Zombiefest

During the time we were building we did take time out to travel up to Redmond and do a bit of trading, it also let the General know where we were in case of trouble and how far we'd gotten in our build up. The crops were doing well which gave us more to trade with as well as plenty of beef that we'd smoked into jerky and frozen so they had a bit more to work with when it came to food.

Further to the east we found more farm area's along with some larger pastures for grazing. During our build up we were still only a group of five in a huge area we had dogs and cats wandering around and it kept the rodents in check. But from the highways that were on bridges we found they could see right over our walls, we needed to appear more then just five to anyone wanting to cause trouble.

"Good thing the Highway Commission isn't around to see this.." Charlie remarked while depressing the plunger on a remote. We watched as the over passes blew up and dropped straight down. Well it would keep our privacy. And anyone trying to sneak around would get a fairly unwelcome response as well. We set up camera's around the perimeter, ten yards out from the wall were land mines and motion detectors turned on lights as well to alert us to anything that should not be snooping about.

We also found the armory for not only Reno but outside Vegas as well. On the towers twin 50 caliber machine guns were mounted and ready with several cans of ammo along with missile launchers that could level a tank. We'd had word from others traveling south that some military type group was raiding everything they came across and stealing everything not nailed down. Anyone they did not see a use for was killed, anyone who fought back died.

"We should check on Jackson and the Base." Torie was saying as we talked about what we'd heard.

"No, that would leave this place open to raiders and if we left anyone here, they would be alone for at least a week if not longer. The General knows where we are, he knows where to escape too if he needs too." I replied and the others agreed.

"The last group came out of the Portland area, chances are the General knows what is coming his way. If he thinks it's too much, he'll pack up and be on his way." I added. "I suggest we start setting up for visitors, if they are as well organized and armed as everyone is claiming, we'll be getting visitors. Many of whom we may not be inclined to accept given the state of their Dictatorships that I was witness too during my travels."

Two weeks passed and the Casino was prepped for possible refuges from Redmond. Standing up on the wall I was looking at Highway 395 going towards Susanville.

"Dakota, look over here." Maria called and I moved to see what she was looking at and spotted the large vehicle that appeared to be pulled by several horses. It was an armored transport that also held a 50 caliber machine gun in the turret.

"Well that looks friendly..." I muttered while watching men marching before the large vehicle.

"I'd stop if I were you." I called out in warning. The spacing of the men would have them moving right over the land mines.

"I suggest you all surrender the Stronghold, we will allow you and yours to walk away." a deep voice called back. Was this asshole serious?

"Naw, we like it here, think we'll keep it. But thanks for the offer." I called back while Maria just sighed at me.

"Gentlemen prepare to take the Stronghold." the voice ordered.

"Maria, send them a welcoming gift from tower one." I suggested and she ran down the wall then climbed into the firing position of the missile launcher. Maria spun it around and aimed at the armored vehicle then fired. The flame lashed out as the armor piercing warhead blew the vehicle apart.

I had climbed into tower two and cut loose with the twin 50 cal. and sprayed down close to 80 percent of the men who were still reeling from their commander or leader going up in flames. Those dressed in something like a strange version of Mad Max were mostly dead. Those still remaining held up their hands in surrender. Seems the group were taking prisoners and forcing them into labor and whatever they wanted or needed from them.

Out of the group of nearly forty, we allowed more then half to remain but they would have to work for their keep and no one would be forced to do anything unseemly. We did catch out a couple of the odd balls trying to pass themselves off as prisoners. Turns out they did not like them much and we left them to deal with their captors.

"Who leads here?" someone asked and I looked over at an older man.

"Who wants to know?" I asked in reply.

"Name's Sam and I lead these people." he replied while he looked me over.

"No Sir, ya don't. You stay here, you stay under my leadership. My family and I built this place from scratch and I won't have anyone telling me how I live in my own house." I replied evenly.

"And what happens if we don't like how it is being run?" he asked me.

