Chapter 303: 303
Oscar adjusted his belt first before he began to speak.
He scratched his beard and said, “Well, he said that he needs to tell you in person. I said that it would be a while before we get to visit them again but he insists.”
“Let’s leave that for now. If it’s that really important, he would’ve come to this place again or wrote a note. We still have a lot of things to plan for and I can’t be bothered by that guy. Anyway, were there any signs of the cult appearing anywhere? It’s been a long while ever since we killed those nutjobs that came here before. There’s a few that managed to run away but I’m pretty sure that we haven’t seen the last of them.” I asked.
“Nah, never seen any signs of them but we’re always looking out just in case. Anyway, when you went to Manila, I took a little trip to the DDR Camp at Meycauayan. It’s still standing but their numbers have reduced significantly. A few people have left the place on their own while some didn’t return from their runs. They got a second wind from Rod visiting them but it’s only a matter of time before that place goes down since that place isn’t sustainable without a steady flow of resources. I got to talking with their CO last time and now that we have some authority here, Well…” Oscar trailed.
“Well, what?” I asked.
“Well, I mentioned that we’ll find a way. We could strong arm them but it would be better in the long run if they find us dependable. From the top of my head, what we could do is take them in and abandon that place, let the place serve as an outpost while we supply them in exchange for a few things, or we do a little relocation like you did in Manila. If you have anything in mind just tell me.” Oscar suggested.
“Well there’s pros and cons for each of those things. First one, if we take them in, even if they’re less than before, it’s still a huge number of people eating away at our resources. We had a huge chunk taken away from us when we supplied this place though we’re starting to cover them from the recent harvests. Sure, we could handle taking them in but I’d like it more if we have people in different places. I feel like our numbers here are more than enough already and if we add more, it would cause problems.” I replied.
“If they’re in a different place than us, they could scavenge for resources that’s too far for us to reach. Instead of us eating from the same bowl, we’d have plenty of options for everybody, right?” Kaley asked.
“Are you asking me or saying?” I chuckled.
“Well that’s my take on it.” she shrugged her shoulders, smiling.
“Then how about the last two options?” Oscar asked.
“Hmmm, the advantage of them being in that current location is the facilities from a hospital obviously and a few gas stations close to them, wait- have they reclaimed those places or took everything from it?” I asked.
“Well yeah, they did. The fuel from that keeps their hospital running.” Oscar replied.
“Okay, aside from the facilities and the fuel reserve, the place where the hospital is erected is right next to the main road. They could monitor people that drive by or even take them in if it could fit their community. That’s one of the reasons we don’t close off the main road. If we expand our territory, it would be toward the back roads to Elsewhere where Jay’s home was or to Pulo where Borris currently is.” I explained.
“If we’re going with the second option, I suggest we take some of their people in while we leave a few to monitor the roads so we could at least make the ones we take in work the farms or something. Doing that could at least let us break even which I don’t agree with. How about the third option?” Oscar asked.
“The third option… there’s not a place I could think of that’s right next to the main road that could be bett- wait… there’s such a place but it’s not exactly on the main road. It’s located after you drive at an intersection that leads to the expressway though you’d enter a much tighter spot…” I trailed but someone is already looking at me.
“Which is?” Oscar asked.
“Our highschool.” Kaley interjected, faintly smiling.
Memories suddenly flooded my head in regards to that place. That place is passable as another base of operations since it has plots of land, several rooms and buildings, leisure areas, three infirmaries and defensible entrances. The only downside to that place is the walls covering the whole highschool since a few places could easily be vaulted on by people. There’s also large houses right next to it where you could simply climb the roof of and just simply jump inside the highschool. Not to mention the trees where you could pretty much do the same thing.
“It just needs a bit of remodeling.” I thought to myself.
“Well you said it’s not on the main road. If we’re talking about simply monitoring that, just have a few people on a rooftop or something to start with. I guess one job today is to scout the place as a start. We could order the soldiers at the DDR Camp there to do it since they’ll be the ones to occupy it in the future.” Oscar suggested.
“That sounds great. Just let them scout it first then and we’ll help them with rebuilding it. We’d provide seedlings and a few animals for them to take care of after that.” I concluded.
“Oh, we’re not doing it ourselves? That place is kinda special, correct?” Tatiana interjected.
“It’s not the place, just the memories we associate it with. Well, we still have to take care of your business, correct?” I smirked when I copied her. Tatiana just raised an eyebrow when she noticed but she just shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt after.
“Well, regarding that, we actually know where one of them is. We found one.” Rin has an excited expression. Tatiana must’ve known already since she’s smiling too.
“That’s great news then!” Kaley was jubilant.
“What?! We do?!” Oscar exclaimed.
“You don’t f.u.c.k.i.n.g know?!” I was flabbergasted.
“THEY DIDN’T TELL ME!!!” Oscar bellowed.
“U-umm- I did! I told everyone yesterday near the end of our meeting!” Rin defended herself.
“Ah- I must’ve suspended my intelligence at that time because of the jabbering here and there. I’m really tired too so I must’ve forgotten. Yep, that sounds about right. Next time, we hold our meeting where the topics are straight to the point.” Oscar nodded a few times but everyone around him is not believing him one bit.
“Really~” I gave the same look.
“What? I’m telling the truth!” he raised his hands up.
“You’re sleeping near the end! Don’t lie!” Charlotte suddenly exploded. The two must’ve been done with the worm bins and now they’re listening to our conversation.
“Give me a break! I’m really old and I need some R&R. Matthew took over for a while with Johnny so it’s all good.” Oscar said.
“Well nevermind that. Where’s the location of Tatiana’s team member? What’s his name? Could you even contact him again?” I asked.
“Umm- he’s at Padre Garcia, a municipality in the City of Batangas. His name is…” Rin is reading through her notes but Tatiana answered for her.
“His name’s Ilya. I bet we could contact him again but there seems to be a schedule.” Tatiana explained.
“Wait, so how did this happen? Did he contact you or did you contact them?” Kaley asked.
“Vera did most of the work but she succeeded with the help of Earl and Juan. She discovered that Earl is in possession of a HAM Radio so they’ve sent feelers out. One thing led to another and they’ve made contact. Well she’s been trying the other two but no luck so far.” Rin replied.
“So I need a few more details. What else do you two know? Did Vera ask about the place’s population, situation on food, security, and etc? If she did and it all checks out, we could take off right now. It’s farther than Manila, maybe eight times as far but I know the place and we have enough fuel. We just need to know his exact location and we could pick him up. If I could talk to the leader of that place, it could open up more possibilities for trade or something similar. Well, we’d give them a gift for taking Ilya in for starters.” I explained.
“Well for starters we need to wake Vera up.” Tatiana chuckled.
We rode the Charger once more and we started to head back to the compound. Oscar wouldn’t give me back the keys but I threatened him by cutting the barrel of his Colt Python in his armory if he’s not aware. He almost exploded but in the end, he asked to drive the Charger around one more time and we just left him alone for now.
“He really likes that car.” I thought to myself.
Several people are already awake and Vera was among them. She’s sitting next to Mikhail that’s been getting climbed upon by some of the kids. He’s just sitting like a statue not moving in fear that some of them might fall off. We approached Vera while Alexei handed her a cup of coffee.
“So you found him? Can you give me a few more details?” I asked.