Townsend, Eastcoast.
Michael and the two women are currently travelling on foot with bags on their backs and heading to the town centre.
"This would have been a great place to go on a vacation. If only the world hadn't gone to shit." Andrea chuckled while looking at the nature surrounding them. If only she had known the world would turn like this, she would have taken that vacation much earlier.
Michael looked around them and imagined how this place would have looked during the summer, with families and their kids running around under the canopy of the trees.
'Hmm..maybe it would have been awesome. Sadly, it's only a story of the past now.'
Hearing the sadness in her voice, Michael also remembered the regrets in his past life, the things he couldn't do because he kept postponing them for things that have no relevance to him at all.
'I wonder how my family took it when they realized I'm already gone.'
The trio did not recklessly enter the town and loitered for quite a while on the edge while observing it from afar..
If he was alone, he would have immediately headed straight with slight caution but Michael did not want to endanger the two women since they don't possess any of his inhuman abilities. His previous reckless behaviour can't be applied right now, especially since they're on foot. He can't protect them if they really get themselves into trouble.
"Doesn't seem like there's any survivors around." Andrea muttered softly while watching the town through the lenses of the binoculars on her hand.
"It's either they already discovered us and went into hiding to ambush us or this has truly become a ghost town, but I'm leaning on the first one. Every place we drove by, there were at least small groups of survivors we encountered on the road. We even traded some things with them." Rosita prefers that the town is devoid of any human being, but as someone who had been living from place to place before. She also does not believe that there's no survivors around, no matter if the place is big or not. There's bound to be people who'd make it their home.
"What do you think?" Rosita turned her attention to Michael, who seemed lost in his thoughts.
Crossing his arms, Michael's eyes remained glued towards the town and responded after a short moment. "How about you two stay here and keep an eye on my six while I head into town? I won't be able to protect you two if we're out in the open."
Like almost every town they pass through, the buildings were built along the main road and built just next to each other, making it almost impossible to use them as cover. It's similar to a narrow canyon where there would be no ideal place to hide onto, making it an ideal place to ambush anyone who recklessly steps foot inside.
"I have this sniper rifle with me, so not a bad idea. Andrea will be my spotter in the meantime then." Rosita took off the sniper rifle slung over her shoulders and got ready.
"Alright." Andrea has no problems with the arrangement since she does not even know how to handle a sniper rifle, much less shoot one.
"Make sure to keep an eye out and don't hesitate to shoot no matter who it is, be it a person or a walker, alright?" Michael said to Andrea while pulling out the Claymore from his back.
'That really looks uncomfortable to carry.' Rosita thought while looking at the sword on Michael's hands. She still does not understand why he chose such a complicated weapon to carry around, but he would just smile at her every time she brings up the subject about the sword.
She clearly does not understand what a man's romance is.
"Got it." Andrea answered, resolving herself that she won't hesitate this time since they got into a small trouble because of it during one of their stops.
"Alright. Off you go, find a suitable position to cover my back."
The two women immediately departed following his words as Michael watched the two disappear into the forest.
For a while, Michael looked around him, like he's trying to find something.
"Hmm.." Michael softly groaned. He placed his claymore to rest on his shoulder and started jogging towards the town, his speed slowly picking up with every step.
On the other hand, the two people watching them from afar immediately controlled their breathing when Michael's eyes landed towards their direction, but it only lasted for a short moment before he left.
"I thought he saw us." The girl hiding beside the man said in a soft and frightened voice.
The man was of course startled from what happened, but he quickly calmed down and couldn't help but say something on one thing that caught his attention.
"That sword looks way uncomfortable to carry. Was that guy stupid or something?"
The girl grabbed the hem of the man's clothes and said, "Shouldn't we have warned them? That town isn't exactly safe."
The man shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't risk getting us in danger. It'd be better if we just watch them for now."
"Okay." The little girl softly answered back.
Back to the present.
Michael arrived at the town centre and was calmly walking through the streets while looking around his surroundings.
"Hmmm..?" But then he finally noticed something unusual and his pace slowly dropped in speed as his casual attitude slowly disappeared and he became alert.
'There's not even one body lying around?' He was a little confused since it's unusual that there's no bodies lying around. His concern was not unwarranted since it's impossible that not even one resident of the town had at least tried to kill a walker during the initial outbreak or even from survivors passing through here.
Crash!
Suddenly, the window of the small grocery to his right exploded into pieces and a thin shadow streaked towards Michael like an arrow!
Michael wasn't slow either as he immediately reacted the moment the window shattered and quickly brought his sword in front of him to block the incoming projectile.
Bam!
"Ughh!" Michael couldn't help but let out a groan when it collided against him, and the force behind it was so heavy that he was even forced to stumble backwards.
He frowned, his arms slightly shaking, but when his eyes got a good look on what it was that attacked him from out of nowhere, he let out a curse. "What the heck?"
It was a freaking tentacle, wriggling in front of him and when he looked past the tentacle and into the grocery store, he saw a somewhat familiar figure standing by the window.
The figure is bulky in build and it looked like any other walker, the only difference is that one of its arms had turned into a tentacle-like thing with an uncanny appearance similar to an earthworm.
"Is that a Smoker?" Michael mumbled a familiar term from a game he played before.
He had just uttered those words when the monster once again attacked him and it then jumped out of the window following its attack.
Swish! Smack!
Seeing the attack coming at him again, Michael quickly concentrated and dodged the attack that came at him like a whip.
'Bloody heck, why is there a monster like you here?' His face was dark, feeling confused about the sudden appearance of a monster like the one before him.
'Don't tell me this World is really trying to get rid of me?' Michael was quickly reminded of the theory he had before and shivers ran down his spine.
The constant obstacles along the road during his first trip, and the unusual number of walkers whenever he arrives at a new place.
Most especially, the constant appearance of walker herds.
"Hahaha.." Michael laughed at the thought of it. Though His laughter was cut short when the monster once again launched an attack against him. He quickly dodged to the side and shot towards the mutated walker with a maddened grin on his face.
"Now, this is fun!"
His laughter echoed throughout as his sword struck down towards the monster.
"What the heck is that?"
Rosita, who had been watching Michael the entire time, was gripped with fear the moment the mutated walker came out of the building. Though fear stricken, she quickly collected herself and immediately loaded the rifle with a shaking hand as she worried for Michael's safety.