Chapter 1040 What do you get out of this?
As I asked all of them to look around in the place they'd been for months, probably even longer if they were a long-time homeowner, they looked at me confused initially before the realization hit that the place they've known to love and worked so hard for to call their own was just a smidge of what it used to be.
This place was essentially just a collection of fancy houses around this 14-foot concrete wall that only had a basketball court, tennis court, and a multipurpose hall to keep things "interesting".
But now, it had random shit all around and everyone else's lawn had turned into this hodge-podge of random crops planted asymmetrically with a few chickens or ducks running around with a dog or two.
Even one of the houses was burned to the ground for some reason—which we weren't responsible for—but there were more that looked like a crack house of sorts due to the attacks it failed to fend for long ago.
But yeah, the house that stood above the rest was definitely Mr. Crisologo's because not only did it had a separate wall made of chain-linked fences with a tarp cover, but it also had the fancy stuff any survivor could ask for like solar panels, flood lights, and a fuck ton of resources my team recovered beforehand.
It was safe to say that this place needed more than its hole in the wall to be fixed but the gated community as a whole.
This would just be a ton of work and it would've been much, much better if they moved back to my place, but somehow, I doubt that was ever going to happen. Above all else, these homeowners still had pride for the amount of work they put in to build or pay for their homes and that was one of the reasons they didn't leave this place the moment we cleared it off a few hundred zomb-fuckers.
Even if a fucking dictator-dumbass were to lead them, they wouldn't want to leave the place they called home.
But yeah, as they were lamenting the fact of what happened in the span of time they were living in tyranny, it obviously got emotional for them, but these people have stuck it all this time, they obviously wouldn't stop now that they had the freedom to do what they want.
"Had a good look? Yeah? Here's what'll happen, in the span of a month or two, I'll have my builders, soldiers, and whatnot rebuild this place from the ground up but if you have a particular set of skills that could help them, step the fuck up so it'd be much easier for us. Aside from turning that wall into a gate, we'd turn some of the vacant lots and houses to be dedicated facilities for farming, crafts, soldiers, fixing up vehicles, communications, etc. This place will be one of my outposts and the requirement for that is it should be able to survive and live on its own."
Mr. Garciano interjected, "I do look forward to this, can my soldiers stay for the time being?"
I nodded, "Of course, they'll be well-fed and taken care of as everyone else's from now on, but that's contingent they keep their bodies in tip-top shape as they could finish our trainee's course every single day. And in regards to people like John over there who goes on runs, as this place is getting built from the ground up, you can join one of my clearing or scouting groups to see how we do things and they'll teach you a lot of stuff in killing deadheads and finding things in the weirdest of places."
"How about me?" Brenda, the one who grew vegetables, raised her hand.
"Well, what did you do before the world ended?" I asked earnestly.
"Sales."
"In what?"
"P-Pretty much anything. I do livestreams at home and just sell a bunch of stuff. Anything that's trending that time, I'll get my hands on it until it fades."
"Hmm~ Here's another question: What do YOU wanna do now?"
"..."
"Brenda. You work in sales, you gotta be able to sell yourself—"
She never looked so shocked, "WHAT?! I'M NOT—"
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! That's not— Wrong choice of words, but you know what I meant. It just came out wrong, alright?" then I turned to my group at the back, "Stop laughing! I know it's funny but— Haa…" then I turned to Brenda again, "On an unrelated note, we do have people working in that type of industry—definitely consensual on their part and everyone's getting tested the whole she-bang—but if you're having trouble finding the right path, I'd suggest doing about everything else my camp has to offer and decide from there."
"A-Aren't there any jobs that require my expertise?"
"Hmm~ At the moment? No. It's because we have a fixed rate—it varies still sometimes but very negligible—for trading goods with each of our outposts and allies, but it's a different thing if our scouting group comes across a friend or neutral camp that has items for trade."
"C-Can't I just come with a scouting group?"
"How many walkers have you killed?"
"W-What?"
"That's probably zero. How many humans have you killed?"
"That's… I don't understand the connection."
I sighed as I shook my head, "That's the thing. You should be able to understand at least that for you to be eligible to travel with a scouting group outside. Ask your husband, he's probably familiar with it. But other than that, you'd also have to pass our fitness test, and I don't mean this in any other derogatory way but you and your husband had to fucking eat a bit more now that you're with us. Not only will your bodies thank you but you'll have a higher chance of coming back if you have proper nutrition and sleep. Don't worry, we'll take care of that as well… you won't be overworked as much."
Then one of the guys who was the same age as them who kept quiet most of the time raised his hand:
"Excuse me? Gary here… I appreciate all you've done for us and I don't wanna be pessimistic but what do you get out of this? This is a lot of investment for a group you didn't even give a second look before."
I nodded with a smile, "Of course, I'll get something out of this. I ain't doing this shit for free."
He nodded with a bitter smile, "Of course…"
"Let's be realistic here. The reason I'm taking all of you in—even though I couldn't give much of a fuck last time—because right now, I can fucking do it. Last time? I was only managing the same 50-ish people in the compound I built with my old friend from scratch. And since now you probably signed up with me, you're the newest addition to my few thousand loyal and happy individuals whom I take care of like family. I had a little spat with some of them earlier because some of you dared to case us out but we're working on it. But to answer your question: I'll give you all of these things and the only thing I'll ask in return is a little cut and to not fuck this up. Can you all do that for me?"
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