After driving for many hours, Alan realized they were running low on fuel; there wasn't much left to keep going, so at least he had to try to find some horses from nearby ranches.
He wasn't in a place he recognized. If he remembered correctly, Marlon's farm wasn't anywhere near where they were, so it would be very difficult to reunite with Lee's group, who were probably now running from the walker horde.
"If we keep going in that direction, we might find an abandoned farm. The horses were likely left free, so it's just a matter of catching them again," Alan said, explaining his plan to Riya after lighting the campfire.
Riya nodded and said, "We shouldn't walk too far, not before finding a safe water source."
"We'll be slow. It's not as hot as before, so we won't burn many calories." Alan fully understood Riya's concerns, so he took them into consideration.
After finishing lunch, they headed as far as they could, and soon they saw a farm that looked empty. They parked the truck outside the farm before getting out.
"Stay here. Honk the horn if you see anything strange."
The kids nodded; they knew they were safer staying put than following them.
Alan approached a barn and said, "Let's start here…"
"This place looks very clean…" Riya walked inside the barn, going deeper than Alan, who stayed at the door.
"Don't be careless; there could be walkers."
Riya looked down, and when she saw all the canned food, a fire extinguished with water, and footprints, she got a bad feeling. But when she turned around to warn Alan, she saw a man with a bat about to attack him.
"Enemies!" The moment Riya shouted, she was knocked down by a strong man who had come out from a pile of hay.
Alan raised his arm to protect the back of his neck, where he was hit moments later. Seeing Riya being punched in the stomach, he first stabbed one of the three men behind him with a knife before running away.
"Not so fast."
A man grabbed Alan by the shoulder, but Alan turned around and, without any mercy, held the man's shoulder and bit his neck.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Crack!
Blood stained Alan's face as he spun around, drew his gun, and fired at the other man still standing.
Bang!
"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!"
"Get your hands off him." After tearing the throat out of one man and shooting the other in the leg, Alan ran toward the guy beating Riya and knocked him to the ground.
Riya tried to stand up, but the pain in her ribs was so intense she could barely move. She could only watch one man dead and two more injured men struggling to escape the barn.
"Ah… eh!"
Alan, who had helped the man beating Riya to his feet, before he could scream, ejected the magazine from his gun, then shoved the entire barrel into the man's mouth, lifted his leg, and kicked his chest.
The man's body immediately fell backward, and the back of his head hit the sharp edge of some metal on the ground.
The scene happened fast and fierce. The people behind Alan were stunned; they just wanted to escape alive.
Alan walked toward the two remaining men, raised his gun, and shot one in the door. "Answer what I want, or you won't be so lucky next time. How many accomplices do you have, and where are they hiding?"
"I... cough... I, I don't know!"
"Thanks for your helpful answer." Getting the response he didn't want, Alan aimed his silenced pistol and, under the man's horrified gaze, shot him through the head.
Bang!
Leaving the lifeless body to the side, Alan walked toward the second man and said, "You're out of luck. Looks like your partner didn't want to talk."
"Tell me! Are there more people from your group nearby?" Alan wanted to know if there were more enemies to worry about.
The man, watching his partner get killed by Alan, had no intention of answering.
"Go to hell, damn idiot...!"
Sash!
Alan drew a dagger with his left hand and plunged the blade directly into the man's left hand without hesitation.
"Ahh!!"
The man roared in pain just before Alan strangled him with the knife. "One last question: how many companions do you have, and where are they?"
"I... I'll talk, please don't kill me!"
Hearing this, the man's body finally started trembling. He looked up at Alan's eyes immediately; this time, he was sure he was about to be killed.
"I told you, there's no one else!! Ah!"
"I want an answer, don't say nonsense!"
"Go to hell."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Alan showed no mercy to people like these. Now, the only thing that worried him was seeing how Riya was doing after being beaten.