A little while later.
Daryl, Merle and Shane were supposed to arrive at the prison by now, but they just had to be unlucky when the car that Merle and Shane was driving suddenly ran over a deer who came out of nowhere.
Since the trio did not want to waste food, they picked up and threw the body onto the back of the pick up truck they hotwired earlier before resumed their journey.
En route to prison, they had to make a stop again and even had to hide because of something they noticed ahead of them.
They drove the truck onto the side of the road and made it look abandoned, while Daryl hid his bike under fallen branches and leaves.
"It's the Governor and his goons." Shane said in an almost whisper while hiding with the two brothers under the cover of tall weeds, their heads only visible.
"With those numbers, it's obvious that they are planning to attack the prison." Shane added while observing them through a pair of binoculars.
"Then we should quickly head back." Daryl said in worry. He was about to slither away, but Merle grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Calm down, will you? If they're really launching to raid the prison, then it won't be too late for us to join. We'll just attack their rear while they are busy with the front." Merle reasoned and only did Daryl calm down and return to his previous spot.
"Let me borrow that." Merle took the binoculars from Shane and watched them.
"Shumpert and a few people are missing. I'm guessing the Governor is waiting for them to catch up." It did not even take long before Merle immediately noticed who was missing and quickly figured out where they had gone.
"I have a feeling they're over where we left those dead bodies." Shane spoke what was in Merle's mind.
Merle glanced at his brother. "We would have gotten ourselves into more trouble if we had stayed longer."
"But I have a huge doubt that they are actually going to attack the prison." Shane remarks with a slight tilt of his head.
"What do you mean?" Daryl asked with a frown.
Shane did not immediately answer him and instead took out a map from his back. It was a folded map that only shows the State of Georgia.
"Look, we're roughly at this location." Shane pointed at a location on the map and continued. "This place is roughly two miles from the prison. If they are planning to attack the prison, then this place is not advisable for a stop since there's a high chance that they would get spotted by your people. They're also in an open plain, it's like.."
"They wanted someone to see them." Shane didn't get to finish his words when Daryl interrupted him.
"Of course, the prison wasn't their objective in the first place. It's Michael and the others.." Daryl's expression became dark when he reached that conclusion.
"Dang, you mentioned they went to the city today, right? They must have found out they were away. I'm guessing they are actually planning to ambush them on the way back." Merle was a little startled and at the same time surprised that they actually managed to sniff out their activities today..
"How would that be possible when we always patrol the areas around us? We would have received reports of suspicious individuals in the area if that was the case." Daryl was skeptical of his brother's theory.
"You think they're walkers that do not know how to hide? You're also concealing yourself while collecting information from them. Do you think they're not doing the same?" Shane snorted while shaking his head.
"Shh, Shumpert and the rest of the gang are here." Merle quickly shushed them when he spotted a smaller convoy joining the others.
Merle handed the binoculars to Daryl while saying. "Do you think Michael and the others can handle their number?"
"Michael is stronger than any of us, but he's still essentially a human. He'd die if he faced a rain of bullets." Shane wasn't optimistic about their survival. "Unless of course, reinforcements arrive in time."
Meanwhile,
Shumpert and his crew arrived to join the others. He quickly came to Philip and reported their findings.
"Are you saying..all of them died?" Philip looked calm outside, but his voice showed that he was burning in anger inside.
Shumpert took a quick glance at Martinez before turning his eyes back to Philip. "Unfortunately, yes. It seems he had some help, possibly his brother who came back to check on him."
From his words, it's clear that those people only began their attack on Merle when they were sure that Daryl wouldn't be able to get to his brother in time to help him. Unfortunately for them, they could have succeeded in killing Merle if not for the untimely appearance of Shane.
Philip sighed in frustration. "How is it possible for a one-armed man and his run of the mill hunter of a brother to take down former members of the National Guard?"
'It's not surprising though since I doubt those people even saw combat during their military service.' Shumper scoffed inside. He didn't need to serve in the military to know that not even fifteen percent would see combat in their service. Sadly, he did not witness how lucky Merle was or he wouldn't even think of something like that.
"The good news is that we still haven't seen them yet." Martinez said after completing for a while.
Philip looked at him and couldn't help but also agree. "This road is the quickest way back to the prison, and since they don't have an idea that we are blocking this road. They must have noticed us or else they would have arrived here before you. I'm sure they are out there somewhere, watching us right now."
"Then should we start looking for them?" Shumpert asked.
Philip shook his head. "No need to waste our time on them. Let's move on before we're late to our appointment. This might be our last chance to get rid of all of them and I don't want to miss that just because of a couple nuisance."
Following his words, everyone quickly boarded their vehicles and resumed their objective.
To kill Michael and the others.
"They're leaving. Come on." Daryl said before he stood up and bolted towards the direction to where they left their vehicles.
Merle and Shane exchanged glances before they also followed behind him. The former does not really care what happens to Michael and the others, but worries about his brother. While the latter is only sticking with them because of some unfinished business he had with Rick.
'Damn, why am I even trying to help these people?' Shane questioned himself while thinking about the people he left behind to make this journey.