TWD: Saving Merle First - Chapter 66: Acute Lead Poisoning (Patreon)

The moment the dusty steel door swung open, the smell of gun oil filled the air.

Wade swept his gaze across the room. Six Remingtons and four AR-15s were neatly arranged on the shelves.

On the other side sat more than ten Glock 17s.

In the corner were two large black cases and four separate long gun cases, with several ammunition crates stacked beside them.

"Holy shit! I hit the jackpot!"

Wade could barely contain his excitement. Who would've thought a police station in a small county town would have this much weaponry?

This was like winning the damn lottery.

Wade headed straight for the black cases in the corner. His fingers brushed against the cold latches as he opened one, revealing four M4 carbines neatly secured inside.

He grabbed one by the rifle body and easily lifted it out of its slot. The black finish was spotless, without a single scratch.

"Holy shit! Are these things brand new?!"

He pulled the charging handle. The action was crisp, and the faint smell of gun oil drifted from the rifle. Then he removed the magazine and found it empty, which only made him more certain of his guess.

These were brand new weapons, fresh from the factory.

But why were they here?

This was just a small town in an agricultural region. It wasn't near a port or the coast, there were no valuable industrial areas nearby, and there weren't any military bases around either.

So why the hell did this place have firepower like this?

Wade couldn't figure it out, so he stopped worrying about it.

Who cared why they were here?

They were here now, which meant they belonged to him.

He put the M4 back into the case, shut the lid, then opened one of the smaller cases.

Inside was another M4, along with three fully loaded magazines, a Beretta M9, three pistol magazines, a rifle suppressor, an optical sight, a firearm maintenance kit, and an M9 bayonet.

(The setup is completely made up. Only the guns and magazines are real.)

The only empty spaces were four small circular slots.

Wade knew exactly what had been stored there.

Grenades.

His expression gradually turned serious.

This was practically a complete set of basic equipment for an individual soldier, but the grenades had already been removed.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

What if these military supplies hadn't been transferred here before the apocalypse?

What if they'd been brought here afterward?

But there weren't any proper military positions in town. There were barely even any spent shell casings.

That left him with two possibilities.

Either the soldiers had received new orders from higher up and evacuated, abandoning this place.

Or they'd encountered something they hadn't been prepared for.

Something like...

Mutated Walkers.

Wade closed the case and glanced behind him. Marcus was still searching elsewhere.

Without hesitation, Wade quickly stored two individual weapon cases inside his Storage Space, along with a crate of rifle ammunition.

Don't ask why.

His hoarding instincts had kicked in again.

Only after pocketing his private stash did he start clearing out the rest of the room. He packed the weapons away one by one so they could be carried out later.

As Wade had expected, he also found a large stockpile of military rations in another corner.

After doing some quick calculations based on the amount of supplies, he estimated they had been intended for roughly a standard infantry platoon.

Wade silently crossed out his second theory.

It was far more likely that the soldiers had received urgent orders to either reinforce another position or evacuate.

After all, there was no way a few Mutated Walkers could take down an entire standard infantry platoon.

Unless there had been a whole horde of Mutated Walkers.

But what were the chances of that?

Come on. Even bullshit had its limits.

Yeah.

Absolutely impossible.

...

Meanwhile, after gathering up the weapons from the evidence room, Marcus made his way into the warehouse.

His eyes landed on an M5 Medic Bag sitting in the corner, and he fell silent for a moment.

Why the hell would a police station have something like this?

Something wasn't right.

Then his gaze shifted to the items beneath the backpack.

Two hard, sealed military medical transport cases.

One separate long storage case.

One sealed metal case.

And one sealed wooden crate.

At that point, the M5 Medic Bag was starting to seem a little more reasonable.

Then Marcus moved the backpack aside and opened the sealed metal case.

Any lingering hope he had immediately died.

Bags of saline for IV infusion.

Freeze dried plasma powder.

IV needles.

Infusion tubing.

Hemostatic dressings.

Marcus stared at the contents.

Yeah.

Great.

This was some serious shit.

These weren't police supplies at all.

They were military supplies being temporarily stored here.

In other words, they weren't just scavenging anymore.

They were playing with fire.

One wrong move and the whole group could end up with a severe case of acute lead poisoning, no questions asked.

"Holy shit!"

Marcus rarely swore like that.

He immediately turned around and headed for the weapons vault where Wade was.

When he pushed open the door, he found Wade happily packing away all kinds of weapons and equipment.

The most conspicuous things in the room were the military weapon transport cases sitting near his feet.

"Wade, this stuff..."

Without even looking up, Wade replied, "I know. Doesn't matter. They evacuated in a hurry."

"How do you know?"

"They left the weapons behind, but they took the grenades."

Marcus froze.

Then his face lit up with excitement.

"Wade, we seriously hit the jackpot this time!"

Wade stood up with a grin.

"Then why are you still standing here? Go pack it up. What, you want to leave all this for people who don't even know how to use it?"

"You're right!"

Marcus immediately turned around and headed back toward the warehouse.

...

On the second floor, Daryl kicked a walker off its feet, drove his hunting knife through its eye socket, twisted the blade, then pulled it free.

But his expression was curious.

The walker's equipment made it obvious that the man had been a soldier before he died.

Yet there were no obvious fatal wounds or bite marks on his body, and none of his weapons or gear had been taken.

That meant he probably hadn't been killed by walkers or other survivors.

Had he simply become infected naturally?

Daryl thought that was the most likely explanation.

He got up and headed toward the next room, only to run into Merle coming out while dragging a corpse behind him.

"What're you looking at, little brother? I already took care of all the trouble. Now the important part is stripping these guys of their gear."

Merle couldn't care less where these men had come from or what they'd been doing here.

There wasn't the slightest fear of the corpses in his eyes.

All he cared about was the new equipment.

Daryl rolled his eyes, but Merle wasn't wrong.

The weapons, tactical rigs, body armor, and combat boots these guys had been carrying were valuable supplies. Take them back, clean them up, and they'd be perfectly usable.

As the two rummaged through the bodies, Merle pulled a military map from the corpse he was searching.

He unfolded it and found several locations marked with triangles.

Merle grinned, showing off his yellow teeth.

"Well, look at that. Didn't expect a bonus."

Daryl looked over curiously.

"You even know how to read that?"

Merle's grin disappeared.

"What, I look uneducated to you?"

Daryl said nothing.

The skepticism and mockery in his eyes said enough.

You?