G

My eyes snapped open and I felt oddly energetic. Like I took a five hour energy drink then several cups of coffee. The bed above me reminded me where I was. My first time being in a cell and willingly at that.

I lifted myself onto my elbow and stared down at Riley's sleeping form. There was a line of drool on her pillow and she took the entire cover. But I couldn't help but feel warmth at the fact she joined my bed to sleep. Even with how I was being a total douche bag with my strategy.

My concerns slammed into the forefront of my mind and my smile slithered away. I eased out of bed and quietly dressed. Even though it was almost pitch dark, it felt like the sun was up to me. I made my way down to the ground floor and began moving tables around to form a semi-circle. Went to find the supply closet, relieved it of a few supplies, and made it back down by the time the first light fell through the skyline.

Why did they build a resort as a prison? I will never know. The beds weren't uncomfortable, the covers and bed sheets weren't cheap. There was a power plug underneath both bottom beds near the head of the beds. The showers and bathrooms look pretty expensive models with foggy slide doors. There was a computer room, library, indoor gym, and a game room accessible from the cell floor. Not to mention the guards had their own quarters even though it wasn't as secure or comfortable as the cells.

Plus there is a courthouse attached to the building and I haven't even checked the other side fully. We would have to exit this area from the bridge to enter the courthouse area.

Sighing, I began making a to do list as I waited on the crowd to awaken. Majority of them got up a few hours after first light. It was easy to see who were the hardworking crew and who just got by in life.

I didn't have too much expectation of them to begin with. After all, only Amala, the old man, and my crew even prepared for emergencies. Not to mention, didn't forget our weapons.

My phone said it was ten o'clock and I glanced into the faces awaiting my judgement. Each of them had their own worries and fears but you could really pick out the ones who had confidence to survive now. That had confidence in me to lead them and at least not leave them starving.

"I want to start off by saying what many of you might be hoping for. Or not wishing for it." I waved the notebook in my hands around, at the cells. "This will be our home. I don't need to explain how defensive this position is. You can see for yourself how much effort it takes for us just to reach the front door."

Few heads nodded while others sat quietly.

"The next topic is going to be pretty heavy but you need to hear this." I took a deep breath. "A lot of you might have found my stance at the motel to be degrading of you, especially you women. Sadly, if I die out there or any of these men with wives and daughters." I pointed at the men in question.

"Then you women might not be under the leadership of someone who respects you and your dignity. You won't have the option to protest or even debate what you are willing and unwilling to do. Thus I wanted to prepare you mentally, to what you might suffer in the event of our deaths. That being said, your body is still a value that can be traded. Your skills as a home mom have value but only to the right people. Just know what you can offer and what you can't to avoid ending up in a miserable situation. After all, bending a knee to survive isn't as bad as being forced to bend a knee."

There were plenty of solemn faces and many probably still don't get my meaning or how helpful I am. After all, you ignore possibilities until it is happening right then.

"Moving on. Since we are staying here, we need dedicated staff. First up, chefs. Food is important. Nobody wants to eat bland food, so having people that can turn scraps into Michelin star food is important. Who wants the job?"

Nine women raised their hands right away. They looked at each other but didn't fight or argue. How was I supposed to pick them if they didn't sell their abilities?

"Okay, who has cooked for a restaurant and not just your family?" I threw out bait and hoped for a fish.

The hands went down until two were raised. A blonde lady in white blouse and tan pants. The other lady looks like a college student with her curly black hair and round glasses.

"I worked under a Michelin star chef for four years." The blonde lady said.

Sold!

"Name?" I clicked the end of the pen and prepared to write.

"Viola Walters." She responded curtly.

"You are the person in charge. Other than overseeing the food preparation, you will need to do an inventory assessment. Are you fine with that?" I said.

Viola looked a little happy as she responded, "yes sir."

"Great, I'll leave picking out your team to you." I turned away from her and began the next subject. "Okay, next up is farming. There are some crops out there and plenty of equipment in that big ass barn. Who has experienced that stuff?"

