Chapter 423: 423
“Hey, these spent casings go to the workshop, correct? And the guns in your room?” Tatiana pointed at the boxes and military crates being unloaded inside the compound.
“Yeah, but tell Oscar he could have the shotguns, the 1911s, and the machineguns in his armory. Wait- just tell him we’d need to clean them all first before we start distributing them around our people that have safes in their houses. We’re keeping the majority of it but it’s safe to have a few stored around we could have access to.” I replied.
“Didn’t we already give a few guns in each household?” Kaley asked.
“Yeah, we did but that’s for them. It took a chunk of our ammo when we started basic training for each of them but it’s better for our people to know how to use them instead of winging it when the time comes. Granted we don’t teach all of them every single day but it’s better than nothing. Anyway, back to storing guns at other people’s places, it’s only for emergencies and so that we could have a few guns at the ready outside if there’s a chance we weren’t able to go back to our house. Same reason we made each household have a vehicle ready just in case.” I explained.
“Oh, so that’s why mom said that dad started having his own collection. Maybe he got most of them from Oscar.” Kaley commented.
“Hmm, I guess we’ll leave a few more in your dad’s house, Johnny’s house, and a few places where we could find a good hiding spot like the house in Woodlands that had a safe. We never head out without our daily carry but better safe than sorry, right?” I replied then Kaley nodded.
“Hmm, now this is a face I wanted to see every time!” Tatiana nodded as well but she smiled when she saw Aya approaching us.
“Hello~ Mom said the food will be ready in a few minutes~ Oh! Oh! Thank you for the coloring books! Sis Rin said she’d make a few copies first so everyone could have the same thing! Thank you!” Aya smiled brightly.
“No problem, just make sure to color them like your mom taught you, okay?” I smiled back.
“Yes! Keep it inside the lines! They look different though, you made new ones?” Aya asked.
“New ones?” Kaley and Tatiana looked at me.
“Oh, I never told you guys. I used to draw a few ones for them just to get them hooked on the anime I’m always watching. Let’s just say I went early before MelonCoco reached them. Oh, Aya, yes, they’re the ones we found from a library, there’s a lot too!” I chuckled.
“…” Kaley was speechless because of the lengths I go just to spread the word.
“…” Tatiana was speechless because she didn’t understand a thing that I said.
“Oh! Okay~ Thanks!” Aya made a small bow before she ran back to their house.
“Oh yeah, I need to start Tatiana’s ‘training’ on anime as well…” I started a few plans inside my head as Tatiana shuddered when we met eyes. Kaley was chuckling when she saw that happen but one thing she was forgetting was that we still had a game we promised we’d play together but still haven’t had the chance to.
After a quick shower and a change of clothes, we discovered that the guys placed all of the crates just outside my room so I could arrange it inside my armory later. Rin and Cynthia walked out of the door after a few moments and Cynthia seemed to have cheered up.
“That’s good.” I thought to myself.
Tatiana followed a few moments after but she was dragged back inside because she was wearing a tank top without anything underneath. The five of us soon came down and a few of my people have just started eating.
Tonight, we were served a bowl of freshly cooked lentil soup with green salad and cornbread. Aunt Sharon just finished another batch and a few soldiers from the DDR Camp happily took them to their base. They were carrying two huge pots but the look on their faces made me think they were ready to wharf on it the moment they reached their dining area.
After eating, our meeting started with everybody present.
We first talked about the daily upkeep along with the reports from Woodlands, the DDR Camp, and the two other outposts. There were a few requests and suggestions but it wasn’t much to worry about. Some of the requests were transfers but it needed approval from the place the person was coming from and going to before it was accepted.
However, since the outpost where Lawrence was needed a bit more people, they were accepting anyone that applied. A supervisor was recently transferred to his outpost for a trial run for admin work and she seemed to be doing a good job for now.
