Unlike the infiltration group's silent advance, the negotiation team was meant to operate in the open from the very beginning.
The team led by Hank and Jonathan escorted Gwendolyn to the outskirts of a ruined warehouse district on the south side of the industrial park.
According to earlier reconnaissance, this was an area where the Scavengers were often active.
The team set up a temporary position behind a half-collapsed warehouse.
Hank gave a brief set of orders. "Merle, take four people and hold that scrap-car pile on the left flank. It has a good view.
"Daryl, take four people. The low wall on the right flank is yours.
"Carver, Wagner, stay with me and Gwendolyn.
"Jonathan, take the rest and stay mobile. Be ready to support us or block the road at any time.
"Jason, if you recognize anyone, use your judgment.
"Remember, we're not here to fight a war. Don't rush in and start something."
Gwendolyn took a deep breath and straightened her clean beige coat.
She tied her hair into a neat bun at the back of her head.
Gwendolyn knew she did not look like a warrior, and she intended to use that.
Sometimes, a woman who appeared harmless could open a conversation more easily than a fully armed squad of soldiers.
The wait dragged on.
The warehouse district was quiet enough to feel unsettling. Only the wind stirred the plastic sheets on the ground, making them rustle from time to time.
Daryl crouched behind the low wall, a bolt set on his crossbow, his eyes sweeping every corner of the ruins.
Beside him, Jason muttered, "This used to be 'Old Cripple' Joe's temporary warehouse. He piled all his shady goods here while he waited for people to pick them up.
"After the outbreak, Lorenzo killed him, and this place became no-man's-land.
"The Red Scarf Gang looked down on this junk, but it's perfect for the Scavengers to hide in."
"How do you know they'll come?" Daryl asked.
Jason grinned. "These warehouses are perfect hideouts. If I were them, I'd use the daylight to grab whatever I could. Someone's bound to come before noon."
Jason's prediction came true at around ten in the morning.
First came the faint sound of metal clanging in the distance, followed by low voices.
Three figures emerged from a gap in a collapsed factory building, pushing a creaking handcart piled with supplies covered in burlap.
Hank raised his hand, and everyone instantly went on alert while staying hidden.
There were two men and one woman. All three wore layers of ragged clothing, with dirty cloths covering their faces. They looked around warily, then began moving the supplies from the cart into a half-collapsed warehouse.
Clearly, this was not their first time doing it.
"Now," Hank whispered, then nodded to Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn took a deep breath and stepped out from cover.
She carried no weapon. Her hands hung naturally at her sides.
Her appearance was so sudden that the three Scavengers froze in place at first. Only then did they panic and reach for the crude weapons at their waists.
No guns. Just machetes, steel pipes, wrenches, and things like that.
"Easy, all three of you," Gwendolyn said calmly, raising both hands. "We're not here to take your things."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Carver, Wagner, and Hank stepped out from different directions, taking up a loose semicircle around them.
They did not raise their guns, but their gear and bearing were enough to make one thing clear. These were not ordinary raiders.
The three Scavengers pressed back-to-back, their hands trembling around their weapons.
The woman with the cart looked to be in her forties, her face grimy. She rasped, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"We're from Rock Fortress," Gwendolyn said, keeping her hands raised as she took two slow steps forward. "We want to speak with whoever's in charge. About this park, and about your future."
"Rock Fortress?" one of the younger men repeated. "Never heard of it."
"You will," Carver said. His voice carried more force than Gwendolyn's, stunning the three of them for a moment. "Soon."
Just then, Jason stepped out from behind the low wall as well.
He was not carrying a rifle, only a machete tucked at his waist.
As he came closer, the young Scavenger suddenly widened his eyes. "Jason? Is… is that you?"
Jason stopped and narrowed his eyes at him. After a few seconds, he recognized the man. "Tony? Fuck, you're still alive?"
The man called Tony lowered his guard a little, though his hand still gripped the steel pipe. "Jason… how did you end up with these people?"
"Because I picked the right side," Jason said proudly. "Listen, Tony. These people aren't the Red Scarf Gang. Bring your boss out and talk properly. It won't hurt you."
Tony exchanged looks with the other two, still hesitant.
The standoff lasted about five minutes.
Although Gwendolyn maintained a gentle posture the whole time, Carver and the others were tall, heavily built men. They loosely surrounded Tony's group with grim faces and guns in hand, putting enormous pressure on all three of them.
At last, the commotion drew attention. More footsteps came from deeper inside the warehouse district.
This time, six people arrived.
The leader was a man of about sixty, with graying hair and a messy beard, but his eyes were sharp.
He wore work pants patched over and over again, with a well-maintained machinist's hammer tucked at his waist. He looked filthy.
"I'm the one who makes the decisions!" the old man said in a rough, hoarse voice. "Cole. What do you want to talk about?"
Gwendolyn took a step forward, while Hank and Wagner smoothly stepped half a pace back.
"Mr. Cole," Gwendolyn said with a faint smile, her manner neither humble nor overbearing, "we come from Rock Fortress, a survivor community built in the mountains.
"We have walls, farmland, clean drinking water, doctors, and an army capable of protecting everyone."
Cole's gaze swept over the equipment on Hank and the others, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. "Sounds nice. So you're here to… absorb us?"
"To be precise, invite you," Gwendolyn corrected. "We know surviving here hasn't been easy.
"After the Red Scarf Gang was wiped out, your lives may have gotten a little better, but you still risk yourselves every day searching for supplies, avoiding walkers, and worrying about threats from other survivors."
Tony could not help cutting in. "How do you know about the Red Scarf Gang?"
Carver answered casually, "Because the Red Scarf Gang is the one we wiped out."
The Scavengers looked at one another.
After the military withdrew, the Red Scarf Gang had run wild through Knoxville, a mountain pressing down on every small faction in the city.
Its destruction was the biggest news since the apocalypse began last year, but no one knew exactly what had happened.
All they knew was that the place had turned into ruins overnight, with human corpses everywhere, along with the bodies of walkers that had somehow appeared in huge numbers.
"You… wiped out the Red Scarf Gang?" Cole repeated, shaken.
"Lorenzo is dead, and the Red Scarf Gang is gone," Hank said. "Rock Fortress did that.
"Now we've come here because there are things in the industrial park that are useful to us. But we don't want to treat you as enemies."
...
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