Chapter 126: Slavery
Andrea gritted her teeth, her footsteps stopped, and she no longer moved forward. Obediently, she retreated several steps, which actually stunned Carol for a moment.
Since knowing Andrea, Carol had never seen her back down or listen—she'd always been willful.
She hadn't expected to actually witness Andrea changing now.
"What are you looking at?" The meaning in Carol's eyes couldn't be more obvious. Andrea clearly felt somewhat unnatural and turned around.
"It's nothing, nothing."
Carol smiled gently. This was a good thing.
Aside from the two women, the other soldiers' expressions grew colder by several degrees, the killing intent in their eyes much more intense. They finally understood why the boss had brought them to find this group.
Caesar's tone didn't change as he continued asking, "Your personnel don't circulate? Relying on you people to collect supplies outside, I'm afraid you can't support many people, right?"
Caesar asked questions while already knowing the answers.
John looked at the dust on the floor. Bean-sized beads of sweat dripped down along his nose, the round beads of sweat rolling through dust.
The dust stirred from his breathing. John could hear his own heart beating violently and could sense death drawing closer and closer.
"...When they're used up, or when we want new people, we can kill them and go outside to select new ones again."
Isn't this just slavery?
This thought emerged in everyone's minds. Forcibly bringing people back to camp and treating them as private property.
Kill when they want to kill, play when they want to play.
Had the order in some people's hearts collapsed this thoroughly in the apocalypse? And they were the order's guardians before the apocalypse.
Such an ironic contrast—many people's faces showed mockery toward John.
Caesar took a deep breath. "Thank you for your honesty. Morales, lock them both up."
Morales nodded, then pointed at the walkers that had been brought over. "What about these?"
Caesar waved his hand casually. "Dispose of them."
He'd originally intended to use some methods, using walkers to force information from the two, but hadn't expected one person's backbone to be so soft—confessing everything immediately.
Not long after, all personnel from Caesar's squad returned to the abandoned factory and learned from others about everything that had just happened.
Every single person's expression without exception showed disgust toward Grady Memorial Hospital.
...
In the building, Grady Memorial Hospital.
Dawn Lerner gazed at the scene outside the window, her expression incomparably intoxicated.
Even as leader of a tiny group, she could be so infatuated with this bit of power, immersed in it.
This was her kingdom. Her word was law. No one could resist her orders.
"Dawn?"
The door was suddenly opened. The person who barged in rushed inside without any consideration.
It was O'Donnell.
Damn bastard!
Fury burned in Dawn's mind. She turned around, her face bearing a surface-level smile, her eye corners twitching from time to time.
O'Donnell reached up to rub his hawk nose, casually walked over to sit in Dawn's office chair, turned the chair left and right, and said meaningfully, "Dawn, your chair is really comfortable to sit in—much more comfortable than mine."
Veins bulged on Dawn's forehead. She took several deep breaths to suppress the anger in her heart, her facial expression becoming even more enthusiastic. "Then how about I swap this chair with yours?"
A trace of disdain flashed through O'Donnell's heart. Sure enough, she compromised.
"Forget it. Mine's not bad to sit in either."
Only then did O'Donnell remember his purpose for coming—not to show off his power and demonstrate his status in the group.
"We've lost contact with everyone outside."
"What?" Dawn froze slightly, suspecting her ears had problems.
"You didn't hear wrong." In O'Donnell's deep eye sockets, his cold gaze flickered. "We've lost contact with everyone outside."
Dawn tried to find a reasonable answer. "Could they all have gone hunting?"
"Impossible. There are still many people being used in the hospital. No need to replace them yet."
O'Donnell's rebuttal made Dawn recall how she'd compromised and allowed O'Donnell to establish that slavery system in the hospital.
Of course, Dawn had initially disagreed, but many subordinates wanted women. To preserve her own power, Dawn naturally agreed.
Since then, more and more officers had joined under O'Donnell's banner. Her own subordinates grew fewer and fewer.
Dawn didn't understand why even after she'd allowed her subordinates to play around freely, they still pursued O'Donnell.
"I think they encountered a powerful enemy."
Watching this foolish woman fall into contemplation, O'Donnell impatiently stated his view.
"A powerful enemy?" Dawn snapped back to awareness and laughed awkwardly. "Impossible. We're so well hidden—no one will discover us."
The more she spoke, the less confident Dawn felt. She knew this possibility was the greatest, that only this explanation made sense.
Dawn swallowed her saliva, pretending to be calm. "Most likely they saw an easy-to-handle group outside and wanted to grab some benefits..."
Watching this foolish woman immersed in power and unwilling to wake up, O'Donnell really didn't want to waste words with her. He needed to find a way out.
O'Donnell stood up and left after dropping a single sentence.
"Fine, then I'm heading back first."
Returning to his own office, O'Donnell's trusted followers were all waiting inside.
Gorman, wearing his police uniform and sucking on a lollipop, ran his hand through his slicked-back hair—like a cow had licked it—and asked, "Boss, what did that bitch Dawn say?"
O'Donnell sneered disdainfully. "What else could she say? She's still dreaming her foolish dream of being the leader, unwilling to believe this information is real."
"Huh? Then what do we do?"
"No way, no way—we're not going to stay here waiting to die, are we?"
"I don't want to die, I don't want to die. We should leave the hospital quickly."
"Right, we'll leave in all directions. At least several of us can escape, right?"
"..."
People in the office spoke over each other, you one sentence and me another. The scene instantly became about dividing up the hospital's medicine and food, immediately fleeing the hospital.
Gorman was thinking he could take several women with him. One or two seemed insufficient, four or five might be too much to handle...
O'Donnell slammed the table hard. The loud sound suppressed the chattering noise in the office. O'Donnell's face was gloomy.
"What's all this noise?"
"Before anyone's even attacked, you're already discussing how to escape?"
"You're all a bunch of cowards! Wake the hell up—if you run outside carrying abundant supplies, maybe others have already set traps waiting for you to jump in!"
O'Donnell made a lot of sense. The office instantly quieted. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Gorman perceptively asked, "Boss, then what should we do?"
O'Donnell gave Gorman a mental thumbs-up. "Even if we leave, we need to leave together as a group, not scattered."