chapter 24 : Home, sweet home

Instead of the planned two weeks, they stayed there for a month, two weeks and four days during which Calvin took care of the different combat formations.

With the paintball equipment he collected and the airsoft equipment he already had, he organized shooting simulations every day in the cleaned buildings.

He had also increased machete training for the elites where they did several hundred repetitions of the movement per day.

Hand-to-hand combat training and strength training exercises have shown good results. It was only the beginning of training but they had to leave and move forward.

 They loaded the convoy, refueled before leaving for North Carolina towards Mooresville on Route 77 and on the way, the survivors had some sport pushing the abandoned vehicles on certain lanes.

They spent four days in the city where Calvin shone with his talents as a hunter, fisherman but also as a searcher.

They already had plenty of food but fresh meat was always good, zombies weren't a problem for them, they were strong enough to get rid of them intelligently without much effort.

 In three weeks of driving, stopping and searching, they were already in the state of Virginia in the town of Harrisonburg and They looked for a place to settle for a few days before heading towards Washington DC and they found it.

The village inn hotel where they stopped to settle in. After a few days of rest, they took the road to Washington DC where they finally reached the White House.

Calvin looked around the entire area with a very satisfied smile, the bikers had already kept the hordes away to clear the way in advance.

 Alone, he went over the barrier with his saber to inspect the premises and after an hour, he returned to open the gate to bring the group in by opening the gate.

Calvin had reached the destination of their journey and he wasn't disappointed .

Normally, this trip would have been much shorter, but he wanted to take his time fortifying his men.

In addition, making this trip alone by car is different from this kind of convoy with all the obstacles on the roads as well as the small logistical worries. 

They had not only visited and inspected all the places but had also cleaned a small mobile military base installed in the large field certainly to protect the president even if he only found walkers in suits or military uniforms.

 Once the convoy entered, he relegated men to wait for the bikers before sealing the gate. To be safe, Calvin arranged several other inspections at the property because even though he's already searched the place , they were going to live there so he wanted to be 100% sure that no threats were in sight.

After four hours of extensive exploration, they found nothing alarming so Calvin asked the group to dispose of the corpses found and gather the military equipment that was there.

Once everything was done, without even much rest, they began cleaning the place with a very dynamic participation from Calvin who vowed to take good care of his future home.

 At the end of the big cleaning, Calvin asked them to rest, find rooms for themselves . He had already chosen Abraham Lincoln's room because of his own name where he made love with Reyes who herself was happy with all the interesting discoveries in the White House and they would definitely organize everything in the coming days.

 For the next three days, they relaxed and had small parties for the end of their trip because now they were at home and with all the facilities they discovered in the properly their standard of living will be better.

During the epidemic, in addition to all the equipment that was already there, the military had installed several survival equipment to ensure that the White House would hold on and survive the apocalypse.

 Among these installed items were huge, state-of-the-art solar panels installed. They were more advanced than those of the King because they were of the same quality as those of the satellites, capable of withstanding the cold of space and of converting solar rays into energy much more quickly, Calvin and the engineers restarted everything.

These were just a few installations among many others without even mentioning military equipment in terms of weapons or otherwise. For now, it was time to celebrate because they were going to start construction soon, Cal had plans for this place and big plans.

 In the middle of the afternoon of the third day, Calvin approached a particular spot rubbing his hands with Reyes next to him.

It was the Presidential Bunker designed and equipped certainly to withstand and serve as a refuge for decades after a disaster.

There was a sign outside to enter a code and Cal did it right after touching the sign. He then turned the crank to open the large metal door and enter the Luxurious Bunker where they found several walkers that they eliminated without too much trouble .

 They searched the Bunker and it was really well equipped and luxurious, an excellent independent water and electricity supply, luxurious toilets and showers, the place was also very large with dormitories.

They continued searching until they came to a door that apparently closed from the inside, it was the pantry door and this door looked extremely sturdy. It looks like someone had locked themselves inside.

 "Hello to you who are inside. We are survivors who have settled in the White House, you risk nothing and we mean you no harm. I am the leader of this group and now that I own this domain, this Bunker belongs to me too. Please clear my pantry and come out, you can stay with us if you want. You have exactly 5 minutes to open this door, at the end of that time I am going to open this door and kill you all inside" Calvin said while chewing a stick of jerky in amusement.