"The gate works both ways." I replied meaning he and his can leave.

"And if we decide you should be the ones to leave?" he asked. I smiled and pulled down my glasses allowing the very definite glow from my eyes to show through.

"Lets hope that you don't try and enforce such a choice. I'm a fair man, ask anyone still alive who knows me. But cross me and I won't turn the other cheek. I won't ask any man or woman to do any job I haven't already had to do myself. And make no mistake, I would kill you and your entire group to ensure that mine are safe." I said to him in a cold tone.

"You are all welcome to stay, you work to help the community and you eat with the community, you want to be lazy and sit around. Well, I won't feed a bum even on my best day and lets face it good days are hard to come by." I said slowly as I sat down.

"Ain't that the truth." he replied with a nod.

"We'll give it a try and at least rest up. We got caught in the open by those fools while we were running South and away from that damn mercenary bunch from Canada. We need time to rest and heal and try to get ourselves situated. I have no idea what you hit them with, but out of all the strongholds I have seen, this is by far the safest and strongest. If anyone can hold up against them, it would have to be this place." he was saying while Maria and Torie sat to either side of me while leaning against me slightly.

"Well, Military training and a lot of free time on our hands helped to make this happen. Now we have beef down in the kitchens, we have fresh clothing in the supply depot over at the brick and stone building. We also have more then enough rooms available on any floor but the penthouse. Anyone comes up there and they'll be seen as a threat. I don't expect you all to just slip right in to work. I do expect you all to help yourselves to our hospitality." I said and grinned at him. He chuckled and nodded slowly.

"Well we Thank you and I will see that we organize properly so we don't short you all of anything in case others show up." he said as he stood up.

"Nice meeting you Dakota... I never got your last name?" he said and I nodded.

"Greywolf, Major Dakota Greywolf United States Marine Corp." I replied and he nodded while walking off.

"Think he'll be trouble?" Maria asked slowly.

"Nope, never got the feeling I needed to kill him or anyone else we let inside." I said and stood up to stretch.

"You should run love, before the burn starts, you know how you get." Torie said and gave me a hug. I nodded and ran off towards the interior of the perimeter just running along the foot of the wall. I could hear most of them all talking. Most of the talk being about their recent capture and being saved by barely a handful of people.

"Why are his eyes like that?" I heard Sam asking someone and then Maria's voice. She and Torie explained everything while he listened.

"And it doesn't bother you?" he asked as I walked up behind him slowly and with out a sound.

"Why should it?" Maria asked while lowering her glasses. He didn't even flinch he just nodded.

"So everyone who lives here is like that, is it by choice or should we be worried about catching something?" he asked. He seemed to ask all the right questions for someone looking to protect their people.

"They all asked it of me and I gave it to them." I answered while he jumped a bit and looked back at me. I sat down between Torie and Maria and kissed them both before looking at Sam.

"So tell me more about these mercenaries of yours." I prompted him.

"Well they started out basically burning out Strongholds, up in Canada, not much in the way of steel and cement, but trees we have a lot of so that's what most are made from. They barely had to do anything, they burn down the walls and the people had two choices, join them or die." Sam explained. While we sat back and listened.

"Ever see them at work doing this?" I asked and he shook his head. Hard to figure out your enemy if you have never seen their tactics.

"No, soon as we heard they burned out a Stronghold just a couple days walk from us, we packed up and left. Headed South to Seattle and followed Highway 5, ran across some scouts from Redmond when we decided to get off the main highways. Told them everything we knew." Sam explained and I nodded.

"General Jackson will send scouts to find your boys and keep track of them. They will report to him and depending what the scouts tell him, he will plan his next move. He already knows of this Stronghold and it's defensive capabilities, it will be his fall back position if he thinks it is needed." I said more to myself but everyone heard it.

"What will we do now?" Maria asked and I looked over and smiled at her.

