"Well then, let's take a look. Do you know where the warehouses of the two locations you mentioned earlier are?"
Welles entered the room with an unreadable expression and looked around at the surroundings differently. He also felt that the design here was quite astonishing.
After looking around, his eyes finally settled on the map.
"This… is this… a detailed map of the Appalachian Mountains?"
There was a massive amount of information at a glance, and Welles's brain couldn't process so much data in a short time. After about three minutes, he finally absorbed all the information on the map.
With his eyes wide open, Welles pointed at the black points on the map.
"This… is this map the location data of supply depots in the mountains? It should be correct. These two places are the two special weapons depots that would be used in case of war."
The three grown men in the room looked at each other for a long time and simultaneously showed expressions of surprise.
"Hahaha, this is a damn stroke of luck."
Even Hanna, who was standing at the back watching quietly, became a bit restless.
But in no time, the three of them sat down to discuss this information.
"A total of 25 vehicles arrived here this time… Since this place is good, I plan to use it as a temporary base to calmly and steadily search for nearby supply points."
"The objective this time is very simple. The main task is to identify the classification of these supply points. Then, we must make sure all vehicles are fully loaded with supplies before returning. If that's not enough, then we'll have to find more trucks to transport all these supplies to South Carolina, and from there they'll be moved by cargo helicopters."
"Understood!"
…
In the following days, Jason's group successively searched all the supply points that were relatively close to the surrounding area. There were three in total, and all of them were filled with high-quality supplies. Altogether, they gathered fifteen trucks of weapons and ammunition, and five trucks of food.
This unexpected scene left everyone somewhat confused. They hadn't expected the quantity of supplies to be so enormous. Just one supply point contained an astonishing amount, and the other two also held large quantities.
Suddenly, everyone felt overwhelmed by this "problem of abundance." After all, they couldn't stay in this remote place far from South Carolina forever. Being far from the domains of the S.C.T. made it easy for unexpected accidents to occur.
This place was remote, and Jason didn't want to use cargo helicopters, as that could expose the territory of their new base, which was still stabilizing.
What could they do about it?
Jason had been thinking about it lately. In the end, before requesting air support, Welles suggested temporarily using the entire town where the mansion was located as a base. Then, after finding nearby trucks, they could transport everything back to the base at once.
After considering many aspects, Jason gathered his group, and they decided on an optimal plan.
Knoxville, which was only a few dozen kilometers away, was a good place to investigate. Some people planned to collect a wave of transport vehicles from nearby cities, load up more supplies, and then return to Atlanta, which was the closest route.
But before that, they would continue searching for a suitable location not too far from Atlanta to establish a temporary base, so that materials from the surrounding area could be continuously transported there, and then moved in large quantities to Atlanta.
In this way, the soldiers would have a shelter here that could protect them from wind and rain, and most importantly, their safety would be guaranteed.
Now that the plan had been finalized, the rest was easy to handle.
In the following days, Jason brought back a large number of transport vehicles from nearby cities with several teams and assembled a massive convoy of fifty vehicles. This convoy would head directly back to Atlanta.
The remaining dozens of people went to Knoxville under his personal leadership. Meanwhile, Merle, due to having his own mission, could not go to Knoxville with him. Instead, he followed the convoy back to the base first.
Taking a squad with him and driving the modified RV south, Merle's presence here was no longer necessary.
Merle's mission here had ended, and his next destination was the south—Texas—and, if possible, to scout unexplored areas that Jason's group had left behind.
In fact, Aaron knew the situation in the south, so before leaving, he specifically told Merle to be careful when he got there. After all, the people there were tough, and perhaps only someone like Merle could adapt to those places.
The large convoy of fifty vehicles slowly drove toward Atlanta, and everyone was extremely satisfied with their fully loaded supplies. Merle led ten people as an escort for the convoy, ensuring their safe return.
…
Knoxville is an American city located in Knox County in the state of Tennessee. It is the third-largest city in the state, behind Memphis and Nashville.
According to the 2010 census, Knoxville has a population of 178,874 in the city and 704,230 in the metropolitan area. It is located where the Holston and French Broad rivers meet, forming the Tennessee River.
But now, those beautiful places were silent.
If someone looked down from above the city, they could still see many figures wandering through the streets. A wide river flowed through the southern part of the city—the Tennessee River. A bridge connected both sides, and on the riverbank, several vehicles were heading into the city from the bridge.
As the convoy was about to enter the city, several vehicles suddenly slowed down and gradually stopped at the head of the bridge.
Several people got out of the vehicles, and some soldiers also stepped out of other cars to eliminate the walkers.
"Jason, it looks like there are a lot of walkers in the city!"
Beyond the bridge lay a main street of the city. Standing on the bridge, one could clearly see a dense horde of walkers.
"Let's find a foothold on the outskirts first. We need to secure a building—that one would be good—and use it as a temporary operations base."
As he spoke, Jason pointed at an office building with more than 20 floors not far away.
The convoy started moving again and headed toward that location. A group of more than thirty people quickly got out of the vehicles, all running forward with machetes.
The soldiers of today could be considered battle-hardened. They constantly went out and defended the base, experiencing combat almost every day, which made them numb to such scenes.
The walkers around the building were drawn by the noise and quickly gathered in front. Everyone's movements sped up, and they rapidly cleared out the nearby walkers. Then several people lifted the nearest corpses to the entrance, and everyone rushed into the building.
Jason's group was highly experienced. Some of the people carrying the corpses to the glass doors took out knives and quickly cut open the bellies of several walkers.
The smell that spread was a sharp, foul stench, but these people didn't even frown. They skillfully dragged the corpses several times in front of the entrance, smearing the doors with blood and flesh, and then quickly hid inside the building.
By the time they entered, the nearest walkers were still more than 30 meters away.
When those walkers reached the building's entrance, the scent of the living had long been masked by the filthy blood on the ground. They wandered aimlessly in front of the doors for a moment, then staggered away in another direction.
As for the people who had entered the building, they had already reached the hallway and began clearing the area from the bottom floor upward.
If other survivors saw this scene, they would definitely be shocked by the skilled techniques of these people. It seemed that only those with true experience could understand these small details so well.
No—even experienced people rarely moved with this kind of speed and coordination.