Chapter Twenty-Seven - Killed in Cold Blood

A red truck is currently speeding south of Georgia before it was forced to stop because of a roadblock ahead.

"So that bastard is still alive."

Shane got down from the truck with a rifle in hand and glared at the group of armed militants blocking his way.

"Well, well, if it ain't my boy, Shane. What, they kicked you out too?" Seeing a familiar face, a bald man with a prosthetic arm stepped out of the group and stood beside a familiar figure.

"None of your business, Merle."

The following day.

The survivors had gathered to bid their farewells to Michael who is leaving today.

"Make sure you come back in one piece, alive." Andrea kissed him, her face fraught with worry.

Amy came next to Michael and whispered. "When you return, expect a gift from me."

Michael just forced a smile before turning his attention to Dale, who approached him with some worry on his face. "Take care out there. We'll make sure to look after the others."

"I know you will. It would be even better if you can implement the plan that Amy and Jill brought up before. You know, building a wall." Michael nodded with a smile.

"I think..we'll see if it's feasible."

Daryl came next to him. "You better take care of that bike and that it comes back in one piece."

Michael chuckled. "I'll try, no promises."

Daryl also chuckled and both men placed their hand on each other's shoulder and exchanged an encouraging nod.

Axel worked his way through the crowd and handed Michael a paper. "This..it's our address. If our family is alive out there, please take care of them."

Axel slightly bowed his head towards him. Michael took the paper from him and pocketed it before repeatedly tapping the former's shoulder. "You three better pray that they still are."

"Alright. I'm off everyone. I expect that everyone here is still alive when I come back" Michael smiled at the survivors that gathered to see him off and started the bike that Daryl had generously lent him.

Strapped with the Kampilan and a shotgun on his back, Michael is finally ready. He gave the survivors one final look before his sight landed on Rick, who gave him a nod.

Michael became serious and also responded with a nod and finally drove with his trusty skillet strapped at the back of the bike.

"Boss, be safe out there!" Cole yelled. His face looked distraught like he had just come from a recent break up. Jill looked at her boyfriend and just shook her head.

"Men."

The crowd slowly dispersed while Andrea remained rooter there as she gazed towards the direction where Michael had disappeared to.

"He's gone."

"Yeah, but he'll be fine. He can take care of his safety better than us" Amy came over next to her sister, and was also similarly worried about him. Though worried, she's also confident that he can take care of himself out there.

Lonely, Andrea just smiled.

*****

Vrooom!

"Finally freed from them." Michael smiled as he arrived at the Interstate.

'Now, they can finally start growing by themselves without my interventions.'

Vrooom!

The bike sped up and before long, Michael was once again making his way back to the city of Atlanta.

'It seems the herd had migrated.' Michael rode past the familiar tank where Rick got trapped inside when he first came here.

There were still some walkers on the road, but he just ignored and evaded them..

'Hmmm? People?' Suddenly, Michael had spotted a couple of people hastily diving inside a clothing store and hid there.

Since they bothered to hide and didn't want to associate themselves with him, Michael also ignored and drove past them.

'So there's still small groups of people living in the city huh.' Michael suddenly remembered the Vatos Gang and made headway towards the nursing home where they had hunkered down.

The nursing home.

Michael stopped the bike and pushed it under an overgrown vegetation before cautiously making his way towards the nursing home where the Vatog Gang were hiding.

'No people?'

With a gun in hand, cautiously pushed open the door at the back of the nursing home. It was that same passageway from where Rick and Guillermo had their stand-off.

It didn't take long for him to see a corpse on the floor. Michael unsheathed his sword and stabbed its head to make sure it remained..dead.

Michael kept going and finally entered the building and witnessed the devastation inside.

'It seems like this place was attacked not long after Rick had dealt with them' He thought as he went over and examined another corpse of an old woman.

'Hmm..the attack probably happened around a week or so ago.' Michael came to that conclusion as he studied the rate of decomposition of the corpses scattered inside the building.

Michael felt that this was very unfortunate since he had plans of possibly incorporating the Vatos Gang to the group. Their large numbers would have proven useful to the group back in the farm or prison.

He's also fond of their characters since they still had the hearts to care for the old people. Who would have been considered burdens and left behind to fend for themselves.

Michael kept looking around the building, but never found anything significant, much less a survivor.

"Such a pity." Michael sighed in regret. He eventually left the premises of the building and was heading to his bike when he spotted a small group of people trying to take his bike out from its hiding place.

"Hey!"

His eyes flickered coldly and yelled at them.

This group of five survivors, three women and two men were like startled rabbits when they heard someone yelling at them and quickly turned around. They saw an armed Michael heading towards them with haste and pointed their guns at him.

"You better stop there. We don't want any trouble. We just want your bike and your things too." The most robust man among the two men confidently stated his terms while pointing a shotgun to Michael.

