Chapter 5: Moore — You Want Me to Be a Dog?

Li Changsheng walked unhurriedly up to Moller, clicking his tongue twice at the sight of the man's dirt-streaked, disheveled appearance.

Was this really the same tough guy as before?

"Hey kid, what are you staring at? Hurry up and saw me out of here—those walkers are about to get in!" Moller, seeing Li Changsheng's calm composure, couldn't help but grow frantic.

"Why should I save you? Are we close? Weren't you the one who always looked down on Asians?"

"You—" Moller was about to curse, but swallowed his words at once. "I was wrong before, it was my fault, I deserve to die, I shouldn't have looked down on Asians. I swear I'll change!"

Li Changsheng raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound very sincere to me."

Moller shouted, "Dammit! We're all human—are you just going to stand by and watch me die?"

Li Changsheng tutted. "You weren't like this before, were you? Back at the camp, you were pretty arrogant."

Without hesitation, Moller replied, "I was wrong! I'll change!"

Li Changsheng shot him a look, clearly not believing a word. "No need for you to change. If you want me to save you, from now on you'll do whatever I say."

"F***, you want me to be your dog? No way!"

"Then I'm leaving. Enjoy your time with the walkers." Li Changsheng turned to go.

"You go enjoy your time with the walkers!" Moller swore, but seeing Li Changsheng actually leaving, he panicked. "Wait, please, don't go!"

"So, will you or won't you?"

Gritting his teeth hard, Moller spat out, "F*** it, I will, fine!"

"Good. Then swear it."

Moller cursed Li Changsheng inwardly, but said aloud, "I swear, I swear on Jesus!"

Li Changsheng glanced at him. "Better not. I just heard you cursing him a moment ago. Let's just make a gentleman's agreement—you owe me your life, you work for me. A fair trade. If you try to go back on it, I'll take your life myself and feed you to the walkers..."

With that, Li Changsheng moved into the shadows, retrieved an axe from his storage, then walked back to Moller and moved his hands aside. "Hold still, I'll break these cuffs. If you move and I hit your hand, that's on you."

Moller cried out, "You're going to use that? You must be joking!"

There was no way that thing could break handcuffs.

Li Changsheng swung the axe with force.

A shrill metallic clang rang out as the iron post anchoring the cuffs was split in two.

Rubbing his wrist, feeling a little numb from the impact, Li Changsheng fixed his gaze on the now-freed Moller.

Moller squirmed under his stare. "What are you looking at me for?"

"I thought you'd try to take revenge on me once you got free. I was actually waiting to deal with you," Li Changsheng said, a touch disappointed.

Revenge? F***, this guy had come from another building, cut through rebar with a fire axe, and his hands were fine—he was a total freak.

Just then, the iron door finally gave way, and dozens of walkers burst through.

Moller broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing Li Changsheng still standing there, he blurted, "The walkers are here—aren't we going to run?"

"Run where? The ladder down is crawling with them too! Grab a weapon and fight!" Li Changsheng tossed the fire axe to Moller and drew his own homemade spear.

"Fight them? Are you crazy?" Moller was incredulous.

Was there really someone more reckless than him?

There were at least several dozen walkers!

Li Changsheng had no time for argument. He charged forward, planting a kick in the chest of the lead male walker.

The thing flew back like a sack of potatoes, knocking down the cluster behind it in a heap.

In the next instant, Li Changsheng darted up, jabbing his spear swiftly into the heads of the fallen walkers.

In the blink of an eye, every walker that had surged out was dead.

Oh God, is this guy even human?

He was terrifying!

Wait, hadn't I insulted him before? Is he the vengeful type or not?

Moller's eyes were wide as saucers, his face full of disbelief as he swallowed hard.

Li Changsheng, seeing Moller standing there like a log, glared at him. "Are you just going to watch the show? Finish off the ones still moving!"

Startled by Li Changsheng's look, Moller snapped back to reality and hurried to stab the still-twitching walkers, all the while saying cautiously, "Uh, boss, I might have insulted you before. Don't take it to heart!"

Already calling him boss...

What an old hand at surviving...

Li Changsheng arched an eyebrow. "Do I seem petty? You only insulted me three times and threatened me five. Don't worry about it!"

F***! You remember that clearly and claim you're not petty!

Moller cursed inwardly, but forced a grin and put more effort into killing the walkers.

...

Back at the camp.

Rick had already returned the day before.

Now Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog had headed into the city to rescue Moller.

Li Changsheng and Moller, however, had set out for the camp earlier in the day, and the two groups narrowly missed each other.

Amy and Andrea had caught quite a few freshwater fish that day.

This brought excitement to the group, who were all short on supplies. Dale even made a simple griddle out of a flat stone beside the campfire.

In the afternoon, Dale called everyone together to prepare an all-fish feast.

In a world overrun by walkers, even a simple feast was a rare delight.

Everyone went gladly—except Ed.

Ed, who'd been beaten by Li Changsheng two days ago, had just about recovered after resting a day, but that morning he'd taken his anger out on Carol and then gotten another beating from Shane.

At least Li Changsheng held back, but Shane, who'd been 'cheated on,' had a much heavier hand.

He wouldn't be getting up for a while after this latest beating.

...

At that moment, two cars came winding up the mountain road.

In front was a white sedan, followed by a brand-new white compact car.

Honk-honk!

The compact car's shrill horn blared.

"Is that Rick's group?" The camp was instantly abuzz.

Lori, busy cleaning fish, didn't even take time to wash her hands. She grabbed Carl and rushed out.

Rick and Daryl's group had gone out in the morning to rescue Moller—if all went well, they'd be back by now.

Shane, seeing Lori's anxious excitement, felt his face darken with jealousy.

Until yesterday, that kind of treatment had been his.

Even so, he still went to greet them.

If he lost both the woman and his status in camp, he'd truly be finished.

...

The white compact car drifted to an abrupt, aggressive stop.

Moller jumped out, swept a fierce glare over the assembled group, and, not spotting T-Dog, swung his fire axe and bellowed, "T-Dog! Black boy! You two bastards, get out here!"

On the way back, he'd 'reported' to Li Changsheng that he wanted revenge on Rick and T-Dog, and Li Changsheng had no objections.

"Hey, calm down! Take it easy!" Shane hurried out to intervene.

Moller, like an enraged bull, shoved Shane aside. "F*** you, Shane! Today I'm going to beat that black bastard T-Dog so hard even Jesus couldn't stop me, I swear!"

If it hadn't been for Li Changsheng, Moller would probably have been walker food.

All thanks to Rick and T-Dog.

No way was Moller going to let it go.

Seeing that Moller didn't even acknowledge him, Shane's face twisted with anger. "Moller, Rick and T-Dog went out to look for you. I'm warning you, don't cause trouble!"

The others in camp, thinking Rick's group had returned, had been excited.

But when they saw Moller get out of the first car and Li Changsheng the second, their faces fell, replaced by looks of distaste.

After all, Moller was a notorious troublemaker, and now he was starting a fight with Shane.

Li Changsheng was just a stranger they'd only known for a few days, and now he was hanging around with Moller.