Just as Merle and his group headed south, another group of people also returned to the Atlanta base.
This group was Jason and the others, but not everyone who had originally left came back—only Jason returned with a handful of soldiers.
Inside a meeting room in Atlanta.
Jason sat at the front, with several department heads from across Atlanta seated on both sides.
"Alright, I'm glad those of you who are available are here, so let me explain the situation." Jason got everyone's attention by slamming his hand on the table.
"Alright, this information is top secret, and I want all of you to keep it confidential. An elite group and I went north of Atlanta, where we found a large amount of military supplies. In addition, there are many things that would take us months to transport here. Therefore, I decided to leave a group behind to effectively guard that place."
"Why does your tone make me feel like what's there is extremely important?" Sam asked, his voice filled with curiosity.
"Because you're right. That place we found is anything but simple—it's a military base capable of launching missiles." Jason looked at everyone's expressions and added jokingly, "Don't be too shocked, I haven't even told you the most incredible part yet."
Shane asked in disbelief, "Is there something even more impressive than that?"
As if answering everyone's thoughts, Jason continued, "It's true that there's a base with a terrifying missile arsenal, but there are also supplies. These were stockpiled during the war, meaning that as long as we can obtain more raw materials, we can have an additional factory for ammunition and weapons."
Just as Glenn was about to sigh in relief, he saw Jason lightly wave his fingers again. The smile on his face made everyone in the room feel that this wasn't the whole truth.
"Alright, don't keep us in suspense like this, my blood pressure's going to drop—hurry up and say it! Do you want me to feel this awful?"
"I talked about it with Tyler before, and Sam heard something about it. These are points detailed on a map in our possession… For those who saw the large amount of supplies we brought back, we found them thanks to that map."
"But you should know that those supplies are only a small portion of what we can obtain. In other words, from now on we shouldn't have to worry about weapons."
Guillermo had arrived from the central base a few days earlier to organize all the supplies and distribute them according to the needs of each base.
Seeing everyone in the room begin to discuss enthusiastically, Jason didn't rush and simply waited silently for their discussion.
After about ten minutes, the conversations finally settled down. They remembered that they were still in a meeting, and all eyes turned back toward the front.
"These are probably the most important things. By the way, there's one more thing I want to say." After organizing his thoughts, Jason dropped his smile and his expression turned slightly more serious.
"You should know that I sent Merle Dixon on a special mission to Texas… I have a specific purpose behind these decisions. As far as I and the experts know, there's no place richer in coal than Texas. In addition, Merle went to inspect an oil field."
"Don't we already have power generation equipment? Why are we still collecting fuel? We still have plenty in reserve."
Some people couldn't help but ask questions; they didn't understand the purpose behind it.
Jason's face showed a trace of nostalgia, and his voice became slightly distant. "The last time our people went into Texas, it was only to kill people. And according to Lee, there's a community in a rather inconspicuous school that may need our help."
Hearing this, everyone fell silent. It was the first time they had heard Jason talk about what happened in Texas. No one interrupted him. The meeting room was quiet for a moment, except for Jason's low voice.
"In that place, I lost many friends. We lost soldiers, but you must remember that we indirectly saved our future. I want to be as prepared as possible so that we can all have a good future. We need to expand and clear our home of the undead."
"Jason, do you think it's wise to move into Texas with that supposed enemy still out there?"
"Is there some hidden meaning behind your words? You're one of the chief police supervisors in our communities, but let me make something very clear, my friend—there can't be two authorities in this world."
Jason stood up, his expression turning cold. "We can't screw up our future, and I want you to forget that bullshit about negotiations, understood?"
"Answering your damn question—without proper knowledge—we're going after coal and oil because our fuel isn't infinite, and time will degrade it. We're working on getting a factory up and running, but that will take time."
The map behind Jason showed Atlanta, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama in green, meaning they were already part of S.C.T.'s territory, and now Florida was next.
"Aron, once we fully take Alabama and clear it out, will we intervene directly in Florida?" Sam asked, making sure everyone paid attention.
"We have strong control in Tennessee thanks to the secret base we seized, so we just need to wait. Once we have Florida, we'll have open space to take control of the sea."
"We all support your decision, Jason," Sam said with a determined look.
"Good. For now, I want you to look at the supply points we have in Alabama… As you can see, we gained a lot."
Everyone knew how important it had been to take Alabama—not only because of the survivors, but also because of the immense amount of supplies that had been recovered. With this, crops could safely expand into open areas.
Seeing this, Jason knew it was only a matter of time before the CRM made contact—or worse, tried to destroy them outright. But honestly, it would be incredibly foolish for the CRM to attack an organization just as large as their own.
"Alright, we'll talk about this later and I'll make the arrangements…"
In the end, Shane issued the orders and departed for Knoxville with a team of two hundred soldiers.
Once the missile base was under their control, they would have the leverage to negotiate if they encountered the Commonwealth or the CRM.
He also considered relocating key personnel and turning that secret base into the central headquarters of the organization.
However, transporting personnel, materials, weapons, and equipment would be a major challenge, and the military base lacked the conditions for research, so he ultimately abandoned that plan for the time being.
In the following days, Jason once again immersed himself in the construction of infrastructure at the central base. There was still much to be built. The energy system was still under construction, and the massive buildings were significantly behind schedule due to the requirements.
Once these large projects were completed, the next step would be the details.
The world is not always as it seems, and Jason already has some ideas on how to deal with the CRM problem.