Andy quietly moved forward. He wanted to hear the true purpose of that man coming here from a closer distance. When he reached the front, he saw those two people throwing the heavy suitcases to the ground, and from the sound they made hitting the floor, it was not something ordinary.
He hadn't realized that those two suitcases contained walker faces until they pulled one out of the bag.
A mask from a walker? What is that supposed to be for?
The doubts were quickly resolved by the man's next words, and Jason, who took a mask, began to explain.
"All these masks were stripped from the faces of walkers. If we wear them, common walkers won't attack us, but you must behave like the dead, otherwise they will still notice the difference. We don't have time to answer your questions. I want you to report your numbers to me, both the people from the Kingdom and from Hilltop, and then you will immediately put on a mask. The rest will wait in silence."
Jason needed to know exactly how many people there were and to figure out if he would run short of masks, thinking about every tiny detail to find a way to get all these people out of this place.
On the other hand, because of his closeness, Andy quickly received a mask, but suddenly a loud noise came from behind. Looking back, he discovered who the group of people coming forward were—it was the group of women who came from a community near the sea. All those people had been brought to this place.
Seeing them, Andy sighed with slight understanding. This was the group of women who had suffered the most. It was said their community was near the sea, but all of them had been placed here long before he had arrived.
He knew trouble might come, but he was just an ordinary survivor. Even if he wanted to control the situation now, he had no ability or authority to do so.
However, that didn't mean no one cared about this matter. As soon as these people moved to the front, the man named Jason looked at them with a cold expression.
"Listen carefully, I don't care what you want to say. I don't have time to give you explanations now. If you don't line up, when the shooting starts, my people outside this warehouse will suffer casualties. I will not allow you to steal another second from me. Do you understand my words?"
At this point Jason drew his pistol. He didn't care if he had to kill a few people who turned rebellious right now. How crazy was this world for the hero to be questioned in the middle of a mission?
After a few seconds, just as the masks were first handed to the people of the Kingdom—since they were officially part of his people—he spoke again.
"Now all you need to do to get out of this place as soon as possible is report how many people are on your side and then move into the line where masks are being distributed. I will not allow anything to interfere with this evacuation. Do you understand?"
Seeing Jason's domineering words, the leader of the organization they had vaguely heard about, the expressions of the few who had stepped forward fell silent. Andy suddenly felt a powerful sense—who would dare take such a huge risk in this life-and-death situation? Not to mention all of them were being rescued.
Ignoring those people, Jason raised his head and asked the crowd.
"Who is Mark? Is there a Mark here?"
A man stepped out from the crowd, looking ahead with some doubt.
"I'm Mark, do you know me?"
"Do you know Negan?"
This man called Mark reacted in an exaggerated way, his eyes widening greatly at those words, and he even spoke much more emotionally: "I… I know him… and you, how do you know him?"
Originally, he thought this group of people would not save him since he didn't belong to the communities they spoke of, the ones that a man named Jason was supposed to come rescue. After all, by the look of things, the number of people here seemed to have already exceeded their expectations. He had originally been discussing with his companions how he would present himself to this group, but his name was suddenly called at that moment.
"If you know Negan, then you should know the name of the doctor who led the team before?"
"Of course, Franklin and his daughter Laura."
As if receiving the expected answers, Jason nodded.
"How many people are in your group now?"
"Sixteen people, all here. As long as we don't show hostility in this place, they don't kill anyone. We have been tolerant with these people holding us prisoner—that's how we survived."
"Alright, we'll talk more when we get the chance. Daryl will give you sixteen masks."
As the two bags of masks were quickly handed out, more and more people put them on. When the two bags were empty, there were still more than a hundred people left without masks.
Andy was secretly worried. If this situation turned desperate, it would be difficult for them to leave this place and abandon those without masks. At this point, he couldn't help but look at Jason, who still stood there calmly.
"By now half of my people should have already broken many places open for walkers to flood into the square… It will be a problem later if we don't hurry, but first I need to solve this." Thinking this, Jason signaled his people behind him, and Daryl shouted: "Everyone move back, I need five volunteers to help."
Andy was not disappointed. The other side seemed prepared. Five strong men stepped forward, walked to the warehouse door, put on masks, and quietly got ready.
One of them slowly opened the door, and the crowd couldn't help but make noise, but soon fell silent because the rest of the masked people raised their weapons and aimed them at the crowd.
As soon as the door opened, Andy was stunned by the scene outside. The square was already surrounded by hundreds of walkers, and the warehouse door was also packed with these stinking monsters.
Drawn by the sound of the door opening, several walkers turned their heads and saw some of their own kind, walking toward that place without hesitation.
One, two, five…
Clak! Clak! Clak!
Through the open door, ten walkers entered, and the warehouse door was shut again.
The walkers who had entered lay silently on the ground.
Andy didn't know what this meant. He stared at the ten corpses on the floor and saw Jason waving to the crowd behind him.
"All those who didn't get a mask, come and line up, hurry!"
The few who had just opened the door began cutting up these corpses with blades.
A strong, pungent odor filled his nose, and a wave of vomit surged from the crowd, but they quickly covered their mouths and forcibly suppressed the feeling.
This was the reason Andy had chosen farming in Hilltop. He really didn't dare face these rotting monsters.
However, he had been living in the end of the world for a year and a half. He quickly adjusted his mindset. When he looked back at the crowd, he discovered several people with rubber gloves had stepped forward, enduring the stench while smearing the blood and flesh on their bodies.
Ten people at a time, after a dozen rounds, these more than a hundred people had turned into fake walkers exuding the stench of the dead.
Andy understood their plan the moment they began smearing the blood. He was so aware that he put on his mask and couldn't imagine the feeling of those things stuck to his body.
Just as the hundred-plus people began to get ready, the people wearing cloaks started pulling out handfuls of weapons from under their cloaks and directly distributed them to the soldiers of the Kingdom and Hilltop.
Seeing that preparations were done, Andy also began to wait for the evacuation to start. He was really sick of staying in this damned ghostly place. At that moment, his deep gratitude toward Jason had reached its fullest.
Finally, a small shout rang in everyone's ears, and Andy's attention also shifted, as everyone turned their eyes to the man who spoke.
All eyes fixed on Jason, who spoke in a voice not too loud.
"Listen, my team will go out first in a moment and leave an open space for you to gather in the center. Everyone will surround the city, and it's important that those without masks stand in the middle."
"Remember, don't talk, don't run, just follow the team if you want to survive! The weapons are not for shooting—they're for you to survive once we get out of the horde of walkers outside."
Putting the mask on his head, Jason took the lead and walked toward the warehouse door, placed his hand on the handle, and said the last sentence before leaving.
"We'll be home soon!"