TWD - Chapter 498: The Northern Frontier Highway (Patreon)

The opportunity would come soon.

Somewhere along Interstate 64 in Virginia.

“I’m telling you, once we get around that bend, the scenery changes completely!” Noah could barely contain his excitement, tapping his fingers rapidly against the window.

“Seriously! I drove through this area with my dad when I was a kid. Lots of mountains, thick forests, and even the air feels cool and fresh!”

Tyreese smiled from the driver’s seat, keeping a steady hand on the wheel as he maneuvered the SUV around a vicious crack in the pavement.

Sasha, sitting in the passenger seat, didn’t turn around. Her eyes swept over the silent truck rest area to their right.

“Noah, sit down and buckle up. Tyreese, slow down. Watch those three container trucks arranged in a triangle. I just saw something reflecting over there.”

“I see it.” Tyreese eased off the speed even more. “Road ahead looks clear enough.”

Boone pressed closer to the window, watching the area carefully. “There are two people crouched over there. Are they holding rebar or something?”

On the other side of the back seat, Kango had been sitting with his eyes closed, a rifle in his arms. At the word “rebar,” he cracked one eye open and glanced in that direction.

“Doesn’t look like they’re after us. More like scared rabbits.”

Zach immediately became interested and leaned over to look outside. After staring for a while without figuring out what the two people were doing, he turned curiously toward Kango.

“I can’t tell. Looks more like raiders waiting to ambush us. Hey, Kango, what did you do before the apocalypse? You’ve got sharp eyes, and you’re a great shot. Let me guess, sniper?”

Kango chuckled.

“Nope. Keep guessing.”

The kid was a little dense. He had spent most of the trip trying to guess what everyone had done before the apocalypse.

“They’re just scared!” Noah obediently sat back down, though he was still leaning toward the window. Hearing Zach, he hurried to explain.

“Virginia was... really chaotic before. Some assholes would pretend to need help just to trick people into opening their doors.

“Mr. Hansen, I mean, the leader of our community, was always telling us that being kind didn’t mean being stupid.

“But Greenwood is different. We took in people who genuinely needed help. Really!”

Sasha finally looked away from the window, glanced at Noah through the rearview mirror, then pulled out the map and made a note.

“Mark Point A7. Rest area on the right side of the highway. Small survivor position, estimated two to three people. Primitive weapons, clear defensive posture, no indication they want contact. Threat level low, but hostile toward outsiders. Recommendation: observe and continue.”

The SUV kept bouncing along the highway.

Noah stayed quiet for a while, then inevitably started talking again about how welcoming the survivors in Greenwood were and how fairly Mr. Hansen distributed supplies.

“...Seriously, you’ll see when we get there. They’re definitely going to like the people from Rock Fortress. Everyone there is reasonable. Everyone just wants to live a decent life!”

“Tyreese!”

Sasha’s voice suddenly cut through the car.

Her eyes were locked on a side road ahead and to the left, half-hidden beneath wildly overgrown brush.

Tyreese adjusted the wheel and took his foot off the accelerator, letting the SUV coast.

“There’s a rotten, gamey smell coming from over there. And something else. Burned plastic, maybe tires.”

Kango opened his eyes fully, all traces of drowsiness gone. He tilted his chin toward the side road.

“Wind’s coming from that direction.”

The smile froze on Noah’s face.

He and Zach copied Boone and sniffed the air, but all they could pick up was dust and rotting vegetation.

Even so, the mood inside the vehicle was enough to make both young men tense instinctively.

“Pull over. Quiet.”

Tyreese brought the SUV smoothly to a stop around the bend.

Sasha opened the door, raised her M4, and brushed her thumb over the safety.

Kango stepped out from the other side, rifle already in hand. The muzzle pointed naturally toward the ground, but every muscle in his body was ready.

“Noah.”

Sasha turned toward the nervous young man.

“Stay in the car. Nobody gets out unless I say so. Understand?”

Noah gripped the back of the front seat and nodded hard.

Sasha continued, “Tyreese, keep the engine running and turn the vehicle so we can leave fast. Boone, Zach, provide cover. Watch the flanks and the rear.”

“Be careful, Sasha,” Tyreese said, looking at his sister with concern.

Sasha and Kango exchanged a glance.

No words were needed.

They split left and right, using the roadside embankment and the wreckage of abandoned vehicles for cover as they quickly approached the side road.

The closer they got, the stronger the smell became.

Rust.

Rot.

And the sharp chemical stink of something burned.

Kango’s brow tightened.

“Jesus... how many people did they kill?”

They pushed past the final patch of thorny brush, and a concrete overlook suddenly appeared before them.

Sasha stopped.

Even with everything she had seen, her breath caught for a moment.

More than a dozen bodies, or rather, pieces of bodies, had been arranged across the concrete with a disturbing degree of order.

The severed flesh was mangled and bloody, jagged bone protruding from the wounds while flies buzzed overhead.

“Jesus!” Kango sucked in a breath, veins standing out across the hand gripping his rifle. “What the fuck... Some lunatic did this?”

Sasha forced down the nausea and cold horror rising inside her.

“A lunatic with a purpose. Look at the way they arranged them. Look at that mark. This is a display. They’re making a statement.”

She crouched, fighting the urge to gag, and carefully scraped a little of the blackened material from one of the bodies with her knife.

“They didn’t do this for supplies. At least, that wasn’t the main reason. This looks like intimidation.”

Kango scanned the surrounding area.

“Sasha, you smell that? There’s something else in the wind. Faint, but it’s there. Whoever did this used oil to burn the body parts.”

He narrowed his eyes toward the thicker woods to the north.

“And the tracks head that way.”

“Can you follow them?”

Sasha stood and wiped the charred flesh from her knife.

Kango shook his head, his expression grim.

“At least two days old. Most of the scent’s gone, and the woods are too thick. We don’t have enough people.”

When they returned to the SUV, Sasha’s face was pale and her lips were pressed into a thin line.

Kango climbed silently into the back seat, grabbed his canteen, took a long drink, then exhaled hard as though trying to force the smell of blood out of his lungs.

Noah stared at the dark brown stains they had accidentally picked up on their clothes.

His voice trembled.

“Captain Sasha... what... what was over there?”

Sasha buckled her seat belt but didn’t answer immediately.

She stared at the winding road ahead, her expression dark.

“Tyreese, drive. Get us out of here. Everyone else, stay alert for anything unusual.”

Only after giving the order did she look at Noah through the rearview mirror.

His eyes were filled with fear and confusion.

The excitement he had felt about finally getting close to home was gone.

“We found the work of a group of mad raiders,” Sasha said, frowning as she looked out the window. “Could be the same people Calista mentioned, the group Joe ran into.

“Noah, Virginia isn’t as peaceful as you remember.”

Noah opened his mouth.

He wanted to defend the community he remembered. He wanted to insist that Greenwood had to be different.

But the words stuck in his throat.

He couldn’t say anything.

Instead, he instinctively hugged his backpack tighter, as if it were the only thing he had left to hold on to.

The SUV accelerated away, leaving the overlook far behind.

Sasha unfolded the map, circled the area, and wrote beside it:

“Extreme Raider Group. Possible severe violent tendencies. Brutal methods. Extremely dangerous.”