A short hour later.
The crossover didn't go all the way to that familiar road block, but instead had just left the interstate road and was entering the country road leading to the farm.
Driving along the road, Michael noticed the destroyed fences and immediately had a sinking feeling.
"Andrea.." Michael murmured in worry when he spotted the farmhouse littered with corpses all over the front yard.
The car came to an immediate halt and Michael alighted from it, but kept the engine running just in case.
He quickly started walking over to the house and checked the bodies one by one.
Rosita also got down from the vehicle, and made the kids stay inside.
"What are you doing?" She asked while walking over towards him.
Michael grabbed a corpse by the back of its shirt and pulled it up to see its face.
"Checking to see if any of them are my friends."
Rosita did not say anything except for a shrug of her shoulders. She decided to also lend a hand and started turning over those walkers who "died" face down on the ground.
Moments later, Michael was finally done checking every corpse around them.
Rosita with her hands on her hips looked at Michael. "So are any of them your friends?"
Michael smiled with relief while looking towards the treeline in the distance. "Fortunately, none of them are."
"Hey, you told us that this was a safe community. Were you lying?" Rosita finally had the change to address her concern from the moment they got here.
Michael turned his head towards her. He wasn't surprised she brought this up, he was expecting it. "I never said it was this place. This location was only meant to be a short stay for the group. Though I wasn't expecting this place to be attacked since this location is a distance away from the main roads and has hills surrounding it that acts as a natural barrier."
"..."
There was silence for a moment between them before Michael told her. "Come on, let's get out of here. Take the car, I'll take the bike this time."
Michael walked past the car and towards the trailer behind it, where Daryl's motorcycle had been loaded the entire time.
The trailer was found not long after they left Greenville Base, and the trailer was meant for small boats, but they made do with it by placing planks and thick plywood over it for the bike to stand on.
Michael loosened the ropes keeping the bike in place, and with some difficulty, he carried it down back to the ground.
Thud!
"Dang, that was heavy." Michael uttered, breathless.
Rosita was watching him do all that by himself. "You..you're really..not normal at all."
Gasping for air, he turned his eyes towards her. "Shut up."
Vrooom!
One car, and one bike left the farmhouse, with the latter taking the lead towards the road to prison.
Prison.
Dale is on the watchtower near the first gate and was bored as heck when the sound of a motorcycle resounded down the road ahead and was slowly getting closer.
He immediately picked up his rifle and pointed it towards the bend, with one eye looking through the scope.
Then a familiar figure he hadn't seen in a long time appeared within his sight, riding on that familiar chopper he had borrowed days ago.
"Michael." Dale lowered his gun and muttered. His mouth broke into a smile.
He looked towards the people down below. "Secure the gate! Michael is coming! Carl, go inform the others about his return!"
Hearing that it's Michael coming, Carl looked ahead and saw Michael coming up with the chopper and getting closer. He smiled with excitement as he couldn't wait to talk to him, but as someone who wants to be treated as a young adult. He suppressed his feelings and still listened to Dale. He immediately turned around and ran back inside, he couldn't wait to share the good news to the others.
When Michael and the others were just several meters away, the prison gate opened up and a mixed group of five people, both familiar and unfamiliar, came out holding spears in their hands and started cleaning up the walkers nearby.
Michael drove past them and gave a nod towards two people he was familiar with while he just gave the rest a quick glance since he doesn't know any of them.
The crew slightly drove past the watchtower before coming into a complete halt while Dale is seen coming down the stairs in a bit of a hurry.
Tlack!
Michael placed the kickstand down before getting off the bike and Dale was also just coming out of the watchtower and made his way towards him, while the survivors outside had also just returned and were closing the gates.
Rosita and the kids also got down from the car and stood at the front, just behind Michael with the bike between them.
"Michael! How are you and where have you been?" Dale quickly approached them and gave him a hug.
Michael hugged him back with a smile. "Why? Were you worried, old man?"
The two pulled away from each other, with Dale responding with a scoff at Michael's words. "Worried about you? Come on, I'd be more worried about the people who'd try to do something stupid to you."
Michael did not say anything and just smiled before he remembered something. "Oh yeah, did any group claiming they were from Terminus manage to find you guys? I gave them my sword as proof that I sent them."
"Oh yeah, Mary and her kids, right? Also, your sword is currently in Andrea's hands." Dale responded then noticed a small group of people coming down from the core area.
"Oh they're coming."
Michael turned around and saw the familiar faces walking down the road, and then there's Amy running down the road and without any hesitation, threw herself at him.
"You're back!"
Michael quickly caught her, who clung to him like a koala.
