Chapter 46: The Convoy's First Night
After dealing with the treasure room on the second floor, Shawn had no intention of continuing to explore the remaining old rooms.
"The time should be about right."
Shawn found a worn-out cloth bag in the room and took out some of the food and medical supplies from his backpack. On his way past the turn in the stairs, he emptied out the vending machine and packed its contents.
Carrying the heavy bag, Shawn walked out of the motel. Daryl had already been waiting in the courtyard for a long time.
"Aren't you afraid the building will collapse?" he asked, looking at Shawn with amusement. A mink pelt was draped around his neck, and in his hands, he held an antique lantern, a few packs of cigarettes, half a bottle of hard liquor, and two complete sets of clothes.
"Don't think of me as so barbaric. I've always been a civilized man. I just really like to "reason" with people," Shawn said, raising a middle finger and wagging it back and forth.
"You telling me this bullshit apocalypse is actually a reality TV show would probably be more convincing." Daryl didn't believe him one bit. After shooting Shawn a few glances, he turned and walked toward the convoy.
When the two of them returned to the group, the others had more or less finished their rest and were gathered in front of Rick and Shane.
"Rick was just about to go look for you," Lori said, leading Carl over. She didn't hide the goodwill she was directing at Shawn.
'Has Lori finally figured things out?'
Shawn was a little surprised by the change in Lori's attitude, but his expression remained unchanged as he nodded at her. He took a chocolate bar from his pocket and handed it to Carl, then casually tossed the rest to Merle.
"Found some painkillers and other medical supplies. The rest is all high-calorie food. You guys figure out how to distribute it."
"Is everyone here?"
Walking into the middle of the group, Shawn finally had a chance to check on the other members. After getting a response from everyone, he clapped his hands.
"Alright, it's about time. We'll drive through the afternoon until it gets dark, then rest. So each vehicle needs to arrange its own driver rotation. Try not to overlap."
"When it gets dark, Daryl and Merle will move to the back of the convoy and just follow."
"It's not like the Farm out here. We have to be careful about everything."
Shawn repeated his instructions.
They set off that afternoon. Shawn switched from the driver's seat to the passenger's, and Rick naturally took the wheel. Their vehicle wasn't like the small cars; besides Shawn and Rick, the others—Carol, Lori, and the two little ones—couldn't drive. So, Rick drove in the afternoon while Shawn took over the handheld radio, contacting the other vehicles every hour to make sure everything was okay.
It wasn't until the sky gradually darkened that the initial excitement of the first day's travel began to fade. It was pitch black all around. Being in an unfamiliar environment, many members looked out the windows with a hint of unease. It seemed that walkers could be lurking anywhere outside, ready to rush out of the darkness and take a bite at any moment, causing them huge losses.
"This is Shawn, come in if you copy, over... kzzzzt..."
Shawn keyed the radio, and his voice was transmitted to the other vehicles. About five seconds later, the first response came through.
"Shane copies, over."
"Glenn copies, over."
"T-Dog copies, over."
"We copy too... over..."
The last deep voice naturally belonged to Daryl. Shawn had initially given him the radio because he didn't want Merle's grating voice polluting the team channel.
"OK," Shawn replied, then turned on the 'Red Tyrant's' camera system. The screen flashed on. Centered on the 'Red Tyrant', the views from the four corners of the vehicle appeared, displayed with a green filter, covering almost all the blind spots outside.
Shawn leaned in and examined the feed carefully. Seeing nothing unusual, he told everyone to get out of the vehicles.
"It's best not to start a fire at night. We have plenty of ready-to-eat food. Mealtime and free time should not exceed one hour. The rest of the time, stay in the cars as much as possible and don't wander around."
"You know my rules."
Shawn repeated himself again, but seeing the fear and unease in everyone's eyes as they looked at the dark, unfamiliar surroundings, he couldn't help but add, "It'll be tough for the next few days. Things will get much better once we get to the Prison."
Only after hearing that last sentence did the expressions on many faces improve. They took their children and returned to their vehicles, taking out some canned food and water and sitting down to eat not far from Shawn. They felt safer closer to him.
Shawn stood on the steps of the fire truck, eating a box of cereal in silence.
"Are you tired?"
Looking toward the sudden voice, Shawn saw Rick, followed by Daryl, Shane, and the others.
"Just thinking," Shawn said, shaking his head.
Then he saw Rick spread a map on the ground in front of him, illuminating it with a flashlight. The camp's main fighters gathered around the map.
"This is a regional map we found at the motel when we were getting gas this afternoon."
Rick looked directly at everyone, his gaze finally landing on Shawn as he pointed to a few spots on the unfolded map.
"From this map, it's not as large as the Atlanta map, but it's more detailed."
"The motel we reached today is around here. And we drove at least aalong this road, so we should be here now." Rick pointed to the lower-left corner of the map, his voice as low as possible.
"How much further... do you think we are from the Prison?"
Rick's last question was naturally directed at Shawn. So when he said it, everyone subconsciously looked at him, waiting for him to speak.
Placing the cereal box in the truck, Shawn jumped down with both hands and took a quick look at the map.
"So it's a political map, with some transportation planning on it," Shawn mused. What was called a 'political district' was actually the state boundaries of the US, and this map was a more detailed version of the state of 'Georgia' where they currently were. That's why this map looked more detailed than the previous Atlanta one.
"First, we can rule out all urban areas and nearby densely populated areas..."
Being far from populated areas was the primary criterion for selecting the prison's location. With just this one rule, a third of the area on the map was immediately eliminated.