TWD: Saving Merle First - Chapter 116: Who the Hell Are You, Buddy? (Patreon)

Wade had been wondering how a Tyrant, no matter how tall it was, could have broken through Harran's walls.

Now he understood just how terrifying these enormous, ridiculously strong creatures could be.

The giant was treating an ordinary sedan like a damn toy. It could pick the whole thing up and fling it more than thirty feet!

Like it weighed nothing at all!

Could something like that really still be called a walker?

The damn Volatiles were bad enough. Who the hell are you supposed to be, buddy?

What, did you get pumped full of growth hormones during the apocalypse?

It was hard to make sense of, but there it was.

Wade wasn't even sure his shotgun shells could penetrate the thing. If they couldn't, he'd have to push the camp to get those M2s working and produce some ammunition as quickly as possible.

The thought of that monster turning into a walking catapult was terrifying.

Down on the street, the giant walker roared with fury, lifted the car, and hurled it with all its strength. The vehicle crushed a heap of ordinary walkers. Then the giant lumbered forward, raised both arms, and began hammering the bodies as though it were pounding meat into balls. Each blow was ferocious and frighteningly fast.

Wade watched chunks of flesh and limbs fly in every direction and fell into thought.

Hold on. This thing didn't seem to distinguish friend from foe.

It was killing ordinary walkers too. Was that because it was enraged, or because it was defending its territory?

Come to think of it, if one of these monsters showed up in a walker horde, it might actually count as an ally right up until it reached the camp walls.

After smashing everything around it, the giant twisted its hulking body around and disappeared along the street.

On the rooftop, Wade released a long breath and stared at the wreckage, his mouth twitching.

He looked calm enough. In reality, he had absolutely no idea how to deal with something like that.

He summoned his system panel and stared at the experience bar.

[301/500]

Nothing for it. Time to get to work.

He'd just picked up another supply of ammunition, and Atlanta had no shortage of walkers. There was no point overthinking it. Time to grind for experience!

For the next stretch, Wade headed toward the second gun shop, killing walkers along the way.

Whenever he encountered a group small enough to handle, he raised his M4 and fired controlled shots, dropping them one after another.

Hot bullets tore through the air and shattered walker skulls, turning the kills into cold, hard Experience Points.

[Killed 1 Common Walker, Gained 1 Experience Point]

[Killed 1 Common Walker, Gained 1 Experience Point]

[Killed 1 Common Walker, Gained 1 Experience Point]

The system notifications kept sounding. Before Wade had even made it halfway to his destination, he'd filled the remaining portion of his experience bar. The total reset to zero, and he gained an Attribute Point.

He left the point unassigned and kept moving.

The second gun shop should have taken forty-five minutes to reach. Thanks to all the fighting, Wade spent a full seventy minutes getting there.

He entered, swiftly put down the handful of walkers inside, and watched his unspent Attribute Points increase from one to two as the experience bar reset again.

Then came the familiar routine. Shut the door, lock it, and get to work.

Once the lock clicked into place, he put away his rifle, pulled out a Remington 870, and began searching.

This shop wasn't nearly as impressive as the previous one. It was only a little bigger than average, and Wade had no idea whether it even had its own warehouse or workshop.

If not, he might have to settle for whatever scraps were left in the clutter.

He kept the Remington's muzzle trained on each possible hiding place as he advanced toward the back, quiet but not particularly slow.

As he approached a door, he picked up a strange, low growling sound coming from the other side.

Wade put the shotgun away, drew his Bowie knife, and tapped lightly on the wood.

"Knock... knock... knock..."

Something inside shuffled toward the noise, growling more loudly.

After listening for a moment, Wade was satisfied there was only one walker. He gripped the doorknob, turned it, and eased the door open a crack.

Then he shoved it forward with all his strength, knocking the walker behind it flat.

His Bowie knife flashed. The point pierced the walker's skull and drove into its brain, ending its attempt to get up.

Wade took out his high-powered flashlight. The room was a staff break area with sparse furnishings and a distinctly old-fashioned look. The little wooden bed, patched and reinforced with extra planks, looked like something from twenty or thirty years ago.

He shut and locked the door, stepped over the corpse, and sat on the dusty bed.

Opening his system panel, Wade immediately spent one point on Agility.

[Agility: 9 → 10]

The instant a blue light flashed, an indescribable pain tore through his entire body. It felt as though 108,000 needles were being driven into his flesh and twisted at once.

His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

...

Author's Note:

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