Chapter 67 Day One - Clearing the Administration Building

Before entering the prison, Magnus Vane asked Rick for one of the shotguns they had brought out of Atlanta. It was a Remington 870 Police, a law-enforcement configuration of one of the most recognizable pump-action shotguns in the United States, and this particular weapon carried seven shells in the magazine tube with one more available in the chamber. The design was simple, rugged, and dependable, exactly the sort of firearm that could keep working in a world where gunsmiths and replacement parts were becoming harder to find by the day. The moment Rick handed it over, Magnus worked the action once, checked the weapon carefully, and immediately understood why the 870 had remained popular for decades.

Magnus had once believed that a real fighter should meet walkers face-to-face with nothing except strength and a heavy weapon. After nearly dying inside the church during the second Blood Moon, however, his philosophy had become considerably more flexible. A sledgehammer was wonderful when there was room to swing it, but enclosed hallways and crowded rooms were exactly where a shotgun could turn a bad situation into a manageable one. With Boomstick Lv1/5 now unlocked beneath his Strength tree, carrying one into the prison seemed even more sensible.

The Remington went across his back while the Quality 5 Stone Sledgehammer rested comfortably on one shoulder. Between Strength Lv10, Skull Crusher Lv4, Heavy Weapon Handling Lv1, his Athlete’s Attire, the Cigar enhancement hidden inside his Stalker Hood, and now a shotgun perk, Magnus felt almost absurdly well-equipped compared with the man who had first climbed out of the Atlanta tank beside Rick. The golden prison mission might have made him cautious, but caution didn’t mean hesitation. He turned toward the group waiting behind him and gave a short nod. “Let’s move.”

The younger fighters immediately followed. Rick, Shane, Glenn, Maggie, Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl, Merle, and the others chosen for the clearing operation had already put on the protective gear Magnus distributed that morning, and the overlapping layers of turnout equipment made them look far more prepared than the exhausted survivors who had arrived outside the fence the previous evening. Fire axes, machetes, crossbows, rifles, and other weapons hung from their hands or shoulders as they approached the gate together. The scrape of boots and protective clothing across the pavement gave the small group the strange sound of an improvised tactical unit preparing for a raid.

“Magnus!”

A smaller voice stopped him just before he reached the gate.

Carl had somehow slipped past Lori and hurried across the yard before she could catch him. The boy wrapped both arms around Magnus’s leg and looked up with an expression that was clearly meant to inspire sympathy. “I want to come too.”

Magnus stared down at him.

Carl tightened his grip.

“Carl,” Magnus said evenly, “your parents might occasionally forget you’re capable of understanding orders, but I don’t.”

The boy’s hopeful expression immediately weakened.

“Tell me what I taught you.”

Carl hesitated before reluctantly answering, “Don’t ignore the group’s plan just because I think I can handle something myself. If I get into trouble, somebody else has to risk themselves saving me.”

“Exactly.”

Carl looked toward the armed adults entering the prison and lowered his head. He had already proven during Magnus’s week-long training that he could evade walkers, kill one when necessary, and survive outside the camp better than most children his age ever should have needed to learn. That didn’t mean Magnus was going to bring him into an unknown prison building simply because the boy wanted to prove himself again. Magnus had promised Lori he wouldn’t recklessly put Carl in danger, and he had no intention of breaking that promise.

Still, the disappointment on Carl’s face made Magnus sigh.

“All right.”

Carl’s head immediately snapped up.

“If you’re determined to help, I have something important for you.”

Magnus took the key Glenn had been using for the chained gate and placed it carefully in Carl’s hand. Carl stared down at it as though Magnus had just handed him command of an entire army. Magnus deliberately lowered his voice. “Everyone capable of fighting is going inside to clear the way for the rest of the group. That means somebody trustworthy has to guard the one key that lets us back through this gate.”

Carl’s eyes widened.

“You keep it safe,” Magnus continued. “When we come back, you open the way out for us. If something goes wrong, you follow your mother and Rick’s instructions immediately. No running inside after us.”

Carl straightened.

“Can you do that?”

“Yes!”

The answer came so quickly that several adults nearby smiled.

Carl hurried to the gate and pulled it open with all the strength his small body could manage. Magnus passed him, and the instant his boot crossed completely into the prison’s next secured section, he silently addressed the system. Accept mission.

The enormous golden marker floating above the prison disappeared.

For a moment, nothing obvious happened.

Yet Magnus felt something change.

The complex looked exactly the same—concrete buildings, fencing, towers, dark windows, and wandering walkers—but the subtle sensation that followed accepting a system mission was unmistakable. Whatever the prison contained, the system had now officially recognized Magnus’s attempt to conquer and occupy it. There would be no pretending this was simply another building-clearing operation.

Merle came up beside him wearing his usual crooked grin. “You know, Magnus, that whole speech you gave the kid was pretty impressive.”

Magnus glanced sideways.

Merle lowered his voice. “Still lied to him, though.”

“What lie?”

“That guarding a key is some kind of heroic mission.”

Magnus shrugged. “It kept him outside.”

Merle chuckled.

“I promised Lori I wouldn’t let Carl get hurt,” Magnus added. “A man keeps his word.”

Rick was walking close enough to hear the exchange. He said nothing, but his eyes briefly moved toward Magnus before returning to the path ahead. If Rick had ever been forced to choose someone else to lead his family while he was absent, there were fewer and fewer people he would trust above Magnus.

The group had only gone a short distance when movement appeared ahead.

Three walkers emerged from behind a concrete divider.

