Carver's eyes, which usually carried a hint of irreverent amusement, were now fixed on Calista with rare seriousness. A genuine smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Damn! Calista, that decisiveness of yours—you were born for this kind of work! Ruthless when it counts, and clear-headed as hell!"
Turner also dropped the joking tone and nodded firmly in agreement.
"Exactly! You know when to be soft, and when it's time to be hard you're tougher than rock. And your head's always clear. Following you, the guys feel at ease."
Leah didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes as she watched Calista carried a little more approval than before—along with something faintly like the quiet pride of an elder watching a promising child grow.
Calista felt a small swell of pride at the praise, though she kept her composure.
"That's thanks to all my teachers here."
She cleared her throat and explained Ancheta's suggestion along with her own thoughts.
"I've decided on a name. Ancheta's right—this is our foundation. But 'Twilight Manor' doesn't sound lively enough. What we need isn't just a place to hide. We need a shelter where everyone can survive—and live with some dignity. So—"
Calista paused, her gaze sweeping across the mercenaries in front of her, the people willing to fight and die alongside her. Then she raised her voice.
"From today on, this place will be called 'Rock Fortress'! It's both our base and our home! Our fortress will stand firm as bedrock—a light that tears through the darkness and protects hope!"
"Rock Fortress..." Leah repeated softly, a faint glimmer passing through her eyes.
"Great name!" Carver clapped first. "It's got power. And just the right amount of edgy cringe."
Calista: ...
Thanks. Please sew your mouth shut.
Ancheta rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"Rock Fortress! Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly the feeling our defenses give right now!"
Calista looked around at everyone's reactions—especially Leah's almost imperceptible nod. The tension in her chest finally eased, replaced by a rising sense of ambition.
Rock Fortress.
This would be their home and their base in the apocalypse.
And she would lead these people to survive here—and live better.
...
Two weeks later, inside Rock Fortress.
Calista stood on the terrace outside her office, enjoying the rare luxury of a quiet breeze.
Beneath her feet lay the top-tier winery Mr. Norton had once spent a fortune building deep in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Three sturdy stone main buildings were arranged in a triangular formation, connected by reinforced glass corridors. Just looking at them gave a strong sense of security.
At the foot of the mountain, a vast stretch of fertile land could be faintly seen. That was Mr. Norton's other property—Blackberry Ranch.
Before the apocalypse, it had been known as the number one countryside leisure destination in America.
It was also one of the most luxurious private ranches in the country, covering an enormous area.
During the divorce, Margaret had fought hard to claim Blackberry Ranch, but in the end it still remained under Old Norton's name.
Calista thought to herself rather shamelessly: although neither property was given to her during the division of assets, weren't they hers now anyway?
She stroked her chin thoughtfully.
Once they had enough manpower, she would definitely make use of the ranch and turn it into a secondary base—growing crops and raising livestock.
Self-sufficiency was the only real way forward.
Inside the base, things were also flourishing.
The rescued families—Martha the brewer and Tom the repairman—had become much more obedient. Especially after witnessing the "performance" of the National Guard zombies last time, Mira had completely deflated and no longer dared to run her mouth.
And after little Jimmy "accidentally" overheard Calista secretly telling Rickson that Rock Fortress was short on supplies and asking him to throw out a few of the lazier people…
The adults had suddenly become far more hardworking.
Mira even took the initiative to ask Mrs. Howard for chores.
But Calista knew that with their current manpower—twenty-three core mercenaries, a few civilians, plus the Howard couple and Evans—they could barely hold the base.
If they wanted to expand, let alone realize her dream of turning Blackberry Ranch into a secondary base, it was nowhere near enough.
Thinking about everything that needed to be done made her head ache.
Calista scratched her hair.
First, she needed to find more barbed wire, steel rebar, and cement to reinforce the outer walls. Ideally, they could fence off the entire forest within a three-kilometer radius with barbed wire to block any stray walkers wandering down from the mountains.
Second, if survivors like Martha and Tom kept showing up, they couldn't just gun them down like Brian.
But they also couldn't accept just anyone without standards.
Rock Fortress needed clear rules for recruitment and a proper management structure.
Most importantly, everyone had to obey orders and work diligently.
The more capable the people under her were, the more relaxed her own life would become.
There was a saying for that, wasn't there?
You work yourself to death, and next year the boss upgrades his car.
"We need to take the initiative! We can't just sit here waiting for people to show up!"
Calista raised her fist toward the mist-covered valley and pumped it hard, as if cheering herself on.
Passive recruitment?
That was far too inefficient.
She would go find people—people who were actually useful.
Especially soldiers.
She couldn't expect everyone to be as capable as retired special forces like Leah and her team, but soldiers were still far better than ordinary civilians.
At the very least, their discipline was unquestionable.
The first thing that popped into her mind was the unfortunate National Guard unit Rick and the others encountered outside Atlanta in the original storyline.
Those soldiers had been guarding a well-stocked camp, only to be ambushed by that psychopath—the Governor—and his men. The entire unit was wiped out, and their supplies were looted.
Judging by the timeline, the apocalypse had only started a little over a month ago.
That unit should still exist.
If she could reach them before the Governor and bring those troops—along with their equipment and supplies—into Rock Fortress...
That would basically be a gift from the heavens.
After all, equipment like tanks and military aircraft couldn't be bought with money. Even if she somehow obtained them, she wouldn't know how to operate them.
What she really wanted was the full package—equipment and trained operators.
Unfortunately, she had no idea where that group currently was.
If she ran into them in the future, she'd deal with it then.
For now, Calista reluctantly turned her attention to the resources she could tap closer to home.
Knoxville had several military bases.
McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base.
The headquarters of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
And the 1-181 Infantry Battalion training base.
These were the military installations she knew about, and she needed to send people to check whether there were any survivors.
If regular soldiers joined them, Rock Fortress's combat strength and organization would jump to an entirely new level.
No time to waste.
Calista immediately called a meeting of the core members.
Inside the spacious stone hall of the main building, Carver leaned against the wall, while Turner and Bossie stood in another corner with their arms folded.
Leah, Rickson, Mike, Ancheta, Evans, and Mr. Howard gathered around a massive solid-wood dining table. Spread across it was a detailed map of the Great Smoky Mountains region they had acquired earlier.
"Alright everyone, time for a new job."
Calista got straight to the point, circling the military bases near Knoxville on the map with a pen.
...
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