“So if you are not with the government, who are you with?”

The possibility of Danny being alone never crossed Luke’s mind. Much like Hank - or any other ordinary person for that matter -, Luke never would have imagined someone tackling the horde of undead at the factory all alone. That was the same as suicide in his head… or in anyone’s head, really.

And since Danny was living and breathing in front of him, he obviously was not suicidal. Obviously he had not come alone… right?

That being said, Luke’s question posed a difficult problem for Danny. How should he answer the man? How much should he disclose? How much should he say, and even more importantly, how should he say it?

Danny never though he would come across a survivor when he initially made that deal with Hank. When he left the camp for the factory, he had imagined he would be all alone. That he could deal with the zombies in any way he wanted and no one would be wiser of his methods.

However, finding another human being there posed a problem, since it meant that there was a potential witness to everything he did.

It meant that there would be someone left alive after he cleared the factory that could see and retell to anyone else how exactly Danny managed to eliminate all the zombies that lurked there all by his lone self.

There would be someone left behind who could expose his superhuman abilities and who could recount his exact actions from start to finish.

…like the gathering of crystals for example.

It did not have to be said that this inconvenienced Danny greatly. To even say it like this was putting it mildly.

The whole point of him heading to the factory all alone was for him to keep a lid over his secrets and avoid Hank’s forces finding out more about the supernatural elements that surrounded him. Hiding his own strength, the existence of the crystals and Tutu was of utmost importance to him.

Obviously, Hank would have known anyway that Danny was the one who dealt with the zombies and that he had done so mostly alone. He also would have known that Danny had dealt with the horde with pretty much no gun support, if any.

There were some details that simply could not be hidden. Hank would definitely find out some things. However, having a rough understanding of something and intimately knowing its details were two completely different things.

Hank could make all the guesses he wanted on how the hell Danny had managed to pull it off under those circumstances, but Danny doubted the leader of the survivors’ camp would even come close to the truth without someone pointing him the right way.

After all, who in their right mind would come to the conclusion that there were magical stones inside the heads of every zombie and that Danny had gotten stronger by gobbling them up just like that? Oh, and by the way, he was also haunted by a demon who had revealed him all that… just because why wouldn’t there be one?

No one would come to such conclusions without seeing it some kind of proof for themselves. It was too far-fetched.

Danny’s many years of living with the demon for company without the fact ever coming to light – at least in a significant way - to those surrounding him only went to show that.

The possibility of Danny’s sometimes-odd behavior being a consequence of him living under the constant threat of a demon would not even cross the mind of the vast majority of people who had interacted with him through the years. All the peculiarities surrounding Danny at most were considered to be a part of his considered ‘eccentric’ personality.

People had a hard time accepting things too different from their own personal experience as the truth. Often times, one only sees what they want to see.

In any case, back to the matter at hand, Danny initially planned to mask his tracks after he finished the job. He would disguise the wounds on the zombies’ heads to hide the fact that he had pulled the crystals from inside them. He also intended to waste a few more days before heading back to the settlement to give the illusion of needing more time to eradicate the monsters than he actually needed.

Though Hank might suspect how Danny - unarmed and alone - managed to accomplish what he could not with all the guns he had available to him while accompanied by a decently sized group of able-bodied strong men, in the end, Hank would only be able to speculate what had actually happened.

Luke’s presence threw a wrench in Danny’s plans however. It had become much harder to achieve his goals while obscuring his methods.

Danny had little doubt that Luke would end up joining Hank’s camp if things progressed normally going forward. After all, where would the survivor go if not there after Danny cleared the place? Seeking refuge in the only survivor’s camp still standing in the surrounding area – as far as Danny knew – was the obvious choice.

Luke would definitely follow Hank’s people back to their base when they eventually come here to pick up the goods. Then, the shrewd leader would definitely milk Luke dry for every tiny piece of information he could extract from the survivor.

From what Danny knew of the man, he doubted that Hank would let such a timely opportunity of finding out more about this ‘mysterious mercenary’ he had hired pass him by. He would definitely pick Luke’s brain for everything he could tell about Danny and about the happenings at the factory.

After all, Danny knew that Hank was trying to recruit him. Given the chance of getting more information about him and his abilities, why wouldn’t the older and wiser man take it? That was what Danny would do in his position at the very least.

Discovering more about this strange helper that lent a hand to his camp could only be helpful to Hank’s purposes. Knowing more would give him a better inkling on how valuable of an asset Danny would be to his camp. It would also make it easier to bring Danny under his wing as he would be holding more cards when they went back to the negotiation table.