As I said this, I couldn't help but look at Riley. I felt like her country accent that she smothered with a hint of Northern speak, was from her time as a farm girl.

"Why the hell are you looking at me? My dad had horses. Horses and farms are two different things." Riley sounded offended but.. the accent.

Nobody spoke up? Okay, guess I would have to kidnap farmers.

"Okay, we will shelf that for now. Any mechanics?" I changed the subject.

The new kid we picked up raised his hands. Along with the old man and someone I really didn't see coming at all, Chris.

I gave her a long look that was filled with disbelief.

"What? My dad was a mechanic. He worked on sports cars all the time. Plus I'm an only child." She sounded defensive.

I smartly turned away from her. "Okay, we will go with seniority here. Old man in charge."

"Nurses, doctors, or anybody with professional knowledge on how to patch up wounds to the right kind of medicine for aged old illness." I threw out not really expecting a hit.

But I forgot about that new kid sister who was a biologist. I added her down and looked at the leftovers, which was a lot.

"Only task left now is manual labor to cleaning. Of course, those who wish to learn how to farm, will be greatly appreciated." I raised an eyebrow as I scanned the crowd.

The short lady raised her hand, "I know a bit about gardening but I never did it on large scale or used those fancy equipment. It would be best to find someone who knows how but I can definitely tell what is what. Also start us off."

"Great! Pick some people that you think are hardworking and give a go. I'll definitely help when I'm not out exploring." I said with great relief. "Well, most of us have jobs. So if you want to clean, raise your hands?"

Out of the thirteen people left, only six didn't raise their hands.

"Okay, so what do you guys feel like you can do?" I closed my book and stretched out.

They look at each other and the funny thing is, two of the six were men. They weren't young or old men but in the middle. Oddly, they weren't even the prettiest women of the group but they did have interesting assets that made them good brothel workers. Guys too.

"I don't know about them but I honestly have a medical condition that makes it hard for me to do a lot of things. I was on disability before. I know that I have to work to eat but I can't do anything. So I'm prepared to do that if need be." A kind older lady with a very fragile profile said.

I scratched my head as I was really just joking about the sex on demand thing. Yet, if that is all she can provide.. given her looks. I can't say she can't do it?

"Okay, what about you two men?" I wanted to avoid hearing the same thing while I was still in the dog house.

One of the men with a beer gut smiled, "manual labor."

The other said the same. However, the damn middle aged women had to go up and basically say they would rather be prostitutes. They must think I am stupid because its clear that all the men left here either have wives or lover they are guarding. Especially those who decided to pick up a gun with me.

As for the two manual laborers, they will probably be excluded from services rendered. Which means those women get to laze around and not do a damn thing.

"Okay, since that's your choice. I need someone to go online and make a reddit post. Just saying we are a community searching for nurses, doctors, farmers, electrical engineers, and pregnant women." I instructed them with an easy task. "When you aren't doing your professions, you can monitor the internet for anything related to our area."

They nodded with some excitement and I clapped my hands. Dismissing them while my exploring team huddles around.

Pretty boy smiled as he watched a particular group of women leave. The model kind.

Shaking my head, I began. "So we need a lot of shit. Food supplies are number one. Sadly, we should make a round of the courthouse and male sure nothing is alive that is harmful. Then we can raid a store or three."

Amala raised her hand, "are you really going to let them do nothing?"

Beer gut chuckled, "I wouldn't say nothing. If they don't work, they obviously don't eat. You women are cruelest than us men."

Amala raised her eyebrow but said nothing else.

I looked at the tough guy, "okay, what's your name?"

He looked at me with that mean mug before speaking in that baritone that makes you just want to question what he ate.

"Jacob pines." Tough guy said.

I looked at the beer gut.

"David O'Connor."

I skipped pretty boy and turned to the skinny lass that just decided to partake.

"Megan."

Pretty boy looked at everybody before speaking out, "Alex King."

