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🕑 Added 2025-07-03 03:52:05 +0000 UTCA New Beginning From the End of the World
Chapter 209 – Calm
Inside the container, Jason felt a sharp pain in his left arm. Throughout the fight, he had prioritized carrying the weapons in a bag. Though it wasn’t comfortable, he knew it was necessary if he wanted to survive later on.
And as it turned out, he had been right—those weapons would help him get out of this place.
“Argh... Damn it.”
Jason opened his eyes and looked around groggily, then saw Alicia, who was also struggling to scan the area. She said, “We need to treat your wounds. Let’s get moving—it’s almost dark, and being out here at night is a bad idea.”
Jumping down from the container, Alicia grabbed the bag Jason had clung to and helped him out.
“Wait…” Alicia scanned the area, hoping they weren’t surrounded by enemies.
After checking their surroundings one more time, they slipped around the side of the street and left the hospital area behind.
The horde of walkers had flooded the building, which would significantly delay them, giving Jason and Alicia just enough time to escape.
During the shootout, Jason had made sure no enemy vehicles were left intact—he had been ready to die with all of them.
He still didn’t know if they were just looters or members of some nearby community, but one thing was clear: their decisions had been stupid.
How could they make that much noise with walkers so close?
Jason couldn’t help but admit he’d been extremely lucky. If it hadn’t been for Alicia helping him now, he wouldn’t have made it out of the hospital alive. All he could do now was get out of this place and plan his revenge more wisely.
They walked several hundred meters away from the hospital before Jason finally stopped. He didn’t see any walkers following them.
Though he wasn’t sure how to feel, his nerves slowly began to settle.
Jason tilted his head toward Alicia and immediately said, “This place is good enough to rest. We should hide until the horde decides to move on from this area.”
Alicia stopped abruptly, set down the bag of weapons, and looked around, finally letting out a sigh of relief. What had just happened—she’d never done anything like it before—but she was glad to have gotten out of that hell with Jason, someone she was now familiar with.
Only then did she look at Jason with concern. She had only glanced at him earlier, and just as she was about to ask something, she noticed his arms and face were covered in blood. Suddenly, she was alarmed. “Are you badly hurt?”
“Badly hurt?” Jason echoed her words and became more aware of the state of his body. It was clear he was injured. Now that the anger, adrenaline, and tension had worn off, weakness crept in, and waves of pain surged through him.
Being this far from Alexandria—or even somewhere closer, like Atlanta—was a dire situation.
The realization filled him with a lingering fear. He had been willing to die with his enemies, driven by unstable emotions and recklessness. If not for pure luck and Alicia’s help, he might’ve taken a bullet during the firefight.
“I’m fine. I wasn’t shot. Let’s move inside the building first. Once we’re somewhere safe, I’ll deal with the wounds.”
Seeing the blood continuously flowing from Jason’s injuries, Alicia knew he was right. She pulled out some tissues, wiped away what she could from his arms, and tied makeshift bandages before scanning the area again.
Jason’s situation had been incredibly bad—his helicopter had crashed, and then he’d been attacked by the Vultures—but it was clear he had hunted them down one by one. Alicia had always believed there was a way to escape even the worst scenarios.
“There are weapons in the bag. Grab a rifle with a suppressor. We need to check the building to make sure it’s clear of walkers.”
After saying that, Jason picked up his M4, checked the magazine, and entered the building with Alicia, switching on his weapon-mounted flashlight.
The place looked like a bookstore. There were books scattered everywhere, and the silence confirmed there were no walkers inside. After checking the aisles and between the shelves, Alicia turned around and closed the door.
The building wasn’t very big, but it was good enough to spend the night. Jason had just lived through the longest minutes of his life and never imagined things would end this way.
He headed to the bathroom with Alicia’s help, and as he walked, he realized this wasn’t his end—nor did he want it to be. He had to patch himself up.
“You were way too impulsive. Are you always like this? And how did you end up in a crashed helicopter anyway?” Alicia asked while silently removing shards of glass from Jason’s wounds. He had long cuts and scrapes, as well as bruised ribs and a wound on his forehead.
Truthfully, Jason had never been this badly injured since he arrived in this world.
And when it came to Alicia’s question, he didn’t have much to say. He genuinely felt awful for everything he had lost in just one day.
Jason sighed and admitted he hadn’t given much thought to his situation. He had never been the kind of person to run and leave behind those who had risked their lives to get that helicopter off the ground.
“My team and I received a distress signal from a nearby military base. We were originally in Washington, D.C., but traveled here to evacuate any survivors. When we got there, the walkers overran the base, and I stayed behind to cover my team’s retreat.”
“And because of that, I put people who mattered deeply to me in danger. Two of them died in the shootout, and one got separated from me when the helicopter crashed. I didn’t expect the survivors to be crazy enough to start a firefight in the middle of a city full of walkers…”
After hearing this, Alicia finally understood what Jason was doing in Texas. She didn’t say anything. She simply grabbed the bandages and wrapped them around Jason’s waist several times—tight enough to hold.
After applying some patches and ointment to Jason’s ribs, she rummaged through her things and handed him a long-sleeved shirt. “I got this for my brother, but since your shirt is bloody and torn, you can wear it.”
She didn’t know exactly why she had come here, especially to save Jason—someone she had only spoken to once. Maybe it was that radio conversation during her most vulnerable moment, when she thought she wouldn’t survive, that made her never forget the man named Jason on the other end.
That kind of longing—to meet the person she most wanted to see—grew stronger with time, and today, it had made her act impulsively.
Now, seeing that boy injured and likely unable to care for himself, she wanted to help.
Once the bandages were secure, Jason stood up and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. There had been an oil lamp and a few flickering lights that had served as their only source of light in this dark place.
“I’ve never been in such bad shape… Do you have a shelter near here?” Jason asked as he struggled to put on the long-sleeved shirt.
Alicia then remembered she had run to the hospital to help Jason and had forgotten to contact her brother. She grabbed the radio and spoke, “Zz... Nick, it’s Alicia. Can you hear me?”
“Zz... Where the hell did you go, Alicia?” Nick’s voice came through, full of anger after realizing his sister had left the building to help a stranger.
“Zz... I’m okay, Nick. I’m not far from where we were. I can make it back to the community on my own. You guys need to get the medicine back ASAP.”
“Zz... The horde is surrounding the hospital. We can take the car and leave now. We’ll come back for you as soon as we can.”
“Zz... That’s not necessary, Nick. I’m not alone—and I’ve got weapons. Trust me…”
Jason looked at Alicia in silence. He never imagined things would end this way, so he simply closed his eyes and tried to rest.
