Central Base.
The experimentation room of the protected area.
Sheldon had been observing the entire central base with total devotion. His life had taken an unpredictable turn, and everything he had learned over many years suddenly seemed useless when it came to surviving.
Since childhood, he had been obsessed with technology, something to which he dedicated his life as a scientist at an early age, obtaining numerous doctorates. Just when he was about to work as a theoretical physicist in California alongside his friends, the whole virus outbreak happened.
His sense of curiosity and his nature as a brilliant mind led him to slowly investigate, with the resources he had, what could possibly have caused such a disaster that ended up consuming the world little by little.
He knew that if someone were good enough, a cure should have been made long ago, but when he arrived at the S.C.T. central base, he discovered that it only allowed the virus in the human body not to activate if death occurred naturally, something that made him criticize the researchers of this place.
"With facilities this protected and perfect, you haven't been able to find a cure? Well, that doesn't matter. As long as I understand the concepts of Virology, I'm sure I'll find a cure, since I'm a brilliant mind."
After arriving here, he regulated his life with programmed habits in order to find the cure. It was true that he needed the 'help' of the Janner couple, but those were just basic tools for him.
"Yes, so this is how it is… I never thought I would immerse myself in this kind of thing. Those damn scientists didn't do their job properly, and now I need to intervene in a field that isn't mine…"
Since he arrived at the research room, both the Janners and any other researcher were surprised when they heard about the degrees and titles Sheldon Cooper had, and they thought that getting involved in a field that wasn't his was a bad idea. However, he distributed his time well, and in a short period he made great progress.
At this rate, there was no doubt that Sheldon would be of great help in finding a cure.
"These are the blueprints of the weapons we use to eliminate walkers. In open fields we usually use the modified SCAR, and in confined areas we use the P90 due to its large magazine capacity."
Sheldon also offered to improve the weapons. After all, that field was his specialty.
"Leave it to me. I'll make the best weapons you can have at the end of the world. Even the deformed infected will be children in an amusement park."
…
South Carolina.
Safe city, main base of operations in the south.
Daryl went out hunting with a group and discovered some rather peculiar details.
"There's nothing around here, but there's the corpse of an elk, and there are traces of a burned-out campfire. It seems this should be a transit point for the hunting of some people who aren't from the city."
"What about the people who were here?"
Given the situation here, Daryl had absolutely no interest in anything else, and now he only cared about where the people were.
"They must have all moved out to go hunting…"
The man turned his head to look deeply into the camp, pointed in one direction, and said, "There's a line of footprints over there, and we should be able to find them by following those tracks."
As he said this, Tommy looked at Daryl and asked, "Should we stay here and wait for them to come back, or follow them immediately?"
"We should wait for them to return."
"We have to follow them!"
At that moment, Daryl and Glenn, among the group, gave opposite answers one after the other.
"Glenn, what are you talking about!"
Glenn looked at Daryl and said, "We left our marks in this place. If they find out before we find them and run away, what are we going to do?"
"I just think taking the risk is foolish."
"Fine, then we'll split into two groups."
"I'll go with ten people, and you stay in this place with fifteen. Remember not to take risks or do something stupid for people we don't know."
"Sure!"
After receiving the order, Glenn stayed behind with fifteen people, and ten followed Daryl.
After waiting for the figures to disappear, Glenn told the thirteen remaining people around him, "Clean up this place and try to keep it the way it was when we arrived."
After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked toward one of the cabins, preparing to wait for the people of this place to arrive.
But in the distance, Tommy, with a sniper rifle, was observing the surroundings and discovered that from his position, Glenn's location was exposed, so he gave him a warning.
…
On the road.
After following the footprints of the people who had left the camp, Daryl led the way without any problems.
At the same time, he also noticed that several other figures were following the team. Knowing that Glenn was worried about going with too few people, he pursed his lips and didn't pay much attention.
The team moved forward the entire way and soon reached a distance of hundreds of meters, but there was no trace of other human beings besides the footprints.
However, they saw scratch marks made by sharp daggers on the trees along their path, which seemed to be done to prevent them from finding the way back. Although they felt a bit strange about it, it also made them more certain that people were on this path.
At the same time, a fishy smell gradually filled the air, and as they moved forward, the smell became stronger and stronger.
"Look, what is that!"
Just when Daryl was puzzled by the fishy smell and realized that something was wrong and planned to stop the group, the person walking at the front suddenly shouted, interrupting his train of thought.
Walking slowly toward the front of the team, Daryl saw three elk corpses lying under a large tree not far away.
A large amount of blood continued to flow, soaking the ground.
One of the elk corpses still showed clear signs of having been dragged. It seemed that someone had tried to move them not long ago, but for some unknown reason, they suddenly stopped.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Daryl finally understood where the fishy smell in the air was coming from.
There was silence all around, and everyone looked at each other in shock, not knowing what to do at this moment, so they turned their attention to Daryl.
"Move and pay attention!"
Seeing the same scratches on the trees in front of him, Daryl thought about it for a moment. Although he thought there might be a problem, he did not panic at all due to the large number of people they had and how experienced they were.
However, he did not walk at the front of the team. Instead, he waited for the people ahead to walk a certain distance, and then slowly followed them. Although he was guiding the way, he was not stupid and would not take risks if he could see the overall situation.
The people around noticed that Daryl was much more alert and began to move in an egg-shaped formation. Everyone slowed down and surrounded Daryl, while only a few people who had not yet reacted continued walking straight ahead.
The moment they left the place where the elk were, the bushes moved slightly.
A few minutes later, the few people who were at the front of the team approached the elk bodies, turned their heads, and called to the people behind them.
When Daryl lowered his head, he was shocked to discover that the bodies of these elk had been disemboweled from head to toe, and their internal organs were scattered across the ground.
This discovery made him cover his mouth and nose, take another step back, and mutter, "Damn it, what kind of lunatic did this?"
As he spoke, the team behind him had slowly gathered.
Seeing that he had really been overthinking things, Daryl also slowly relaxed his vigilance. He walked forward and looked at the elk corpse on the ground, frowned slightly, and said, "Are there any traces of people?"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
But at that moment, the slightly trembling ground and the sound of dry branches being stepped on made him stop speaking instantly.
Feeling the approaching movement and the trembling ground, everyone turned their eyes toward the direction of the sound.
It was just that when they focused their gaze, it was blocked by tall bushes, and they couldn't see what was approaching at all.
As was known, the unknown was terrifying, and all humans who faced unknown creatures became much more alert to dangerous movements.
Staring at the bushes where the sound of branches being stepped on was coming from, fear of the unknown appeared in everyone's eyes. Some people straightened up and unconsciously retreated slowly, and some even turned around, ready to flee if the situation went bad.
"Don't retreat, there are many of us, we can kill anything!"
Feeling the changing emotions of the people around him, Daryl did not retreat. Instead, he raised the rifle in his hand.
Seeing this, the rest of the people raised their weapons one after another.
At this moment, a huge figure jumped out from behind the bushes, let out a roar that shook the surroundings and echoed throughout the forest. Its red eyes were filled with bloodlust, and in the pupils of all the hunters, it revealed its ferocious appearance!
"Oh, shit!"