Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System

Back at the entrance, everyone was working together to unload the goods, and delivering them to the warehouses.

Noah went around with Fred, assigning houses to each of the families, and even after getting everyone situated, there were still empty houses left over.

Rayne walked around, watching as everyone came together to build furniture and get settled into their new homes. There were smiling faces all around which greatly lifted her mood.

She walked over to the kitchen area where Mila was showing Rita all of the available tools and how things worked.

"Rayne! How are you?", asked Mila.

Rayne took a peek at the chopped vegetables on the table and smiled.

"What are you making? It looks good!"

"Oh, just prepping the vegetables for a stir fry, feel free to come by and have some when it's finished", said Mila.

Rita watched happily from the side, amazed at the variety of produce that was available in the kitchen.

"Setting up this kitchen house is such a good idea. It's amazing! Look at all of these spices you have!", she exclaimed.

While food was never a huge problem for them at the ranch due to the cattle, they certainly only have a very limited variety compared to here.

Mila turned to look at her, "It's all thanks to Rayne and Julian. They're so skilled at finding all of these high-quality items when they go out scavenging.

Rayne shook her head, "No, we're just lucky. Most of the smaller towns we've visited were empty, allowing us to get a few useful things".

"I don't know. Before we joined you we had our own fair share of looking and scavenging, but we never had your kind of luck", said Mila.

-

Rayne walked over to the newly constructed barn where the majority of Fred's group currently was. They were unloading the cattle into the new pasture.

Rayne watched as the cows weakly limped out of the trailers, looking very weak and tired.

"Are they okay?", asked Rayne.

She walked over to Fred's side where he was watching the process from.

Fred frowned slightly, "They're not great, but I believe that after a few days of settling down here, they'll go back to their original healthy states."

"Oh, that's good to hear. Let me or Noah know if there is anything specific you need to help them get more comfortable here. We'll try to find it for you", said Rayne.

She wanted the cute cows to feel better and happy in their new home.

Fred smiled, looking over at her. "Thank you, we brought everything they need. It should just be a matter of time."

Rayne trusted his judgment. They were all cattle ranchers for generations and knew what they were doing.

-

On the other side of the base, Julian was meeting with Noah and a few people from the construction/carpentry team.

"So the next project we would like to start is building a large structure that can be used as a recreation center. We want a place where people can enjoy fun activities such as reading, board games, and small crafts", said Julian.

He was passing along Rayne's ideas to the group of men, handing them an intricate blueprint that Rayne had come up with earlier.

One of the men who was a general contractor by trade looked at the detailed design and marveled at it.

"Wow, I haven't seen such a well-drawn-out blueprint in ages. Whoever made it must have been a top architect."

Julian smiled, "Yes, our settlement is lucky to have two skilled architects. This one in particular was drawn by Rayne".

Everyone beside Noah looked up at him in shock.

"Wait, you're saying that Rayne drew this?", he asked, very surprised. He had always thought she was a model or beauty influencer, not expecting her to be such a skilled architect.

"Yes, she and Ella both are quite skilled. If you have a need for a design in the future, I'm sure they would be happy to help", said Julian.

He was feeling proud of Rayne's skills and was happy that her talents were being recognized.

The contractor accepted the blueprint and nodded, "Then we will work on this. Just let us know where you want it".

Julian walked them over to a spot somewhat central in the settlement. It was opposite the lake and would be a good central focal point when the building was built.

The contractors and carpenters quickly got to work right there, marking the designated area with spray paint and string.

"Let me know if you need more lumber. I can make a trip over to the home improvement center and bring more", offered Julian.

When Rayne was originally filling the warehouses, she dumped a huge pile of precut and pretreated wood to be used in construction projects. After building the barn and a few smaller things around the base, Julian wasn't sure if they needed more.

This rec center would be the most intricate building that they would be building so far, so he wanted to make sure that there were enough supplies.

"Sounds good boss. By the looks of it, we have what we need, but I'll let you know if we are missing something", said the contractor.

-

After setting the next project, Julian walked around to find Rayne so that he could tell her the good news.

However just as he found her, Ian came running over.

"Boss, we have an update from Alpha Team in the city. They believe they found the parking garage that we are looking for. Yesterday a huge group of people took off from there."

"How many people? I want someone to follow them if possible. Also, tell them to keep an eye on that location. I need to be sure that we got the right one", said Julian, swapping over to his cold and serious demeanor.

Rayne walked alongside him and reached out to hold his hand.

Julian squeezed her hand a few times as they walked, subtly telling her that he was okay.

The information that they may have finally found Damien after all of this time was huge news to everyone involved.

"After confirming the location we will need to begin making plans on infiltrating their base", said Julian.

Ian took note of everything Julian said and ran back to the Alpha Team house to pass along the instructions while Rayne walked home with Julian.