He rode the horse through the twists and turns of the alleys and streets, weaving through them constantly.
Whenever he encountered a small horde of Walkers that he couldn't bypass, he used the Levitation Charm to lighten the weight of himself and the horse, allowing the steed to leap over them at a staggering height!
Although the journey was thrilling, no real accidents occurred along the way.
Finally, after riding through a narrow alley, the horde of Walkers behind him was temporarily stuck due to the crowding, unable to catch up for the time being.
The surroundings were also obscured by dense bushes, making it very secluded.
He immediately dismounted and put on the Invisibility Cloak at once.
Then, he walked over to the panting horse, stroked its head, and used the 'Aguamenti' spell to conjure a handful of clean water to feed it.
"Go on, run out of the city, and don't look back."
The brown horse seemed to look at his half-"disappeared" body with some confusion, but it still nuzzled Louis submissively before turning and running away through the nearby woods.
After putting on the Invisibility Cloak, Louis waited until the nearby Walkers had completely lost their target and stopped being restless. Only then did he unhurriedly begin to walk back.
The back wall of this alley happened to connect to a semi-open forest park. It was convenient to ride a horse here, but walking back would be much more troublesome.
Fortunately, Louis was prepared.
He pulled a skateboard out of his hiking backpack.
Although it wasn't the same kind of scientific skateboard Conan had, he could use the Levitation Charm to reduce his weight and increase his speed, making it a magic skateboard. It was still much faster than walking on his own two legs.
"The luck was pretty good this time," he thought as he walked. After all, his knowledge of Atlanta was limited to the maps and some photo and video materials he had found earlier; he couldn't be entirely certain this route would work.
Even though he had to take a slight detour due to some unexpected situations, it was still within an acceptable range.
"I hope I can get back before Rick and the others drive out of the city..." Louis thought silently.
Although he could have found an excuse to leave before Rick was surrounded by Walkers, or escaped with him when Rick fell, those scenarios would undoubtedly not help much with his plan to join the team later.
If he had been somewhat hesitant before, after discovering that this horse was very obedient, intelligent, and affectionate, he made up his mind to take a risk.
Louis panted as he moved through the ruins, his mind rapidly reviewing his actions.
The reason he went to such great lengths—galloping on horseback and risking himself to attract the horde of Walkers to create such a big scene—was certainly not as simple as showing off in front of Rick.
Whether it was leading the Walkers away, preparing to rescue Merle next, or the kindness shown to the Jones Family earlier... all of his actions were primarily for one purpose: to demonstrate his value and thus gain a voice in the future team.
He was currently just an eleven-year-old child. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
The advantage was obvious.
In this world, especially in the eyes of the main group who still held onto Old World morals, children were a group that needed priority protection.
Having seen the original show, Louis knew this very well. He even felt that the main group's "children first" values sometimes seemed a bit obsessive.
He still remembered how much the team sacrificed in the future to find the missing Sophia, and the persistent attitude of wanting to give birth to a child even when the team's own survival was at risk in the terrible apocalyptic environment.
These values were his best shield. People would be more tolerant and understanding toward a child and wouldn't be too wary of him.
But the disadvantage was equally fatal.
This meant that, in most cases, no adult would truly take a child's opinion or thoughts to heart. They would protect you and care for you, but it would be difficult for them to follow you.
So, how could he make his words carry weight without exposing his greatest secret—magic? This was Louis's most important problem at the moment.
His status as a child meant he couldn't stand at the forefront and give orders directly like Rick or Shane.
Therefore, his best choice at this stage was to work behind the scenes, using rhetoric, emotion, and just the right amount of "foresight" to guide the decisions of others.
To achieve this goal, simply gaining favor or playing the victim was far from enough. He had to demonstrate certain abilities that surpassed ordinary people and were within a "reasonable" range.
Of course, not magic, but "wisdom" and "skills."
If he could successfully establish an image in everyone's eyes as a "precocious child prodigy forced to mature under the pressure of the apocalypse," then it would be much easier when he wanted to guide the team to make safer and more beneficial decisions for himself... On the other side, Rick had already escaped under Glenn's guidance and was informed by him that Louis had escaped alive, which made him breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Under the cover of their companions, Glenn led Rick through a fire escape and into the interior of a department store.
