But Shawn simply flung his arm back.
He re-holstered his remington on his back, and the Stone Hammer reappeared in his hand.
Shawn swung his hammer at a Walker that was hastily getting back on its feet from a pile of corpses.
With his strength maxed out, the chance of a headshot was almost at its highest.
With just one hammer swing, a headshot was triggered directly, and the Walker's head exploded entirely.
It was a particularly crisp sensation.
It was as if someone had pre-installed some kind of miniature explosive in the Walker's head.
The skull completely shattered into fragments, splattering against the nearby wall with a'splat' sound, mixed with dark black blood.
"Rick, Shane, T-Dog, switch to melee weapons!"
Shawn roared.
These three men were all wearing 'heavy tank armor' and were strong, completely unafraid of close-quarters combat with Walkers.
But when Shawn's voice fell, only Rick and T-Dog immediately pulled out their machetes and crowbars. Shane's eyes seemed dazed, and he just stood still.
"Shane!!"
Glenn turned around and shouted.
Only then did Shane's body tremble. As if suddenly waking up, he quickly stepped forward, pulled out his machete, and stood beside Rick to assist.
Shawn saw all of this, but merely swung his great hammer impassively, knocking down all approaching Walkers.
"Last one!"
Swoosh--!
As Shawn's voice fell, he smashed the skull of the last Walker.
"Phew--" Shawn's gaze swept over the 'pile of corpses': "Old rules, finish them off, pile them up."
After speaking, Shawn stepped onto the stairs, then turned back to look at everyone.
"You guys are responsible for dealing with the bodies, then go clear out the Walkers in the cafeteria and see if there's any food left inside."
"I'll go check the 2nd and 3rd floors, see if there are any remaining Walkers."
"Shane... you come with me."
Shawn specifically called out Shane, which made everyone look at Shane a bit more.
It wasn't until Shane vaguely followed Shawn upstairs, his figure gradually disappearing from everyone's sight.
Glenn wiped the blood from his jaw with his wrist and leaned over to Rick, asking with some concern.
"Nothing bad will happen, right?"
Glenn was an old-timer at the Quarry Camp.
When Rick was first away, he had already carried out several 'material collection' missions in the Camp.
So he had some understanding of Shane, the then-leader of the Camp.
And Shawn was clearly domineering. Wouldn't putting these two together cause problems?
Rick took a breath: "Shawn's mercy outweighs his wrath."
"They'll be fine, don't forget what Shawn just said."
"He will bring everyone he brought in today out unharmed."
"And Shawn is a man who keeps his promises."
Rick suddenly recalled Shawn's attitude towards Carl and Lori, and chose to trust him without hesitation.
...
Administrative Building, 2nd floor.
This seemed to be where the Prison guards usually rested.
One could see some bunk beds and some empty offices.
The cafeteria was on the first floor, and living quarters on the second, to ensure Prison guards wouldn't need to go back and forth between 'home' and the Prison for short periods.
Shawn walked in front, gripping his great hammer, while Shane, still somewhat lost in thought, followed closely behind with his head down.
Neither of them spoke first, simply walking through the silent hallway.
It wasn't until they reached the middle of the corridor that Shawn subtly looked up at the overlapping and not-so-tight ceiling.
The corner of his mouth subtly curved upwards, and his footsteps quickened significantly.
As he quickly walked past the middle of the corridor, a sudden change occurred!
Crash--!
Ceiling panels fell one after another from above, and figures emitting a putrid stench began to make their entrance in freefall.
Two or three of them were only half a body, their lower halves hanging from the ceiling, like dried sausages.
They propped themselves up, perfectly surrounding Shane in the center.
Shawn stood with his arms crossed, with no intention of helping, merely watching the unfolding scene with interest.
Since Shane had no'spirit', Shawn would give him another jolt.
The constant low growls of Walkers from around him pulled Shane back from his dazed state.
