Boom!
A walker bounced off after crashing into the corner of a Humvee, sent flying without dying. However, the vehicle's mirror ended up smeared with black blood.
George, who was driving, sniffed and caught that unpleasant smell right after eating, so he complained, "Damn it, what shitty luck."
"You could've avoided it…"
The group in the front chatted, and soon they moved down a street that led them straight to a park. It could be said that this park was still somewhat green, and in moments when there were no walkers, it would have been a perfect place to talk or simply work.
However, with the arrival of the end of the world, there was a clear lack of maintenance here, and although there were still green areas, the overgrowth made it obvious that the place had deteriorated greatly.
There was a lake nearby, so if the walkers were ignored, this would be a perfect place to live.
"Could there be survivors here? What if we run into a horde of walkers?"
Glenn felt uneasy at the thought of a walker horde. The last time he had been in a similar situation was in Washington—something he preferred to forget.
"Maybe the walkers moved on…" Jason muttered quietly, looking at the lake not far from their position. Beside it stood a wooden house, surrounded by cars parked in every direction, forming a barrier around it.
Looking at T-Dog in the turret, he turned to George and said, "Drive carefully…"
Since it was so obvious, George had also noticed the abnormal situation. As he pressed the accelerator, he grabbed the radio and alerted the other vehicles.
As they slowly approached the lake, Jason carefully observed the house getting closer and closer, but his expression grew colder as he took in the overall situation.
The house was a large wooden structure, with a wide field beside it, but it looked like it hadn't been maintained for a long time. The cars surrounding it had collapsed, and there was a chaotic corpse lying between the vehicles in front of the door.
The atmosphere inside the vehicle turned tense. Everyone knew that what Glenn had just said seemed to have come true. Sasha even patted Glenn on the shoulder and murmured softly, "Don't say such depressing things, even if we know they're true…"
Jason's expression didn't change. He got out of the vehicle and walked toward the side of the house, and the rest of the group also exited their vehicles.
"Let's check the surroundings. Glenn, George, you come with me."
"Understood!"
...
Ten minutes later.
The three came out of the house without any visible expression, and although they said nothing, the rest of the group could still feel that sense of loneliness and death.
"George, we need to head somewhere else…"
After everyone got back into the vehicles, Jason smiled slightly as if to ease the tension and said, "At least if there were survivors here, maybe we'll find someone further ahead."
Boom!
But at that moment, an explosion suddenly echoed in the distance.
The sound was dull, and it didn't seem close. When everyone looked toward it, they could only see a plume of black smoke slowly rising far away.
"Jason, what do we do?"
"We head there…"
"Understood!"
Unlike their earlier slow pace, Jason's convoy of Humvees sped forward at high speed.
A burst of shouting and curses didn't make George feel any sympathy for his passengers—on the contrary, he pressed the accelerator even harder with enthusiasm.
...
Some time later, the convoy reached the outskirts of a town. It was clear that the place was empty, and at that moment only one house was emitting black smoke, with faint flames visible.
"The ones who did this seem to be gone…"
Glenn looked down the empty street but couldn't see a single walker—and that was because they were obviously all chasing survivors.
"Wait a minute!"
Jason got out of the Humvee, ran to the corner of a street, and when he returned he pointed ahead. "Head that way, George!"
"Understood!"
Five minutes later, they could already see a small horde of dozens of walkers moving in one direction.
In front of them, several clearly human figures staggered forward.
"T-Dog!"
"Got it!"
T-Dog raised a pair of binoculars and observed what lay ahead.
...
The crying voice of a man was heard clearly, and it was the first to be picked up by Jason's group.
"Leave me here—run quickly, otherwise none of you will survive."
After that voice, another male voice came through heavy, strained breathing. "Hoo… Shut up… we would never… hoo, never leave you here… hoo, we'd rather die, so if you don't want us to die, keep moving."
Another voice followed—a woman's, pleasant but broken by exhaustion. "Damn it… you saved our lives… so we'll never leave you behind."
For the moment, Jason didn't try to rescue them, and the walkers were still some distance away. He wanted to see what these people would do at the edge of life and death.
Hearing their conversation, everyone in the vehicle turned to look at Jason. Seeing that he didn't speak, they didn't urge him. They all knew very well that based on Jason's judgment, if those people were worth saving, he would act in time.
As they waited in silence for more, T-Dog suddenly shouted, "There's a child!"
"Jason, let's do it. There are kids there."
"Wait a minute—I'll act at the right moment…"
George also grew a bit nervous when he heard there were children.
Because of the injured man, the group in the distance was moving extremely slowly. The walkers weren't moving fast, but they were steadily getting closer.
Jason, who had been observing the situation, saw that no one in that group had abandoned anyone. He nodded and said:
"George, let's save them."
"Yes, sir."