 « Who are you ?! » A woman's voice was heard inside and Calvin recognized it.

 Calvin: First Lady ?! Is that you?! Cool ! I just told you, I am the brand new owner of this charming place and this Bunker included. Please vacate my property, we will take care of you.

 Michelle: How can we be sure that you won't hurt us?! Our guards turned against us when they realized that help would not come, they subjected us to all kinds of abuse. What tells us you're not worse.

 Calvin: Nothing, absolutely nothing guarantees you that, but you have three minutes and fifty-seven seconds left to open before I get angry and kill you all. You have my word that no harm will come to you, we have wives and children.

 Michelle:…

 Reyes: Madam first lady, he is telling the truth. Calvin isn't a bad person but he's really going to kill you all at the end of this time and there's nothing I can do.

 Michelle: Who...who are you? You are with him.

 Reyes: I am Captain Christina Reyes, a former military medic trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. I am with him indeed, as are the other people on the surface who have settled. He guided us from Georgia to here in order to create our community and survive, you can trust us.

 Michelle:…

 Reyes tried to communicate with her and convince her but too suspicious, the first lady remained her position and time passed.

 Cal: You have exactly seven seconds left Madam President, to everyone with you there, I want to make it clear that if you die then it is the fault of the first lady's stupidity. It's absolutely nothing personal, everyone. 5…4…(Takes out the pin)…3…2…1…

 He quickly picked all three locks before opening the door to be greeted by a strong unpleasant smell and 5 survivors who attacked with kitchen knives while a man and woman in dark blue suits drew their pistols.

 *PLAMB*

 He quickly shot the woman in the head with his silenced pistol before kicking the first man with the knife in the ribcage when he felt a crack in the man's sternum.

He elbowed the first mate hard and he fell unconscious with his mouth a bloody mess.

The man in the suit fired while at the same time Calvin took one of the knife attackers as a human shield and the poor man was hit.

 He snatched the knife from the dead man's hand and threw it at the guy in the suit, and the knife lodged in his shoulder as he dropped the gun.

The last two people with knives froze in fear as Calvin fixed the barrel of his gun on them, grinning creepily.

 « WAIT ! PLEASE DON'T KILL US! THESE PEOPLE ARE INNOCENT! » Michelle said while hugging her two tearful daughters, Calvin really wasn't joking and planned to do as he promised.

 "I gave you time to save your lives…" He said as his gray eyes held no emotion. He wanted to shoot again but when he pulled the trigger, Reyes pushed his hand so the bullet which was supposed to hit one of the men between the eyes was aimed at his ears which were torn.

Calvin slowly turned his face to his right and saw Reyes holding his arm, she was the one who turned him away so that he missed his shot.

He looked at him coldly with his expressionless eyes as Reyes felt that his life might be in danger.

 Calvin: What do you think you're doing there?

 Reyes: Please, there are children among them. These people are innocent and you know it, are you going to kill innocent people?

 Cal: It wasn't me who killed them but the former first lady.1They attacked first. 

 Reyes: There are children! Children like Clementine and Rachid among them. Do you really want to kill them for the mistake of one woman?!

 "My life, take my life but I beg you not to kill others. I'm the one responsible." Michelle asked through tears as her two daughters also cried like many of these survivors.

 Reyes: You don't have to be so extreme every time, I've watched you a bit and you're devoid of any emotion when you have a weapon in your hand to kill. I don't know why you are like this or how but one day if you don't think enough before taking a human life you will regret it Forever .

 Calvin lowered his gun and looked at Michelle and the remaining 17 people in complete terror.

 Cal: Clean this place up before you leave here, we'll see what to do with you later because like we told you, No one here meant you any harm . You can thank my wife's common sense, if she wasn't here then you would all be dead. If you stay then Doctor Reyes will take care of your installation and your different roles in the community.

 "Thank you…" Christina said looking at him as he nodded slightly. He knew it, Reyes was right because he felt absolutely nothing when it came to killing and he was definitely going to do something he was definitely going to regret.

