Night. Cranwall High School.

Shane is cautiously limping along the wall with two bags slung over his shoulders.

Otis is still nowhere to be seen.

“Grahh!”

Bang!

A walker spotted him and he didn't have a choice but to take it down with his shotgun.

The walkers in the area heard the noise. They tried to follow where the sound came from, but the fences around the area prevented them from going over. This spared Shane from getting surrounded from all sides.

“Oh, no. This is not good.”

Arriving at a corner, Shane spotted three more walkers coming from the other end of the pathway and towards him.

He tried to flee towards the other direction, but he was blocked off by the same fence protecting him. There were several walkers on the other side who couldn't wait to feast on him.

Getting cornered and down on his last shotgun shell. Shane was contemplating what walker to shoot first to increase his survival.

Bang!

Just as the three walkers were about to reach him. A gunshot was heard and the head of one of the walkers’ was blown off.

Shane looked ahead and saw Otis standing on the other end of the pathway with his rifle pointed towards his direction.

Bang! Bang!

Otis fired off another shot that took down the second walker while Shane finally got his bearings straight and quickly took down the last walker.

“Man, I thought I’d lost you.”

Shane limped towards him while he handed the other bag to Otis.

“That was my last rifle round.” Otis was panting in between. He’s too tired and is just forcing himself to move at this point.

“Mine too.”

“Come on. Come on!” Otis urged Shane in a coarse voice.

One limping and the other, overweight, forced themselves to move. Wishing they can go all fours to flee the school as quickly as possible.

“Come on, man. We need to find a way out.”

The two arrived down the hillside steps after much difficulty. Where they were forced to take a short break because Otis was too tired to continue on.

Otis leaned on the fence with a revolver in his hand. “Wait, let me just catch my breath.”

“You really need to lose those extra weight.” Shane remarked while cautiously surveying their surroundings.

“Yeah. I’m thinking of doing that after this.” Otis was gasping in between.

“Graaah!”

The two got the scare of a lifetime when a group of walkers suddenly smashed themselves onto the fence they were leaning on. The two quickly retreated as Otis supported Shane with his limp.

“Just where is Daryl?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since we got separated.”

Meanwhile, the caravan had just reached the land of the Greene’s and were winding down the road towards the Family Home.

The caravan stopped near the tree beside the house, and the people slowly and cautiously disembarked from the vehicles while curiously looking around.

“Alright. You guys stay put for now. We’ll go on ahead first to ask how our arrangement will be” Glenn instructed the group while he, Dale and the injured T-Dog made their way towards the house.

The three men stopped just in front of the steps as Glenn turned towards Dale with uncertainty in his tone. “So do we just ring the bell? I mean it looks like people live here.”

“Really Glenn?”

Dale sighed. He went up the steps and arrived at the porch. He was just about to knock when a voice interrupted him.

“Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?”

The three men looked at the familiar woman sitting alone in the dark corner.

“Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything, yeah.”

Glenn fidgeted with the shotgun on his hands while T-Dog and Dale exchanged knowing glances.

“Hello, nice to see you again. I..we saw you on the highway.” Glenn swallowed and started talking in a respectful tone.

“We came to see if there’s anything we can do to help the kid and also to ask about the arrangement of our group. If we’ll sleep inside your home or outside.” Dale quickly chimed in.

Maggie stood up and slowly walked towards them. She noticed the wound on T-Dog’s arm and lightly scrunched her face in worry.

“It’s not a bite. I just cut myself pretty badly.” T-Dog immediately explained when he noticed her expression.

“We’ll have it looked at. I'll tell them you’re here.” Maggie slightly closed the distance between them before turning her attention towards the people beside the bus. “The women and kids can be together in one of our vacant rooms for tonight. The men will have to stay outside though.”

“Right, we have some painkillers and antibiotics here. We already gave T-Dog some.” Glenn rummaged through the bag and offered while Dale went back to the others to relay the arrangement. “If Carl needs any.”

“Come on inside. We’ll have your wound looked at first” Maggie opened the door for them.

“Have you guys had dinner?”

“Yeah, before we came here.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Good.”

Maggie first led the duo towards where Rick and the others were. Glenn and T-Dog got there and saw the Grimes Family all down and anxious.

“Hey. Uhm, everyone’s here. The others are just outside.” Glenn spoke softly.

