TWD: Saving Merle First - Chapter 68: I Hope That Day Never Comes (Patreon)

By evening, the convoy made it safely back to camp.

Rick and the others immediately headed over to the pickup trucks, casting curious looks at the unfamiliar SUV.

Another group joining them?

Wade and Abraham got out one after the other. Abraham looked over the camp's facilities and gave a measured nod.

Then his eyes met Ryan's.

The two studied each other for a moment and almost immediately came to the same conclusion.

Military.

The only question was what unit the other man had served with.

Wade glanced at Rick, silently asking whether he'd found a place for the newcomers.

Rick nodded, then directed his attention toward several tents set up near the edge of camp.

Ever since Marcus had told him there was something unusual about these high fevers, Wade had been on alert.

He remembered an infectious outbreak in the original series, but that had happened much later, nearly a year from now during the prison arc.

Yet there already seemed to be signs of something similar starting here.

Still, Wade wasn't particularly worried.

The camp's medical supplies were on a completely different level from what they'd had during the prison arc.

They had enough antibiotics alone to practically fill an ammunition crate.

And they had Marcus.

Compared to Hershel, a veterinarian forced into human medicine by circumstance, Marcus was in an entirely different league.

"Ryan, come take a look. We've got some good stuff here."

Ryan silently made his way through the crowd. At Wade's gesture, he climbed onto one of the pickups and opened a sealed weapons crate.

He stared inside for several seconds before taking out an M4.

The familiar weight in his hands and the cold metal against his skin stirred a faint sense of nostalgia.

He turned toward Wade.

"Where'd you get military gear like this?"

"Police station down south. Looks like whoever was stationed there got some kind of emergency relocation order and left before they could pack everything up."

Ryan nodded, returned the rifle to the crate, and closed the lid.

"These are all automatic assault rifles. You figured out what you're going to do with them?"

Wade smiled casually.

"I just hope there comes a day when we don't need them."

The people around them went quiet for a moment.

Then again, coming from Wade, it wasn't all that surprising. He'd never been eager for unnecessary conflict.

"There's a complete set of individual combat gear underneath. Take one for everyday use."

Ryan nodded. The moment he'd seen the cases, he'd already known what they contained.

"All right, quit standing around. Same routine as always. Get everything unloaded and take inventory. Medical supplies go to Hershel's house. Make sure the weapons and ammunition are protected from moisture."

Wade waved everyone into action, then led Abraham and his group toward the tents in the distance.

"Abraham, this is where you'll be staying. It's pretty basic right now, but things will get better."

"Thanks, Wade. Honestly, we're more than happy just having somewhere safe to sleep. At least when we close our eyes, we won't wake up to some damn walker standing over us."

Abraham laughed and slapped Wade on the shoulder, showing no disappointment whatsoever at the tents.

They'd slept in SUVs before.

Compared to that, what was there to complain about?

"Good. As long as you're fine with it. Marcus will come over in a bit to treat everyone. Dinner might take a little longer."

Abraham nodded, genuinely grateful.

Wade had already done this much for them.

It was only right that Abraham find some way to repay him.

His eyes swept over the camp's defenses.

Solid.

But they could still use some work.

Maybe that was somewhere he could help.

By the time Abraham finished considering it, Wade had already moved on and walked over to Shane.

"How'd things go today?"

Shane's eyes flicked toward Ryan in the distance, then quickly returned to Wade.

"Not bad. He took the training seriously. Everyone picked up a lot of useful stuff."

"Good. What about you?"

Shane's expression dimmed slightly, and the sharpness in his eyes faded into uncertainty.

"...I don't know."

Wade sighed.

If something like this could really be solved cleanly and instantly, that would be a miracle.

For now, Shane keeping himself under control and not doing anything reckless was already progress.

The rest would take time.

"All right. If something comes up, come find me. Don't sit there overthinking things and making decisions by yourself."

Wade patted him on the shoulder, then headed back to the pickups to help unload.

With Wade pitching in, things moved much faster.

Before long, all the supplies from the three pickups had been unloaded.

The trucks were driven back to the parking area near the entrance, while Merle and Daryl immediately started fussing over the two Honda CB750s.

After finally getting their hands on motorcycles again, the brothers looked ready to sleep with the things if they could.

Wade ignored them.

They were inside the camp. They could mess around with the bikes as much as they wanted.

What mattered more right now was raising the camp's overall combat effectiveness as quickly as possible.

Once that was done, Wade could start recruiting people on a much larger scale.

And then there was...

Eugene.

The fake savior who had secured Abraham's protection through a lie.

His claim that he could create a vaccine for the virus was bullshit.

But the fact that he knew how to manufacture 9mm ammunition?

That part was real.

And one of the biggest problems they faced was getting enough ammunition.

If Wade could convince Eugene to stay, then at the very least, their ammunition supply problem could probably be solved.

He needed to find a chance to talk to the guy.

...

As the sun gradually sank toward the horizon, Nancy and Carol finished preparing dinner.

Everyone gathered around to eat, occasionally bringing up Abraham and his group on the other side of camp.

The newcomers hadn't joined them for dinner.

Their meals had been delivered instead.

It was basically a soft quarantine.

As for when it would end, that depended on whether everyone's fever broke by tomorrow.

Then the roar of another engine came from the distant road.

Wade immediately set down his knife and fork.

"Get ready to fight!"

He grabbed his recurve bow and sprinted toward the camp entrance.