Chapter 56: Road Trip
Gray stepped inside and looked around, noticing that the upstairs area looked completely empty and abandoned since the couple had been living entirely in the basement. Right after locking the heavy front door, Negan led him straight down the basement stairs.
Going down into the lower level, Gray got a clear view of their cramped living conditions. They had a small refrigerator, their bed, and a simple table with a few chairs. He also noticed they had a TV hooked up down there, making it obvious that Negan was doing everything he possibly could to keep his wife as comfortable as possible in their final days.
Seeing Gray quietly observing their space, Negan started getting a bit nervous. He moved quickly toward the bed and sat down right next to his wife, protectively holding her hand.
Gray focused on the bed and politely introduced himself to Negan’s wife. "Hello, nice to meet you."
Lucille was clearly feeling very weak, but she still managed to push herself up into a sitting position on the edge of the mattress. "Likewise," she said, her voice faint and fragile.
Gray looked around the basement and noticed they had absolutely no real food left in sight. He decided to wait on pushing them too hard, thinking that even if they chose not to come with him, he would still leave them a massive stash of supplies from his truck. The thing that bothered him the most, however, was the cancer eating away at Lucille. Gray didn’t possess any actual healing powers. Merlin’s magic library had a few basic recovery spells, but none of them were capable of completely erasing advanced cancer from a human body.
He pulled up his system interface and started browsing through the shop. After a moment, he stumbled across a power that wasn’t exactly a healing spell, but it was perfect for the job... {Overhaul’s Quirk} from My Hero Academia. This ability allowed him to instantly disassemble and reassemble any matter down to the molecular level, meaning he could dismantle the cancer cells completely and rebuild her body entirely healthy. Gray didn’t hesitate and bought the quirk immediately.
Once the brief tingling sensation of the new power faded from his skin, he finally addressed them both, seeing as they were staring at him in silence, waiting for him to speak.
"Well, as you guys probably saw on the laptop, I come from a settlement that’s a bit far away, I’m not gonna lie," Gray said, grabbing one of the wooden chairs in the basement and turning it around to sit down. "But we are actively looking for more survivors."
"Yeah, we saw," Negan said, his eyes scanning Gray’s armor. "But what I don’t get is why you’re going around risking your life trying to get more people out here."
"Well, take it as a bit of good samaritan work," Gray explained. "We honestly have more food than we need at this point. It’s actually going to waste, so I decided to go out and find more good people to join us. You know, strength in numbers and all that."
"I get that, but..." Negan stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his sick wife, squeezing her hand tightly. "My wife is sick. She has cancer, and we would need serious medicine for her. Can your people provide that?"
"Yes," Gray replied without a single second of hesitation. "We have a lot of doctors back at the base, and our labs are state-of-the-art."
"And what about me?" Negan asked. "What would you have me do? What’s my job?"
Gray looked directly at Negan. "What can you do?"
"I used to be a high school gym teacher before this all started," Negan said, shrugging his shoulders.
Gray smiled at the answer. "We actually have a lot of kids back at the base right now. If you’re willing to put in the work and help around with some physical education and help around here and there, I’m sure you both will fit right in."
While they talked, Gray was already thinking ahead. Knowing Negan’s natural leadership potential and strong will, he realized the man would actually make a fantastic addition to the prison council in the future. He could already imagine Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, Negan, and a few of the other leaders he had saved all sitting at the exact same table, working together to run the fortress. That would truly be a great sight to see.
Negan and Lucille looked at each other for a long moment. Lucille gave a soft nod toward her husband, letting him know she trusted this kid. Seeing this, Negan turned back to look at Gray and said, "We will join you. We just need a little time to pack the few things we have left."
"That’s great!" Gray said, standing up from his chair. "I’ll wait for you guys outside. If you need help lifting anything, just come and get me at the truck."
With that out of the way, Gray walked back up the basement stairs and out to his truck. He went straight into the back of the Earthroamer and started cooking up a warm meal. He decided to make the exact same dish he had prepared when he first unlocked Joichiro Saiba’s cooking skills... perfectly steamed white rice topped with fresh, seasoned vegetables and juicy cuts of meat.
While the food was simmering, Gray took his silver rifle out of his inventory and laid it casually across the queen-size bed. He also pulled out a few extra handguns and loaded magazines, scattering them nearby so it looked like he was a heavily armed traveler who was always ready to defend himself.
Just as the meal was finished cooking, he heard a knock on the truck door. He opened it up to find Negan standing on the steps. Negan admitted he could use a hand bringing up the plastic bags with their belongings. Gray gave a quick nod and followed him back inside the house.
Down in the basement, Gray realized just how little they actually had left. There were only two large plastic bags filled with clothes and what he guessed were old family photo albums. Gray simply grabbed both bags effortlessly, carrying them out to the truck while Negan gently supported his wife and helped her walk across the street.
The moment Negan and Lucille stepped into the back of the Earthroamer, the incredible aroma of freshly cooked food hit them. After months of eating stale rations and dog food, their mouths started watering on the spot.
