Chapter 29 : Friend or Foe

The hum of the generator in the background mixed with the faint crackle of a half-tuned radio, adding an air of unease to the room. Marcus's office was dim, lit only by a single desk lamp that cast long shadows over the cluttered space. Stacks of scavenged books, maps marked with hand-drawn routes, and a few boxes of ammunition filled the corners. A machete rested on the desk in front of him, its blade dull with wear but still intimidating. Marcus himself sat in a battered chair, leaning back slightly as he surveyed Kate and Chris with a steady, piercing gaze.

"Alright," Marcus said, his voice calm but firm. "You've been out for hours. Let's hear it. What did you find?"

Kate and Chris exchanged a glance. Kate was the first to speak, her voice steady but carrying an edge of unease. "The pharmacy was intact, for the most part. We managed to bring back supplies—painkillers, antibiotics, some bandages. That'll hold us for a while."

Marcus nodded, his expression unreadable. "Good. But that's not all, is it? You wouldn't be sitting here like this if it was just a supply run."

Chris leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees. "The storage room in the back, Marcus—it wasn't just supplies. Someone was staying there. Recently."

Marcus's brows furrowed slightly, and he gestured for her to continue. "Define 'staying.'"

Kate swallowed hard, choosing her words carefully. "There was a sleeping bag, food wrappers, and a water bottle. All fresh. Someone made that their camp. But it wasn't just a camp." She hesitated before continuing. "There were chains bolted to the wall. Chains, Marcus. And next to them was a walker. It was still alive, if you can call it that, but… restrained."

Marcus's face darkened, his hand drifting unconsciously to the machete on his desk. "A chained walker?"

Chris nodded, his tone grim. "Yeah. Looked like it had been there for a while. The flesh around its wrists was worn down to the bone, like it had been struggling against the chains for days. Maybe weeks."

The room fell into a tense silence, the implications of their discovery hanging heavy in the air. Marcus leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk, his piercing gaze fixed on them. "You're telling me someone was camping in that pharmacy and… keeping a walker as a pet?"

Kate shook her head. "Not a pet. It wasn't cared for. It was…" She struggled for the right word. "Contained. Like they were using it for something."

Marcus's jaw tightened, his voice lowering. "Using it for what?"

Chris's mouth twisted in discomfort. "No idea. Experimenting, maybe? Trying to figure out how the infection works? Or worse—using it as some kind of sick torture device."

Marcus leaned back in his chair, his face dark with thought. His fingers resumed their steady tap against the desk, a quiet, repetitive sound that seemed to fill the room.

Marcus's jaw tightened. "And the sleeping bag?"

"Empty," Kate said softly. "Whoever was using it wasn't there anymore. At least, not when we were."

The room fell silent, the weight of their discovery pressing down on all of them. Marcus tapped a finger against the desk, his mind clearly racing. Finally, he looked back at them.

"Anything else?" he asked, his voice clipped.

"There's more," Kate said, breaking the silence.

Marcus's sharp gaze snapped to her. "Go on."

Kate hesitated, her mind racing to piece the details together. "Carl. He said he saw a group of people at the mall—five of them. He claims they split up and didn't all make it. But his story doesn't line up with what we saw."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Chris took over, his tone skeptical. "Carl mentioned some guy named Brent. Said they had a fight, and Brent didn't make it. But we didn't find any bodies—not in the pharmacy, anyway. And the chains in that room…" He trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.

Kate nodded. "Exactly. Carl's story feels… incomplete. Either he doesn't know what happened to the others, or he's lying. And if he's lying, we need to know why."

Marcus's face hardened, his jaw tightening. "You think Carl had something to do with the chains? The walker?"

Kate hesitated, then nodded. "I don't know for sure. But it's too much of a coincidence. We found him in that mall, and then we find… that."

Chris crossed his arms, his tone resolute. "At the very least, he's not telling us everything. And if he's hiding something, and that makes him a risk."

Chris nodded in agreement. "A risk we can't afford right now. We brought him back because we figured you'd want the final say, but honestly, Marcus… I don't trust him."

Marcus was silent for a long moment, his eyes flicking between Kate and Chris as if weighing their words against his own instincts. The room felt stifling in the quiet, the generator's hum suddenly too loud.

Finally, he nodded. "Good work. Both of you," he said, "You brought back supplies and intel. That's more than most of these people manage in a week."

Kate blinked, caught off guard by the rare praise. "So, what now?"

Marcus leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "You're one of us now. Officially. Consider this your initiation."

Chris let out a low whistle, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Well, that's something, I guess."

Marcus's expression softened, though only slightly. "It's not just something. It's trust. And trust is hard to come by these days. You've earned it.And we need people like you—people who can make the hard calls and still come back in one piece"

Kate's mind still turning over the implications of what they had seen—and the man they had brought back. "Thanks, Marcus We're glad to help. But about Carl… I think we need to keep a close eye on him."

Marcus nodded. "Carl's on probation, same as anyone else who comes through here. I'll keep him close, watch how he moves, see if he's a threat. If he is, we'll handle it. Fast."

Kate didn't look entirely convinced. "And if he's connected to what we found in that storage room?"

Marcus's gaze hardened. "Then he's more than a threat. And he'll wish we'd left him at that mall."

Chris let out a low whistle, leaning back in his chair. "Fair enough."

Marcus smiled. " Now go get some rest. You've done enough for one day."

The hallway outside Marcus's office was dim and narrow, lit by a few flickering bulbs strung haphazardly along the ceiling. The faint murmur of voices from the main area of the station mixed with the steady hum of the generator. Kate and Chris walked side by side, their footsteps echoing off the cracked tile floor.

Chris broke the silence first. "So, we're officially in .what now?"

Kate glanced at him, her brow furrowed. "now we observe them if they're good we'll bring them back . But I can't stop thinking about Carl. Something's not right."

Chris sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're really stuck on this, huh? You really think Carl's hiding something?"

Kate glanced at him, her brow furrowed. "I don't think— I know. He shows up out of nowhere, claiming he lost his group. The way he talked about his group? It didn't sit right. He was nervous, cagey. People like that don't just walk into your life without bringing trouble and then we find chains and a walker in the same place? That's not coincidence, Chris. That's a pattern."

Chris sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Could be trauma. Hell, we've all got our baggage. Maybe he's just scared and doesn't know how to open up."

Kate shook her head. "Maybe. But I'm not betting our safety on a 'maybe.' Scared or not, he's hiding something. And if we don't figure out what it is, it's going to bite us. Hard. And if Marcus doesn't see it…" She trailed off, her voice tightening.

Chris frowned. "You think Marcus will let his guard down?"

"No," Kate admitted. "But even Marcus can't see everything. And Carl? If he's desperate enough—or dangerous enough—he could slip through the cracks."

Chris grunted, his expression sour. "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. We've got enough problems without adding a potential psychopath to the mix."

They passed a small group of survivors gathered around a makeshift table in the common area, their laughter and low conversation a sharp contrast to the tension Kate and Chris carried.

Kate paused, glancing back toward Marcus's office. Her stomach churned with unease, the memory of the chains in the storage room flashing through her mind.

Chris noticed her hesitation and nudged her lightly. "Hey. Don't overthink it. Marcus will handle Carl. And if he doesn't…" He gave her a knowing look. "We will."

Kate smirked faintly, though it didn't erase the worry in her eyes. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

As they continued down the hall toward their quarters, the shadows seemed to stretch and twist around them, a silent reminder of the dangers that lurked both outside the station and within it.