TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 294: Walker Paradise (Patreon)

Ellie looked at him, then at the lifeless highway, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

Seriously, there wasn’t a living soul in sight. Who the hell were they supposed to hitch a ride with?

A walker?

“You do realize it’s the apocalypse, right?” Ellie said irritably. “Who’s going to come driving down this road besides walkers?”

“Doesn’t hurt to try. You never know.” Luke didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

Ellie held the dragon-head knife while impatiently tapping the ground with the tip of her shoe, her face full of resignation.

Was Luke really trying to hitchhike?

Not exactly.

He was just using the opportunity to get his bearings.

“All right.”

Five minutes later, Luke lowered his hand. “Looks like nobody’s giving us a ride today. Guess we’re walking. Good exercise, anyway.”

The two continued down the highway.

Thanks to the Commonwealth’s thorough scavenging crews, not a single vehicle nearby was still drivable. Anything worth stripping had already been stripped clean.

After more than an hour of walking, the vague outlines of buildings appeared through the mist.

“There’s a town up ahead. Let’s check it out.”

They followed the highway toward the town.

It had been abandoned.

A few stray walkers wandered here and there, their growls drifting through the white mist.

The entire town looked as though it had been picked completely clean. Shop doors and windows stood wide open, shelves were empty, and even the roadside signs had been removed.

Ellie cautiously surveyed the area, growing more suspicious the longer she looked.

Most looted towns still showed signs of people rummaging through them.

This one was almost unnaturally clean.

At this rate, she was surprised nobody had dug up the pavement too.

“This place...” Ellie frowned. “They cleaned it out way too thoroughly. Even the shelves are gone. What kind of maniacs did this?”

“My people,” Luke replied casually.

Ellie: “...”

Somehow, she wasn’t surprised at all.

“The Commonwealth covers a pretty large area when it scavenges,” Luke explained. “Towns within a few hundred kilometers have all been systematically swept.”

“Walkers keep showing up in this world, but supplies only decrease. If you want to survive, you have to hoard everything you can.”

Ellie silently nodded.

That made sense.

Still, this was ruthless.

They planned to pass through the town and continue from the other side.

But when they reached the center of town, Luke suddenly stopped.

He tilted his head, one eyebrow rising slightly.

“Why do I hear an electric guitar?”

Ellie gave him a strange look.

“You’re hearing things.”

She glanced around. “There isn’t a living person anywhere in this dump. Where would guitar music even be coming from?”

“No, no.”

Luke wagged a finger, completely certain. “My hearing’s good. That’s definitely an electric guitar. Damn, did a Dancing Zombie spawn here?”

“Come on! Maybe we’ll find Dave!”

He followed the sound down another street and eventually stopped in front of a store.

It was a fairly large place. Judging by the sign, it had once sold tourist souvenirs and local specialties.

A yellow Humvee was parked outside.

Wild electric-guitar music drifted faintly from the back room.

A whole pile of walkers lay dead nearby.

Every last one of them had apparently succumbed to heavy metal poisoning, their bodies piled together and giving off a terrible stench.

Sounds of smashing and banging came from inside as well.

There were people in there.

Ellie instantly tensed and tightened her grip on the knife, preparing to move closer and investigate.

Then she turned her head.

Luke was gone.

What the hell?

He had been standing right there. How did a grown man suddenly vanish?

Startled, Ellie instinctively took half a step back and scanned her surroundings.

Just then, Luke emerged from around the corner of the store.

And he was carrying another girl.

She looked about thirteen or fourteen, small and skinny, with sharp, clever eyes.

A shotgun that had apparently been in her hands was now in Luke’s.

“Found their hidden lookout.”

Luke casually dropped the girl onto the ground. She landed on her backside and let out a quiet grunt.

“Watch her,” he told Ellie.

Ellie immediately held the knife against the girl, making it very clear she wasn’t bluffing.

The girl instantly fell silent.

The noise from the back room stopped.

A moment later, the partly closed door was kicked open.

Two men and a woman appeared.

The one in front was a young guy, thin and pale, with the look of a meek, nerdy shut-in.

The other man was huge and broad, with a thick beard and full cowboy getup. He looked like the stereotypical old-school redneck.

He even had a beat-up electric guitar hanging around his neck.

As for the woman...

She looked like Emma Stone.

Luke stared at the group, feeling an odd sense of familiarity.

Who the hell were these people?

“Let the girl go.” The woman raised her gun and aimed it at Luke. “We’re only stopping here to rest. We’ll be gone soon. If we disturbed you, then we apologize.”

The nerd and the cowboy behind her raised their guns as well.

Luke wasn’t particularly concerned.

At this distance, guns were certainly fast and accurate.

For ordinary people.

Luke had long since stopped qualifying as ordinary.

Instead, he looked at the big man’s electric guitar and laughed.

“I thought a Dancing Zombie was putting on a concert. Turns out it was just you guys. Not much of a crowd, though.”

“Whole town this size, and you barely have an audience.”

The big man froze at the joke, then grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth.

“Could be worse!”

He rested the electric guitar on his shoulder and gave a casual shrug. “At least somebody actually showed up to the concert. I’ll call that a win.”

He looked Luke and Ellie up and down before changing the subject.

“Judging by the two of you, you’re heading for that ‘Ark’ too?”

Luke paused.

Oh?

Well, wasn’t that convenient?

“Yeah.”

Luke went along with it. “Since we’re all headed to the same place, how about this?”

“We put the guns down, team up, and travel together. Sound good?”

“Wouldn’t hurt to have more people watching each other’s backs.”

The three exchanged looks.

Strangers were always troublesome in the apocalypse.

Still, this man had a young girl with him, so he probably wasn’t that dangerous.

The bespectacled nerd studied Luke for a long moment.

Mostly because of Ellie, he was the first to lower his gun, then gestured to the cowboy and the woman.

“Put them down. He’s traveling with a girl, just like Wichita.”

Wichita was the woman who looked like Emma Stone.

The girl Luke had caught was Wichita’s younger sister.

The cowboy and Wichita hesitated briefly before lowering their weapons as well.

Seeing that, Luke casually tossed the shotgun to Ellie.

This group was surprisingly reasonable.

Still...

The longer he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.

“She’s Ellie. I’m Luke. We’re brother and sister, and we’re headed for the Ark too.”

Luke introduced himself openly, wearing a bright, easygoing smile that made him look like the picture of an innocent young man.

Brother and sister?

The group looked at Ellie.

Then they looked at Luke’s Asian features.