"Y-yeah, I'm back." He responded with some difficulty since as mentioned before, he's been out of bedroom action for almost two weeks now and the skin to skin contact is raising his body heat.
He never really had these kinds of thoughts until he got to Greenville Base, and then after the women were ignoring him from the beginning and then finding out he's actually a leader of his own survivor group, the women suddenly had a change of attitude and started trying to get laid with him.
From then on, he had to repeatedly suppress the beast inside him.
It was the primary reason why Rosita had kept her distance from him since she's very familiar with those eyes coming from Michael. It's the way men undresses women through their eyes.
"Get down woman." Michael quickly pulled her off of him as he was afraid that he might pop boner if she remained clung to him in such a dangerous position.
"Just where have you been?" Amy glared at him, then finally noticed Rosita and the kids standing behind him.
"And it seems you've been busy."
Unfortunately for Rosita, she never even got to introduce herself to them and already got a bad impression from Amy.
'Just how far did they go while on the road? Were they going at it every night? Bitch!' Amy started having absurd thoughts especially when looking at how much skin Rosita is showing.
She would certainly get a smack on her head if Michael had any way of knowing her thoughts right now.
"Welcome home, Michael."
Jacqui walked over to him and gave him a hug. She was incredibly relieved that he's back. It's like a heavy boulder had been lifted off her shoulders with his return. He's that reliable, even though he can be quite like a kid sometimes.
Every man has an inner child inside them, even to the most serious person.
Michael also hugged Jacqui back and responded. "Yeah, finally back with you guys."
Maggie, Jill, Carol, Lori and the others also came over and gave Michael a hug. Everyone had relieved expressions on their faces. No one would openly admit it, but deep down, they became more comfortable with Michael's presence in the group.
Not that they're invalidating the contribution and efforts that Rick and the others have given to the group, but Michael's formidable qualities gives him the edge over them.
Mary and her group stood together from a distance watching them, and Michael gave them a nod.
"Welcome back, Mike! But where's our gift?" Carl pulled Sofia with him and came over, both kids had excited smiles on their faces.
Michael laughed looking at their expressions. "Of course! How could I forget you two? Give me a sec."
He turned around, gave Rosita a wink before making his way to the back of the car with the two kids trailing behind him.
Some of them also got curious and came over to the back of the car.
"What the heck? Did you raid an armory and maybe even a museum?" Dale was astounded by the sight before him.
The moment the trunk was opened, the people were dazzled by the things stored inside the car.
There were weapons stacked on top of each other inside, from rifles to the smallest knife.
"My goodness, there's even a rocket launcher!" Dale pulled down the cloth that's hiding something under and he was shook!
It wasn't just him, everyone gasped in astonishment. Those who weren't interested earlier even came over when they heard Dale's words.
"Whoa! Are you going to give us our own guns?!" Seeing the firearms inside, Carl had an absurd thought and he turned to look at Michael with anticipation.
"Hahaha! No."
Michael was indeed planning on giving Carl his own gun, but when he saw the anxious look on Lori's face, he quickly changed his mind and gave the two kids each a box of chocolates.
Even without a gun, the snacks made them incredibly happy and bolted out of there after giving their thanks. Carl didn't forget to bring the two kids who came with Michael with him and brought them along to meet the others.
Thud!
Michael closed the trunk and ended the spectacle since something had been bothering him from the beginning.
"How come I still haven't seen Andrea? And where are Rick and the others?"
"They're out on the road. They're exploring nearby areas to look for resource points, dangerous places or the occasional rescue of other survivors. They'd probably be here by evening or tomorrow." Amy was the one who responded to his question, before turning her attention to Rosita.
"But who are they? Why haven't you introduced them yet?"
"Right." Michael had almost forgotten about them and immediately walked over beside Rosita.
"Anyway, welcome to the community you two. It's a prison I know, but as you've heard before. I've been referring to this place as Hope 101." Michael looked at Rosita and Athena while smiling.
"And these two here are Rosita and Athena, while the two kids that Carl took with him are Noah and Jose."
Rosita gave them a nod while Athena gave them her brightest smile. "Hello, I'm Athena. Please take care of us."
Her actions had someone raising an eyebrow, "Maggie, can you show these two around?"
"No problem. Come on you two, let's show you around while I'll have someone prepare your quarters."
The people gradually dispersed and went back to their work, leaving Michael alone with Amy and Jill.
No one brought up the matter on how the weapons would be handled since they knew that Michael would deal with it when Rick and the others return.
"What about us? Did you bring us anything from outside?" With her arms crossed over her chest, Amy asked.
Michael raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Why? Does Andrea not bring you anything when she returns?"
"That's two entirely different things. At least give us a gun, Andrea won't allow me to have one."