hsntnovel Chapter 244 Joint Operations
Chapter 244 Joint Operations
Chapter 243 Disaster is Imminent (5k)
It's almost five o'clock now, and while the sky is turning red from the setting sun, it still feels a little gray overall.
The car, with its headlights on, sped recklessly down the road, making it difficult to see any details.
Because the view was blocked by the lights.
However, people didn't confirm it with their eyes. After Wang Ling finished speaking, Nikita took out her walkie-talkie, pressed the call button, and said softly.
"Gavin, a vehicle is approaching our temporary outpost in Marin City from the south. Its headlights are very bright. Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me. It's getting dark. Once I arrive at the RV campground, we'll get ready to go home."
Gavin gave a brief response, which immediately elicited an instinctive cheer from the RV campsite.
In this desolate, post-apocalyptic world where humanity is all alone, although people may not say they care much, in their hearts, every parting and reunion is a wonderful thing worth remembering.
Hearing the commotion, Nikita quickly clapped her hands.
"Don't yell, guys! Go check the surroundings, get the vehicles ready, and we'll leave together when the boss gets back!"
"receive!"
"No problem, madam."
"Yes, madam."
As Gavin and Nikita grew closer, Nikita's status had long since risen along with Gavin's solidified power structure.
Moreover, Nikita isn't a bad person. Although she's a bit aloof, she's very hardworking and quite brave.
There's no reason for anyone to dislike a hostess like this.
Of course, in everyone's mind, Gavin also has a little shadow following him around, namely Winnie.
Although that brat always pricks up her butt at Nikita and seems to dislike her, everyone knows that she holds a high position. Who knows what her relationship with Gavin really is?
Moreover, Winnie is still very young and is a true founding member of Camp Gavin.
On the first day at Camp Gavin, eight people miraculously gathered together, and Winnie was one of them.
Apart from Eugene, the other eight people, even without any clear division of labor or positions, were enough to be treated differently simply because they were brought together on the first day.
In short, the men listened to Nikita without hesitation and went to prepare the surrounding area.
However, because they hadn't prepared in advance, there was still a lot of work to be done at the RV campsite. Even when Gavin stopped around the campsite, the work wasn't finished.
Gavin then led Eugene and the other two out of the car and joined the crew to get to work.
At the same time Gavin got out of the car, not far away...
Martin also pulled Sean toward Gavin.
Gavin hadn't noticed Sean yet; after all, this was his own territory, and Gavin wasn't particularly wary of his men.
Until Martin spoke to Gavin from afar.
"Boss, look who this is! We found a Sean in the Walmart warehouse today!"
"What? Sean? Didn't he go to Shepard to change planes today?"
Gavin was taken aback, only then noticing Sean standing there with a blank expression on his face.
This Sean was much younger than the family's pilot Sean, but his face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. Bathed in the setting sun, they looked even redder, like they had Amaterasu's special effects applied.
As for the beard and hygiene issues that have plagued him for the past month, Sean had been washed in the RV's bathroom by his crew during the day, and his beard was shaved off, so he didn't look particularly messy.
Upon seeing the new Sean, Gavin quickly took two steps forward, grabbed the dazed Sean's hand, and shook it as he spoke.
"You're also named Sean? You were found in a Walmart warehouse? Good heavens, how long were you trapped there? I never imagined there were actually any living people there!"
As he spoke, Gavin rolled his eyes speechlessly.
How could someone be locked in a warehouse?
Moreover, he passed through Marin City and the Walmart warehouse area twice without noticing anything!
At this point, Sean finally came to his senses and had a good talk with Gavin about his situation.
After chatting, the guys finished packing up and loaded all the supplies to take home onto the vehicle. They also set up basic protective measures for the RV campsite, such as various types of shelters, around the campsite.
And so, the men got ready and rushed home towards the setting sun.
Accidents don't happen so easily on the road they just drove on during the day. Before 6:10, the guys, speeding along, drove into the garage amidst cheers and announcements from the sentry.
Gavin then treated his men to dinner, and afterwards showed the newcomer Sean the zombie survival manual he had heard about countless times.
In addition, Thomas, Lao Feng, and others also reported to Gavin on their internal and logistical work after the meal.