Calvin wasn't perfect, he was an already imperfect human who was granted supernatural abilities and that was very dangerous. He needed to work on himself in order to control himself and later that evening he thanked Christina and sincerely asked her to forgive him and help him to lead their future community . 

 (7 months later)

 During the months that followed, Calvin solidly built his community, Everyone worked hard. 

They had occupied not only the white house but the entire surrounding area within a radius of 600 meters around it.

Calvin had found many other survivors including even soldiers and had put everyone to work.

Obviously, he had to impose his authority either by the effectiveness of his decisions to gain their recognition or by absolute terror as he did with the 34 soldiers they had found, Calvin cruelly killed some of them who wanted to organize a takeover by force.

 They had started farming and breeding because they had found by their divine luck several animals coming from abandoned farms but also animals with strong reproductive capacities such as rabbits and large rats to have regular supplies of meat.

They had chickens, horses and pigs.

 Cal and the Survivors had done what was necessary to set up wildlife areas for the winter which they were passing through efficiently thanks to helpful members of the community such as engineers, Calvin had found many useful survivors thanks to his luck.

They had built greenhouses and did a lot of vertical hydroponic cultivation on the roofs of buildings or in greenhouses in winter to have a wide variety of fresh vegetables, this was without counting the cultivation of cereals such as wheat and oats in some spaces.

 Calvin had gathered a total of 683 survivors now and they had erected high and strong walls with metal beams and plates that they welded together to limit their territory and stop potential enemies alive or not.

Weapons and ammunition were found in abandoned military camps as well as combat vehicles, they had a very persuasive military force especially with Calvin among them who was a small army in his own right.

 They had looted all the solar panels in the city in order to concentrate them in their areas to benefit from maximum solar energy, they had also managed to efficiently supply themselves with clean water and at this moment, one of the engineers had planned a system capable of generating electricity using excrement.

This man was a true genius and Calvin himself had given him a position and important responsibilities in their community which they had named "Lincoln".

 The 58 children of the community had to attend classes and among them, some stood out more than others.

They were Clementine, Sophia, Duane, Rose and Riley (another boy from the camp) who were Calvin's four proteges but especially Rachid, his adopted son.

Rachid had received personal training from Calvin who had given him a small black Katana on his birthday that he had found in a small set of homemade bladed weapons.

He taught him hard how to use the saber and firearms, he could be severe but also tender with the child and Rachid was a very good student.

 Duane and Rachid were very good friends, they formed a very good trio with Riley. Duane was Calvin's biggest fan and had even started growing his hair like his model.

If Rachid wielded the saber, Duane was much more interested in the spear or the machete. In fact, Duane was very good with melee weapons and he learned quickly enough to impress Calvin.

Riley was 14 years old and Paul's son, a former SEAL who was now in Lincoln's military forces.

Riley had very quickly shown good skills and the young blond man had quickly attracted Calvin's attention and developed a solid friendship with the other two boys, he was the eldest of the trio.

 With Molly and Lee, the children progressed in their various training sessions just like the adults.

Calvin had zero tolerance for the weak so all Lincoln survivors were required to be trained in basic combat, groups were formed for raids and the research for Survivor. 

These squads were permanent and difficult to change, he had appointed squad leaders to direct the search and organize operations.

 In the hotel closest to the White House, they had installed a large number of medical equipment, devices, medicines and surgical tools.

The place was run directly by Reyes with Michelle among his assistants, they still set up everything.

Winter was about to end and Calvin was doing intense physical exercises in the White House gym when Riley's father Paul arrived near him, the guards outside knew him and knew that he was one of the captains.

 Paul: President.

 Calvin: I swear one day Clementine is going to pay for calling me that ridiculous nickname.

 Paul: Your adopted sister is not completely wrong, you lead a community with frightening efficiency and you live in the White House in addition to calling yourself Lincoln. 

 Calvin: Do you have anything to report ?

 Paul: My squad and I found something that will definitely interest you a lot.

 Calvin: I'm listening.

 Paul: We found a community in Alexandria, a housing estate surrounded by a large fence made of large metal sheets. We observed everything from afar, the walls are not as strong as ours but they seem quite effective.

 « Great work, we will wait until the end of winter to pay them a little visit. You have done an excellent job, a reward awaits you. » Calvin said smiling as he even had a bit of enthusiasm in him.