At the moment Daryl looked back, Merle's eyes shifted to the side, and the machete in his brother's hand struck toward the side of his shoulder.
Rrrr!
At some point, a walker had appeared from the other side of the front of the vehicle, and Merle's knife was firmly embedded in its head.
The arms that were trying to grab Daryl fell to the ground, and after pulling out the machete, Merle kicked the walker with his right foot.
Daryl had also realized something was wrong, so he immediately stepped aside and then clearly saw the situation behind him. Just as he was about to thank him, he saw the corner of Merle's mouth curl up, and a somewhat mocking tone rang in his ears: "Well, little brother, what's the matter? Has living in the city made your joints rust?"
"Hey, you better take good care of yourself. I don't want to hear that my brother kicked the bucket because he wasn't paying attention, bastard."
"Don't worry, if a walker manages to bite me, you'll never know."
At this moment, the rest of the people had also finished clearing all the walkers and were standing to the side, listening to the argument between the Dixon brothers.
Daryl exhaled again, then got on the motorcycle, started the engine, and drove toward the side road.
Watching his brother's figure leave, Merle smiled. He wasn't worried about Daryl's safety. He was very aware of his younger brother's combat effectiveness. What he said just now was a way only they understood.
Looking at the others who were staring at him, Merle waved his hand impatiently: "Hurry up, get on the modified RV. We need to keep moving down the road."
Negan followed behind the crowd with a baseball bat resting on his shoulders. His eyes scanned both sides of the road back and forth, but eventually settled on a slender figure beside Merle.
Hanna had come out of the modified RV at some point and was cleaning her machete with a piece of old newspaper. She had followed Merle's movements earlier and decided to follow him.
Merle had not been at the base for a long time until recently when he returned, so Hanna had never really been in contact with the others.
Additionally, Merle and Negan didn't know each other, but Jason had recommended this man's help. He soon discovered that Negan knew how to handle himself and was an intelligent man, so he was very suitable to go with him.
And Jason was very sure that the current Negan was not the kind of self-centered person he used to be, and even now still had the enthusiasm and sincerity of being a teacher.
Although there were only a dozen people in the group, they were fully equipped just like when they went to Washington. Jason didn't send many special personnel, but the group that set out this time had good skills.
It could be said that even without military personnel among them, they could still be considered very dangerous with the equipment they carried.
Combined with the large amount of supplies and ammunition loaded in the RV, it could be said they were well prepared this time.
Negan silently followed little Hanna into the modified RV, and after a while, the motorhome slowly accelerated and continued westward.
…
Inside the vehicle, Negan sat quietly not far from Merle. He looked at little Hanna beside him with great interest, and suddenly turned to Merle and asked: "Why bring a kid? Wouldn't it be better to leave her in the city?"
Merle wasn't very enthusiastic about this man. He didn't know him at all and found him quite strange.
"I'm not a kid!"
But before Merle could say anything, Hanna, who was playing with the machete beside them, answered Negan's question.
The corner of Negan's mouth curled up. Instead of arguing with her, he changed the subject and said: "A man named Glenn told me a lot about you. Let me introduce myself, I'm Negan, and before the end of the world I was a P.E. teacher."
Hearing his introduction, Merle didn't show any particular reaction. After a few minutes, he spoke hoarsely: "Listen, I don't know you, P.E. teacher! If you want to get close to me, you'd better prove you're trustworthy first. There are strong communities that want everything we have, you understand what I mean?"
"Of course, and that's why Jason gave me a vote of confidence." Negan didn't say much more. He could see that Merle was somewhat wary of him. He knew it was useless to push things with a man like that; he more or less understood how to deal with people of that character.
Aside from Negan, the people in the RV were more or less familiar with each other. Even Aaron and Eric, who had never met Merle before, at least didn't feel excluded while traveling together.
In this unfamiliar atmosphere, the RV headed toward the southwest. What awaited them?
Negan's group was heading toward Texas, but they might encounter much more interesting things along the way.
There were many survivors in Texas, and these groups of survivors, big and small, were scattered across every corner—from small teams of a dozen people to large organizations of thousands.
Jason already knew this, but since he didn't want to expand his territory too much, he decided to focus on the areas around the central base that connected to Atlanta.
At that moment, two vehicles were parked in an open area on the eastern border of Texas to rest. The roof and both sides of the vehicles were guarded, while others were in charge of preparing food.
The dishes were simple, basic, but perfectly capable of filling their stomachs.
No one in the group was particularly skilled at cooking, so they couldn't perform miracles with the food.
There were more than a dozen walkers lying around the temporary camp, all of them with holes in their foreheads. Aside from the guards and those cooking, others moved these walkers, which emitted a stale odor, a bit farther away.
"Eric, help us bring some water so we can wash our hands."
Aaron had been helping move the walkers, so he asked Eric for help with that task.
"Alright, give me a moment." Without saying anything more, Eric walked to the side of the modified RV, picked up a container, and filled it with water. By then, everyone had gathered to eat.
Crack!
But at that moment, there was the sound of branches snapping very close by. Many didn't notice it, but Merle and Daryl did.
"Stay alert!" Merle shouted a warning, and before anyone could react, he drew the gun from his waist and pointed it in the direction of the sound.
"Who's hiding there? Come out now!"
Everyone was startled by his reaction, but quickly responded—drawing their weapons and taking defensive positions.
However, the forest remained completely silent, and after more than ten seconds, no one came out.
Everyone looked around with doubt, but Merle shouted again without moving. "I'll count to three or I'm going to shoot. One, two…"
"Don't shoot! I… I'll come out!"
A voice rang out, and then everyone saw a slender figure stepping out from the bushes in the forest.
It turned out to be a woman.