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

"This city smells like shit—less than before, of course," Merle muttered as he picked his nose.

Jason didn't need to force him to surrender or turn him into a prisoner. He just needed to make it very clear that if he ever did anything to endanger everyone again, things would end in a way he didn't want to mention. Merle had to understand that messing with him was not an option.

"Merle, I can understand you and respect your way of living. There's just one small rule you have to follow: don't create any unfavorable situations for my team. So, you have the chance to put an end to our problems—what do you say?"

The crowd around them had just calmed down from the tense atmosphere, but as soon as they heard Jason's words, they all turned to look at Merle, eager to see what he would say.

Merle wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. With a grin, he put his arm around Jason's shoulder, turned his head toward the crowd, and said, "Ha ha ha! Jason, I'll agree to your terms—just because it's you. From now on, no one here will think about causing trouble. If anyone breaks the plan, I'll personally beat them up."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing those hypocritical words. T-Dog even started ignoring everything Merle was saying.

Rick shook his head. This guy seemed like a very troublesome idiot.

Seeing that Merle had settled down, Jason had nothing more to say. He turned his attention back to the situation below the building.

"Alright, but first, let's figure out the best way to get out of this place."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. We need to figure out how to get out of this damn place," Merle echoed Jason's words as soon as he dropped the subject.

Jason walked to the edge of the building and looked down at the city, trying to determine the best and least problematic way out. Contacting his people outside the city wouldn't solve their current situation. Starting a large-scale shootout to escape would bring nothing but losses.

As an idea formed in his mind, Jason turned to Tommy and said, "Give me your radio. There's something I overlooked when we came here."

"Alright." Tommy pulled a radio from his vest and handed it to Jason, his expression calm.

"Zz... This is Jason. I want you to broadcast a message on the radio to find other survivors in the city. Right now, we're working on resolving things on our end so we can make future decisions based on better intelligence."

After saying that, Jason looked at Tommy and asked, "When is Billy coming with the others?"

"They took the survivors back. I don't think it'll take more than two hours for them to meet up with the group outside Atlanta."

As soon as he heard those words, Jason's radio crackled: "Understood, sir! We'll be broadcasting distress messages. For now, everything is calm on our end."

"Do you think there are more survivors in this place?" Rick asked with a puzzled expression.

"I don't think so. We've been coming to the city for a long time and haven't found anyone. I doubt anyone will respond," Glenn said, shaking his head at Rick's question.

"Well, first, we need to save ourselves before worrying about anything else," Rick said as he fell into deep thought.

Jason then carefully analyzed the current situation and proposed several escape plans:

Plan number one was to escape from the roof they had reached and then find a way to climb down from a building further away, slowly and safely reaching the ground. This method requires a lot of strength. Its advantage was safety, but the disadvantage was the climbing skill required, which would slow them down.

The second plan is to force their way through and fight their way to the outskirts of the city as quickly as possible. However, they would have to take out a lot of walkers and mutual trust would be essential. If anyone hesitated or failed to take down a walker, the whole beat would be thrown off.

Another plan was to send two or three people to the nearby parking lot to retrieve a truck and drive it back so the entire group could escape together. This method was dangerous, but it would allow them to gather all the supplies they had gathered, making the trip worthwhile.

The last thing on Jason's mind was to use the underground pipes, but Jason immediately dismissed this idea. He explained that the underground pipes in the obsolete building were sealed with steel filters, making them impassable without the necessary tools. It wasn't worth wasting time trying this option.

Each method had its pros and cons. Jason asked everyone to think carefully and decide which one was the most reliable, considering their abilities.

Jason and his people had no issues leaving safely, but there were civilians in the survivor group with different physical conditions. He had to take their abilities into account to ensure a safe journey for everyone.

Rick was the first to speak: "I think the first three methods are feasible, but if we decide to break through by force, we have to move fast and not fail in taking down the infected. So, I vote for the second method, which seems the safest."

"If I may ask... About the third method, how do you plan to reach the parking lot without causing a commotion like in the first method?" Merle's rough voice cut in. It was more realistic than the first and third options, but if they got trapped by walkers or inside a building, it would turn into a suicide mission.

But Merle knew Jason wouldn't propose a suicide mission, which is why he wanted answers.

He understood that the safest method could also become the most dangerous. Merle felt that if they could walk to the parking lot without problems, their chances of escaping would be higher than with the other options.

