"Asking for directions?" Carl listened to the constant screams coming from inside and raised an eyebrow. "Is he asking for the way to hell?"
"Maybe it's the way to heaven." Duane shrugged.
"..."
Louis looked at these two kids with overactive imaginations, his face darkening with annoyance. He led them a bit further away before correcting them:
"Neither. It's the way that will let us find our missing companions."
The screaming lasted for about twenty minutes, then stopped abruptly.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and several people walked out.
Merle walked out while wiping blood from his hands, a look of post-work relaxation on his face.
"Tsk, boring." Merle casually threw the blood-stained towel onto the railing and spat disdainfully. "This kid's a spineless coward."
"I hadn't even used much force, and he was already desperate to confess the colour of his ancestors' underwear."
Rick followed closely behind, holding a crookedly drawn sketch based on Randall's confession.
"Everyone, come over here," Rick called out to the group. "We need to have a meeting."
The group quickly gathered under the porch, looking at the sketch.
"The situation is worse than we anticipated, but it's also clearer."
Rick spread the sketch on the hood of the pickup truck, pointed to a marked location, and said in a heavy voice:
"According to his confession, this group has been killing their way here from Philadelphia. There are about thirty young and middle-aged male armed personnel."
"Counting the women and children, the entire gang is quite large."
"They originally had a temporary camp five miles away, but they just moved into a large Auto Repair Shop on the edge of town a few days ago."
At this point, Rick's expression became somewhat odd, as if he had thought of something horrifying.
"Randall also mentioned one more thing..."
He took a deep breath and slowly recounted: "Not long ago, before we met that group of drifters."
"While searching for supplies, these bastards cornered a father with his two teenage daughters in an open area."
Hearing this, the expressions of everyone present instantly soured.
"What did they want to do?" Jacqui clenched her fists.
"They wanted to have some fun." Rick's voice was cold. "According to their usual practice, they planned to rape the two girls and force the father to watch."
"Animals!" T-Dog cursed angrily.
"But just as they were about to start," Rick's tone shifted, "a group calling themselves 'The Believers' appeared."
"The Believers?" Everyone was taken aback.
"That's right, the group of lunatics we just wiped out."
Rick nodded. "Although those Believers weren't good people either, they clashed directly with these thugs, seemingly to capture new members or for some other reason."
"Randall said those Believers were like mad dogs and were well-equipped. This group didn't want a hard fight, so they were scared off."
He looked up, his gaze deep. "The father and daughters escaped during the chaos. If I'm not mistaken..."
He recalled the group of drifter survivors they had encountered before; the leader back then had warned them to be careful of the 'wolves' nearby.
"The father who warned us should be the person involved."
"The reason they call this group from Philadelphia that is because they truly are like wolves—cruel, greedy, and they hunt in packs."
"The world is so damn small." Merle sneered. "It seems that by wiping out The Believers, we indirectly helped these pieces of shit get rid of a competitor?"
"Over thirty armed personnel..." Morales frowned at the map. "That's a lot of people."
"What do they do? Are they religious lunatics like 'The Believers' too?"
"No."
Shane shook his head, a flash of disgust in his eyes. "This group is more like pure thugs, or rather, a street gang."
"They have no faith and no bottom line. Their only purpose in gathering is survival and plunder."
"They call themselves the Philadelphia Alliance, but their way of doing things is no different from bandits."
"And," Rick added, his tone becoming exceptionally heavy, "the way they treat their captives is appalling."
According to Randall's breakdown just now, this group of thugs has an extremely cruel set of survival rules.
They will recruit those who have combat capability and are willing to join them in their evil ways.
As for the elderly, weak, sick, or captives who are unwilling to join, they are treated as 'consumables.'
"Consumables?" Andrea was puzzled. "What does that mean?"
"It means... scouts, or live bait."
Rick pointed to several red crosses marked around the Auto Repair Shop on the map. "There are some buildings around the shop that haven't been cleared yet."
"They make the captives walk in unarmed to use their bodies to attract Walkers."
"If the captive successfully lures out the Walkers, they kill the Walkers and go in for supplies. If the captive is bitten or eaten..." He paused. "Then they move on to the next one."
"Besides that, they set extremely harsh scavenging quotas for the surviving captives. For instance, they must bring back a certain amount of supplies daily. If they fail, they lose a limb or go without food."
Hearing this, everyone's heart felt heavy.
Their companions who had scattered were currently in that hell. If they didn't act soon, there might be nothing left to do but collect bodies.
"We must go save them." T-Dog stated immediately, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists.
Daryl expressionlessly checked his crossbow bolts, his voice laced with coldness. "So, when are we going to slaughter those pieces of shit?"
"We move tonight." Rick made the final decision. "Under the cover of darkness, we'll take them by surprise. Since it's an Auto Repair Shop, the terrain..."
"Count me in."
Before Rick could even begin laying out the tactics, Andrea was the first to step forward. She gripped the gun in her hand tightly, her tone very determined.
Before Rick and Shane could speak, a cold, mocking snort rang out first.
"Hmph."
Daryl nonchalantly fiddled with a crossbow bolt in his hand while glancing sideways at Andrea, saying bluntly:
"Give it a rest, Blondie. This isn't target practice in your backyard."
He stopped what he was doing, his sharp eyes piercing Andrea, his voice cold:
"That's a pack of mad dogs. If a man falls into the hands of those animals, he'll just die at most. But if it's a woman..."
He paused, his lips curling into a cruel arc. Although the words were harsh, they were the truth:
"Trust me, you'll be praying for a quick death by then."
Faced with Daryl's intimidation, Andrea didn't lose her temper.
Instead, she took a step forward and stared straight into Daryl's eyes, refusing to back down an inch.
"I know what that entails."
Andrea's voice was trembling, but it was from emotion. "But last time at The Believers' factory, I hid at the farm like a fool, waiting for you all to come back, not knowing who was alive or dead..."
"That feeling of helplessness is what's truly worse than death."
She turned her head to look at Rick and Shane, her eyes burning with intensity:
"I've been practicing for a long time. Shane taught me how to shoot, and you taught me how to survive. I can help."
The scene fell into a brief silence.
Rick looked at Shane, seemingly seeking his opinion.
Shane looked at Andrea's stubborn expression. After a few seconds of silence, he finally looked at Rick and nodded:
"Her skills are indeed decent; she can provide fire support from the perimeter."
Rick thought for a moment and then agreed: "Alright, but you must stay close to the main group and not act on your own."
"Understood." Andrea nodded heavily.
"Alright, now listen to me."
Rick refocused his attention on the map, preparing to lay out the specific raid tactics. "We'll split into two groups. Shane, you take..."
"I'm going too."
Just then, a familiar voice suddenly cut in, interrupting Rick's deployment.
Everyone was stunned and turned to look.
It was Louis. No one knew when he had slipped in; they hadn't even noticed him.
"No way!"
Before Rick could speak, Shane frowned and gave a flat refusal. "Louis, I know you're capable, and you did help out a lot before."
"But this is non-negotiable!"
"We're facing a group of fully armed, cold-blooded thugs! They won't show mercy just because you're a kid!"
"Shane is right." Rick also nodded seriously, looking at Louis. "Before, it was out of necessity."
"But this time is different. We have guns, we have people, and we're well-prepared. You don't need to worry about us."
"Don't worry, I'm not going there to fight this time," Louis tried to explain.
"Then there's even less reason for you to go."
Andrea also tried to persuade him, "Even if your scouting skills are strong, we have detailed intelligence from Randall this time. Plus, with everyone else, it's enough."