"We prepare for a Battle, only reason the General would fall back is if the numbers are not in his favor. His Stronghold was built to withstand Zombies, not a fighting force of Raiders. He will know his best bet to stand against them will be to lead them here where this Stronghold can remove every trace of the bastards. Damn world is hard enough with Zombies, we don't need the added aggravation of would be Dictators and supposed War Lords." I said sourly.

"We're with ya." Sam said as he listened.

"Good, now at the moment I don't have a whole lot of reason to trust ya or any of your people. Just as if the situation was reversed you wouldn't have much with me either. I am hoping that as we start working together, we can both learn to gain that trust." I said and he nodded in agreement.

"Great, you may want to get some rest with your people. Starting tomorrow we put people in those watch towers around the clock. I want eyes telling me when a Zombie farts dust. We also have fields that need tending and some help finishing up the lines so we can get water to those fields. And a million other things we haven't even mentioned yet." I said with a laugh and he grinned and nodded.

As it turns out Sam and I worked together well, he threw out suggestions and took it well if I didn't follow them. Most times I would explain my reasons and other times it was just a matter of lets just get it done and then we'll look into your idea type things. While I figure he was swallowing a bitter pill at having to listen to someone half his age, he still found my reasoning sound and continued to work with me.

While me apparently having two girl friends seemed odd to many of the newcomers, they must have figured it made sense as the three of us were roughly the same age and we all had the Blood Cure that no one could really comprehend and I was beyond trying to explain it. The girls had their own problems, seem the younger guys did not seem to respect that they liked each others company more then theirs.

Several times I would spot one of them trying to lure Charlie off to hang out or party and leave poor Tami behind. The age difference weighed heavily on Tami most of all as very few children had been part of the new group. They were either Charlie's age or much younger then Tami.

"Come on over here Tami." I called as Torie, Maria and I sat by a fire on our own. I had spotted her alone after several young men and women talked Charlie into going off with them. She stood up with a sighed and sat with us and I pulled her on my lap.

"What's going on?" I asked her. Charlie had tried talking Tami into joining them but with the older kids saying things like children should stay with the Adults, Tami just told her to go and that she was fine.

"Charlie has her own friends now, use to be just her and I for so long. I never thought anything could tear us apart, even when those men did those things to her, I was there just to be a presence for her to lean on when she needed it." Tami said quietly.

"Do you think she loves you less?" I asked her and I could see the tears in her eyes before she wiped them away and stood up quickly.

"Just ignore what I said, everything is fine. If she goes and gets a boy friend or a girl friend that she has more in common with, that's fine. I'm happy for her." Tami said and darted into the Casino. I looked over at Maria who nodded and ran off to catch up with Tami and make sure she was in fact okay and not too far gone or close to hurting herself.

"Going to go have a chat with Charlie." I told Torie who nodded and remained by the fire. I found Charlie talking with the group and laughing, what caught me by surprise was how close she appeared to be with a couple of the guys.

"Charlie, need to have a chat with you." I said and she nodded, both of the guys started to get up, "In private.." I added.

"You her Father?" one of them asked and I stared levelly at him.

"Do not make me put you over my knee boy, the girls here would laugh at you for the rest of your life." I warned him and they both sat down while several giggles were heard.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked after we stepped away from the group.

"Listen I don't know what you and Tami have. Hell for all I know it was a crush or just something you outgrew Charlie. But whatever it was, if it is over, you owe it to her to say so to her face. Not run off with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum whose only thought is how to get in your pants. They are not thinking about love or anything close to it, and they are really not thinking about anything beyond sex and this moment. So the question for you is this, is it worth not talking to Tami, and possibly hurting her if she had been the one to see you flirting with them boys?" I asked her.

"I wasn't flirting with them.." she started to say.

"Charlie Girl, you were laughing at their lame ass jokes, leaning on them both and they even attempted to follow you just now to make sure they could bring you back to the so called party when I called to talk to you. If you are not flirting, it's close enough for them to think you are interested in something about them." I said and shook my head.

