The Walking Dead: A New Beginning From the End of the World

The next day, the clock struck seven sharp, and Jason instinctively woke up. He stared at the ceiling of his small room and took a deep breath. Today seemed like a day full of things he didn't usually do very often.

But today would be the day he started expanding and ignoring the surrounding situation.

As he got dressed, Jason looked at himself in the mirror with a serious expression. To be honest, he had never struggled much to communicate with others, mainly because he was the only one who knew what the future had in store for them.

The pressure of never failing followed him wherever he went.

"I won't make any mistakes..." Jason repeated these words every morning without fail.

Once he was ready, he left his room and headed to the command center. The place and the paperwork had changed, and Jason had assigned Tylor the task of monitoring the area through the security cameras. As for the others, the soldiers routinely cleaned the surroundings of the CDC and collected important resources.

The ranks and security measures remained clear: civilians were just that and had to contribute to keeping the place running. Meanwhile, soldiers or people with weapons training were ranked slightly higher than those who always stayed sheltered.

"Get ready to head out. We have a long journey ahead, and we will be selecting the survivor routes that are in contact with us. But keep one thing in mind—there is always a risk factor, and that is an ambush by guerrillas," Jason said, surprising the others.

He, better than anyone, knew about thieves, traitors, and murderers who would kill them for a slice of bread.

That was why he was always one step ahead. As the observer, there were very few things that escaped his notice during his short trips after returning to the CDC.

"Are we starting Phase Two now?" Tommy showed a certain degree of excitement as he said this. After all, he had grown bored of simply eliminating walkers around the building.

This Phase Two implied expanding their search for resources and, obviously, survivors who needed their help.

"Don't underestimate the walkers. Let's move out," Jason ordered with a serious look, as this time he planned to take half of the soldiers under his command—most of whom had had little contact with the outside world. Some of them weren't even real soldiers; they had undergone training for a month to prepare for survival with the best tools available.

As a leader who never ordered anything he wouldn't do himself, Jason always took the lead on expeditions. Through these missions, he got to know the people who had decided to keep protecting others based on their own actions.

"I'll gather the team, sir," said Mike, the Black soldier Jason had saved when the temporary shelter outside the CDC had been abandoned by the military.

With a group of forty people, Jason looked at all of them with a serious expression and said, "Here's the situation: We're heading to King County to search for resources and survivors. After that, we'll move to Atlanta and take a detour from there."

"Understood!"

"Prepare the vehicles! We leave in ten minutes!"

"Yes, sir!"

Looking around, Jason sighed and walked toward the exit. Turning to Mike, who seemed very serious, Jason said, "The trip should be smooth, but remember—fear the living, not the dead. Those walkers are slow and brainless; you just need to keep your eyes open so we don't run into a horde."

"I understand, sir," Mike nodded. Since joining Jason's command, he had learned a lot about the walkers.

...

The area outside the CDC had been cleared weeks ago, and all walker bodies had been burned far from the site. At the moment, at least the immediate surroundings of the CDC were free of corpses. Although a few bodies were still scattered around, those were just the kills from the day before.

At that moment, Rick and Jason, along with the other soldiers, boarded different vehicles and drove out of the CDC's garage.

Seeing the walkers approaching the convoy, Jason pointed out, "Rick, the people infected by the virus are no longer human—you need to remember that!"

As Jason watched the designated route, a series of gunshots rang out not far from their position, followed by the sound of a higher-caliber weapon, likely a rifle.

"I get it..." The gunfire startled Rick, and he turned his head to look out the window in the direction of the sounds. However, there were too many buildings in the way, and it seemed like the shots were coming from farther than he had initially thought. Jason, noticing this, folded the map and gripped his assault rifle.

Picking up the radio, Jason reported, "Even though bullets can't penetrate the armor, be cautious of a bigger attack."

"Roger that!"

The previous night, Jason and Rick had discussed their plans for today. Their first stop was the police station in King County to collect any remaining weapons and ammunition. Even though Jason had plenty of resources stored in various supply caches, he wasn't in a rush to take everything at once, so anything they could gather was welcome.

Another reason for this trip was to pick up some survivors who had taken shelter in the county's buildings. Jason had occasionally received radio transmissions from them.

Although the road leading to King County was blocked, the opposite lane was clear. Occasionally, they passed a few abandoned vehicles, but they didn't significantly slow down their progress.

It didn't take long for them to reach the town, and there weren't many walkers around—perhaps because the townspeople had already left in search of refuge, leaving very few infected behind.

Rick looked around and couldn't help but sigh helplessly. After mentioning his house, the convoy took a detour onto the street where Rick's home was located.

Upon stopping, everyone got out of the vehicles, and Jason walked quietly down the street.

"Jason, I'm going inside for a quick look. I need the key to the police station. Wait here," Rick said before entering the house with an M1911 that Jason had given him.

Jason walked toward a building in the distance, peering through the windows. He then raised his hands and called out, "It's safe to come out. We're here to take you to a safe place."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mike and some soldiers hurried to his side. Looking at Jason, Mike quickly asked, "Are they survivors?"

