As soon as he came out of his room/cell, Jonathan noticed that after 18 hours since he fainted, the prison was still on high alert, as he could see some people armed and looking distressed.
' So the evolution really happened. Now all we can do is have to hope that the damage is small.'
Although he believed in what the SHOP was, Jonathan still hoped it was all just a misunderstanding, but no such luck.
Jonathan then took a pill for a headache from his INVENTORY and took it. He was about to start looking for the others when suddenly someone called out to him from the side, "Jonathan, you're finally awake. The others told me to wait here and bring you to them as soon as you woke up."
Looking in the direction of the voice and seeing Michonne, who looked like she hadn't slept in a while, Jonathan asked, "How bad is the situation?"
"Very very bad. Even though we acted fast and called everyone back as soon as you fainted, we lost contact with some people. Of course, they could somehow be out of range but based on what we know...' Michoone didn't continue, but it was clear what she was going to say.
For the first time in a long while, a couple of people in the group probably died outside.
Jonathan cursed a little in his mind and told Micchonne to guide him where the others were.
They both navigated the corridors of Block 1, passing more and more frightened people, until they reached the meeting place. It was the same room where Jonathan passed on his leadership powers to Samantha, Rick, and Gabriel.
Michonne stopped in front of the door, ''This is as far as I go, the rest is up to you. I need to get back to my patrol.''
Jonathan thanked her for her help and said, ''Okay, good luck and be careful. Things are a bit scary.''
Michonne nodded and went her way. Jonathan then turned his attention to the door leading into the meeting place, took a big breath, and entered the room.
Inside were Rick, Gabriel, and Eve, who took her mom's role while she was resting. Jonathan immediately asked, '' What's the situation?''
'' Good and Bad. The good thing is that we managed to recall almost all of our people to the prison, the most safe place. But the bad thing is that we lost contact with one of the groups who was outside.'' Rick relayed the info to Jonathan.
'' How long since they last contacted?''
'' 5 hours. It was to say they were close to the prison, but after that, no more communication.''
'' Maybe it was humans?'' Jonathan tried to think of all the possibilities of what could have happened.
'' I doubt. We checked the area around the prison, the only other place with humans near us was Woodbury. They are our allies and 99% of their people are inside the prison right now.'' Rick shot down the idea fast. The area around the prison was the safest, so it was unlikely it was humans unless it was another group, but then the others would have time to warn them about the danger.
Jonathan sighed, '' Fuck.''
Rick hesitated to speak, but his curiosity was at an all-time high, '' Jonathan, something tell me you know what is happening... care to tell us?''
Jonathan looked at Rick, then at Gabriel. He looked at Eve who nodded. Deciding to tell some info, he began to talk, '' The zombies are evolving. They are stronger and much faster than before. A bullet through the brain still kills them, but it will be somehow difficult to hit it.''
Everyone in the room was shocked by what Jonathan said. Eve, who had total confidence in Jonathan believed right away, '' So that's why you reacted that way...''
Jonathan nodded, '' Doesn't matter how I know that, but that I know. The problem is that this is not the last time they will evolve. They will continue to do so until we can't deal with them anymore...''
Rick, based on everything that has ever happened with the group, now had no choice but to believe Jonathan. And if the boy was right... Rick had to sit down a little, as he was dizzy.
Less than a day ago he was happy Lori and the baby were okay, but now he was told the zombies are evolving and that someday they would evolve so much that it would be almost impossible to kill them.
Gabriel just closed his eyes and started to pray a little. For what purpose, no one knew.
'' ... What the hell are we supposed to do then? Just wait to die?'' Rick first was frustrated about the situation, but now he was enraged. The world was already fucked without the evolving zombies, imagine with them in it.
'' You may believe me or not, but I'll handle it. I know how to stop the evolution, but the price to do that is too high right now.''
Rick decided to not pry too much and trust Jonathan, '' Do you know how much time we have until we can't handle the zombies anymore?''
'' We have 5 months until the final evolution. They will, however, continue to evolve in the meantime.'' Jonathan decided to tell the truth. But he will never reveal how he knew the information, at least not now.
'' Who are the people missing?'' Jonathan wanted to know that.
Rick hesitated a little, ''The group was made up of five people, with a radio and all armed. They were the furthest group from the prison so they couldn't get here in time... 4 people are from Woodbury, but the other is Patrick".
Jonathan immediately recalled the man (from chapter 34) and knew he had a wife and daughter here at the prison. He immediately cursed a lot in his mind, because even though they didn't interact much after the day they arrived at the prison, it was still a person he knew personally.
'' Do you know their last location?'' Jonathan knew it was unlikely the man and the rest of that group were still alive, but he felt he had to at least see the situation.
