Chapter 9 7. Voting

September 24, 200X at 9:35 am I think I am the one who reacts the most to what the fat woman said.Because when I went to the bathroom to wash my face in the morning, I did already smell the rancid smell from the storage room next to me.Thinking about it now, this smell seems to linger around me.Thinking of this, something in my stomach rushed into my throat in an instant.I covered my mouth with my hand, desperately trying not to throw up immediately, and then rushed to the bathroom without any choice. I vomited violently by the sink, my face was blue and black, and then I took a few mouthfuls of cold water to rinse my mouth, and left the bathroom in a hurry, not wanting to remember or smell that smell again.

After I walked out, I heard the bearded man still arguing with some people about whether he should slam the door and go out.They intensified, fighting red-faced.At this time, the middle-aged uncle waved his hands and raised his voice, shouting: "Everyone, stop arguing, we can discuss any issues - rashness and impatience will only harm us. I think the most important thing at the moment is that we are ten Individuals must be united..." Ten people?But isn't there eleven people in the supermarket now?I froze for a moment, thinking that he must have missed me when I went to vomit, so I walked over and raised my hand and said, "Hey, there's me." The uncle looked at me and nodded Next, he continued: "We all calm down and analyze and discuss carefully to see what is the best way to do it now."

The bearded man stared at him, pointed at the middle-aged uncle as if he had saved his savings for a long time, and shouted: "Hey! Why do you always pretend to be a leader and want us to do what you say? What do you mean? How old are you?" The uncle said: "I didn't ask everyone to listen to me. I just suggested that everyone calm down and discuss what to do next." "What's next? I said - break open the door and get out! That's it! Nothing to discuss!" The uncle looked directly at him and said, "You can't put us all in danger because of your will."

The bearded man met his gaze and said, "Then are you sure that staying here as you said would not put everyone in danger?" The uncle and him looked at each other for a long time, finally lowered their eyes, and sighed: "Why don't we do it this way, let's make a decision, everyone raises their hands and votes to see whether we should stay here or break open the door and go out, okay?" The bearded man paused for a few seconds, then said in a buzzing voice, "Okay, let's do this!" The middle-aged uncle glanced at the people gathered now, and asked: "Apart from him, who else agrees to go out, please raise your hand."

I thought that no one would be like-minded with that rough man, but unexpectedly, the single mother raised her hand and said, "I want to go out, I can't take it anymore, I have to go out and find my son." "Maybe your son is safe now and has been sent to other places for treatment..." the fat woman said.But the middle-aged uncle waved his hands at her, signaling her to stop talking, and then nodded to the single mother, "Yes, I can understand. Then—" he looked at the others, "Who else wants to go out." After a few more seconds, the fashionable girl slowly raised her hand.Her boyfriend exclaimed in surprise, "Hey Chia! What are you thinking? Are you sure?"

The stylish girl looks at her boyfriend, but her words say to everyone: "Listen, I think so. We should maybe try to go out, but not rashly, but carefully and prepared For example, we can use gauze in the supermarket to make some simple masks before going out, and we can also prepare some weapons for self-defense-don’t forget, there is a pistol in the drawer of the cash register , we can take it with us when we go out." "Do you know how powerful the virus is outside? How can our simple self-made masks be useful? Besides, it is also said in the news that experts have not yet figured out how the virus is transmitted. Just cover your mouth and nose. What's the use? This is not an ordinary flu virus!" The boy with a fair face analyzed worriedly, "Besides, Jia, you heard that terrifying cry last night. I dare say that the monster that made the sound If not as big as a dinosaur, it's never smaller than an elephant—what's the use of your little pistol?"

