Meanwhile, on Rick's group side...
Things had sprawled out of control too quickly, first they found only the severed hand of Merle on the roof he was trapped in, with him nowhere to be seen no matter how much they looked for him around the building.
Then Glenn who teamed with Daryl had the weapon backpack that rick lost retrieved back just to be ambushed by 3 unknown men.
And Glenn was taken hostage in their car after a skirmish, with Daryl screwing the ass of one of them with an arrow.
Then finding that the opposite group were just people trying their hardest to survive, to protect the elderly in the nursing home. People abandoned by the world.
Thus all that mess was just a big misunderstanding between the two sides.
And now, after Rick gave some weapons to the man leading that group named Guillermo, they sat once again back on their route to find the vehicle they came with and head back to the camp.
"Admit it, you came back to Atlanta for the hat" Glenn teased Rick glancing at the cowboy hat on his head trying to ease some of the tension they felt going through all of this.
Rick equally amused, turned to him not denying "Don't tell anybody".
just for Daryl words to cut through their nonsense.
"You gave'em half of our guns and ammo" Clearly, the idea of wasting such weapons didn't sit right with him in the least.
"Not nearly a half"
"Close enough" Billy wasn't concerned about those few weapons, he was happy he got to mark the location of a few heavy armories, like a tank, as Sasuke asked him.
Now that he knows the boy can hide those big things somewhere safe with a hand gesture, he didn't hesitate and wrote down every damn useful thing he saw along the way and its location.
"For what?, for some old people already in death bed, how long do you think they will survive?"
"How long would any of us–" Rick stated just to come to a halt, thinking his eyes were playing a trick on him.
The van they came here by and parked on the spot under the bridge in the front was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh my! god" Glenn resisted hard to not curse, Today was the worst in many: being tagged along in this crazy mission, seeing a severed hand, kidnapped, discovering poor elderly people trying to survive just like them, and now their vehicle was taken.
"Where the hell is our van?"
"Merle" Rick answered Daryl's question.
"Oh boy" Billy, already tired of all of this turned to look if they can find another one.
Suddenly Daryl realized something "He will be taking his vengeance on the camp"
While T-dog, Glenn and Rick looked horrified, Daryl met Billy's gaze and both knew what was going on in the other's mind.
"Well, his luck sure ain't good. Sasuke won't like that"
"What do you mean? The samurai guy you guys returned with? What does he have to do with this" Glenn asked already pacing around.
That man may have kicked Shane away, but if Merle was armed...
"Ya think swarms of those deady rots are scary? Wait until you see that boy angry, and if merle is about to endanger those two girls?..."
He didn't continue, but Daryl knew exactly what is to come, he marched forward cursing Merle with every bad word he got in his dictionary.
He just prayed Sasuke wouldn't end his life in sight. Shit is getting worse by the second for them.
====
People sat around a fire pit exchanging talks.
Morales and Jacqui were asking Dale things about his watch and why he always seems to focus on it.
And Dale just answered in a philosophic way from a saying he heard about humans not needing to focus on conquering time, which brought the whole group to a silent and profound reflection.
Well...not Amy as she dropped that mood with "you are so weird" to Dale joking with him.
A laugh escaped from everyone as Sasuke smiled seeing Ciri laughing again while she sat between him and Katniss eating cheerfully.
Morgan and his family were beside them too, the mood was good.
Night in this place troubled him, not remembering exactly when or how the attack happened in the series.
Heck, he wasn't even sure if everything would play exactly as in the show and didn't plan to think so.
Most of those sitting here had never faced the walkers out there aside from the initial escape maybe.
They didn't understand just how scary a horde of them is, especially for the armless and untrained.
Thus no one took his suggestions to leave or barricade the surroundings seriously.
Some women around did support him slightly.
Maybe due to his look or whatever, yet nothing truly changed considering many thought of them as weak and unnecessary to make decisions. Well, that ED guy sure did.
That's why all he can do is stay alert and keep the two girls and others close to him all the time while putting an alert system around the camp right after the people had stopped wandering outside.
Katniss glanced at his face, noticing the slight smile. she knows just how burdened he is, to keep them safe, to keep them fed and to keep his promise.
and she made sure to at least help him in every possibly way.
She even tried to convince others to follow his protocols, yet many thought they were trying to take control or whatever.
She knows that if it wasn't for Ciri who was tired and came to like the place here with her new friend...
Then Sasuke wouldn't have given a damn about others and may have just left for some other place.
Amidst the relaxed atmosphere Amy put down her cup and stood, turning to leave which made Andrea question her as to where.
"I have to pee.." Amy whispered with a glare yet due to how silent the place is, everyone heard her clearly which made her slightly embarrassed as she glanced at Sasuke.
"Jeez! You need to be discreet in here" She rolled her eyes before leaving, which incited another giggles from everyone as she left toward the RV.
The group kept eating and chatting in a relaxed mood while Ciri kept trying to feed Sasuke much to his amusement.
Just for the relaxed expression on his face to turn grim as the link shared a vision with him before he heard a whoosh then the sound of something metallic clicking loudly around the place.
His trap, the one set exactly to set off in case of multiple breaches around the camp just got activated.
Before anyone wondered about the sound Sasuke stood taking out a kunai.
"Katniss!"
"Where?" She and Morgan understood immediately, already familiar with the traps.
"Every direction" and that was enough for her to take her bow, readying two arrows while telling Ciri to stay down near her.
Morgan pointed for his wife and Duan to crouch down, aiming with his rifle toward the direction Sasuke pointed him to.
