Louis immediately climbed out of bed and went to the window.
In the middle of the road not far ahead, two fierce-looking men were holding a baseball bat and a pistol, pushing and shoving a woman with a child, seemingly trying to snatch her backpack.
"Bang!"
Rick and Shane had already gotten out of the car. Shane fired a warning shot into the sky.
The two "robbers" saw that Rick's group was numerous and powerful, and even Merle and Daryl, who clearly looked like trouble, were pointing weapons from behind the convoy.
The two exchanged glances, then scrambled into the roadside woods and disappeared.
Seeing this, the woman holding the child immediately cried out and ran towards the convoy.
"Thank you! Thank you for saving us!" The woman looked to be in her thirties. Although her face was covered in dirt, she seemed to be in good spirits.
The child in her arms, about five or six years old, was looking at them with wide eyes, full of curiosity.
"Please, take us with you!" The woman fell to her knees with a thud, crying, "It's just the two of us, mother and son. Those people will definitely come back! Please!"
Jenny and Lori, among others in the other vehicles, showed expressions of unbearable pity.
Louis, on the other hand, was speechless.
What's going on?
Did you people sign up for some unified apocalypse scam training institution?
In just two days, I've encountered this twice, and the rhetoric hasn't even changed. Is there no end to this!?
Shane also looked displeased at the situation. He was about to say something, but Rick spoke first.
He looked calmly at the woman on the ground and shook his head: "Sorry, we can't take strangers with us."
The gratitude on the woman's face instantly froze, turning into shock.
But then she started crying again: "We... we haven't eaten for days. The child is starving. I'm really alone..."
Dale got out of the RV. He looked at the pitiful mother and son, and, unable to bear it, tried to persuade Rick: "Rick... if it's really not possible, just let them get in the car?"
"We don't have to keep them with us forever, just get them away from this area with the robbers."
"Are you crazy, old man?"
Daryl's voice came from the window of another car, his tone very impatient, "Have you already forgotten that bastard Martin at the gas station so quickly?"
"That's different!" Dale didn't back down, still insisting on his view, "We can't ignore all innocent people who need help just because of one bad apple!"
Just as everyone was disagreeing, Rick still shook his head.
He ignored the argument, simply turned, took some canned food and a bottle of water from the car, and handed them over: "Sorry. Take these and leave here as soon as possible."
When the woman saw Rick refuse again, she immediately became somewhat distraught: "You can't do this!"
She didn't take the food, but instead shouted excitedly: "If you leave the food for me, they'll just come back and snatch it once you're gone!"
"And it's going to get dark soon. How am I supposed to survive alone with a child?!"
Facing the woman's tantrum, Rick showed no emotion. He simply placed the food on the ground and turned to get back into the car.
"Rick!" Dale couldn't help but call out to him from the side, seemingly still wanting to persuade him.
"Let's go." Rick ignored him and directly pulled open the truck door.
Dale wanted to say more, but after meeting Rick's unquestionable gaze, he finally sighed and turned back to the RV.
Seeing this, although everyone had their own thoughts, they could only leave.
"You'll go to hell! You heartless bastards!"
The woman's curses gradually faded into the distance behind the convoy.
Inside the truck's cab, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.
"I thought you'd definitely let her in." Shane held the steering wheel, looking straight ahead, and finally couldn't help but speak.
Rick glanced at him and said helplessly: "I'm not an idiot."
"That Martin at the gas station earlier, at least on the surface, had no flaws. Even I was almost fooled." Rick's voice was cold, "But this woman?"
"Aside from being a bit dirty, her complexion is rosy, and even her voice is full of vigor."
"And look at that child, not a single cry from beginning to end, just staring at us with wide eyes, not afraid of people in the slightest."
"I don't know what their intentions are, but it's most likely a trap."
Hearing this, Shane was not surprised. Instead, he glanced at Rick in the rearview mirror, a knowing smile appearing on his face: "Heh, I thought you'd been lying in the hospital for so long that your brain had gone muddled."
"It seems that even if you didn't learn anything new in the hospital, at least you didn't forget the keen observation skills you had as a police officer."
"Who said that?" Morales's teasing voice came from behind, "Didn't he also learn 'how to maintain high-quality deep sleep'?"
A few low laughs sounded in the car, and Rick also shook his head helplessly.
"I left the food just to avoid further complications." He said in a deep voice, "We have children and elderly people in our car. If they have accomplices hiding in the dark, it would be troublesome. There's no need to conflict with them."
"Giving them some supplies, and they take what they can get, is the best outcome."
In the back seat of the RV, Louis took in everything happening outside.
He couldn't help but marvel, yet also found it reasonable.
A team with only kindness won't last long. Only by learning to distinguish between good and evil, and by learning to refuse and make choices, can they go further in this apocalypse.
"May your wisdom overcome your mercy, Officer Rick."
Louis silently offered a blessing in his heart, then yawned, pulled up his blanket, and continued to catch up on sleep.
However, at this moment, no one among them anticipated.
This small interlude before them was actually a warning before disaster... The convoy drove on the highway, and behind them, the woman Rick had refused slowly stood up from the ground.
The despair and fear on her face were gone, replaced by an almost devout coldness.
She glanced at the canned food and water Rick had thrown on the ground, contemptuously kicked them aside with her foot, then walked into the roadside woods and took out a walkie-talkie.
"This is the Observer," her voice held no trace of weakness, "Target convoy has departed. They refused to shelter a mother and her child."
A hoarse male voice came from the walkie-talkie: "Result?"
"They are hypocritical, selfish, and indifferent." The woman coldly declared, "Target confirmed evil."
"Received." The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie paused, "We shall judge their sins."
"May they accept judgment." After exchanging a few words with the other party, the woman turned off the walkie-talkie and disappeared into the dense forest with the child.