Where are the other police officers? There are so many rioters..."
“We’ll talk about it later, Lori. We need to leave right now. You and Carl, pack your things quickly, we’re leaving immediately.”
However, Sean didn't explain to her, but instead spoke urgently.
Lori stayed at home and was unaware of the actual situation outside.
She realized things might be more serious than she thought, but she couldn't help asking anyway:
"Why? Can't you send police to protect this place?"
"Lori, listen to me..."
There are no police anymore, things are in chaos outside, and no one will come to maintain order.
Now we can only rely on ourselves.
“But… what about Rick? The hospital called this morning saying they were transferring patients to Atlanta, and now I don’t even know how Rick is doing.”
Lori panicked when she heard that no police would come, and then she remembered her injured husband who was hospitalized.
“Rick…he…”
Sean paused, looking at Lori with a sorrowful expression, about to say something.
Seeing that little Karl was standing behind them watching, he said to him:
"Karl, go upstairs and pack your things..."
"Sweetie, go pack your things first, we need to leave soon. Don't bring too many toys, only three, and bring plenty of clothes, okay?..."
Lori saw something in Sean's eyes, so she turned away and sent her son upstairs first.
Little Carl nodded, and then ran upstairs.
Lori turned around and stared straight at Sean, asking:
"Sean, do you have any news about Rick? How is he?"
"...I'm from the hospital, Rick...he...is dead...I'm so sorry..."
Sean hesitated for a moment, but then revealed that Rick was dead.
"No...how could this be..."
Upon hearing this news, Lori was struck dumb. She felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, and she swayed as if she were about to collapse.
Sean quickly stepped forward to support her, preventing Lori from falling.
After a while, when Lori calmed down, her eyes were already red and swollen, tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks, and she covered her mouth with one hand to stop herself from crying out loud.
Lori broke free of Sean's support. She leaned against the wall, barely managing to stand, her face ashen. But still clinging to a sliver of hope, she said in a trembling voice:
"The hospital called and said they were transferring all the patients to Atlanta. You just haven't found Rick, have you?"
"...When I got to the hospital, the military was massacring civilians. I wanted to get Rick out, but I couldn't..."
Sean looked at her and gave her a brief account of what had happened at the hospital.
"...The hospital has fallen, I have to leave, I'm so sorry..."
"No...Sean, thank you for everything you've done for Rick."
Although Lori was saddened at not being able to see Rick one last time, she still spoke up when she saw how remorseful Sean was.
Sean first risked his life to save Rick at the hospital, and now he's helping his mother and son. What can she possibly criticize him for?
The thought of them being widows and orphans, and how they would survive in the future, filled me with a sense of unease...
“Listen to me… Lori, don’t worry, I will take good care of you and Carl.”
But we have to leave now. You need to pull yourself together and think of Karl…”
Sean had no time to comfort her anymore, so he could only mention little Carl to awaken her maternal love; only her child could give this woman her last bit of strength.
Lori nodded with tears in her eyes. Sean was right; she still had little Carl to take care of.
Women are weak, but mothers are strong.
Lori tried to compose herself, wiped away her tears, and started going upstairs to pack her luggage.
Sean was relieved to see Lori cheer up.
He opened all the curtains to make it easier to observe the situation outside, so that he wouldn't be unaware if someone or an infected person touched him.
……
"Lori, hurry up, we don't have time."
Sean stood at the door with his gun, and when he saw the infected figures appearing in the distance, he turned around and shouted.
"All right……"
Lori finally led little Carl downstairs with their luggage.
As she reached the door, she seemed to remember something, and pushed little Carl toward Sean, saying to him:
"Sean, take Carl to the car first, I need to get some more things."
Sean didn't waste any words. He nodded, grabbed his luggage, and headed towards the car outside. Then he turned and called out to Carl:
"Hey, buddy, hurry up and catch up."
Little Carl nodded, tugged at the strap of his small backpack, and ran out the door with Sean.
"Sean, are you going to take us to find Dad?"
Little Carl asked Sean.
"...We need to leave here first. You get in the car and wait for Mom, okay?"
Sean didn't tell him the truth, but just ruffled little Carl's hair and patted him on the shoulder.
Little Carl nodded understandingly, opened the car door, sat in the back seat, and then leaned against the door, quietly waiting for his mother to come out.
After putting his luggage in the trunk, Sean returned to the driver's seat and started the car.
His fingers tapped incessantly on the steering wheel as he anxiously waited for Lori.
However, he didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, Sean saw Lori run out of the door carrying a bunch of things.
Lori also got into the back seat of the car; it turned out she had gone to get family photos and albums.
She noticed the obvious confusion in Sean's eyes in the rearview mirror, so she decided to explain.
"These are our only memories."
Sean didn't say anything more after hearing this, and started his car and drove away.
"Mom, will we come back?"
At this moment, little Carl looked up and asked Lori, as if he had a premonition of something.
"..."
Lori didn't know how to answer. She turned to look at the house that was getting further and further away, the house that was filled with her family's memories. Her heart was also filled with reluctance to part with the past and uncertainty about the future.
She could only hold little Karl and say:
"I...I don't know."
……