"Sasuke wha_"
"Stay down! Don't run, just stay down until we take care of it. There are walkers" Everyone shuddered just for a horrified scream to echo from some distance.
"That's Ed!!!"
Ignoring everything, he tossed a pistol each to Jim and Morales before rotating in a full circle, hurling three kunais toward different angles.
One struck the walker who was inches from biting the terrified Amy who just got out of the RV asking something, while the other two each hit two walkers trying to hold another Latina woman.
Morgan took a shot stopping one from reaching a young man.
"DOWN! EVERYONE DOWN TO THE GROUND! SHANE, COVER THE NORTH. MORGAN!! FOUR COMING EAST" Sasuke's roar suddenly echoed, startling everyone yet it also gave them something to focus on other than running around like headless chickens.
Thus every person tried to grab their family, kneeling down, while some hesitated to follow his words fear and anxiety crippling them.
Two walkers who were about to block Carol and her daughter fell with Katniss's arrows struck to their heads.
"Get close and get down so we can shoot!!" Shane, who saw them already taking down 7 walkers within seconds with great accuracy followed the plan, shooting his shotgun at three walkers coming from the trees. And calling to Amy and others that were away.
Jim and Morales kept firing their pistols, but it only worked to slow the walkers down due to the low accuracy and the bullets that didn't strike where it mattered but that was all Sasuke needed.
With Ciri secured near Katniss feet and the others down, he took a wide step forward kicking at a log and using it as a support to jump.
The darkness didn't hinder his eyesight the slightest, and everything came close to be moving in slow motion.
Eight shurikens were gripped between his fingers as he rotated his body 360° once again, throwing them with deadly precision.
Some shurikens struck each other, redirecting their trajectories, while others kept to their line.
Only Katniss, Carol and Carl who had his mouth wide open witnessed this scene before seeing many walkers dropping down like broken puppets around them at the same time.
"Stay down! Katniss! Two at your 3" only 20 seconds passed, and he'd already eliminated 16 walkers thinning them considerably.
While the people who were hesitating about where to run finally followed his words to keep to the ground, seeing how the fighters protected them.
'There's a lot of them ' They took down nearly 30, and other walkers are still pouring in.
"Reloading!!" Shane shouted, and right off three whoosh sounds passed by his ears, making him look up briefly just to see 3 walkers ahead dropping down with those weird knives buried in their skulls.
Now he understood that Morgan wasn't lying to Rick, heck he was being humble in his claim.
The guy is a freakin' killing machine harvesting every walker around.
It was honestly hard not to respect his skill even with that beef between them.
Now slightly reassured with Lori and Carl's safety, he focused on taking the few remaining walkers approaching his side.
Sasuke who had just sniped two more walkers near an old man, unsheathed his blade got out from the circle of the kneeling people and strode ahead with steady steps.
He already spotted the five men running from a distance toward them from the corner of his eye.
Knowing he just has to finish the four walkers in front of him while they reinforce Shane, Morgan and Katniss.
As for Jim and Morales?, the two had already emptied their guns a while ago with reckless shooting and regrouped with others holding whatever they could use as weapons to defend thesmelves and others.
A rotten hand lunged to his shoulder got cut before the head of the walker followed, dropping down with a thud.
It was then the sound of more guns firing Intensely echoed, bringing the group newfound hope as Rick and others joined the fray.
Two walkers closed on Sasuke from each side growling, making him kick one onto a tree before beheading the other one in one clean strike.
The last one crawling's came to an end with a sword to the skull as Sasuke turned killing the one he kicked into the tree.
He made sure of his kills before walking back.
The scene was a mess, people crying, hugging their families, horrified.
The calm and happy scene just minutes ago seemed almost to have never happened.
He looked around, making sure no more walkers were left in the area, and started shooting the heads of any that weren't killed by him using his silverballer just to make sure.
Finishing he gets down on his knee to recieve Ciri who came rushing toward him, relief etched on her face at seeing him.
"Sasukee!!" "It's okay, it's okay...i'm here" Sasuke patted her head turning to Katniss who walked to him, looking at his body with concern.
"You good?" He asked seeing how tired she looks, more mentally than physically.
"Yeah, i didn't expect a horde to attack so soon. Thankfully you were prepared"
"Any casualties?" He made sure that at least no one on his line of sight was hurt, but he didn't know if anyone was away.
"i'm not sure, but everyone seems to be here other than that rude guy"
'Yeah Ed...well, at least it is not a massacre like the one in the show'
"Let's go" with Ciri holding their hands tightly, they walked back seeing Rick, Andrea, Morales and the others holding their families trying to calm them.
While Jim stood aside with T-dog and Glenn looking around.
And Billy who was changing his magazine to a full one walking to them.
"You sure did a number on them boy" Billy smiled seeing him, happy that they are safe, and that they kept the whole group alive, mostly.
"You guys are back, how did it go?"
"He disappeared, well...leaving a hand behind"
Sasuke recalled something like this happend so he nodded.
"Severed?" "Yeah"
"Alive?"
"And kickin', but we don't know where he went, That asshole took our van too, otherwise we should've been here earlier"
Sasuke was about to ask more before he was hugged. He turned his head to the side and saw Morales hugging him followed by Jacqui whose hands were trembling.
"Thanks man, thank you for keeping my family safe, for everything"
"No need to mention it, is everyone safe?" Sasuke patted his back and smiled at Jacqui who held his hand, grateful as he was the one who killed the walker trying to catch her.
"Ed didn't make it, we found him in his tent, he was...dead. Man how did this happen?"
"Let's regroup first" Billy said knowing the place wasn't safe anymore.