Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System

At the underground base, Damien was beginning to feel impatient.

"Why is everyone so useless? You still haven't heard back from Dillon?"

Tristan shook his head, "No, there have been no communications with him or his team since he left".

"Useless!", yelled Damien.

He couldn't believe that Julian still wasn't found after all of this time.

"He's right under our noses and we can't find him. How much longer am I supposed to stay here? I feel like I've lived half my life in this underground cave."

Tristan opened his notebook and glanced down at the list of all recent updates.

"Maybe he died? Outside right now is a major heat storm. Water reserves and plants are dying. A few of our own teams on the outside were reported to have died of heatstroke and dehydration."

Damien sat quietly but his face said that he was still angry.

"A heat storm, huh. How are they reacting to it?", he asked curiously.

Tristan looked down at his notes, "The drug proves to be effective in the heat however, there have still been cases where those affected have still died due to dehydration."

Before Damien had a chance to reply, Tristan added another piece of news.

"The most urgent news is that our own water sources have begun to dry up. We won't be able to sustain the base for more than a month if this weather continues."

"And you're only telling me this now?!", roared Damien.

He was already in a horrible mood, but hearing that they were also affected by the heat sent him over the top.

Tristan simply remained silent and waited for Damien to give an order.

After a few minutes of grumbling Damien looked over, "First things first, we need to secure water. If we can't get it naturally, we can find someone who has it"

Tristan nodded, understanding the underlying order.

"I'll have a team sent out immediately."

Damien glanced over, "Force them to submit to me, if they refuse kill them."

He had long planned to rule this new world, and now he was finally fed up with being delayed due to Julian's presence.

This order would begin his plan while potentially bringing Julian out of hiding.

Tristan simply nodded while making a note in his notebook, "I'll see it done".

---

At the forest settlement, Rayne was outside waiting for Liam's caravan to pull in. She heard the engine of the RV and walked out to see him driving through the small clearing.

Liam parked the RV in his designated parking spot and began the unloading procedures with the rest of his crew.

They delivered the live chickens to the coop and unloaded a few other items they got from Fred's ranch.

"Hey, how did it go? Are they doing okay?", asked Rayne.

Liam placed the box he was carrying on the ground and turned to face her.

"Fred agreed to merge with us. They're not doing good at all. Many of their settlers have suffered from either heat stroke or dehydration. Even their cattle have been slowly dying off."

"Oh no. We need to get them moved over here quickly!", said Rayne.

Liam nodded, "I left enough water with them to last a few days. I said that we would come get them in three or four days. They've already begun packing."

"Good. We should get ready for the move as well. The solar panels have been installed and the barn is making good progress. We're going to bring the two large RV's to transport the citizens, along with some of the Alpha Team Jeeps to transport items and cattle."

-

After Liam finished unloading everything the entire settlement had a group meeting by the lake to discuss the addition of Fred's group.

Everyone in the settlement was excited for their settlement to grow in size. New residents meant new friends and new skill sets that would help them survive.

After the meeting, everyone worked collectively to prepare the settlement for new arrivals.

Anyone who wasn't working on building the barn was organizing the warehouses and cleaning the empty houses. Some of the women who were skilled in knitting were making blankets from the yarn they would in the warehouse to gift to the new families.

Rayne was busy clearing out the large RVs to make room to fit as many people as they could. She even removed the beds to make more space for seating.

-

Everyone worked non-stop all day to get everything ready.

The following morning everyone who was assigned to assist with the move woke up early and met in front of the RVs.

Rayne walked over with Julian since they both volunteered to help with the move.

"Looks like everyone is ready. And has been assigned to their own vehicle", said Rayne.

"I'm glad that we found those 'extra' trailer hitches. They'll be very useful for moving supplies", said Julian.

Last night he and Rayne went on a quick trip to the mountain town to 'look for trailers' so that they had more than two for this move.

Rayne walked up to her SUV and entered the driver's seat, "I'm also glad that all of our vehicles are able to pull trailers because moving the cattle over will be essential."

Julian nodded, getting into the passenger seat. Today would be a long day of driving, followed by a long day of packing and loading.

It would be a lot of work for everyone involved but the result would be worth it. Their settlement would grow and they would potentially save people from dying.

-

The large train of cars and RVs set off with Liam driving at the front. He was the most familiar with the roads and volunteered to lead the way.

Rayne and Julian were at the very end, ensuring that everything went smoothly. If someone were to break down or have any issues along the way, they would see it and pull over to help.

-

As they approached the halfway point, Liam signaled for everyone to pull over to the side of the road to have a short break.

Those who were traveling via car were able to visit a nearby RV to use the restroom.

Rayne took this opportunity to pass out sandwiches that she 'spent all night preparing'.

"Oh wow! I never thought a sandwich could look so appetizing!", said Liam, thanking Rayne.

Similar words were said by the rest of the crew, and everyone happily enjoyed their short break.

An hour later everyone got back inside their vehicles and continued their journey north.