“Alright.”

“If you need anything. Just tell us.” T-Dog remarked.

Lori nodded. “Thank you.”

*****

“Oh shit!”

Shane and Otis both fell down on the ground, groaning.

“We have to get to the street and double back to the truck.” Otis suggested.

Shane was just frustrated at this point. “Look, we ain’t gonna make it, okay?”

“We got to try, man. Come on, get up.” Otis urged as he helped Shane up his feet.

“You’re gonna take these bags and you’re gonna go.” This time, Shane voiced out a pragmatic idea for their current situation, but Otis was quick to oppose it. “No, I’m not leaving you behind. Where is that other guy anyway?”

“Forget him, he probably died somewhere. Take the bags and go.”

“NO, come on!” Otis forcefully pulled him up.

“F*ck!” Shane angrily slapped the ground and helped pick himself up.

The two resumed their escape with a herd of walkers hot on their heels.

Bang!

Bang!

They kept going while shooting intermittently at the walkers behind them.

“Come on! Keep going!” Otis was already feeling weak on his knees but he kept going. He wanted to return not only for the kid, but also to his wife’s embrace.

“Down to my last.”

“Me too.”

The two slowly came to a sudden halt as they looked at each other. Both looked tired and enduring the pain.

“I’m sorry.”

Shane suddenly looked incredibly guilty while Otis looked at him confused. But just as Shane was about to do something that he wouldn’t be able to go back from. A sudden roar of an engine interrupted them while it repeatedly honked.

“Come on! Move your lazy ass!”

Ahead, Daryl was sticking his body out of the passenger window of a charging red pickup truck and yelled at them while shooting down the walkers near the two.

Shane and Otis looked lost for a moment before their bodies were once again reinvigorated with a sudden burst of energy!

“Move it!”

“Let’s go!” Shane pulled Otis and limped harder. He was extremely relieved.

He really was.

Vrooom!

“Hang on!’

Micheal yelled for Daryl and drove the truck past the two. He quickly turned the wheel hard to the right and performed a drift as the truck smashed the walkers into bloody pieces.

The pickup truck stopped in a position that acted as a barricade to stop the walkers. Michael looked at Shane and Otis. “Get on the back. Hurry!”

With one final burst of energy, Otis quickly got on and hastily pulled Shane after.

“Let’s go!”

They threw the bags on the back and quickly climbed up while Michael gave them cover by shooting the walkers that managed to circle around the truck.

“Go! Go! Go!” Shane urgently banged his hand on the top of the cab.

Vroom!

The truck roared as Michael quickly reversed it and ran over more walkers.

Unlucky enough, the walkers had slowly surrounded the truck and made escaping tough for the truck since it didn’t have the same force it had during an acceleration.

In addition, since the truck didn’t have any sidewall, Shane and Otis at the back were forced to tightly hold onto the cab with Otis giving Shane a back hug during the ordeal as the walkers tried to grab and pull them down.

“Just stay in the center and hold on!” Shane shouted at Otis.

Michael didn’t let up as the truck slowly cut through the mass of undead wanting to force its way through.

“Come on~!”

Vrooom!

The truck kept sliding on the wet ground until it touched a relatively dry surface area of the road and finally made its escape from the clutches of the horde.

“Ha..hahaha!”

Watching the disappearing silhouette of the school, Shane slumped down and let out a hearty laugh.

“We did it!” Shane was so happy that he grabbed Otis’ shoulder and shook it in joy!

When the realization finally hit him that they actually managed to escape and survive. Otis’ face broke into a smile and shared the happiness with Shane. “Yeah! We’re alive! I thought we were done for!”

“Yeah.”

Shane was suddenly reminded about what he was about to do to Otis earlier and it wiped off the smile on his face.

“What is it?” Seeing the sudden gloom on Shane’s face, Otis grew confused.

Shane just smiled slightly. “Nothing. I’m just thinking about how we were lucky tonight.”

“Yeah. By the way, who is that guy?” Otis asked, clearly referring to the man behind the wheel.

Shane sighed with a chuckle. “Michael. He’s one of us.”

*****

“What?”

While driving back through the same route, Michael noticed Daryl staring at him.

“Did Rick and the others tell you where we are?”

