Alabama, City of Birmingham
After Luke and his group found a destroyed community, there were large letters on a wall saying there was a letter inside the house.
Logan looked at those words with slight surprise and said, "Maybe the people from this place are still alive. If so, it's possible the letter mentioned on the sign is still inside the building."
"Don't you think someone's already taken it?" Negan asked — a logical question, since after so much time, someone surely would have been interested in taking the letter.
Jason, on the other hand, was intrigued. If this was the case, he might find a community with people still living here before his own team arrived with helicopters. That would be a huge help — and if he managed to find anyone from the Fireflies, it would be a victory.
"Let's move on. It'd be good to see if there's anything to discover," Jason said, making a decision.
"Yes, boss!"
The two armored vehicles drove straight into the destroyed community, breaking through the half-open gate. Although the gate was ajar, there weren't many walkers inside the community, and the appearance of all the walkers looked like ordinary civilians — which meant these people had been killed somehow.
Leaving a team to guard the armored cars and keeping two soldiers in the turrets at all times, the rest entered the building along with Jason. After a few minutes, the team that had gone inside returned with a letter in hand.
As soon as Jason had the letter, he opened it indifferently and read it aloud.
"To whoever is reading this letter, our humanitarian community has moved west, where we've joined a survivors' base. Anyone seeking a safe place can travel in that direction, and we'll eventually meet."
"Pretty risky..."
"Do you think they're still alive?"
"I don't know. There don't seem to be dangerous survivor groups in this part of the country, but it could be verified by helicopter."
"What are you talking about?" Logan looked at Jason's group with a bit of suspicion. He didn't know what they were referring to, so he couldn't help but ask directly.
"Kid, you should know there are some really bad people out there. Maybe your grandpa's or uncle's group are even cannibals — that's the damn reality," Negan said, swinging his bat side to side.
"That's impossible. I can't believe there are people who would rather eat human flesh..." Logan couldn't accept it.
"Calm down. Whether they're angels from heaven or a bunch of damn idiots, we'll move carefully and make our own judgment depending on what we find."
Logan began to understand how Jason's group had been living lately — they must have encountered terrible people to think this way.
"Jason, do you think you could take me to that place? I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd like to see if anyone from my family is still alive..."
Jason smiled indifferently and interrupted what Logan was about to say with a gesture of his hand.
"Alright, stop talking and let's head that way."
Logan nodded gratefully, reaching out to shake Jason's hand vigorously several times. Words couldn't express his current feelings, so he could only thank him this way.
But without Logan realizing it, that had been Jason's true purpose for coming here. Taking Birmingham might be even easier than they thought.
The address written in the letter wasn't far. After a few minutes driving down the highway, they could see the intersection leading to the community in the distance. After turning and driving for another two minutes, they saw the outer wall of a simple settlement.
After calling for a stop, Jason planned to observe the surroundings first. At a glance, they could see the courtyard wall had been reinforced, and only the rooftops of the houses inside could be vaguely seen from the outside.
It was noon, and a faint column of smoke could be seen — probably from an outdoor kitchen.
"There are people here, haha, they're really here."
"Kid, do you know anyone here?"
"Well, I know a few people. They should all be workers from the mall. I usually talked with a lot of the employees downstairs, so I know them pretty well."
"Then we'll go there, and you'll be the one knocking on the door," Daryl said coldly.
...
The two Humvee-style armored vehicles moved slowly up to the community gate. Some people inside must have noticed the movement, as heads peeked out from time to time — clearly watching.
The group inside was made up of adults, young people, and the elderly.
"Stop right there! Strangers are not welcome here. Leave immediately!" shouted a man with short hair.
Logan, who had gotten out of the vehicle, looked around and realized he didn't recognize anyone, so he decided to approach and speak.
A real man should know how to be grateful — they had brought him to look for this community, and he couldn't let others take risks just for him. He had to talk to these people himself.
Logan walked up to the base of the wall with his hands raised and shouted, "Hello, I'm looking for someone! Is Old Bull still alive?"
Seeing that the person stepping out of the vehicle was an unarmed young man, the elder on the wall relaxed.
"Who are you to Old Bull?"
"I'm the nephew of his best friend."
Hearing that, the old man turned his head and seemed to speak with someone on the other side. After a brief exchange, he turned back.
"Wait a minute, I'll go get Old Bull to come and see you."
"Alright, thank you very much."
Meeting someone familiar after so long, Logan felt excited again. He turned toward Aifon in the armored vehicle and raised his fist, clearly overjoyed.
Jason showed a seemingly cheerful smile — not because he believed Logan's words, but because he had found survivors who didn't seem hostile.
"Think there are 500 people here?"
Some of Jason's team members smiled faintly as well, keeping their weapons up but not lowering their guard.
"Maybe a bit over 600..."
"Turret gunners, stay ready to fire at any time. Don't turn off the engines under any circumstances."
The people inside didn't make them wait long. After a few minutes, an old man wearing a hat appeared on the wall.
At that moment, his expression was full of emotion. As soon as he came out, he saw his best friend's nephew alive.
After confirming it was someone he knew, he came out through the gate and said in a trembling voice, "Damn kid, I thought you were dead."
"Old Gale, I'm back."
"Alright, alright, it's good you're alive! It's good that you're alive!"
The people inside seemed to be discussing which elder's nephew this was. When Logan realized this, he became a little nervous.
But right then, a pair of trucks appeared from behind the convoy, and as a walker approached, Logan drew his gun with trembling hands to shoot — only to see a man in a military uniform jump down, a tall, strong, dark-skinned man who crushed the walker's head with his massive hands.
Seeing that, the men on the heavy machine guns signaled in acknowledgment of his strength. When the dark-skinned man — T-Dog — saw more walkers, he stepped forward and delivered two powerful blows to their heads, crushing them completely.
The words caught in Logan's throat finally came out — all of them condensed into one single word.
"Shit!"
"What a beast, that T-Dog!"
"Who are those people?"
Only then did the two men at the gate react, turning to look behind them in confusion — just in time to see the man crushing walkers' heads beneath his boots.
"Are they military?"