Unlike most of the dead they had encountered, these still wore correctional tactical equipment—helmets, protective vests, heavy uniforms, and other gear that had survived far better than the bodies inside it. For several seconds the sight made everyone hesitate. They had killed police walkers, soldiers, and ordinary civilians before, but heavily protected prison personnel created a different problem.

Magnus stepped forward.

“Glenn.”

Glenn immediately understood that his part of the operation was about to begin and moved toward the nearby mesh gate.

Magnus charged the first armored walker before anyone else could act.

There was no reason to waste time trying to slide a knife beneath the helmet or search for some exposed weak point. Magnus seized the walker by the front of its vest with one hand, lifted the corpse completely off the ground, and slammed it onto the concrete. His boot came down on the helmet, and with a sharp twist of his leg and the walker’s upper body, a dry crack sounded from its neck.

The corpse went limp.

Another armored walker lurched toward him.

Magnus rotated the Stone Sledgehammer through a short backhand swing.

WHAM!

The helmet absorbed enough of the impact to remain mostly intact, but the head inside it did not. The force snapped the walker sideways, sending the helmet and skull turning violently before the body collapsed. A third tried to close the distance, only for Daryl’s crossbow bolt to punch into the exposed part of its face.

Magnus looked toward the bodies.

“Don’t ruin the gear if you don’t have to.”

Several people stared at him.

“We clean it, disinfect it, and inspect it later,” he explained. “Body armor, helmets, belts, boots—anything still usable belongs to us now.”

No one argued with that.

While they dealt with the armored walkers, Glenn had already reached the mesh barrier farther ahead. He pulled it closed and secured it behind them, cutting off the large group of walkers wandering in the adjoining section. At least a hundred dead bodies shifted on the other side once they noticed movement, but by then the heavy metal barrier was locked between them and the clearing team.

Magnus watched the walkers gather behind the fence.

Then he looked left.

Then right.

The television series had never shown every inch of the prison in enough detail for Magnus to rely on memory alone. The story had focused on whatever cell block, yard, corridor, or room mattered to the characters at the time, leaving large parts of the complex undefined. Now that Magnus was standing inside the real version, the prison felt significantly larger and more complicated than what had ever appeared on a screen.

The structure to the left was a multi-story administrative building with ordinary windows and less exterior security than the cell blocks. The darker building on the right was much more fortified, constructed almost entirely from concrete and protected by heavy doors and additional fencing. A covered elevated passage connected the two sections higher up, creating another route that would eventually need to be secured. Magnus studied both buildings for several seconds before making his choice.

“The left side first.”

Rick stepped closer. “Administration?”

“That’s my guess.” Magnus pointed toward the building. “Offices, staff areas, maybe the warden’s office, records, control rooms—something along those lines. More importantly, it has windows.”

Rick understood immediately.

“Better visibility.”

“Exactly.”

Magnus looked up at the clear morning sky. “We have daylight and good weather. I’d rather clear the building where sunlight can actually help us before we start crawling through concrete corridors.”

Nobody objected.

Magnus started toward the administration building while speaking over his shoulder. “Once we go inside, nobody crowds me. Stay about fifteen feet behind.”

Merle raised an eyebrow.

Magnus continued before anyone could complain. “If I suddenly stop or swing, I don’t want Glenn’s face where my hammer needs to be.”

Glenn immediately moved a little farther back.

Several people laughed quietly.

“I’m serious,” Magnus added. “Watch the floor. Watch above you. Check every doorway, especially anything partly open. Don’t stare only at the person ahead of you, because the walker that kills you will be the one nobody bothered looking for.”

Their expressions became serious again.

“A room can look empty until something crawls out from under a desk,” Magnus continued. “A hallway can look clear until one drops from a stairwell. If you see something, say it immediately. Nobody plays hero.”

By then they had reached the front steps of the administration building.

Magnus stopped at the entrance and turned around.

Every member of the clearing team looked back at him.

“Today’s goal is simple. We clear this entire building and leave nothing moving inside.” His gaze passed over Rick, Shane, Daryl, Merle, Glenn, Maggie, Andrea, T-Dog, and the others. “I brought every one of you through that gate.”

He tapped the Stone Sledgehammer against one shoulder.

“And I intend to bring every one of you back out.”

Nobody spoke.

“Fifteen feet.”

Several people nodded.

Magnus turned toward the entrance.

Then kicked the door open.

BANG!

The door slammed inward, sending a dull echo through the building.

Magnus entered first.

Without electricity, the administration building remained dim even in the middle of the day. Sunlight entered through dirty windows and cast long pale rectangles across the floor, revealing overturned desks, broken chairs, scattered folders, loose forms, and abandoned office equipment. Dust covered almost everything thick enough that Magnus’s boots left obvious tracks behind him as he moved.

The air smelled old.

Stale.

Closed.

But underneath the dust was something else.

Magnus stopped.

His nose wrinkled.

“Smell that?”

Rick entered behind him and immediately frowned.

Magnus took another slow breath.

Rot.

Not the ordinary smell of one walker wandering outside in open air, but the heavy, concentrated stench of decomposing human remains trapped inside a building for months. Dust and stagnant air had muted it, yet they couldn’t completely hide something the human body was instinctively designed to recognize and avoid. Even before civilization, before medicine or science could explain why, people had learned that the smell of death meant danger.

Magnus tightened his grip on the Stone Sledgehammer.

“Nice building.”

His eyes moved across the shadowed offices ahead.

“Shame about the tenants.”

Nobody laughed this time.

The smell was too strong.

And the moment Magnus stepped deeper into the administration building, he knew something was wrong.

[Chapter Rewards]

10 Reviews unlock 1 chapter

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.