Michael just shook his head. “No, but this one woman went to the highway and took Lori with her. We heard his kid got shot and I figured that the farm wouldn’t have the necessary things to perform a successful operation on the kid. I had a hunch that someone would eventually be making their way to that high school. And I was right, those two would have died if I didn’t decide to make my way here.”

“You’ve been to this place before?” Daryl was becoming more amazed at Michael. He feels like this man beside him just always arrives or always delivers at the right time.

“Yeah. I’ve been to this place before we even encountered each other. You know, searching for supplies and whatnot. That’s why I knew there was a FEMA shelter here.” Michael had already prepared the answers beforehand if questions like these ever came up.

“...”

“Do you think my brother is still alive out there?” After a short silence, Daryl suddenly thought of his brother, Merle.

Michael remained silent for a moment. “Your brother…he’s gonna be alright. Because the moment you think that he’s dead, then all hope is lost. Until you don’t see his corpse with your own two eyes, then he’s still alive. Out there, somewhere.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Take a turn here. This road leads directly to the farm.” Daryl pointed at a turn ahead.

Michael took the right turn that leads to a beaten track and through a sparse wooded area.

*****

The kid is running out of time while Shane and the others are still nowhere in sight.

Carl is losing too much blood faster than they can replace it, and Rick already looks so pale from the multiple blood infusions. As it might be too late, Herschel quickly proposed operating on the kid with the couple’s consent.

“We do it.”

Hershel stood over Carl on the operating table. He looked at the Grimes couple and addressed them.

“Rick, Lori. You may want to step out.”

Just as those words left his mouth, a red pickup truck is speeding down the road towards the farm house.

“Rick! They’re here!” someone from outside yelled.

Rick quickly looked outside the window and saw the pickup with Shane standing at the back.

“Oh, thank god.”

“You stay here with him.”

Rick and Lori quickly stepped out of the house while Hershel ordered Patricia to stay put as he immediately followed them outside.

The pickup came to an immediate halt as Shane and Otis quickly got down from the back, and Rick and the others were also just coming out of the house to meet them. Some of the others also gathered towards them like Glenn, Dale, and Andrea.

“Carl?” Shane’s voice sounded hoarse while limping over.

“Are we right on time?” When his feet were just a couple of centimeters from the ground, Otis jumped down and stumbled forward.

Daryl also got down and was worried. “We’re not too late, are we?”

Michael raised his hand at Rick and followed it with a nod. “Hey.”

Rick gave them a nod before turning his attention back to Shane. “There’s still a chance, but you’re just on time.”

While they were talking, Hershel had already grabbed the bags from them and hastily made his way back inside.

Rick looked at Shane and hugged him. “Thank you, man.”

He did the same too to Daryl, but only gave Otis and Michael a nod of approval, with Andrea once again stuck to the latter.

“We were almost done for, but this guy arrived in the nick of time to save us.” Otis explained, but after saying those words, he was slightly confused why he suddenly did that.

“Thank you, all of you.” Lori chimed in and looked at each and everyone of them gratefully. Even to Otis, who was the cause of this incident.

*****

Rick and Lori sat by the steps while waiting for the news with the latter’s arms around Rick. Shane looked on with envy as he leaned against the pickup.

After a shower, Daryl had already retired to bed inside one of the tents the other survivors had set up near the bus.

On the other hand, Michael had also taken his turn in the shower after Daryl.

57X [You terminated a Zombie! Gained +1 EXP and +1 Coin.]

[You have gained a Level! Reward: +1 Enhancement]

He finally had the time to look through his [Trojan Code]. Which was something he suddenly thought of earlier and gave his so-called System a name shortly after arriving at the farm.

Which, weirdly enough, fits the current situation where both he and the System are malwares of this world.

Intrusive and difficult to detect. Things where they shouldn’t belong.

In addition, a thought also came to him when he was looking at the coins he had accumulated so far.

[Coins: 543]

‘I haven’t found any uses of it so far. Do I need to meet some requirements? Maybe something will happen when I accumulate more Coins and will trigger a change. Like that locked section. Hmm..I should try to kill as many walkers as possible in the coming days.’

He should have thought of this a long time ago, but the Coins weren’t just too important to think about before since he had to first worry about his survival when he first arrived here.

‘I can’t wait to see what it will be.’