TWD: Saving Merle First - Chapter 53: Before the Whole Camp Sets Out (Patreon)

Beth left with her face bright red, covering it with both hands as she ran away.

Wade remained sitting where he was, still dazed, the whole thing feeling strangely unreal.

Did this mean... he had a girlfriend now?

Wasn't this moving a little too fast?

He vaguely heard voices nearby and turned his head.

Marcus and Rick were standing there with their arms crossed, watching him with strange expressions while whispering to each other. Both wore the kind of delighted smiles parents got when they watched their kid finally figure out romance.

Like proud parents watching their kid finally learn how to make a move.

"Seriously, what's with those looks? What, you've never seen..."

Wait.

Both of these guys already had kids.

When it came to relationship progress...

Yeah, Wade really couldn't compete.

So Wade raised both hands in a textbook Tai Chi starting pose, rotated his wrists, and extended both middle fingers.

Rick and Marcus exchanged a glance, grinned, and returned the gesture.

Wade lowered his hands, rolled his eyes, and turned around to open the breakfast Beth had brought him.

There wasn't much inside.

Two large sandwiches, a big bottle of milk, and a small bowl of vegetable salad.

It was obvious the meal had been specially prepared for someone, and she'd clearly put a lot of thought into it.

"Tsk, tsk. Ah, youth," Rick said with a laugh.

"Fuck off. Doesn't Lori make food for you too? Oh, no... don't tell me there are people here who can't even get a homemade breakfast from the person they love."

Veins seemed to appear on both Rick's and Marcus's foreheads.

Neither of them could be bothered dealing with Wade's smug tone anymore. They picked up their warmed cans of beef and started eating with such aggression that it looked like Wade himself was what they wanted to tear into.

The sun gradually climbed higher in the eastern sky, and one by one, the rest of the camp began waking up, bringing the place back to life.

Wade and the others who had gotten up early had already cleaned away all the leftovers from last night's gathering. They also scattered another layer of wood ash over the grass to help cover the smell.

Andrew took Glenn and T-Dog out to the highway in a vehicle. Their plan was to strip car horns, speakers, subwoofers, and other useful components from abandoned vehicles so Andrew could turn them into noise generators for attracting walkers.

Under Daryl's guidance, Wade repaired and polished his iron arrows while also performing maintenance on his recurve bow.

Rick and Marcus were inspecting and maintaining the firearms together.

Merle would probably have been better at that particular job, but unfortunately, the man still showed no signs of waking up.

While carefully polishing one of the arrows, Wade casually said, "Shouldn't we start teaching everyone in camp how to use weapons?"

Rick paused while disassembling a gun and looked over.

"You want to organize weapons training?"

"Exactly. At the very least, everyone should know how to use a handgun, right? If something goes wrong, they need to be able to protect themselves."

"Good idea. So when do you want to start? Tomorrow?"

"That's the tentative plan, but it'll definitely be soon. I want to improve the camp's basic defenses first. Having open terrain around us is useful, but it also means we don't have any elevated positions to watch for trouble in the distance. We'll have to build those ourselves."

"Watchtowers? That's a pretty big project. How many are you thinking?"

"At least four. Probably more later."

Even Daryl couldn't help looking up at that.

"Four? We really need that many?"

"Having them and needing to use them are two different things, guys. We can't wait until something happens and then complain that we weren't prepared."

Wade spoke calmly, almost as though he already knew some disaster was coming.

"I noticed the problem when you guys first arrived here. From the moment we spotted your convoy to the moment you reached the camp, less than ten seconds passed. That's dangerous."

Rick pressed a part back into place with a click, then nodded.

"Makes sense. Information on the battlefield has always been valuable. If all it costs us is some labor, that's worth it."

Seeing his first proposal pass without much resistance, Wade continued.

"Then there's the camp's close-range defenses. Fences, trenches, spiked barricades, sandbags. I think we should plan out all of them. They're useful against walkers and hostile people alike, aren't they?"

Rick estimated the workload in his head before frowning.

"Even if everyone works together, that'll take at least a month."

"But we've got plenty of time, don't we? Once we empty that warehouse, we'll have enough supplies to go months without needing another scavenging run."

Almost everyone stopped what they were doing at the same time.

They exchanged glances and understood.

Wade wasn't really asking for their opinions anymore.

He was laying out the plan.

And at the same time, he was telling them exactly what the camp would be doing next.

"So for the next month, we're all becoming construction workers and lumberjacks. But... do you even know how to build a watchtower?"

Wade slid the finished arrow into his quiver and smiled.

"You learn by doing. Failure isn't the scary part. Never having the guts to try in the first place is."

Everyone stared at him for a moment.

Well, damn.

The Butcher had put away his knife and started giving motivational speeches now?

Still, they had no choice but to swallow this particular piece of advice.

The only people in camp who knew even a little about carpentry were probably Dale and Hershel.

And even then, their skills were fairly basic. The kind of simple woodworking you could probably learn after watching someone do it once.

With the general strategy settled, the group began discussing where to place the spiked barricades, where to dig the trenches, and how to arrange the camp's close-range defensive positions.

The sound of an engine came from the distance.

Andrew and the others were back.

They had found several abandoned cars along the road, forced the doors open, stripped out some useful components, and brought them back.

Andrew immediately got to work tinkering with them.

As a professional auto mechanic, putting together a timer-controlled noise generator by hand wasn't particularly difficult for him.

The only drawback was that the devices were basically single-use. They couldn't be reused, and they were bulky enough to be inconvenient to carry.

Wade wasn't picky.

As long as they worked, that was good enough.

What more could he ask for?

By noon, Nancy and Carol had worked together to prepare a hearty lunch.

While everyone ate, Wade also explained his plan for the day's operation.

He would head out first with Merle and the others to clear the walkers around the supermarket warehouse. Then they would set up the noise generators.

Once the devices drew the walkers' attention away, everyone else from camp would move into the warehouse and start packing and hauling the supplies.

The plan was simple and straightforward.

Whether they could carry it out efficiently would depend on how much nerve everyone had.

For the women, participation was entirely voluntary.

Anyone willing to go could join the operation. Anyone who didn't want to wasn't going to be forced.

Staying behind and guarding the camp was still a contribution.