The outpost in Meycauayan seemed to be doing well and they would soon expand a little bit, heading towards the square near the expressway. For now, they were sending more people to clear that area each day to lessen the zombie presence. They would soon start erecting barricades the moment the surrounding area starts getting somewhat peaceful to fully reclaim the area.
The square wasn’t a sustainable piece of land where you could grow crops but they were thinking of growing a mushroom farm inside the storage areas where the numerous shops inside store their goods. It was the same thing that Amanda and Charlotte were doing with the white mushrooms we regularly harvest. The other advantage of reclaiming that area was the vantage point it could give and it had a huge automotive shop where they could store and repair vehicles which their place clearly needed help with.
“Old man, did Mauricio say anything else aside from hosting a meeting?” I looked at Oscar.
“Not much. He just said he had a business proposition we might be interested in and he was thinking about long-term solutions.” Oscar replied.
“Long-term solutions? Is it about the farms he has then?” Jomarro chimed.
“More security then? Didn’t they have a lot of soldiers over there? What would they want with us?” Johnny added.
“It’s the pretty obvious answer but yeah, I guess we’ll see what he wants first before we offer anything. We’d work something out if it’s fair and just shake hands and walk separate paths if it’s too much.” I replied.
“Kid, before I forget, if we use two cargo trucks tomorrow, we’d be done with hauling everything from Jomarro’s place plus the ones coming from the other shops. I don’t mind going for extra trips but once we’re done with his place, we could focus on obtaining more from the other shops willing to trade for our guns. I see we got more but I’d keep on low-balling them.” Oscar smirked.
“Good thing the parts dealer is always hoodwinking you so the others think you’re a bad dealer.” I chuckled.
“What?! The f.u.c.k you mean by getting hoodwinked?!” Oscar snapped.
“C’mon old man, you know what I’m talking about. Tomorrow, let’s see if we could strike a proper deal with him to see his whole collection. I bet he has something special in storage and I’ll make sure we come back with a whole car at least.” I replied, shaking my head.
“Or a body for the rest! I want a sleeper car! Something like nondescript Civic!” Lois added.
“Bah! Let’s see if you could do better than I did then! Cheh!” Oscar grumbled.
We soon ended the meeting after talking a little bit about Ibarra. They also grew curious as to what happened but all we could do was wait for him to fully recover to get a story from his side.
My group headed for the gym and I challenged Mikhail once more for a striking match. With more options on hand, my win was achieved a tad easier compared to when we were just using our fists. However, there was still a cause for concern about his strength when we were sparring because one solid hit from him would get me vomiting everything from dinner.
It was a good sight to see everyone training their bodies on a daily basis because physical fitness was something always forgotten when it comes to prepping.
Kaley and I came out of the shower and we headed back to our room. Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia followed after changing clothes to help us with cleaning the rest of the guns we acquired.
“You guys found a lot…” Rin was still surprised even after adding them into our inventory.
“Lots of casings too, we’re gonna be a little bit busy these coming days.” I replied.
“Oh! I could start sorting them and tumbling them in the morning?” Rin suggested.
“Tumbling? What?” Cynthia turned to us.
I briefly explained the process of reloading ammo and it seemed she was a bit interested.
“Cynthia, I’m telling you right now, it sounds cool but it’s different from our perspective. it’s just looking at two people with a peaceful look on their faces while making bullets that kill people!” Kaley exclaimed, chuckling.
“Correct! After that, they would smile like they f.u.c.k.i.e.d for hours after looking at what they accomplished!” Tatiana added, smiling.
“C’mon, you two explained that really poorly!” I exclaimed.
“Sounds kinda cool still…” Cynthia was surprised at the two’s expressions.
“You could help me sort them then? You’re not going outside tomorrow, right?” Rin said.
“I could?” Cynthia was surprised.
“Yeah, but listen to everything she says.” I replied.
“Oh, like yesterday?” Cynthia said nonchalantly but Rin turned beet red.
“Yesterday?” Kaley, Tatiana, and I looked at them suspiciously.
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