Michael paused in his tracks for a moment. He looked at them and grinned as he moved his pistol to his left and unsheathed his kampilan sword from his back.

"Look at this guy. Does he think his weird looking sword is faster than a bullet?" Watching his actions, the de facto leader of this group, the robust guy, laughed alongside his companions.

"Hey, this is your last warning. We don't want to kill you."

Michael just snorted and suddenly raised his weapon and opened fire!

Bang!

"What the.."

Flustered at the sudden turn of events, the man's eyes widened in disbelief, he didn't even see when Michael raised his gun and shot him!

But before he died, he gathered all of his willpower and executed one last hurrah!

"B-bastard! Die!"

Bang!

Since Michael had mostly directed all his focus on the man armed with the shotgun. The man's final death throes didn't escape his sight as he hurriedly jumped to the side and rolled to dodge the shotgun blast.

"J-Jacob! He killed Jacob!" One of the women let out a horrified yell and brandished her machete and charged towards Michael in rage.

"Shut up." Michael coldly responded and blocked her machete with his sword.

Clang!

There was no second exchange of blades as Michael immediately raised his pistol and pointed it below the woman's chin.

"Goodbye."

Bang!

The remaining three people stood rooted on the ground as they witnessed their two friends being killed in cold blood.

"D-don't kill us! We didn't mean to! We'll leave!"

"Y-yes, we didn't know. Please let us leave!"

"We'll just leave, man. We..we won't bother you anymore."

The man who was holding the bike quickly let it go and pleaded. His other two companions also regained their senses and pleaded alongside him. They didn't even bother thinking of resisting after witnessing what just happened.

Michael remained silent while looking at them with piercing cold eyes.

The three looters swallowed, their hearts gripped with fear.

'We should not have followed this guy here! It's all their fault for insisting!'

Michael raised his hand that's holding his sword and shooed them.

"T-thank you!"

The people beamed with smiles and hastily fled with their tails between their legs.

"Idiots." Michael recognized them as the group he rode had passed earlier hiding inside that clothing store. He wasn't just expecting that they would follow him all the way here and steal from him.

He didn't bother killing the rest because he was feeling generous today, but deemed they were just a waste of bullets and energy.

'No next time though.'

Michael immediately searched the bodies of the dead, but only got the shotgun, two knives and a small bottle of vitamins.

After doing all those, he took out a map from his chest pocket and unfolded it. Michael studied the map for a moment before putting it back.

Vrooom!

With no additional matters to attend to in this area, Michael immediately got on the bike and drove away with a specific destination in mind.

It took almost an hour before Michael stopped before an old five-story brick apartment building.

"Hmm..second floor, room 907." Michael checked the paper which Alex had handed to him earlier.

Michael got down from his bike and unsheathed his sword. He went up the small steps and arrived at the door and carefully pushed it open.

The moment he did that, the foul stench of decay immediately assaulted his senses. He frowned and quickly covered his nose with his other free hand.

He stepped foot inside and closed the door behind him before looking around.

The inside wasn't much different from the scenes outside. There were corpses, blood splattered all over the wall and floors with various things scattered around.

Michael slowly searched for the stairs and made his way to the second floor. He walked past the apartments and would sometimes hear moanings coming from the other side of the doors. Michael just ignored them as he has more important matters to attend to.

Room 907.

It was the apartment where Oscar's family lives.

Michael grabbed the door handle and twisted it. He was just trying but he was surprised to discover that it was actually unlocked. Through this, he already concluded that Oscar's family chances of being here have become incredibly low, and with a high chance that they are already dead…inside.

Michael sheathed his sword and only armed himself with his handgun. He slowly opened the door and carefully stepped foot inside.

Knock! Knock!

Closing the door behind him, Michael started repeatedly knocking on the wall with his gun was pointed ahead.

"..."

Michael kept knocking, but the only response he got was silence and moans of walkers coming from the next door apartments.

He inspected the rooms one by one, but saw nothing in particular except for a collection of trash from leftover food supplies left in the kitchen.

'This place is clean. It seems they might have gone and evacuated with the soldiers. I just hope they are still alive somewhere.' Michael thought after he had thoroughly studied the state of the apartment.

Michael made his way into the living room and looked at the family pictures.

On one of the shelves, there was a family picture of Oscar with his wife and two kids, who are already teenagers.

'An interracial family huh.' Michael thought when he saw the white woman in the picture and the light skin tone of their kids.

Michael engraved their faces in his mind before leaving the apartment.

He immediately left the area and headed towards the two remaining addresses, but the results were also a disappointment.

Michael found Axel's family dead inside their RV, while Big Tiny's family is also missing like Oscar's.

Michael slowly came out of the house in a small neighborhood and gazed at the setting sun on the horizon.

"At this point, we can only leave their lives up to fate."