Lin Feng and Hershel walked toward the cabin together, while Merle, Daryl, and the others turned back to the pickup and headed for the wide lawn to the south.

Hershel walked a step ahead and asked, conversational, "Where did you come from?"

"A quarry outside Atlanta. Walkers hit us at night. No casualties, but we'd already decided the place wasn't safe anymore, so we pushed south to find a new base."

Maggie, Otis, and the others watched Hershel approach with Lin Feng, the two of them talking and easy with each other, and quietly lowered their weapons.

Once Hershel got close, the introductions came. "These are my two daughters, Maggie and Beth." A small pause. "And these are my workers: Otis and Otis's wife Patricia, and Jimmy."

Lin Feng gave a polite nod. "Good to meet you all. I'm Lin Feng — Lin works fine."

Everyone nodded back. Polite. Distant. The words had a wall behind them.

Lin Feng didn't take it personally. If someone came on warm and effusive at first meeting, that was usually the part where you checked your pockets.

After the brief pleasantries, he made his way back to their temporary campsite, where the other three were busy pitching tents and sorting gear.

Marcus looked up and stopped what he was doing. "Well?"

"They agreed. A few rules, don't bother them unless you have to, don't walk around waving guns, and stay away from the barn. Other than that, do what you like."

The others looked mildly puzzled, but they nodded.

Lin Feng nodded back, then caught movement in the distance. Two walkers, ambling toward the camp. Slow. Unhurried. Completely unbothered.

Hard to say where they'd come from. More than likely the noise from their vehicles had pulled them in.

He grabbed the recurve bow from the pickup, eyeballed the distance, and let two arrows fly in quick succession. Then he set the bow down.

The arrows cut through the air like streaks of light and punched into each walker's skull, dropping them both dead in their tracks.

"Wow, his aim is incredible — that was so cool!"

Maggie gave Beth a firm smack on the back of the head. "Stop swooning. That guy kills without blinking."

Beth pouted. "I wasn't swooning. I just think he's genuinely impressive."

Hershel took in a different detail entirely, the sheer routine of it. Neither Lin Feng nor any of his people looked the least bit surprised. Just another pair of walkers. Just another two arrows.

Whatever else Hershel didn't know yet, one thing was clear: this Lin Feng was extremely capable.

"Kids," Hershel said, turning to the others, "we keep to ourselves. Try not to interact with them unless you have to, and absolutely do not start any trouble."

A beat.

"Prepare a little extra for dinner. I want to put together a proper evening meal, a chance for everyone to get acquainted."

No objections. Everyone nodded and went back to their business.

On the other side of the field, Lin Feng finished setting up his tent, unloaded everything from the vehicle, and ran through the inventory.

Water wasn't a concern. There was a well not far from where they'd set up.

Food was holding up for now, but adding it all together it would stretch maybe twenty-some days. They needed to keep sourcing more.

Medical supplies were lopsided. Heavy on the unconventional end, morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl, plenty of heavy-duty painkillers, but antibiotics and anti-inflammatories came down to a handful of boxes.

Made sense. Marcus had always been about stitching wounds and digging out bullets. Post-op recovery had never been part of the job, so the supplies had never pointed that direction.

Then there were weapons and ammunition.

Don't ask.

The answer was always the same: not enough.

Did anyone actually think he'd been joking? If he ever got a lead on a real stockpile depot, he'd hear about it in the morning and own every last bit of it by afternoon.

Inventory done, rough picture in his head, Lin Feng grabbed a fire axe, shouldered it, and walked out.

Merle watched him go. "What, going into the lumber business?"

"Close enough. Doing a perimeter walk, maybe chop down a few trees, check if there are any gaps that need patching."

"Need company?"

"No, I'll take Daryl. We might get lucky and bring back some fresh meat. You and Marcus clean up the camp, and deal with those two walkers over there."

"Fine." Merle nodded without pushing it.

Daryl, having heard this, packed up and stepped out with the crossbow in hand.

But before they could move out, Hershel came walking over with a basket. "Heading somewhere?"

"Just a loop through the woods. Check for anything dangerous, see if we can hunt something while we're at it."

"Fair enough. Come back before dark, I want everyone at dinner tonight. Good time to get to know each other properly."

Hershel handed over the basket and walked away.

Lin Feng lifted the cloth.

