In the middle of the night, a series of urgent knocks echoed through Connie's house.
When Mike walked out of his room, he saw Connie in the living room, wearing a coat and holding a baseball bat, ready to open the door.
Upon seeing Mike, the tension on her face visibly eased.
"Who's out there?" Connie, standing behind the door, did not immediately open it.
In a tough, lawless area like Texas, opening the door rashly at night was not a good idea.
"It's me, Connie. We need help," Mary's anxious voice came from outside the door.
Hearing that it was her daughter outside, Connie hid the baseball bat behind her and opened the door.
"What happened, Mary?" Seeing the anxious expression on her daughter's face in the lamplight, Connie asked with concern.
"It's Sheldon, he hit his head, and I heard he was bleeding a lot…" Mary, who had received a late-night call from Dr. Sturgis, first briefly explained the reason, then couldn't help but complain, "I shouldn't have trusted John; he's completely incapable of taking care of Sheldon. It's only the first night, and something so terrible has already happened…"
Connie, who had gradually understood what had happened, also asked worriedly, "Is Sheldon seriously injured? Didn't John take him to the hospital?"
"That's why I came to you. I heard John also broke his leg. So George and I are planning to go over tonight…" Mary pleaded, "Please help look after Missy and Georgie here at home."
"That's terrible news!"
Hearing that Dr. Sturgis was also injured, Connie shook her head and said, "Leave this to me. When you get there, also see if John needs any help."
Dr. Sturgis, who had been single for seventy years and had no children, would certainly need someone to take care of him if something like this happened.
At this moment, George had also started the car and was waiting for his wife at the intersection.
Mary, unable to elaborate, promised to look after Dr. Sturgis, then turned and hurriedly got into George's car.
Under the moonlight, the car disappeared into the night.
"God bless! I hope they are all safe and sound!"
Watching the car drive away, Connie's face still showed concern.
"Do you need me to go to the Cooper family with you?" At the doorway, Mike, who had also understood the whole situation, asked.
"No need, you go rest. If I need your help, I'll come back and call you…" Considering Mike's schedule for tomorrow, Connie, having calmed down, took on the task of looking after Missy and the other child by herself.
"Alright, let me know anytime if you need anything." Mike, who was preparing to leave tomorrow, did not insist.
...
The next day, when Mike woke up, Connie was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
Although she looked a bit tired, she seemed very relaxed overall.
"How is Sheldon?" Mike asked.
"Nothing major, just a small scratch on his forehead," Connie smiled and continued, "John is also fine. I heard he twisted his ankle while taking care of Sheldon. He should recover after a few days of rest."
Evidently, Mary had overreacted last night because she was too worried about her youngest son.
She had hastily organized a "rescue" operation without clearly hearing Dr. Sturgis's report.
However, from a mother's perspective, her actions were understandable.
"That's good to hear!" Mike's mood also lightened considerably upon hearing that the Cooper family and Dr. Sturgis were fine.
Afterward, with Connie's repeated instructions, Mike finished breakfast and then drove his Dodge Pickup, ready to hit the road.
The Cooper family, hearing the commotion from across the street, all came out of their house to see him off.
During the farewell, Mike saw Sheldon.
At this moment, his head was bandaged like a zongzi, and his expression was a bit dejected, but he seemed to be in good spirits.
...
Around noon, a Dodge Pickup stopped at a deserted T-junction.
A weathered road sign was stuck by the roadside...
The arrows on it indicated that both diverging paths led to Minnesota.
One was the road Mike had taken before, which was all desolate Gobi Desert. The other was a small path with dense jungle ahead.
Mike, after replenishing some water, looked at the scorching sun overhead and immediately chose the small path.
No other reason, it was simply because this small path was cooler.
In late June in Texas, the direct outdoor temperature reached over forty degrees Celsius, and the metal car was like a steaming basket.
"I hope there's a place where I can rest for a while."