After taking care of all the work, Gavin had a good talk with the guys about the training system for both internal and external staff that Eugene and Edward had discussed with him.
Thomas and others were also prepared for the training.
That's right, the training isn't just for field staff; Gavin's plan also includes training for office and support staff in batches.
Needless to say, those in the office who are responsible for patrolling the area around the camp and policing inside the camp need to be quite skilled.
As for the logistics staff, although Doris, who is only responsible for cooking, doesn't need much high-intensity training, others who aspire to switch from logistics to office work still need to prove themselves through training results.
Incidentally, this also maximizes the screening of the true elites in the camp.
Even in the military, elite soldiers are considered one in a thousand, let alone in this apocalyptic world.
The more people you train, the more opportunities you have to discover outstanding field agents.
Gavin still has some expectations for this.
With anticipation for the training plan to be fully implemented, Gavin ended his workout for the night and took Nikita back to their room.
After the tender moments, another beautiful night passed.
The next morning, Gavin unusually got up early and went to the bathroom to shower by himself.
The sound of the shower slowly woke the tired Nikita, who then rolled her eyes and began to tidy up the bedding.
Gavin's physique was a bit overweight, and Nikita always felt like she was about to be poked through.
Recalling the sense of defeat she felt every night, the little girl was a little too happy, but couldn't help feeling frustrated.
My physical condition is really bad. If it were Grandma Tara facing Gavin, Gavin would definitely lose, right?
After all, Aunt Tara is a super-tall woman who's 2.1 meters tall, while I'm just a petite girl who's less than 1.7 meters tall.
With that thought in mind, Nikita got out of bed and started getting dressed.
As she picked up the clothes, she couldn't help but chuckle.
The image of Aunt Tara and Gavin made her laugh so hard she could hardly stop. The scene was just too incongruous, haha—oh dear!
Just as she was laughing, Nikita stumbled, felt a sharp pain in her bottom, and then looked at her belly with a completely bewildered expression.
In the bathroom, Gavin heard Nikita's voice and poked his head out to ask her a question.
"What's wrong, Nikki?"
"It's nothing, it's just—it's really broken—"
Nikita rolled her eyes at Gavin, then threw off her underwear and snuggled into his arms, acting all cute.
Gavin then checked on Nikita's condition under the washing water.
I was definitely a bit rough; Nikita not only got a cut, but it was also a bit swollen.
this----
Helpless, Gavin pinched Nikita's tummy and said.
"Nikki, don't go out on fieldwork today. Go and check on the old man. Just go quietly by yourself."
"No, I don't want to!"
Nikita immediately shook her head frantically; she had no intention of going to the doctor for something so stupid!
It's not about the so-called taboo of men and women not touching each other. Nikita and Gavin both treated old Bert like their father. Besides, American patients and doctors don't have that much inexplicable sense of shame.
only----
If word gets out that I'm not participating in fieldwork because of this—
Nikita didn't want to be mocked in the face by that brat Winnie!
Seeing Nikita's earnestness, Gavin could only nod and then offer a word of advice.
"Alright then, but you'll have to stay home today. While you're at it, go get some anti-inflammatory medicine from Old Bert and tell him you have a sore throat."
"I see."
Nikita nodded helplessly, and the two of them finished showering and left the room.
After greeting the other early risers, Nikita stayed on the sofa to read, while Gavin took Old Feng and the two rode horses to the grasslands to walk the dogs.
Anyway, there's still a long way to go before breakfast at eight o'clock, so an hour of walking the dog and him is enough time.
The two then led their pack of dogs to explore all the facilities around the camp.
However, two special guys from the pack didn't come: the two huskies from Granger Lake who looked like refugees from hunger.
The two dogs were now lying at Nikita's feet, too exhausted to even move.
They were both so thin they looked like specimens!
However, Old Burt had checked them out, and the huskies were quite resilient.
These fierce dogs, which work as sled dogs in Siberia, are generally very reliable, except when their brains go scramble from the heat.
Both dogs only need a few days of extra nutrition and plenty of water to easily recover to their original state.
However, I might have a bit of osteoporosis, so I can't pull the sled for the next few months.
