Chapter 123: Special Vehicles
The mother and daughter received warm clothing and food. The soldiers found them a clean place to sit. The little girl wrapped herself in a blanket, her big round eyes watching Merle as he spat profanity.
A hint of admiration flickered in her gaze.
The mother held her little girl, occasionally exchanging a few words with the soldiers guarding them.
She was trying to learn about Yellowstone.
The combat members had all been trained and knew what should and shouldn't be said. They also understood how desperately these wanderers hoped to join a powerful group and receive protection.
Caesar had established regulations that such wanderers could be absorbed, but they had to be thoroughly vetted to ensure there were no hidden dangers.
After learning a small portion of Yellowstone's information, the mother's eyes grew increasingly bright. The information was limited, but she began automatically filling in the gaps, making her fantasies more concrete and real.
The mother asked, "Then... can we join you?"
She raised her eyebrows looking at the soldier, pressing her dry lips tightly together, fearing rejection yet longing for good news.
"Yes!"
A raspy voice responded. Turning to look, it was Merle.
Merle's face still wore that cocky expression, his hand tossing a ripe peach.
"Really?" Hope burst forth in the mother's eyes, very bright.
"Thank you, truly thank you..." The mother immediately knelt on the ground, her hands clasped together in a gesture of thanks, tears falling from the corners of her eyes.
Merle turned his face away. He wasn't very good at handling others' sincere gratitude—he was better at making people hate him.
But still... this feeling wasn't bad!
Merle tossed the peach in his hand up and down. The girl's little head bobbed up and down following it, like a woodpecker—very cute.
Merle found it inexplicably amusing. He casually tossed the peach into the little girl's lap and walked away with his hands in his pockets.
The little girl stared blankly at the large peach in her lap, the faint sweet fragrance of fruit filling her nostrils.
The girl's mother had just been pulled up by a soldier when she immediately shouted her thanks again, making the little girl join her.
One of the guarding soldiers said sourly, "Captain Merle's peaches—aside from his aide Toby, he only rewards them to soldiers who've earned merit."
Clearly he hadn't eaten one in a long time and was quite envious.
The mother glanced at the two soldiers, took the peach from the little girl's lap, used her eyes to make the child settle down, and awkwardly extended the peach with a forced smile. "Sirs, please eat this peach."
The two soldiers looked at each other, their eyes trembling violently. They retreated two steps and waved their hands. "No, no, the captain gave that to you."
They'd seen soldiers who tried to take things from residents' hands get hanged from trees by Caesar and whipped to death.
The corpses were hung high, exposed to the scorching sun as a warning.
Since then, no soldier considered themselves overbearing administrators.
Merle kept his ears pricked, listening to the movement behind him, feeling pleased by the mother and daughter's gratitude.
At this moment, Toby approached with small steps. Seeing Merle's eyes lose focus, he quietly asked, "Captain? Captain!"
Merle instantly came back to his senses and glanced at Toby, his half-smiling expression restraining itself. "Speak!"
Toby naturally didn't dare keep teasing his superior. He reported, "The squad found the warehouse. There are plenty of daily necessities inside—enough to last a long time in the valley. But..."
"But what?" Merle frowned slightly.
"But there aren't many winter clothes. Only department stores specializing in clothing would have more winter wear."
Toby honestly continued, "As for food, most of what we found edible are packaged foods, canned goods and such. Many with short shelf lives have already expired, and some were even broken open and gnawed by rats..."
The situation clearly wasn't ideal. Merle rubbed his chin. "Fuck, one department store doesn't even have enough."
"Our targets are winter supplies like winter clothing, plus food. These quotas aren't enough—we'll have to search outside."
Merle recalled the map of the nearby area, considering which clothing store to raid.
"By the way, captain," Toby said.
"Mm." Merle stopped thinking and looked at Toby. "What?"
Toby clearly stated his discovery. "The number of walkers outside has decreased a lot, and I saw from high up that some walkers are heading outward."
"Heading outward?" Merle's brow furrowed even tighter. "Out of the city?"
"Right." Toby was still marveling at his discovery.
He'd originally thought walkers were brainless creatures, and that the longer they survived, the more fragile they became.
But now they'd discovered some species patterns—simply remarkable.
Merle couldn't figure it out and scratched his head. "Forget it, as long as it doesn't affect our supply collection. When we get back, we'll let that doctor scratch his head over it."
...
On another side of the city, several armored vehicles drove through the spacious, chaotic streets.
The vehicles moved very slowly, barely faster than human walking speed.
Andrea, not particularly patient, muttered quietly, "Why drive so slow? Waiting to feed the walkers?"
Caesar's hearing was exceptionally sharp. He immediately said, "Then how about you get out and walk while we ride in the car?"
Andrea raised her eyes to look out the vehicle window.
The street was quite desolate, everywhere showing the mess left behind by chaos. The street had not only sandbags placed by the military but also items dropped after nearby stores were looted.
Corpses, sandbags, documents, clothing, luggage, and so on.
Some corpses on the street were still "alive," while others had completely cooled. The living walkers were awakened by the sound of the vehicle moving, stumbled to their feet, then fell as their heads were pierced through.
What made Andrea uneasy was that walkers would occasionally emerge from inside the surrounding shops.
Andrea stubbornly wanted to say something, but warmth came to her hand. Looking down, she saw Carol gripping her, her eyes full of encouragement, as if saying: Don't do something stupid.
Andrea believed that as long as she spoke up, Caesar would throw her out of the vehicle without a second word.
So Andrea chose to shut her mouth.
Caesar looked at the rearview mirror with surprise. Andrea turned her head toward the window as if she hadn't noticed Caesar's gaze.
She actually backed down?!
Withdrawing his gaze, Caesar looked straight ahead, pulled out a map and glanced at it twice, then said to Morales who was driving, "Head that way—we're almost there."
Carol raised her eyes and glimpsed at the Atlanta map in Caesar's hands. On the map was a red circle.
At the circle's center was Grady Memorial Hospital.
"Hospital?" Carol murmured.
The vehicle maintained slow speed and arrived near Grady Memorial Hospital.
The armored vehicle stopped. Caesar took both women out of the vehicle and said to Morales who was driving, "Pay attention to messages on the radio!"
Morales nodded.
Not only Caesar's three, but also T-Dog and about a dozen people got out of the armored vehicles behind them.
Caesar swept his gaze over everyone and arranged, "Find some distinctive vehicles nearby."