Mike drove the vehicle onto the small path while looking around the roadside.
A small inn where one could rest would be best; if not, finding some shade under a tree in the jungle would also be good.
As long as he could endure the hottest part of midday, Mike felt it would be worth it, even if it meant taking a slight detour.
"Boom!"
Just as Mike was looking for a suitable resting place, an unusual sound came from the tire.
A flat tire!
Mike controlled the steering wheel and safely brought the car to a stop without incident. When he got out to check, the front left tire of the car was already deflated.
"How unlucky!"
Although he had a spare tire, the car breaking down in such a place still made Mike feel annoyed.
And then, when he checked the cause of the flat tire, his brows furrowed even more.
A rusty nail...
Besides this nail, other small metal fragments were scattered on the roadside.
All signs indicated that this place was not simple.
Just then, two men, covered in oil and looking like beggars, ran out of the jungle by the roadside.
As soon as these two appeared, they rushed towards the pickup truck, flailing their arms and making incomprehensible growling sounds.
Under the scorching heat, their foul odor could be smelled from a long distance away.
Sensing that the approaching men meant trouble, Mike, as they got closer, swiftly kicked out twice, knocking them down.
"Who are you?"
Mike, who had reason to suspect that the nails on the road were their handiwork, used a bit more force when he kicked.
However, to his surprise, after taking such heavy blows, these two men rolled twice on the ground and then got up one after another as if nothing had happened.
It was then that Mike noticed that these two men were unusually tall and their limbs were strangely long; they were clearly two deformed individuals.
At this moment, the two men, having been attacked, their growls became sharper, and their bloodshot eyes, like those of wild beasts, were filled with a desire to attack.
It was as if they were about to pounce at any moment.
"How unlucky, they're just two lunatics!"
The mental state of these two deformed individuals clearly made it impossible to communicate with normal people.
Just as Mike was about to drive them away, a skinny man resembling a skeleton, carrying a huge toolbox, appeared on the road and stood in front of the deformed individuals.
"Sir, do you need car repair?"
The skinny man showed a fawning expression as he looked at Mike.
Because he was too thin, his cheeks were completely gaunt, making him look like a walking skeleton.
Of course, what was most impressive was this man's eyes; his eyeballs were excessively large and he had no upper eyelids.
His gaunt cheeks, coupled with his bulging eyeballs, made him look like a dehydrated flounder.
Similarly, Mike also noticed that the two deformed individuals behind this man, under their unkempt long hair, were also incredibly ugly.
The combination of these three could definitely be described as "demons and monsters." The kind that would come out at night and scare people to tears.
"Who are you people?" Mike, carefully observing the three, asked the same question again.
"My name is Big Eye, and these two are my brothers." Big Eye introduced himself, then continued, "Because car accidents often happen at this corner, we opened a repair shop over there…"
Following the direction of his finger, Mike saw that there was indeed a shed supported by a broken tarp at the corner.
Further ahead, there was also a wooden building that looked like an inn.
"How much for car repair?" Facing the skinny man's almost subservient attitude, Mike asked.
"One hundred dollars per tire. How about it, do you want to repair it?" Big Eye was still hunched over, his posture still very humble.
"How long will it take to fix?" Mike continued to ask.
In this deadly hot weather, he didn't mind paying some dollars if someone offered to help repair the car.
"This car only has one flat tire, we can fix it for you in half an hour…" Big Eye, as if afraid the customer would leave, continued eagerly, "It's so hot, while we're fixing the car, you can go rest at the small shop over there. Their ice-cold beer is great!"
"Alright, come call me when the car is fixed." The small shop was not far from the corner, so Mike didn't have to worry about the other party playing tricks.
After getting the customer's consent, Big Eye immediately directed the two deformed individuals to start repairing the car.
Although these three looked strange, their car repair movements were very swift.
After watching for a few minutes to confirm that the other party had no opportunity to play tricks, Mike walked towards the small shop at the corner.