Atlanta, S.C.T. Central Base.
It had been more than two days since Rick left the base. At first, he was still able to communicate through the radio, but now there was no signal.
Although Shane had explained countless times that Rick's radio had simply run out of battery, Lori was still terribly worried.
On the third morning, just as Shane was leaving his room, he saw Lori walking toward him, followed by her two children and Morgan's wife, which made him curse silently to himself over and over.
Lori hadn't slept all night and kept trying to contact Rick through the radio. The static in response was like the cold wind on a winter night, which only deepened her worry. She decided to leave the dorms for a more open place, where she ran into Morgan's wife. That led to a long conversation between them, where both women shared their concerns.
"Shane, you have to go out and find them today. Our husbands are outside the base. If something happens to them, no one will be able to escape the guilt."
"Captain Sean, Morgan has been gone for a long time. Last time he went to Texas and helped the commander on one of the base's most important missions. I hope you can send a group to look for them and rescue them. What if they need help right now?"
"Uncle Sean, you'll save my dad, right?"
Shane's head was pounding at that moment. It wasn't that he didn't want to rescue his companions, but their bases were already too scattered and the responsibility was enormous. How could they find three people in cities where their strength wasn't abundant?
Even mobilizing people from the entire central base to search for the missing wouldn't help. They couldn't possibly cover enough ground, especially with runner walkers, and a large number of people would have to be mobilized—let alone with those abnormal walkers around.
Since the CDC exploded last time, the tide of walkers in the surrounding area had increased significantly, and many groups had been organized to ensure all bases and places near their territory remained secure. Even the missions at the port had been temporarily suspended to reduce outings.
But this wasn't something he could say directly. It was also true that those three people out there were part of the backbone of the central base and had made great contributions since its beginnings. Even emotionally, no one wanted anything bad to happen to them.
After much deliberation, he finally decided to act. After recalling Rick's approximate last location, he gave a confirmation to all those people.
"I'll have to go out personally and rescue them as soon as possible. But you must know this isn't part of the rules, and finding them won't be an easy task. Still, I'll do my best."
Lori, who finally got an answer, showed a look of relief and tried to hug Shane, but he stepped aside. After Morgan's wife thanked him, he left the hallway.
Half an hour later, the central base was left under Mike's command with Tyler's supervision, while Shane gathered a small group and left the base in an armored vehicle.
...
Click!
"Damn it, the battery's dead!"
Rick angrily threw the radio in his hands. They were trapped. Elen had gotten up in the morning and, upon opening the window, had found a large number of walkers passing through the town.
What bothered him most was that the direction of the walker horde had once again blocked their way back.
Even if the horde eventually passed, they couldn't return that way. Now all they could do was wait for the walkers to move on.
Fortunately, they hadn't been discovered. Otherwise, the house wouldn't last long before being broken into by the undead, and going back would be impossible. Even their lives would have been reaped by the rotten mouths of the walkers.
Quietly, Rick lifted the curtain of the house just a little, looked at the dense horde of walkers in the street, and sighed silently. Before the end of the world, only large-scale festivals offered similar sights, but he never expected to witness such a scene in this way—and no one would want to see it now.
This time they had run into two consecutive hordes, plus a roadblock. Several people were frustrated, and no one had any luck.
Guillermo sat slumped on the sofa with a hopeless look. This walker horde had been going on for a long time. No one dared make a sound in the room. Then a notebook appeared in front of him, with some words written on it.
"Man, didn't you guys have helicopters?"
Speechless, Guillermo looked at Elen beside him, picked up the pencil, and wrote on the blank page.
"We don't want to waste fuel... Besides, the walkers will disappear sooner or later."
"After the horde passes, there's nothing to worry about."
For a while, the two of them chatted through the notebook.
Rick at the window suddenly showed a surprised look—he finally saw the edge of the corpse tide. Although it was still far away, at the current speed, it should take about half an hour to pass.
...
Half an hour later.
"Haha, finally I can talk again..."
Elen sat more comfortably on the sofa with a big smile on her face. Next to her, her sister gave her a serious look, staring firmly.
Seeing her sister's gesture, she realized the atmosphere in the room didn't feel right, so she straightened up in embarrassment.
Rick's trio was studying something on the map at that moment. There seemed to be some differences of opinion, and the sound of their discussion gradually grew louder.
"No, no, it won't work that way. We're too few people in this place. Our purpose is to find fuel and then a car that can take us back to the base. Otherwise, we'll be food for the walkers."
"But there are hordes of walkers everywhere. Isn't it more likely we'll run into them if we take a detour now? The only option is to go farther out and find a working vehicle to return to the base."
Hearing the argument between the two around him, Rick frowned as well.
The most complicated thing now was that a walker horde was moving in a compromised direction, and they were now too far from another town.
"Let's find a car here first."
Two hours later.
On the road outside the town, Rick and his group walked forward carrying several gallons of gasoline.
After more than an hour of collecting, the three gas cans were half full, but there wasn't a single car in the town that could start, so they had no choice but to walk to the next town.
Rick walked in front with a gas can, occasionally taking out some walkers that followed them. The others walked closely behind him, surrounding Elen and Katie.
The sun was very bright today, and its light shone down on the road through the bare treetops on both sides, also illuminating the group. Rick looked toward the leaf buds that had started to turn green on the treetops, feeling a bit dazed.
Rumble!
But at that moment, the sound of an engine was heard in the distance, and Rick suddenly turned his head to look back. Ten seconds later, a large truck appeared from a faraway corner.
There was no cover around them, and they didn't hide at all. They just stood in the road and watched as the truck approached.
Screech!
The people in the truck had clearly seen them from hundreds of meters away and had begun to slow down. With the screeching of the brakes, the truck gradually stopped in front of them.
Instinctively protecting Katie and Elen, they watched as six people got out of the truck.
The leader was a strong man over 1.9 meters tall, with short, spiky red hair and a long beard under his nose. He wore a gray vest with cross straps, and his muscular arms were completely exposed.
The rest included two slender girls, a short white man of about thirty wearing a hat, a handsome young man, and a large man with a strange hairstyle standing at the back.
The tall man at the front of the group walked to the front of the truck with a rifle in his hand. His eyes swept over the group, and for some reason, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Looks like today is really my lucky day!"