"Okay, so there are six of us. Me, Amala, and David are one squad. Jacob, Pretty boy, and Megan the other squad. Jacob will be the leader since I think he has actually trained." I looked around for questions.

Pretty boy raised his hand, "um, since you are superman, shouldn't you get Megan since you can carry their weight if needed."

I glanced at Jacob to see his input.

Jacob looked at Megan then nodded. "I have to agree. She doesn't look like she can hold her own. Pretty boy is already a burden and I seen what Amala can do."

Pretty boy flashed a smile then he just stared at Jacob. "Burden?" He muttered.

"Okay, Megan, my team and Amala, yours. Let's head to the armory. I want to get much of the food supplies out of the way before the walkers finish mobbing up." I said.

We quickly made our way up to the armory. We slid into a tactical vest and outfitted in assault rifles we modified the day before. The few new things were a short distance radio with a small earpiece attached. Body flashlight that was brighter than ordinary flashlights.

With the equipment taken care of, we saunter over to the other half of the building. There weren't many bodies littering the ground as we walked outside but the smell was terrible.

"Damn, do we have to clean this up too?" Pretty boy complained.

Jacob frowned, "of course. Sooner we clean it up, the better the smell gets."

"That makes sense but I still haven't gotten the previous smell out of my hair. My wife complained all night." Pretty boy kept rambling.

"Should have washed your hair a couple more times." Amala said while laughing.

I look at their lively team of mine who were covering their faces and looking at the bodies with disgust. The difference in temperament was like night and day.

Picking up speed, we entered the door of the lobby. A large space with drink machines and waiting chairs greeted us. The front counter was covered by a plexiglass and the door leading to the back was hanging off its hinges to the side. It was no surprise to us that the lights were off.

The prison might have someone on medical bay who was on life support. It was important to have a backup supply which we needed to find in order to assess whether we needed to find someone who could repair it.

Body lights on, we shuffled through the door. The stench of death was like a burning flag that caused our eyes to water and nose to sting.

It was even more for me who had an enhanced sense of smell. I could only grit my teeth as we pushed through. The courthouse side might have been big but we cleared it in under thirty minutes. Stumbled upon a back door that led into a police car field. We didn't have to search too far to find a vault with car keys.

"Boss, I think this one goes to the box truck. We should take that along with two of those suvs with the front bumper thing." David said as he grabbed the keys.

I gave him a thumbs up as I stood near the door, inhaling fresh air like a drowning man.

David chuckled as he sped out of the building. We tried all three box trucks until finding the right one. Damn keys without key fobs sucked.

"Who is going to drive this baby?" Pretty boy asked.

We all looked at him and he just sighed.

"Having good looks can be a burden sometimes." He even posed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, Mr. Burden. Start her up while we load up." Amala jokes.

I turned to my team as David spammed the alert button on the fob. It took him seconds to find the car on the third lot. This guy might have been a professional thief in his former life.

"I'll drive." He said as we jogged to the car.

Nobody argued with him. Megan grabbed the passenger seat and I slid into the back like a boss.

We lined up and went out a back entrance that didn't have chains to keep the gate fixed in place. The back was just a dirt road that led around the twenty feet tall stone walls to the main road.

David led us north instead of south, which is the way we came in. Nobody questioned him as we quickly found ourselves in a small town. We pulled into a lot of neighborhood Walmart. Pretty boy even showed his amazing skill by backing up to the front door.

"The back is locked by a padlock but we can replace it in the store." David said as he gave a small tug to the lock.

"Sounds good. Megan, grab a cart." I instructed.

Megan didn't hesitate to grab one and Pretty boy did the same for his team. We went in separate directions. With the body lights on, we didn't have to worry about swinging the rifle around to see anything.

"We should start with dry foods like rice and noodles. Potatoes too if they didn't rot." David suggested.

We checked down each aisle as we passed by. The front end was all commercial goods like drinks and the lot. It took us a hot second to find the dry food section. We loaded up everything on the shelf.