… at least in theory.

Danny had no intention of committing to anything more than this strict business-like relationship they had going for now. But whatever the case may be, information is power as they say.

Even more so in this case.

Knowledge about the existence of soul gems, where to find them, and their uses was most definitely power, as gulping them down granted an instantaneous power-up for anyone and paying close attention to Danny was the easiest way of finding out about it.

Therefore, if Danny wished to keep his current advantage and a monopoly over the mystical resource, remaining as the sole person who knew about the magical effects of the stones – as far as he knew –, Danny had to answer a though question ahead of him:

How should he deal with Luke?

Leaving a potential witness behind was definitely bad news for him. However, Danny would not stop so low as killing the man just because his presence was unfavorable or because it worked against his plans. It would not sit well with his conscience.

Cold-blooded murder was where Danny drew the line.

Some might think it was hypocritical of him to not take action against Luke after leaving so many he could have helped to die and after refusing to share what he knew about the soul crystals with others - even if he knew that disclosing the information could save many lives in the long run if he chose to do so. Different people had different sets of morals after all.

Even if he was not a righteous person, Danny still felt it was important to have a bottom line. Otherwise, what would separate him from beasts? What difference would there be between himself and Tutu?

Would he even been living a life then, or would he be merely surviving? Could he face himself in the mirror if he killed out of convenience? Without the need to? What would his mother think of him?

He did not feel any obligation to save others. He did not feel compelled to go out of his way and risk his own well-being for strangers. Why should he? They were strangers to him after all, and there was nothing that connected them together other than shared humanity. He definitely did not feel obliged to help just because of it.

This might make him a selfish and callous person in the eyes of some, but he was fine with that. He did not owe those people anything as well.

If he could help someone without harming his own interests then he would do so. He was not indifferent to the suffering of others after all and he understood compassion.

Even though he had not found much compassion himself in others during his lifetime – especially considering that his own personal demon kept him isolated from most deep and meaningful human connections -, there had been a few truly altruistic people in the past who cared for him and helped him as much as they could.

He could not be as selfless as those people that shone a light in his path were. That simply was not who he was.

Life circumstances had molded him into something cold and hard. Enduring misfortune had tempered him into something that could not give much warmth, but something that could take adversity to the face and endure. Something that could persevere.

Danny was a survivor. He had been one for a long time already. Even before the advent of the Apocalypse he was already a survivor.

He did not think he was above killing someone. Under the right circumstances, he knew that he was entirely capable of snuffing someone’s life. If the situation demanded, he was entirely capable of taking another person’s life.

However, the current situation was not it. He could not justify to himself killing Luke as something that was necessary.

To actively go out of his way and kill someone because it would make his life easier was different than a struggle for survival. He did not wish to become some sort of cold-blooded psychopath who would not blink at killing someone at the first notice. His mother had raised a better man than that. At least, he liked to think she did.

Thus, killing the frazzled survivor was never really an option. Though it would make going through with his plans all the more complicated, Danny would not compromise his morals for it.

‘This might come back to bite me in the ass later. But if it does, then so be it.’ He gave a mental shrug before taking stock of his remaining options.

Given that he could not simply take Luke out of the equation, Danny decided the best way to deal with the potential witness was to mix in lies with truths in order to convince the man to do what he wanted - which was basically staying out of his way.

Ideally, Luke would stay locked inside the room until Danny finished the job without ever stepping foot outside. Danny was confident that he could persuade Luke to stay put, however, humans could be tricky sometimes.

It wasn’t hard to convince the fat man of the merits of following his commands, specially since he would be relying on Danny to leave this accursed place that trapped him for so long. However, nothing guaranteed that the survivor would keep his word.

Maybe he would rush out at the first chance after being trapped for so long, hoping to escape from this place. Maybe he might try something sneaky like spying on Danny or plotting against him. Humans were fickle beings.

It was hard to tell what the man would do once Danny left the room and he was no longer under anyone’s scrutiny. He had just only met Luke after all. He did not have a good grasp over the man’s personality yet, so he did not know what to expect from the survivor.

In any case, Danny could hardly keep watch over the man. He had other more important things to occupy his attention with, like dealing with the horde and surviving the ordeal. Keeping the man close by would be counterproductive to his goal of keeping his secrets as well.

Unwilling to simply kill the man, there was little else Danny could do other than use a glib tongue to manipulate the haggard man and steer his actions. This was the best way to handle Luke he could come with given his self-imposed constraints.

There were many ways his plan could go wrong. Nonetheless, he had to try. Since he did not wish to be a monster he could not act monstrously.