Somewhere in the country. Inside a fortified two-story house on the edge of a neighborhood.
"Aunt Rosie, when is dad coming back?"
A child around seven or eight years of age worriedly looked at his aunt with a mix of anticipation in his eyes.
The woman called Aunt Rosie tried to show him a reassuring smile and ruffled his head. "Soon. We just need to be a little more patient, okay?"
"Okay, I hope he returns soon. I miss him already." The young child responded with a bright smile before he went back to playing with his toys.
When she saw the smile on that child that's full of hope, Rosie couldn't help but suddenly feel even more guilty for what she did.
'I should have just told him straight from the start. Now, I don't know how to break it to him that his father has already left this world.'
Watching her nephew, Rosie resolved to herself even more to keep them safe. 'I should at least make sure Jose survives until we can get to somewhere safe.'
"I'm just gonna go down and prepare something to eat. So, stay here and don't leave, okay?"
"Okay, aunt."
Seeing the kid nod in response, Rosie then made her way downstairs and towards the kitchen.
Staring at the two cans of Spam and the remaining three small, bottled waters left on the dining table. Rosie became worried for their future, especially since she's with a young child.
She's worried about leaving him alone by himself, while bringing him with her on a supply run is also very dangerous.
"I'll just make sure to properly lock down the place so no one can get in and out." She eventually decided to choose the option with the least danger since Jose was able to manage when they left him alone on the day his father died.
'We should have never gone into that hospital that day.' She thought with guilt while cooking the Spam under the flames of five candles.
"I hope everything goes well today." Rosie murmured while reminiscing the days when the world still hadn't gone to shit.
After a couple of days on the road, the small group of Michael was almost at their destination and was cruising along the road by McNair County, just a couple miles more before they reached Houston.
"We're almost home. Something that should have made me excited coming here, but now it dreads me." Joel thought out loud while gazing at the silhouette of the populous city in the distance while standing from the back of the army truck.
The convoy cruised along the desolate road until they were eventually forced to a stop because of what's ahead of them.
"Bloody hell, what is that?" Looking at the scene before them, Roxy still couldn't help but let out those words even when she already knew what was ahead of them.
"That's the largest horde I've ever seen. I don't think..we can pass through here Michael." Roxy dissuaded but then hesitated at the end of her words when she saw Michael's expression.
"You're..you're not thinking of going through that, right?" Like the rest of them, she grew horrified.
With a crazy look in his eyes, Michael smiled while gazing at the huge walker horde blocking the road ahead. "Why not? We can slowly lure them away from the main road"
'This is also my chance to farm points and coins. I want to find out how the System will deliver the supplies to me if I purchase something from the Shop.'
"No, no, no. We're not doing that. That's suicide! Let's just look for another road to the city, alright?" Joel was the first to object to that idea. He's not easily scared, but that doesn't mean he'd be dumb enough to tempt death.
With a sidelong glance from Michael. "Who said you're doing it? I'm going to do it alone. You guys head to the city first and we'll meet up at a designated location."
Roxy, Joel and the other two simultaneously turned their heads towards him when they heard him and thought he had gone mad.
"Uhh..I don't think that's a good idea." Hans was the first one to show his doubt and thinks Michael has a few screws loose in his head.
"Since we're heading to Fresno and we're not in a hurry. Let's just circle back and take the route down 99. We'll reach my place in a couple of hours if the road is peaceful, a day if there's any trouble along the way." Joel suggested while looking at the map in his hands.
"You're not in a hurry, but I am." Michael argued.
'I'm already three days behind my planned schedule. I need to find her as soon as possible.' He thought while thinking about a certain person.
"Well, I don't need your objections since I am in charge while you're out here with me. It's better and safer if you just listen to me." Michael told them and didn't give them any more room to argue against his decision.
The three men exchanged glances before their eyes eventually landed on Roxy since she has the highest rank among them and threw the decision to her.
Roxy stared straight into Michael's eyes and asked. "Are you sure about this? I know you're a capable individual, but even I know that such an attempt would seriously put someone's life into danger."
"I'm going to be fine. Your group just needs to get into the city as fast as you can and secure the meet up location." Michael responded while looking at the map currently in Hans' hands.
Joel had carefully studied the map before he came to a decision. "Then let's meet up at La Forte, but if you don't find us there, then continue along the highway through Deer Park. Worse, then just continue on ahead to Fresno and look for my house here."
Joel brought up the following plans before handing over a map of his house' location to Michael and his address. "You're really sure about this, right?"
Michael silently smiled and took the map from him and kept it safe inside his inner chest pocket.
"Don't worry. This is not the first undead herd I've encountered."
"Yeah, that's good and all. But this is your first time doing this, right?" Roxy was feeling a little skeptical about what he's trying to do.
"No, this is my second time."
'That is If you count being chased by a herd as the first time.' Michael thought and it sent a shiver down his spine when he remembered that time when he got chased by thousands of walkers out of Atlanta.
"Alright. Good luck to you then." Roxy offered him a handshake and Michael accepted it.
"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourselves." Michael did not want to say anything more than that since he doesn't want to raise some death flags.
Soon, with the help of the others. Michael had decided to leave the bike in their care and carried it up at the back of the truck.
"Good luck and don't die out there. We still have a lot of things to do."
"I won't."
Joel and Michael shook each other's hands. Both men knew what's at stake with the cooperation of the two communities and the hope it carries with them.
Michael especially can't die here since his arrival had lit up some hope within the hearts of the people in Greenville, and though it wouldn't cause anything major if Michael dies, it will certainly shake the hearts of their people.
The only problem that would come after is if Michael's group would be able to track the clues he left behind back to Greenville.
"Take care out there."
"We'll wait for you for a week in Fresno. If you don't find us there, then let's see each other back in Greenville."
"Be safe, man."
Michael just responded to their words with a nod and started his walk down a path to a hellish nightmare.
"Damn, he's actually serious, isn't he?" When Michael had covered half the distance from the herd, the others had finally realized that Michael had meant every word he said.
"He's a crazy guy for sure. But if he does this successfully, then this shit would go down in history and we'd be witnessing this event firsthand." Lucky was suddenly feeling a little excited while watching Michael through the binoculars on his hands.
"It would have been awesome if Michael was equipped with a bodycam. Then we can watch what experiences he went through later." Joel remarked at the side, and the others couldn't agree more and felt regret that they only thought about it now.
On the other hand, Michael was calmly making his way down the road and at the same time, he was busy studying the size of the herd ahead of him.
'I'm suddenly feeling a little nervous.' Michael let out a chuckle when he suddenly started feeling the tension and noticed his growing nervousness as he got closer to the herd.
'It's going to be fine. They should be slower now as months have already passed and they shouldn't be as fast as before.' Michael reminded himself that the most dangerous walkers are those that were freshly turned and was a little relieved at that thought.
'I'm way beyond what a normal human is, but I'm only just realizing it now, this shit is actually crazy. I must be insane to do this!' Michael felt a little regret at his rash decision and reminded himself some more not to become overconfident, that is if he survives this ordeal he had willingly jumped into.