Chapter 69: Shane is Shane!
But Shawn just tossed it over his back, slinging the Remington, and the Stone Sledgehammer reappeared in his hand. He faced the walkers that were scrambling to their feet in the pile of corpses and swung his hammer.
After maxing out his Strength, his headshot chance had been raised to its highest. With just one blow, he triggered a headshot, and the walker's head exploded completely. It was a uniquely satisfying crunch. It was as if someone had installed a miniature explosive inside the walker's head beforehand. The skull completely disintegrated into fragments, mixing with the dark blood and splattering against the nearby wall with a 'splat'.
"Rick, Shane, T-Dog, switch to melee!" Shawn roared.
These three men were all wearing 'heavy bunker suits' and were strong enough not to fear close-quarters combat with the walkers. But as his voice fell, only Rick and T-Dog immediately drew their machete and crowbar. Shane's eyes were dazed; he just stood there, motionless.
"Shane!!" Glenn shouted, looking back.
Shane's body jolted as if he had been suddenly startled awake. He quickly stepped forward, drew his machete, and stood by Rick's side to assist. Shawn saw all of this but just swung his sledgehammer without a change in expression, knocking down all the approaching walkers.
"Last one!"
'Schlick—!'
As his voice fell, the skull of the last walker was also smashed to pieces.
"Hah—" Shawn's gaze swept over the 'pile of corpses'. "Same old rules. Finishing blows, then pile them up."
With that, Shawn stepped onto the stairs and turned back to look at the group. "You guys finish up with the bodies, then go clear out the walkers in the cafeteria and see if there's any food left. I'm going to check the 2nd and 3rd floors for any remaining walkers."
"Shane... you're with me."
Shawn specifically called out his name, which made everyone give Shane a second look. They watched as a dazed Shane followed Shawn up the stairs, his figure gradually disappearing from their sight.
Glenn wiped the blood from his chin with his wrist, sidled up to Rick, and asked with some concern, "Will they be okay?"
Glenn was an old member of the Quarry Camp. Back when Rick wasn't around, he had gone on several 'supply runs'. So he had some understanding of the camp's leader at the time—Shane. And Shawn was clearly a domineering type as well. Putting these two together, wouldn't it cause trouble?
Rick caught his breath. "They'll be fine. Don't forget what he said earlier. He said he would bring everyone he brought in today back out, safe and sound. And Shawn is a man who values his promises."
Rick suddenly remembered Shawn's attitude toward Carl and Lori and chose to trust him without hesitation.
***
Administration Building, 2nd Floor.
This seemed to be the guards' rest area. There were some bunk beds and a few empty offices. The cafeteria was on the first floor, and the living quarters were on the second.
Shawn walked in front, holding his sledgehammer. Behind him, a still-dazed Shane followed closely with his head down. Neither of them spoke first, just walked through the quiet corridor.
Until they reached the middle of the corridor. Shawn glanced up imperceptibly at the loosely overlapping ceiling tiles. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and his pace quickened. As he strode past the middle of the corridor, a sudden change occurred!
'Crash, crash—!'
Ceiling tiles fell one after another from above, and a series of foul-smelling figures made their free-fall debut. Two or three of them were only half-bodies, their lower halves caught on the ceiling above, looking like bundles of dried bacon. They propped themselves up and surrounded Shane in the very center.
Shawn stood with his arms crossed, having no intention of helping, just watching the scene unfold with amusement. Since Shane had lost his 'spirit', Shawn would just have to wake him up again.
The continuous low growls of the walkers pulled Shane back from his dazed state. A half-walker landed with a 'splat' right in front of him. Shane subconsciously raised his hands to catch it, holding the half-walker in his arms like a flowerpot. Even through his helmet, the terror of a walker at such close range was immense.
Shane's heart leaped. His back was instantly soaked with a cold sweat. He threw the walker aside. "FUCK!"
When he looked up again, he saw Shawn in the distance, smiling at him. Just watching, not moving, as if he hadn't noticed the walkers that had fallen all over the floor.
'Fuck, is Shawn trying to use the walkers to kill me?!'
As the threat of the walkers intensified again, Shane's 'dazed' state instantly improved. He subconsciously wanted to pull at his hair to resist the rising anxiety, but his hand found nothing but his helmet. He was forced into a corner by the walkers. He was about to open his mouth to call for help, but then, as if he had thought of something, his open mouth closed again.
'Maybe... this is a good choice...'
By the time he had fully processed the situation, his will to survive had hit rock bottom. Not only was there no light in his eyes, but his hands also hung limply at his sides, allowing the nearby walkers to close in.
The walkers slowly approached, a hoarse, low sound squeezed from their incomplete throats. Their eyeballs were long gone, the flesh on their faces was pitch black, clinging tightly to their skulls. Their speed just a slow approach that brought a different kind of horror.
Shane closed his eyes, but his breathing grew more and more rapid. Shawn could even see through his helmet visor that his face was beginning to flush uncontrollably.
'That's the adrenaline kicking in,' Shawn thought, analyzing his actions.
'So you are still lying to yourself? Still can't face yourself? If you really wanted to die, why are you still wearing the bunker suit? Taking it off would only take a single bite to change everything. Shane doesn't want to die at all! Survival is his instinct. He might be killed in any number of ways, by a person or by a walker, but he would never die by giving up without a fight.' Shawn thought.
'Shane is Shane!'
Sure enough, the next second, the moment a walker bit down on the surface of his 'bunker suit', Shane's eyes snapped open, his pupils constricting to the size of a pinhole! He whipped out his machete and thrust it straight into the walker's wide-open mouth, from the bottom up, directly piercing its brain.
He spun and sliced, lopping off a large chunk of the head of the walker to his left. Every one of Shane's movements was heavy, as if intentionally venting some kind of inner frustration. In just half a minute, he had almost completely dealt with the small group of walkers that had fallen from the ceiling.
Dark walker blood dripped from his bunker suit. He circled around behind the last walker and locked his arm tightly around its neck. He pressed the flat of his machete into its mouth. Then, with a slow, viscous sound, the walker's flesh began to be sliced open. Shane's strength didn't waver; he just kept cutting backward.
'Snap—'
The walker's body fell. In Shane's hand was now a severed half-skull. He held the still-snapping half-skull in his hand and turned to look at Shawn in the distance.
What kind of gaze was that? Shawn could feel a fire and a new life being reborn from blood in Shane's eyes. This was perhaps the most difficult situation Shane had faced since the apocalypse began. But with just a machete, he had accomplished something that perhaps only a top-tier fighter could do.
Shane, holding the half-skull, strode over to Shawn and dropped it at his feet.
"What the hell do you want?" Shane asked in a low voice. Having just escaped from the brink of death, he carried an air of decisive action, as well as the smell of blood and sweat. His arm was trembling slightly, but his hand was gripping the machete tightly. The look in his eyes would even make one feel that he was about to swing his blade at any moment.
"What could I want. I just want to see a clear-headed Shane."
Shawn even took two steps forward, closing the distance between them. Through the visor of the 'bunker suit' helmet, Shawn stared intently into Shane's eyes.