Stronghold In The Apocalypse

Chapter 277: State Your Names

"W-we're just regular people strugling to survive! We don't even eat people! We're just hiding inside till sunrise, p-please don't feed me to the zombies!"

The woman finally couldn't help it, and she screamed when a zombie managed to get near them, though she was once again spared from getting bitten when it got shot in the head by one of her companions who had been killing the zombies that were attracted towards their area due to the commotion below.

"Is that your final answer?" said Alex.

Him uttering those words scared her even more as she started feeling that the vibe behind her is slowly intensifying, in a bad way!

Flustered and scared, the woman immediately blurted everything out, from their objective of being here, to even the day when she and her boyfriend first had sex, which slightly flustered Alex as he wasn't expecting to suddenly hear those words from her.

"J-just don't..just don't kill me. A few days ago, we heard a rumor going around that large group of survivors that armed with powerful arsenal is moving around the city and absorbing lawful survivors group into their fold, so we figured that we should check it out if its true and try to join them if they're really good and reliable just like rumors said"

"Lawful survivors?"

"You know, p-people who didn't do anything excessively bad, like people who doesn't eat other humans, or just the entirely of people that threads along the gray line of morality, s-something like that"

"I know what you mean, but I don't recall that we're actively taking in people. Though, even if we are, it would only be for a selective few as we have a very rigorous screening for people that want to join us"

"You..you're one of them!?"

Hearing his words, the woman was shocked as she didn't expect that her group would actually bump into a member of the said group from the rumors!

While their conversation is taking place in the midst of muffled gunshots, arrows flying in the air, which were followed by the sound of bodies falling down on the ground, a separate conversation is also taking place between her friends.

"Rick, I can't get a clear shot of him. That bastard keeps hiding behind Maggie"

With a flashlight shining over Alex and the woman named Maggie, a man with Asian features can be seen trying to shoot Alex's head with his Pre 64 Winchester Model 70, and had a toy laser wrapped around its muzzle. Which was the same kind of toy that was powered with three button cell batteries, though the man clearly grew annoyed since Alex had kept his head very close to Maggie's, preventing him from pulling the trigger as a small mistake from him could mean accidentally killing her instead of Alex.

The man called Rick, with the cowboy hat, the beard and all, just replied, "Don't bother, let's go down and clear the zombies around them and see what he wants after. Tara, Carol, Tyreese, with me, and that includes you Glenn"

With his words, the man named Rick slid his rifle down and pulled out the machete from his waist and made his way towards and down the stairs, and behind him was the Asian man who had an unsatisfied expression on his face, an old woman who still has a lot of fight in her, followed by a dark skinned man with a bulky physique and lastly, and following behind them isa beautiful woman with a bit of weight on her and has a pair of melons.

While Alex was busy squeezing more information from the woman, he noticed something and slightly looked up and saw the people hiding on the building across him had decided to come down, and he turned to the woman and said, "It seems your friends are finally willing to come down and talk"

Saying those words, Alex didn't forget to send a zombie that got too close to them flying with a kick, and a few seconds later, Maggie's companions finally appeared from the building entrance, down through the steps, before they fanned out and took down the zombie stragglers around the area.

After killing all of the zombies, they immediately went to check their two friends lying on the ground, and when they confirmed that they were still alive and were just unconscious, all of them were quickly relieved.

Following that, they finally addressed the elephant in the room as they regrouped and stood a few meters before Alex and the woman.

"I'm Rick, the de facto leader of this group, who are you and what do you want from us?"

"Rick! He's someone from those rumors"

It didn't even last a second from when Rick finished what he said when Maggie quickly opened her mouth with visible excitement in her voice, completely forgetting the fact that she's still currently held captive by the said person.

"Rumors? Are you talking about that large group of survivors that suddenly popped up like mushrooms from out of nowhere?"

Then Rick and his companions looked at each other, and even though they can't clearly see each others expressions because it was dark, they know that every single one of them was startled as they weren't expecting that they have been trying to kill is someone from that group that made they leave their home in hopes for a fresh start in a new place, and of all people that they had to encounter, it just happens that the person had to be from that groupof all people!

They suddenly feel like they have stepped on sh*t as they even wanted to kill him!

What luck!

Now, they're unsure what to do with the situation, should they apologize, or should they justkill him?

After all, shit happens, right?

But the million dollar question in their minds right now is, do they have the guts to actually do it?

And If they really managed to kill him, will they be able to handle the revenge heading their way?

'We can't!'

Those words simultaneously popped up in their minds when they reached every possible scenario if they took the second path, and everyone of those choices led to their deaths!

So all of them could only lower their weapons down helplessly, and do diplomacy on the spot, which is shitty because it's easier to solve problems by killing rather than talking.

"I think we've gone off on a-"

"Understandable, state your names"