Armed. Not so much...

Chapter 4

After two whole hours looking for the password, and half an hour trying to brute force the safe open, not necessarily in that order, I started trying obvious passwords. From 1 to 8 was my first guess. Then it was repetition followed by 0 and others that everyone has already thought of.

I don't know how many possible combinations, and I don't have the patience to test each one.

I was about to give up on this safe until an idea came to mind. This safe belonged to Dean's father, would it be crazy if it was something related to me?

*19091994*

The first attempt, our anniversary date, went wrong. Of course, it did. It wouldn't be that easy.

Looking at the numbers on the safe, I noticed that there were small letters at the bottom, just like they are on phone numbers. What if...

I try the combination '3326', which would form the name Dean, but there were only 4 numbers. But your son wasn't the only important person in your life, was he?

Repeating the previous four numbers, I just add four more, which are: '6279', which forms the name Mary, then the safe beeps and the door unlocks.

"That's it!" I shouted, but quickly put my hand over my mouth. Ignoring my own slip, I open the safe to see what's inside.

Apart from a pile of money, which is now useless, there were two walkie-talkies and a wooden box inside. Kind of disappointing.

As I picked up the box to check what was inside, I immediately noticed that it was heavier than normal, at least for a wooden material.

When I opened it, I found a gun inside. To be honest, I have no idea what model it is. In addition to the gun, there were two more magazines, each containing 14 bullets and 20 extra bullets, and all of them were of the same caliber. I don't know what it is, but it looks like one of the powerful ones.

Carefully I hold the gun and analyze it. Lock engaged, I don't have to worry about this shit going off out of nowhere.

I quickly locate the magazine release button, pulling out a third magazine. It was clearly full of bullets. Fourteen more for the count. A total of 62 bullets. That'll do until I find more.

I don't know anything about gun models, but I understand how it works. At least the part about removing the magazine and the safety catch. I certainly can't assemble and disassemble one.

"Maybe I'll stop by a shooting range and hopefully find a manual." After saying that, I put the magazine in the chamber and pull the bolt, admiring it a little more.

Keeping the gun in the box for now, I move on to the next step.

Taking the map out of the frame, I begin to look at it as plans come to mind.

The first four seasons of the series are set here in Georgia. From the fifth to the last, they move to the state of Virginia, near Washington, DC. Honestly, it would suck to have to move there right now. And it would also suck to have to follow other people's orders.

That's why I'm not going to the quarry where the first season takes place. The adults would want to impose their wills and orders on me. It wouldn't work.

Same thing with Greene Farm, which I think is near Atlanta, but I'm not sure where. They're very blind when it comes to zombie states. Keeping zombies in a barn? Really?

I'm not saying that if I got there and had the zombies in the barn, I'd do what Shane did. No, no. Shane was way ahead of me when it came to living in that kind of society. He seemed born to be part of this apocalyptic world. But he didn't know how to deal with his jealousy and envy of Rick. That's why he did what he did in the barn.

He can say what he likes about having done it to protect the group, but I'm sure he did it just to go against his friend.

There aren't that many other options. Sanctuary is out of the question. Not because of the restriction of killing other people. I'll do it if necessary and if it's necessary to kill to save someone I care about, I'll destroy a whole fucking city myself if necessary.

My problem with Sanctuary is what they demand of others and the abuse of power. Practically slavery and extortion.

I also hate Negan. A lot of people like him. Because he's nice, cool and a great villain. But they wouldn't if he'd done something to their family and friends. Is the guy's past tragic? Yes. But those who use the past to justify actions in the present are a bunch of garbage to me.

Besides, this community is in Virginia.

Terminus is another option ruled out. Fucking cannibals. If, when I find them, they're already doing this dirty deed, I'll kill them myself.

As I said before, the other communities like Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside and the Kingdom are all in Virginia. Which sucks, since I don't intend to go there. At least not at the beginning of the apocalypse. Maybe later, when I'm stronger.

If you haven't noticed, I intend to start my own community. And I already have an idea of where. A location that, despite being a great find and strategic point, has been little used in the series. And to make matters even better, that location won't be claimed for another 10 months. This place is none other than the Prison.

Its only downside is that the walls are fragile, but that's manageable. I intend to create the best and biggest community in the entire apocalypse.

