TWD - Chapter 578: Don't Move! You'll Get Us Killed! (Patreon)

Just then, unmistakable footsteps came from below. People were climbing the stairs, and there were quite a few of them.

Holy shit. They were moving so damn fast!

Harris's heart lurched. A terrible feeling settled over him.

*

Leah led her soldiers through the building, searching each floor in turn. They moved neither hurriedly nor slowly, maintaining a steady, deliberate pace.

On the second floor, laboratories lined both sides of the corridor. Some doors stood open, while others were shut.

"Spread out," Leah ordered quietly. "One room per team. Be careful when you open the doors."

The soldiers immediately split up to search each laboratory.

The first room was empty apart from dust-covered equipment.

Two walkers wandered aimlessly around the second.

A pair of soldiers exchanged glances and approached together. Their spears pierced the back of each walker's skull so cleanly that neither creature had time to make a sound before collapsing.

...

Leah stood in the middle of the corridor, listening. Her eyes swept constantly over the ceiling and the corners of the walls.

She knew there were people in this building. The question was what they were doing right now.

If they were raiders, they would probably have made preparations to attack by now. That was how such people operated.

More than twenty people holding the upper floors could indeed surprise her troops by charging down all at once.

If they were ordinary survivors, on the other hand, they would most likely be waiting quietly for the soldiers to leave.

Leah looked toward the staircase. Everything above was silent, unnaturally silent.

On the third-floor landing, two walkers were shuffling around. Hearing footsteps, they turned their heads sluggishly.

The crossbowmen raised their weapons.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two bolts struck their targets, and both walkers dropped to the floor.

The squad continued its steady advance. Leah stepped past the fallen bodies and the black blood and shredded flesh scattered around them, frowning slightly as she moved on.

Now she could hear faint sounds coming from upstairs. The noises were soft and muffled, but she was certain they came from human voices, more than one of them.

She slowly raised her hand. Everyone stopped at once.

With a small gesture, Leah sent several soldiers creeping quietly toward the other staircase. Then she led the remaining troops after them, keeping silent.

On the sixth floor, the stairwell had been barricaded with a mountain of junk. Desks, chairs, bookcases, and a battered sofa blocked the passage completely, keeping walkers and other people alike from coming through.

Behind the barricade, twenty-three people pressed together, their faces tight with fear.

Harris leaned against the wall, heart racing as he strained to hear movement from below.

The group had slipped away from its third-floor hiding place and climbed to the sixth, piling furniture across the stairwell in the hope of keeping the intruders out.

But there wasn't a sound from downstairs. The armed strangers had been killing walkers just below them, so why had everything gone so quiet?

Suddenly, a figure appeared beside the barricade.

A Defense Force soldier in a dark gray uniform had somehow climbed the other staircase without being noticed.

He aimed his gun steadily at the crowd and barked, "Drop your weapons! Nobody move!"

Another soldier appeared at the opposite staircase almost at once.

Four or five gun barrels were now pointed straight at the survivors.

All twenty-three were trapped between the armed soldiers, with no way out.

Neville glanced from side to side, licked his lips, and cautiously slipped a hand toward the front of his coat.

Harris caught the movement and seized his arm before he could reach inside. Through clenched teeth, he hissed, "Don't move, Neville! You'll get us all killed!"

By then, the rest of the Defense Force had reached the floor.

Leah approached Harris, her expression hard and her eyes sharp as knives. She lowered her head slightly and studied his face, then swept her gaze over the people behind him and the machetes and iron pipes in their hands.

It was only a glance, yet Harris felt as if she could see right through him. A chill ran down his spine.

This woman had definitely killed people before.

"Who was thinking of attacking us just now?" she asked coldly.

Harris clenched his jaw, desperately weighing his answer.

Admit they had considered an attack? That could get them killed.

Deny it? They were still clutching weapons, making their intentions plain enough.

After a moment, he forced himself to answer. "You've got guns. What do we have?"

Leah's mouth twitched. His response confirmed her suspicions, though she hadn't quite expected him to say it so openly.

"So you thought you'd rob us?"

Harris fell silent. He had no reply.

Neville, however, couldn't keep his mouth shut. "So what if we did? In a world like this, how are we supposed to survive without taking things from other people?"

Leah turned to him and gave him a cool, cutting look.

There was no anger in her eyes, only contempt and a piercing intensity that made Neville shut his mouth immediately.

When it came down to it, he was an ordinary man, not some vicious, hardened raider.

Leah looked away and surveyed the whole group again.

Twenty-three people, from those past fifty to teenagers barely in their teens. Fear filled their eyes, but there was also a faint trace of resentment.

After studying them, she asked slowly, "Do you know who we are?"

No one answered. The silence was taut enough to snap.

At last a thin woman gathered the courage to whisper, "Are you... are you with the military?"

Leah shook her head. "We're from Rock Fortress."

The name immediately made Jerry's eyes light up.

"Rock Fortress? That big camp to the east?" he asked excitedly.

Leah regarded him. "You've heard of Rock Fortress?"

Jerry nodded quickly, the words tumbling out. "A traveler told me about it. He said there was a base to the east with strong walls and plenty of food."

"Are you... are you really from that place?"

Leah nodded. "We are."

Curious, she asked, "If you already knew about us, why didn't you go to Rock Fortress?"

Jerry bit his lip and couldn't find an answer. The thin woman's eyes filled with tears.

"That traveler went there by himself afterward. We never saw him again. We... we tried to go east too, but as soon as we left campus, a crowd of walkers cut us off. Several people died. We barely made it back..."

Leah turned her attention to Harris.

His expression shifted from caution to suspicion, then finally to hesitant hope.

"You're... you're not here to drive us out?" he asked carefully.

Leah met his gaze. "We're here to reclaim this area. To take back from the walkers what used to belong to us."

She paused, then asked, "So were you actually planning to rob us a moment ago?"

Harris looked more uncomfortable than ever. He opened his mouth but couldn't think of any explanation.

The thin woman hurried to speak for them. "I'm sorry! We're sorry! We... we thought you were those raiders who'll do anything to get what they want..."