Chapter 10

The next morning Daryl and Morgan head off in the Suzuki to scout out the mansion, while Glen, Roger, Miguel and Maggie head back to town on a scavenging run. I get together with Hershel and our new group members to explain our rules and the need for them. Maggie will be informed by Glen on the way to town. With that out of the way, I ask what we will need, to transport and care for some of the farms' livestock as well as any thing else we will need for the crops, etcetera. Before we get to far into the discussion, I ask for brief break so I can bring Susan in as she has volunteered to look after our logistics. We then spent the rest of the morning planning our relocation and resource needs.

After lunch we helped out around the farm as requested by Hershel, to which no one complains as we have been eating well due to his generosity. The scavenging group returns in the early afternoon well stocked but with a distraught Maggie splashed in walker blood. Patricia and Beth take Maggie into the house while Glen explains about the walker in the pharmacy. He praises our rule about one scavenger and one guard as he may not have been quick enough to save her if he was scavenging himself. Continuing with the various tasks to be done, I am becoming concerned about Daryl and Morgan.

Just before dinner Jimmy calls out from his watch post in the upper balcony, "The Suzuki is coming back". Grabbing my M4 carbine I call out to jimmy to make sure it is them and not someone else in the vehicle. Scanning the vehicle with the binoculars for a couple of minutes he confirms it is them. Returning the M4 to the Humvee, I join the others as we wait for them to drive the rest of the way to us. Just as they are getting out of the Suzuki, we hear Carol call out that dinner is ready. With the exception of the watch standers we head inside for dinner and a report from our scouts.

When everyone has finished eating Morgan begins his report. "The place looks very promising but will take a good plan to safely clear as there are over two hundred walkers or more on the property. It looks like the military took over the place and used it as an outpost and evacuation site as there are both military and civilian walkers as well as FEMA trailers, military vehicles, and equipment inside. The gate is locked shut with a sign warning the place is overrun. The original farm buildings are still intact and the Mansion appears to be almost completed. The mansion and walls appear to have been designed to look like a medieval castle, we are not sure about the mansion but the wall is made of thick concrete with a stone facing and is twelve foot high. It looks like the military was trying to reinforce the site before it became overrun as some of the wall has razor wire and we saw more on cargo trucks inside. We could see what looked like solar panels and a couple of wind turbines on the property. I am guessing here but I think the owner was trying to build a fortified compound to retreat to if something like Hurricane Katrina happened again.

We spent the rest of the evening going over what they found in more detail and started to form a plan to takeover the place. The first step was to find an out of the way place to teach those who wanted to learn, how to safely handle and shoot firearms. Followed by teaching everyone how to fight with melee weapons. It was decided that we would spend up to a week training and scavenging for the resources we would need for our planed seizure of and relocation to the Mansion. Andrea and Carl took to shooting like naturals While Carol, Glen and Maggie seemed to be improving nicely, the others however were only adequate.

Six days later it was deemed time to execute our plan. Hershel, Maggie, Beth, Patricia, Otis, Jimmy, Peter, Susan, Carol, Amy and the kids were to stay at the farm and be ready to head for the mansion. Myself, Morgan, Roger, Miguel, T-dog and Daryl would take the Cherokee and wait for Glen to open the gate and lead the walkers away in my Humvee with Andrea in the hatch trying to take out any walkers carrying useful equipment. After checking to make sure most of the walkers had left the compound from a nearby hill using the binoculars, we would then enter and begin clearing it of any stragglers using melee weapons.

We entered the compound in a wedge formation with myself at point, Morgan and Miguel to my right, T-dog and Roger to my left, Daryl would bring up the rear after closing the gate. Proceeding toward the farm house we deal with any walkers we can find in the large compound littered with vehicles, tents and trailers. There is a loud thump followed by a scream as Roger is pulled to the ground by walker from under a nearby trailer. It bites down on his foot before Daryl can put a bolt into its eye, T-dog drags Roger back and checks his foot before sighing in relief. Roger is lucky that he was wearing a pair of the combat boots Morgan and I scavenged. Continuing on we have a few more close calls before reaching the farm house. Working together and wearing the proper clothing has managed to get us through unscathed so far. Quietly looking into the windows, we find the house is packed with walkers. Backing off we take a break as we are tired, thirsty and need a plan before proceeding to tackle the house.

We waited for Glen and Andrea to return before taking on clearing the house. Daryl and I made our way to the front door, where I opened the door and took out the closest walker while Daryl shot the next one with his crossbow, we then ran off the porch to join the others in our battle with the walkers. We would fight them as they came out of the house and off the porch, giving ground as required so as to not be overwhelmed. The numbers were starting to favor the walkers until Miguel tripped and was swarmed. This distracted some of the walkers giving us the chance to thin the herd at the cost of poor Miguel. With the last of the walkers outside dealt with we made sure Miguel would not turn before proceeding to clear out the farm house.

Once the farm house was secured Glen and Roger took the Humvee to get close enough to Hershel's farm to radio the others so they knew it was time to make their way here. The rest of us began collecting the bodies and stripping them of anything useful before piling them up for burning. Late in the evening just before dark the rest of the group arrived. Securing the gate, we then all gathered in the farm house for the night as the mansion, trailers and tents still needed to be cleared. The next day was spent clearing the rest of the property and disposing of the corpses via burning outside the walls. Miguel's body was also cremated in a separate location outside the walls as we did not want to risk contaminating the soil. Over the next week we managed to bring the chickens, horses and a dozen cattle along with the resources to support them to our new home. We also brought farming equipment and seeds to plant crops for the spring. This was completed just in time as the Geene farm was overrun before we could rescue anymore cattle.

