Chapter 17

A week after the trip to Cranwell High School in Linden County.

{Logan POV}: 

Work, a lot of work, and we're getting close to finishing the moat after getting more manpower, adding the Vatos was the right decision.

I made sure to rotate most of the group, myself included. Most would work in digging the moat, some would patrol around the fence, and a team of two would go to Linden County which has far fewer walkers after I and Maggie drove them away.

"Rick! Come here for a moment." I called out for Rick, who left the others digging and came to me.

With a questioning look Rick asked. "What is it?"

 I gave him a notebook I had on me, which contained some plans and calculations he made. Inside the notebook is the layout and dimensions of the wall they're gonna build.

Skipping through it he looked at me "Is this what I think it is?" His eyes shone in recognition looking at me, to which I nodded in confirmation. 

"The wall plans? Yes. I left room for expansion in the future." I added which seems to make his mood brighter.

"I want you guys to bring those materials while I'm out to find more people." I told him I was about to go along with Guillermo to scout a bit further from here, in hope of finding more people to recruit into the group. 

After snapping from his shock. "Isn't there a lot of things left in there? It will take us way too many trips to empty that place." I shook my head.

"There are three more trucks left in there, even some towing utility trailers. You can use all of those to transport everything we need." Rick understood, I added "It will take you fewer trips that way.

…

On another note, My relationship with Maggie was revealed a few days ago. I got a talk from Hershel who told me 'when you have a daughter, you will realize that no one is good enough for her until the one comes.' We had a talk about responsibility too, 

After a night filled with intimacy, I instructed the ones that are coming to prepare. We're taking the Humvee and Van for this. 

Me, Maggie, Glenn, Amy, will take the Humvee. Jorge, and Guillermo are going to take the Van.

{POV End}

The team that is going to get the materials is Shane, Andrea, Jim, Felipe, Tito, Carlito, Juan and Diego. A total 8 members, with the rest staying in the farm to protect.

Miguel is responsible for keeping watch on the highway by hiding, keeping an eye out for any passing survivors, or even herds of walkers.

Miguel was the best at sneaking around, even better than Glenn, thus why he was the best for that job.

Logan also gathered his team, ans bid the rest a goodbye for now, with Hershel telling him to keep Maggie safe.

"Remember never trust anyone easily. Once we find any potential recruits, we will watch them from far before deciding if we're going to bring them in fold." Logan instructed as he drove the Humvee with Van following behind.

…

The team driving the same road that leads to the prison, they reached a town close to the location.

The two vehicles drove around the place. Logan noticed a building that had three trucks parked close to the gate in a way that prevented anything from going, but also gives whoever inside access to the back of those trucks.

Logan and others noticed the logo on trucks, they belong to some sort of food company. Which means whoever lives there is using that formation to protect the place from walkers, while having access to food filled trucks.

"Potential recruits?" Maggie asked, while she and everyone were watching the building. 

"Hopefully." Logan said inspected the area they're in for any suspicious movements. 

Logan signaled for Guillermo and Jorge to follow, as they drove to a particular hidden spot to park their cars in.

Everyone got out, locked the cars, and gathered. Following Logan's lead as they made their way to the building. He turned to the duo gang members and signaled for them to move in a direction, then Amy and Glenn to another, He and Maggie were going toward the front, but hidden from the windows of that building.

Guillermo spoke from the walkie. *kshhh… I saw movements from the window on the second floor on the eastern side….* 

Logan took his walkie and asked. *kshhh…How many?..."

*kshhh…I counted Seven. Three adult men, two adult women, and two kids…*

Glenn voice sounded afterward *kshhh… Saw them, they just passed a window in the back on the first floor…*

Logan ordered *kshh…keep eyes on the vicinity too…*

Maggie looked around her as Logan gave her a tap on the shoulder, she turned to him and he motioned for her to look somewhere, which she did. There, a group of three is coming in the building direction. A middle aged man, a man who looks to be in twenties, and a middle aged woman. 

The three older ones carry weapons on them. The man has a hunting rifle, the other two have handguns. 

Logan and Maggie retreated backward to avoid being seen by them, but kept as close as possible to try and listen to anything they're saying.

…

"We will need to relocate from this place." Middle aged man said

"But dad, we need to find a place first before moving." The younger man replied.

"We can't stay in an open place like this Harry, they can find us easily here." The woman agreed with the father.

"We have better chances against the bitters, than we have against those greedy bastards." The father continued.

"Alright, let's tell the others and prepare to move out, hopefully we can find a good and long lasting place to stay in." The son said.

"Hard to believe such a place would exist, even Fort Benning is overrun, what can normal civilians do when even the Military failed?" The mother scoffed.

…

"They are a family." Maggie said in a low tone.

"They are being chased by a supposedly bigger group, and fort benning has been overrun. " Logan finished. 

