Dominic used his motorcycle to head to Alicia's mom's house. She now lives alone with Travis after Nick and Alicia decided to live on their own.
Today, they had to visit her for a family dinner. The comedy show would be in the evening, so it was tough for Dominic to change his clothes. He ended up wearing his combat uniform with the insignia of a general commander.
"Is she upset?" Dominic arrived at the house where Alicia's mother lived, whom they hadn't lived with for a while.
"It's always the same; she's just trying to protect us in a world where we need to do that job ourselves," said Alicia, feeling indifferent towards her mother's behavior now.
When they entered Madison's house, Alicia helped Dominic take off part of his vest and weapons, leaving them aside in a bag. His outer clothing wasn't too exaggerated; he wore a black suit modified to be much more comfortable and resistant to blood stains.
"Mom, we're here," Alicia said, going to greet her mother. They entered the living room and found Chris, who was playing with a console.
Not everyone had the right to so much electricity; only citizens truly contributed something to the development of a new beginning. As teachers, Alicia's family had certain privileges that others didn't.
"Have you still not considered joining the training?"
Chris stopped playing, looked at Dominic, and said, "I'd rather stay in a safe place; killing zombies isn't something I'm good at."
"Do you think you'll always have options?"
Dominic, after saying this, added, "Anything can happen outside this safe room. Will you know how to defend yourself, or will you let your mother die at the hands of those walkers you don't know how to kill?"
"Don't treat me like an idiot." Chris looked angrily at Dominic. It seemed to him that this guy, who wasn't much older than Alicia, believed he had control over everything.
"You know what I think. I'm sure you'd die out there," Dominic said with a slight smile, the disdain in his words evident as he looked at Chris, who seemed to think his problems were better than others'.
"Has your mother not returned?"
"Screw you." Chris got up from the living room and left the house.
Alicia, who had returned, looked at Chris as he left and asked, "Is he still an idiot?"
"It's a bad idea to have dinner with your family. I've tried many ways to be a good son-in-law to your mother, but she doesn't cooperate much," said Dominic, a bit exhausted by all this. It's still a surprise that he hasn't sent everything to hell with this family.
Alicia understood Dominic, so she said, "This time, I'll take care of it; don't worry."
…
At the table, after the food was served, Dominic began to eat with Madison's family. Travis was present with his son and Nick, who now seemed like a completely different man.
"How's it going with the exploration team?" Dominic looked at Nick, who had returned after a month-long mission.
Nick smiled and said, "We found those CRM guys. We saw how they've been trying to expand their territory, but they don't seem to be having much success."
"Do we have to talk about this at the table?" Madison was upset by the influence on her children and how they had all been exposed to danger by following Dominic. Alicia had been the closest to death, and she felt guilty for not being able to save her.
"Maddy, I think being ignorant won't make things better." Travis wanted this dinner to end well for everyone.
"How many innocent people have you ordered to kill this time?" Chris, who had returned, asked a question directed at Dominic. He had overheard Travis talking to Madison about the expansion missions and how certain things were done in them.
Alicia put her cutlery down on her plate, looked at Chris as if he were an idiot, and shook her head. "Do you really think we'll have all this without anyone trying to take it from us?"
"That doesn't give us the right to kill innocents."
Dominic, who had been silent, started laughing, then clapped a few times and said, "Your son is very funny, Mr. Travis. Do you think I should give him some lessons on the reality that we live on the front lines, where we learn to survive?"
"No, that's not necessary..."
Madison shook her head. Travis's idiot son didn't seem to know what was done on the front lines of unification; he only read some documents that Travis had to teach in his upcoming classes.
The teachings Travis imparted were not tied to an old learning mechanism. Here, the focus was more on survival, territorial expansion, and enemy elimination.
New recruits who wanted to be soldiers had to understand the war they were fighting and what was necessary to survive. That's why Travis refused to let Dominic teach his son; he feared the entire dinner would turn into a disaster.
But what Chris said was something no one expected. "Then tell me, how do you justify the killings?"