Chapter 22

I started jogging as soon as I left camp towards the direction of the city. I wanted to use the opportunity to patrol the area as well. I ran for twenty minutes, not taking pauses and regulating my breathing correctly. I needed to upgrade my 'technique' first if I wanted to level up the skill faster. I did some push-ups, sit-ups and squats along with several other exercises I could come up on the top of my head.

I didn't know what I was doing, honestly, but it wouldn't really change much. The key is to make an effort, and not over exert myself. Once I deemed it enough for the session, I sprinted back to camp. The [Sprint] skill didn't level up, but I wasn't discouraged. It was only a matter of time when you try hard enough. I washed myself afterwards, I hated the feeling of sweat on my body, especially if I could help it.

The rest were up and eating breakfast, so I joined them. I sat next to Amy, earning a raised eyebrow from her sister, again. 'Chill, I'm only sitting here because she's the only person my age here… yeah…'

The atmosphere suddenly got serious when we were done. Lori, Carol and Miranda (Morales' wife), understanding it was time for the 'adults' to talk, took Carl, Sophia, Eliza and Louis (Morales' daughter and son) for a 'walk'.

"Xenon." Shane began. "You have done us, all of us, a great service yesterday. I was a dick to you about it and treated you like a child. For that, I apologize."

"Apology accepted." I nodded. "Anybody would've reacted the same way, so don't let it bother you." I said, waving my hand off, being the 'big man'. I needed these little show of 'maturity' to earn their trust even more. And I could see it was working, as several of them gave me a nod of appreciation, and even Amy was looking at me in admiration. 'I'm just too honest and righteous...' I thought smugly.

"Now that this is out of the way," Glenn said. "We need to talk about our plans. While we cleared that part of the city, it won't be safe for too long, so the sooner we grab everything we can from there, the better."

"Those stores you raided, we could make a run today, grab everything else from there as soon as possible." Morales proposed. "And that hardware store you found, we might be able to setup some solar panels in camp, you know? Get us some electricity here, maybe even a water pump for showers."

"It even had camping equipment, so yeah, we should definitely do that, would make life much easier." Theodore added.

"We could maybe set up a fence around the camp, just in case." Shane said. "What do you think, Xenon?" Huh, he's asking me now. Why, thank you for asking…

"I think what we lack most here is bigger vehicles." I said, drawing their attention. Though they clearly didn't understand my reasoning, judging by the look on their faces. "We never know when we'll have to leave this place. We could get attacked by walkers at any given moment, so we need to be ready to roll as fast as possible. We should get a Truck to be able to store food, equipment, and even people when things go sideways. Not to mention, trucks give better protection than cars against them. The people inside are completely secured, while those driving are on higher grounds than in a car. So yeah, a truck or a big van would be perfect." They had thoughtful expression on their face by the time I was done.

"A truck would certainly help reduce the amount of trips to the city." Glenn offered.

"And we can stock our food there, instead of piling it up here in the camp. It would make it easy to move at a moment's notice." Dale chipped in.

"The walkers are running out of food in the city." Jim said somberly. "It's only a matter of time before they start looking elsewhere. Atlanta's population was around 300k, and right now, more than half of that have joined the other side."