Chapter 50

“Is everyone safe and sound?” Luke asked after dealing with Melia. Then, he looked around the room. In a corner, there was a group of people from that boat, looking afraid and unaware that this helicopter was almost their demise.

But they didn't know, so they were glad over this ground. Darks were far above normal people, and hope of paradise was like edging hope. They saw the problem. If a Dark Fog went as far as catching up with this helicopter, then their deaths would be quick.

“Yeah, they are fine. The boat is destroyed, but the cargo is fine. They don't care. Life is important.” Zep reported to Luke, who, without glancing at him, walked to the group. He quenched his Cube to cracks, letting it disappear into waves and strands of Arcana that went back to his Emblem.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked them.

“We are,” a man named Marcus said, hugging his wife. “Thanks to you, I guess.”

“Good. Zep, get Alexandra here to check on them and the baby. Ensure their health and give them some towels.” Luke ordered and felt like a lost dog in a storm. “Get me a few too.”

“Sure. Alexandra is looking for everything. We don't always have a situation like this, you see. It is good that she is with us. We almost didn't take her with us.”

Speaking of the wolf, and wolf appeared around the corner, on the far side of the cargo area, a woman walked in. Carrying a thick bag in her hands, she was an experienced medic and part of this team. She reached the group and started her work. It took a little time since the adults were fine and tired, but healthy.

“No! Don't take my baby!” the woman screamed at Alexandra, who tried to check the not-so-healthy-looking baby. It was still crying.

“I won't,” Alexandra argued and the unreasonable woman almost slapped her.

“Hey, leave the stuff for professionals. She has a job to do.” Luke said, stopping that hand.

“He is our baby!” Marcus stepped before Luke and Alexandra and pushed Luke to the middle of the room.

“You again with this tough look? We are trying to check the health of your baby and you stop us? We aren't taking him away from you.”

“Yeah, right? Just a baby. What would you even do if it wasn't a Walker? Would you leave us in the middle of the fucking ocean?” Marcus asked and didn't hide his anger.

It was unreasonable, yet Luke stared at him with a calm face. He didn't reply and asserted his position on firm ground. Where they were? Surrounded by his team and asking for what? Nothing. They were just barking because they had their Outside history and ideas.

Luke met many people like this and knew they were sorry folks and troublemakers in many ways. Many were unreasonable because they were pitiful and lacking.

“Too scared to answer the truth, eh, Walker?! I know your kind. Great and righteous, but only when it is fitting and good for your image and your Federation. There are so many rumors and stories about it that make it a utopian hell! Kidnapping kids and baby Walkers, you are all pathetic. Calling yourself so-called righteous soldiers is a joke! Stop pretending to have some morals.”

“Says the man who took these people on a journey with little to no success, hoping for that utopian hell, eh? In fact, that baby would force some Darks to move. That would be your death. Without that, your chances would have been higher.”

As Luke said and argued, his guilt returned. He doubted his words were fine, knowing if they were so far in the sea, they would be safe if it weren't for this helicopter.

No, Luke thought. The Federation has many layers of protection because Darks lurks all over the place. They wouldn't get through the first layer because they are unofficial and Darks would notice that baby. Probably... Oh, I don't know. Fuck! Guilt. Curses!

The latter parts were highly dependent on the Federation having some scouts ahead. If there were some good ones, they would notice the boat and protect it. Those described successful cases of travelers gambling with their lives to a success. Most wouldn't get close enough.

Marcus didn't like his answer and got even more furious. He had no choice but to do this for a better future, because he was no member of camp. They were vagabonds. There were many of them in North America. Many decades ago, when the USA lost its political might and scattered, a lot of places changed and people fled or stayed. Due to the massive area, there were many survivors even after great wars, or the big change that was the Federation.

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The losses birthed hope, making the Federation and many operations possible, but a lot of people and vagabonds didn't know everything and were self-centered on survival and their opinions.

None was to blame.

If someone had it good and others didn't, prejudice and the heart of men could speak deep rotten curses. Humans were just that sort of creature. Thus, Luke hoped to calm the situation because the Federation had its rules. Any Walker was good. Babies or children, many would take them while providing their families a good deal in return.

