Chapter 32

After finishing her meal, Lina went to rest. She was exhausted, and she still had to tidy up the yard in the afternoon. Rick also planned to fix up the broken cars so that it would be easier to farm later.

She ran back and slept like a log, while some minor incidents occurred outside.

Especially Moore, who was already somewhat out of place with the team. Despite his efforts, how could a person's habits of decades be changed overnight?

With Daryl not in prison, Moore huddled in a corner, lost in thought.

Daryl went out to hunt deer for that woman, again deer. As for him, he's lost an arm and can't really be relied on for work. Daryl and Lina cleaned up the walkers in the yard again. He wasn't that crazy in the prison, daring to rush in by himself.

To be honest, he was a little confused.

He told Lina that he couldn't be a good person and didn't know how to stay. Everyone has their own place, and he couldn't find his.

Moore's only talent was doing dirty work. After all, in everyone's eyes, he was a bastard. He could do robbery, theft, and even murder because that was his value, or rather, his position.

But these damn good-natured people don't need him; at least for now, he's been of no use at all.

That stupid kid really protected him and stopped making him do dirty work.

This made Moore even more irritable.

“Hey,” Rick said, walking upstairs with a Bible in his hand. “Hershel said, ‘Never mind, maybe you want to kill some time.’” Rick handed the Bible to Moore, who glanced at it. He had actually read it before, but he didn’t believe in God, that vague and unreal thing. Don’t expect his submission, don’t expect him to beg.

But Moore said nothing, simply took the Bible with one hand, flipped through it casually, and tossed it onto the bed.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk,” Rick sighed wearily. “There’s just too much going on, but… I know our first meeting was unpleasant, and I have a prejudice against you…”

Moore glanced at the nice old-fashioned officer. Good, Daryl has been eliminated from your scope. Now it's your turn.

Daryl has the ability to fit in here; he knows his brother is kind by nature.

"...I want to say, let's just let it all pass. And, Mor, I'm so grateful that you're willing to stay with Daryl. Really, it's helped me a lot." Rick looked at Mor sincerely, not only because Daryl's formidable strength had relieved a lot of his pressure, but also because Mor was trying to help him.

“…Get lost,” Moore glanced at Rick somewhat awkwardly, then lowered his head to continue working on his iron hands.

Rick smiled. “I’m serious. There’s one more thing. Lena and I talked about it. I’ll never deny that you’re not exactly a good person, and that I’m biased against you, but that doesn’t mean we want you to be a dirty worker or something. No,” Rick looked down at his toes, took a couple of steps, and sighed, “I would never ask any of you to do that.”

Mohr paused in his wiping of the iron hand, feeling somewhat irritated and confused.

“We’ll try to clean up the prison and the area outside. Lina said she’s planning to cut off the walkers’ hands and mouths and tie them to the wire mesh as a defensive line. I was thinking, maybe you could help?” To be honest, he was able to come today thanks to Hershel’s reminder. He had too many things to consider and sometimes didn’t pay attention to everyone. Having someone remind him at this time was a huge help. Hershel was that person.

“Got it,” Moore said after a moment of silence, “...Hey, cop, that doesn’t mean my brother and I are your lackeys, you know?” He glared at Rick.

Rick looked at him and suddenly laughed. "How could that be? We're teammates, friends, family. Nobody's anyone's lackey. Lena might want to, but let me make it clear beforehand, there's nothing I can do about it."

Moore pursed his lips uncomfortably and looked away. He suddenly felt damn nauseous and damn embarrassed.

“That little brat is right. If someone wants to attack us, they can easily trap us in the prison,” Moore had been thinking about this too. Although he thought tanks and such were too far-fetched, he carefully observed the terrain and realized that if someone were to surround them in the dark, trapping them would be incredibly easy.

Rick rubbed his temples in distress. "Do you also think we should dig a fortification?" It would be a huge project, which worried Rick. They didn't have enough manpower or supplies.

"...I'll try to get a construction vehicle back in a while," Moore thought. "An excavator would be best, but any drivable vehicle will do."

“Let’s settle down first,” Rick said worriedly. There was so much work to do, but they had to protect this place. Rick’s eyes hardened. “Let’s rest for a bit. We need to move the car later, and we’ll need your help,” Rick said.

“Hey, Rick…” Beth glanced cautiously at Moore and Rick.

"What's wrong?" Rick frowned. Had something happened?

“It’s those prisoners,” Beth said anxiously. “Dad sent me to call you downstairs.”

