Then, he calmly took a few steps back, clearing the line of fire.
"What?"
The curly-haired man and the fat man were dazed by this sudden change in tone.
"You..." The curly-haired man reacted suddenly, his hand instinctively reaching for the gun on the table, but it was too late.
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots exploded within the narrow bar.
A bloom of blood instantly erupted from the curly-haired man's forehead as he fell backward, crashing to the floor along with his chair.
The fat man fared even worse. Maggie didn't aim for a lethal blow like Rick; her pent-up rage drove her shot directly through the fat man's neck.
Gurgle... Gurgle...
The fat man collapsed to the ground, clutching his spurting throat. His body twitched violently, and his eyeballs bulged.
Maggie stepped forward expressionlessly and delivered a finishing blow to his head with a knife.
Rick holstered his gun. Instead of celebrating the victory immediately, he strode toward Louis with a dark expression.
"Louis!"
Rick lowered his voice, which was filled with lingering fear. "Didn't I tell you to hide in the back?! Who told you to come out?"
"Let us handle these things! Do you know how dangerous that was just now? What if they had fired first and hit you?!"
At the thought of those two desperadoes being only a few steps away from Louis, Rick's palms broke out in a cold sweat.
Hershel also walked over, his aged face full of gravity. "Yes, child, it was far too risky to try and bait information out of them like that!"
"You shouldn't joke with your life."
Facing the reprimands of his two elders, Louis lowered his head, looking somewhat at a loss.
"Alright, alright."
Maggie spoke up for Louis while skillfully scavenging ammunition from the corpses. "Stop scolding him. He just wanted to help."
She glanced at Louis, remembering that the child had only followed them today to help her find her father. Her tone softened slightly. "Besides, if it wasn't for him, we would have had to put in a lot more effort."
She walked over and patted Louis on the shoulder. "But don't do that next time. Even though the result was good, the process was indeed terrifying."
Louis looked up at Maggie, revealing a grateful and obedient smile. "Thank you, I'll definitely be more careful next time!"
Seeing that Louis had "deeply realized" the severity of the situation, Hershel couldn't bring himself to be angry at the child anymore.
He turned around, directing his spearhead toward the person who was truly responsible.
"Of course, Rick, this is mainly your fault!"
The old man glared sternly at Rick, his tone harsh. "You shouldn't have brought a child to a place like this! It's too irresponsible!"
Facing Hershel's accusation, Rick glanced at the culprit beside him who was currently wearing an expression of "humbly accepting criticism," and sighed helplessly.
"I know, it's my fault."
Rick could only shoulder the blame. He said in a deep voice, "Let's take everything useful first. The gunshots were too loud; we have to leave immediately."
So, the group stopped talking and quickly stripped the corpses of weapons and ammunition.
Once they were packed, Rick pushed aside the tables and chairs blocking the way, preparing to lead them out through the front door.
Louis, however, suddenly stopped and looked toward the entrance.
"Someone's coming," Louis warned in a low voice. "The footsteps are hurried. It might be those people's companions."
"We can't go through the front door," Maggie said, then looked toward the back.
Rick made a split-second decision. "I'll hold this spot to delay them. You guys go through the back door first and get the car!"
"Right!"
Hershel didn't waste any words either. He was the first to turn and pull open the iron door leading to the back alley.
The hinges turned with a faint creak.
Just as he stepped one leg over the threshold, preparing to tentatively head out, a hand suddenly grabbed him!
"Don't go out!" Louis barked in a low voice.
"What is it?" Hershel was pulled into a stumble, looking at Louis with shock and uncertainty.
Louis didn't speak. Instead, he leaned against the doorframe and pointed at an abandoned car diagonally across the back alley.
Through the gap in the door, two sneaky figures could be vaguely seen in the shadow of the car's rear. Using the vehicle as cover, they were crouching and quickly approaching.
"Behind that car..." Louis narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. "There are people hiding there too, creeping this way."
Just then, the roar of a car engine came from outside the front door.
A vehicle stopped at the bar's entrance, followed by the sound of several people's footsteps and shouts.
"Dave? Tony?" a man shouted outside. "Are you guys in there?"
The inside of the bar was deathly silent.
"I heard gunshots just now, right around here."
Another person said anxiously, "Maybe it was Walkers or something else... Damn, this place gives me a bad feeling."
"Shut up, idiot," the first man barked. "Hey! Dave! If you're in there, give us a shout!"
"No answer," a young voice joined the conversation. "Maybe they already left?"
"The car is still here. Where could they go?"
The people outside clearly circled the area before returning to the bar's entrance.
"This door is locked." Someone rattled the door handle.
"Is anyone inside?!"
The leader pounded heavily on the door. "If you're in there, listen, we don't want trouble. We're just looking for our friends."
Rick leaned against the wall by the door, gripping his revolver. He took a deep breath, his eyes cold and hard.
"Your friends aren't here," Rick responded loudly. "We haven't seen anyone else."
"What?" The people outside clearly weren't buying it. "Then why is their car here?"
"I don't know."
Rick's voice remained flat. "Maybe they abandoned the car and left, or maybe they're already dead. It has nothing to do with us."
"Listen, pal." The voice outside turned dark. "Let us in to take a look."
"As soon as we confirm they aren't there, we'll leave immediately."
"I said, there's no one else here."
If it were before, Rick might have tried to communicate or even win them over.
But after encountering that group of ridiculous Believers, his views on other survivors had undergone a subtle change.
"This place is occupied by us. We don't want trouble, and we don't want anyone getting hurt."
Rick's tone was firm but measured. "For everyone's sake, you'd better leave now."
There was silence outside for a few seconds.
"Alright..." The leader seemed to compromise, his tone softening. "Since you put it that way, we won't disturb you."
"Let's go, guys. Let's look somewhere else."
The footsteps seemed to be receding.
But Rick did not lower his guard.
The next second—
"Fuck you!!"
A roar erupted along with a burst of concentrated gunfire!
Rat-tat-tat!
The flimsy wooden door was instantly riddled with holes. Wood chips flew as bullets whistled into the bar, shattering bottles and glass.
"Watch out!" Rick bellowed, flipping a nearby table over for cover while simultaneously raising his gun to return fire.
At the same time, the situation in the back alley also became instantly tense.