"The Madison Disaster" it was dubbed by most of the people back at Yuba. But it went by different names, such as "Intel's Fuck-Up" and (Cameron's personal favorite) "The Epic Fail." People were none too happy that the final body count was over twenty—that was almost a fourth of their fighting force.
But as for the fighters themselves, they were just glad to be back home after twenty-four hours of hell. Cameron had a long, happy reunion with Marge and Jack. Sarah and her aunt were not too far away hugging Becky hard. Dennis made a feeble attempt to greet Marge, but the mood was not right.
It wasn't long, though, before Becky managed to steal Cameron away. She led them back to her house, and locked him and her in one of the bedrooms, where the two of them had a good, long, passionate time.
Maybe Becky had a point, Cameron figured after they had finished. Despite only being together for a few days, the fact that Becky was the first one to look so relived to see him after being thought dead caused Cameron to feel a little more attached to her.
"Goddamn," she said, propping herself on her elbows. "I've had one or two guys older than you, and they didn't cut it. How much practice do you have at this?"
"Probably just the atmosphere," Cameron reasoned, pulling her close. In reality Marge had told him more than once how she liked it, and Cameron figured that similar principles applied.
Needless to say, Becky's aunt didn't exactly approve of their actions, but there was nothing she could do about it. Becky and Cameron were adults (not like age mattered all that much anymore), and they were part of the fighting force and she wasn't. When Cameron went home, and told Marge about it in idle conversation, she gave him a congratulatory arm punch, saying, "Told you so."
Over the next few days the citizens of Yuba called for blood. The Commander, even though it wasn't his idea in the first place, had the power to call bullshit on the venture to Madison—but the fact of the matter was that he didn't. He had everybody gather together, and spoke over a bullhorn.
The Commander said that he would step down as, what he coined, the de facto leader of the town, as soon as an election was held for a new one. Some of the locals immediately bitched and moaned, claiming that their own leaders never gave up power in the first place.
And so, those locals wanting their own people back in power became the first faction. The second one that sprang up only a couple of hours after the Commander's announcement, were people that Cameron largely tried to ignore.
Yuba, being the only known survivor's colony, had become the cultural epicenter of Wisconsin—possibly even the upper Midwest (the entire goddamn country, for all he knew). It drew in many people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. And for the most part everybody had virtually no problem putting aside their differences to make their new home successful.
But—and it was very big and very significant but—the people that Cameron had the most problems with her the hardcore Christian fundamentalists. They were the ones holding up signs outside saying "The End is Here", "Repent", and preaching from the gospel. For the most part Cameron ignored them, for there was work to be done. But many citizens that were wallowing in self-pity took in what those religious nut jobs spewed out.
Marge herself was Methodist, loud and proud, but she also lived in the "real world", as she liked to call it. And she knew the only way to survive was to get along.
She despised the lot of them and wouldn't have minded if they were kicked out. In the first week the daycare had been set up, it was the turn of the one of the more prominent religious people to watch the kids. When Marge came back to pick up Jack a few hours later, she found "that bitch" preaching to all the little kids how gays, heathens, and all non followers of Christ would end up burning in Hell. She almost ended up tearing off her face.
Even the local church's priest, who offered more sensible religious guidance, thought that those people were taking things way too far. "My grandpa was in the 101st Airborne fighting Hitler," he had told Cameron one day. "He fought against the kind of things those people are talking about."
And it was those fanatics that were rallying around their own candidate for the new leader of Yuba. Francine Decker was promising how she would make the town a Godlier place. If by some travesty she was elected, Cameron knew that there would be an immediate civil war—actually, more like a swift regime change. After all, barely any of those people were part of the volunteer squad, and didn't know how to use a gun.
Then there was the third, and probably most popular faction—the one Cameron was a part of. Sergeant Isturez had become a man of the people. He was there in town helping and even organizing things. Also he was right there on the frontlines taking out zombies. Isturez had the respect and admiration of just about everyone.
But at a gathering he was saying that maybe it wasn't such a good idea making him a candidate.
"Horse shit, Jim," someone in the crowd of supporters cried. "If it's not you, our votes are split—and that means one of the other two idiots might take over."
"Listen," Sergeant Jim Isturez said, raising his hand for silence, "I may not be the one who thought of going to that Target, but I do support the idea of going to Monroe! I know that most of you don't like that."
"It's gonna either be you, the bitch, or that other idiot!" Marge shouted. "C'mon, Sarge, we need it to be you!" Her words were met with applause.
"What about you, Kyle?" Isturez asked in one final attempt.
The Major shook his head. "No, people here depend on me to lead the troops. You're the one that has to take care of shit here on the home front."
"Fine, if not Kyle then there are other people higher up than me."
"But everyone wants you!" Kyle shouted. "Which is a fucking miracle, seeing as how you're taking this kicking and screaming."
Finally, Jim Isturez raised his hands up in defeat, gave in to the demands, and accepted his candidacy.
Two days later, after it was agreed that the voting age would include everyone that turned sixteen that year, the ballots were cast. Isturez won by a wide margin. Many people were pissed, but he appeased them a just a little by starting to build his cabinet. Major Kyle became his Defense advisor, and one of the locals (an engineer) was chosen as the Interior advisor. It was just the start, but it seemed to be going in the right direction.
And true to his word, Isturez did not abandon any plans to go to Monroe for that tempting cache of weapons and ammo. But in the mean time, all that was planned for replenishing their firepower was limited to local gun stores. At the same time the plan to expand Yuba's perimeter was getting started.