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...
All these thoughts flashed through Calista's mind in an instant.
Outwardly, she was only silent for a few seconds.
Calista tilted her head slightly and gave Leah, who still stood beside her with a tense expression, a look, signaling for her to stay calm.
Leah paused. Although she did not understand, she still loosened the hand resting on her holster a little.
Based on her experience, that look on her sister's face meant she was tempted.
Calista turned her gaze back to Lieutenant Welles. Her tone was no longer as hostile as before, carrying instead a curious, probing edge. "The National Guard. I didn't expect to run into an organized unit. You came from a military base?"
Lieutenant Welles keenly caught the subtle change in her attitude and felt slightly relieved. He quickly answered, "Yes, ma'am.
After the base fell, we took as much equipment and as many personnel as we could and have been searching for a stronghold where we can hold out long-term and sustain ourselves."
His tone carried exhaustion and uncertainty, which only confirmed Calista's guess.
They were a group of stragglers who had lost their direction and desperately needed a base.
"Looking for a stronghold…" Calista repeated, her gaze sweeping over the Black Hawk helicopter. Her tone was calm but meaningful. "With a big thing like that, you're not exactly easy to miss. Fuel, maintenance, landing sites. All of those are problems."
What she pointed out was one of the core difficulties this team was currently facing.
Franklin, the pilot, could not help cutting in. "Yeah, maintenance is a real pain. A lot of parts are impossible to find, and fuel…"
"Franklin," Lieutenant Welles interrupted in a low voice, giving his pilot a helpless look, as if blaming him for revealing too much too quickly.
But he also understood that since he had chosen to be honest, some problems could not be avoided.
Calista took all of this in, feeling even more certain.
She did not keep digging into the technical details. Instead, she changed direction and asked a question that sounded casual but was actually crucial. "You've been wandering out here for so long. Have you ever run into any other… larger communities? For example, a place called Woodbury?"
She fixed her eyes firmly on Lieutenant Welles.
Lieutenant Welles shook his head blankly. "Woodbury? Never heard of it. We mainly operate in the mountains and around the outskirts of abandoned towns. But it's getting colder now, so our original plan was to head south before winter set in."
Franklin and Sean behind him also said they had never heard the name.
Heading south from near the Clayton Mountains would roughly put them in Woodbury's direction.
Perfect!
Calista's heart settled.
That meant the Governor's claws had not reached them yet.
At this point, Calista had no more hesitation.
She had to get this group.
A faint smile finally appeared on her face, and her tone softened considerably. "Looks like you've been lucky enough to avoid a lot of trouble.
It can't be easy wandering around with this many people and this much equipment. We have a fairly stable base in Tennessee. At the moment, we've got a few hundred people there."
When Sean heard the scale of Calista's base, he could not help saying, "That's wonderful!"
Hearing that, Leah silently counted the number of people at the base in her head and said nothing.
Calista: I know this one!
A proper workhorse knew exactly how to polish data and reports.
Once this group of soldiers went back with them, they should be close to two hundred.
This time, Lieutenant Welles did not scold his subordinate for being impatient, because his own eyes had lit up as well.
Combined with the equipment and presence of the people in front of him, Calista's words seemed all the more credible and confident.
Lieutenant Welles's attitude became even better. "May I ask… how should we address you?"
The three of them still did not know the name of this young leader with such an extraordinary presence.
"Calista Norton." She gave her name, then naturally extended an invitation. "Lieutenant Welles, if you don't mind, we can talk. About your camp, and about our community."
Calista's proposal was perfectly reasonable. It gave the other side a way down while also creating a chance for deeper conversation.
Lieutenant Welles looked at Calista, then at the team members behind her. Thinking of the difficulties his camp was facing and their uncertain future, he barely hesitated.
"Then we'll impose on you, Ms. Norton." He nodded, accepting the olive branch.
The tense atmosphere eased completely.
The Rock Fortress team members silently put away their weapons and made room.
Ethan handed water and a small amount of food to the three newcomers. Lieutenant Welles accepted it gratefully and took a sip of the warm water.
"Thank you again for your hospitality, Ms. Norton." Lieutenant Welles set down the water and began to explain. "We're from Fort Benning."
He corrected his earlier vague statement, sounding even more sincere. "When the disaster broke out, the base was in complete chaos. Our unit had about forty men. We managed to get out with the Black Hawk that could still fly, along with some vehicles and equipment."
Lieutenant Welles's gaze grew distant, as if he had returned to those nightmare days. "At first, we still tried to contact our superiors and find any remaining government forces, but communications were completely cut off. Those things were everywhere.
We were like headless chickens, hiding wherever we could, running into small hordes along the way. Our brothers fell one after another…"
His voice caught slightly. Franklin and Sean lowered their heads as well, and the mood grew heavy for a moment.
"Now, there are only fifteen of us left." Lieutenant Welles took a deep breath and forced himself to pull together. "We're temporarily staying at an abandoned logging camp to the east, surviving on the supplies we brought with us and the occasional scavenging run.
Our supplies… can last a while longer, but living off reserves won't work forever. And the men's morale is low. No one knows where we'll be tomorrow, much less what comes after."
He shook his head with a bitter smile. "This flight was meant to help us find safer ground. A place we could truly call home."
Calista listened quietly without interrupting.
Only after Welles finished did she slowly speak. "Lieutenant Welles, I understand your situation. Losing your foundation and drifting aimlessly through despair. That feeling alone is enough to crush someone."
Calista's words made Welles and the other two look up despite themselves.
"We may be able to offer what you're looking for." She began to describe it, her tone carrying no exaggerated boasting.
After all, among the survivor camps at this stage, Rock Fortress was definitely near the top.
"My base is in Tennessee. The terrain is strategic, easy to defend and hard to attack. We've already built a complete defensive system, and we have large areas of fertile land.
The base has professional agricultural experts in charge. We've already achieved partial self-sufficiency in grain and vegetables, and we're expanding our livestock operations. Food is not our most urgent problem."
...
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