It wasn't as fair as Marcus proclaimed. True, perhaps some kidnappings happened in the past, but stories and rumors Outside weren't trustworthy. Some were exaggerated or false. No one should refuse that the Federation was a powerhouse of the current age because it helped a lot of people. There was a point why they were reaching out to the Federation.

“Do you have some problem with us, eh? We looked for a way out! To have a chance that wouldn't come on its own. Why? The Federation doesn't care about some vagabonds locked between safe zones and dangers. There is no point in waiting, right?” Marcus grabbed Luke's collar.

“It is an inevitable part of this age. A poor part.”

“Don't give me that!” Marcus spitted to his face.

“Let me ask you, how many helicopters are ever approaching these waters, or traveling the ocean where notice of any small boat is barely possible? We don't go over the Zones like that either, and looking for survivors scattered around is almost impossible. You are the lucky one here and you don't even know it. Why or how? Sure. Federation has its works because it is a big place with many worries. They give jobs and camps and many people some purpose, but doing that to everyone is naive. Those like you are unknown. How to help it?”

Marcus didn't know the answers to that and further strengthened his grip. Luke didn't change his tone or face. No regular person will lift him up or give his neck any strain. Marcus felt it. It was like he was holding a huge boulder and it could smash him in a moment.

He shouldn't be confident. He shouldn't handle this monster in human skin like this, question some morals that didn't exist at this age, or think like a hypocrite. After all, he was unwilling to remain Outside and wished to change his life for his family.

He didn't like these people. These monsters. They might be hopes but they weren't people. Many vagabonds thought like that about Walkers, yet his baby ended up as one, so...

“Excuse me?” A voice called beside Marcus.

“Fuck off!”

Suddenly, Marcus winced and flew to a nearby wall. William punched him with his full weight and jumped at him afterward, shoving him to the ground. William was angry after getting some ideas about what this was about. He heard and saw these people in a much different light than Luke, who was still guilty about it, while William wasn't in the slightest.

Marcus and his reasonings were familiar to William, who hated these kinds of people because he knew a lot about them. Not only were they robbers and killers, but they didn't like anything but survival and themselves. They were selfish, yet who wasn't in their circumstances?

For now, William disregarded that baby, that boat, or the story that Luke and Marcus briefly started. William knew how to deal with it. Some talk was futile when their brains thought of the past and survival. It won't change too much either, but it should.

“Damn kid, get the fuck off me!” Marcus cursed and tried to get William away, but failed as far as he tried.

Slippery, holding like a snake, and with a lot of strength, William swiftly jabbed a few punches at his face. They aimed well right at his eyes, nose, chin, and temple, giving Marcus pain and rules that even a kid could beat him up. He did not expect it and started yelling.

He wasn't the only one surprised. Luke, Anna, Zep, and even Marcus's group looked at how William beat him up. Struggling on the floor, Marcus looked at the boy and understood the situation. He couldn't forget his history, yet he was looking for a change in people and Walkers. What he said was no guilt.

He was no longer a vagabond. He had family and wanted something else. But the deeply engraved Outside was hard to overlook.

William mounted him like a fighter and decided to give him a final lesson. He stopped a punch just before his face and grabbed his head. “He saved your precious and stupid lives, asshole. Get over it like everyone who is being saved at this age. At least for your kid, be a man and not some idiot who thinks for himself Outside. Walkers are monsters? Deal with it. Outside is what? Deal with it. This pain? Deal with it.”

Hearing that from a kid, Marcus still didn't like it.

These people, William were like that at one point. A wanderer. A vagabond going for survival at all costs. He was worse. He was just a kid lost in this world and his morals were ambiguous. At many points, what would've happened if he didn't have Dann with him?

William wouldn't survive, or he would, but become... disturbed. Different.

Many refugees lost more than enough. Humanity was either the last thing to lose or something that was the easiest to lose. Taking a gamble for the Federation before the winter was common. William knew it. Many people moved and gambled for their future. It was a normal occurrence every year, so many tried and failed, or had to swallow their pride or hope for the best.

The Federation had enough problems managing camps for winter and protecting everything they could. Some hopeful outsiders beyond their areas were a variable that was easy to ignore since it was outside of their influence. However, people were resilient, selfishly looking for an escape plan, and accomplishing things for themselves.

Camps were also that, but not that. Some people wanted to go to the Federation, the most guarded place in this world.