On the outskirts of the city, on the other side of the Tennessee River, stood a building more than twenty stories tall.
If a group of ordinary people at the beginning of the end of the world entered a building like this in an urban area, they would most likely die. However, Jason's group was highly trained, and everyone knew how to move. It could be seen that the physical condition of each of the soldiers in this group was good. Moreover, with the food at the base being enough to feed thousands of people every day, there was no way they would lack energy.
Many believed that raising soldiers required a long time, and training plus proper nutrition played an important role in maintaining an army. But that was only half true. In Jason's organization, more than 80% of the people were soldiers, but everyone contributed, whether by farming or defending resources.
Soldiers who were not active in special bases were working—either in construction or maintenance of allied bases—they were always doing productive things. This greatly benefited the development of the organization, allowing it to sustain itself and be self-sufficient.
And now, more than thirty people reached the top of the building in a short time. Although they were panting, none of them lagged behind, and this did not prevent them from staying alert.
Jason's condition remained the best, which pleasantly surprised everyone. Some of the group had been in Texas, and others had only seen him a few times, but all of them never stopped being amazed every time they were with their commander.
Along the way, they did not bother to clear every room; on the contrary, they sealed all the doors in the corridor. Walkers were a secondary concern. Thus, the group reached the twentieth floor, which was not particularly high, but from there they could already see quite far.
Jason did not choose this building at random. There were not many tall buildings around, but this one, because of its view, was undoubtedly the best among the nearby structures.
"What are the observations in the surroundings?"
"There are many walkers!"
"It's the same on this side!"
"The same over here!"
Nick, Alicia's brother, approached wearing a combat uniform and said, "It seems this place has been like this since everything collapsed. The walkers that were driven out of Atlanta must have also ended up here. If you ask me about survivors, I think there are none."
Looking at the walkers in the distance, Jason could not help but feel something strange.
"You should never say there are no survivors. That's not up for discussion or debate."
Welles, who had a firm expression on his face, was not very optimistic when he saw this scene. It was the first time he had gone out from a remote place. Even with his prosthetic feet, he performed better than many other soldiers. Although he did not leave the base often, in terms of tactical knowledge, he was one of the best and knew a great deal.
Leaving a city infested with walkers was complicated. Whether traveling underground through drainage conduits or through the streets, it was simply difficult.
Jason had also been acting very cautiously. He had only realized that he could still remain hidden from the eyes of the CRM even if he took South Carolina. Now that he had been expanding his domain into Alabama and South Carolina, his bases and defenses in those places were weak. Considering the characteristic ways that organization attacked, it was truly difficult to defend.
Therefore, he had been passive in his movements until South Carolina was secure. In terms of borders, he needed to establish strong defenses, as they would be the first to be attacked and to alert the organization to any anomaly.
At the same time, he decided to send Merle to Texas to scout. He was a great man who could survive in many places without any problem, so by satisfying his preferences, he sent him on a mission that would provide great opportunities for everyone.
As for a cure, Ellie's blood had begun to be processed, and it was estimated that there could be results in a short time. But Jason was never optimistic about a cure—this was not what concerned him.
Save the world from the virus only to die at the hands of the CRM? Even he did not want that outcome—certainly not after so much effort and sacrifice.
Jason thought about all this, and returning to reality, he was currently taking advantage of those secret military bases to gain power greater than that of the CRM in every sense. Even if the weapons were old, they still fired cartridges and caused damage, so nowadays that was not a disadvantage.
But when he focused on the current problems, Jason realized that Welles and the others were waiting for his orders.
Looking at Welles and the three captains they had brought with them, Jason forced himself to focus on a single thing. The most important thing right now was to clear the city of walkers not far away, all with the purpose of entering the military warehouses of weapons and resources.
His mind began to work quickly in search of a solution. His eyes continued scanning the distant city, and finally settled on the Tennessee River in front of him. A flash of inspiration appeared in his mind when he remembered something very particular—the scene of Rick detonating the wooden bridge and causing a large number of walkers to fall into the water.
Although it was not a pleasant memory, it had to be said that it was worth using this method now.
Of course, he would not blow up the bridge, but it was still possible to find a way to lure the walkers into the river. Without having helicopters to move all those walkers—and since Jason did not want to expose his organization—it would be a good plan to do it this way.
