Chapter 34: Chapter Thirty-Four - Encounter
"Y-you bastards! Kill them!"
Everyone was stupefied at the sudden turn of events, before everyone scrambled for cover while the family of three slipped past inside Block D.
Some of the bolder intruders blindly charged towards Daryl and the others while brandishing their weapons.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only to be taken down by Andrea and Gareth.
Their deaths caused the scene to come to a standstill since there's no more among the intruders that poses a threat to them.
Daryl and the others stood there triumphantly as they admired the short carnage they caused.
"Come out if you don't want to die." Daryl threatened while reloading his crossbow.
A frightened intruder was the first one to come out, trembling with his hands raised.
"D-don't kill me! This is all their idea! They were the ones who raped and fed on them! I'm still human!" He yelled in fear while shakily pointing towards his companions.
"You traitorous bastard! You're the worst one out of all of us! Don't tell me you have forgotten the screams of that nine year old girl?!" One of them was so angered at the man's hypocrisy that he started spilling his deepest darkest secret.
"No, no, no! I didn't do a–"
The man tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but Oscar wasn't having any of it when he suddenly remembered his kids whose situation is still unknown. He took a couple of steps forward, raised the 4" Colt Python in his hand and shot him on his chest.
Bang!
"W-why? I did..not."
The man shakily looked down on his bloodied chest before slowly raising his head towards Oscar.
Thud!
The man fell down on his back with an aggrieved expression.
"Take no prisoners."
From out of nowhere, Andrea suddenly led the charge and started gunning down this group of cannibalistic bandits.
Bang!
Click! Click! Click!
Gunning down the last bandit, Andrea repeatedly tried to open fire on the body of her last victim.
"Ahh, ahhh, ahhhhh!"
Realizing that she was only producing the sound of an empty magazine, Andrea suddenly started letting out a scream of frustration.
A hand suddenly reached out from the side, grabbed her pistol and forced her to lower it.
Daryl looked at her with worry on his face. "Enough. He's dead."
With her hands shaking, Andrea slowly returned her firearm back to its holster and with a shaky voice. "Are..are they all dead?"
Daryl looked around them and then back at her. "Yeah. You..are you okay?"
Andrea forced a smile on her face. "I'm..I'm okay. Before he left, Michael repeatedly reminded me to never show any mercy when facing enemies. He said, it's either us or them. I..I think I did good, right?"
The four men exchanged glances and didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, you did good. Take a rest here. We'll continue inside." Daryl instructed.
Andrea immediately disagreed with his decision and tried to sound energetic, but the trembling of her hands couldn't hide her true emotions. "I'm still full of energy. I can still go on."
For the first time, Cole stepped forward and actually gave her a pat on her shoulder. "Take a rest. I'm sure that's what Michael would want you to do if he's here."
Andrea stared at him for a moment before repeatedly nodding her nod in quick successions. "Y-yeah. I think you're right. I'll just stay here and rest then. I'll also keep an eye out."
Daryl gave her nod. "Yeah, you do that. Come on."
Daryl then led the remaining men inside the last block and when everyone finally disappeared in her sights, Andrea suddenly lost strength on her legs and flopped down onto the ground.
"I did it. I did all this. Hahaha!"
Meanwhile,
Daryl and the rest of the screw made a quick sweep around the block.
Searching every nook and cranny before they stumbled upon the family that escaped here inside one of the cells.
"D-don't! We..We're good people!" the old man, probably around his 50s, pleaded towards them.
Daryl, pragmatic as ever, did not easily believe his words and aimed his crossbow at them.
"No one introduces themselves as good people these days. Show your hands where we can see them."
The old man's wife yelped in fear while the red-haired woman, probably their daughter, shielded her mother while glaring at them.
"Don't! Please!"
Gareth suddenly remembered something. "How many walkers have you killed?"
Daryl suddenly looked at Gareth, then at Cole and Oscar before turning his attention to the old man. Who's now obviously confused why he's being asked that question.
