Chapter 28: Desertion?
A few scattered walkers emerged from around the plaza. Daryl stopped talking nonsense, running while shouting:
"Kill the walkers!"
Daryl paused mid-run, raised his hand and fired the crossbow.
Direct hit on a walker!
Merle shook his head with a smile, striding to meet walkers, murmuring, "Looks like you can't do without your big brother by your side."
Pulling out his machete, Merle gave a great shout and smoothly severed a walker's neck.
Both team leaders charged forward. The remaining team members also quickly dispersed, roaming the plaza, slaughtering walkers and pushing shopping carts.
Cart after cart loaded into pickups.
Inside the market.
Glenn took two breaths, looked left and right at his team members. He said seriously, "Everyone be careful."
Glenn knew that as team leader his abilities might be insufficient, but he still wanted to fulfill his responsibilities as leader.
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Bobby said impatiently. "Just open the door already."
Jimmy glanced at him. Bobby immediately shut his mouth.
Thin Clark looked at Bobby, eyes flickering darkly, gripping his weapon tighter.
Hugh and Wayne, the two middle-aged men, swept their gazes over the others and retreated two steps backward.
Glenn stopped talking and stepped forward to push open the door.
Creak—
Sunlight climbed inside following the door's rotation.
When Glenn could see inside clearly, he'd already realized something was wrong. He turned and shouted, "Run!"
But the instant he turned around, several blue-gray hands grabbed Glenn and pulled him inside the door.
Jimmy, standing beside him, had time to hack backward a few times, but things went against his wishes. Jimmy was also grabbed and pulled inside.
Bobby's position was slightly further back. He hadn't turned around yet when a force shoved him inside, and pain struck from his back as warm liquid flowed out.
The next moment, Bobby only felt countless gaping mouths biting toward him. The wound on his back was also torn open, blood spattering.
"Ahh—"
Bobby, unable to endure the pain, let out a scream. Nearby walkers all extended claws toward Bobby.
In an instant, Bobby was torn to pieces.
Hugh and Wayne ran back several meters, turned their heads and found no walkers chasing them.
Clark, gripping his blade tightly, his thin body trembling slightly, his mouth's arc spreading wider and wider. "Hahahahahaha!"
Deranged laughter burst out. Clark laughed madly. "Bobby, you're finally fucking dead!"
"I got rid of you. You're dead, I survived."
"I can definitely live... ahh—"
Before Clark could finish his victory declaration, several walkers grabbed the nearest Clark and bit into his body.
Clark was dragged into the walker herd. He sat among them as countless walkers crawled over his body, tearing every inch of his skin. Even though he screamed continuously, it couldn't stop the walkers from feeding.
The bloody smell was heavy, pervading the walker herd.
Suddenly, in one part of the herd, several walkers fell to the ground. Jimmy stood up, covered in blood.
But that blood was black—the walkers' blood.
Jimmy spun in a circle, swinging with force. Heads rolled in a circle around him.
His left hand grabbed Glenn and hauled him up. "Up!"
Glenn staggered to his feet. The ground was covered in slippery blood. He couldn't stand steady.
Glenn looked around in panic, trying to find a way out.
Jimmy pulled Glenn along, swinging his blade to hack walkers. Heads flew, blood spurted.
Fortunately, there were two gaps in the walker herd. Walkers were crowding around those gaps, pressing inward. The pressure on Glenn and Jimmy wasn't too great.
Glenn's gaze swept to one spot. His pupils constricted. He pointed there. "Go there! Move!"
That was the market's second-floor staircase. As far as the eye could see, no walkers were up there.
Jimmy heard it, looked toward the second floor, and charged forward quickly.
Jimmy's combat ability was stronger than Glenn's. He charged faster, blocking in front of Glenn.
The two helped each other along, stepping on walker corpses, and mounted the steel staircase.
Glenn had just gotten on the stairs. Not having time to rest, he found various items to throw down from above, trying to block the stairs.
Meanwhile, Jimmy swung heavy arms, hacking at walkers before him.
Each swing was massive physical exertion.
And maintaining one motion long-term, lactic acid accumulating—Jimmy's strength was no longer what it had been.
As his strength decreased, finally Jimmy's machete struck a walker's head.
The gap between skull bones happened to catch the machete. The walker went limp, bringing the machete down into the walker herd below.
Jimmy instinctively reached forward to grab it. Unexpectedly, his body lost some balance and pitched forward.
His spirit wasn't very clear anymore. The world before his eyes became hazy.
SMACK—
Glenn grabbed Jimmy's collar from behind. His thin arms burst with visible veins. "Ah!"
"Jimmy, you better wake the hell up!"
Hearing the roar beside his ear, Jimmy shook his head and saw claws close at hand. He viciously kicked out.
Falling backward on the stairs, Jimmy turned and crawled forward. Glenn followed Jimmy up.
The two climbed the stairs to the second floor and lay on the floor, breathing freely.
Glenn didn't rest for more than a few seconds before struggling to rise and looking toward the staircase.
The stairs were steel. Between two steps were gaps. As walkers crawled forward, they stuck their feet right through. Lifting up, then pressing down.
Entire legs went through. Walkers behind pressed forward. Leg bones fractured and twisted.
Seeing walkers couldn't get through for the moment, Glenn couldn't hold on and flopped backward.
The two wordlessly looked at the ceiling, enjoying the heartbeat of survival.
Outside the door, Hugh and Wayne had already run to the plaza.
Seeing only two people emerge with panicked expressions, Daryl's brow furrowed tightly.
Merle patted Daryl's shoulder and brushed past him. "Don't panic. Doesn't necessarily mean something happened."
The two walked toward Hugh and Wayne. Merle's hand gripping the machete waved, greatly indicating he might attack the next moment.
Hugh saw Merle's fierce and malevolent face. Immediately his knees went soft. Combined with having run for a while, he collapsed sitting on the ground, raising both hands. "This has nothing to do with us!"
"The team leader and deputy leader were pulled into the walker herd. The other two killed each other. We didn't do anything!"
Wayne nearby hadn't expected Hugh to confess so quickly. His face showed some contempt.
Turning his head, Wayne saw Merle's machete charging toward him. Wayne's face became solemn. "That's right, we two deserted!"
"But we absolutely didn't attack our companions. We're just cowards, not evil-hearted." Wayne patted his own chest, speaking earnestly.
He had to clear his responsibility. Currently it looked like only the two of them from the team were alive. What they said was also true—no need to attack them.
What he didn't expect was Merle's machete chopping down toward his head.
"Ahh!"
Wayne screamed and collapsed limply on the ground, both hands covering his head, terrified.
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