At exactly nine o'clock the next morning, at the damaged wall in the northwest corner of Block A.
Seven figures climbed over in silence.
Block A was eerily empty.
The benefits of the earlier walker-luring operation were obvious now. There was hardly a walker in sight on the main roads.
"Stay quiet. Advance along the planned route," Leah said in a low voice.
The squad moved in a wedge formation. Leah took the lead, with Jason half a step behind her as guide. Mike and Turner covered the left and right flanks, Wells stayed in the center to provide support, while Merle and Daryl brought up the rear, watching the flanks and their backs.
The route Cole had pointed out was overgrown with weeds, but it did bypass the main roads.
A drainage outlet hidden outside a factory building served as the entrance to Block A's underground passage.
Mike pried open the rusted iron grate, and a cold, damp, musty smell rushed out.
"Keep quiet and stay close," Leah said, crawling in first. The tactical light on her helmet lit up the narrow concrete passage.
It was only wide enough for one person to move through while bent over, and it was covered in dust and cobwebs.
After about ten minutes, Jason signaled for everyone to stop and pointed to a rusty vertical ladder above them.
"That's the maintenance room under the loading platform Cole mentioned. The grate is locked from the outside, but the latch inside should still move."
Mike and Wells stepped forward and carefully started working on the grate with hydraulic cutters and a crowbar.
A few minutes later, there was a soft click, and a heavy metal grate was slowly pushed open a crack.
Leah looked through the gap. Outside was a dim space filled with discarded wooden crates and oil drums. There was no sign of walker activity.
The squad slipped out one by one without a sound and quickly took up advantageous positions.
This was indeed the edge of the storage area.
Although there were very few walkers, the route was not completely safe.
Inside an advanced equipment factory, a walker was trapped beneath a rusted conveyor belt. Its lower body had almost completely rotted away, leaving only half a torso and its arms clawing uselessly at the air.
Another was trapped inside a cramped guard booth, swaying toward the figures beyond the dirty glass.
Leah gave a look.
Mike quickly stepped forward and drove the tip of his knife precisely through the gap in the conveyor belt and into the walker's eye socket.
Turner headed toward the guard booth.
Almost at the same time, a crossbow bolt shot out with a soft whistle, passed through an inconspicuous hole in the guard booth's glass, and sank into the walker's forehead.
The body collapsed without making much noise.
Turner froze for a second. Stealing his kill?
Leah glanced back at Daryl. He was silently retrieving his bolt, and the moment he met her eyes, he lowered his gaze as if he had done something wrong.
Leah said nothing. She only gave a small nod and continued forward.
Daryl felt the tips of his ears grow warm and tightened his grip on his crossbow.
Merle happened to catch the whole thing. He took in Daryl's brief stiffness and furtive glance, then looked between the two of them again, thoughtful.
The workshop doors were shut tight. Mike and Wells stepped forward and quickly forced them open with a hydraulic door breaker.
The moment the door was pried open a crack, a foul, moldy stench poured out, along with the dragging footsteps of walkers inside.
Leah pressed close to the door and listened, then made a hand signal. "Get ready. Unknown number of walkers inside."
The next second, the door was slammed open.
Their headlamps instantly lit up the dim interior of the workshop.
Ten walkers were scattered throughout the space. Startled by the sound of the door being forced open, they snarled and lunged toward them.
The fight broke out suddenly and ended just as quickly.
Leah cut open the throat of the nearest walker with her dagger, then kicked it into another.
Mike smashed a walker's jaw with the butt of his gun as soon as it came close, then drew his knife and finished it cleanly.
Merle swung the axe blade on his right arm with no technique at all, just raw force.
Turner fired controlled shots from his silenced pistol at the more distant targets.
Wells and Jason guarded the doorway, watching the road outside the workshop.
Daryl did not rush in. He stayed beside the door with his crossbow raised, keeping watch in case his teammates missed anything.
A walker suddenly lunged out from behind a shelf in Leah's blind spot. Daryl's bolt left the string almost the instant the walker appeared, piercing its temple with perfect accuracy.
Merle leaned against the doorway, looked at Leah efficiently finishing off walkers inside, then looked at Daryl outside, fully focused, his gaze practically glued to Leah's back. His mouth fell slightly open, and he scratched his scalp with his left hand.
He blinked hard a few times before finally muttering in disbelief, "Fuck, am I seeing things..."
Inside the workshop, Leah finished clearing the area and ran her hand over several precision machine tools that were in surprisingly good condition, satisfaction showing in her eyes.
She pressed the radio and reported the cleanup progress to the command center, telling the team from Block B responsible for taking over to get ready.
Merle sauntered over to Daryl and bumped him lightly with his shoulder. He lowered his voice, his tone strange. "Hey, little brother, that look in your eyes just now..."
Daryl stiffened and snapped in a low voice, "Shut up, Merle!"
Merle stared at his younger brother's reddening ears, then glanced at Leah, who was checking the machine tools. In the end, he rolled his eyes and swallowed the crude comment on the tip of his tongue, leaving only a complicated expression like he had just been struck by lightning.
It seemed he had just discovered an earth-shattering secret!
After finishing her inspection of the workshop, Leah turned around and saw Merle leaning close to Daryl's ear, saying something, while Daryl turned his face away, looking slightly stiff.
Leah raised an eyebrow, cleared her throat, and said to the team, "Proceed according to plan. Keep clearing the passage and move toward the side door of the main workshop in Block A."
The squad pushed forward.
Along the way, they encountered five or six scattered walkers, all of which were taken out with precise headshots from crossbows or silenced pistols before they could make any noise.
They soon reached the huge side door of the main workshop.
From here, they could clearly hear the dense scratching and growling coming from the other side of the workshop.
Most of the walkers had already been drawn toward the main entrance by the noise from the factory in Block B.
Mike and Wells exchanged a glance. Then both of them put their full strength into quickly prying open the side door.
Beyond it was an enormous factory space, with high overhead cranes and rows of half-finished machine tools standing idle.
Near the main entrance, a dense mass of walkers had their backs to the squad, uselessly slamming against the reinforced doors and windows.
"Attack!" Leah was the first to charge in.
A burst of silenced gunfire erupted from behind the horde of walkers.
...
Block C, the R&D center of Pioneer Pharmaceuticals.
Calista led the squad forward steadily and methodically.
She walked in the middle of the formation, with Shane ahead to her left and Michonne ahead to her right. Carver covered the rear, Bossie and Jenson stayed close on either side of Calista, and Eddie also walked in the middle, guiding them from memory.
The walkers in the factory complex were indeed scattered. Most were lone wanderers or small groups, and they were quickly cleared out with precise shots.
But the closer they got to the core R&D center building, the more sluggish the walkers seemed. Some were even slow to react to living people approaching and only attacked once they were very close.
"Careful. Something's wrong with these walkers," Bossie whispered to the others. "They're moving way too slowly. Given their level of decay, they shouldn't be this slow."
Carver cracked a joke. "Yeah, slow as Lightning and Pusila! Maybe they haven't had fresh humans in so long they're too hungry to move."