Butterfly Effect

Jason's brain was working fast in that moment, and all the previous events flashed through his mind.

He realized that every time he went out on an expedition in search of resources, there was always something else that came with it: more or less minor accidents, such as walker attacks or people who didn't want to be saved.

But even beyond that, there were drastic changes in this world's original events, which connected in different ways so that the result was more or less the same.

Not all of them, but Jason had noticed these details and, at the time, had paid close attention to them because of the problems they might cause in the future.

The first time he became aware of this issue was when Guillermo got shot in the woods—or even earlier than that—when Merle fired his gun in Atlanta and alerted all the walkers.

But the most obvious instance had happened recently, when he arrived at the hospital and miraculously encountered Noah, who shouldn't have been outside the hospital at that time.

Back then, meeting Noah felt like too much of a coincidence. Why was that? Jason had thought about it. Definitely, because he was connected to the most relevant people in this world, maybe events had shifted significantly so that the story could still move forward—but in different ways.

The search for the buses this time confirmed this matter once again. At first, they had originally been looking for the bus and some materials to make a few modifications.

Unexpectedly, as if this were part of the original drama, they found everything quickly, without much searching. But then they encountered the Wolves, which led to Ravi's death and Merle getting injured. As a result of that, they discovered what was inside that building, and afterward, a walker horde attacked them.

Now that Jason thought about it, the last time he had left the prison, he also encountered a rather familiar man. Even though there were some accidents, everything still seemed to connect to the story.

However, when their group met Bob, why didn't anything happen that endangered people's lives? Was it because Jason wasn't there? Or because Bob had been found by Merle?

Generally, Jason knew that timing was very important and that certain events had to happen one way or another. They had been attacked, they had fled, and they had survived. If he followed the events, then something major should have happened to the group.

But at that moment, Jason didn't know that the central base had been attacked by a large horde of walkers. Since they were now in a very remote location, the signal wasn't very good. He had managed to connect with Shane, but the connection hadn't been great, so it would be better not to contact the base again and avoid causing concern.

Could this sense of impending danger be some kind of special ability?

Otherwise, how could those coincidences be explained? Maybe he should test it again later and go looking for resources. Assuming he was now being influenced by the main group, would a weapons crate appear if he went looking for one now? And if so, what problems would he have to deal with afterward?

There was something strange about this whole situation that Jason wanted to solve, but at the same time, it made him feel uneasy as he carefully considered what could happen.

Scratching his head in frustration, Jason decided to try it first—at least to test the theory.

With that thought, Jason stopped his wild speculation and secretly decided that he needed to clear this up before they reached Alexandria.

"Alright, I'll go in and rest. I won't bother you anymore! Elias will relieve you in a few hours. If he doesn't, don't forget to give him a kick to wake him up."

Daryl looked at Jason, whose expression kept shifting. Though puzzled, he didn't ask any questions. He clinked his beer bottle with Jason's and then turned his attention back to the grass outside.

…

Two days later

Fredericksburg, Virginia

In an empty room on the second floor of a building near the subway station.

When Jason opened the door, he found Merle and Daryl waiting, along with the other survivors. On a table sat a map of the area, and beside it stood two people with fearful expressions.

"It's best we head to this spot. There might be something interesting there."

After scanning the room, Jason slowly walked to the table and said something to Liam, who was following closely behind. Then he pulled over a random chair and sat down.

Once everyone had gathered, Jon—who had been briefed on everything and was in charge of scouting the area—began reporting what they had discovered. The room held fifteen young men who had served in the military, along with a few veterans, in addition to Jason's original fifteen-person group, totaling just over thirty people.

"Let me introduce you. This is Ferdinand, the leader of a group of survivors not far from our location."

Seeing that everyone was present, Jon introduced one of the unfamiliar men in the room, then looked at another and said that was his acquaintance.

"Hello, everyone! I'm grateful that fate has brought us all here safely!"

After Jon's introduction, Ferdinand, a middle-aged man, extended his hand and smiled warmly.

"That doesn't matter."

After shaking hands, Jason stared at the man's dusty face, guessing he must have been running all night.

"In that case, let's talk about what we need to do next—and especially about what you claim to have seen."

Once they finished their brief exchange, Jon pushed a board with a map pinned to it to the center of the group.

Everyone looked up and saw that the hanging map featured three colors, with red being the most dominant, covering much of the southwest area. Without guessing, Jason knew this must represent the walker-infested region.

Not far from that, green and blue intertwined, standing against the red zone. From the other side, it resembled ants, which likely indicated a zone with fewer walkers—where Ferdinand's people were located.

On the edge between the blue and red zones, there was a point surrounding a large open field, precisely at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park—not far from where they currently were. That area belonged to a military camp but had been suddenly abandoned.

During the evacuation, numerous soldiers died suddenly and without warning, leaving all the camp's resources untouched. Once Jason's group learned of this, they absolutely had to secure the location before continuing their journey.

Due to the overwhelming difference in numbers, even though they had the advantage in firearms, they were increasingly powerless in fighting other people. Right now, Jason's current group had at least thirty combatants out of just over ninety people.

"Our goal now is to clear out that military camp and take everything—including the abandoned trucks and tanks—before we resume our journey. We've received reports from nearby survivor groups that the area is still intact."

After saying that, Jon looked at Jason to let him finish the rest of the plan:

"We'll take advantage of this opportunity. If we can secure all the resources in that military camp, we'll have enough weaponry to build a safe haven."

Then, looking at Ferdinand, Jason said, "Now we've got a capable team. Half of our group are combat specialists. Just follow their instructions, and nothing will go wrong."

"That's definitely good. Having that kind of firepower will give us the security we had back at the prison," Daryl said, clearly convinced.

"But it won't be that easy. I don't know if it was because of panic right before death, but this man says someone in his group saw a monster completely different from a walker."

"That's impossible—a different kind of walker?" Glenn scoffed slightly as he looked around the room, but noticed no one was laughing with him.

"That is impossible… right?"

"Whatever the hell it is, if it runs into our group, the bullets will tear it apart," Merle said, picking at his teeth with his fingers.

Jason raised his hand, signaling that his team had no issue, and then asked, "Hopefully that military camp isn't in a hard-to-reach area. With suppressed weapons, we can handle this."

"Then why didn't Ferdinand's group take the weapons from that camp?"