During the Journey back to their shelter, they stopped by new places to loot for important supplies, medicine, weapons, clothes, and hygienic items.
There wasn't much left and it was more dangerous now that they were low on ammo. Besides it was always harder to fight during the night.
The group drove to a small drawbridge that connected the city to a small island resort that was built for the wealthy before the whole apocalypse thing began.
There were tens of guards all heavily armed and protected behind makeshift metal walls from scrap.
Meanwhile, inside Carl's car.
"Hey Carl, you heard from Garry about the weird stalker zombie right?" a young woman asked as she fiddles with her rubix cube.
"Yeah." Carl was much quieter these days, "What about it?"
The young woman continued, "I have a theory, and I think that the zombie must be controlled by a person"
"So what?"
"That means they can theoretically control an entire horde…"
"Well, there are a lot of people who has powers in so many forms now," Carl mused, "So it wouldn't be strange to see someone who can control zombies"
"But, there are probably side-effects and limits to their abilities. Maybe he is half-fungi… who knows" Carl added as he turns his head to the window, "point is, it doesn't matter for now"
The young woman wanted to discuss more, but she could tell Carl didn't want to speak anymore.
The young woman's name is Mary, she was rescued by Carl when he broke off with his original group.
His daughter was the little girl that was with Jenny at the time. His daughter was held captive by Negan who had telepathic powers that allowed him to control others.
Negan took control of Carl's daughter so he could basically have the powerful enabled as his bodyguard for free while honing his telepathic powers.
When an opportunity arose he quickly acted and tried to kill Negan, however Negan destroyed the little girl's mind before he was struck with lightning.
Now her memories were distorted and she had to learn to control her body again like a newborn.
Carl was incredibly angry and pained, he didn't want to see his daughter become incapable, because in this world no one would take a second glance at someone who was weak.
Carl didn't give up on her and carefully traversed the town where he killed Negan. It was a small and quiet town so there weren't that many people living there before the apocalypse.
Although the zombies he encountered were fast, crazed and much stronger than the average adult's strength, he had the power of electricity so he got out fast.
The zombies don't feel pain as their nerves are essentially fried. They can use any part of their body to inflict damage or enter buildings and tear through anything.
That's why buildings made out of bricks or metal, without glass are the only option for a safe place to sleep.
Maybe if it was military-grade glass, then the average zombie probably wouldn't be able to break through.
Anyways.
Carl finally met with a group of survivors that were actually herding zombies, believe it or not.
They rode horses and vehicles and had a very precise method of diverting large zombie hordes away from their base.
Of course, being an enabled, Carl was able to seek asylum easily. After all he could contribute much to their community.
The town was almost idyllic, much because of its numerous large fancy houses. There were generators and plenty of empty land.
There was actually someone who lived there and became an enabled a few days after the apocalypse.
His powers and identity are still unknown by many.
Rumors spread that he killed everyone who was male and infected on the island and instantly became the king of the island.
He retained some rather loyal dogs on his side with his charisma and power, so he was still in the position of king even after several other enabled later joined.
Carl became a squad leader after he showcased his powers when a horde nearly breached the final gate.
Now the place is much more fortified and protected. They recently used radios to send signals for any straggling survivors who were brave enough to travel far and wide to reach safe haven.
As for the military installed safe haven, that was hundreds of miles away. They were probably in much better conditions.
Carl's squad jumped out of their vehicles on the bridge for check-ups. If they had any scratches or bites then they were not killed immediately.
They were carefully put into quarantine for about a week depending on their initial health status. There hasn't been any incidents with infected people getting into the base yet.
Symptoms are unique and usually occur as soon as the person is infected, so it is hard for someone to lie that they fell off the stairs when they were actually bitten.
After they were all checked, they walked through the large main gates of the town, then they passed through another rather quick inspection.
During all of this, they unloaded their supplies and weapons for collection. As for the orbs, they would split it up amongst themselves.
Finally, they were home sweet home.
Squadrons lived together not only because there weren't a lot of houses, but also so that their team bond was stronger.
His squad had about 15 people, sometimes a few would die or became too injured to stay so it was never consistent.
Carl's house was at the center part of the town, where the storage area was: inside the mansion of the King.
Carl washed up and ate a simple dinner with his squad, left and walked to the makeshift hospital.
As he walked past the beautiful yet strange house and environment, he thought back to the days before the apocalypse…
To the days when his wife, Elizabeth was still with him and his daughter. She died of cancer only a few years after his daughter Ellie was born.
And she had cancer when Ellie was still a fetus forming in her belly, doctors didn't believe that either of them would live long.
The cancer had already spread to Elizabeth's major organs silently, stage four cancer.
But Elizabeth chose hope and didn't despair, maybe it was her strong motivation or determination to live, but Ellie was born healthy and free of cancer.
Elizabeth pulled through as well, only for a few years. The year after Elizabeth passed away, Ellie turned 4.
She was 11 when the apocalypse happened, life wasn't easy.
Carl silently wiped a few tears, his head was mostly down. People who walked past him knew the story well and didn't bother him.
It's difficult for someone to empathize or sympathize with another person's tragedy, it's not that they don't have compassion or kindness, but rather because they just can't put themselves in another person's shoes.
Unless they also experienced themselves. So Carl and Ellie have been alone for a long time and to this very day.
Soon he was in the hospital ward where Ellie stayed for treatment.
She was quietly playing with some toy blocks and cars, her food plate was mostly untouched.
Carl talked with her for a bit while feeding her and left. He felt defeated as her recovery was too slow. He wanted her to recover as soon as possible before she became an adult.
Otherwise, it'll be a thousand times harder or even impossible to treat much less cure.
After his check up on his daughter, he had an important meeting to attend tonight.
There was a meeting with all the enabled scheduled by the King.