Glenn clenched his teeth and drove his knife into the female corpse's eye socket, and the body instantly went limp.
Sighing weakly, once he killed that female walker with his knife, he stood up and looked for a blanket to cover the body.
This girl had been young and beautiful. It was still surprising how she managed to live so long in such a cruel world filled with all kinds of groups. One could see many scars on her exposed skin, showing that her life until death had never been easy.
Glenn quickly formed a theory in his mind. This girl must have faced countless hardships that would have broken any other survivor, but her will to live was stronger than that of any ordinary person — and in the end, she died at the hands of a walker hidden in this room.
All of this was evident from the suitcase she had — filled with food, still-edible packaged meals, a few daggers, and personal clothing.
Jason had long found it difficult to take things from the dead, especially from those who had fought to survive. His organization consisted only of people who wanted to live, who fought every day just to keep breathing.
The girl's death must have occurred a few days ago.
"Do not remove your masks under any circumstances. I know it's difficult, but it's better to stay safe until the airborne virus detection devices are ready."
Jason looked at his group and warned them. In fact, there had been soldiers who died because they removed their masks after clearing out all the infected. The base had immediately reported it, and it led to widespread approval of the new armor with built-in masks.
After looking around, Jason approached the girl's corpse and picked up a broken heart-shaped necklace from the ground, with a name engraved on it.
"Dafne…"
"A very pretty name…"
After handing the necklace to Glenn, he walked toward the exit to inspect for other anomalies while everyone gathered useful supplies.
Amy, who had rushed out of the room visibly shaken, looked deeply affected by what she saw, and Andrea followed closely to comfort her.
"Amy, if you don't want Jason to get mad about your attitude, you need to be stronger and never scream over things like that, do you understand?"
Amy felt embarrassed. She knew she had been acting far too dramatically, but fortunately, her actions hadn't drawn much attention. She quickly stood up, smoothed her hair, and regained her composure.
Soon everyone left the place, and several people exchanged silent glances.
Jason naturally noticed the two sisters who had been troubling Daryl so much, so he approached and asked, "Are you all right? If you think wearing the mask is too complicated, you shouldn't have joined the group."
The two women shook their heads, and Amy tried to explain in a panic, but her sister tugged at her sleeve. Realizing she had said too much, Amy immediately fell silent.
Jason wasn't in the mood to talk about such things. He and many others could tell she was trying hard just to be here. But everyone knew she could barely stand the sight of walkers or corpses. Compared to many people hiding in different bases, she was actually doing fairly well.
But no one should force themselves into things they weren't capable of handling, so after gathering everything useful from the place, they all moved toward the next door.
"Jason, I can do it!"
Hearing those words, Jason froze mid-motion and turned around to find Amy standing there, looking at him seriously — clearly wanting to inspect the last door that led to the dining hall.
"You couldn't even handle seeing a corpse, you troublesome girl. Why don't you stop being a nuisance and stay at the back of the group? You'll end up dead if you keep trying to prove something."
Everyone heard Daryl's words. It wasn't that they didn't care about Amy's safety — if she thought she was capable, then fine. If she died, that would be her problem, not the group's responsibility, especially since they'd warned her repeatedly.
After hesitating for a moment, Jason looked to Rick beside him, who nodded after thinking it over. Finally, Jason stepped back.
"Take your time. We're all right behind you to help."
Amy nodded firmly and slowly approached the door, while the rest of the women raised their weapons, ready to react to any emergency.
Taking a deep breath, Amy knocked on the door with her hand, then leaned closer and pressed her ear against it, just as the others usually did.
There was a sudden crack from the other side that startled her, and she muttered under her breath, trembling. But she quickly realized she needed to show confidence, so she shut her mouth and leaned in even closer to listen again.
There were rhythmic thudding sounds coming from behind the door. She knew it was a walker, so after a moment, she turned her head to look at the group waiting behind her.
At that moment, she was nervous, afraid the others would underestimate her, so she placed one hand on the doorknob and drew her gun with the other.
Jason also heard the banging sound from the door — a steady, repetitive thump. It seemed to be growing heavier, but nothing too alarming.
It's just a walker.
Thinking they should wait a little longer, he suddenly noticed Amy's hand on the doorknob. Realizing something was wrong, he quickly tried to stop her.
"Wait a second!"
But it was already too late. Amy, scared and distracted, had forgotten many details she should've paid attention to. Without warning anyone, she realized too late that there were probably more than one walker inside — but eager to show off, she only glanced at her sister and swung the door open without hesitation.
Boom!
At that very moment, a powerful force slammed the door open, and Amy — standing closest — was thrown to the ground by the sudden impact. She lay there, disoriented, unable to process what was happening.
The next scene made Amy's eyes widen in horror — these walkers weren't normal. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they were sprinting toward her, some closer than others. The number of undead was alarmingly high.
As Amy hesitated, Jason was about to stop her — but then realized the situation wasn't as simple as he'd thought.
His words changed instantly from warning to command: "Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jason raised his weapon, switched from single to automatic fire, and began shooting even before the door was fully open.
The loud gunfire lasted several seconds. On the other side of the doorway was a large, pitch-black room, but through his special mask, Jason could see clearly — there were countless walkers.
"Get up if you don't want to die, Amy!"
While firing, Jason kept an eye on the situation inside. Other than knowing there were many walkers, he couldn't get an exact number.
The entrance to Area 3-C was a double door, but it had only been opened on one side — the same side that had thrown Amy to the ground when Jason began shooting.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even with silenced weapons, the gunfire was loud enough for those outside to hear.
Just as they ran back to regroup, the door that had been blocked by walker corpses gave way completely and burst open.
Now everyone could see the situation clearly — it was a room full of Class W-2 walkers!
Seeing this, Jason instantly realized they couldn't fight recklessly. Running out of bullets would mean having their legs torn apart.
"Fall back! Everyone outside!"
But there was so much gunfire inside that no one could hear him, so he stepped forward and physically pushed people back one by one.
"Retreat! Now!"
He shouted through their earpieces, trying to make them pull out quickly.
But there were too many walkers, and even without orders, everyone was forced to retreat. After reloading and switching back to single fire, Jason moved toward the door to provide suppressing fire while the others escaped.
Finally, Daryl noticed his movements from afar — he had withdrawn after his argument with Amy, and Rick was with him. Daryl quickly grabbed Rick and gestured for him to look toward the door.
Rick's ears rang, and he felt someone tug on his clothes from behind. Turning around, he saw several people moving toward the exit — but their movements were strange, unsteady.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunfire snapped everyone back to attention. They readied their weapons and rushed toward the door. Rick and Daryl, after cutting down numerous sprinting walkers, also joined the others heading for the exit.
Jason was the first to burst through the doorway, holding it open and waiting for everyone to pass before slamming it shut behind them.
But since they were outside, they couldn't lock the door at all — they could only keep running down the stairs.
"Don't stop!"
Jason kept firing as they ran, but then something appeared up ahead…