"Let's see if this works…"
…
When Jason explained what he would do next, he revealed everything step by step, and everyone felt enlightened by his plan.
The entire population of Knoxville was here, and considering it was an urban city along with those who could not escape, there could still be at least one hundred thousand walkers, being optimistic.
It should be known that this place was not like Atlanta, where it took more than half a year to completely clear the area. This was a smaller place, and secondly, it had not experienced extreme events like the CDC alarm in Atlanta, where thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of walkers gathered in masses.
As a result, although all the streets in this city were filled, they could do something quickly to attract all—or most—of the walkers and eliminate them.
It was definitely not a good idea to use weapons to clear walkers right now, but Jason, as an expert with practical experience, knew the answer to a question: what are walkers most sensitive to?
Obviously, it was sound!
If you could make good use of the sharp weapon that is sound, it would be much easier to clear all these walkers without suffering any kind of losses.
The task was quickly assigned, and the soldiers of the three squads made a plan to act and left.
The overall plan was that the group would divide into three squads. Jason would lead one team to the nearby dock, where they would obtain a yacht or a larger fishing boat, while the rest would go down the stairs to clear the nearby walkers.
Everyone who went out this time was equipped with suppressed weapons. Even if they all fired together, it would not disturb walkers farther away.
After assessing the surrounding situation on the rooftop, Jason looked at the darkening sky and ordered everyone to hurry and clear the lower areas.
"Let's carry out the initial plans tonight. Hurry and clear the lower floors."
The group Jason had brought were considered veterans. There was no need to ask for their opinion—they simply took orders and carried them out. Thus, they quickly and consciously divided into three distinct groups and began clearing the building.
Nothing noteworthy happened during this time.
Some time later, after resting in a room, the next day more than thirty soldiers woke up early and were all checking their equipment. It could be said that today would be a rather complicated day. Fortunately, Jason always paid attention to equipment for all his soldiers, so it was difficult for them to be exposed, even if they ran out of ammunition.
Everyone had basic equipment. Many magazines were carried on their backs for the teammates behind them, giving the front line greater mobility to fight walkers and react more quickly.
When everyone was ready, they all exited through the door, and the first shots were fired by those at the front, who had no choice but to eliminate the closest walkers so their companions could deploy without issue.
The walkers were shot in the forehead and fell to the ground like sacks of sand, but no one paid attention to that.
The rest of the people also came out quickly, and the small area in front of the door on the first floor was soon filled with heavily armed men wearing gas masks.
Everyone had the best combat suits, and the weapons were the Mark 1 created by Sheldon Cooper, which was now being mass-produced for the soldiers. As for the Mark 2, the engine for the chainsaw was still in the beta phase.
…
Once again, all the soldiers tacitly formed groups of three to create small teams and began skillfully clearing the walkers that appeared around them according to their training arrangements.
Close combat!
The task of the first team was to eliminate the walkers. There were at least a thousand walkers, which would be a problem when trying to attract all those in the city. But Jason knew that each soldier had at least 300 rounds on their back. If a dozen soldiers were involved, eliminating these walkers was only a matter of time.
"Good, be careful not to get surrounded by walkers. Don't be afraid to waste bullets. There's still plenty of ammunition in the armored vehicles."
Seeing that the first group was in combat, Jason led another group in a car and drove away. Welles, who was the captain of the elimination team, stayed with his soldiers, who were now engaged in battle.
A feeling of determination filled his heart. Even if he was now disabled, everyone trusted his command abilities. He quickly raised his weapon and joined the fight.
"As long as I have hands, I will eliminate these plagues from this world until the new day of a tomorrow without walkers!"
Looking at all the walkers around them, a total of fifteen people fired continuously. In fact, the effect of a suppressor on a rifle is not as good as expected. Moreover, with fifteen people firing at the same time, this was not a small movement at all.
In addition, the walkers were constantly attracted by the sound, and the situation became extremely delicate for a time. A large number of bullet casings fell to the ground, producing metallic sounds, while the walkers were torn apart under the dense firepower of the elite soldiers.
In this way, the fifteen people advanced slowly, and there were fewer and fewer walkers in the surroundings.
Finally, Welles assigned some people to drive the armored vehicles, and then everyone slowly retreated toward the riverbank to support the next phase of the plan.