"Cough... What the hell... cough... What's happening?!"
A soldier in the rear compartment turned around with half of his face shattered and forced himself to stand up despite the dizziness in his head. Only then did he realize what had happened a moment ago and shouted aloud, "Enemy attack!"
But at this moment, how could a comrade respond to him? The powerful impact had caused the soldiers to suffer concussions, and they couldn't react quickly.
Tap-tap! Tap-tap! Tap-tap!
At that moment, the sound of footsteps came from the entrance covered in smoke. The soldier squinted his eyes and widened them to get a clearer view in the direction of the sound. Knowing that the attackers were approaching, he immediately wanted to reach for the rifle by his side.
But before he could crouch down to retrieve the weapon, the people outside seemed to sense his intention, and the sound of footsteps suddenly approached at a much faster speed.
When the soldier quickly grabbed his weapon and prepared to counterattack, a large foot that was approaching had already made close contact with his face, and the back of his head forcefully struck the truck's body. Despite wearing a helmet, the impact was too strong, and he, who hadn't fully recovered from the car accident, completely lost consciousness.
"Sleep well..."
Seeing the soldiers who had fallen into a coma, Tommy greeted the other soldiers who were following closely and began dealing with these soldiers who lacked the capacity to resist due to their initial disorientation.
"Keep them all, I don't want anyone left alive."
Instead of shooting to eliminate these individuals, the soldiers struck their heads with the bayonet of their Mark-2 rifles to avoid wasting ammunition on them.
"Are we going to kill them all, brother?" Tommy truly doubted his decisions because of the consequences.
After dealing with these soldiers and confirming that they wouldn't wake up as walkers, Joel approached the soldiers alongside Tommy and said, "They might be demons just as we imagined. They are attacking our people, so we don't need to show compassion."
"You're right, brother. We shouldn't hesitate."
Looking at the faces of the soldiers in their twenties, Tommy touched his unshaven chin and said, "Looking at their young appearance, I suddenly feel very old."
"You're just a little over thirty-three years old. How much older do you think you are than them?"
Seeing Tommy's profound gaze, Joel couldn't help but smile, walked to the side of the trucks ahead, and looked at the dead captain and the soldier in the driver's seat impaled by a metal pole.
After confirming that there was no threat, he quickly exited and said, "Since this is settled here, let's go to the building to find the commander."
"Wait a minute..."
Tommy headed toward the soldiers and began giving orders, then pulled out a radio and started speaking, "Zz... Daryl, this is Tommy, respond!"
"Zz... Signal's not good, it's Daryl here."
"Zz... We've arrived in the town, head towards the main street, that's where you'll find us. You can proceed safely as the snipers will cover you."
"Zz... Understood!"
...
"Sir, there's something strange about these people."
Raising his hand to momentarily stop the anxious soldier, Tommy examined what this soldier had found.
"What's going on?"
Feeling Tommy's pause, Joel, who was helping keep watch around, also stopped and asked with confusion.
"Something strange..."
Putting the weapons aside haphazardly and piling them up, Tommy said, "In South Carolina, even the soldiers patrolling in the area where the Fireflies used to live, the basic setup for each soldier consists of a throwable object and two magazines..."
Speaking of that, he pointed at the soldier beneath him and said, "But if you look closely, these people are here to fulfill a mission, yet besides the rifles they carry, each one has a single magazine, which indicates that they're just pawns sent to die."
"Even if these people are in decline, it would be impossible for them to carry this weaponry."
"...That's not something we should worry about."
Joel patted Tommy, who was tilting his head and pondering, on the back. He shook his head helplessly, looked at the equipment stacked on the ground, and said, "There are too many of these things; we need to clear this place."
"Shoot first, ask questions later."
"Yes, sir!"
...
"Let's go, let's find Airon!"
The two quickly left the scene, leaving it in the hands of the soldiers to avoid any further mistakes.
Upon reaching the main road that led to the building, the two could see the eye-catching landmark building and the sewage pool filled with floating green objects in the entrance area from a distance.
"Huh?"
Just as they walked along the main road, Tommy suddenly stopped as if he had noticed something, and he glanced sideways at the high wooden platform in a dark alley next to the street and the footprints below.
"This... someone was here a moment ago, there should be three people, two adults and a child. Look in that direction..."
Joel, who also noticed this situation, took a step forward, crouched to observe the footprints, and couldn't form his own judgment. Then he followed the footprints to the end and looked at their destination.
"It's this building!"
"It should be Airon and the others."
Knowing that Airon had left the museum and stayed here, Tommy didn't want to waste any more time and signaled Joel to walk forward from the waist-high sewage pool.
As they set foot on the path toward the building, both of them noticed the water-stained footprints leading to the door at the same time, and they felt relieved.
The fact that the water hadn't dried yet meant that Airon and the others had just entered not long ago, and it was very likely that they were still inside.
"I should keep watch..."
"How..."
"Laura, we should go back!"
As the two approached the entrance of the building, a conversation came from inside. At first, it wasn't very clear, but as they got closer, the conversation became clearer and clearer.
Tommy, who had excellent vision, clearly saw Airon, with his back to them, and the woman standing in front of him who was swaying back and forth.
He immediately stopped and raised his hand to halt Joel, who was following closely behind him.
"Who killed these people? Could it be the military?"
"No, that's not it!"
But the conversation between the woman and Airon quickly gave Tommy the answer, and only then did he notice that there were still several corpses strewn on the ground, with a faint smell of blood lingering in the air.
"Are they all dead?"
As he looked at the lifeless bodies on the ground, Tommy's tension grew.
Upon realizing this, Tommy shouted loudly, "S.C.T., nobody move!"