"I got them, hurry up!"
Upon hearing the response from above, the hunter was taken aback for a moment, but a pleased smile soon appeared on his face. He turned and shouted to the others behind him:
"Quick, they've got the man!"
When the other hunters heard this, they all rushed forward, preparing themselves one by one. One of them even said with a lecherous grin:
"Looks like there's a woman in there. I've never had sex before."
"That's right, I saw her a while ago—she's smoking hot!" another chimed in excitedly. "Once we get in, we should all have some fun."
"Hahaha!"
As soon as that vile topic was brought up, the group of hunters burst into wild laughter as if high on adrenaline, then stormed up the stairs without any caution.
But when they reached the second floor, all they found was an empty showroom with not a single person in sight—except for a corpse hanging in midair.
"Heh, are you satisfied with the welcome gift I prepared for our reunion?"
Just as their attention was drawn to the hanging body, a man's voice came from behind them.
One of the hunters instinctively turned his head and saw a man with a bandaged leg sitting on a bench, holding a revolver with an unusually long barrel, smiling as he stared at them.
All the hunters' pupils shrank in shock. One of them grabbed the companion next to him and shouted:
"Wait, don't shoot! We can talk—"
Bang!
But before he could finish, Jason's revolver roared, and a bullet pierced his head with pinpoint accuracy, then struck another hunter behind him on the way through.
At the same time, Alicia, who had been hiding nearby, emerged and opened fire with her pistol, while tossing something she had been holding.
The hunters were caught off guard by the sudden barrage. Watching their companions fall to the ground, they retreated toward the stairs in a panic to avoid the whizzing bullets.
But just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, a sharp noise echoed from above. They looked up in horror to see the chandelier overhead rattling violently—right above their heads.
Cang!
The chandelier came crashing down and smashed onto the two remaining hunters, pinning them completely. No matter how much they struggled and thrashed, they couldn't get free.
Jason limped to the staircase using a makeshift crutch fashioned from a metal rod that had come from who-knows-where. He looked down at the hunters screaming in pain and, hearing the groans of the walkers drawn by the noise outside, said:
"These two are a gift for the walkers. Let them die slowly. Let's get out of here, fast."
As he spoke, and with Alicia's help, he slid down a rope through a gap in the second floor.
"Woof!"
But as soon as he landed on the ground, Jason saw the furry dog sitting there waiting for him.
Looking at the white-haired dog, Jason immediately glared and cursed:
"Damn mutt, you've got more lives than a damn cat."
Under the dog's barking, it guided them toward the garage door of a nearby house.
When Alicia opened the garage, a strong, acrid stench of blood hit them.
The two widened their eyes and peered inside, seeing three vehicles parked in the dim garage, a bloodstained table, filthy old clothing, and some blood-red folders and documents scattered nearby.
"How the hell did this dog know there was something in here?"
Seeing the scene inside, Alicia—who had felt confused before—now looked suspicious and said:
"I get it now. No wonder this furry mutt has survived this long. He might be smarter than my brother."
"Haha, now I really want to meet your family. Maybe I'll get along with them."
"My mom would definitely be suspicious of you—and as usual, she'd hate that I left the group to help you."
Jason remained calm, pointed to his head and said: "Maybe it's not about that. Who knows? Maybe she's afraid I'll end up as her son-in-law."
"Well then, you'd better put in some effort," Alicia said with a smirk, looking at Jason.
"Then I will."
As he spoke, he leaned on his crutch and walked to the side of one of the clean-looking cars. There were some neatly packed bags inside. When he opened one, he found pieces of carefully cut meat.
"Wow... How much fresh meat do they have?"
Looking at the blood-smeared chunks, Alicia pulled up the stepboard again, picked up a strand of hair from inside, looked at it in her palm and said:
"Cow hair. I didn't expect these people to have so much meat in storage."
But Jason frowned slightly upon hearing this. He looked at Alicia and asked: "Do you really think that's beef?"
"Isn't it...?"
Seeing Jason's expression, Alicia suddenly felt unsure. Her eyes scanned the meat again.
"Then take a look at this."
As he spoke, Jason reached between two slabs of meat and pulled out a finger, holding it in front of her.
"Look what I found. A hoof, right?"
"That's a finger!"
Seeing the severed digit in front of her, Alicia—who had some knowledge of anatomy—recognized it immediately. She gasped quietly and quickly turned her eyes away from the pile of meat and blood. Then she forcefully pulled off the cloth covering it.
Suddenly, a nauseating wave of blood stench filled the air—and at the same time, a severed thigh and arm lying on the right side came fully into view.
Jason also walked to the trunk of another car storing supplies. He lifted the top panels and saw the same sight.
"I just hope these people were racist... Otherwise, my buddy Morgan would've ended up in this place..."
Even though Alicia was used to dealing with corpses, walkers, and people, the horrific scene made her instinctively cover her mouth and step back from the sheer shock.
"Looks like I was wrong about this place before."
Looking around the garage, Jason walked over to the bloodstained desk, opened one of the plastic bags nearby, and pulled out a scalp with hair still attached, along with other discarded body parts. He muttered:
"It's not that survivors have left… it's that there's a group of demons here feeding on human flesh and blood. This place is their slaughterhouse."
"Fucking beasts!"
Covering the fabric in the back of the car, Alicia couldn't imagine how many survivors had been butchered to stockpile all that meat and blood. She couldn't help but shout in rage.
Soon, Jason found a densely written inventory spread across a table jutting out from the garage wall.
...
Sheet after sheet listed item after item. It looked like these people had been entrenched here for quite some time—there might even be a larger force behind them that fed on human flesh.
Thinking this, Jason moved to the cleanest of the three cars, opened the driver's side door, and found the car key already inserted. He waved to Alicia and said:
"Let's go, we need to get out of here—there are probably more of those bastards nearby."
Alicia, who had gone quiet a while ago, nodded and quickly got into the driver's seat. Once Jason sat in the passenger seat, she started the car and sped away from the clothing store.
"Tsk, these people really wasted the true purpose of these weapons."
Sitting in the passenger seat, Jason examined the guns they had taken from the cannibals and found many of them were damaged. It seemed none of the weapons had been properly maintained.
Looking at the pile of messed-up firearms, he shook his head helplessly, quickly disassembled them, reassembled the usable parts, and tossed the useless ones out the window.
"What a damn headache."
After assembling three handguns that were still in good condition, Jason looked up and saw a sign that said they were leaving Dallas. He sighed:
"Lately, nothing's gone right. Everywhere I turn, there's something messed up happening."
"Coming from you, I'm starting to think running into those things isn't so surprising anymore."
Alicia glanced at Jason. The corners of her mouth twitched. She was about to say something, but just as she turned the corner, they passed four or five cars driving in a straight line.