A half-bodied Walker landed with a'splat' in front of him.
Shane instinctively reached out and caught it, holding the half-bodied Walker in his arms like a flowerpot.
Even through the head protection, the sense of horror brought by the Walker's extreme proximity was only more, not less.
Shane's heart instantly pounded, his back was soaked with cold sweat, and he threw the Walker away.
"Fuck!"
When Shane looked up again, he saw Shawn smiling at him from a distance.
He was just watching, completely still, as if he hadn't noticed the Walkers scattered all over the floor.
"Damn it, does Shawn want to use the Walkers to kill me?!"
As the threat of the Walkers intensified again, Shane's previous 'dazed' state improved considerably.
He subconsciously wanted to pull at his hair to resist the surging anxiety, but his hand met only the empty space of his protective gear.
He was forced back into a corner by the Walkers, and just as he was about to open his mouth to call for help from the others, he thought of something else, and his open mouth closed again.
"Perhaps... this is not a bad choice..."
When Shane fully reacted, his will to survive instantly plummeted to rock bottom.
Not only were his eyes dull, but his hands slowly dropped to his sides, allowing the nearby Walkers to approach.
The Walkers slowly approached, their hoarse, low sounds squeezed from their incomplete throats.
Their eyeballs had long since vanished, and their skin was pitch black, tightly clinging to their bones.
Their speed was not as fast as a Berserkers, only slowly approaching, bringing a different kind of horror.
Shane closed his eyes, but his breathing became increasingly rapid.
Shawn could even see his face through the helmet's visor, starting to flush uncontrollably.
This was a sign of adrenaline at work, Shawn analyzed in his mind as he watched Shane's actions.
"Still deceiving himself, still unable to face himself?"
"If he truly wanted to die, why is he still wearing tank armor? Taking off the tank armor, a single bite would be enough to change everything."
"Shane simply doesn't want to die!"
"Survival is his instinct. He might be killed by someone or by Walkers in any way, but he will absolutely not die by surrendering."
"Shane is Shane!"
Indeed, the next second.
Just as a Walker bit the surface of the 'tank armor', Shane suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils narrowed to the size of a pinhole!
He violently pulled out his machete and thrust it straight into the Walker's wide-open mouth, from bottom to top, directly piercing the Walker's brain.
He swung sideways, slicing off more than half of the skull of the Walker on his left.
Every one of Shane's movements was extremely heavy, as if specifically to vent some kind of pent-up frustration in his heart.
In just half a minute, he had almost completely dealt with the small horde of corpses that had fallen from the ceiling.
Blackened Walker blood dripped from his tank armor. He circled behind the last Walker and tightly clamped its neck with his arm.
He then inserted the machete in his hand flatly into the Walker's mouth.
Then, with a slow, sticky sound, the Walker's flesh began to be cut open.
Shane's hand did not stop, cutting forcefully backward.
Splat--
The Walker's body fell.
In Shane's hand, however, there was now a half-severed skull.
He held the still-biting half-skull in his hand and looked sideways at Shawn from afar.
What kind of gaze was that?
Shawn only felt that in Shane's eyes, fire and vitality were being reborn through blood.
This was basically the most difficult predicament Shane had encountered since the apocalypse.
But with just a machete, he achieved something that almost only top-tier combatants could do.
As expected of him, as expected of Shane!
Shane, holding the half-severed head, quickly walked up to Shawn and threw the head at Shawn's feet.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Shane asked in a deep voice.
Having just escaped from between life and death, Shane carried an aura of decisiveness, as well as blood and sweat.
His arm trembled uncontrollably, but his hand gripped the machete tightly.
His gaze at Shawn even gave one the impression that'Shane would swing his blade the next moment.'
"What can I do?"
"I just hope to see a clear-headed Shane."
Shawn even took two steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Shane.
Through the helmet's visor of the 'tank armor', Shawn stared intently into Shane's eyes.
-------------------------------
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