After checking up on Jim, Rick and Shane headed into the woods to hunt and clean up walkers that strayed near the camp.
"I tell you what, these people are not convinced. They still think we are safe here. You know?" Shane brought up a conversation that happened earlier this morning.
"If you still decide to head to CDC. You might be on your own. You really need to reconsider if you want to put your family in that kind of spot." Shane added.
"I gotta do what's best for my family." Rick knew the dangers, but he also recognizes that this place, this camp, wouldn't last long.
Shane scoffed. "Best for your family? What's that? Exposing them to all kinds of risks?"
"As opposed to what? Crossing over a hundred miles of hostile territory? And need I remind you that what happened last night has certainly attracted more walkers to this place? We don't have much time left in our hands. Why can't you just back me up that CDC is the best option we have right now?" Rick thinks that the camp had been compromised and was a little hurt that his best friend doesn't have the same view as him.
"Look, I know man. It's just...I don't see it. I still think heading to Fort Benning first is better" Shane shrugged. He'd rather put his trust that the military is still there, rather than the CDC.
"Ahh, if it was your family. You'd feel differently."
Shane slowed down in his steps until he came to a pause. He felt offended by what Rick had said. "What did you say to me?"
Annoyed, he slowly approached Rick while pointing to himself. "I kept them safe, man. I looked after them like they were my own. That's what I did."
Rick tried to diffuse the situation. "That's not what I meant, I didn't mean it that way."
"How'd you mean it? Go on, man. How'd you mean it?" Though he did fuck his best friend's wife, but that doesn't mean Shane doesn't have the right to be offended now.
Rick let out a sigh as he also realized his words came out wrong. "You're misinterpreting me, man. You're just hearing it wrong."
"Yeah?"
"You..you know. You know I can never repay that debt, okay?"
It was just getting tense when the sound of branch snapping echoed from somewhere around them.
Shane and Rick shared a look and conveyed their thoughts with a nod. Both readied their shotguns and circled around the direction from where the sound came from.
While Rick was carefully investigating the area ahead of him, Shane on the other side had him on his sights. He has this manic look on his face like he was about to do something bad, very bad.
Click!
"Now, now, calm down."
Shane came to his senses when he felt the feeling of something hard pressed on his head. Followed by the voice of Michael from behind him.
"What is going on?" Like a ghost, Dale suddenly emerged from out of nowhere and looked at the two with suspicion.
"Nothing, brother." Michael looked at Dale and immediately returned his pistol to its holster.
"Really, you two?" Dale stared at them with such intensity that it made them a little uncomfortable.
Michael just chuckled, and before walking away, he threw Shane a very meaningful look.
Realizing that he was caught doing something stupid, Shane was clearly feeling guilty, and he started fidgeting with his gun and letting out nervous chuckles.
Dale watched as Michael walked off, before turning his attention back to Shane and continued to stare at him. He didn't say anything, but from the way he was looking at Shane. it was obvious that he saw what he was doing before Michael appeared.
"We were just horsing around." Shane just smiled, then he turned his head towards where Rick is and yelled at him. "Come on, man. It's just Dale and Michael"
Rick responded with a nod and started making his way over to them.
When Shane turned back around, Dale was still staring at him. It made him really uncomfortable, but he still acknowledged his presence. "Come on, man, let's go. There's nothing out here."
He didn't say anything back, but Dale just watched him as he left.
Dale and the two former police officers eventually returned to camp. Where they found the others had gathered around the campfire, where Shane saw Michael smiling at him.
He just looked away, he didn't dare say anything, much less confronting him about what happened between them. Shane knew he fucked up, even more so that it was the new guy who witnessed his actions. Though he's not sure about Dale, he has some suspicions.
Placing his shotgun down, Shane was quick to address the group. "I've uhh..I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now, there are no.. there are no guarantees, but either way, I'll be the first one to admit that."
Shane and Rick looked at each other. "I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. The most important thing here is that we need.. to stay together."
When Shane mentioned staying together, Morales and his family looked a little guilty.
"So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"
Even with the incident that just happened earlier between them, Shane still had the sound mind to ask for Michael's opinion. "Do you have anything to add?"
Following his words, everyone turned to Michael. This time, everyone has had a change of opinion on Michael. Unconsciously, similar to Rick and Shane, the others had also started to highly consider Michael's opinion on matters regarding their survival.
'Damn, I guess the bamboo spear strategy was the MSG to gain their trust.'
Michael cleared his throat. "Alright., I just want to emphasize what Shane said. It is very important that we stick together. Some of you here are probably already thinking of leaving the group and going off on your own, but that is a bad idea. The zombies aren't our only enemies, humans too. Do not think it's the best chance for your family, or you're only doing it because you want to be with your people. That line of thought is not only gonna get you killed, but also your family." Michael paused, and everyone clearly felt that he was insinuating, directed to a certain someone among them.
"Of course, we all want to be with our other families, but is that what's best for yours right now? Clearly not. So, you must continuously remind yourself that even the army wasn't able to last long. So, what makes you think your odds are any better? I don't want that in the off chance we encounter each other again in the future, you pin the blame on us for your losses because of one stupid decision. Remember, we're back…once again, to our primitive ways. Only the strong survive, the weak die. I think that's about it for me."
"..."
There was a long silence as they just looked at each other. They realized that his words had once again reminded them of the dangers out there, that the society isn't the same anymore.
"Wow, that's deep." Gleen, still a little naive, remarked.
Some of the others slowly left to get ready for tomorrow's move.
"So, while you guys are getting ready for tomorrow. I'll head out of camp and get us a couple more cars. Any volunteers? Preferably someone who knows his way around cars, can drive and knows how to hot wire." Taking the lead at this point, Michael decided he might as well go all the way..for now.