"You and Tami been through a lot, more then most. Do not hurt her like this, you done with being girl friends, then say so, she deserves at least that much from you. After that, do whatever the hell you want." I said and shook my head slowly, "I thought you were grown up enough to recognize what it means to respect someone, and mostly someone you claim to love." I added quietly and started to turn away, "You really let me down Charlie.. Tami too.."

I went back and found one of the farm hands flirting with Torie, what is it with these people, I wondered to myself. I sat down and Torie moved against my side and smiled warmly at me.

"Hey love, what's up?" I asked her and she smiled at me.

"Well apparently one of the lines for the water might be leaking but you can only see it at night. Josh here was asking me to check it out with him. My eyes aren't nearly as good as yours at night, maybe you should go with him to have a look?" she suggested and I looked at Josh.

"You wouldn't be trying to get between a man and his woman, would you Josh?" I asked him as I narrowed my gaze at him. I could see him sweating. Instead of answering he got up and walked off and I winked at Torie. I continued to monitor what was going on with Charlie. One of the boys wanted to show her something in his room and continued to invite her to join him.

"I have a girl friend, now if you don't mind I need to go and apologize to her for leaving her behind like this tonight. You want to be my friends then respect who she is to me and stop trying to separate us." Charlie bit back at him.

"Oh give me a break you been coming on to us all night, she isn't your girl friend, just someone to hang with until you find something better." one of the boys argued back at her. I was about to stand up when Sam pulled the boy off his chair and put his foot on his chest.

"Listen here son, I don't give a good god damn, who Charlie is dating or seeing or whatever. You will stand down and respect what she has said and if I ever hear you speak like that again or hear that you have. I will tan your hide so dark your Momma won't recognize you. Now you all apologize to Charlie for acting like a buncha damn fools before I put you all to work in waste management." he growled at them.

"Waste Management?" the other boy asked.

"Means ya shovel shit, dumb ass. Now get your asses off to bed before the front gate hits all of your backsides. We don't need no damn trouble makers in this Stronghold." he was nearly shouting by then and the few who did have parents, were called away and yelled at a second time.

"The man does have a way with words.." Torie commented and I nodded with a grin.

"Be back shortly, gotta run a bit." I explained to Torie who nodded. She had run earlier in the evening with Maria. I took off and ran and just let my mind go. After nearly running several people over, I had started running outside the wall, with all the zombies gone from the area, and mainly located down town, it made for a leisurely run.

While I was running, I noted a flashing light coming from the Nugget, namely the Penthouse. Then the radio cracked through the ear piece I used so no one would accidently alert the zombies to my position.

"General to Major, General to Major, you copy me.. over.." a voice called in and I recognized the General right away. I had given him one of the walkie talkies during one of the visits, it would allow us to notify the other when we were in range and so we would know the other was not a band of raiders.

"Copy, General, this is Major, reading you five by five. That you in the Nugget?" I called back.

"Negative, I repeat Negative. We pulled back from the base in Redmond, but found ourselves a day behind several scouts and snipers, and a few days ahead of their main group. We got ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place son, we need help to come in." he explained and I darted back inside the complex and hit the silent alarm.

"My people are on alert, give me some time to fix the rock, before the hard place can arrive." I sent back. Sam arrived at a fast walk with the rest of my small family in tow.

"We have scouts and snipers spying on our positions. Have been for a least a day according to the General. He has his people laying out waiting for the all clear before sending them here." I told them all.

"Sam get the civilians inside the Casino, make sure they stay away from the windows and start the timers on the vacant rooms. Lets give them something to watch and confuse them a bit." I told them. I had wired up several rooms where the lights would flick on and off on timers to appear occupied.

"Torie and Charlie, I need you both to man the launchers. Tami, you reload them when used. Maria and I will grab the targeting beacons so you know where to fire. Remember once we cover them you have no more then a handful of seconds to fire before they realize they have been targeted." I reminded them and they nodded before slipping off into the darkness.