Rick immediately knew Jonathan wanted to check their situation, '' Do you want to go out there...?''
Jonathan nodded.
''To be honest, the only reason we didn't send anyone out there to check them is because of what you said before fainting. But, if you want to go, there's not much I can do to stop you. But please, don't take a lot of people with you, as it is dangerous.''
'' I'll only take Nathanael with me, don't worry.'' Jonathana knew the trip outside the prison now that the zombies had evolved was dangerous. So, he didn't want to risk that many people and chose Nathanael to go with him, because he knew his 'gift' so he could do things in front of him, like taking a gun from the INVENTORY and so on. The only reason he also didn't take Eve with him was that she was needed here, taking the role of Samantha while she was out.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Rick then proceeded to tell the last known location of that group. They didn't know exactly where, but knew what area it was. Jonathan will have to search a bit to find them or what was left of them.
After having that info, Jonathan immediately went into action, '' Thanks for the info. I recommend you to maintain the Max alert, assign more people to check the fences here and there, and add more people on the watchtower, for precaution.''
'' Tell everyone about the evolution. We don't want anyone leaving the prison over something futile and dying... Also, I know it will be futile, but use the radio. Tell every station you can find about the new types of zombies, make some kind of record, and let it replay over and over.''
While Jonathan was not the leader anymore, he could still say what was on his mind and give some help to others. And, if he could somehow make the information go around using the radio, he didn't mind trying, even though it was mostly a futile attempt, as all channels/stations were dead for months.
Before leaving, Jonathan remembered someone who could help, even if just a little, '' And call Eugune. Tell him to stay alert in case I need to talk with him.''
After all, Jonathan and the others never saw the zombies in their evolved form. Maybe Jonathan could find something of relevance and relay it to Eugene. Even though the man was a liar, he was damn smart. In the comics and in the TV show.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Jonathan went to fetch Nathanael, so both could leave right away. Taking his radio from the INVENTORY, Jonathan said, '' Nathanael, meet me at the front gate. We will leave the prison for a while.''
Jonathan arrived at the prison gates and could see the tension in the air. And that was before they even knew about the evolution, '... I hope they take it well.'
Soon after, Nathanael arrived at the gates too. He was armed to the teeth, using the guard armor and some other things, '' I'm ready.''
Jonathan just smiled seeing that, '' Relax a bit. I'm here, so don't worry too much. Worst case scenario, we can just run.''
Nathanael, who heard about the evolution before anyone else thanks to Eve, just smiled back, '' This is just precaution... Which car are we going to use?''
Jonathan smiled mysteriously, '' Follow me.'' He then asked the people who were protecting the gates to open it, got out, and went to somewhere secluded where no one could see them, with a confused Nathanael following behind.
Nathanael could only watch as Jonathan was staring fixed ahead of him, almost like he was seeing something in front of him, but that Nathanael could not see.
What Jonathan was doing, you may ask? Well, he was looking at the Cars he could now buy. The section was greyed before, but now that the SHOP was upgraded, he could buy it. He soon found a car he wanted and bought it.
Soon after, a Ferrari appeared in front of them. Even though Nathanael knew of Jonathan's gifts and was somehow accustomed to them, seeing a Ferrari appear out of nowhere was a shocking sight.
'' What the hell...''
Jonathan wanted to let Nathanael drive but he wanted to live and check the others fast. ' Maybe they are alive but can't communicate for some reason.'
Regardless, he also bought some heavy weapons, things he could not buy before, and stored them in the INVENTORY, ' Just like Nathanael said, it's better safe than sorry... I REALLY need to check the upgraded version of the SHOP.'
Mind you, it's been less than 2 hours since Jonathan woke up. The only reason he was still functioning as a human being was because of the remedy for the headache he consumed earlier. If not for that, Jonathan would have to lie down for more hours.
After both entered the car, Jonathan sped ahead. When he was far away, he remembered something, ' Ah... I forgot to visit Samantha and the baby...'
It wasn't of Jonathan's profile to forget something that big, but maybe he was nervous about parenthood and being a father, even though the baby was, well, still just a baby.
' Forget it, I will come back soon enough.' He then pressed the gas, as time was of the essence.
----
It wasn't that long for them to arrive at the last known area of Patrick and the others. To not raise suspicion, Jonathan changed the Ferrari for a normal-looking car before they arrived and parked somewhere close.
It was a somewhat big area, so both immediately started to search around for any kind of leads that might answer what happened to Patrick and the other, and where they might be.
It was a forest area, with a lot of trees around and many places to hide, and next to it was a huge open field.
Immediately thought, Jonathan felt he was being watched. That made him stay on high alert, as he didn't know what type of zombies they turned into and what was causing this feeling.
