67 Chapter 67

- Xenon -

"I found the keys!" Randall chirped smugly from his spot crouching next to a walker. I don't know why I hate that guy. He reminded me a lot of Ed. And the reminder is enough of a reason to hate him. That guy should be forgotten forever, never spoken of again.

But Randall has this douchebag aura around him, just like Ed did. Coupled with his extremely punchable face make for a deadly combination. I truly hope he gives me a good reason to kill him. As useless as he may seem, he certainly is a delicious bundle of EXP for me. Ok, maybe not exactly delicious, but still.

Eliminating the second group of walkers proved to be no more difficult than the first. Though we decided to only clear a single block for now. But we needed some way to close the metal doors already installed for the prisoners, which immediately made us think of 'keys'. And sure enough, after a few minutes of searching, we found the keys to those metal doors. After closing the door, we advanced towards the cell block we intended to clear.

We brought our hatchets with us for this one. As we may be dealing with narrow corridors, we may not have enough space for such big weapons.

"Glenn, cover us with your gun from behind. I'll take the lead with Theodore and Shane." They were the biggest among as, ergo the strongest, so there were hardly any objections there.

We advanced slowly but surely, disposing of any walker in our way easily. We haven't found ourselves in situations dealing with multiple walkers at once, which would get more difficult in our crammed positioning. We spent a good half an hour roaming the prison once we found the cells which would be our future living quarters, seeing as they were already equipped with beds. We went deeper into each corridor and closed all the entries as far away as we could, to give us more space.

We found a few corpses laying down motionless on the ground, each having part of their heads injured. But corpses meant nothing to me, as I always assume they were walkers. Fortunately for me, I had the best way to determine if a walker is 'active' or not.

"Halt." I said suddenly, eying a particular corpse in a sitting position against the wall. It had some blood on its head and wasn't moving, so one might mistake it for dead. But I knew otherwise.

I approached it slowly until I was within range, using my axe to prod it. "Grrrrr." It growled in response and began moving, trying to take a hold of me, but it didn't have a chance as the edge of my hatchet came down on its forehead.

"You see? This is what I'm talking about. One of us could've easily been bitten if we assumed it was dead." I've told them numerous times to never assume a corpse was dead unless they were its killers, and while they double-checked each corpse we met on the way, most of them didn't seem to take my warnings to heart. They were all ears this time, nodding solemnly at my words.

"Holy shit." We were interrupted by a voice coming from a large window by the wall separating us from one of the rooms. Turning to the source, we saw five heads looking at us in astonishment. It seems the place they were in was locked from the outside, which explains why they never got out. Shane's hand was quick to reach out for his gun, understanding that those five individuals were as far from trustworthy as one could get.

"They're locked in." I remarked, pointing towards the door.

"Should we get them out of there?" Andrea asked uncertainly.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Shane answered coldly, eying them with undisguised wariness.

"Please, get us out, man!" A blond man hysterically, holding the bars with both hands. "We won't do anything to you, we swear!" Nobody said anything in answer, settling into an uncomfortable silence.

"It's not like we can leave them there either way." Jim broke the silence with a sigh.

"Let's close off this place first, we'll think about it after." I told them, turning our attention to the task at hand.

- Narrator -

After making sure the cellblock was safe, the group made their way back to their cars to get the wire-cutters and discuss how they would be dealing with the new problem that's risen.

"I swear I'm shooting the next dumbass that says something about coexistence, friendship, and trust. This discussion ought to be about how to dispose of them, nothing more. Got it?" Daryl snarled as soon as they were near the cars.

"I am a hundred percent with you on this one." Shane nodded his head. "They are dangerous. Who knows what kind of crimes they've committed to deserve a spot here."

"You're not suggesting we shoot them in cold blood are you?" Andrea looked at them incredulously. "We're survivors, not murderers." Daryl facepalmed.

"We can set them free, tell them to get as far away from this place as possible." Jim suggested. "We don't have to kill them, but we don't have to help them either."

"I agree with our friend Jim here." Dave nodded sagely. "I know, I'm new around here, but we should not let our fears rule us. Yes, they may have been terrible human beings at some point in their lives. Yes, they are prisoners. But that doesn't mean we have to become animals just because there is a tiny chance something bad might happen, because it might happen regardless of what we do." Jim and Andrea were in full agreement with them. The conversation went on for a while, both sides presenting their arguments for the situation. Xenon watched all of them coldly, especially Dave, trying to guess what exactly was he playing it. He never stopped considering that his presence here might be a setup. The governor may have noticed them earlier than expected and planted those two to sow dissent within the group.

"Enough..." Xenon said coldly, surprising almost everyone with the death glare he was giving to Dave. "Is your humanity more valuable to you than your life? Because it sure as hell ain't to me."

"Killing a fellow human being is no easy matter." Dave patronized. He learned of Xenon's real age from his conversation with the others along the way, and it lessened the scary factor the masked figure had by a huge margin. "What would distinguish us fro-"

"I wasn't speaking to you." Xenon interrupted him. "You're delusional if you think you're one of us. The only reason you don't have a bullet in the head right now is that some of us are too soft, so I suggest you shut your hole and sit in the corner. "

"Well said..." Daryl was pleased by his words as they resonated with what he truly felt.

"I am not a fan of giving people opportunities to bite me in the ass. And that's exactly what we would be doing." Xenon turned to Jim and Andrea. "We won't ask you to do kill anyone. We'll do it ourselves, so you can sleep at night in peace if that's what's bothering you. I, on the other hand, will barely be able to sleep with the two idiots you've decided to welcome into our midst, let alone five certified killers who know where I sleep."

"That's right, we'll do it ourselves." Shane nodded, opting to ignore the issue of their new additions for now.

"That's... a very hard pill to swallow, Xenon." Jim was lost for words, and Andrea shared the sentiment. "I don't believe this is the right call at all."

"I know it's very difficult to accept." Xenon nodded calmly. "But I have an idea." After a short silence, he elaborated. "It's a bet, more than anything, really."

"What is it?"

"We'll free them from their cage, explain what's happened all over the world to them because I'm pretty sure they've been disconnected for a long time." Xenon explained. "Then, we'll tell them they are free to leave."

"Are you fucking mad?" Daryl looked at him incredulously.

"Have some faith, Daryl." He shook his head. "If they accept to leave of their own free will without a fight, we'll leave them be. If they don't, we'll kill them, no questions asked. Agreed?" Andrea and Jim looked at him uncertainly; they didn't know what to make of his words, but they were reasonable to some degree. They could see it would be some kind of test of character to them. If they were willing to fight their benefactors, then there is no hope for them.

"If they decide to stay, I'll negotiate with them for the other cellblock in exchange for half the cafeteria's food. Not that we would honor that part of the deal, but we could use the extra manpower. What do you say?"