In Depth (Part 5)

As everyone delved deeper into the prison, more supplies were gradually discovered. Although they were all practical, they remained useful. For example, someone found a large amount of clothing and bed sheets, as well as pots and pans in the storage room at the back. While these items had little value in the past, in recent days, any material was crucial for survival!

Someone also found an important arsenal in the corner of the prison. Most of the weapons in it were well-preserved, but the total number of firearms was not even half of what they should have been, as many of them were outside with the now-dead security guards. Fortunately, there were still plenty of untouched ammunition!

As reports came in one after another, Jason and the others grew excited. Obviously, they were now more motivated in their search.

At this moment, the entire area had already been cleared, and there were no walkers in sight. While more than half of the group had been cleaning out the walkers and securing key locations, a group of twelve people stood behind the cafeteria door. Standing at the main entrance, Glenn took the bolt cutter and snapped the chain. The chain broke apart and fell to the ground.

Thanks to Shane's great help, there were now about fifteen armed people at the cafeteria entrance. Half of them held silenced weapons, while Jason and the others carried assault rifles. Right now, this group had the chilling appearance of an army.

Everyone breathed slowly, dressed in black tactical uniforms. Every part of their limbs was protected by gear, and they all wore bulletproof vests, prepared to face anyone standing in their way.

The most experienced individuals were at the front of the group. One stood on each side, exchanging hand signals before starting a countdown. When the count hit zero, they suddenly opened the door, and the entire group entered the room with their weapons raised.

The cafeteria was the last place to be cleared in this area, and to everyone's surprise, there were no walkers inside, just a large open space.

But that wasn't the main concern. There were five people in prisoner uniforms standing in front of them. They were all near a glass window, staring at them. Jason's group, who had been well-informed, was shocked to see these people!

As soon as Jason and the others exchanged glances, they stepped forward one after another. A dozen more people entered the room slowly, their weapons still aimed at the group of five prisoners.

Jason watched as everyone moved forward. The leader of the prisoner group had a pistol tucked into his waistband, his long hair tied back in a ponytail. From his expression, Jason recalled that this person's name was Thomas.

Behind Thomas stood a thin, dark-skinned man named Andrew.

The other three were Big Tiny, the talkative Axel, and the kind-hearted Oscar.

As Jason took a step forward, he looked at Thomas and Andrew, his gaze turning cold. These two definitely couldn't stay among his people.

In the past, Rick had failed to deal with Andrew due to an oversight, which led to having a hidden enemy in the prison. But Jason would not make that mistake. He would never make a rookie mistake.

As soon as he stepped forward, an intense sense of danger surged from within Jason's heart. The hairs on his entire body stood on end, as if the mantle of death had completely covered him.

But the feeling came and went quickly. Before he could react, it vanished from his body.

His posture stiffened slightly, and a few cold sweat drops trickled down his forehead. Jason took a deep breath and watched the prisoners with even more vigilance.

Daryl raised his hand crossbow, stepped forward, and warned Thomas, who had just stepped out, "Don't come any closer! Stay right there!"

"Who are you? Are you from the military?" Standing in front of more than a dozen people dressed in black tactical suits, Thomas instantly lost the nerve to draw his weapon. Although he was a murderer, he wasn't an idiot, and Andrew behind him was nothing more than a coward hiding behind a tough exterior.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of answering his questions, Thomas simply raised his hands to show his surrender. He could tell that the roughest-looking man in front of him was the team's leader, so he directly asked Jason again, "Are you here to rescue us? Are you with the military?"

"You don't get to ask questions in this situation," Rick said coldly.

"Hmm, you're prisoners from this place! Why are you locked in the cafeteria?" Jason took two steps forward and stopped a little over a meter away from the five men.

Recalling the feeling he had just experienced, he was absolutely certain that a strong murderous intent had been directed at him when he entered this room.

So he had no intention of answering Thomas's questions. Instead, he acted naturally according to his group's interests and the questions already forming in their minds.

Thomas narrowed his eyes and scanned the room, finally focusing on Jason. Seeing that no one else was speaking, he cautiously replied, "A prison guard locked us in here and gave me a gun. Here!"

After speaking, Thomas pulled out his pistol and waved it in front of Jason as if to hand it over. But Jason, although he wouldn't judge sins that hadn't yet been committed, wouldn't be naïve enough to forgive everyone either.

Crack!

"Ahh! My hand!"

Thomas' hand, which was holding the gun, was instantly grabbed by Jason. With a bit of effort, Thomas' wrist twisted, and the gun fell to the ground.

Andrew, who was behind Thomas, reacted quickly and raised a baseball bat in his hands, but his body froze as he felt the cold barrel of a rifle against his right side. Before he even realized it, someone from Jason's group was already pointing a rifle at his head.

Meanwhile, Daryl also rushed forward, aiming his crossbow at Thomas, who was about to resist!

Just as the others behind Jason, Daryl, and Rick reacted, Jason, with support, had already taken control of the situation, and the rest of the prisoners' group slowly backed away.

At that moment, Jason smiled amicably and looked at Andrew. "I don't need to know who you five are. There should be a record in this place with all your information and the shit you did to end up here, so we'll talk about your situation after we get that information. For now, you just have to wait..."

Looking at Andrew, Jason whispered softly, "I don't need to know anything else about you anymore... you're already dead."

Upon hearing that, the baseball bat in Andrew's hands fell to the ground. With that said, Jason turned his head and told the people behind him, "Take them to a unit, lock them up separately. Only after we sort things out here will we decide what happens to them."

"Yes, sir."

Several team members walked up behind the five prisoners, aimed their weapons at them, took away whatever arms they were holding, and then escorted them outside.

Thomas looked at Jason bitterly. He shouldn't have hesitated at that moment. If he had taken control of the situation when he had the chance, he and the others wouldn't have been locked up as soon as they stepped out of the kitchen. But deep down, he knew that if he had attacked Jason, he would already be a corpse.

After the five prisoners were taken away, Jason looked at Shane and said, "There should be a database in this place. We need to find it and see why these five were arrested to determine if they're telling the truth or not."

"Why don't we just send them out of the prison?" Daryl thought it would be a good idea to let them try their luck on their own.

"I think that would be a good idea!" Rick agreed with Daryl's words. He didn't want to accept these five prisoners, but when it came to executing them, he felt he couldn't do it. He simply hadn't experienced enough yet.

The team members also discussed their opinions, and most agreed on sending some of them out of the prison.

Jason didn't answer right away but instead posed a hypothesis: "These people are very familiar with the prison, even more than we are. If we release them, they might take revenge by cutting the barbed wire fence around us while we're not paying attention. Then, they could lure in a massive horde of walkers. What do you think would happen to us then?"

The people around him fell silent. None of them were sure if that would actually happen, but they couldn't argue against it.

Jason looked at everyone's expressions and knew what they were struggling with. He sighed, and his tone suddenly became serious and heavy.

"This is the end of the world! If we treat strangers with kindness, all we'll get in return is a hard hit that will knock us to the ground. The only people we can trust are our own community. Every stranger is an enemy until we've watched them long enough!"

"I don't want to be careless. You all saw how that guy with the bat almost attacked me just now. Do you really think they would have hesitated to kill me if they had the chance?"