Derek's group quickly lost the courage to resist. They all dropped to their knees, constantly begging for mercy while blaming one another, to the point of almost fighting among themselves.
Jason ignored their pitiful act and walked toward them with a dagger in hand.
"I believe I already told you — death is a gift I'm only willing to give to very few people."
...
A few minutes later, Derek and four others were lying on the ground crying. Their hands and feet were bleeding, and none of them could move.
All their tendons and hamstrings had been severed. According to Jason, it wasn't worth wasting a bullet on garbage like them. Didn't they like eating people? Then this time, they could become food for the walkers — at this point, they were no longer human.
The people who had appeared out of nowhere were, of course, those who had been hiding along the road to protect the convoy that had been left behind, and now the enormous convoy slowly advanced out of the darkness.
A group of people removed the spiked chains from the road, and after loading the supplies onto the trucks, everyone headed toward the terminal.
The people at the terminal were waiting anxiously — half an hour had passed, and those few who had just left still hadn't returned.
Glenn, who was standing at the gate, suddenly shouted, "They're back! They made it!"
When the terminal doors opened, Abraham and the others stood stunned as the vehicles drove into the courtyard.
Except for Rick and the others in the first car, everyone else followed behind enormous modified vehicles and Humvees equipped with machine guns.
"One, three, seven... more than fifteen large and small vehicles!"
Abraham and Rosita exchanged a silent glance, both seeing the same surprise in each other's eyes. Were these people part of the organization Rick and the others had mentioned?
It was obvious that a large settlement was migrating. After excluding two tanker trucks, the remaining vehicles could easily carry more than four hundred people!
As more than a dozen vehicles rolled in, a large number of survivors began entering the yard. All of them wore walker masks, but the weapons in their hands reminded anyone unfamiliar with the situation that they were very much alive.
Soon, more than four hundred people had gathered in the courtyard, and at that moment, Jason stepped out of the modified RV.
"I'm glad to see you all. We're a much bigger family now, so take your time getting to know each other!"
Jason kept wiping his hands with a white cloth — from the color, it was obvious he was cleaning off blood.
Lori's pupils contracted, and her body began to tremble. She truly hadn't expected Jason to return so quickly. In her opinion, those five men were all trained soldiers — it wasn't as if someone of average size could take them down so easily.
Part of her felt relieved knowing her actions hadn't ended up costing anyone their life, but deep down, a fear surfaced in her subconscious — would Jason vent his anger on her loved ones?
Thinking of that, she trembled even more, causing Rick, who stood beside her, to frown. He looked at his wife with concern and quietly asked, "What's wrong? Why do I feel like something's been off with you for a while now?"
"It's nothing, I'm just scared. Let's go back quickly, okay? I want to see Carl and Judith."
Wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders, Rick offered a few words of comfort before leaving the crowd and walking toward Jason.
Seeing Rick approach with that worried expression made Jason — who had been in a foul mood — feel a sense of calm.
It seemed this matter really had nothing to do with Rick and was only the result of his wife's desperate actions given her situation.
He understood that the chances of Rick being involved were very low, but even so, this kind of incident didn't interest him much. Still, he looked at Rick closely.
The leaders of several other teams also gathered, and soon a group surrounded him — Rick, Negan, Ezekiel, Cindy, Jesus, Arturo, and Abraham all stood before him.
He didn't say much, only signaling to George to take a team and check the surrounding area.
Ten minutes later, a group of people came out from the other side of the building. Except for a few, the faces of the rest looked grim, obviously shocked by what they had seen.
Jason and the others used that time to arrange a place for everyone to rest. Glenn and his team searched the area and found a clean building.
The room was decorated like a meeting place for some kind of cult. The surrounding walls and floor were covered with strange graffiti, many of which seemed to describe the same place.
But no one cared about that. After clearing the floor, everyone lay down.
Most of the group hadn't rested for over a day — they were completely exhausted. Everyone had gone through countless emotions on the way here. The feeling of seeing a part of the world still intact had kept them awake this whole time. Now that they were finally about to reach that long-awaited place, no one complained as they rested.
After everyone had settled, Jason returned to the courtyard again and saw a group of people vomiting in the distance — they must have seen the human meat processing workshop.
Jason wasn't in a hurry to do anything; he simply stood aside and waited for everyone to calm down. After a while, a red-haired man beside Rick walked toward him. Jason smiled, extended his hand, and greeted the muscular redhead.
"You can call me Jason."
"Abraham Ford." Abraham looked at the man in front of him, who was a bit shorter, but he didn't dare underestimate him. His military instincts told him Jason was a dangerous man.
The two exchanged a few brief words. Jason's attitude was neither too warm nor too distant. After chatting for a moment, he turned his gaze toward Rick.
Whether out of guilt or conscience, Lori hadn't gone to sleep either — she had followed her husband.
Rick's expression didn't change at all. By now, Jason already knew what had happened. Though he could guess why Lori had done it, he decided not to make a big deal of it and sighed as he looked at Rick.
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to expose Lori like that. He decided that at least her possible final moments should be peaceful, not spent fighting over her actions.
...
Seven o'clock the next morning.
The night had passed quickly, and Jason had a strange dream.
When he stepped out of the modified RV, people were already preparing breakfast, and those who had woken up were stretching their muscles.
At that moment, Negan was walking toward Lucille, who was sitting in a chair beside a bush. Negan's grin was wide and bright. The sight made Jason feel a bit strange — now that the leader of the Saviors was in his group laughing with his wife, was that something he had unconsciously made possible?
Just as he was lost in thought, a girl's voice suddenly sounded beside him.
"Hi, boss. Can I meet you? My name is Elen."