Chapter 68 - Declaration

After taking care of all the enemies, Airon took his weapon and walked in the surroundings while looking at the mess. He took out an old rag from his pocket and wiped the blood from his knife, then he threw the rag away and walked towards Elias who was checking the corpses on the ground. 

Regarding what had happened a moment ago, Airon was not so agitated when he and Rick were outside the shelter. He remembered something along the lines of what happened to Rick, but he didn't think things would take so long in everything he was doing. 

At least this situation didn't escalate, some people don't understand the problem of getting out of the shelter if they don't have combat skills. Therefore, he now had to be much more careful with the people he accepted into the S.C.T. 

If these people had not attacked Shane's group and the others who attacked him in the city of Atlanta, he would think he still had more time to gather more people without much trouble, but all this was no longer the case. 

Airon also doesn't want to eliminate his enemies in this cruel way, but if the others don't understand how harsh the world will become, they will think that the world is still kind. 

From the looks of it, these people didn't have many resources with them and most likely were looking for resources on the outskirts of this small town due to their care with walkers.  Also, the chances that these people were related to others are very small, as long as he and his group moved carefully, there would be no problem even if they encountered enemies. 

Not long after everything was complete, Airon and the others boarded the trucks and cars, and as soon as the place was secured, Jimmy was carefully loaded onto a resource truck. Of course, someone made sure that he didn't turn into a walker soon after, since that would cause trouble for everyone.

The one most affected by his death was Beth, apparently that boy was her boyfriend and seeing him die in such a sudden way was very hard to accept. And considering that it was partly her father's fault, it was something that caused her a lot of guilty thoughts. 

After stepping aside, he looked at the large convoy of cars and trucks. This trip was too busy so now she wanted to see what the prison was like right now. 

As Elias approached, he looked off into the distance and said, "It looks like these people are nothing to pay attention to, what shall we do?" 

"Any stone no matter how small the damage it can produce is truly something important." Regarding this, Airon didn't want to say more, then he walked towards the bus to check that everything was in order. 

"Looks like you found more survivors, that's good." Shane said as he walked up to the back of the convoy. 

Airon didn't know when Shane stood next to him, this time it must have been hard for Shane to keep up with the situation so he felt this would serve as an experience for them. 

"It was a tough trip back, we ran into a lot of trouble but I'm reassured that we're all back together again." Airon had been feeling a little anxious about what was happening to the group in this place, after all it was something he didn't think would happen. 

In conjunction with everything that had happened, Airon turned his head a bit, looked at Shane and asked, "I don't know what your difficulties are, but could you explain to me what you were doing in this place?" 

Although Airon had the best intentions in asking this question, Shane didn't think so and pointed out, "Lori wanted to go out looking for Rick, she had a crisis and thought it was right to go out herself to find them. But because of that, we were able to watch the horde of walkers and rescue Hershel with his family." 

Looking at the soldiers coming and going, Airon nodded silently as he listened to this explanation, because he interfered a lot in the development of many people's story, it's not a surprise that things move differently. 

However, that was not something that mattered much to him, now he had to move in his own way and take care of things much more delicately. These things might be somewhat small, but they are also being considered in his movements later on. 

Seeing this, Airon did not hesitate any longer and said, "We have to go back to the prison, things seem to be normal on our side but people are very agitated, the new ones must adapt to the prison." 

"Yes, I'll let the others know." Shane said as he understood what Airon meant. 

"Alright, let's go back to our home." Airon said in a deep voice. His gaze swept over everyone and nodded as he saw that they were okay, he didn't want to stay in this place any longer. 

As for the backpacks and weapons of those people who attacked Shane's group, Airon saw how some soldiers put them on a military truck before getting on and waiting for the others. Anything no matter how small is necessary to survive, maybe no one understands that now, but that is something everyone will understand later. 

The convoy moved slowly through the streets and took a detour to return to the prison, because the bus was full, Airon got on a relatively empty truck along with the others. 

"Were you injured?" Glenn looked towards Airon curiously and saw the bandage slightly stained with blood, he looked at Airon and then at Rick next to him and asked in a surprised voice. 

At this point, Airon, as a good leader and experienced former soldier, knew what  was capable of and now having him wounded meant that the return trip of the group coming from Atlanta didn't go very well for them. 

"Well, we were ambushed by a group of people who came to this place, after repelling the aggression we returned to their refuge and rescued some people who were their prisoners." Rick said in a somewhat calm voice.

The convoy was moving slowly and everyone in the truck where Airon and the others were looking at it with some surprise, they must have gone through complicated things just like in this place. 

After some time, the sound of sirens coming from the CDC had suddenly stopped being heard, and then an expression was heard in the distance and at that moment everyone knew that the explosion device had ended with numerous walkers around them. 

Everyone then decided to keep quiet as they watched the slow words of the others, all those people who had left with Airon were in other trucks and the others beside them were new members of the community.  

The atmosphere behind the truck was too oppressive, except for Rick and Daryl, everyone's faces were very white, at the end, Lori broke the silence again and said, "Rick, let's get out of the prison!" 

In fact, Rick also saw that the expressions on everyone's faces were all wrong, but Lori's words surprised everyone. "Why would you say that?" 

The expression on Lori's face crumpled and she said with a raised tone, "Didn't you see how I kill all those people? How can you act normal after doing that and even sleep peacefully? I don't want to stay in a place run by a murderer!" 

Airon, who was in the corner of the back truck, could hear that conversation but decided not to say anything. He knew Lori feared her husband was slowly turning into someone similar to Shane and now he was definitely being taken into account. 

"Be someone more rational, Lori! Don't you know why he killed them, I would have done the same thing, no one is making sure those bastards ever find us again with more people and more guns." Although Rick understood his wife's intentions and now considering he made this conversation public, he knew that Airon and everyone else is just trying to survive. 

No one in this world will be any good later, and it is for that reason that he was also involved in the recovery of the kidnapped servicemen. 

Glenn, who was in front of Rick and Lori, suddenly said with a strange expression, "What qualifications do you have to blame Airon like that? It was you who broke out of the prison and caused all this mess, it's hard to say but if you have to blame someone we should set the record straight.Is that wrong?" 

After speaking, Glenn shook his head. He couldn't understand the mindset of many people in this truck and all starting with Lori. Maybe she's just in shock from what she's been through? 

Lori didn't get a chance to speak, Rick who heard this instantly asked a question. He had only heard that Lori and the others had been attacked by strangers, he didn't know his wife had escaped. "You did what, Lori, you ran away and left Carl alone?" 

"I needed to find you!" 

Lori only said those words with a stunned expression, then turned her head away and said nothing.

Rick's expression was filled with disbelief, then he scolded quietly, "Have you lost your mind? I can't believe you thought it would be a good idea to go out and find me by yourself. Didn't I tell you I'd be back as soon as possible? What were you thinking?"   

Seeing that Lori still didn't respond to his words, Rick lost his temper and said quietly, "Say something!" 

Lori suddenly turned around, looked at Rick through gritted teeth and said, "Because I'm pregnant!"