Seeing their reactions, Gray simply smiled. He told them to take a seat at the booth table and handed each of them a steaming plate of food. He opened the fridge, grabbed two cold bottles of water for them, and added that there were Cokes inside if they wanted a soda instead.
Negan stared at the plate, completely blown away, before he suddenly froze. He looked up at Gray as an important detail finally crossed his mind. "Wait, I completely forgot to ask... Where exactly is this settlement of yours located?"
"Oh, I didn’t tell you guys?" Gray asked casually, taking Lucille’s remaining chemotherapy bags and neatly organizing them inside the fridge to keep them cold. "We are going to Atlanta, Georgia. It should take us around 10 hours to get there, so just lay back and get comfortable."
"Atlanta, Georgia?" Negan asked, his eyes widening. "Do we even have enough gas to make it that far?"
"Yeah, we should be fine," Gray replied with a casual wave of his hand. "Just get comfortable. If you guys need to use the bathroom, it’s right here, and if you want to take a hot shower, you can do that too."
"Just who the hell are you people?" Negan muttered, completely bewildered by the sheer amount of luxury. But after looking over and seeing his wife eating her food with a blissful, happy expression on her face, he decided to just let it go for now. Negan finally took a big bite of his own plate and felt an absolute explosion of flavors in his mouth, his eyes widening in pure shock at how incredible the food tasted.
Gray simply smiled at their reactions, stepped through the cabin separator, and climbed into the driver’s seat. He turned the key, and the massive engine of the Earthroamer SX rumbled to life. He pulled away from the curb and started the long drive back down south.
Thanks to his system-integrated map, he didn’t really need a GPS to find his way. And thanks to all of his clearing work from the previous night, the main highways back to Georgia were completely empty of abandoned cars and broken paths. The only real thing he had to actively look out for on his radar would be if a wandering horde of walkers happened to be blocking their path.
After two hours of uninterrupted driving, Negan climbed through the cabin separator and sat down in the passenger seat. He sighed softly, rubbing his tired eyes. "Lucille fell asleep," Negan said, looking over at Gray. "Is it okay if she stays on that bed in the back?"
"Yeah, that’s fine," Gray replied, keeping his eyes on the road. "It’s good that she’s resting. Let her sleep as much as she needs."
After a few more minutes of silence, the steady hum of the highway filled the cabin. Negan stared out the window for a moment before finally turning back to Gray, his curiosity getting the better of him. "So, this settlement of yours," Negan started. "What kind of place are we actually talking about here?"
"It used to be a prison," Gray explained simply. "At one point, the whole place was completely overrun by walkers. My group of fighters and I went in, got rid of all the dead, and just started making massive improvements to it."
Negan raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "A prison? Sounds secure. What about the security layout? How do you keep the dead from knocking the doors down?"
Gray didn’t want to give away that their guards were actually advanced androids controlled by high-tech AI. He kept his expression neutral and gave a normal answer.
"Our guards rotate shifts every eight hours," Gray said. "Honestly, thanks to our high stone walls, we barely even need to keep watch on the perimeter. On top of that, we have hunting parties that go out at least once a day to clear out any walkers wandering too close to the area."
"And the food?" Negan asked. "That laptop showed a lot of green, but what does the actual supply look like?"
"We have a massive ranch setup," Gray answered. "It houses cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep, so we always have different kinds of fresh meat. Thanks to the chickens and sheep, we also get a steady supply of eggs and plenty of wool for making clothes and other things."
Negan kept asking questions about absolutely everything, wanting to know every single detail about how the community functioned. Gray replied to every question as honestly as he could, of course keeping all the magical elements, the systems, and the droids a complete secret.
After thirty more minutes of back-and-forth dialogue, Gray suddenly pressed the brakes and brought the truck to a stop.
Negan leaned forward, squinting through the windshield. Right ahead on the open highway was a horde of walkers blocking the lanes. "Shit," Negan muttered, counting them up. "Looks like maybe fifty of ’em. What’s the play here, kid? Do we back the truck up and wait for them to clear out?"
Gray shook his head with a smile. "Nah, we get rid of them."
He turned off the engine, unbuckled his seatbelt, and climbed back into the living space. He grabbed his silver rifle off the bed and stepped out into the open air. Gray leaned against the side of the truck, took steady aim, and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hearing the sudden, loud gunfire right outside, Lucille woke up in a panic. Negan quickly ducked his head into the back area. "Stay right here, honey," Negan told her quickly. "We just spotted a few of the dead. It’s fine."
Wanting to back Gray up, Negan grabbed one of the extra handguns lying on the bed and stepped outside onto the pavement. "Hey kid, I got your back-"
Negan stopped dead in his tracks. He didn’t even get a chance to raise his weapon or take aim. In less than a single minute, Gray had dropped every single walker on the road. The entire horde was dead on the asphalt.
Gray lowered his rifle and looked back at a completely stunned Negan. "Help me move the bodies off the highway," Gray said casually. "We need to keep driving."
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