"Hello the camp!" I called out while remaining low. Never knew if a nervous trigger finger might fire first and ask questions later.
"Come on in Major, hell of a show out there." Jackson called back as I walked into the large area. They were in an old hay field with secure fencing keeping them protected from the zombies. I walked up and shook Jacksons hand and smiled a bit.
"Pretty sure the finale was your doing, eh?" I replied and he chuckled.
"Yeah we spotted them coming and going from the house earlier. I didn't think you could use the distraction so we took care of it." he explained and I nodded. I looked at the roadway and nodded towards it.
"Your tail still a few days out?" I asked him and he nodded.
"Got themselves a fair enough army, what they lack in ability they make up for in numbers." he explained and I nodded a bit.
"You all ready to move out and come inside and enjoy a real bed for a change?" I asked him and he laughed and nodded.
"Been a while sense I had to rough it, not saying I enjoyed it." he replied laughing even as other agreements were made.
"Dakota here, prepare rooms for roughly a hundred plus." I called in. Sam would send his people to work and my family would keep track of movements to clear the road ways as we walked to the large gate.
"Thanks Major, we owe you big time for this." Jackson said smiling. I kept a look out while everyone picked up their things and we headed out. After nearly an hour we arrived at the gate and watched as it opened up. Once inside the gate shut and locked into place.
"Damn, I knew you all had been busy, but I never imagined anything like this." Jackson said as he looked around slowly.
"Tell me how ya really feel.." I said jokingly.
"I should have built the base like this, prepared to defend against zombies and against raiders. All I did was save us from the monsters, not even considering the worst of them might be human." he admitted and I nodded slowly.
"For anyone hungry, the kitchen is open, just remember to pick up after yourself." I said and smiled.
"We have enough rooms for everyone, and enough beds as well as hot showers and baths for those who need them and fresh clothes as well. The building over there.." I pointed off to the large Cement and Concrete block constructed building, "That has toiletries, clothes and pretty much anything else you might need. All weapons are checked in over by the gate, and I do mean all weapons. We do not allow anything longer then a pocket knife to be carried." I explained to them all as they were listening while I spoke to Jackson.
"What about you and the sword?" a voice called out.
"You are in my Home and you will abide by my rules or you may leave and continue your journey and we will wish you safe travels and luck. But if you stay, you will be assigned work based on your skills, if you do not work, you do not eat or have a room of your own. I won't have some welfare state on our hands." I said as I looked them over.
"Some of us can't work do to injuries." another called out.
"Don't mean you can't stand watch in a guard tower and watch for possible attack from either zombies or raiders." I called back.
"Listen I ain't forcing anyone to work, but on the flip side you can't force us to support your lazy ass either." I explained and shrugged, "Choice is yours, you get a free ride today to rest up from your journey, come tomorrow you decide if the journey ends here or if you should continue on."
"He's not doing anything we weren't doing in our old base, so knock it off." Jackson shouted out and quieting his people. Sam was walking up quickly along with several other of his people.
"Okay everyone, Sam and his people will assign you rooms, show you where everything is and after that I suggest you get some rest." I called out and walked with a few over to the gate and handed in the handgun and rifle. Jackson had been watching and began handing in his own weapons along with the rest of his people.
"General, I suggest if you know anyone prone to hiding weapons, you get them to give them up, if Dakota or anyone else spots a weapon on them. They will get five minutes to grab their stuff, pick up any weapons they did check in and then escorted out the gate. He lets no one carry and it's mainly because he says people under pressure tend to snap at the wrong time." Sam explained to Jackson.
General Jackson spent the next half hour forcing everyone to give up their weapons.
"Geezus that was like disarming some third world nations." Jackson admitted as he took a seat across the fire from me and I laughed a bit. He had everyone inside taking time out to clean up, eat and rest.
"So what's the plan?" Jackson asked as Torie and Maria along with Sam all sat around the small fire. Sam had seen us all gathering and he wanted to know what was happening as well.
"Plan's simple really, most of your men, General, are trained with weapons. I hazard to guess they didn't get the strict Military training we got, but they did learn from someone who did." I said and he nodded and smiled.
"You always did pay attention to the details, continue please." Jackson said in his way of praise.
"Problem is the Civilians still out number the trained fighters by quite a bit. Most of Sam's people never fired a shot in anger in their lives before the zombies came." I reported and Sam nodded in agreement.
"Only time we fired a shot in anger was when some rabbit made it to their hole before we got in a second shot." Sam admitted and had everyone giggling or chuckling lightly.
"So we need the Civilians who have no warfare training to move to the Basement and wait it out." I said and Sam started to say something and I held up my hand.
"The Basement has an escape route that will take them two miles east and from the exit they can continue east to the farms. The two houses and several barns are actually behind a stand of trees and from the road you never see any of the farms and ranches that are located there. It was another reason to put the cattle out there instead of leaving them in plain sight here in town." I explained and he nodded.
"Now for the rest who want to fight and can fight, I want Sam's people paired up with your people General. Even if all they are doing is running for resupply of ammo or medical staff. We need them if we are going to hold this place from a siege. The fact is we have all the food locked up within a fifty mile radius, we'll last longer then they will if they go for the siege tactics. If they pull an all out assault, again we have the advantage of higher ground from on top of the walls." I explained while they listened.
"We also have claymores set around in the abandoned cars along the streets, the ones most likely to be traveled based on their width and how clear they are of zombies." I said while pulling out a map of the City. Everyone moved closer to have a look.
"Ten yards from the base of the walls, we have land mines and they are spaced out randomly, there are no maps to show placement so don't get lost in the middle of them." I stated and Sam's eyes widened a bit.
"Now you know why I run next to the foot of the wall instead of away from it." I said and he nodded with a grin.
"Now on these main roads, we set up twenty plus claymores hidden within objects that would also add to the shrapnel flying in every direction. Again stay down when these go off as a few are well within range of dropping stuff into the Stronghold here, another reason for the Civilians to stay under cover." I explained and everyone nodded.
"We have the four corners over lapping with missile defenses and twin 50 caliber machine guns mounted at every look out tower and enough ammo to make it sound like World War Three just started. At the top the outside of the wall helps to give good concealment against return fire while still affording a good vantage point. And as a Salute to the General we have murder holes placed every few yards that we can uncover for a nasty surprise on those who make it to the base of the wall. Motion sensors also let us know if someone has gotten too close, the sensors only react to a body mass like a large dog. Anything smaller and it's a none issue, cameras will be monitored twenty four seven, I want shifts of every four hours, I do not want people falling a sleep out of boredom while on duty." I explained further and the General smiled a bit.
"Wish you had been my CO when I was younger, some of them eight hour shifts were murder." Jackson admitted and I laughed lightly.
"Well for us, we had different training, different rules. Here we have people with no real training to speak of and the rules don't count for much." I replied and he shrugged but agreed at the same time.
"By now the enemy knows their people are most likely dead sense they have not reported in by now. They may just figure a late report, but in a few more hours they will know something went badly for them. During that time, Maria and I will head out to scout them for a bit, with them being roughly two days behind, we'll head out and catch them at night. See how they move, their defenses and maybe even lead a few zombies to them and see how they respond." I told them and watched as their faces went through a wide range of emotions.