"The third method seems viable, considering our limited equipment and weaponry. If we try to break through by force, things could go south quickly," Tommy said openly.

"I prepared three walkers with their arms and jaws removed at the back of the building. You all know that my team and I came from the CDC, and I've been in contact with the center's latest research."

After saying that, Jason pointed out, "Recent studies have shown that once infected individuals have their limbs removed and lose the ability to bite, they become very docile and won't have the instinct to attack us."

"This way, we can stay close to them and avoid attacks from other walkers nearby. But the trick is, they must not make any noise." Jason explained that this method would be the key to getting to a vehicle.

"Really?" Andrea was a bit skeptical about this unrealistic method.

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes." Glenn nodded with certainty and looked at T-Dog and Morales at the same time.

The two had also seen it when they ran out and nodded at Andrea in the same way.

"Are you sure?" Rick looked at Jason. He just wanted to see his wife and children as soon as possible, so he was focused on making a safe plan quickly and implementing it right away.

Jason nodded and said in a serious tone, "I'm quite sure. We've conducted related experiments, and the chances of the infected seeing through the disguise are very small. In this case, unless you accidentally make a sound, the risk is minimal."

"That sounds good! I'll vote for it," Jacqui decided to trust Jason.

"Me too!"

"Same here!"

"Then, who's going to go?" Andrea asked the key question.

Merle sat beside her, looking at the others with a mocking gaze—except for Jason and his people—but he remained silent.

At this moment, someone had to volunteer. Jason simply took the initiative and said, "Since I came up with the idea, I'll be the one to go."

"I'm going too," Tommy said with a determined look, but Jason's words immediately ruled him out of the mission.

"No, I need you two to stay here and make sure everything is in order." After speaking, he turned his head and looked at Rick.

"Are you coming?"

Rick nodded when he heard the words, agreeing without hesitation. Whether Rick was a cop or not, he always had a strong sense of justice, which made people willing to follow him.

Seeing Rick nod, Jason looked around until his gaze finally landed on Merle. He raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"Merle, are you coming?"

Merle shrugged indifferently and replied, "I don't care. If you need me, I'll go. I definitely won't be a coward like these idiots who just stood there speechless."

Everyone's expressions darkened. Although Merle's words were unpleasant, they were true. If Jason hadn't volunteered to go, no one else here would have dared to take such a dangerous risk on their own.

In reality, Merle wasn't very afraid of the walkers. They moved slowly and didn't fit his idea of true danger. Even though there were a lot of them, in Merle's mind, he looked down on these mindless creatures.

Seeing the downcast expressions of the people in front of him only made him want to leave this place, even if it meant stepping into walker territory. On the other hand, Jason was providing knowledge about what could be done to survive.

Merle's dissatisfaction with Jason had silently faded quite a bit at this moment. At least his requests didn't seem self-serving, so he would help.

Now that the plan was set, the three of them stopped wasting time and went downstairs to prepare.

Jason and the others quickly reached the back door of the building, dragged the three still-warm corpses they had tied up earlier toward the exit, and asked Glenn to find three oversized jackets.

After thinking about what he was about to do, Jason handed his gun to Tommy, put on some gloves, and stabbed the three corpses multiple times.

"Now, put on the gloves and smear the jackets with some blood," Jason instructed the other two while wiping the blood off his hands onto the jacket he was wearing.

"What's the point of this?" Andrea asked with a disgusted expression.

"We'll have an extra layer to cover our scent. If there were only a few walkers outside, we wouldn't need to do this. But if the streets are packed with them, like the horde we saw earlier, this will give us an extra layer of protection." Jason patiently explained these survival techniques—he would teach everyone little by little in the future.

And so, soon enough, there was a line of six figures on the streets of Atlanta—three humans, each holding a walker by a rope tied around its neck.

"It's like I'm walking my dog..." Merle couldn't help but joke.

Rick just frowned upon hearing those words from Merle's mouth. That man was definitely an idiot.

According to the plan, Jason would drive. Once they arrived at the destination, Rick and Merle would try to get the keys.

The three moved slowly, and the parking lot fence in front of them was getting closer!

On the rooftop, everyone was lying on the edge of the fence, watching the three figures closely. As they got closer and closer to the parking lot, everyone grew more and more excited!

Boom!

But at that moment, thunder exploded over Atlanta, signaling that rain was approaching.