Glancing at the houses, Mike noticed numerous eyes staring at them in silence. His heart pounded as he shouted, "There are survivors! Prepare the truck for immediate evacuation!"

Seeing Mike so agitated, Jason explained, "Most of them are elderly people who couldn't escape due to the chaos. Places like this exist all over the country. Fortunately, we've managed to contact some of them, and this seems to be one of the many shelters. If we didn't care about their future safety, they would likely starve to death."

"There aren't too many of them. Get them into the trucks and check for any injuries."

"I'm on it."

Hearing Jason's words, Mike agreed. These were difficult times, and nowadays, few were willing to take in elderly survivors. It was surprising that Jason approved of rescuing the elderly, but then again—if they didn't save them now, who would be there to save them when they grew old?

Jason didn't follow Mike to help evacuate the survivors. Instead, he walked along the edges of the street, drew his dagger, and silently took down several walkers one by one.

Crack!

Black blood oozed from their brains, staining the ground. After being stabbed in the neck, they stopped moving. He then walked into the yard of a nearby house and tuned his radio to a specific channel before speaking.

"We are here to evacuate people; it is safe to come out."

The second-floor window suddenly opened, and a dark-skinned boy leaned out, waving at Jason before rushing down the stairs. Not long after, the front door opened, and a family of three stepped out—Jason recognized them immediately: Morgan, his wife Jenny, and their son Duane.

"Jason, they're here!" Morgan hugged Jason with a smile on his face, and Jenny also stepped forward to embrace him.

"Hello, Mr. Soldier!" Duane approached alongside his mother and greeted Jason.

Jason smiled, patted Duane's head, then turned to Morgan and said, "Morgan, Jenny, I didn't think there would be so many survivors in this place after our last communications."

"To be honest, I didn't expect you to come back through here so soon. If it weren't for you and your group, Jenny wouldn't be with us." Morgan was pleasantly surprised by Jason's arrival. The first time they met, Morgan was fleeing from walkers with his family, but they got trapped in the middle of the horde due to traffic. Just when he thought he would lose his family, Jason and his group had appeared and taken out all the walkers.

Jason had promised to come back and rescue them, and since receiving his message less than twelve hours ago, Morgan hadn't expected him to arrive so quickly.

"Morgan, we are passing through King County and have decided to take all the survivors you've gathered here with us."

After saying this, Jason continued, "Today, I can take you to a place where you'll be safe. It's too dangerous to go out searching for supplies every day. This time, we're heading to Atlanta for another group of survivors, but first, we'll split up. I believe that the more people we have, the better we can rebuild."

Just as Jason was speaking, Rick stepped out of a nearby house. Seeing a stranger, he hesitated for a moment before approaching.

"Jason, do you know them?" Rick asked, looking at the three people in front of him—a family just like his own.

Jason turned to Rick and said, "This is Morgan, Jenny, and Duane. I met Jenny when my group and I passed through here before. We stopped and took care of some walkers before we parted ways."

After speaking, Jason introduced Morgan's family: "This is my friend, Rick. It's obvious he's a cop—one of the good ones."

When Morgan saw Rick's police uniform, he could roughly guess his identity, and upon hearing Jason's introduction, he nodded at Rick in a friendly manner.

Rick still eyed Morgan cautiously and asked hesitantly, "This house... it belongs to someone else."

Morgan simply nodded and said, "We never saw the original owners. The house was empty when we arrived."

Just as the conversation was about to continue, Mike approached Jason and reported, "Sir, the civilians and their belongings have been loaded onto the truck. There are 18 people, most of them elderly."

"Get ready to move out!" Jason ordered in a serious tone. Staying in one place for too long was never a good idea.

"Understood!" Mike acknowledged before stepping back and giving a brief salute.

Quickly, he withdrew and began instructing the soldiers to prepare for departure. Jason noticed the surprised expressions on the others' faces and said, "Even though it may not seem like it, I'm a retired soldier, and I'm currently protecting a CDC center that's still operational."

"That's good news. I'm glad there's still some of the military left on the streets of this country," Morgan said with a relieved smile.

Rick was surprised that Jason, who looked so young to have such a background, was maintaining the security of a refuge.

Jason lowered his hands and glanced at his watch. It was already past eight in the morning, and as his fingers tapped on the dial, Rick understood that it was time to go. He turned around and walked toward the car.

…

King County Police Department – Armory

Boom!

The King County police station was completely empty, and a group of people quickly made their way to the ammunition storage.

"There are far fewer weapons here!" Rick exclaimed as he stepped inside the armory.

The group quickly moved to the deepest part of the storage room. There were still plenty of firearms and some bullets left in the weapon racks. Everyone hurriedly gathered weapons and ammo. Rick holstered his Colt Python revolver and picked up a Remington 700, handing it to Morgan.

Rick said, "It may not look like much, but it's a very accurate weapon."

Morgan took the rifle, aimed it to the side as a test, and nodded.

"If we're done here, let's move out," Jason said with a slight smile—finding new weapons always felt good.

A few hours after regrouping with the other battalions, Jason sent the less-skilled survivors to the CDC.