Chapter 21

After cleaning the place from walkers, Logan gave instructions to each member of the team. 

First he ordered the re-imprisonment of the inmates in separated cells with two men guarding them. The others are instructed to patrol the fences, especially the damaged part which was fixed with wires with a log to support it.

He already sent the dump truck team to bring some support braces to reinforce the fence temporary, along with the main fortification which are Concertainers/Hesco Bastions, but those will need time and materials to fill them, so support braces to reinforce the outer fence until the finish installing the Hesco around it. 

One may ask where did they find them? Construction companies made them, but they sold them exclusively to government agencies, but they found them in the warehouses district. That place was probably overrun in the early days of the outbreak and thus they couldn't take the things in there.

Logan was in the Warden Office, he collected the papers on the floor which were the records of some prisoners.

He took them and went to the records office, he intended to find, and read the records of their inmates.

…

"Are you guys from the Military?" Andrew the inmate asked from his cell.

"Keep quiet." Michael said with a hardened tone.

"C'mon, we're locked here, can't you even answer some of our questions?" He tried again.

"You were briefed about the situation outside, anything else is none of your business." Liam from the side said. 

"Besides, our leader still hasn't decided what we're gonna do with y'all." Hank from one of the open cells above. 

"Some of us are here by mistake." Axel said from the side, which seemed to make Andrew uncomfortable but no one of the guards saw it.

"Quiet!" Michael said out loud which made Axel and Andrew to shut up.

…

After browsing through the prisoner records that belong to C-Block Logan found the records of the inmates they had along with Tomas's own, he found out the guy was a lifer who committed several murders before he was caught.

The other inmate files were also in his hand, as he went back to the Warden Office to read them before making decisions about their lives.

…

After spending some time reading their whole files, from crimes, sentences, psychological records, and other information.

"Shane, bring me the inmates one by one." Logan

"Any specific order?" Shane asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Bring me Big Tiny, Oscar, Axel, then Andrew last." Logan listed the specific order he would like to meet them in.

…

Logan afterward met the prisoners one by one until he reached Axel, so far the trio were in prison for either light crimes or by mistake. 

First, Big Tiny, he was caught with a gang that was on the wanted list, in the court he attested that his friend was the one who brought him to the gang, but the gang members' attestations were against him. So he was considered an accomplice, the guy was surprisingly friendly, like some gentle giant, his only relative was his mother whom he misses.

Oscar was framed according to his words, and the attestment of his friends, his records show that he fought some bigshot, and later he was judged for stealing from the same person he had the fight with, he has a wife and two children, his record before that were clean.

Axel did actually committe a crime, (un)armed robbery, but admittedly with a water gun, which reduced his sentence. The guy also seems to have low self-esteem and is the prison outcast.

Those three vouched for each other, but also didn't have anything positive on Andrew, the last one. Axel admitted the guy always tried to pick on him, the others said he and Tomas were close friends even before the outbreak. His records also tell all needed, blackmail, rape, physical abuse, drugs, and the main suspect in a murder case.

"Shane, I want you to take Liam, and Michael, to bring Andrew outside and execute him. Take his corpse away from the Prison." Logan ordered as Shane nodded and left to do his job. 

…

Later after Shane and co. Took the inmate Andrew, Logan waited outside as the others brought the three inmates that are left.

"Congratulations, your lives have been spared." Logan said which made the trio look at each other, Axel, and Big Tiny looked really relieved.

"But you are going to work from the bottom to earn our trust, and your freedom. Once you are clear, we will allow you to choose either to remain with us, and become part of our group, or leave." Logan said, making the three inmates who are listening to him nod their heads.

(heh leaving)

"Good, you're going to work for us, you will be fed, and be locked in your cells." Logan said, as the dump truck or rather two dump trucks, and Humvee came.

After they entered, they seemed to bring more men. Previously it was only Jim, Phil and Harry, but now there are Felipe, Jorge, Tito, and Diego with them. 

"You brought the things?" Logan asked, Jim nodded and showed him. Hesco bastions, and steel support braces that are going to be used to reinforce the fence, and tools they're gonna work with..

Logan turned to the three prisoners. "Your first job will be to clear the rubbles in the back fence." He took shovels and gave one to each of them.

"Make sure to finish before sunset, Hank brings two men with you to supervise them. Once Shane, Liam, and Michael come back, I want them to patrol the perimeter."

He turned to Jim and the men he brought, and gave orders "Jim I want you and the rest to start putting those support braces, then set the Hesco around the fences." 

"Me and Daryl will make a trip outside. Shane will be in command until I'm back." Logan said he and Daryl went to take the Humvee.

…

"Say Daryl, do you think the decision to remove Andrew is right?" Logan asked the hunter about his opinion.

"It is, the guy was sh*t and deserve it. The others are degenerates, but still not trustworthy." Logan nodded at his friend's words.

The two ride the Humvee to accustom themselves with the area around the prison. They already passed a town less than half an hour ago, their objective is to scout for now and not to scavenge. 

The ride was a bit quiet, Logan would sometimes start a conversation which would end shortly, but he always found different subjects to make more small talk. 

The Humvee reached an open area, Logan noticed vehicles in the middle of the open area and stopped.

"Would you look at this?" Logan pointed at what seems to be a camp. 

Daryl noticed the vehicles and frowned "Military?" 

"Highly possible." Logan nodded at the suggestion, Daryl asked "Do we approach them?" 

