"Bring me that young woman!" Looking at the ten remaining people who were terrified by his behavior at that moment, Jason glanced at Alicia at his side and gave her the order.
After receiving the command, Alicia turned around and walked toward a dark corner not far away. She pulled a young woman out and then threw her heavily to the ground.
"Ah, don't hurt me!"
Being thrown like that, the young woman clearly felt pain, but as if her mouth had been gagged, she could only let out a small whimper.
The ten people looked at each other and then turned their eyes to the girl lying on the ground. Her hands were tied behind her back, her mouth was covered with cloth, and there were scrapes all over her face. She was already injured and terrified, and Jason had gotten what he needed from her.
Jason masked the sorrow on his face, replaced it with a kind smile, looked at the ten people in front of him, and said, "This young woman told me a lot of things, but as a good leader, I shouldn't rely on the words of just one person. Since things have turned out this way, I hope none of you will waste my time."
While Jason spoke, he slightly leaned toward the next person and asked the same question he had asked before: "Who the hell is Teddy, and where is his shelter?"
"I... I don't know…"
Bang!
Jason shook his head and ended up killing the man, since he was no longer of use. Now only nine people remained, not counting the young woman who was watching everything unfold.
Under Jason's gaze, the remaining nine trembled. Perhaps they were too scared—since the next person also failed to answer, Jason killed him too.
But when he got to the eighth person, Jason finally got what he wanted. Apparently, this group called the Vultures didn't have a secure base. They had originally come to Texas to observe the situation and find a safe place to survive. But everything changed when they encountered a cult—the cult of Teddy—whose members followed him devoutly in hopes of fulfilling their purpose.
Maybe they were tired of wandering. After arriving in Texas five months ago, they settled, chose a location for a camp, and survived by gathering supplies from the city—until the cult decided to accept them.
Their only job was to deliver supplies to Teddy's cult, and they had never killed anyone before. At first, they had no intention of harming others. They often helped survivors who passed by. Some left after thanking them, while others stayed and lived together.
But the world is harsh. As the number of people increased, and most had no weapons, they didn't dare step into areas overrun with walkers.
The amount of edible food kept decreasing, and sometimes they went entire days without eating. So when they had to prepare a tribute for the cult, the group began to feel the pressure.
The helicopter was a good target. It had to be full of rich resources the cult needed, and in exchange, they could receive food and medical supplies.
Eventually, under the cult's orders, they attacked the helicopter, which was about to crash anyway. Jason's group had never expected to be attacked by such people. Most of them were killed, while the few who escaped were now watching the rest of the Vultures tremble in pain.
But eventually, food always runs out. After tasting the sweetness of that first success, they began to frantically attack survivors in the city.
That was also the reason they attacked Jason's helicopter. But they never expected to be slaughtered to such an extent by the same man who now stood before them.
They all thought it would be just as easy, but they were met with reality. After hearing this, Jason looked over at Madison, who was standing beside her family, and asked the group another question—how did they operate?
When they heard the question, the same person answered. At first, since they didn't have weapons, they pretended to be kind and invited people to rest at their camp. While most declined, a small number agreed.
Although some people felt these methods were too cruel, for the sake of survival, everyone chose to remain silent and accept the behavior.
Once people were lured to the camp, they attacked mercilessly, killed them, and seized their food and firearms.
As they acquired more and more resources and weapons, they stopped pretending. Sometimes, if necessary, they would only take half of the resources and let some people go.
Maybe God favored them. When they attacked the survivors in the helicopter, they thought they would get a large cache of weapons to help pay tribute to Teddy's cult.
Recently, they had moved to observe a shelter inside a stadium. Since they didn't know if they could subdue those people, they planned to send Charlie as a spy to infiltrate the stadium community.
Everyone thought living in a stadium was clever, so they assumed those people had to be strong. When Madison heard this, she felt a deep anger rising from within, realizing things hadn't been so simple from the beginning.
In fact, at this point, they no longer needed to attack other survivors to get food. With the food they grew and the animals they hunted, they could live a nourishing life in the apocalypse.
But human greed is endless. Even when they no longer had to worry about food, hunting other survivors had become a long-standing habit—and they had no intention of going back to the old ways.
Of course, some people in the group couldn't understand this approach and believed such unprovoked killings were unnecessary.
After repeatedly trying to dissuade the others in vain, these people knew they couldn't stop them. Once again, in the darkness of the night, they decided to stay—for the sake of unity.
Hearing what this person said, Jason fell silent, realizing that this cult might be the one controlling everything in this part of Texas—and could be behind much of his misfortune.
"So, where is Teddy's shelter? Why didn't you attack them directly if you had enough weapons?"
When Jason asked this, he wanted to know why they let themselves be intimidated. Even if the shelter was strong, no matter how strong it was, they could still resist—just like Rick's group once faced The Survivors.
Upon hearing the question, the person looked stunned, quickly waved his hands, and said, "I… I don't know. I'm not a fighter—I usually stay at the camp. I'm only here now because your people brought me. Besides, Teddy's group is very large and heavily armed."
Jason frowned, clearly dissatisfied, and looked at the remaining people.
"Where is it?"
"I know!"
Feeling Jason's gaze, the skinny young man wiped the sweat from his forehead. He knew that if he didn't speak now, he would probably suffer later, so he spoke before any of the others.
"Teddy is a reasonable old man. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty and is extremely cautious. If you talk to him, there won't be a need for a war that would cost lives on both sides."
"Calm down. That's not the damn question I asked…"
Bang!
With another shot, one more person dropped dead, followed by screams of fear and pain.
"Where is Teddy's group?"
Jason's expression didn't change at all. Since the other group was a serious threat, he had to get close and assess the situation.
"In a factory. The place is well protected on the outside… but I can tell you where."
"Good. That's what I wanted to hear!"
Surprised that he got an answer so easily, Jason still asked, "How do you know?"
"I'm in charge of the medicine and firearms. I make sure the offerings get to Teddy without any problems."
"Good!"
"Not bad at all! Thank you very much for your cooperation!"
Satisfied with the information, Jason smiled, clapped his hands, and expressed his approval.
Then, with a smile, he pointed his weapon at the remaining people kneeling in front of him and shot them all—men and women alike—before shooting Ennis, who had remained silent the entire time.
The whole sequence happened quickly, and before anyone else could react, ten bodies lay on the ground.
It wasn't that Jason insisted on killing them all, but he realized there was no benefit to keeping these bastards alive—they had killed Billy. So he only spared those who were absolutely necessary. He didn't want distractions or unstable elements around.
As for the woman named Charlie, she was just a young girl. She had been tortured and was covered in wounds. Taking care of her would be a hassle, and Jason was about to kill her when Alicia stepped forward to stop him.
"Wait, Jason. She's not entirely bad."
"You killed them all…"
The sudden change caused the skinny young man to scream and back away repeatedly in fear, while Charlie was so frightened she lost control of her bladder, a foul smell coming from her lower body.
"Heh, what a bunch of damn fools thinking they'd leave this place alive."
Looking at the two horrified people before him, Jason let out a small laugh, holstered his gun, and said, "Don't be afraid. I just eliminated some uncooperative people. I'm a man of my word—the women will live, but they'll go through a grueling process if they want to stay alive."
"I'll spare that young woman, but remember—she was about to enter your community and feed the enemy information to harm you."