"Should we do a run of the neig later to find survival?" David asked.

"The town is kind of small. So we might run into walkers. I don't know if they figured out how to use guns yet. So let's wait until after we drop off our morning loads." I replied back.

"Do you really think they are forming communities like us?" David asked after a moment of silence.

"They should be. They have the intelligence to do so and we all know it's better to run in packs. So we might experience how efficient they are sometime soon. Right now, they just might be securing their base and the area around it." I gave him my opinion.

Megan joined in, "or they could be fighting off crazy supremacist groups. We still haven't heard anything from the government. They shouldn't have been taken out like this. Or some politicians should have established a new government."

"They might have already done so but have yet to establish a good system. It's hard to support people without an established supply line. Food stores won't last long. It's important to fill in that farm grown food supply quickly." David replied.

"Yeah, which is why we should keep an eye out for seeds and stuff." I added in.

Jacob was standing at the back door with a full buggy. Pretty boy was fumbling around with a padlock in the plastic thing.

I grabbed the fat body of the lock and the u-ring. Soft tug in both directions, easily snapped the lock without damaging the truck.

Jacob pulled on the lever and pushed the door up. He quickly hopped in and I joined him as we began loading up. Our efficiency might not have been high but it took us nearly two hours to fill the truck.

When we locked up and prepared to leave, we saw a family walking across the parking lot with bags on their back and bats in hand. The lead guy had a shotgun which is a common household item.

Pretty boy revved up the box truck as I went to go meet the family.

"Ho there, friend!" I couldn't help myself.

Megan and Jacob both shot me looks and I shrugged. Come on, role playing was fun!

The older man sized me up as his two sons stood behind him.

"We don't want any trouble. Just coming to get a few things." The man said it like we were a group of thugs.

Couldn't he see we were outfitted better than that? We should at least be considered as a mafia.

"That's fine but how about you guys join us. We could use more hands and it would be better than staying in place. Waiting on some miracle to happen." I said.

The man looked at us again and I guess he finally took in our apparel.

"You guys took up at the jail?" The man made an insightful comment.

"Yeah, we did. You interested?" Jacob replied.

"I have a pregnant wife and daughter back home. Few neighbors too. We can meet you back here in two hours?" The man gave in.

"Sure thing." I smiled.

The man turned around and walked off but his boys couldn't help looking back. Making tasteful comments as they left.

We pulled up at the bridge and the pretty boy showed us his excellent backing up skills. Great things we bought along carts, shuffling shit down to the kitchen would have been time consuming. Instead we made a decent headway before the hour passed and got back on the road within an hour and half.

When we arrived, the first thing we saw was walkers banging on cars. People inside were huddling together. The windows themselves look ready to cave in.

I rolled down my window as David slowed down. Amala fired the first rounds but I quickly followed. Six walkers fell to our gunfire but the rest ran faster than cheetahs. They disappeared mighty fast around the corner.

"Damn. They are becoming harder and harder to kill." I muttered.

"Guns might not be enough. Luckily for us, we have our very own superman and wonder woman." David chuckled.

I ignored the comment and hopped out. The old man from before rushed out of a prius. He had a thin trail of blood gliding down his right temple.

"This is the folks I talked about." He waved a hand at the seven car line up. "Can we leave now? Those guys will come back with more support soon."

"Okay." I said and turned around.

Amala shot me a look as she jumped back in. Sighing, I also loaded up for the long road.

"Hey, boss. Can you hear me?" Pretty boy spoke over the short-range radio.

"Yeah." I replied.

"I think we should go hunt the walkers down. If we clear them out now, then this whole town is ours for the taken." Pretty boy said something useful.

I glanced out the window as I pondered on the plus sides. After all, it wasn't only the walkers we had to deal with but dogs and wolves. Not to mention, we were relying on the fact that they might not have guns.

"Okay, we will scout them out but if they have guns. Then we fall back." I replied after a moment.

"Roger!" Jacob responded instead.