Inside a gym, Alicia was hitting a punching bag while thinking about everything that had happened up until now—the things she had lived through and done just to survive.
Spal! Boom!
What was yet to come, and what she had to fight for to keep a place safe, was nothing compared to survival itself. She had taken lives only to defend her own, had ended up breathless just to keep living—and suffering—in this world that, apparently, held no safe haven.
If she hadn't met Jason at the hospital, she wouldn't have realized that the Vultures were planning to attack her community. When she thought about that, she couldn't help but imagine her family engulfed in a sea of fire, and that alone made her furious.
Just as she was about to stop, a familiar voice sounded behind her:
"If I were you, I'd save some energy for later… you never know what might happen."
Alicia turned to see Jason, and with a sweaty face, she said:
"I can handle myself if that happens, don't you think?"
"I don't doubt it. Are you okay?" Jason asked as he approached her cautiously.
"I'm just training. We need to be well-prepared for this world, after all," Alicia replied, shaking her head and continuing her punches.
"Maybe I could show you a few moves!"
Jason walked over to the mats in the room and threw a few punches in the air, demonstrating he knew some interesting combat techniques.
"Aren't your wounds going to open up?" Alicia asked, a bit puzzled, but smiling at seeing Jason act like he was fine.
"Oh, even if you doubt it, I could beat you."
"Hmm, then I'll just have to show you I'm not that weak." Saying this, Alicia took off her boxing gloves and slowly walked toward Jason with her guard up.
"Ha, I'll teach you some slick moves…" Just as Jason was boasting, Alicia charged at him and caught him off guard.
As he tried to back up quickly, Jason felt a jolt of pain shoot through his body and abruptly stopped, giving Alicia enough time to take him down.
She mounted him, holding a sheathed knife inches from his eyes, and while smiling, she said:
"Looks like you still need to rest. You should be teaching the kids how to fight instead…"
"Not so fast…"
Jason, a bit embarrassed by his poor performance, used all his strength to throw Alicia to the ground. As she rolled, he took the opportunity to pin her beneath him.
"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents…" Jason murmured as he looked down at Alicia's sweaty face.
"If someone sees us like this… they'll get the wrong idea." Alicia hadn't given up and tried to move Jason's body off hers.
"I don't care."
But just as Jason said those words, footsteps echoed nearby, and an awkward voice spoke:
"Sir, everyone's waiting for you at the meeting."
After a few seconds of silence, the voice added:
"I didn't see anything, sir."
"It doesn't matter," Jason said, shaking his head. He got up from the floor with some difficulty and helped Alicia to her feet.
"You coming to the meeting?"
"No, I'm going to shower. Aren't you coming?"
"Later."
...
At that moment, Jason didn't know much about the operation to find the submarine, which was extremely important for his community and for everyone who still wanted to live a few more days.
He was now leading an important meeting to ensure everyone at the base was informed about the enemy, their intentions, and what would happen if they didn't stop them in the coming days.
After entering the room where the meeting was being held, everyone fell silent, waiting for the real briefing to begin.
Quickly, he pulled out a yellow-looking key and placed it on the table. Everyone watched the action without asking questions, waiting for Jason to speak.
He then pulled a notepad and pencil from his backpack and wrote down all the information he'd learned that day, in case he forgot any of it during the explanation.
After finishing, he sighed deeply and said:
"Things have escalated one after another without slowing down. Everyone in this room needs to understand that the walkers are not our main enemy… it's people."
Tapping the table lightly, the key vibrated slightly, and Jason pointed to it:
"The Cult of the Final Judgment is led by Teddy. It's a hostile group of survivors that existed even before the apocalypse, from what I know. They were formed with the purpose of bringing about the final judgment, which for them means wiping everything out using nuclear warheads."
"Many of you already know this, so I won't go into too much detail. The cult found a submarine somewhere in Texas, and on it are UGM-133 Trident III nuclear warheads. Their plan is to use them from the USS Pennsylvania to destroy what's left of humanity and, supposedly, give the human race a fresh start."
"That's insane," Madison murmured, shocked.
"Looks like the dumbest and most goddamn insane people are the ones who survived this rotten world…" Daryl shook his head. He had already suspected this was the result of the interrogation.
"Is that even possible? I mean, those submarines were supposed to remain out at sea, far from the reach of civilians who could now play with that kind of bomb."
"It's actually possible… somehow, the submarine surfaced on a beach," Sam explained, shaking his head.
Shane, who was also present, said:
"One more reason to kill them all!"
"We need to be smart…"
Jason closed his eyes and thought. There were kids in that place and people forced to be with the cult, so they needed a solid battle plan. That meant using those factors to get the other key to the submarine and gain total control over that power—which would be very useful for their community.
Thinking through all this, he opened his eyes and said:
"We can't kill everyone! We have to locate the place and carry this out as cleanly as possible. Drawing a massive horde of walkers won't work either. We'll use the containers full of walkers in the toughest areas to eliminate anyone who resists."
Morgan looked at Jason, puzzled, and asked:
"Will this… work?"
"I don't know either."
Jason spread his hands and explained:
"But I know I don't want to kill families and children who are being held there against their will. That's why we need to reach out to the bases outside of the cult and share our plan."
"I'm sure they don't want to be oppressed by the cult. Their loyalty, after losing three of their external communities, is starting to fade. But if we attack the cult and kill everyone inside, what do you think the remaining communities will do?"
"Even then, the risks are significant."
After hearing all this, Shane began to doubt, but quickly shook his head, expressing that the risk was too high and that avoiding unnecessary deaths was clearly the best course of action.
"We have the strength to wipe out the cult in minutes. If we don't go all-in, it's because we're not like them. We value life in our community. That's why they'll get a warning before we strike."
"Well… I agree too."
Surprisingly, Jason agreed with Shane. Suddenly, he pulled out the dagger he was holding and stabbed it into the circle on the map that marked the supermarket The Galleria, and said:
"Then, if this Teddy guy is reasonable, we'll talk to him before we attack… and well before that, we'll contact the bases surrounding the cult."