The door opened, and the disheveled Merle quickly walked in. Hanna seemed to have found a lifeline and threw herself into Merle's arms. At that moment, her eyes were tightly shut, and her arms were wrapped firmly around the old man, who had never imagined that one day he would be in such a situation. Tears streamed out as she clung to Merle.
Old Merle's face was initially a bit stunned, but then it returned to showing disgust. Just as he was about to reach out and push the little girl away, he felt warmth on his abdomen—tears?
Although the weather was getting colder, Merle had only added a coat on the outside, and he was still wearing a T-shirt underneath. At that moment, he felt a warm and damp sensation coming from his stomach, which made him raise his hand to push Hanna away, but then he stopped and patted the girl on the head.
But soon he felt uncomfortable all over. Comforting people was not his strong suit, so he quickly pushed little Hanna away and said a few of his usual mocking words: "Kid, weren't you so capable just now? Why are you scared after being alone for a while? Hahaha!"
Hearing Merle's teasing, Hanna quickly wiped her tears and stepped back. Her face was a little red, and she quickly turned around and walked toward the kitchen.
"The food is ready, let's eat quickly."
"Yeah…"
She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but Hanna felt that there seemed to be a hint of emotion on Merle's face.
But he didn't say much, and she was too emotionally unbalanced to ask about it, so the two of them walked to the kitchen, sat down in the dining area, and began to eat.
Merle had a thoughtful expression on his face while eating, as if he was worried about something, which confused Hanna greatly.
Obviously, she had been emotional just moments ago, but her expression changed in the blink of an eye. Still, she didn't want to speak and continued eating in silence.
"Starting tomorrow, go to the radio room on the third floor and wait for news. Once someone contacts you, tell them the exact location of our place."
Hanna looked at him in surprise and said in a slightly nervous tone, "Then… then, when will you come back? What if someone else comes? I can't stay here alone…"
"Why do you have so many questions? I'll go out for the whole morning to confirm something. When the time comes, you'll get your weapon. If a stranger comes, you can hide in the secret room and wait for them to arrive."
"Ah, okay…" Hanna felt a bit sad, and a fear she didn't want to experience again filled her heart like a shadow. It made her realize that she was not as strong as she thought, and she also learned that she needed to pay attention to everything Merle had taught her.
In any case, she would do her best to learn any way to survive in this apocalypse. Even if she could only live one more day, she would use that day to fight for the hope of living another.
"So, what are you going to do tomorrow?"
Merle paused as he was bringing food to his mouth, seemed to think for a moment, and finally said casually,
"Important things. I'll tell you when the time comes."
"I see…"
The meal passed in this kind of silence with a hint of awkwardness. After a short rest following the meal, Merle took a bottle of beer and walked up to the third floor. He had to stay alert—after all, this place was not like a base or the Commonwealth. In case a group of walkers crossed over, he had to be prepared in advance.
Hanna didn't do much. She simply tossed her plate into the sink after eating and ignored cleaning it. Now that Merle had returned, she felt at ease, so she went to a room since she felt bored.
Time passed quickly. Merle left early the next morning and returned on time in the afternoon. As for what he did, Hanna didn't know, but she noticed that there seemed to be something in the old man's backpack when he returned, and it looked heavy.
It was clear that he didn't want to discuss it, and Hanna was sensible enough not to ask, but she had a feeling that this matter had something to do with the third basement.
The two of them enjoyed a few days of carefree life in the mansion until the morning three days later.
"Zz… Zz…"
"Old man, someone is looking for you on the radio."
Merle was stunned for a moment, then realized that it should be people from the base.
…
An hour later.
A large convoy entered the small town and drove straight toward the mansion where Merle was staying without stopping.
Screech!
There was a sound of brakes, and more than a dozen large vehicles along with some military Humvees filled the road in front of the mansion.
A large group of heavily armed soldiers wearing special Arm-3J combat gear got out of the vehicles, and Hanna, who was standing by the window, was stunned. Since the end of the world, it was the first time she had seen so many people gathered together—and all of them were armed.
When she heard Merle say that he belonged to some base and that they would send people here, she thought that at most a dozen or perhaps twenty people would come. But she didn't expect so many people to arrive.
How many people are there!
One, two, three…
Hanna got confused when she reached fifty, so there should be more than a hundred people here.
It seemed that old Merle had really not lied to her. There must be a lot of people in that base—at least several hundred.
Soon, she saw Merle walk out the door and greet a man.
This man seemed to be the leader of the group. The two of them stood there talking, and then Hanna saw Merle pointing in her direction, and the long-haired man looked at her. At first glance, she was nervous, but soon she saw the approachable smile on the man's face, which made her relax a lot.
Then she saw Merle waving at her, signaling for her to come down.
Hanna quickly nodded and ran downstairs in a panic.
By the time she got downstairs, almost everyone had gotten out of the cars and trucks. Most of them were checking weapons and equipment, and some were clearing out the walkers around them with machetes.
And Merle, together with the cold-looking man, stood not far away watching her, and she hurried over.
"Are you Hanna?"
"Yes… yes… sir."
"Don't be nervous, I won't hurt you."
"Okay, I'm fine."
This long-haired man was, naturally, Jason, who had rushed to this place after landing at the South Carolina base. Seeing that the girl was a bit nervous, he smiled and did not stare at her.
"It seems that Merle has other tasks to do in his exciting life, so he won't be going back to the base with us. But he wants us to take you back. Our bases are very safe, and believe me, you can live a good life there."
Hanna showed a slightly hesitant expression when she heard this. Her eyes moved between the two of them, and there was also a look of struggle on her face, as if she had some concerns.
Jason looked at Merle beside him in confusion, and the latter also shook his head inexplicably.
"Hanna? What is it? Is there a problem?"
Little Hanna's face became serious, and her tone was much firmer and more fluent than before: "Sir, I want to follow Merle."
"Oh? Why? Wouldn't it be better to go directly to a safer base?"
Now that she knew there was a safe place, there was nothing for her to worry about, so she explained her situation:
"I don't want to go to such a comfortable place where there's no opportunity to train at all. But following Merle is different. I can train regularly, and I can also see various people and new things."
After hearing the girl's explanation, Jason pondered for a moment and finally agreed. He could see it in Merle's eyes—like a strict father looking at his daughter. He didn't want to separate them now that both, with complicated pasts, had grown close and formed a rather strong familial bond.