Chapter 56

Read Author's note at the end.

**- Xenon -**

"Walkers ahead, big horde, we gotta warn the others!" I said seriously, dragging Amy by the hand away from there. I needed to act, and act fast if I wanted to control this situation.

I ran as fast as I could, dragging her along with me. The rest couldn't see us yet because of the cars between us. I used [Detect Presence] to see if there was any of them nearby. I could see that Carol and Sophia were playing without a care in the world, a bit further than they are supposed to. They saw us running at them, but didn't understand.

"Go back to the RV, NOW!" They froze, not understanding what was happening, which pissed me off to no end. I carried Sophia on my shoulder. "Amy, bring Carl with you."

The mothers finally noticed something wrong, Carol the first seeing me running carrying her daughter. I signaled them with my hands to get the hell away from there, which they did immediately.

The rest of the group was now clearly visible, when they saw something wrong, I noticed Shane and Rick start hissing at the others, they all ran towards the vehicles to either prepare for our getaway or take out their guns.

"Carol, get to the RV with Sophia and stay there." She didn't hesitate and followed her daughter.

"How many?" Shane asked me seriously, ready to take action if necessary. The others following behind with their handguns and rifles.

"I don't know how many, the trees were in the way. But from what I could tell, more than a hundred. They are about 300 meters away from us now." I informed them.

"We can take them down. We have more than enough ammo to take them." Rick said resolutely. By now, Lori and Carol were in the RV with their children. Andrea and Amy chose not to hide this time, something I could respect, as they were standing with us, each holding their handguns.

"Listen. I need you to trust me on this one." I said calmly.

"No." Shane shook his head. "Absolutely not! You're not doing the same thing again!"

"Look at it this way: There could be thousands of walkers with them, more than our ammo can handle. Or we could lose all our ammo fighting them, and lose our chances at taking back the prison. I'm not nearly suicidal enough to take them on my own." I explained. "We don't have time to scout them, and we can't change roads without enough fuel."

"What are you saying, Xenon? You want to drag god knows how many walkers to god knows where?" Jim asked with a frown.

"No." I shook my head. "Listen, trust me on this one. The only reason I even suggested it, is because I have a way to escape them. I was surrounded by hundreds of walkers when I was in Atlanta, but there is a strategy to make them ignore you. Rick and Glenn used it before from what I hear. I will do the same. I'll drag them far away from us, just make sure you don't make any loud noises. When they are far enough, I'll slip away from them and come back here. Alright?"

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that." Rick frowned. "You're putting yourself in a lot of danger by doing this."

"Don't worry about me, I wouldn't do it if I knew I couldn't. Alright?" They all eventually nodded. I could see the urgency of the situation didn't give them much time to think, but I didn't really need them to.

"Make sure to keep the kids next to the RV this time. This place is dangerous. And prioritize moving the cars out of the way. I'll be back before sunset." I sprang to action, not waiting for their response, in case one of them changed his mind.

I ran towards the horde, which had advanced a good 100 meters from its first position while we were talking. As I reached the edge of the blocked, where I was previously stationed, I could get a general idea about the size of the horde. I was right, there were a lot of them. On the map, I counted a hundred and forty, and that's not a small number. If we had used our bullets to shoot them, we would've wasted more than 200 hundred bullets on this horde alone. One bullet doesn't mean one kill.

I had about 200 x 9 mm bullets in my inventory (Not to mention my fully loaded Glock with all its magazines, which is about 80 bullets), along with a Revolver I had taken just in case, So I wouldn't particularly worry about being overrun. And I didn't even mention the 7.62 mm ammo.

I took out my revolver, a Chiappa Charging Rhino Gen II 60DS, after casting [Detect Presence] so that nobody notices the new gun. The walkers immediately noticed me as I reached their field of vision, which was perfect for me. I descended from the highway towards the trees, and ran a few meters. I shot one of the walkers once I was off the highway, so that the others would be attracted to the sound.

Which seemed to work, as the whole horde changed its course, heading towards me now. I began running, making sure to keep them within range. I will be guiding them for a while, I need to make sure the others are safe, and give them enough time to move the cars out of the way, and loot everything that can be looted. We may not have an opportunity like this for a while. I took a few shots every now and then, as I ran away.

( Image for all the Guns here. )

**- 2 hours later -**

I've gotten my dose of exercise for the day. I've been jogging the entire time, and it didn't take much stamina. I was quite far from the main group now, but I wasn't concerned. Furthermore, I would never get lost as long as I had the map.

It was time to lose the horde. We've reached an open plain, with wooden fences all around it. I don't know how much the fences would delay them, but judging by the number of walkers, I'd say a few minutes at best.

I hopped over it, and ran for my life. I needed to find a safe spot out of their vision to wear my anti-walker suit, which is the same suit I've worn when I got away from that horde in Atlanta. I could see a big house ahead, I could check it out and use it as an opportunity to change.

I ran towards the house, hoping I'd find some ammunition there. Perhaps a Knife Sharpening Kit, as my throwing knives are becoming a bit dull. That's when a few walkers came out of the house. Looks like I will have to deal with them first.

Yet, as I've got closer, I noticed one of them actually had a shotgun with him. Since when walkers know how to hold a shotgun? That's when it hit me. The way they were behaving... Those aren't walkers, they were living people. Four I could see already, one of them seemed older than the rest. Shit, this wasn't looking good. With the horde I was bringing with me, they will certainly die.

I activated [Sprint], and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. The faster I warned them, the faster we had time to react accordingly.

"What are you doing here, son?" The old man said with a frown, holding his shotgun closely. I could see he was nervous, and to be fair, I can't blame him. The rifle on my back was rather huge, add in all the magazines, knife, hatchet attached to my belt. I wasn't exactly exuding friendliness.

"There is a horde of walkers heading to this place. About a hundred and forty of them. You should leave this place immediately." I said, and they were dumbfounded at the news, as if they didn't understand what I was telling them.

"Leave this place?" The old man asked angrily. "This is my farm!" He loaded his shotgun. "Listen to me son, you're missing with the wrong people. Leave, while I'm still being nice." Huh? Is this dude serious?

"You don't believe me, do you?" I asked him with a frown.

"Matter of fact, I don't." He pointed the shotgun at me. "Leave now, you're not welcome here." I narrowed my eyes at him. I just tried to save you, and this is how you repay me?

"Alright, it's your funeral." I shrugged and went on my way. I took a right from where I was coming from. There looked to be quite some people here, they may be useful to us if trained properly. And I know we'll need people if we plan on keeping that prison. I walked slowly, not intending to leave at all. I could eliminate them, but I will have to expand a lot of my resources, namely bullets. I still have some time left. I will judge if they are worth saving or not.

- End of the Chapter -

Author's Note: I myself am very aware of how unlikely it is for the scenario to go this way. I only have one thing to say: Don't underestimate the CHA stat... To put things into perspective: had Xenon given them more time to think things through, there is no way in hell he would've gone alone. At least, one of them would've came along. But his CHA stat gave him the edge here. While he was logically explaining to them, asking mostly for their 'trust', they were momentarily convinced. But once he went ahead to attract the walkers, they DID start considering that it was all bullshit, that even if that was the case, at least one of them should be his backup. But if they did that, they would've disrupted the crowd of walkers, so they decided against it.