The mansion is now our primary residence as although it was not complete it is still our best option. Construction looks like it was stopped in the final phase as it seems they were working on putting up dry wall and installing flooring etcetera. The mansion has been built with strong concrete walls with a false stone facing to look like a castle, it has running water fed from one of the wells on the property and limited electricity from solar and wind power. It has a backup diesel generator for emergencies but we need to find the proper chemicals to be able to store both diesel fuel and gasoline or we will be stuck using the horses for transport in the near future. At least there are quite a few fire places we can use to keep warm over the winter.

We have amassed quite the arsenal to add to what Morgan and I brought with us to Atlanta. After collecting and servicing the weapons on the property as well as those from the walkers Andrea took down along the road, we have no shortage of M4 carbines or M16 rifles, several with the M203 grenade launcher attachment. A fair number of M9 pistols, two more M2 fifty caliber heavy machine guns, one on a tripod and the other mounted on a Humvee. We also have two M249 squad automatic weapons, one M240L medium machine gun, a single M110 sniper system as well as a single M224 60mm mortar with mostly illumination rounds. We gathered a fair amount of ammunition for all the weapons but we will still have to use it sparingly. We even located some more grenades and Claymores along with the cargo trucks containing razor wire and other items to reinforce our defenses. Our main problem is that Morgan is the only one with the training to use most of it.

As for vehicles we have more Humvees than we can use and several Cargo trucks along with a tanker half full of diesel but who knows how long the fuel will remain viable before breaking down. we now have a bulldozer, backhoe and excavator in military colors along with their transport trucks and trailers. There is a limited supply of MRE's and medical supplies as well. We have also acquired several FEMA accommodation trailers and one FEMA Medical trailer.

Our main concerns now are the shortage of manpower to secure a compound this size and the limited food & medicine available to us. Calling a meeting we gather together to discuss our goals for the future. First is to gather more food and medicine, second is to improve our defenses and training, third is safely recruiting more survivors and lastly is gathering more winter clothes, gear and livestock for the farm. "As for recruiting, I think we should try to find Michonne as she should be in the area of Hershel's farm. I also remember some people were holding up in a library near the prison as well. In regards to medicine there is the FEMA trailer at the high school near Hershel's farm. For food we could go for the prison and or the Big Spot near it. After explaining what I remember from my 'vision' in more detail the discussion continues.

The group has come to the following decisions regarding our next steps. Daryl will scout and hunt the immediate area around our compound. Peter is going to use the excavator to dig a trench or moat around the compound outside the wall to keep large numbers of walkers from building up against the wall and to keep someone from ramming the wall with a vehicle. Peter will also figure out a way to put up barriers to keep someone from ramming strait through the gate as well with out preventing our use of the gate. We will also continue installing the razor wire to keep other survivors from climbing over the wall. Glen will take a crew to locate and scout the Big Spot store along with any other promising location they come across. Morgan will continue training and work with Peter to setup fighting positions for the mortar and machine guns. Andrea and I will try to locate and recruit Michonne. Anyone leaving the compound is advised to be cautious of other survivors as they may be from Woodbury or one of the other dangerous groups. While not really important we also need to acquire household goods for the farm house and mansion as they are mostly empty.

Andrea and I spent the next few days avoiding walker herds while trying to locate Michonne. The afternoon of the fourth day we spotted her entering Hatlin's bar. Parking the Humvee in the back alley and locking the steering wheel we make our way to the front door. Nocking lightly on the door I call out Michonne's name and state we mean her no harm before slowly opening the door. Michonne is taking cover behind the bar with her two chained walkers and pointing a sawed-off double barrel shotgun at us. Motioning us inside she asks us how we know her name and what we want. Once again, I retell my coma dream story and ask her to join us. Michonne is obviously skeptical and starts to ask questions to try and confirm my story. I answer them to the best of my ability and point out things I know about her that I should not, until we hear a vehicle pull up followed by the voices of two men approaching the bar. Shit I was not expecting this as Dave and Tony should be long gone by now. Whispering to Andrea and Michonne that it is probably Dave and Tony two bad guys. I place my hand on my Colt and motion Andrea to get ready and to spread out.

Dave steps through the door with Tony right behind him and exclaims "Whoa what do we have here" as he aims his pistol at Michonne's tame walkers, while Tony aims his shotgun in our direction. The three of us are aiming our weapons at Dave and Tony as I reply, "Easy now no one needs to get shot today. The walkers are not a threat to you, they are just for camouflage". The three of us can tell this not going to end well with the way Dave and Tony are eyeing the women. Dave starts forward saying "We can be friends, lets share a drink". As soon as he blocks Tony's line of fire, I shoot Dave in the head followed quickly by Andrea taking out Tony. Michonne simply shrugs and leaves the sawn-off shotgun on the counter stating it is not loaded. I quickly strip Dave and Tony of their weapons and ammo, handing the shotgun and shells to Michonne and the pistol to Andrea as I already carry two pistols. I then pile the two bodies against the door and tell Andrea and Michonne that we should get out of here before their buddies show up. Michonne if you are coming with us you will have to leave your pack mules behind. Heading for the back door I can hear another vehicle approaching. I slowly open the back door and take a peek out only to find Randal and an African American guy checking out the Humvee. I signal Andrea and Michonne that there are two guys outside. Hearing two shots from the front of the bar, I step out and shoot the African American guy in the head but Andrea only manages to wound Randal. She appears to have been affected by killing Tony which is understandable. Luckily Michonne follows up and takes Randal out with the shotgun. Jumping in the Humvee we take off while bullets ping off the vehicles armor. A large number of walkers have been drawn by the gunfire which is actually a good thing as it has prevented the others from directly following us. I make sure to take a circuitous route back to the compound to make sure we are not being followed.