An hour later, both the Black Hawk helicopter and the Bell 407 were ready.
With so little time to prepare, Leah simply called in Jonathan's squad, which happened to be at Rock Fortress.
Calista counted it out on her fingers. The Police Gang didn't have many people who could actually fight. Jonathan's eight-man squad, plus Calista herself and the four pilots and co-pilots who could lend a hand, would be more than enough.
Once the squad was fully equipped, Leah gave Calista's gear one final inspection and firmly patted her on the shoulder.
"Keep the channel open and report in at all times. If things turn out to be worse than expected, I'll send fighter jets to support you."
Calista nodded and boarded first.
Jonathan, Carver, Merle, and Daryl followed close behind.
Donald, Vance, Bessent, and Hegseth boarded the Bell 407 with their equipment.
"Let's go!"
The helicopters lifted off, climbed rapidly, and sped toward Atlanta. The sudden acceleration pressed everyone hard against their seats.
Outside the windows, the lush outline of the Great Smoky Mountains quickly receded. Inside the cabin, there was nothing but the thunder of engines and rotors.
No one spoke. Everyone either performed one last equipment check or closed their eyes to rest and conserve their energy.
Calista sat quietly.
Unlike usual, she didn't take the opportunity to close her eyes and rest. Instead, she tilted her head slightly and stared in silence at the scenery rushing past outside the window.
Human structures and winding highways swept backward, reflected in her gray-blue eyes, though her gaze wasn't focused on any one thing.
Damn it. I got careless.
Once the thought surfaced, she couldn't stop it. More and more reflections came flooding in.
Glenn, Maggie, Dr. Caleb...
How many times had the Defense Force traveled the stretch of road between the prison and Rock Fortress where they had run into trouble? How many round trips had the supply convoys made?
Nothing serious had ever happened.
At most, they encountered scattered walkers or a few ragtag bands of roaming raiders who fled the moment they spotted a Rock Fortress convoy in the distance.
Somewhere along the way, Calista had practically labeled that route a "safe zone" in her own mind.
When had she started thinking like that?
Was it after they successfully secured the Knoxville Industrial Park and basic industrial goods began steadily flowing into the base?
Was it when she looked over the lush fields of Blackberry Ranch and watched their food reserves climb higher and higher?
Or had it started even earlier, after they absorbed that group of National Guard soldiers, acquired several military aircraft, and she began to feel that the cards in her hand were getting stronger and stronger?
Rock Fortress really had developed too well, far faster than anyone could have imagined.
Calista had started with barely more than twenty people occupying Twilight Manor. Now they controlled four settlements, had a population of over a thousand, thriving agriculture, livestock farming, and industry, along with a Defense Force made up of mercenaries, remnants of the regular military, and reservists.
Among the survivor communities in this region, Rock Fortress was no longer a newborn settlement that had to hide itself carefully.
It had become a force too large to ignore.
Without realizing it, Calista had become caught up in the mindset of leading a "major power," and her vigilance had begun to slip.
In her mind, only the major and minor "bosses" from the original storyline deserved her full attention and careful planning. The Saviors, the Whisperers, the Commonwealth, and even the Civic Republic Military, of which the original story had revealed only the tip of the iceberg.
As for everyone else?
The Police Gang?
What were they?
A bunch of pathetic people hiding in a hospital and playing cops?
A minor nuisance that Rick's group had dealt with in only a few episodes of the original storyline?
Calista hadn't even considered that this insignificant problem was hiding so close to one of her transportation routes.
No, that wasn't quite right.
It wasn't that she had forgotten them.
She simply hadn't considered them important enough to remember.
That was arrogance, a blindness bred by success.
Calista couldn't help sighing at the realization.
She had relied too heavily on her knowledge of the original storyline and forgotten that this was a real world, one that kept moving and was full of unpredictable variables.
The butterfly's wings had started beating long ago. The rise of Rock Fortress was itself an enormous change, one that was bound to draw different eyes and provoke different reactions.
Perhaps the appearance of the Police Gang was the first unmistakable sign.
This world wasn't going to follow the "script" just because Calista knew the plot.
And what had her strategy been all this time?
Build up Rock Fortress. Raise high walls and stockpile food.
When threats like the Governor or Lorenzo appeared, strike back and eliminate them.