Just as they closed the door, a woman with a blonde ponytail and sharp eyes suddenly rushed out from behind a shelf, pointing the gun in her hand at Rick's forehead without hesitation.
"You bastard, I really want to just blow your head off!"
Her voice trembled slightly with excitement and anger; she had clearly suffered an emotional breakdown.
"Andrea! Calm down!" Glenn hurriedly blocked the space between the two. Several companions around them also stepped forward to persuade her and smooth things over.
But this didn't stop Andrea's fury: "You almost got us all killed!!"
Facing the dark muzzle of the gun, Rick wasn't too panicked.
As a professional police officer, he could tell at a glance that this blonde woman didn't really intend to fire; after all, the safety on her gun was still on.
So he just tried his best to soothe her with a gentle attitude, wanting her to calm down.
However, it was of no use.
Seeing that Rick seemed to have no idea what was going on, a tall, sturdy Latino man beside her stepped forward and held Andrea's arm that was holding the gun, stopping her.
Then, without a word, he pulled Rick toward the main entrance.
"Listen, the few of us just came here to find some necessities; we don't want trouble."
The Latino man, Morales, said to Rick in a disapproving tone as he walked, "Do you know how to find supplies?"
"You have to be alive," he continued.
"Do you know how to stay alive?" After asking, he didn't give Rick a chance to answer, but answered himself, "You have to keep a low profile."
The group led Rick all the way to the massive glass revolving doors.
"And you, my sheriff friend."
Morales pointed outside, his tone turning stern, "You rode a horse with such fanfare, shooting all the way through—were you afraid you weren't making enough noise to attract the attention of the Walkers?"
As soon as he finished speaking, several Walkers attracted by their noise slammed their rotting faces against the glass door. With a "thud," their palms slapped heavily against the glass, making a heart-pounding sound!
"Oh, damn it!"
Frightened, several of them hurriedly retreated a few steps, hiding behind nearby clothing racks and mannequins.
Rick was silent for a moment, looking at those greedy, hollow eyes outside the door, and tried his best to explain calmly: "I originally... wanted to get the attention of the helicopter."
He shook his head, knowing this explanation seemed a bit weak at the moment.
"Helicopter?" Andrea poked her head out from behind a clothing rack and rolled her eyes speechlessly, "That's too ridiculous. You must have been drinking too much and had a hallucination, didn't you?"
"I'm certain I saw it, and not just me..." Speaking of this, Rick took a deep breath and turned to Glenn, who was still panting, "Louis saw it too."
"Louis?" Morales asked in confusion, "Who's that?"
"It's the child who came with him!" Glenn immediately perked up, his face showing a mix of post-survival excitement and disbelief, "Rick's son! He's absolutely cool! And that horse..."
Gesticulating wildly, Glenn recounted Louis's shocking horsemanship and actions to everyone, but they all felt he was exaggerating too much.
But Glenn insisted that what he said was true. He even curiously asked Rick: "Hey, Rick, where did your son go to school? It wouldn't happen to be some secret agent school, would it?"
Rick didn't refute the "son" claim, nor did he answer Glenn's question directly.
He just sighed, avoiding the main point: "The coming of the apocalypse has changed many people, hasn't it? Before this, Louis was just a child who was slightly smarter than his peers."
The reason Rick didn't refute the claim that Louis was his son was that he wanted to protect him to some extent.
He couldn't judge the character of the people in front of him in a short time.
Children were inherently a vulnerable group, let alone orphans without a backer; such people were most likely to be targeted by others.
But if those with ill intentions knew that Louis's guardian was right there, they would be more hesitant before acting.
However, this time he was overthinking it.
Because the mall where everyone was located was later surrounded by Walkers, no one but Glenn noticed what happened afterward.
So after hearing Glenn's exaggerated description, everyone subconsciously imagined a teenager around fifteen to twenty years old following Rick, someone agile and rebellious.