Rick nodded and looked at Moore. Moore glanced at Rick, then silently slipped his right wrist onto his wrist. "Time for old Moore to work again, huh? Who's the workhorse?"

Of course, no one was there to lighten the mood for him. Rick simply raised an eyebrow and followed Moore downstairs.

Beth curiously clung to the railing and looked down. She didn't really want to join in the fun, but she was also a little curious.

“Andrew and Thomas’s affairs have nothing to do with us. What happened before was a warning to us. We are willing to do anything to join you…” Axel was a little agitated.

Rick glanced at Hershel, then at Moore, and the others seemed equally conflicted.

“…We need more people,” Moore whispered in Rick’s ear.

Rick frowned. It was true, but he looked at the three prisoners again. Could they be trusted?

“We made a mistake and got locked up in prison. We don’t want to be saints, but you have to understand, we’ve already paid the price. We’d rather go out and make our own way in the world than go back to that doghouse,” Oscar said angrily.

“You know what? I’m going to say yes.” Lina suddenly jumped down from upstairs. “I need help. The prison is too big. We need manpower.”

"..." They exchanged conflicted glances. Maggie pulled Lina close. "We've supported each other for so long, but they're strangers..."

“Letting them out is suicide,” T said helplessly.

“Please, we have the keys. They can live right under our noses and lock them up every night,” Lina said. “We have to learn to accept new survivors. We have to defend the prison together. It’s a good place, and if more people come to attack, we won’t be able to hold it.”

“She’s right,” Herschel nodded. “We need an opportunity.” Not just for them, but for ourselves.

Rick hesitated for a moment, then looked at Lina, who seemed very determined.

“I can keep an eye on them!” Lina blinked at Rick.

Rick was having a headache. He looked at Glenn, who also hoped to keep these people.

Carol disagreed. These people were prisoners, after all. There were children and pregnant women among them. How could they be allowed to stay?

Rick was also conflicted; he had seen too many examples of people being able to fake it.

But he was curious. Lina said she would kill those two guys without batting an eye, but these three... two?

"Where's your other person?" Rick asked, frowning.

“The big guy didn’t come; he’s a bit of a coward…” Oscar said. “You know,” he added, “that day he was so scared he wanted to run away.”

Lina was a little conflicted. Would that idiot follow the plot? Would he go and make some kind of ringtone?

This made Lina somewhat uneasy.

“We need time,” Rick said, glancing at Moore and Glenn, who had dragged the two men out; they weren’t going to leave them there anytime soon.

With a heavy heart, Lina joined the others for the afternoon's work. Before long, the two men reappeared inside the wire mesh.

“The big guy is gone…” Axel said uneasily. “We don’t know where he went; there are walkers all over the other side of the prison.”

Lina sheathed her knife and looked out into the yard, where Hershel and Lowry had just come out to sunbathe.

That's great, but something's not right, it's way too wrong.

Lina pushed aside the wire mesh and rushed in. While holding the walker down, Moore glanced speechlessly at her retreating figure, stabbed the walker through the head with his knife, and ran back after her.

"What's wrong?" Rick and Glenn looked at Lina and Moore running away with a puzzled expression, and then they also crossed the barbed wire fence. As for Axel and Oscar talking to each other, everyone chose to ignore them.

T-boy gave them a helpless look, finished stringing the wire mesh, and followed them back to the front of the building.

"What are you doing?" Moore was arguing with Lina.

Lena had no interest in paying him any attention. She checked the fence around and found it intact, undamaged, and free of walkers, just as she and Daryl had cleaned it up.

Lina breathed a sigh of relief; she must have been overthinking it.

“We should go get some more food,” Jimmy said. “Let’s get our portions back.”

“There were some cans that we didn’t bring back,” Rick remembered.

“Jimmy and I will go get it,” Glenn said.

"Be careful, and keep your weapons with you," Rick said.

“T and I will go too,” Carole said. She was more familiar with the kitchen and wanted to make sure the men didn’t make any mistakes or take the wrong things.

"Be careful," Rick cautioned, noting that there were still quite a few zombies inside.

"Don't worry," Glenn said with a smile.

Lina was completely numb; she couldn't let go of anything, not even the slightest bit!

"Hey! Golden Retriever!" Lina called out from afar. Axel pointed at himself in disbelief, as if asking, "Are you calling me?"

“Yes,” Lina said, seeing that the others had already gone inside. She became even more anxious and waved for the two of them to come over.

Rick frowned. "Lina..."

The next second, a piercing alarm sounded in everyone's ears.

F&%K!