Daryl didn't say anything and just allowed Gareth free rein as he also wanted to see where he's going with this.
"How many?" Gareth repeated when the old man still refused to answer.
"A lot. We're not even sure how many we've killed."
This time, it wasn't the old man who responded to the question, but the red-haired gal behind him.
"Mady!" the old man turned around to look behind him and rebuked her.
"Calm down, Dad. If they really wanted to kill us, they would have done so already and would have not bothered asking us this question, right?" Madi appeared very calm and confident, but Daryl wasn't fooled as he spotted her hand slightly trembling.
Gareth didn't bother responding to her and quickly followed it up with another question. "How many people have you killed?"
"Just one. It was one of those guys we came here with." She calmly answered as sweat had started building up on her forehead.
"Why?"
"Because he tried to rape me, he deserved it!" Mady answered with hate in her voice.
Gareth stared at them for a moment before turning his attention to Daryl. "What do you think?"
"Hmm.." Daryl already got the gist behind those questions and started pondering.
He looked at them one by one before finally coming to a decision. "Alright, I think they're good..for now. You three stay here, and don't even think about leaving if you don't want to die."
"Y-yeah. We'll stay here, we won't leave. Right hon?" The wife quickly agreed for them while looking at her husband with a pleading gaze.
"Alright. We'll do as you say."
Thinking about the things they had experienced over the past few weeks and realizing that this prison could finally be their safe refuge. The old man could only reluctantly agree even if there were dangerous people in their midst.
The men slightly relaxed their expression, especially Cole who's now all smiles. "Don't worry. We're really not bad people. We actually cleaned this place up a few days ago and we're just moving in today. That's why everyone is so tense."
"Come on." Daryl came back and pulled Cole by the back of his collar.
Daryl let him go and gave him his following orders. "You stay here and watch over them. Don't let them out of sight, understand?"
Cole eagerly nodded his head. "Okay. You can trust me on this."
Daryl and the crew then left and did one more sweep around the compound before he was finally satisfied.
They were just finishing up when the rest of the group showed up on the school bus.
Rick met up with Daryl and inquired about how it went.
"How is it? Is everyone all good?"
Daryl nodded and responded. "Everyone is safe, but we encountered a problem."
"Walkers?"
"No, people. We had an encounter with a small group during the last sweep and captured three people. They are currently being held in one of the cells at D Block with Cole watching over them."
"Come on. I want to see them."
After Rick had given some instructions to the group, Daryl immediately led Rick towards Block D and arrived just in time to a scene where Cole was held at gunpoint by Mady.
"Seriously?"
Daryl felt like he'd suddenly have a headache because of Cole.
"Sorry. I didn't know she was skilled with her hands." Cole let out a nervous laugh.
Rick calmly outstretched his hand towards her. "Calm down. We're not trying to hurt anyone here. Just let our man go and we can talk peacefully. If you feel unsafe, then you can even keep the gun to make you comfortable."
His mother looked fearfully and helplessly at what was happening, while her dad had a resolute look on his face, like he was about to do something drastic if the moment calls for it.
Mady studied everyone while assessing her chances if she lets the man on her hands free.
"Mady, trust is the first step in everything. Trust us." Cole told her with some difficulty in his voice.
"He's right. We wouldn't be able to solve anything if we keep this standoff." Daryl also chimed in.
Mady hesitated for a moment before responding. "You guys first. Place all your weapons on that table."
"Alright, alright."
Rick and the others took turns placing all their weapons on the table until everyone was unarmed.
But cautious Daryl, left out a Colt strapped on the back of his pants and only the people behind him noticed it, and kept mum.
Seeing them readily comply, Mady felt slightly relieved before pushing Cole towards them and aimed her pistol at them.
"Now, now. We did everything you asked for. Now, it's your turn." Dale tried to smooth things out.
Mady just let out a snort and slowly lowered her gun and strapped it around her pants.
"That's good enough."
Rick was also relieved since he's pretty much risking everyone's life here for ordering them to surrender their weapons.