"But we haven't heard that kind of cry for so long today, which means that the monster may have gone far." The fashionable girl looked at her boyfriend with some annoyance, "Okay, I don't want to argue with you now. In short, I think that if I stay here any longer, I will either die from suffocation or go crazy. Instead of this, I might as well go out and try my luck—and you don’t have to choose the same choice as me. You can stay here and wait for rescue , I won't blame you." The boy with a fair face was stunned for a few seconds, and then he blushed as if he had been insulted and shouted: "What are you talking about, Jia! I won't let you take risks alone, I said I would stand by your side to protect you— —Well, since you plan to go out, then I will go out with you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the bearded man applauded and said, "Very good, good enough! I admire you all! Now, including me, four people have agreed to go out." "Yes." The middle-aged uncle said, and asked the others, "Who else agrees to go out?" My heart was pounding, and my palms were sweating nervously.I think that if one or two more people raise their hands in agreement, I am afraid that the side of the bearded man will win. This is obviously not the situation I hoped for.I anxiously peeked at the expressions on everyone's faces, and at the same time noticed that the red-haired punk was standing far away, chewing gum carelessly, as if he was watching some good show. It doesn't matter what you look like.And the gloomy little boy is farther away, and has no intention of participating in expressing his opinions at all. The indifferent attitude makes us adults seem to be staged a farce. I really don't know the teenagers How could he be so cool.

Fortunately, after a long time this time, no one raised their hands anymore.The middle-aged uncle asked: "Is no one in favor of going out? Well, now, please raise your hand if you agree to stay in the supermarket and wait for rescue." Me, the middle-aged uncle, the female shop assistant and the fat woman all raised their hands.At this time, we found out embarrassingly that the number of people who agreed to stay was exactly the same as the number of people who agreed to go out, all four people.The bearded man laughed out of nowhere and said, "Tie! Raise your hands to vote! What should we do now?"

The fat woman looked at the red-haired gangster with some reluctance: "Hey, young man, don't you want to express your opinion? You are still so young and handsome, you shouldn't be in a hurry to go out to die, right?" "What do you mean by that?" The bearded man glared fiercely at the fat woman, "Which ones shouldn't die? Which ones should die?" "No, that's not what I meant..." "Stop arguing." The red-haired punk interrupted their conversation.He folded his hands in front of his chest and raised an eyebrow, "I won't express any opinions. Whether you go out or stay, I don't care." He spread his hands indifferently, "Anyway, I can do whatever , you just treat me as neutral."

The fat woman looked forward, her lips moved, as if hesitating to speak.Probably because he felt that the little boy was even more indifferent and unable to communicate at all, so he waved his hands helplessly and sighed. The bearded man squinted at the middle-aged uncle and said, "Glasses, you said you wanted to *, so I'll accompany you *, but now the result of the vote is that the two sides are equal, what do you say?" The clerk pointed to the old woman in the corner and said, "Isn't there an old lady over there, she hasn't come here, but we should ask her opinion, right?" The bearded man snorted, "I think she's been scared out of her mind since the first night, so it's useless for you to ask her." The middle-aged uncle said to the female clerk: "You are right, we really should ask her opinion." He tilted his head to that side, "Go and ask her." The shopgirl walked over to the old woman in the corner.I observed that the old woman was still nervous and guarded, staring vigilantly at the people approaching her.The female clerk obviously noticed this too, and stopped a meter or two away from her, leaned down and asked: "Old lady, you should have heard what we just said, then—do you agree? Slam the door and get out?" All eyes were on the old woman, she hugged her body tightly and shivered twice, then shook her head vigorously. The female clerk turned her head and said, "It seems that this old lady doesn't approve of going out." The bearded man suddenly roared furiously: "Damn it, what's going on! She didn't express her opinion, but you are going to ask her——of course she won't want to go out, you look at her. She looks like she’s not alive, she’s just planning to lie there and wait to die! It’s useless to ask her opinion!” "Hey, you are talking too much." The middle-aged uncle said, "Anyway, she is also one of us, why doesn't she have the right to express her own opinion?" "That's enough! I don't want to argue with you about these bird issues anymore!" The big man roared with blue veins exposed, "I've had enough fun, anyway, I'm going to smash the door out, and you guys..." Before he could finish his sentence, there were two "cracks" in the supermarket, and then the incandescent lights above the ceiling flickered twice, and they all went out.We haven't realized what's going on, it's like being covered by a huge black curtain in the middle. It took several seconds before I realized - there was a power outage.