It was needless to say that the people were pissed and wanted blood—not an eye-for-an-eye, but an eye for a whole goddamn corpse! The next day nearly every shooter was ready to move out and get some payback. But Isturez, Major Kyle, and every other person with military experience knew that it wasn't going to happen in an instant.
As soon as Monroe was named, Isturez chose two of the best guys in the unit, gave them guns and supplies, and had them go do recon. If they were gonna go to war, then they were going to fight it smart. And to prepare for that Major Kyle made rifle training mandatory once again. Only this time the focus wasn't just pointing and shooting a target, but actual battlefield tactics.
In the meanwhile the wall was not being put on hold. Security was doubled in every area.
Three nights after the attack, Cameron found himself back in bed with Becky. It had been so long since the last time that they shared a bed that it felt great to be there. Even after she started speaking to him again, there was still a wall between them. She still may not have been completely okay with the situation, but as it was said before: the baby was coming no matter what, there really was nothing else going on between Cameron and Marge, and Becky genuinely cared about Cameron—and he about her.
Why spend all that time giving the cold shoulder and when there were zombies and bandits out in the world?
"Holy shit," she breathed, as they lightly kissed. "What got into you?"
"It's been—what? A month since last time?" Cameron responded with a smile, holding her against him. "Why wouldn't I be revved up?"
"Are you trying to get Becky pregnant too?" her aunt said later over dinner. She was probably the only one in town that didn't give Cameron a hard time before, happy that he and Becky were no longer together.
"Aunt Alice!" Becky snapped.
"Great Aunt Alice," Sarah murmured under her breath, trying not to laugh.
"We use…y'know…condoms," Becky mumbled, running her hand over her mouth.
Cameron tucked in to his helping of nearly expired Spam (what he wouldn't have given for a juicy steak dinner). After the first time they shared a bed following the disaster at Target, they thought it'd be best to sneak condoms (an item in high demand) during the next supply run. The only reason he hadn't done that with Marge, was because if he were caught back then it would've led to awkward questions.
Alice gave him the stink eye. She may not have been as extreme as the rest of the Christian fundamentalists, but she was still very much devout and didn't like knowing that her niece was partaking in such behavior.
"And what if one broke?" Alice asked seriously "What would you do if you did get her pregnant?"
"I'd ask her to marry me," Cameron answered easily and truthfully. The tinkering of silverware stopped as all of them stared at him. "What?"
"So how come you didn't marry Marge?" Alice said accusingly.
"I was gonna ask but she didn't give me a chance," he said, taking that question as an insult. "She doesn't want to marry me."
"Did that make you upset back then?" Becky asked him carefully.
"Not really," Cameron admitted. "Marge is happy I want to be there for the kid, so that's good enough for the both us. We want to choose who we want to be with on our own." He smiled at Becky.
"Geez," Sarah said dreamily, and sounding a bit disappointed. "It would have been wonderful to fall in love with the man I survived hell with. I'm surprised that you don't feel that way about Marge."
Becky began giving her sister an extremely evil look, but honestly Cameron was a bit surprised too.
Marge was a beautiful, independent woman. She and Cameron fled through an entire state together to reach safety. They lived, talked, laughed, and got to know each other (in more ways than one). But did he love her romantically? No. Why? That's just how life worked. Sex doesn't equal love.
Then there was Becky. She was your normal girl that didn't really catch Cameron's eye at first. But he gave her a shot, and found himself getting attached to her. It was her not speaking to him more than anything else that caused him so much anger and sorrow after Marge turned out to be pregnant. And just recently he had killed in cold blood for her. Maybe he did love her, he thought. But Cameron couldn't put it into words just yet. Zombies or not, he had a thing about waiting at least six months before saying those three little words.
Noticing that he was staring at her, Becky just smiled at him in an embarrassed sort of way before going back to eating.
When the recon team returned almost two weeks later, they brought surprising news. The hostiles had purposely tried to piss them off. The leaders had sent some of their weakest and dumbest, saying to them that they were the first strike and would be immediately back up. That obviously wasn't the case.
A full frontal assault on Yuba, where there were over a hundred men and women able to handle a rifle, and ready to fight to the death? That would've been suicide for the sixty or so bandits reported by the recon team. So instead they sent that small task force in hopes that Yuba would respond in kind.
So, to prepare for what they thought would be an immediate response, the bandits had planted landmines and set up many ambush points along every road leading to Monroe. The recon team marked every position on a map.
But as time had passed less people were itching for a fight. When more people found out how far away Monroe was they didn't think it was worth the risk to take revenge. Cameron was one of those people. Since he was one hundred percent back on good terms with Becky, he did not want to risk his life. And people didn't care as much that he had gotten Marge pregnant, so he got much less shit for it. Just let those bastards rot in Monroe—let them prepare for an attack that would never come.
That was he thought until, however, the recon team reported something else. The bandits were taking slaves. They scoured the surrounding areas for any survivors (just as those rescued from Lancaster said), and took them by force so they could be forced into servitude—which meant anything from making them a sandwich to being personal playthings. The way that those people were being treated was brutal, and sometimes they were killed just for fun.
It was that more than anything that got people back behind getting some revenge.
The east wall was completed. Between that and the interior truck wall homes were already being built, and crops were being planted. And it was in that area that the militia massed. Eighty percent of them would be leaving to fight, while the rest stayed behind to hold the fort. Foxtrot was added to the roster of trucks, and the recon team was sent ahead again to report any changes.
A special weapon was also brought out for this occasion. It wasn't very useful at first, and seeing as Yuba really had no tall buildings, so they didn't come to much use in the zombie killing. Only now was the stockpile of sniper rifles was unpacked, and handed to everyone that had training with it. Not only that, but everybody also got a set of body armor.
Before everyone loaded into the vehicles, Isturez (who had wanted to go too, but was encouraged to stay) said one thing to them: "Take no prisoners." Not only was it intended as words of inspiration, many took it as an order.
Marge gave Cameron a kiss on both cheeks, begging him not to get killed. Feeling her stomach he could already feel a lump forming. It might have been the consequences of heat of the moment bathroom sex but it was still his kid in there. Cameron told her he would be careful.
Almost everyone wanted to be in the frontlines and opted to get in Alpha. Cameron and Becky had to settle for boarding Bravo. The fifteen snipers spread themselves out so that two or three were in each vehicle. So then the engines of the six trucks roared to life, the gates of the east wall opened, and the militia was on its way to war.