Many will hesitate to follow my lead, but isn't that the best kind of leader? The one where everyone underestimates his ability, but he proves them wrong?

A teenager leading several adults and them loyally following his orders. That would be something cool to see.

Anyway, stopping daydreaming, I start marking on the map where I think each known place is. Where each merely relevant character is. At least the ones I remember.

The series wasn't famous for giving specific locations of communities. But some were slightly mentioned.

For example: I know that Greene Farm is somewhere near Atlanta. Just a few hours walk and less than one by car. But again, the roads will be closed.

Terminus was somewhere near Macon. Or was it there? I don't remember. I'll mark the area.

Woodbury was kind of hard to tell. Some say it's in a town of the same name and others say it was inside Zebulon. I'm more inclined to believe the former.

The Prison was the most difficult, since there was no indication of where it was, but the producers say that if it were in the real world, it would be near Woodbury and the farm.

There are several places that I didn't mark on the map. Like the communities in Virginia and the ones I didn't know exactly where they were.

I finally finished marking the towns, and the best route to take to get to the Prison. My plan for now, until the start of 'Operation Cobalt' on the 10th day of the apocalypse, was to raid the neighboring houses, of course the empty ones, and gather as many supplies as possible. Taking the opportunity to test the limits of my enhanced body.

RONC! GGHHNNR!

"I got so carried away making plans that I haven't eaten anything yet." I say out loud as I head downstairs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When I'd finished eating, I began to prepare for the home invasion. My plan was to go through the yard and sneak around to find out if anyone was in the house.

If there was, I would leave. Easy. I don't want to make anyone's life difficult. And I wouldn't be too bad.

For my little adventure, I take two knives and a crowbar from the tool shed. I'm not going to take the gun because I don't know how to shoot properly yet. Besides, I didn't want to sound the meal alarm to all the zombies within 600 meters of me.

My first target is my next-door neighbor.

Going into the yard, I face the plant wall, which is two meters high, and get ready to jump. I take a step back to gain momentum and start running towards the plants separating the two houses.

When I got close enough, I jumped. But I ended up putting in too much effort, since, as well as jumping the two meters, I did it with ease, leaving space between me and the wall.

I thought it would be difficult to land or would hurt at least a little, but it was quite the opposite. As soon as I fell, my body automatically adjusted perfectly to cushion the fall, rolling over and not allowing me to feel any pain. I'm loving this new body more and more. That got weird.

Putting this out of my mind, I stealthily approached the window closest to the house. Looking inside the house, I noticed that I could see into the living room and that some parts towards the back were darker than others. It seemed that other windows had their curtains closed. Or blocked.

The best way to find out if there's something or someone in a place is always to draw attention to it with some noise.

Grabbing my crowbar, I went to the back door and knocked a little hard. Not enough to break it, but enough for the sound to propagate throughout the house.

I quickly went back to the window and waited for someone to come and check out the noise or for some zombie to be attracted by the sound.

Five minutes of waiting and nothing or no one came to the source of the sound. Maybe someone was still in the house hiding? Yes. But there's no way I could have known without going inside. I know there are no zombies.

I walk towards the door, kicking it above the lock to open it. But the door flies out of the portal.

"Oops... Excuse me." Now inside the unknown house, I pull out one of the knives and start walking around the house, looking at every door and every corner that might have something hidden. Fortunately, there was no one.

However, there weren't many items here. It seems that the owners of the house left in a hurry. According to photos I've seen on picture frames, a man in his 40s and a boy about two years younger than me lived here.

Let's move on to the useful finds:

•Knives

•16 Snooker balls

•2 Snooker cues

•Comic books

•2 bottles of pain medication

•Clothes

I finally got some comfortable clothes. They weren't baggy, but they weren't so tight that they cut off blood circulation. They were enough to last me until I found a clothing store. I intend to find a leather jacket. They're great for the apocalypse, as they're harder for a zombie bite to penetrate.

My biggest find was the snooker table. Unfortunately I can't take the table itself, but the cues and balls are great weapons. When broken in half, the cues can be used as spears to drive into anything's brain. The balls themselves are relatively heavy. A 1.5 gram sphere thrown with superhuman force was almost a death knell for anyone.

Seven days until the start of 'Operation Cobalt', and lots of houses around to explore. Zombies to kill and plans to make. Nothing to worry about, right?