'' Nathanael, stay close. I got a bad feeling about this place.'' Jonathan now was more cautious than before, as the feeling of being watched never went away.
After a few more minutes of searching around, Nathanael screamed, '' Jonathan, I found something!''
Jonathan immediately stopped searching and went towards Nathanael. He was more deep in the forest area. Arriving on the scene, he quickly knew that something had gone wrong here, 'All their equipment and weapons are on the ground, as if they didn't even have the chance to pick them up and use them... And the radio is destroyed.'
It looked like the group had been taken by surprise and hadn't had a chance to use their weapons, 'But how?'
Although he knew that the zombies had evolved, Jonathan couldn't imagine a situation where five people couldn't hear or use their weapons against the zombies.
"Jonathan, I found something else.'' Nathanael was pointing at a pool of blood. And from that pool, there was a trail.
Jonathan knew that this was the only clue they had to know the group's whereabouts, ''Follow me.''
Alert and now more paranoid than before, Jonathan and Nathanael followed the blood trail for minutes. After about 3 km, Jonathan signaled Nathanael to stop and be quiet.
Nathanael didn't understand why, but when Jonathan pointed in a direction, he stopped. There was a zombie horde of at least 100 zombies within 700 meters of them, hiding, moving around slowly, almost like they were resting.
And unfortunately, in the middle of it all, Jonathan could see the bodies of 3 of the 5 members of the group. He took a good look at them and saw that Patrick wasn't there. 'Where the hell is he and the other member?'
Nathanael clearly didn't want to be there, but he recovered quickly and began to look around. The trail of blood continued a little further, near the horde, but disappeared a little later near a tree. Both Jonathan and Nathanael had to go a little closer to see clearly.
Determined to find out what had happened and save someone if they were alive, Jonathan continued getting closer to the horde. But first, he whispered to Nathanael, ''If things get dangerous, I'll take a car, so stay alert.''
Nathanael nodded and the two continued along the trail, getting closer and closer to the zombies.
Jonathan wanted to write down in his notebook how the zombies were acting, but he knew that now was not the time. But he wasn't going to forget what he saw either, so it was fine.
When they were very close to the zombies, and at the end of the blood trail, they heard a sound that seemed to be coming from above. Jonathan immediately looked to where this sound was coming from and was glad to see Patrick and one other member of the group up in a tree. ' So that's why the trail disappeared... They're clearly tired but alive...'
They seemed desperate to say something, but they couldn't risk making a noise. Jonathan, however, didn't care and told them to get down.
The two hesitated but got down quickly. Patrick was happy to see Jonathan but said, "Let's get out of here now. This horde is, I don't know how to put this, intelligent. They didn't make a sound and surrounded us, not giving us a chance to get our weapons or use the radio. We only managed to escape by a miracle, almost like they let us both escape.''
Immediately, Jonathan felt chills run through his body. He knew what had happened, as the Zombies had somehow used Patrick and the other as bait for other humans. Immediately, he said: "RUN!''
Sure enough, the zombies who were moving slowly just now, started to run toward them.
BANG BANG BANG
Knowing things had already gone awry, Jonathan immediately started shooting. But, to his surprise and astonishment, while he did kill some of the zombies at the front, the others used their bodies as a shield, making it almost impossible to kill them.
Anyway, while Jonathan stayed behind to shoot, the others started to run. Unfortunately, the car was 'parked' 3 km away, and while they did get tired from running, the zombies didn't.
BANG BANG
Although Jonathan had already used up a few magazines, there were still too many zombies and if he didn't start running now, he stood a chance of being surrounded. So he started running and shooting at the same time. The accuracy was terrible, but at least he was doing something.
Unfortunately, Jonathan quickly managed to catch the others, meaning they were running too slowly. He noted Patrick and the other member of the group, were tired, painting, and looking almost like they could faint anytime.
' At this rate, we will never arrive in the car on time.'
STEP STEP
Listening to the sounds of the zombies getting closer, Jonathan could not hesitate anymore, ' Fuck me ... I'll deal with the questions later.' He stopped running a bit, let Patrick get some distance, but maintained a safe distance from the zombies, and summoned a car.
Luckily for him, Patrick and the other guy didn't see it. Jonathan turned the car immediately, and honked the horn, gathering their attention. Patrick was surprised a car appeared out of nowhere in a forest area, but he didn't have the luxury of asking questions.
Nathanael was the last person to enter the car, as he was ahead of everyone else. Seeing everyone inside, Jonathan sped up toward safety.
What Jonathan and the others didn't know, its that the car they had parked 3 KM away was surrounded by another horde of zombies. This means the zombies most likely would've taken them by surprise and were smart enough to make 2 separate traps to kill humans.