There was nothing wrong with that.
It was simply a defensive approach to survival, the logic of a survivor and a builder.
But was it enough?
After what had happened to Glenn and the others, the answer was clearly no.
Threats in the post-apocalypse wouldn't wait until Calista was ready. They would strike the weakest link at the most unexpected moment.
This time it was Maggie and Glenn, who had gone out to pick someone up.
What about next time?
A supply convoy?
Blackberry Ranch?
Or perhaps... Calista herself?
Always reacting meant always being one step behind. If they kept waiting for trouble to come to them, even the strongest base would eventually be worn down.
A hotter, fiercer thought began to take shape in Calista's mind.
Why should she wait for someone else to set the rules?
Why should she wait for a threat to emerge before destroying it?
Why should the safety of her territory and her people depend on an enemy "not thinking of attacking yet" or "not daring to attack"?
Rock Fortress already had strength.
It had elite soldiers.
It had growing industry and agriculture.
It had air superiority that no one else possessed.
Was all of that power really meant to be used only for defense and retaliation?
No!
If Calista wanted something, she should take the initiative and get it.
She wanted secure transportation routes?
Then they would uproot every potential threat along those routes and make the roads truly safe.
She wanted a stable environment for development?
Then every nearby faction that might become a threat would either be absorbed or destroyed, establishing an unquestioned sphere of influence around Rock Fortress.
She wanted to build a new order?
Then she needed more territory, more people, more concentrated resources... and every enemy that dared obstruct or provoke Rock Fortress needed to disappear completely.
Better yet, they needed to disappear before they ever got the chance.
"Calista?"
A concerned voice beside her pulled Calista out of her surging ambitions.
She turned.
Carver was watching her. His eyes usually held a trace of irreverence, but now there was unmistakable concern in them.
The helicopter was deafening, leaving everyone half-deaf, so Carver raised his voice to make sure she could hear him.
"You haven't said a word! Are you worried about Glenn, Maggie, and the others? Don't worry. As long as they're still alive, we'll get them out! Those bastards at the hospital aren't enough to stop us!"
Worried?
Yes.
But that was no longer everything on her mind.
Calista looked at Carver without answering his question directly. Slowly, a smile curved across her lips.
Light from the window fell across her face. Several strands of golden hair had slipped free from beneath her helmet and fluttered with the helicopter's vibrations.
"Carver!" She raised her voice as well, leaning toward his ear. "I'm not worried! I'm wondering if Rock Fortress has been too polite!"
Carver blinked, momentarily caught off guard by the look in her beautiful eyes.
Jonathan, Daryl, and Merle also turned toward them.
Seeing everyone looking her way, Calista's smile widened. Her confidence and energy were almost infectious.
"All we've done is build and defend! We wait until someone comes after us before we hit back! What kind of way is that?!"
She shook her head. Her golden hair swayed with the motion, and a strand blew across Carver's face, making his breath catch for a moment.
"Carver! We have guns! We have aircraft! We have technology and manpower that other people can't even dream of!"
"Starting today, we're changing the rules!" Calista's voice abruptly sharpened. "Not just anyone gets to build a nest right beside our territory, then reach out whenever they feel like it and bite whoever they want!"
She turned fully toward Carver again, her eyes shining with confidence that bordered on arrogance.
"We're going to make everyone understand one thing. With Rock Fortress at the center, we're the ones who set the rules in this territory!"
When she finished, Carver stared at her with shining eyes. He pressed a hand against his pounding heart as an excited grin spread across his face.
Daryl straightened his back, only for Merle to hook an arm around his neck.
"Damn! I've been saying we should've done this a long fucking time ago!"
Jonathan chuckled and went back to checking the heavy weapons he had brought with him.
Calista leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, but her thoughts kept moving.
The Police Gang was simply the first bunch of idiots to walk straight into her line of fire.
So what other "bugs" nearby needed to be cleared out in advance?
The factions she remembered flashed through her mind one after another until they finally stopped on one.
Terminus.
Its location... seemed to be farther south of the prison, somewhere remote near where Interstate 85 intersected with the railroad tracks.
A train station disguised as a shelter?
She couldn't remember the exact coordinates, but the place was brazen enough to plaster advertisements everywhere.
It wouldn't be hard to find.
Good.
Next target.
The Cannibals.