Four sandwiches, a portion of cornbread, and a small bowl of cheese cubes tucked in on the side.

Lin Feng pulled out a sandwich and passed it to Daryl, bit into one himself, then held the basket out to Marcus.

One bite in, his eyes brightened. "Actually pretty good."

Daryl nodded. "Mm."

Then wiped both hands on a shirt and looked back at Lin Feng. The look said: let's go.

Lin Feng got the hint. No more tasting, he finished it in three bites and turned to Marcus.

"We still have a decent amount of smoked venison jerky, right? Set some aside for the old man when you get a chance. Let him try it."

"Got it. Leave it to me."

The two of them set off toward the south end of the camp.

They crossed a wide stretch of meadow before the oak fence came into view, circling the grassland. At a glance, every post stood straight, no leaning, no collapse.

Lin Feng reached out and gave a section a shake. The fence moved with it but held its shape.

"Not bad. Enough to hold off a small horde."

Daryl stepped on the bottom rail and vaulted over cleanly. "I'll take a look around. Don't wait on me."

"Go ahead. Stay safe. Fire a shot if anything comes up."

Standard practice, except for little Cathy, Lin Feng had everyone carrying a loaded handgun. Insurance against the unexpected, and a fast way to signal trouble.

Daryl nodded once, stepped into the tree line, and was gone before Lin Feng had even turned back to the fence.

Lin Feng started his own work, checking the perimeter, patching what needed patching. It wasn't paranoia. In the original show, Dale had been caught off guard by a walker that slipped through exactly this kind of oversight.

He wasn't going to let his people go out like that.

He carved a mark into the first section with his knife, then started moving left along the fence, shaking each panel as he went.

If it couldn't take a little pressure from him, it had no business stopping a walker.

Less than fifty meters in, he found a section that was clearly loose. He gave it a gentle push.

The fence broke in two.

He stood there for a full two seconds.

"What the — is this thing messing with me right now?"

For reasons he couldn't entirely explain, a strange guilty feeling washed over him, like a kid who'd broken something and was scanning for witnesses.

He glanced back. Good. Nobody had seen.

Then it got worse.

It wasn't just that one section. As he worked his way further, he realized the whole stretch was bad. Hand on a post, one shake, the wood groaned and let out a long, grinding screech that went straight through the teeth.

Lin Feng stared at the fence.

The fence offered nothing in return...?

➤ Next: Zero Defense, but Untargetable Sector

Chapter 20 - Zero Defense, but Untargetable Sector

For a moment, Lin Feng was convinced Hershel must have saved the galaxy in a past life.

A fence that could topple with a gentle shove, and not a single walker had slipped through. Completely absurd.

Bad news: zero defense.

Good news: no enemies.

What else was there to say? Time to get to work.

Lin Feng started testing the perimeter as he went, checking each loose post. If the nails were too shallow, he gave them a couple of whacks with the axe. If the base was rotted, he carved a mark and moved on, flagging it for a full replacement.

Cursing under his breath the whole way, he covered more than ten meters before finally clearing the danger zone and reaching fence that actually held.

He looked back and did a rough count. Thirteen posts needed replacing. No small job.

But there was no getting around it. Staying alive meant putting in the work, every bit of it.

Lin Feng shouldered his axe and started forward again — then two walkers pushed out of the treeline.

Tattered clothes. Stumbling gait. Movements mechanical, sluggish.

Lin Feng clicked his tongue, vaulted lightly over the fence, kicked one down, and put both away with two swings.

He checked their clothes afterward. Not survivors. More like hunters who had worked these woods before the outbreak.

Origin confirmed. He stopped thinking about them and got back to it.

Then, at the edge of his vision, a flash of white cut past the thatched shed and was gone.

Fast. But not fast enough.

He didn't turn his head. Just kept reaching out to test the fence posts, one by one.

Someone watching him?

Lin Feng thought back. As far as he could recall, Beth was the only one wearing a white T-shirt today.

Could it be Beth?

He couldn't figure out why, so he decided — not to think about it.

On the other side of the shed, Beth stood with back pressed against the wooden wall, breathing hard. The only thing in Beth's head was the image of Lin Feng's axe rising and falling.

That guy was practically a demon wearing human skin. Did he feel no fear at all? Was his blood completely cold?