Despite probably his companion being against it, a young man who thought he had to contribute more to the group, voiced his support. "I'm a Med student, but I know my way around cars. My parents owned an Auto Repair Shop before this."
"I'm a Mechanic, I'll go with you."
'They have another mechanic aside from Jim? How come he was never utilized? Must be because it was a TV show and not like the real world, I'm in.' Michael was a little confused, but he was extremely glad about the new addition.
'We even have a med-student, that's good. I guess they never appeared because they died too early in the show'
"I'll go with you." Seeing that there were no more stepping up, Glenn also volunteered to go.
"Not you, you stay here with the rest."
"I'm coming with you."
When Andrea also stepped up, Michael looked her way with a dubious expression. He's just not sure if she can be of help at this time.
"What? I can keep a lookout."
In the end, Michael ultimately decided to bring her and not Glenn.
He went over to T-Dog who was busy packing up his things and tried to borrow his van. "Hey man, can you lend me your van?"
T-Dog turned to look at Michael, then at the three people behind him and the equipment they were bringing.
Michael had lent his machete to Andrea and the med-student named Cole, carried a hammer on him and lastly, their soon to be new main mechanic, Alan, just carried with him two of the spears that he had personally created.
"Are you sure about what you're bringing?" T-Dog suddenly feels unsure about this short trip Michael and the rest are taking. Since they looked ill equipped going out for this undertaking.
"It's fine, we're not going far from here. There should be several abandoned cars along the road here, right?" Michael knew his concern, but he believes that as long as they don't stray far off from the camp, the risk is minimal.
T-Dog shrugged his shoulders and stopped badgering him. "Alright, just give me a minute to pack my things."
Soon, the group of four left the camp in the church van.
Just as he had told T-Dog, the group indeed didn't stray far from the quarry since Michael only planned to drive around the neighborhoods in the area.
There were abandoned cars along the road, but Michael figured that the others might have already siphoned the fuel from those vehicles and just ignored them.
Instead, his objective were the houses that had cars abandoned on their driveways or inside their garages.
Michael drove the van inside a small residential neighborhood and eventually stopped in front of a single story turquoise home with an abandoned old Nissan Armada on the driveway.
"We'll start here. Cole, go and see if that Armada can still run, but scout it out first. I don't want you getting bitten by a walker because you were careless" Michael instructed him while getting down the vehicle.
"I'm on it"
They left the van one by one, and Cole cautiously headed towards the SUV with Alan just behind him with a spear in hand, scanning their surroundings.
"Check the backseats first before going in. Alan, keep a lookout." Michael reminded them as he and Andrea walked past the two and towards the front door.
Michael grabbed the doorknob and slightly turned it, and was slightly surprised to see it's actually open.
Andrea and him exchanged a look. Michael drew his gun and slowly opened the door. He cautiously stepped foot inside with his gun aimed ahead.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Michael walked over towards a nearby desk and started knocking on it.
Puzzled by his actions, Andrea whispered. "What are you doing?"
"Checking for walkers. They're attracted to sounds." Michael briefly explained. He repeated it multiple times until he was satisfied that there were no other noises inside the house aside from the one he was making.
"Nothing so far. Let's split up, but stay cautious. If you encounter a walker, do not hesitate to aim for its head. Got it?" Michael cautioned her.
Andrea nodded before making her way to the kitchen.
"Wait, if you stumble on a door leading to a possible basement. Do not open it and notify me first."
"Mhmm." She still didn't say a word of reply, she just nodded. She obviously looks tense with the situation.
"Take a deep breath to calm your nerves. It won't help being too nervous."
Vroooom!
Just then, they heard the sound of a car engine coming from outside.
"Let's go out first and see how the car is."
Thinking that it was a waste of time for both of them to go, Andrea shook her head. "You go on ahead. I'll just look around here."
Michael immediately glared at her. "What did I tell you guys earlier at the camp? We stick together. We don't move alone unless a place is deemed absolutely safe."
"Okay." Andrea nodded and was given a fright on how serious Michael is right now. After all, she only saw him smiling a lot back at the camp and never really saw him in action except for last night.
Right at that moment, Cole emerged from the front door and was just in time to hear the end of it.
"Uhmm, the car's working. So-"
"How much gas is left on it?" Michael quickly cut him off and asked what he was most concerned about.
"Just half full sir" Cole was obviously intimidated as he had become quite stiff.
Michael nodded and he gave him another instruction. "Head out back. Keep a lookout with Alan. Just in case there are hostile people around here, make sure to stay in between two large objects so anyone can't easily snipe you. Immediately notify me if there's trouble outside. Understood?"
"I understand." With a crisp answer, Cole quickly left the house.
"Compared back to when we were at the camp, you're behaving quite differently now."Andrea was staring at Michael as those words escaped from her lips.
"There's a time and place for everything. We're in hostile territory after all. Come on, let's resume scouting this place and take whatever valuables this place offers"
Michael and Andrea then split up, the latter still heading to the kitchen while Michael had made his way over to the bedrooms.
Stopping in front of one of the bedrooms, Michael leaned on the wall and started knocking on the door, keeping an ear out for any movements or noise inside.
Again, he was only met with silence.
Michael cautiously entered the room and recognized it was a baby room with how the place was decked out with baby related items.
In the middle of the room, there was a crib and when he peeked inside. Michael could only close his eyes as his eyelids trembled. Inside..was a bloody mess and he can already imagine the horrifying scene that took place here.
"Fuck!"
Michael cursed in a low voice as he quickly departed from the room.
He was already used to the deaths around him, but just imagining the scene of helpless babies getting devoured in their cries of pain just brings him unpleasant feelings.
Quickly getting rid of those unpleasant thoughts, Michael resumed his search.