"I'm sorry about my boyfriend. He saves many people and has this vague idea that everyone else is doing good deeds to survive. He promised the families of the murdered soldiers that he would find those responsible and kill them. For us, it's easy to kill everyone in this place, but he's taking it personally," said Alicia as she walked beside Dominic.
Addison took a deep breath and walked away to gather the council and make a decision.
Alicia approached Dominic and asked, "It's bad to think angry and act furious."
"You never get over such a painful and significant death. You live with it, and that's something I've just learned." Dominic sighed bitterly. He was sure that if he hadn't been a bit more careful and had Alicia's help, he might be dead by now.
During this time, Dominic had enough time to think about everything that had happened and everything he had done. He never considered himself to be a bad leader. It's true that he prioritized benefits and risked the safety of his followers, but that was something where the gains would benefit the future of the entire community and provide stability to their way of life.
In simple terms, Dominic realized that sometimes he was a complete idiot, and other times he thought he could do everything without losing anyone. Not everyone can be saved in a world like this; saving some means losing others.
Everyone can die in a few seconds; moreover, under that premise, not everyone can be saved. As a good general, he has to move forward despite the losses of his soldiers, but at no cost should he forget all those who have given their lives to build a better world.
The community that he had created with many efforts and sacrifices is possibly now the strongest in the world. There was no doubt that its power could be among the best in the world, if not the best. But he had to know that a large-scale war was not ideal, not until he knew what he would gain with minimal losses or had a guaranteed victory.
Since Dominic learned about the future, he has always looked at the strongest enemies he would face. Because of this, he didn't consider those smaller enemies as significant obstacles on his path, and this was why he completely ignored the terminal.
And now it turned out that there were problematic communities whose existence he had never learned about, so he was really in a small inconvenience where he had to deal with completely crazy people.
He remembered that guy Teddy, a lunatic who destroyed part of the country with a nuclear bomb, and now he wanted to find him as soon as possible to know what kind of weapon he had in his hands.
...
In a room, Dominic, Alicia, Glenn, and Daniel, along with other important people in this community, were gathered to be briefly informed about what was about to happen and, of course, what had happened.
"My community covers half of the country to the north. We are a great power that has taken the most important parts, and now we are heading to Mexico to expand our domain. The reason why all of you have lived until now is because my people have been fighting at the Canadian border, where faster walkers have tried to invade our country."
Dominic sat in front of these people. Glenn, who was beside him, nodded silently as he listened to Dominic's explanation and didn't participate much. "We have easily killed millions of walkers. We fought for hours, and the only thing I ask of the world is not to encounter situations like these. I detest unnecessary deaths. As long as you listen, you will live, and those who cause problems I will kill with my own hands."
"In our plans to take Texas, good soldiers have been killed for nothing special. Young soldiers, a meaningless death took them all." As he said this, Dominic looked at everyone and said, "It seems that many, if not most, know the group I'm talking about. I have a secure community; hundreds of thousands of people live there, and I can assure you that food is not something they lack."
"Once my people arrive, I will begin evacuating the people from this community. It is not safe to stay in this part of the city, especially with those evil people outside."
When Addison heard Dominic's words, she shook her head and asked, "So what will you do with that group that attacked you?"
"We will kill them all. They will all die."
Moments later, there was a cold silence in the room, which was broken by Morgan: "Many families have been coldly murdered by those people. If we attack them, the entire area near this community will be affected."
"We will not participate in this. I don't want there to be any confusion. Besides, we are very well in this place," said Addison after thinking for a moment.
Natalia looked at her mother and pointed out, "We have been to several places that were a really bad experience to live in. It's not that we don't want to go with you; it would be more out of distrust."
Dominic understood that, so he looked at Alicia and said, "I understand that, but in your case, I would take the risk. There are walkers that your group is not prepared to survive. I looked at your camp, and from what I've seen, you barely have enough to eat. A few more months, and I'm sure you wouldn't be able to hold out in this place."
"Enough!" Addison shouted when she heard what Dominic was saying.
"It seems you need to think about it, Mrs. Addison. My people are heading to this place, and we will use it as a provisional base of operations." Dominic stood up and walked to the door. "I know I'm a complete stranger to most of you, but we have something in common: we take care of our family."
When Dominic left the room, Glenn followed him, knowing he had to give these people time to decide whether to follow them or not. It must be difficult to trust someone who suddenly shows up at your door and says they have a much safer place, so everyone needed time to think.
Natalia looked at her mother and said, "They are good people, Mom. I had time to talk to Dominic and learned a lot about their refuge. In Washington, Virginia, Atlanta, and Georgia, their community has expanded enough to have a safe place for thousands of people."
Her brother Octavio, after remaining silent for a few seconds, said, "They have a base and enough strength to take down the vultures." Some of our community members have died at their hands recently."
"This is something I need to think about. You know we can't make hasty decisions these days." Addison was just trying to protect her family.
An old man in the room said what he knew: "The Vultures are nothing more than a mere group adjacent to a cult about some nonsense like the new beginning or something like that. Some of the people in this community have knowledge about that."
"But killing them all is very vicious. I don't want to go to a community led by someone like that. Sooner or later, he will put us in danger," Addison argued with a bit of tension in her words.
"Those people eat human flesh!" Natalia finally said it with some frustration in her voice.
"They must die. I think everyone knows better than anyone that a good leader is someone who sacrifices for their subordinates and who protects themselves humanely."
Many in the room knew this, and Addison was no exception. Nowadays, everyone does their best to keep the humanity they have left, fearing to lose it. Many didn't care if the vultures lived or died; they knew that killing them would be best.
...
Outside, Dominic looked into the distance from an observation post as shadows approached the stadium. Dominic, holding a radio, knew his people had arrived.
"Zz… Dominic is here, Daryl. We've arrived."