Chapter 9: Oi, Giving Up So Quickly?
By the time he retreated, the big truck had also started up.
The truck bed faced the back door. The truck stopped.
The cargo door opened. Glenn nimbly climbed up. Rick and Morales handed him supplies, and Glenn tossed them into the cargo bed.
Jacqui and Andrea also stepped forward to help.
The two women worked with all their might moving supplies. For a moment they weren't any slower than the three men.
Though T-Dog had only suffered superficial injuries, his arm had taken hits too and couldn't lift heavy objects. He could only slowly carry lighter things.
Jimmy and Rip, sitting up front, turned around to help.
Crack—
While the others were moving things, Caesar walked to the department store lobby.
Two layers of glass doors—the first layer had been smashed at some point.
The second layer also showed dense cracks, on the verge of collapse. It wouldn't be strange if it completely shattered the next second.
Through the glass door, the walkers outside weren't affected by the explosion sounds. They were single-mindedly determined to smash the glass and eat the flesh inside.
Caesar looked at the walkers everywhere, taking several deep breaths. His hand rested on the gun holster at his waist. The cold firearm brought him some sense of security.
"Caesar, we finished moving everything."
Rick walked over. He had his hands on his hips, holding his hat, his body already soaked with sweat.
The moment his words landed, crack—
The glass door completely shattered. Several walker arms reached through the gaps. Along with the sharp glass cutting through flesh, the cracks expanded further.
Caesar turned and shouted, "Rick, get in the truck and go now."
"Okay." Rick put on his hat and ran two steps.
Then he stopped. Rick looked at Caesar and said, "You're not coming with us?"
Caesar put his hand on his thigh and pulled out a hand axe. Without turning his head, he said, "I need to go find Merle."
"Are you insane?"
Rick didn't understand what Caesar was thinking. Walkers were about to break in any moment.
"Don't worry, I'll come back alive. Go!"
Caesar's voice was very calm. This wasn't some hot-headed sudden decision.
Rick glanced twice at the walkers breaking through the glass door, gritted his teeth, and ran toward the back door.
When he reached the back door, Glenn and the others had already gotten in the cargo bed and sat down. They were just waiting for him.
Rick was pulled into the truck by the others. The cargo truck slowly started moving.
"Where's Caesar?" Glenn suddenly asked.
Rick's breath caught. "He's going to find Merle."
"Going to find Merle?" Andrea couldn't believe what she was hearing.
That scumbag—anyone could see he was prime prison material.
To risk his own life for such a piece of trash. In Andrea's view, this was practically insane.
T-Dog and Morales's expressions weren't much better.
Rip, driving up front, glanced at the cargo bed but didn't say anything. Caesar had told him about this beforehand.
...
Inside the department store.
The glass door shattered all over the floor. Countless walkers with hideous faces passed through the entrance into the lobby.
Caesar stepped back two paces. The axe struck heavily. The thick axe blade carried powerful momentum, easily smashing open walkers' heads.
Since transmigrating, Caesar's body had grown increasingly powerful, his stamina increasingly abundant, his movements increasingly swift.
Caesar fought while retreating. The axe smoothly and fluidly smashed one head after another.
The walkers didn't know how to maneuver—they just walked straight forward, only attacking from one direction.
When the front walker fell, the walker behind would be pushed forward by the walkers behind it.
So Caesar raised his axe and chopped down predictively.
It looked as if the walkers were deliberately banging their heads against the axe.
Caesar killed three or four dozen walkers in succession. His breathing became somewhat irregular. He ran back several steps quickly, breaking away from the walkers' pursuit.
Up the stairs, Caesar stood at the top resting, waiting for the walkers to come up one by one.
The walkers climbed the stairs with difficulty. After climbing a few steps, they'd take an axe to the head and tumble back down.
Like this, Caesar fought while climbing the stairs.
By the time he reached the top floor, the number of walkers had already dwindled to just a dozen or so.
Caesar quickly walked behind the rooftop door, pulled it over, and shielded himself with it.
Merle on the rooftop saw the iron door suddenly swing open. His expression changed as an ominous premonition enveloped him.
Sure enough, the next moment, several walkers appeared in the doorway.
Their gazes locked onto Merle. They extended their arms and walked toward him.
Merle rolled over and stood up, but his body was pulled by his cuffed arm. He could only hunch over.
He made a fist with one hand while warily watching the approaching walkers, constantly changing position, trying to find a suitable stance to meet them.
"Come on, bastards."
"Haha, want to eat my flesh? Eat shit!"
As he spoke, one walker lunged first.
Merle was quick. He dodged to the side and the walker fell to the ground.
A gleam of joy flashed in his eyes. Merle took a large step forward, wanting to crush the walker's skull with his foot.
But the next second, his hand was pulled back. He couldn't move forward no matter what.
Merle shouted angrily, "Fuck!!!"
Before he could vent his emotions, the other walkers lunged at him.
Merle's dodging space was limited, but he still managed to evade the walkers. Merle had no tools in his hands—he could only use his fists to strike at the walkers' brains.
This kind of action, for walkers, was no different from tickling.
Merle's eyes lit up. Taking advantage of a gap in the walkers' attacks, he removed the cross from around his neck, gripped it between his knuckles, using it as brass knuckles.
After several exchanges, Merle was exhausted but had also killed three or four walkers.
Merle's face was covered in blood, panting heavily. "Fuck, didn't God say he forgives everyone? Why won't he save me?"
A walker appeared in Merle's line of sight, opening its hideous bloody mouth, biting toward Merle.
Merle had no strength left to resist. His face wore a smile.
In Merle's vision, the walker suddenly froze. Its body went limp like a robot that lost power.
"Oi, giving up so quickly?"
Caesar pulled out his hand axe. Blood splattered as he smiled at Merle.
Then Caesar swung his axe. The axe smashed into one walker head after another. In the blink of an eye, he'd eliminated all the walkers.
After eliminating the walkers, Caesar pulled out a key and tossed it into Merle's lap.
"Here, the key."
Merle caught it and quickly unlocked the handcuffs.
On the wrist where the cuffs had been, you could see spots of blood and abraded skin. Clearly Merle's will to survive was strong.
"So then, next we need to escape."
Caesar didn't say anything superfluous. Taking the lead, he strode toward the rooftop of a neighboring building.
Taking a deep breath, Merle looked at the walkers on the ground.
Every walker's wound was clean and decisive. You could tell the person who attacked had very precise force and struck without any hesitation.
Merle hung the blood-stained cross back around his neck, picked up a rusty iron spike from the ground, and only then followed.
Caesar rolled into the building.
Inside, soft carpet covered the floor. There were office cubicles all around, plus a break room and so on—it was an office building.
A walker lying on the ground rested quietly.
Caesar walked over, looked twice at the wound on the walker's head, confirmed it was dead, then used the walker's clothes to wipe the blood from his axe.