The next morning, as promised by Airon, he gathered Abraham's group to discuss the issue that has been bothering them since they arrived at the central base.
After some negotiation, Eugene finally could not resist the pressure and told the truth.
Abraham was naturally furious, but was unable to give Eugene a third strike because Airon stopped him.
He was enraged at having lost everything he thought was real, fought for a while against Airon, who only wanted to stop him, and finally after some clever maneuvers fell to the ground exhausted.
Abraham is a powerful man and the fight exploited all his physical strength which caused an initial disadvantage to Airon, and even with his incredible strength he managed to connect a blow to Arion's cheeks.
Amy was furious and was about to kill this guy with a gun, but Airon stopped her, shook his head and told all the guards to lower their weapons.
After some persuasion from the group, Abraham made some sounds due to his great anger. But come to think of it, the place they are in has an advanced lab, and the virus vaccine that was injected wasn't fake at all. These aspects also gave him hope, so Abraham wasn't as lost as in the original story.
Just as Negan and the others were ready to leave, Abraham was armed and stood next to Airon.
"Do you want to leave too?"
"Yes, since hope is lost, then I can't stay here for free, and you're a good leader, so I'll follow you in the future."
"Then let's go."
...
The destination for this trip is Birmingham where there were supposedly survivors according to observations from base checkpoints. The resources in Atlanta have been taken by their people, so there was not much to do in the Georgia domain other than produce resources, defend and train.
Therefore, according to the discussions of all the leaders of the organization, it would be important to take Birmingham as their new expansion and open a base there.
But because numerous roads were crowded with automobiles, the group that Airon was leading took several detours.
After hours of travel, they were getting closer and closer to the destination. If they could begin to take Alabama this time, having Georgia as their domain, Florida was not a problem and with that they would have open passage to the sea.
Airon's plans were to open large bases in each of those territories and from that point on take all the useful things bit by bit, implementing the plans he had been developing for a long time.
Birmingham is a rather large city where resources could be important to the interests of Airon's people, after all it is believed that there are no large communities leading there.
On their way, Airon and his people could see that the stores were full and in good condition within what they had thought.
And their goal this time UAB where they hoped to find survivors. This was the first step of the organization to open new territories. Once Airon gives the green light, helicopters will undertake a trip from Atlanta where hundreds of soldiers will be sent.
After that, the plan to clear the city of walkers will be increased. Therefore, Airon's mission was just for observation and if this place is really worth it for now.
A convoy of three armored vehicles stopped in front of a shopping mall. The soldiers got out wearing a combat suit much more sophisticated than the first prototype, so they were all sure of what they were doing.
The group got out of the car and looked toward the front of the mall. There were several corpses lying on the street. The flesh on their bodies was almost rotten and it was obvious that ordinary people could contract diseases if they lived in such decaying environments.
A few birds pecked at the carcass and, startled by the sound of the armored vehicle, flew not far away.
The once bustling shopping mall is now in decay. However, the people who were used to these scenes were already on the move and did not pay much attention to them, dispersing as soon as they got out of the car, clearing away the walkers that were attracted by the armored vehicles.
"We need to sort this place out, see what types of walkers there are and the condition of the streets. When the main force arrives at this place, we have to look for a good place to set up the main base."
Holding the bat in his hand, Negan smashed the heads of the walkers in front of him one after another, then turned his head to face the door of the mall.
He was the most active of these people, after all, it was his wife who needed the medicine and the most grateful man of the group. Therefore, he led Airon's people forward.
The sound echoed through the silent mall. Once they entered they were in no hurry to look inside. The soldiers in battle fatigues turned on the flashlights on their weapons and began to disperse.
"Do not split into groups of less than five people. The objective is to look around this mall and find out if it can be useful for our people to set up."
"Sir, everything is very quiet and there are no walkers."
Airon looked around not knowing if this place was really useful for their next moves.
"Is there anyone there? If there is no one, let's go inside."
When Airon arrived with a group at a store of what appeared to be mountain gear, one of the people shouted in warning and then opened the door.
Negan smiled as he carried a baseball bat next to Airon.
"The hospital isn't too far from here, honestly it's a very important point to keep in mind. This place could serve as a foothold to spread out across the state."
"Yes, we should take this place."
Negan looked at them strangely and asked strangely.
"Have you made a decision yet?"
"Do you need to?" Daryl suddenly interrupted.
"There's a little over twenty of us, most of us are elite soldiers so cleaning this place up won't be a problem."
"I know, the problem is cleaning the shit off the walls." Negan said with a smile.
"We should mobilize at least a thousand people and most of them should be soldiers..." Airon said as he watched this place.
Just when several people were bored, there was finally movement in the mall.
A black figure stepped out of a store, furtively peering into the entrance of the store, several figures appeared in his line of sight, startled, he whistled towards the corner of the wall in the shadows.
"Hey, buddy, I just looked at you. We mean no harm, but if you run now my huge bat will crush your head like a ripe watermelon."
Negan's voice reached the ears of that figure inside the tent where Airon's group had stopped.
"What do they want?"
"My staff will take this entire mall, so I need to know how many people are here." Hearing Airon's tone change, the people inside began to speak.
"Okay, I open the door."
Click!
There was a sound of unlocking the inner door, and soon a slightly dark-skinned young man appeared in front of several people.
Cautiously, he stretched his head to look outside, and seeing some corpses on the ground, he quickly waved his hands anxiously.
"Quickly, come in quickly, the brain-eating zombies can see them."
A group of eight people entered the store, as for the others they are possibly clearing the mall of walkers.
Turning his head to look at these strangers, he finally extended his hand towards Airon."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Logan!"
"Airon."
The two greeted each other amicably, then Logan greeted the others with a smile.
"Where are you from?"
"From Atlanta, we come to see the state of Birmingham and find out if there is value in taking this place back."
They all followed the young man inside and soon stopped at the door of a restaurant, opened the door and they all followed.
"Are you the only one here?" Negan asked as he held his bat tightly.