The next morning, several hours after the events yesterday.
Micheal and the two women finally resumed their journey back home.
They also never bothered going out their way to look for those people who escaped from that minibus.
Michael's kindness only extended to helping them escape, but he would have not minded if they had just decided to stay and help. He would not even hesitate to invite them to join their community after the ordeal.
Unfortunately, they let this great opportunity slip away from their hands.
"I wonder what ever happened to those people you helped?" Sitting on the passenger seat, Rosita suddenly thought of the people that Michael helped yesterday.
While leisurely driving along the highway, Michael responded with a shrug. "Hopefully, surviving somewhere. They have a lot of kids with them, and that's a lot of responsibility."
Looking at the passing scenery through the window, Rosita asked. "How long do you think they'll last if they can't find a secure place for their group?"
Michael honestly does not know, but then he remembered the episode where Rick and the others were living nomadic lives on the road. Where every day is surviving, and the toll it took on their minds and bodies because of the lack of food and security.
Then he compared them to the people in that minibus, and he realized they wouldn't survive long with a lot of excess baggage they had with them.
By baggage, he meant the kids that were with them.
Those excess mouths they had to feed, whose contribution is close to nothing will certainly cause problems to them sooner than later. In the event that food becomes repeatedly constrained, they might even do something that no sane human should be doing.
Cannibalism.
"If they're lucky, they might find a good place to settle down." Michael responded before he went silent.
Rosita turned her head towards him when she realized that there should be more to his words. "And if they don't?"
"The kids will suffer. Hopefully, their leader has a good head on their shoulders." Michael did not specify what will happen, but Rosita quickly figured it out because of one event that happened yesterday, and a cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Cannibalism?"
"Yeah, and with that herd hot on their heels. They'll suffer for a few days until that herd moves on. Unless they managed to get far away from it when they were making their escape." Michael added as he took a turn since the road ahead is blocked.
"That's f*cked up."
"Yeah."
Several hours earlier, during Michael's fight against a small walker herd that broke off from the main group.
The people living in the tree houses, just a couple of miles away from the scene. Still hadn't gotten over their initial shock of what they're witnessing today.
"I still can't believe it. Is he even human at this point?" One of the women watching the fight in the distance was feeling amazed, and at the same time, curious.
"He could be a mutant of some sorts. I wouldn't be surprised if he is since even the dead have risen and now roam the earth." The one beside her responded, and at the same time, this woman is suddenly having the desire to procreate while watching Michael through the lenses of her binoculars.
'He's strong, superbly strong. I wonder if he's already part of a bigger group. Hmm..if there's someone like him in their group, doesn't that mean their colony's condition is even better than ours? It would be incredible if we had someone like him with us. Just imagine the things we'd be able to do if we had someone as strong as him looking over us.' the woman thought while lightly grinding legs against each other, and alongside those thoughts, she also couldn't help but throw a quick glance towards the person leading their small community.
'Seeing this, I wonder what's going through her mind right now?'
"What if we go over there and get him to join us?" Like someone had read her mind, someone among them suddenly echoed her thoughts.
The woman's words were only met with an awkward silence, though the other women around that particular woman all exchanged glances at each other. It is obvious that they also had the same idea in their minds but didn't have the guts to bring it up.
"Do you think if you go over there, he'll welcome you with open arms? He'll probably kill you alongside those biters. Do not forget that the world is not the same anymore. People will not hesitate to kill you if you show anything suspicious. Like the many people that died by our hands, those people out there are not that different. So, if you want to die, go on ahead. You have my permission." The head of the community finally opened her mouth, and the words that followed surprised and scared the people around her.
A few hesitated, but a couple of bold ones immediately stood up and went back to their dens. They took the things they needed from inside before making their descent down the tree.
There were nine of them, seven women and two men.
"Are you just going to let them be?" A close associate of the leader approached her and asked in an almost whisper.
The woman lightly scoffed and responded. "Let them be. At least we can get rid of those meat eaters this way. I'm tired of not being able to sleep peacefully at night because I don't know when they'd lose their minds and attack us."
"But there's still five of them that stayed behind." her associate reminded her.
The woman's eyes glinted with a cold glow and ordered her associate in a commanding tone. "Get rid of them tonight."
"Gladly, I'm sure everyone would be thrilled to hear the news."
Present.
"On the subject of cannibals, I didn't expect that we'd actually encounter people like them just after you got rid of those walkers. They all looked like any other normal person; how did you figure out that they were cannibals in the first place?" While they were on the subject of cannibalism, Rosita was reminded of the group of survivors who suddenly came out of nowhere and approached them.
Michael shrugged his shoulders and replied. "I didn't. Their eyes were too dodgy. I figured they were up to no good and decided to take care of them. Lo and behold, they had chopped human remains in their bags after we killed them."
Rosita looked at him with a perplexed look on her face. "What? So, you killed them because their eyes were too dodgy? Are you insane?"
"What? I'd rather kill them, than us getting killed by them. Besides, they're not really great at controlling their expressions. If only you saw how one of those men were looking at you like they can't wait to dig in." Michael chuckled when he remembered how that guy died because one of his companions was crazily swinging his weapon all over.
"That's disgusting."
"At least we did the people of this country a favor by getting rid of those bunch."