He took his walkie while trying to peek at the front where the trucks are parked. 

*kshhh…Others have appeared on the street, possibly part of the group inside. They also talked about being hunted by a different group, and Fort Benning being overrun…*

*kshhh…What do we do now?...* Glenn asked.

*kshhh…All of you come from the other side, we will make our approach when the others come out to get them in…*

**kshhh… Alright…**

The team was ready to move, the moment the other group gathered together. Logan felt this was similar to when he met Rick, Morgan, and Duane. He still remembers Morgan and Diane and hopes they are  fine.

The moment the entire group reunited, Logan gave the signal. He and his team  walked out and encircled the other party which were now held at gunpoint.

"Nobody. Move." Logan said with his group holding the other party at gunpoint, they know it's just to make a show, but the other party doesn't. Hence why they froze when Logan and co appeared.

They wanted to raise their weapons, but Logan beat them.

"Weapons down, or we're going to shoot. This way we can solve this peacefully." Logan said in an authoritative tone, which made them hesitate and eventually drop their weapons.

What's the point of trying to raise your weapon, when the other party can and will mostly shoot the moment your weapon moves anywhere other than down.

"Step away from them." Indicating for them to move in front of them, while Jorge collects their weapons. 

…

"What do you want from us?" One of the men who came from the building early asked clearly on edge.

"We want to talk." Logan simply said.

Another man snorted in disdain. "This is what you call talking."

"This is what I call precaution, if we wanted to kill you we'd have done so from the start. And took all your belongings, but we don't do that sort of thing." Logan explained.

"What is it that you want to talk about then? please, hurry up, we were planning to leave this place ASAP." The father asked.

"I heard. A bigger group chasing you, right?" Logan revealed.

"Right, so please hurry up. You can save yourselves too." The father who took the lead for his group said.

"How many do they have?" Logan questioned. Which made the guy raise an eyebrow, but answered all the same. "20 are after us, and 37 more are back where they came, all of them are men with a lot of weapons." 

"What did you do that made them chase after you?" Logan asked again, the man answered "We took some food-filled trucks from a food company warehouse, there we witnessed them killing some survivors that made that place their shelter, they saw us, then some of them came after us claiming that it belonged to them."

"So a bigger hostile group took control of a food company warehouse, killed anyone they found there, and sent a party to kill all of you and retrieve what y'all took, did I get it right?" Logan summarized to which they nodded.

"Can you tell me where that place is?" Logan asked wanting to know if they can possibly deal with that group and take what's there

If the other party were good people, he'd negotiate with them to join his group and become part of what they're making. 

"Listen, you shouldn't risk going there, if you need food we can share some with you. We got three trucks outside and you can take one of them, just don't approach that place." The man's word surprised Logan slightly, even more how the entire group didn't voice any concern about it.

Here they held them at gunpoint and forced them to talk, but the other party showed concern for them and willing to share their food with them.

"They are crazy and twisted bunch, we've seen them rape some girls before throwing them to a  

bunch of walkers." This made Amy and Glenn horrified. Maggie too was bothered by such revelation, they never witnessed such cruelty so that's understandable.

"How about you join our group?" Logan decided to try to recruit them.

""What?"" All of them were surprised.

"We have a group of good people, but we were out gathering others." Logan said with the rest of his team nodding in agreement. 

"You have more people? And a place to live in?" The son said from the side, still surprised. This may be their ticket out of the life of running.

"That's a yes for both, and it will become safer in the future." Logan confirmed. The father looked seriously at him. "Are you really willing to take us in? Even with those bastards being after us?"

Logan nodded. Glenn and the rest agreed too, they trusted Logan's judgment, But they also formed their own judgment based on the situation.

"Tell me, what's their ride?" Logan decided to ask.

"Two military trucks? Don't tell me you want to fight them?" The father said. Logan just held a hand to stop him, he despised any trash who treats others as objects and discards them after.

"This won't be a fight, a simple trap will end everything." Logan said while moving away.

…

"Are you sure it's the right thing?" Glenn stood beside him, he asked in concern.

"This is not for them only. It's for everyone who has been or will be wronged by them." Logan said grimly while loading the food boxes on different trucks together, to make the trucks with the company brand a bait.

Logan continued as he looked at Glenn with a serious look.  "If we do nothing, more people will suffer from them, we could become their target too, and I'm not letting everyone's safety up to a chance." Logan would gladly commit murder for everyone's safety, he is killed unprovoked if the target represents danger to them.

…

The others left the place, hiding the new trucks. And waiting for Logan to deal with their chasers.

CREAK!

The two military trucks with men on the back stopped on the road overlooking the building.

"Finally here." Logan said, he took his walkie.

*kshhh…Be ready to take down the ones who remain outside…* 

*kshhh… