When Derek and the others left, Rick and the rest also stepped out of the shadows. As soon as they emerged, Rick couldn't wait to run to Lori's side, put his hands on his wife's shoulders, and look her up and down.
"Are you okay?"
Lori kept her gaze fixed on the ground and couldn't speak. Seeing this, Rick grew much more worried. He leaned in to look at his wife's face and found it covered in tears. He thought something might have happened, but when he asked, Lori denied it and said nothing. Seeing that, Rick could only look to Shane to see if he knew anything.
Shane also looked confused. Rick, noticing this, began checking to see if his wife was hurt. But unexpectedly, Lori reacted almost immediately: she pulled her husband's hand away and wiped her face, then said, "I'm fine, I'm just a little scared."
Rick didn't notice anything unnatural in her expression; he believed that since his wife had never experienced anything like this, it was normal to be a bit frightened.
"We need to find a car and get out of here. Shane, Morgan, grab some weapons and let's move."
No sooner had the words fallen than Guillermo drove a car up to the gate, and several people quickly climbed in and pursued the direction Derek had gone.
Lori stood behind the gate, watching the car drive away with bitter feelings. She didn't know whether it would be selfish to do it one last time or not, but since she had made a decision—what would happen to her family if they discovered what she had said? That had begun to be one of her lesser worries. The only thing she wanted now was to return to the central base and see her children one last time.
...
Launer drove the van down the dark road; they had just left the terminal, and the people in the back seat looked at the burning building and let out a few cries of celebration.
Derek sat in the passenger seat, and two men besides Jason sat in the rear seats; their captive was like a small teenager sitting among adults, while Colton was in the very back.
Derek looked at the terminal behind him with a smile on his face and couldn't help but sigh.
"What did I tell you? Didn't I say we'd escape like last time?"
"Haha, your brain is really bright!"
Jason asked very calmly, with an indifferent expression: "Since you guys left, shouldn't you let me go?"
The two men in the last row looked at each other and involuntarily broke into meaningful smiles.
Derek saw their expressions and smiled tacitly.
"Jason, I really feel sorry for your position..."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Because a selfish person decided to offer you as an exchange..."
That sentence made Jason a little interested, and he couldn't help but ask, "Who suggested you do that? Let me guess—Lori?"
"Hahaha, you're very clever, but it would have been great if you realized it sooner. It's a pity— even if she's about to die, she didn't sacrifice herself for her people. At least I would for the people in this car."
"Sounds like you don't want to let me go. Do you plan to kill me?"
"No, no, no—you won't die now. At least not until we find a new refuge."
"I understand!"
In that moment his mind was racing, trying to arrange the information he'd gathered so far.
The only person they'd had contact with since they arrived and left was Lori, so it was likely she had negotiated the terms with them.
Thinking it over, Jason had from the start prioritized increasing Rick and Shane's leadership abilities, leaving only Sam as the man who trained his soldiers. If he were ever to die, Rick would possibly be the greatest beneficiary in Lori's eyes, but very few knew that the people with power at the base were Tyler and Sam.
Did Lori really decide to exchange him for that reason, or because she would soon die? As Derek said, Lori was most likely infected. After all, Jason didn't know what Rick's group had been through so far.
As for thinking otherwise, it was impossible that Rick would try to betray him.
Those are the kind of choices Lori made; for some reason she chose someone not important to her in this situation.
That should be the case...
Suddenly feeling somewhat uneasy, Jason's expression grew dark and he fell silent.
Derek saw that he wasn't speaking and smiled. Moonlight shone on his face through the car window and reflected a row of white teeth.
"You guessed right— that crazy woman told them we wouldn't leave you alive. She said that as long as we exchanged you, we might have a chance to live. But don't worry, she'll die anyway— a walker bit her."
Hearing Derek's words confirmed Jason's suspicion that Lori had suggested this to those people.
With a bitter smile on his face, Jason realized the problem. Over time, wouldn't some people forget what he'd done for them?
After all, there would be more and more people at the base, and the benefits generated at that time could make some think differently. That had happened with Lori but not with Tyler—so is that normal?
Lori is infected and will die from the Wildfire virus; she will become a walker and die similarly to the original story.
Does she plan to see her children before she dies?
The van slowly left a junction and entered a wider road. This was the exit from the terminal. Once on this road, the five people would basically be out of danger.
Launer pressed the accelerator enthusiastically. So as not to attract too many walkers, he didn't use the high beams, and the vehicle rushed forward with six people inside.
Boom!
But at that moment the vehicle seemed to hit something. Launer tried to hold the steering wheel hard to keep the car's direction.
He hit the brakes slowly and did everything he could to reduce the vehicle's speed quickly.
In the end the van shot off the road and crashed into a tree by the roadside.
The two people in the front row were hit hard, and Launer fared better. Derek, the passenger, wasn't wearing a seatbelt at all. When the car struck the large tree, his head slammed into the dashboard.
The blow left him bleeding and dazed.
The two people in the last row also crashed into the backs of the front seats. At that moment they clutched their foreheads in disorientation and were temporarily unable to fight.
Only Jason had prepared. Just before hitting the tree, he thrust his feet out and planted them against the back of the middle row seats. The force from his legs reduced the impact of the crash greatly, and by that point his arms were already bracing the people beside him.
Apart from some bruises, Jason had no serious injuries and reached for the door handle to open it.
Pushing the big man on the left out of the car, he got out quickly, while the man who was shoved fell onto a sharp stone by the side of the road.
"Launer! What's going on?"
"I don't know."
Launer looked at Derek, aggravated. Obviously he didn't see anything at the moment, but the car had suddenly lost control. He couldn't help looking back down the road, but he couldn't see anything.
Because the car hadn't been going very fast, the few people were a bit dizzy from the impact. After taking a few deep breaths, they slowly returned to normal.
They hurried out of the car and noticed that Jason was not far away.
"Friend, you didn't escape?"
Jason looked at them coldly and said in a frigid tone, "Why should I run?"
A few minutes later, five people held their knives and surrounded Jason with vicious smiles, but they discovered that the man before them was not nervous at all.
Derek suddenly felt his heart race and quickly turned his head to look around.
"Hehe, you're very clever, but it would have been great if you realized it sooner."
The same sentence, only now used by Jason after a few minutes, who looked at those men with indifference.
At that moment, several lights came on in the surrounding area. The group of five stared in horror at the large number of strangers who suddenly emerged—there were at least fifty people! And all of them were pointing weapons.
How many soldiers does this person have?! The group of five were so frightened they couldn't move; they could already imagine their next fate would be extremely miserable.
Hearing Jason, he suddenly reached toward the people beside him and said coldly,
"Give me the dagger and then we can talk."