"Do you really not need to be in that meeting?"
Outside the building where Alexandria's community meeting was taking place, Enid stood silently beside Jason. She had many questions and no answers, so now was the perfect moment to stand next to Jason without him abandoning the prison.
"Are you seriously eavesdropping on this community's private meeting?" As she spoke, Enid turned to Jason and asked, "How did you find the backpack that should've been with my family?"
"Is he alive?"
"No…"
Before Enid could let herself indulge in hopeful or delusional thoughts, Jason abruptly stopped her and said, without hesitation, "I found that backpack in a building. Just like the letter says, your father died sometime after they were separated. I don't have much more to tell you…"
"Can't you be a little more considerate?"
Hearing her question, Jason turned his head toward her and replied in a more apologetic tone, "I should've chosen my words better. Losing your family these days must be incredibly hard. But if you manage to survive, nothing else will be able to hurt you."
"That's what I've been hearing ever since I got here. When my family and I had the accident, I never thought I'd hold a photo of them in my hands again. I just have to thank you."
Enid had said what she needed to say and had nothing more to add, so she was about to turn away when Jason stopped her.
"How did you get to this place?"
Jason was curious. Supposedly, she had arrived a few months before Rick Grimes's group made it to Alexandria, which meant things were now very different from how they originally happened.
All these details had changed long ago, and that was something Jason had learned. Some people were not where they were supposed to be, and he didn't know how that might affect him later on.
"Why does that matter?"
Enid paused, looked at Jason, and unsure why he was asking, said, "I arrived here with someone else. We were saved by a man who was traveling with a little girl, and if you're interested in his name, I don't remember it. But they were heading to New York…"
"Thanks…" Jason looked directly into Enid's eyes and could tell she wasn't lying, so he just kept staring at her.
A man traveling with a little girl?
Jason shook his head—he didn't have time to think about someone else when he should be focused on this place's development. If Alexandria joined his community, he'd need more experienced soldiers and plenty of labor.
It had been about three days since he last contacted his people in Atlanta, but he trusted that Shane and Sam were more than capable of protecting their bases while he worked on expanding their territory.
Even if that wasn't the case, the central base should currently be implementing many operational plans, and he was sure all those defenses would soon become the heart of their entire community.
He truly hoped that all the effort he was putting in now would pay off. Having come this far, Jason wanted to see the end of this long journey and whether there would ever be a moment of peace.
As for Enid, she was still very distrustful of some people, but Jason clearly wasn't interested in anything beyond his own thoughts and goals for this place, so she finally walked away.
Her mind was still a bit jumbled, but she had finally spoken to the person who'd brought her a letter from her father just before he passed. And she had a photo of her family—something she thought impossible after being separated during the accident.
...
The internal Alexandria meeting, where everyone was present—well, not everyone—had come to an end, and the unrest it caused was no small matter. All the residents from before Jason's arrival would be severely impacted and were actively discussing the issue.
As expected, most of them objected to Deanna's decision, which lacked authoritative weight, but some people firmly supported her. These people could see reality clearly, and even though they were filled with fear of the world outside this shelter, they were willing to face it.
However, Jason didn't care what these people thought about the decisions that would be made from now on. He wasn't even entirely sure what had been discussed in the meeting.
"Move with more control. If you drop your weapon, Merle will screw you so hard he'll eat your dinner too. You're now soldiers of the S.C.T. community—show some damn respect for what that means."
"You were nothing but scrawny walker food when we found you out there. Now you wear our uniforms, eat our food, and carry our weapons. If you end up being a damn disappointment, I'll kill you all!"
Merle's shouts echoed across an open field as the new recruits held their rifles, aiming forward without lowering them.
This training had only one goal: to reshape the mindset of each person there. Sacrifice. All of them had lost everything and felt the pain of devastation, so they were ready to give it all.
Their gazes were fierce. They were proud of what they were becoming and of the strength they would gain from this training. Nothing would stop them from now on—and this might just be a new beginning for humanity's future.
"Alright, take a break!"
Satisfied with the determination in their eyes, Merle smiled and walked over to Jason, who was standing beside his brother.
"Guys, I swear to you, these people are damn monsters." Merle wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the exhausted people collapsing to the ground.
"Even your hellish training couldn't break them or make them quit. That proves how hard they're fighting, and that goes beyond just wanting to survive."
Daryl looked at them and could see it clearly on their faces. These people weren't looking to survive—they were searching for something beyond that.
"Yeah, that explains everything…"
Jason looked into the distance as Deanna approached. He then looked at the Dixon brothers and said, "Still, don't let your guard down. We're not invincible, and there might be others out there stronger than us."
As he finished speaking, Deanna arrived and greeted them all. She had come looking for Jason right after the meeting and asked him to proceed with what he knew best to make Alexandria a better place.
"Be kind to them. Not everyone is ready to train as hard as these guys…" Deanna looked at the people who had been training for days to become soldiers.
"That's because they haven't lost anything valuable. They don't know what despair feels like…" Daryl shook his head and walked off with his brother.
"Kindness won't change these people, Deanna! If there are more of those walkers like the ones we found at the military camp, this refuge will be completely destroyed!"
"That's why I'm leaving everything in your hands. I know you'll find the best way." Deanna had learned a lot from Jason and knew that once someone was under his protection, he would do everything in his power to protect them.
Having accepted her request, Jason also knew that many of these people were truly worth saving. It wasn't that they didn't want to change—it was that the weight of their previous lifestyle clashed with the changes ahead.
All the residents of Alexandria, including Enid, gathered in the square. Jason's people stood silently behind him, their expressions serious. They had been waiting for this meeting for a while. According to Sam, if these people didn't agree to join the S.C.T. community, they would be left behind.
Jason stepped forward and looked at all the different faces, then spoke without sugarcoating anything:
"I believe Deanna has already told you about the base's current situation.
I also know most of you here will definitely reject the idea of using force to protect your lives, but just sitting around eating is no longer acceptable—danger could strike at any moment."
"The world won't adapt to us. You all know this. All I can offer is proper assistance and training, but I won't be your babysitter. If you want to be part of this change, you're welcome to join my group at any time."
As he said this, Jason pointed to the people behind him and added, "There's a wide range of training programs available for each of you to use, but the choice is entirely yours, and I think that's all I need to say."
"If you're not useful, you're of no use to my community. We're all equal, but there will always be someone more valuable than another. If you don't share this mindset, you're no longer welcome to remain in the Alexandria community, which as of now has been renamed the S.C.T. community."
After finishing his speech, Jason directly ordered his team members to leave the base again. After coordinating with Sam, they would send a special squad of ninety soldiers and some urgently needed supplies to the area. In addition, they had to bring back the corpse of that strange walker.