The Mississippi Zombie Chronicals

Chapter 44: Rise to Power

Shutting her eyelids, stabbing her in the temple to keep her from turning, and taking her dog tags, I gingerly lay Mary down in Kylie's arms.

"Well. You heard the lady. I'm in command now. Prepare her a grave and a headstone. The rest of you, get back to work on your tasks. As for our new group, I need to talk to you all. Wade, Rooke, Maxy, you stay. Somebody get Jack and Alex in here too." I said, gripping Mary's dog tags.

The soldiers returned to their posts, while the new group stayed.

"Alright, listen. You're all new here. And we all need to start trusting each other. Everything we do will be transparent, you have any questions, you ask. Starting now, you will all be assessed for your skills. If you can fight and shoot, you'll start training with Rooke and I. If you have mechanical know-how, you'll be assigned here. If you have medical training, you'll be assigned to our medic. Any questions?" I said.

No one raised their hands or spoke up.

"Good. Now, Wade and Maxy will escort those of you who won't be training with Rooke and I to your assignments. The rest of you, stay here." I said.

"If you have medical training, follow Maxy, if you have mechanical knowledge, follow me." Said Wade.

Most of the group went with the others.

"Alrighty then. Six of you stayed. Two three man teams." I said.

I walked up to the men, two older, one middle aged and three younger ones. As I'm going over the new members, Jack and Alex arrived, Rook telling them about what had just happened. 

"Form a straight line. I have questions for each of you." I said as the men moved into position.

Walking to the first one in line, I noticed it was Colin.

"Age, Experience, and Weapon skills?" I asked.

"Age, 23. Experience, police officer. Weapons skills, assualt rifles." Said Colin.

I made my way down the line, "Name, age, experience, and weapons skills."

The next man was a little older.

"Name is Adrien, 47. I was a PMC, preferred weapon is a light machine gun."

Next.

"My names Butch. I'm 25. I've got a background in weapons technology and advanced tactics. My preferred weapon is this bad boy." He said, pulling out his .357 Magnum.

Next.

"My name is William. I'm 48 years young. I was in the guard. Former rank of 1st Sergeant. Weapon of choice is assualt submachine guns, kinda like yours. Only, I prefer the AUG para."

Next.

"I'm Ace." Said the young man. He had two bandoliers of shotgun shells on his chest. "Used to be a door breacher for SWAT. I love me a shotgun. I'm 27, by the way." Ace said.

"And last but not least." I said.

"Names Cass. 35. Private security. I'm an over-watch kinda guy. I can use any DMR or bolt action sniper rifle. And I'm usually pretty quite." Said Cass.

"Alrighty then. Let's get started." I said with a smile.

The training of my new squads was going well. It helped that these guys had experience. I let the two older men be squad leaders, Will and Adrien did very well in leading their respective squads.

Colin and Cass were the number twos, with Ace and Butch being the lowest ranking members, but still efficient and deadly in their own rights.

So far, we had four full squads of fighting men: Wade, Rooke, Maxy, and I were Phantom squad. William, Colin, and Ace were Dragon squad. Adrien, Cass, and Butch formed Lightning squad. Alex, Jack, and Kylie formed Mamba squadron.

We continued to train for a few weeks before I felt comfortable enough to let the squads run their own ops. Jack and Alex took up command positions within the complex, with Kylie taking over her mother's day to day jobs, assisting me with the ongoing operations within the community. Running a militia/commune was not easy.

                                                                              Three Weeks Later

"Lightning squad, we need you to secure supplies here, at the feed store in Vaiden. Dragon squad, you're on survivor retrieval. We've found a group of scavengers that are holed up inside an abandoned factory in Winona. As for Phantom, we're going to Jackson." I said, pointing at the map.

Mouths dropped at the last statement.

"Bob, why the hell are we going to Jackson?" Asked Maxy.

"Ammo and weapons mostly." I simply said.

"We can get all that here." Said Rooke.

"I didn't wanna mention it when we first arrived, but I know of a stash of M-60 machine guns and ammo is. It's at the ANG base. I had my brother and I stash two crates full in one of the offices, locked away. But now that I know I can trust all of you, I figured it was time." I said.

"Then let's get to it." Said Rooke.

The other squads went and got geared up as Phantom squad left out. We took one of the trucks, which we used only as an emergency means or heavy lifting op, to the ANG base.

But what we found was much more than we knew we would.

We found Him.