But the camp doesn't need them to haul snow for the time being, does it?
Besides, there isn't even any snow at the campsite yet.
While Gavin and Lao Feng were observing the camp, Lao Feng also offered his suggestions regarding the direction of the chicken farm.
In Lao Feng's opinion, the current number of logistics personnel at the camp would make it quite difficult to take full control of the cattle and horse herds.
The herd is so large that unless helicopters are used for herding, it would take at least thirty professional cowboys working together to manage it properly.
As for the horse herd, that's even more meticulous. Letting them live like wild horses is fine, and no one needs to interfere. But if you really want to take full responsibility for them, you'll need at least a hundred people.
Therefore, when cattle and horses were all unable to get involved, Lao Feng felt that the current camp logistics should be able to take on the responsibility of the chicken farm.
In other words, instead of letting the chickens die every day, they send people to professionally manage and maintain the chicken farm!
As they were talking, the two of them happened to arrive near the chicken farm.
As Old Feng rode slowly, he pointed out to Gavin the dead hens.
"Boss, farmed chickens need at least two generations of breeding before they can truly regain the habits of wild chickens and have a little more resistance to nature."
"And now, even if it doesn't rain, every night some stupid chickens play themselves to death, or get trampled to death by passing cows or horses, or just stand there motionless and die inexplicably."
"When I first arrived at the camp, there were probably more than 40,000 chickens."
"But now, especially on those rainy nights, at least 15,000 hens have died, or even more, possibly up to 18,000."
"This quantity is such a waste! Besides, in the apocalypse, eggs are truly the best source of protein and nutrition, and every guy in the camp needs them!"
"Furthermore, with the number of people in the camp approaching one hundred, the daily demand for eggs has exceeded eight hundred. At this rate, we not only need to maintain our own flock, but also need to find other flocks from nearby farms to supplement our own to meet the increasing demand from the camp in the future!"
At this point, Lao Feng shared his internal simulation with Gavin.
In his calculations, the growth in the number of people in the camp and the demand for eggs and chicken would probably exceed the natural growth of the camp's chicken population in less than six months.
The rate of increase in numbers is certainly something to look forward to for Gavin.
However, whether the camp can be adequately supplied with resources will put some pressure on the overall logistics.
Gavin nodded in agreement, planning to have a proper discussion about this with Thomas after dinner.
After finishing their dog walk, the two took their panting dogs and Octavian, who hadn't broken a sweat, home.
After dinner, Gavin shared Lao Feng's advice with Thomas for about fifteen minutes, giving Thomas a general idea.
Then, Gavin took Philip, Eugene Martin, and the other two pilots who were about to graduate, and boarded Edward, Sean, and Steve's Black Hawk helicopters respectively. They left the rooftop and followed the convoy on the ground toward Marin City.
Marin City is certainly not to be overlooked. The value of a Walmart supermarket and its corresponding logistics and transfer warehouses is not something that Camp Gavin can consume in a short period of time.
Don't even mention how long it would take to consume all those supplies.
With the current number of field personnel available to the camp, excluding the airborne personnel, the ground explorers probably wouldn't be able to empty those warehouses even if they worked for a month straight.
This is a happy dilemma, a survival convenience provided to a few survivors by an excessive surplus of resources after heavy human losses.
In short, emptying Walmart is a huge project that would require the camp to be busy for at least a month.
In addition to this project, the explorers also had to send people to retrieve bodies from the lake, set up outposts and guard posts in the surrounding area, and continuously search for repeater stations to expand the communication range of the camp's intercom.
In summary, the expansion plan for Marin City directly brought the Gavin Camp, which had slightly more manpower, back to the same old problem.
We're short-staffed!
They are desperately short-staffed.
There are so many things they can do!
And so, Gavin, flying in the sky, sat inside the Black Hawk, gazing at Austin in the distance.
He was really looking forward to meeting Cedar Camp and Granite Beach Camp today!
There were eleven people at Camp Lucien, and a full fifteen at Camp Margaret.
If he can take over both camps, his camps will suddenly have an extra quarter of manpower!
What a huge improvement that would be!
