When the remaining members of Marcus's team dragged themselves back to camp, their arrival immediately stirred up the crowd.
"They're back!"
"Where's Marcus? Where's Leo?"
"Is that... food? They brought back food!"
Half the people left in the camp were elderly, women, and children.
One by one, they emerged from drafty wooden cabins and shacks covered with torn plastic sheeting, wrapped in whatever rags and scraps they could find. Their faces were marked by frostbite and the sickly pallor of long-term malnutrition.
At first, their eyes were filled with surprise and suspicion, but soon, all attention shifted to the dark green crates being carried in, the faded lettering on them barely visible.
"Quiet! Everyone, quiet down!" shouted a man named Clifford, Marcus's second-in-command, his voice hoarse.
The crowd reluctantly fell silent, their eyes locked on the crates. In the stillness, the sound of people swallowing was especially clear.
Clifford took a deep breath and began recounting what had happened.
He told them how the warehouse they had only ever been able to stare at helplessly had been opened, how they had confronted the Rock Fortress team, how Leo had acted on impulse, how Carver had taken him down with brutal precision, and how the two sides had nearly come to blows.
Then he told them how Marcus and Leo had been left behind as hostages in exchange for these five boxes of biscuits and one medical kit.
As Clifford spoke, the mood in the camp shifted from anticipation to shock, and finally into a heavy, complicated silence.
They had received supplies that could save lives. That was the truth.
A woman in her thirties could not wait to open the basic medical kit. When she saw the well-sealed gauze, disinfectant tablets, and limited painkillers inside, her eyes instantly reddened.
She immediately took the kit and ran to check on the patients in the camp who had fevers from infected wounds. Among them was Leo's younger sister, curled up in the corner of a ruined cabin under a thin blanket, coughing and shivering nonstop.
When Leo's sister saw the medical kit in her hands, her eyes lit up, and she struggled to prop herself up. "Cough, cough... Gwendolyn, did my brother and the others come back?"
Gwendolyn hesitated. Looking into the hopeful eyes of the sick and wounded, she swallowed the truth.
"They're back, and they brought back a lot of supplies! We can make it through this winter!"
Outside the ruined cabin, in the camp.
"They... they took all our guns? And they're holding Marcus and Leo?"
A man in his fifties wearing an old suit vest whose original color could no longer be made out asked in a trembling voice.
He was Knox, one of the maintenance crew leaders from Norris Dam, and he had considerable standing in the community.
"Yes, Knox."
Clifford nodded dejectedly. "They said it's to ensure their safety while they transport the supplies. Once they finish moving everything, they'll let Marcus and Leo come back."
"Ensure their safety? Hmph! They clearly don't trust us! They're treating us like thieves!" a rough voice snapped.
The speaker was David, a former dam security guard. He was tall, strong, and hot-tempered.
There was a fresh scrape on his face from the earlier standoff, when David had tried to rush out and his companions held him back. He had gotten it during the shoving.
Now, that wound seemed to burn against his pride.
"We should've fought them! If we're going down, we take them with us!"
"Fight? With what?" Knox suddenly turned on him, his voice sharp with emotion. "David, look at us! Look at everyone!
We can barely fill our stomachs, and all our weapons together probably don't match what one of their squads carries!
If we all die fighting, what happens to the old people and children in the camp? Do they starve, freeze, or get dragged off by walkers?"
David's neck stiffened, his face red with anger. "That doesn't mean we just take it lying down! Marcus and Leo are still in their hands! What if they..."
"If they wanted to hurt us, we wouldn't have come back just now." A clear but tired female voice cut him off.
The young dam hydrologist, Anna, spoke seriously. "I watched them. They're well-equipped, disciplined, and... they didn't shoot first.
When Leo lunged forward, they only subdued him. That means they have at least some discipline. They're not bloodthirsty lunatics."
"Anna's right," Gwendolyn said as she finished treating a patient's wound and walked over, still holding a cotton swab damp with disinfectant.
"What we need most right now is to survive. These biscuits," she said, pointing at the crates, "can keep everyone going for a long time. These medicines can save lives. Is it worth risking everyone's lives over so-called pride?"
"This isn't about pride!" David roared. "It's about dignity! We're not beggars!"
"You need to be alive to have dignity!" Anna shot back, her eyes burning. "What's wrong with relying on the strong? Trying to survive alone in the apocalypse is a dead end! Look at us!"
She pointed around them.
Inside the broken-down wooden cabins, people huddled together, shivering. Fuel was scarce, so they could only burn small amounts of damp wood, and the smoke stung their eyes until tears streamed down their faces.
Children were wrapped in rags, their small faces bluish from the cold, their eyes unnaturally large as they stared blankly at the adults.
The food storage shed was nearly empty. The only rations left for dozens of people were a few sacks of moldy cornmeal and a little dried meat no one could even identify.
A thin layer of ice covered the creek where they drew water, and it had to be broken open with effort. Even then, the water quality was worrying.
The whole camp reeked of decline and despair.
"That warehouse. How long did we try to get into it? They had people like soldiers, and they opened the warehouse door without breaking a sweat!"
Anna's voice shook with emotion. "If we could join them, we wouldn't have to worry about walkers anymore. We wouldn't have to worry about starving or freezing to death. Marcus and Leo might be our chance!"
"Join them? You're too naive!" Knox shook his head, the lines around his mouth deepening. "A place like that must have strict rules.
If we go in, we'll be at the very bottom, working ourselves to death and living by someone else's mood.
We'd lose our freedom. We'd be like slaves.
Life here is hard, but at least we make our own decisions."
"Our own decisions?" Gwendolyn smiled bitterly and pointed to a wounded man she had just given a small dose of painkillers, who had finally fallen asleep.
"Knox, there are fewer and fewer things we can decide now. Decide who starves first? Decide which child gives up treatment?"
Knox opened his mouth, but no words came out. In the end, he only let out a heavy sigh.
Knox's old partner, Benjamin, who had also worked at Norris Dam, patted him on the shoulder.
"I actually think going there wouldn't be bad. If they're willing to take us in, that'd be even better. Anyway, things can't get much worse than they are now."
Benjamin turned to Gwendolyn and asked seriously, "Gwendolyn, you're a counselor. Do you think those people are reliable?"
...
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