Three days passed too quickly.
Oak Ridge, Kentucky.
An ice cream truck drove down the mountain road. There were two people in the truck, one big and one small, the small one was a teenage girl and she was the one driving.
Hanna's eyes were wide open, and if you've ever wondered what a thousand-yard stare looks like, that's her expression right now.
"Change gears, idiot!"
"Aaah, oooh."
Crack, boom.
"Idiot! You changed gears again!"
"The damn steering wheel was to the right! Do you want to go off a cliff? Are you trying to kill me?"
"I'm doing it right, stop shouting!"
"Look at the damn road ahead, why the hell are you looking at me?"
Merle watched Hanna's movements with a serious expression, and for someone more observant, he wasn't as indifferent as he seemed.
Half an hour later, Merle got out of the passenger seat with a bad expression, not because he was scared, but because he felt sorry that the ice cream drawing was now destroyed.
After getting out of the truck, little Hanna became cautious, her big eyes scanning the surroundings and finally seeing Merle.
"What can we find in this abandoned place?"
"Haha, what do you know? As long as there are small towns like this and houses in the mountains, there's more chance of finding communication equipment."
Hanna continued to scan the place suspiciously, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She heard Merle's words, didn't think too much, and it seemed like the old man wasn't lying.
At that moment, where the two were standing was the entrance to the town, and Merle didn't rush in, but instead took out two bags of food and threw a bag to Hanna without looking up.
"You have to eat, and then work."
Hanna didn't bother to say anything, she just saw that there was food to eat and then started shoving everything into her mouth. There was nothing to mention, they were just eating to survive. At this moment, her two cheeks were bulging and she was chewing forcefully, making her look like a hamster.
After the two finished eating, they simply drank a little water and started moving.
Hanna took a water bottle from the back seat, took a few sips, and then her eyes fell on the supplies in the last row.
She couldn't help silently lamenting her poor skills. In her previous group, they were trapped in a town, and just by searching a few houses, several of her group had been bitten. In the end, they didn't find anything useful and the remaining supplies they had ran out.
The group left the house, but never expected that shortly after, their entire group had been wiped out.
But Merle is different, although this old man has a bad temper, his survival skills are really good. Not only is it easy to collect supplies with him, but he can easily handle more than a dozen walkers around him.
Now killing walkers feels like cutting fruit. Hanna had changed her perspective on eliminating walkers, but if there's one thing she admires, it's the ability to find shelter every night and survival skills in nature, she knew this because Merle hunted occasionally.
Hanna thought, "A very strange old man..."
"Hey, what are you thinking?"
Boom!
"Ow!" Hanna held her head as she received a blow from this old man.
"Take your weapon and get ready, otherwise you'll end up dead."
"Okay..."
Merle walked towards the entrance of this small town with a metal baseball bat and hit a billboard.
Dang! Crack! Dang!
The sound quickly enveloped the small town, which wasn't very large. The main reason he dared to do this was because there were no traces of human activity in the small town.
There was a reaction in the small town, and the walkers hiding in the darkness came out from hidden corners one after another.
Rrrr!
The scene that reminded them of the world they lived in replayed before their eyes, and Merle simply walked towards the walkers, and after a few seconds when he returned, there were only two left.
With a vertical ax in Hanna's hand, thanks to the teaching of old man Merle in three days, she could barely deal with two walkers at once.
In fact, through continued communication, Merle discovered that this girl was only thirteen years old, so killing two walkers at this age was truly incredible. But now she was weak and thin, having been protected by her family and companions all this time. Moreover, she hadn't been able to eat enough for a long time. Normally, a small body grows a lot during the growth period, but many encountered this damned world.
These days, although Merle scolds Hanna a lot, she can at least eat enough. This makes Hanna ignore everything else.
A few days ago, Merle found an appropriately sized ax, which is exactly the ax that Hanna now holds in her hands.
So now Hanna had the right weapon and a determined expression, so she slowly walked in front of the walker, and although it was very uncomfortable to face them due to her height, with Merle's guidance she gained confidence.
Not only did Hanna know that she had made great progress just by observing Merle's method, but he also realized it through her results.
As the two walkers approached Hanna, she adjusted her posture and moved her body so that her enemies were facing in one direction.
Seeing Hanna suddenly take a step forward, the walker was attracted to her and naturally wanted to reach out and attack.
But Hanna dodged and slid her right foot into a weak spot of the figure in front of her.
Crack!
The walker who was struck in the heel fell to the ground, and a sharp ax struck him in the head, taking his life in a short time.
Hanna forcefully pulled the ax handle out and found that it was slightly stuck, and exerted all her strength in her legs to finally pull it out.
At this moment, the second walker had already extended his hand in front of her, so Hanna raised her left arm and swung the ax with her right hand to strike the top of the walker's head.
Before that, the walker had already grabbed Hanna's arm, and his black and yellow teeth could not wait to bite the thin arm that held the walker. However, there was no expression of pain on Hanna's face, and the ax in her right hand smashed against the walker's head.
Crack!
The walker who was getting closer to biting his victim stopped, and his body fell to the ground without strength.
"Yes!"
Hanna couldn't help but celebrate after seeing that she was able to kill two walkers at once, and then turned to Merle, looking at him with pride.
Merle spat on the ground and pointed at Hanna's arm. "Don't get excited, stupid girl. If I hadn't prepared protective gear for you to suffer, could you really have survived? What would you have done if there were three instead of two? I remember telling you, right? Don't fight unless it's absolutely necessary! How did you do it now?"
Without the expected praise, Hanna felt a little uncomfortable. She saw that she had made considerable progress, but this old man always scolded her instead of giving her a compliment.
Looking at Hanna's pursed lips, Merle's tone didn't change and still said coldly, "Listen, fly, what I'm teaching you is so that you can live a little longer in this world. If you learn it, you'll have the ability to survive. If you expect me to congratulate you, you're thinking about useless things."
"I can tell you very responsibly that I've seen a boy who was only seven or eight years old, he is not only good at shooting, but also ruthless. When you were being protected, he was already ready to survive on his own. Compared to him, you still have a long way to go, do you understand?"
Of course, all these words were just nonsense in Merle's mouth, but Hanna obviously took it seriously and her expression became extremely serious.
Looking at Hanna's expression, Merle secretly nodded. In the last few days, one should not be complacent and expect praise, and one must not trust themselves absolutely.
"Okay, remember why we came this time."