The Story Untold

Part 7 - The Proposal

"When I came to talk to you about the new house, Joel searched the rest of the house we were in, in case there was anything useful. There was a secret room in the back of the house that has more and better weapons than the ones we grabbed. We figured that you'd wanna go take a look, and keep the better weapons for security and protection." 

"Hm. I never knew that Thomas had those. I guess he wanted to be prepared in case anything happened. Well, I'm glad you thought of the safety of the town first. Walk with me, I wanna talk to you two about something."

Tommy looks over at Joel, who shrugs and says "It'd be rude not to."

They all start walking back towards the house, and Shaun gets the conversation started. 

"As the leader of this town, I need to make sure it's safe for everybody to live here. Safety, however, needs to be enforced. And maintained. We need a group here who is in charge of security and safety, and I've been watching how you two are. You carry yourselves confidently, you've been through so much yet still focus on the task ahead. You're both natural-born leaders, which is why I want you two to be in charge of the team."

Tommy gets excited, and immediately agrees to the proposal. Joel, however, seems a little worried. 

"Shaun, I'm flattered at the offer, and that you think so highly of us, but being in charge of a group just ain't my thing. I'll still help out however I can, whether that be hunting, gathering, or scoping out the land around here."

Shaun seems a little disappointed, but still optimistic. "That's perfectly fine with me. I just wanted to make sure at least one of you were up to the task." They make it to the house and Shaun pauses in the threshold. "Now, where are these guns you told me about?"

Joel leads Shaun to the empty room, then opens the wall again. "I closed it back up before you got here, so no one else would try stealing anything else."

Shaun crosses his arms and nods. "Good thinking. Most people in this town are good people, but there are a few I wouldn't trust with a weapon."

Joel fully opens the wall, and turns on the light in the room. Shaun's arms drop to his sides and his eyes widen. He looks around the room, inspecting the different rifles, shotguns, explosives, and handguns. With each inspection, he becomes more and more impressed. He turns around and faces the brothers, with an excited boyish look on his face. 

"These will be perfect. Thank you both for showing me these."

Tommy smiles a little, proud of himself and still excited for being placed in charge of the security team. "It's no problem. We just wanna make sure everyone else stays safe." 

Shaun walks up to Tommy and Joel and shakes their hands. "You're both good men. I'm glad you made it to our town when you did. Joel, if you want, I can give you your own task that will let you work alone, and still help out the town."

"It'll be good to have something to do." Joel leans against the wall behind him and crosses his arms. 

"I want you to go out often and scout out the surrounding areas. See if there are survivors, find places with increased runners, new hunting grounds and such." 

Joel looks down a bit and thinks, then replies to the offer. "I'll do it."

"Perfect. Now, understand. This task I've given you is the hardest one there is. I don't want to risk anybody from my town doing this, and honestly, I don't think anybody else would be able to pull it off successfully."

"I understand. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Glad we can agree. Now, let's move these outta here." Shaun starts opening a large duffel bag he brought with him. 

Tommy and Joel open their backpacks and start packing the handguns and ammo while Shaun packs up the rifles and shotguns. Soon, they have all the weapons packed in their bags. They walk back to Shaun's house, and bring the guns down to the basement. Shaun has turned his basement into a survival shelter, with a generator, a table with a map of the town and immediate area, and multiple gun racks on the wall. Shaun has them put their bags by the gun racks, and they all stand at the table. Shaun faces Joel and has a serious expression on his face. 

"Your task lasts as long as you want it to. You'll have a radio on you, and Tommy and I will have the others. I'll provide you with weapons and clothes, but you will have to get your own food. It'll be too dangerous for you to carry around food in the woods, especially at a time like this."

Joel leans on the table, looking at the terrain around the town. He looks back up at Shaun with a serious and slightly dark expression on his face. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow."