"Damn it!" Andrea cursed under her breath, but she didn't lose heart. Instead, she pulled the bolt, ejected the spent casing, and chambered another round.
She saw Jacqui and Glenn fighting desperately, Rick holding the front, and Oscar and T-Dog helping Glenn and Jacqui finish off the other walkers after dealing with their own.
"I can do this!" Andrea told herself, raising the rifle for the third time.
She took aim, held her breath, felt her heartbeat, and pulled the trigger in the instant between beats.
"Bang!"
This time, the bullet drilled cleanly into the walker's eye socket.
The walker dropped on the spot.
"Nice shot, Andrea!" Glenn shouted in surprise.
A huge rush of accomplishment and strength surged through Andrea's entire body.
She could fight.
With everyone working together, this group of walkers was cleared out, but all of them were panting hard and covered in filth.
The gathering footsteps in the distance were getting closer.
"This way! Hurry!" Oscar pointed toward a narrow side passage. "There's a storage room over here. The door's thick!"
Without hesitating, the group quickly changed direction and rushed into the side passage.
The growls behind them were almost on top of them.
They ran wildly, their flashlight beams shaking all over the walls.
They reached a heavy iron door with a rotating valve on it. The words "Storage-04" were written across the door.
"This is it!" Oscar shouted.
Rick and T-Dog immediately stepped forward and strained to turn the rusted valve.
"Creak, creak."
The sound was harsh and grating, and the shadows behind them had already appeared at the intersection.
"Hurry! They're coming!" Glenn gripped his crowbar and stared nervously at the turn.
Jacqui and Andrea raised their weapons again. This time, Andrea aimed at the intersection without hesitation. Her hands were still trembling slightly, but her eyes were steady.
With a final clank, the valve turned all the way.
Rick and T-Dog yanked the iron door open.
"Inside! Go!"
Glenn, Jacqui, Andrea, and Oscar rushed in.
Rick and T-Dog charged in last, then worked together to slam the iron door shut.
"Bang!"
The heavy impact cut them off from the terrifying world outside. The scratching and growling became muffled.
Inside, everything was pitch black except for the glow of their flashlights and the sound of everyone gasping for breath.
The relief of surviving left them almost weak at the knees.
After a while, Glenn shone his flashlight onto the shelves, opened a cardboard box, and found it packed full of canned soybeans.
He opened the box beside it and found canned corn. There was also meat, dried fruit, cases of bottled water, compressed biscuits, brand-new sheets and towels, soap...
"We found supplies!"
"Take inventory and mark the location," Rick said, his voice carrying the joy of victory. "Then we go home!"
A long while later, the heavy iron door of the storage room opened a crack again. Rick cautiously poked his head out, a bulging pack on his back.
The passage outside was empty. Only faint growls from farther away proved that the danger earlier had not been an illusion, though it no longer posed an immediate threat.
He gestured, and the group filed out behind him, loaded with supplies. Everyone looked exhausted, but what showed even more was excitement and hope they could barely suppress.
T-Dog and Glenn carried a crate of canned food. Jacqui and Oscar dragged sacks filled with sheets and hygiene supplies. Andrea brought up the rear with her rifle raised, her eyes much sharper than when they had set out.
When they returned to Block C with their haul, the people who had stayed behind broke into a small cheer.
Lori and Carol immediately came over. Seeing that everyone was safe despite being covered in grime, they finally let out a real breath of relief.
Carl and Sophia stared curiously at the boxes, their small faces full of wonder.
"My God! That's so much..." Dale looked at the supplies being unloaded, visibly excited.
Hershel smiled with relief. "Good. This solves a big problem for us."
Maggie, Beth, and Patricia also gathered around to help count the supplies.
Rick did not delay. He immediately had about a third of the canned goods, some of the bottled water, and half of the hygiene supplies separated out and stacked to one side.
Then he walked over to Calista, who had just returned from the solitary cells and was speaking quietly with Carver.
"Calista," Rick said, tired but sincere, "this is what we brought back from our first clearing operation. Without the starting point you gave us, we never would've found any of this. This is the share you deserve."
Calista's gaze swept over the pile of supplies, and she was slightly surprised.
She had not expected Rick to take the initiative and divide the spoils so generously.
She had originally assumed that since her side had not sent anyone in, the others would simply claim everything for themselves, or at most give Oscar a small portion separately.
Rick's gesture raised Calista's opinion of the sheriff by quite a bit.
The male lead really was the male lead. He had vision.
She nodded and accepted without any false modesty. "We'll take it. Thank you for your generosity, Rick."
She gave Carver a signal. Carver immediately called Turner, Ethan, and Wells over, and they efficiently moved the supplies allocated to them into the area controlled by Rock Fortress.
At that moment, Hershel and Maggie exchanged a look. Hershel stepped forward and said to Calista, "Calista, you provided shelter, and Rick's people found food and supplies. The farm can't just keep taking without giving anything back."
He pointed toward the livestock quietly grazing on the grass outside. "We've discussed it. We'll give you half of the livestock too. The cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, and those horses, you'll get half of each. I hope they'll be of some help to your Rock Fortress."
This offer truly stirred Calista's heart.
[Live livestock! Aside from the horses and guard dogs that were already at Twilight Manor, the base only has the few dairy cows, a dozen or so sheep, and a small flock of chickens we found earlier at Blackberry Ranch. I was just worrying that the base didn't have enough livestock!]
An irrepressible surge of joy rose in Calista's heart. This would greatly strengthen Rock Fortress's long-term survival capacity.
"Hershel, Maggie, this is a very valuable gift." Calista's gaze softened. "On behalf of Rock Fortress, thank you for your generosity."
Then her tone shifted, and she explained, "However, we have an important mission to set out on immediately, so we can't take the livestock with us right now. Please keep looking after them for the time being. Once we complete the mission and pass through here on our way back, we'll take my half then."
Calista looked at Rick and Hershel and offered an even more tempting proposal. "When that time comes, if you're willing, you can also come with us to Tennessee. The defenses and resources there are far better than this prison, which still hasn't been fully cleared."
The invitation left Rick, Hershel, and the others deep in thought.
A larger community and better facilities were undoubtedly a huge temptation.
But it also meant giving up the fledgling "home" they had just found, leaving Georgia for the unfamiliar state of Tennessee, and placing their fate entirely in the hands of another group.
"We'll give it serious thought," Rick replied cautiously. "Before that, we need to make this place safer first."
Calista nodded and said no more.