The Walking Dead: A New Beginning From the End of the World

"There are other people here!"

Reading the first half of the note, Jason thought to himself that the name Enid sounded very familiar, but when he saw the second half, he immediately frowned, turned around, and left the room's hollow.

He looked at those corpses and noticed they didn't have pleasant features, so he raised his voice and shouted up the stairs, "Daryl!"

"What?"

After a moment, only two responses came from the right side of his position. Soon after, Daryl and Jon approached. They looked at Jason, and then Daryl asked, "Jason, what's going on?"

"Apparently, there were people not belonging to our group who attacked us a moment ago. We need to search carefully and pay attention to any corpses wearing newer-than-usual clothes. They should have died recently!"

Hearing Jason's explanation, Daryl's eyes showed surprise, but he still nodded and, along with Jon, headed off in different directions.

Tucking the note into his pocket, Jason lifted his open backpack, looked inside, and found only a sketchbook, a box of pens, and some drawing-related items.

He reached in and took out the sketchbook, on which a name was written: Enid, who seemed to be the owner of the book. He gently opened the somewhat worn cover, and what caught his attention was a sketch of a family portrait.

The family of three held their little daughter between them. The girl wore a bright smile, but the bloodstains in the picture gave Jason a very different feeling. At the bottom right was a phrase: For my dear daughter: Enid. Photo taken during your early school years.

Seeing that name again, Jason slightly raised his eyebrows and continued flipping through the sketchbook, discovering some narratives about this family's experience in the early days of the apocalypse.

This family seemed to have survived alone. They didn't attend any shelter or join other people. But from what he saw, he knew the family had separated for unknown reasons.

He silently looked at the sketchbook, closed the backpack again, and decided to leave it in the hallway.

Then Jason left that place and looked outside cautiously. There were no changes outdoors. Except that the sun was gradually setting and there were some shifting corpses on the ground, nothing unusual stood out.

He looked toward where his shelter should be. Jason reached out to adjust the position of his radio strapped across his chest and said, "Zz... Billy, what's the situation outside? Respond immediately if you hear me."

"Zz... Boss, nothing unusual out here."

"Some of the group are clearing out the walkers attracted by the noise from a while ago, but everything's normal."

"That reassures me. We'll return once we finish checking this place where we are!"

After explaining the matter, Jason looked in the direction from where the voices came. He still couldn't see the convoy, so he turned and planned to look around the place some more.

He had been thinking about the name written in the sketchbook. That name seemed familiar, and it was obvious it had to do with some important person he just couldn't remember right now.

"I guess the name Enid is really someone I'm forgetting. I should keep these things and see if I remember later."

"Jason!"

Just as Jason was lost in thought, Daryl's voice came through the intercom.

"Come take a look on the fourth floor. I found three corpses in a room, and they all have a W on their foreheads. Two of them died recently. Ugh... Damn, this is so fucking disgusting. Get up here quick and see this."

"Alright, I'll be there in a moment."

Hearing Daryl's frustrated words, Jason decided to obey, glanced out the window again, and then headed toward the stairs to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor of this building.

When Jon and Daryl approached, a foul smell hit them in the face. Jason waved his hand to disperse some of the stench. Looking around, he saw Jason standing at the door of a nail salon, covering his face.

"What's going on? Why do your expressions look so exaggerated?"

Jason quickly walked over. When asked to come closer, he noticed the two looked really bad. Jon's face was a bit pale, and he kept hitting his chest in frustration.

Greeting Jason, Jon nodded and said he was fine, but pointed to the dark room in front of him and said, "I'm okay, Boss. You and Daryl should go in and see for yourselves. I'll go look for Glenn."

After speaking, Jon seemed to remember something again, growing increasingly uneasy, and quickly left toward the stairwell entrance, clearly not wanting to stay there.

Watching Jon's back as he left, Jason didn't say much and then shifted his gaze toward Daryl.

"Don't look at me. I came when I saw Jon leave the room."

Looking at the messy entrance of that room, the floor was full of footprints. It was obvious many walkers had been there.

Inside the room, the door was ajar. Needless to say, Jon had left it like that.

"Alright, we have to go in..."

The room was dark. Jason walked slowly inside, and Daryl followed. The overwhelming smell of blood grew stronger; the stench and metallic scent mixed together. Most people would probably vomit at the smell.

"Cough, cough..."

Daryl coughed dryly twice, quickly covering his mouth and nose with his hand. Jason took out a flashlight and looked inside. There were a lot of obstacles blocking the way, seemingly placed by people to prevent passage.

They continued walking further in. The first thing Daryl and Jason saw were two male corpses lying by the side of the door. Although their clothes were stained with blood, they still looked very new.

But when Jason saw the blood on their faces and hands, his impression shook, and he quickly moved the flashlight to illuminate the depths of the room to the right. He wasn't the only one—Daryl also stood stunned, staring at the scene for a long time.