But----
Just as Gavin, filled with anticipation, brought the plane close to the vicinity of the Cedar Camp nickel mine.
Just as Gavin took out his walkie-talkie to call Margaret.
That's right. Before they left yesterday, they left Margaret a walkie-talkie for communication when the helicopter picks her up today.
When Gavin pressed the intercom button, there was no response.
All he got was a busy signal!
Hearing the busy tone on the walkie-talkie, Philip, who had been all smiles, started to panic.
"Boss, are Margaret and the others still asleep? Damn it, are they still asleep?"
"I don't know!"
Hearing Philip's flustered words, Gavin's expression turned somewhat grim. He turned on his headset and spoke to the three planes.
"After the pilot surveyed the surrounding area and confirmed that there were no zombies, he landed the plane directly on the roof of the nickel mine, where there was enough space to accommodate us."
"Everyone else, prepare for battle. Follow me to inspect the situation at the Cedar Camp nickel mine!"
"receive."
"receive."
"no problem."
The three planes fell to the ground and quickly landed on the roof of the nickel mine.
Gavin left pilots Paul and Nicholas to guard the roof while he led Philip, Martin, and Eugene into the nickel mine to conduct a serious inspection.
The nickel mine was now empty, as quiet as if everyone had vanished.
Or rather, the nickel mine is where everyone disappeared!
Margaret's office was eerily quiet, with no signs of demolition, but no one was sitting there anymore!
When Gavin raised his hand and gently touched Margaret's desk.
Martin and Eugene spoke to Gavin and Philip over the intercom.
"Boss, go to the third room on the left of that office. There's a dead body here—it's Nathan, the one we saw yesterday!"
"receive."
Upon hearing this, Gavin let out a sigh of relief, while Philip gritted his teeth and followed Gavin out of Margaret's office, heading towards Nathan's room.
A moment later, Gavin opened the door, and Martin pointed to the body on the bed.
Eugene had not mistaken the person; the deceased was indeed Nathan, Margaret's driver.
Nathan died peacefully, without any signs of fighting; he died lying in his bed.
His neck had been slashed open with a huge gash, and his forehead had been chiseled open with a hammer. His brain matter was sticky and covered with a few fungal hyphae, mixed with his pillow.
Seeing Gavin observing silently, Martin licked his lips and said expressionlessly.
"Boss, their camp has been infiltrated. The person who did it is very skilled; there are signs of a hunter. The cut that tore Nathan's neck was the same way I use a dagger—a horizontal slash followed by a slight twist before pulling out, manually creating a blood groove!"
As he spoke, Martin gestured briefly.
Philip then suddenly raised his hand and slammed it onto the bed.
A moment later, Philip looked up and said fiercely to Gavin.
"Boss Gavin, this must have been Lucien's doing. I suspect the reason we didn't see them at Lucien's camp after we left yesterday is because they haven't given up on their aiming for Cedar Camp since their attack yesterday morning!"
"That's right, I think so too!"
Eugene, standing nearby, spat and tugged at Martin's arm.
"Boss, let's check the nickel mine's security room and other rooms again. There might be survivors or zombies there. We need to check everything!"
"We await your orders and are ready to head to Granite Beach at any time. Hopefully, those efficient guys won't let us down, hehe!"
Eugene didn't feel sad at all; he wasn't very familiar with the guys at the Cedar Camp.
On the contrary, he was now somewhat excited because he felt that he could finally fight a living person.
In Eugene's eyes, sniping humans and zombie dogs is hardly a feat, as evidenced by the boasts he's made.
Eugene is a boastful person; he claims that he has killed thousands of zombies.
However, the number of kills he claims to have actually achieved in combat remains the same as the original thirty-seven, and it hasn't changed since.
It's clear that Eugene values his actual sniper kills on living people more!
And Gavin.
Hearing Eugene's cold laugh, he let out a soft breath, then waved to Eugene and Martin.
"Continue the inspection in groups, move quickly, and get to the granite beach camp as soon as possible."
"Sigh, I hope Lucien hasn't had time to kill too many people yet, and I hope this is just a disaster between Lucien's and Margaret's camps."
"Otherwise, if a third unknown camp gets involved, the situation near Austin will become far too complicated!"
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