Logan thought for a moment before taking his Radio.

*kshhh…Shane…*

*kshhh…Here, got somethin'?...*

*kshhh…Possible Military Personnel…*

*kshhh…Sh*t, need anything?...*

*kshh…Back up, there seems to be 3 land vehicles, and a helicopter, send Felipe, Jorge, Liam, and Harry…*

*kshhh…You got it...*

Logan told him how to get there, and they waited for almost an hour until the four came with one of the anti-riot trucks.

"You think they could be the ones who drew that herd before?" Liam and Harry were curious.

"Most likely. It's hard to have a helicopter at this times." Logan also thinks they were the culprits, since they're the closest to Atlanta so far.

"Question is, why are they out in the open like this?" Logan started to wonder if they deserted duty and escaped from some military camp or their base got overrun.

…

Logan and co. Approaching the camp from the road, they were driving slowly to try and get a view of their numbers, soon enough they gathered together with weapons at hand. There were 15 of them.

"Stop right there!" one of the soldiers said as Logan and Liam stopped their vehicles. 

They exited their vehicles with their weapons at hand, 6 stood a bit far from the 15 soldiers who scanned them with their eyes, the other party was equally doing the same.

"I have to say, it's been a while since I saw a soldier." Logan said while the other party was scanning around.

"This is all of us here." Logan said, hinting that they have more people, just not close to the place.

Two of them communicated before they came forward, understanding they wanted to play representatives. I getsure for Liam to follow me, the others stood a little back.

"Corporal Brian Brady, and Lieutenant James Welles" the two introduced themselves with their military rank.

"You're still using your ranks?" Liam asked.

"We're still military." Corporal Brady said.

"Oh? Is that so? I was in the military before. Does that make you fall under my command?" Logan poked at them.

"Was?" Welles asked.

"I resigned." Logan told them.

"Even if you resigned, you're still a soldier like all of us." Brady informed,

"It's Captain Logan Barrett, Corporal Brady." Logan revealed his rank.

"Are you a relative of Lt. Colonel Joseph Barrett?" Welles raised an eyebrow hearing Logan's last name.

"That would be my late father, also he's Colonel now, since he got a posthumous promotion, for his service." Logan said, finally the two saluted him and he saluted back.

"Sir, if I could, but what is your situation?" Brian asked.

"I am leading an armed group of different people from civilians, cops, and firefighters. What about you?" 

"We're stuck in this place, our camp was overrun so we decided to retreat and try heading to Fort Benning." James started to inform Logan about their situation, how they escaped from their overrun camp, how they used the helicopter to scout ahead, but changed direction after discovering the highway was jammed.

"Do you realize your action of bringing the Helicopter to Atlanta caused a horde to follow after the noise which almost caused my people to be overrun?" Logan said with a serious look as the two gave each other a look and could only apologize.

"We're sorry Captain Barrett, we didn't know our action could bring such disastrous results." Logan blankly looked at the two.

"You're not going to drop that captain?" Logan asked. The two simply shook their heads.

"Fine, do what you want." Logan sighed in defeat.

"Forgive me for asking sir, but how many people do you have?" Brian asked.

"87 people, among them 41 capable men, 5 young boys, and 4 elderly. 34 capable women, and 3 young girls." Logan listed the total number of their people.

This made the two grasp in shock. 

"But sir, where could that many people live?" James Asked.

"We have a relatively safe place, and we're building a wall around it for maximum protection. If that is not enough, then we have a secondary base which is a former prison we took over, and we're trying to fortify it." The more Logan revealed the more the duo became convinced.

"What do you think?" Logan asked with a smile, this guys are.

"Could you assume command over our group, sir?" Brian said. He's basically asking Logan to accept them in his group.

"We were the only ranked members in our group, we've lost some men while we were escaping from our camp. We can't survive like this." James nodded, not bothered to give Logan command over their group, not that he needed them to acknowledge, seeing as he outrank them. 

"Are you willing to be part of our armed forces?" Logan asked with a dead serious look on his face.

The two nodded their heads, they never stopped fighting, they've been fending for themselves for almost a month, they've dealt with walkers and hostile survivors alike, it would be great for them to join a bigger armed force. 

"Alright, you can inform your men and pack your things. We're leaving this place, I will also need you to show me the place of your former camp." Logan ordered as the two saluted and went to talk with their men.

…

"Looks like this trip is very fruitful." Logan said to Daryl as they rode back to the prison with more manpower, and this time it consisted of experienced soldiers.

They brought the soldiers to the Prison, where Logan sent back Jim and the ones who came early to go and bring more riot gears for their new recruits, and inform Rick about them. 

With the 15 soldiers, their entire group became 105 in total, including inmates. they have 59 capable men in total, the prison will keep 25 men. The Farm Lands will keep the rest, which is 34 capable men, along with all women, kids, and four elders.

Logan kept 7 of his initial team including himself, Shane, Daryl, Michael, Liam, Hank, Andrew, along with the inmates, and the new soldiers.

The wall is going to be finished in less than a month, afterward they will keep some guards there, and bring more men to the prison to finish filling the Hesco and installing protections around it, then start expiditions. The first expeditions are the overrun camp, and the food company warehouse which is in the base of hostile survivors he encountered before.

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[▪AN//: - The group is growing bigger, I need some name suggestions for their Community in the farm, and their Base in Prison. I hope you understand the way I am building their group, one place is a food source, the other is for their armed operations, can you guys guess what the next one will be?]