The thought made Beth's breathing go ragged all over again. Beth glanced back at Lin Feng's silhouette moving along the fence line, then turned and ran.

And so Lin Feng caught a second glimpse: that white T-shirt, bolting across the grass.

He stopped and watched, genuinely puzzled. It really was Beth.

But why did Beth look like someone who'd just been scared half to death?

Because of the walkers just now?

Tsk. Kids really couldn't handle that kind of thing.

Satisfied with the explanation, Lin Feng went back to work.

Evening came in quietly. The sun crept toward the horizon and began its slow exit.

Lin Feng carried his axe back to camp and found Daryl and Cathy by the campfire. Something was skewered beside them, roasting over the flames.

He smiled, started to say something, then noticed one of the pickups was missing. No Merle. No Marcus either.

Lin Feng felt a bad feeling settle in fast.

"Where's Merle?"

Daryl sprinkled some salt and leftover spices over the squirrel on the spit, barely glancing up. "Ran out of booze. Took Marcus and drove into town to find some."

That eased the tension a little. Good. Alcohol run, not a trouble run.

Still, this was exactly the kind of thing Merle would do. But Marcus had gone along?

Since when were those two that close?

Surely one afternoon doing chores together wasn't enough to sync them up like that.

Cathy took a finished skewer from Daryl, blew on it twice, tore off a leg, and tucked it into her mouth with eyes curved into happy slits.

Daryl seemed to catch the mood. The corner of Daryl's mouth ticked up.

Lin Feng dropped his axe, grabbed the canteen nearby, took two swigs, and asked, "What about Marcus?"

"Said he'd ride along and look around. See if he could bring back some medicine too."

Reliable as always. Lin Feng nodded and switched tracks. "What did you get out there?"

"Two cottontail rabbits, five squirrels." Daryl set down the skewer. "Found white-tailed deer tracks too. And coyote prints, about two weeks old, southwest direction."

"You able to handle coyotes if it comes to it?"

"Yeah. But not worth hunting. Meat's terrible."

"Bring them back anyway if you run into any. The pelts are useful."

Daryl didn't ask what for. Just nodded. "Sure. Their bad luck, then."

Lin Feng nodded, not a trace of doubt in his mind. This was Daryl Dixon. Not yet the apex hunter Daryl would eventually become, but put Daryl in the woods and it was like watching someone walk back through their own front door.

He came over and sat down beside Daryl, watching the two of them together, somehow at ease with each other, and felt a quiet smile settle on his face.

"Didn't know you had a talent for this. Looking after kids."

"...Cathy's just well-behaved."

Cathy lowered the skewer and looked up seriously. "Uncle Daryl is great. Cathy likes Uncle Daryl a lot."

"Oh? Is that right? Or is it that Cathy just likes Uncle Daryl's barbecue?"

Something flickered across Cathy's face, the exact expression of a small secret getting found out. A sheepish grin followed. "No it's not... okay, maybe a little bit. Hee."

Lin Feng's smile deepened.

Marcus had always kept a close eye on Cathy's diet. Roast meat was fine, but not as a whole meal, it needed to come with other food. The kid was still young, and you couldn't just feed a growing child nothing but meat off a stick.

The problem was that Cathy was smart about it.

One bite, then a big sweet smile up at Daryl. Uncle Daryl, you're so good at this. Repeat as needed.

Daryl Dixon had never in Daryl's life been on the receiving end of that kind of campaign. Naturally, Daryl had been completely outmaneuvered.

The distant rumble of a pickup cut through the quiet. Lin Feng stood and looked. Their truck, no question.

A minute later it rolled up to the edge of camp and stopped. Merle jumped out before the engine was fully off.

"Hey, Lin Feng. Finished for the day?"

Lin Feng nodded. "How are the supplies in town?"

"Not bad. Found plenty of booze, some food. Marcus dug up antibiotics, plus some other stuff — I couldn't tell you the names if I tried."

"Weapons?"

Merle gave an awkward laugh, which wasn't an expression that sat naturally on Merle's face. "Uh. You know I wasn't exactly out there looking for those."

Lin Feng wasn't annoyed. He hadn't expected much on that front anyway.

"All right. Go wash up and change. We've got a dinner to get to tonight."

"Want me to bring a bottle?"

"Bring one if you want to drink."

➤ Next: A Butcher's Ideals