When Shane lowered the radio, he looked at Lori with a tired expression. He could only console her with a few words, but obviously this woman wouldn't listen since she insisted that he personally go look for Rick.
Unable to do anything, he simply turned his gaze toward the women who had surrounded him a few minutes ago, but Amy was already aware of Lori's annoying behavior, and just when she was about to step forward and help, she decided to back off.
In fact, Carol, who had a bow slung over her shoulder, gave Shane a meaningful smile.
Looking at her expression, Shane also understood what these women wanted, and after thinking it over for a while, he first looked at Lori, who was very agitated, and finally nodded toward Carol.
The women who had still been waiting for Shane's response smiled, and they all looked gratefully at Carol for having the chance to leave the base and explore the surroundings. They then approached Lori, before leading her away to a more private place.
All this time Shane had thought that this slender single mother was a submissive woman, but after getting to know her better, he realized she was the best actress of all the people he had met. The main reason he hadn't agreed to let these women go out was because they were still kind at heart, but when it came to Carol, Shane no longer worried.
The speed with which this woman learned to adapt was astonishing. She performed brilliantly on several outings and even saved several people.
Now he could let her go out alone—Shane trusted that Carol could survive just fine outside without depending on the base. At this moment, if Carol wanted to say she would protect these women, what else could he say if they died?
Seeing the matter resolved, Shane looked at his watch and realized he had other problems. He cursed under his breath, turned around, and ran toward the front yard.
...
Rick and the others were still in the car, trying to find their way back.
After ending communication by radio, the atmosphere in the car was a bit dull, and Guillermo in the last row suddenly said with a smile: "Wouldn't it be better if I moved to the back?"
At this moment, since the last row was relatively packed, Elen had put her arms over the shoulders of the people on both sides, and inevitably there was some physical contact, which made him a little embarrassed.
Apparently noticing this, Elen patted him generously on the back and said casually: "Hey, don't be shy. Even though you look good, I like women. You're like a friend to me. You could try with my sister—maybe you'll get lucky."
"Hehe, of course!"
Elen's sister glared at her, and after giving her an elbow, made it clear this was not the time or place for such jokes.
Smiling with a stiff expression, Guillermo didn't feel relaxed at all and tried to lean his body to the side, but it was useless.
Rick, in the front row, completely ignored them, focusing only on the road ahead. In just half an hour, they had already encountered two large groups of walkers, one big and one small, which made him not dare to relax.
They couldn't afford distractions, and Morgan, who was driving beside him, also kept watch on the movement around them. Whenever he spotted something unusual, he would immediately turn and take another route.
At this moment, the direction they were driving was taking them farther and farther from the prison, which also made them increasingly anxious. They wanted to find their way back as soon as possible, but they kept running into walkers over and over again.
After another hour, the car stopped in the middle of a road, and in front of them were two large trees lying across the path.
Looking at the two trees thicker than his waist, Rick walked toward them somewhat dejected, hugged one of the trunks, and gestured for several people to come and help.
After hard but fruitless effort, everyone sat on the ground in frustration, panting heavily, while some rotting walkers shuffled through the forest. Everyone's anger grew, and some drew their machetes, approached the walkers, and began to take them out.
Katie hid in the car with Elen. Seeing those three people taking down several walkers one by one, she couldn't help but feel relieved. She thought following them had been a good idea to ensure her survival, hadn't it?
Morgan sat in the driver's seat and tried to start the car, but all he could hear was the engine roaring and dying out. The fuel gauge showed the tank was empty.
"Damn it!"
After slamming the steering wheel hard, Morgan rubbed his bald head as if venting his frustration and then looked at Rick, who was walking back.
"Out of gas?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Sighing, they now had no choice but to walk, and he asked some people to pack the supplies from the back of the truck. He was now very glad he had listened to Shane's words about bringing some supplies.
Several people carried backpacks, which were very useful at this moment. The provisions in the car were quite abundant, and they distributed them, each carrying some things on their back.
Rick looked at the map in his hand and, after studying it for a while, pointed in one direction and said: "Let's go there."
Guillermo asked, a little confused: "Isn't that the opposite direction?"
Nodding to confirm, Rick explained: "There's a town there. We can go check if there's gasoline nearby."
As he spoke, he pointed to the three gas cans in the back of the truck, and only then did the others understand what he meant.
"It's already noon. Let's walk quickly and try to get there before dark."
Without hesitation, the group picked up the gas cans and headed toward the town.
...
At the same time, Hilltop.
Today was the trade day between the Hilltop alliance and the Kingdom. Jesus had gotten up early and discussed the amount of goods to exchange with Gregory. They quickly loaded up the car and left the settlement.
The people from Alexandria had also prepared supplies. Today they were going to both Hilltop and the Kingdom, so they had also gotten up very early, packed everything, and were ready to leave.
The captain had not yet returned, and Daryl, Alice, and Nick had also gone to the Kingdom, while George and Bob went to Hilltop. The others stayed behind under Liam's leadership.
Since the last rejection, Gregory's attitude toward them hadn't been very good, but his greatest trait was being shameless. After discovering he could still trade resources, his attitude changed drastically.
Now, whenever Jason's team went to Hilltop, the old man would come running out, flattering them and happy they'd had a good trip, just to get a little more stuff.
Except for the high price they gave him in the first transaction, the team's supplies were basically quite cheap, so the old man never got his way, but he still enjoyed himself and wasted nothing.
When George got near Hilltop, he saw two trucks parked at the opposite gate in the distance, and about twenty people were standing at Hilltop's entrance with weapons in their hands.
Sensing something was wrong, he immediately stopped the team, quickly hid the car, and slipped away with Bob.
After convincing Jesus to leave a monitoring team, the two hid nearby and listened quietly to an arrogant voice coming through the headset.
"Congratulations, you're lucky to be the first group of survivors we've met after arriving here! So I plan to offer you some extra benefits."
George was wearing a monitoring headset and held a pair of high-powered binoculars in his hands.
He saw a tall man speaking animatedly with the Hilltop people.
George had never seen these people before, and the arrogant voice in the headset continued.
"The benefits are…!" He paused, and some malicious laughter came through the headset.
"Hey, hey—you'll be our first slaves in Washington!"