The night advanced very quickly, the first ray of sunlight broke through the darkness of the night and gradually began to dawn, ushering in a new day.
But what the soft sunlight shone on was not the lush grass and trees swaying in the wind, but the bloody corpses all over the ground, the smoldering flames and the humans who were still fighting the walkers.
"Fuck you!"
The cold weapons in the hands of all the people began to eliminate all the walkers that were attracted by the noise caused in this place. Airon, who was fighting all night, raised his machete and pierced the head of a walker, blood stained the ground but this didn't stop him from continuing to eliminate more walkers.
Panting heavily, he looked around at the devastated streets and the walkers that gradually stopped coming to this shelter, knowing that his group had wiped out all the walkers that invaded this place.
After a night of fighting, exhaustion was written on everyone's face. Some even could not take it anymore and fell weakly to the ground. Fortunately, someone quickly helped them up and poured some water on them, and then everyone calmed down.
"Everyone get ready to move, we still need to seal off the street to let the walkers stay out for now!"
Although the battle in the city is over, Airon knows that the battle outside still continues and that the atmosphere in the city is no longer suitable to keep making more noise. A large part of Jeffrey's group that was taking care of the walkers for hours were already exhausted, it was a matter of time before they all took a well-deserved rest.
Hearing this, the surrounding survivors insisted on getting to their feet, helping each other and calling out to their companions, and ran towards the entrance of the corpse-strewn building.
"Sir! Please, I need help!" Suddenly, a scream aroused the attention of the place and everyone turned to a person holding his neck.
Seeing this, Airon rushed over and looked at the wound on his subordinate's upper shoulder, when he withdrew his hand, he could see the bite of a walker. "Ho... Everything will be fine buddy, but it looks like you got bitten by a woman! Was she at least pretty?"
When the man heard this, he smiled slightly and through tears said, "Sir, I lost my family and when I heard your words in that speech I just wanted to live to help you accomplish your goals."
"I really admire you for having your goals well defined, it was an honor sir, thank you for letting me follow you." After saying that, the man looked at Arion and said, "It would be an honor to be able to die in your hands, help me with that sir."
Hearing these words, the survivors in the surroundings felt their blood run cold, they all knew how lethal a walker bite was, if it was on a limb he could still be saved, but the wound was on his shoulder so there was no chance of saving him.
And Elias, who received the news all at once had also arrived at the scene with Jeffrey's people, Anna was also in the group after hearing what their leader had done. When she looked at the silent scene, she looked at the man holding his neck and then learned from that man's words that he was infected.
Not long after, Airon drew his weapon and walked to that man, hugged him with a reassuring smile and said, "You know, I always wanted this scene not to happen since I became a leader for everyone, but it's an honor that you ask me for help in this situation, it means I'm really doing my job well."
"Yes sir..." Said the man while resting his head on Airon's chest, that calmness felt in the whole of his leader made him feel at ease.
Just when he expected a quick shot, Airon said nothing and after a while he asked, "Tell me Ramirez, when is your birthday?"
"Huh?" Ramirez, who expected to be killed as soon as possible, was puzzled and thought hard about when his birthday would be and said, "May 13..."
"Bang!"
The bullet came out of the barrel of the gun in Airon's hands, Airon who was very close to Ramirez was smeared with blood on his face. With a calm look, Airon did not let Erick's body fall to the ground.
Under the surprised looks of everyone, Airon held Ramirez's body and let it slowly fall to the ground. When he looked up, the hot blood on his face drained down and with an emotionless expression, he said, "It's been a long time since all this started..."
"Mark my words, the dead do not suffer from death, it is we the living who will mourn the deaths of our loved ones, friends and brothers who are no longer with us."
Saying this, Airon raised his eyes and fixed on Anna's gaze before saying, "If you want to keep fighting, I will open the way for you as far as my life goes, I will be the one to make the hardest decisions so that these things don't happen again."
"Ramirez's death is a symbol, he showed us that we can still keep fighting for our future, he taught us that death is not a punishment but a reward. Will you still keep fighting on behalf of all our loved ones who are now not with us?"
Although everything was apparently over, this was just the beginning to keep this place safe, there would be many deaths and Airon was prepared to keep calm for everyone and move on. He needed to be a good leader, proving that despite all that the group suffers, the defeats and the losses, they would always have a righteous leader with an unbreakable will.
Looking at the extremely silent crowd, Airon turned around and walked towards the inside of the building, before entering he turned around and said, "Someday we will be the ones to die, but until then we must keep calm and our weapons ready to defend ourselves."
"We will fight on, we will follow you wherever we may come to your side." At that moment, Anna stepped forward and said.
"As I thought, you are a strong and determined woman, reorganize your people to clean up this place. Very soon we will start expanding from this place, there is a lot of work left to do."
Thinking about the situation that had just happened, Airon said, "Keep your heads up, there are still many people who will need our help later on."
"Yes sir!"
"Good."
With a confirmation, Airon entered the building and headed back to the room where Dmitry and Jeffrey's corpse rested, he glanced at his body reflected in the window glass and his appearance was now very scary.
Covered in blood and pieces of flesh on his boots and body, Ramirez's blood on his face and an expression that showed his most indifferent side. Airon this time felt something choked in his chest, as if he wanted to express but his now self prevented it.
"How far have we come, haven't we?" muttered Airon with a slight smile, he raised the gun in his hand and pointed it at his head before closing his eyes.
"Just one and it's all over, you won't suffer, you won't receive criticism and you won't have to kill your followers before they become walkers." As he thought this, Airon opened his eyes and threw the gun on a desk.
Just now, after being a bit pitiful, I smile as if what he had done was a joke. He walked over to Dmitry's body and searched through his things out of sheer curiosity, only to discover that he had nothing.
When he looked down, he found some sort of old long-range radio and then picked up the microphone and pressed it out of mere curiosity.
"Zz... Hello, my name is Airon and right now I just want to be alone, is there anyone who can hear me and we can share a quiet moment?"
"Zz..."
Listening in silence coming from the radio, Airon smiled bitterly and thought, "How am I supposed to get an answer?"
However, the next moment, a female voice came out of the intercom and the sound, although choppy, he could hear well. "Zz... Hello, this is Alicia."
Airon's eyes sparkled and he spoke again, "Zz.... Hi Alicia, how are you coping with your life in this world full of the undead?"
"Not bad, at least I no longer have to worry about anything other than surviving alongside my loved ones, what's your situation?"
Without wanting to talk about anything else, both parties began to unconcernedly recount the things they had experienced in this world and what they thought would happen later on.
After a while, Airon slowly lost communication with the other party and before that happened, he pointed out, "Point this radio channel, if I am ever near your broadcast, I will be able to lend you a hand..."
"Zz... We may possibly never see each other's faces, what's the point of hanging on to something like that?" Alicia asked in a voice between laughs.
"Who knows... Maybe someday we can see each other, anything can happen..." Before Airon could finish his words, the radio lost communication with the other party.
Just as Airon was about to help the others with the job, a voice came out again from the radio on the desk, "Hello, I Corporal Raul Mendez, I lead a platoon of over ninety soldiers and hundreds of civilians, requests for help to whoever is listening to us."
When Airon heard these words, he picked up the radio and said, "This is Captain Airon, tell me your location, we have a safe place, you can trust me!"