84 Chapter 84

**- Xenon -**

"We're not taking a car?" Amy asked skeptically, as we got out of the prison and headed nowhere in particular. "Where are we going exactly?"

"I have an idea that I wish to try." I informed her. "If it works, we might reduce the risks of fighting walkers to practically zero."

"What is it?" She asked curiously, a bit of excitement in her voice if I am reading it correctly. It seems the benefits I described are quite enticing, and if memory serves me right, I have never said something that I didn't succeed in.

"Bows." I enunciated.

"Bows?" She was puzzled, perhaps by the word itself.

"You know, that thingy that shoots wooden arro-" I gestured with my hands, but it only earned me a slap on my shoulder. "Ow... What was that for?"

"You're mansplaining." She glared at me. Huh, maybe I was.

"No." I denied. "I just didn't understand what was confusing you?"

"I was asking for clarification." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah..." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Well, I know the way to simple survival bows, theoretically of course. So, I want to try making them myself, to see how well they perform. If they can eliminate walkers with primitive wooden arrows, we can mass-produce them and teach everyone to use them. As long as they can kill walkers in a ten meters range, I'll be happy." She hummed thoughtfully in response.

"You might be unto something." She said after a while. "Walkers have been rotting for a while now, so it might be able to finish them off."

"That's what I was thinking." I nodded in agreement.

"So, what's the first step?"

"Selecting a bow stave." I recited from the book. "We are looking for a young green tree or sapling. Hardwood if possible."

"Alright." And so, we spent the next twenty minutes looking around for any sapling we could find. It should preferably be straight and branch-free for the part we'd be using. We eventually found a satisfactory one. Cutting it was a simple matter using the axe I brought with me.

Next came a very lengthy and boring process: carving the bow stave to the correct shape. It took me half an hour since this was the first time I'm doing this kind of thing. Thankfully, I always kept my knives sharp, and it served me well. When approaching the center tissue, I had to be even more careful when carving, removing the wood layer by layer: a mistake there can be disastrous according to the book, and I didn't want to restart the process.

Using the saw, I carved two notches at each end of the stave to secure the bowstring, which will be shoelaces as they are extremely easy to find and they get the job done.

After knotting the bowstring came the most annoying part: balancing the bow. I put the bow on the ground and secured it with my feet at the center. By pulling at the string, both limbs of the bow should be flexing evenly, which is the benchmark for balance. If they aren't symmetrical, I need to unstring the bow and continue removing material where needed. And finally, adjusting the string length was very easy, but now I needed to make some arrows.

It involved getting tree branches, straightening them over a flame... an even more boring process. I was bored out of my mind by the third hour, so I'll spare you the details.

"This is it." I said excitedly, having finished a few arrows so we could test them.

"Yeah, let's look for some walkers." Amy nodded, sharing my enthusiasm. Thankfully I had the map for that, and I already knew where the closest walker was. I picked a 'random' direction and told her to follow me.

"There is one!" She gestured with her hand.

"Alright!" I nocked an arrow and prepared to shoot. I didn't want to mess it up since we didn't have much ammo to try, so I waited for it to come close enough. I drew the string as much as I could, it was fairly hard to do so which gave me a good feeling about the power of this thing. Sure enough, the arrow was as effective as I predicted, as it lodged itself in its forehead, both ends protruding from his head.

"It worked!" Amy jumped in excitement, coming straight at me like a missile before she put her hands around my neck in a bear hug. Thankfully, I was very strong by now, so my body could easily support that kind of stress.

"I'm a bit sweaty, Amy." I said while gently tapping her back. She pulled back, albeit reluctantly. "We should do a few more tests before going back." We looked for walkers for a few more minutes to try the bow on them, to make sure it works to some degree. This is the first time I've ever made a bow, so I'm uncertain about certain aspects of it, mostly its longevity. I am very concerned it might break at a crucial moment, so we ought to test it thoroughly. We made our way back to the prison after.

I didn't need to tell anyone about it just yet, we would probably be speaking tonight again about Rick and Daryl's voyage. We still need to find more resources, including human resources.

- Dinner time, at the cafeteria -

"Ahem, now that we're all fed and watered, I have a few announcements to make." I enunciated clearly for all to hear. Nothing that would be said today was sensitive, so everyone was present. The group was already quite big, and it'll only grow in the future. I was talking to a rather large crowd by now. "First order of business, I wish to thank the new additions to the group. They have distinguished themselves and proven themselves to be invaluable in our fight against the walkers. I am happy to announce that thanks to their efforts, the whole prison will be accessible going forward, though we will need to do some cleaning first." I waited for a bit until the others welcomed them and thanked them in turn.

"Second order of business: Rick and Daryl will be leaving tomorrow to look for more survivors to invite to our growing family. I hear they will be going deeper this time around and might take up to a week to come back. We wish health and safety in your travels." I raised a glass of water towards them, and they both just chuckled and shook their heads.

"And finally, I have some good news. Amy." I gestured for her, and she brought me the bow for the big reveal.

"How's a bow good news?" Glenn asked with confusion.

"That's what I am going to explain to you." I said patiently. "I've always forbidden the use of guns against walkers because I know how useful ammo will be in the future. So far, we had to get very close to walkers to finish them, and it can be very risky for anyone untrained to do so. But it all changes with these bad boys. They are very easy to make. The arrows can be mass-produced and even reused as long as they didn't break. We've only tested them at a fifteen meters distance, but so far they were capable to finish off their targets." I explained.

"That means that in the future, we will be arming everyone on active duty with them in the foreseeable future. And we will be training almost every single member of the group above a certain age limit to use them. Any thoughts?" I added that last part mostly for Lori's peace of mind because she tends to jump to irrational conclusions, with the pregnancy and all. A few words were said, mostly praise and agreement.

"Now, under normal circumstances, I would establish an R&D unit since you know I have plans that go in that direction. But we can't afford the manpower for it just yet. For now, Maggie, Andrea, and I will be in charge of producing both bows and arrows. Is that okay with you?" I already knew Andrea didn't like typical women's tasks, so I was hoping this would alleviate her boredom somehow. As for Maggie, I doubt she'd say no. She isn't the kind to whine about anything, truly.

"I'm in." Andrea nodded in agreement.

"Me too." Maggie shared the sentiment.

"Perfect. I will walk you through the process tomorrow."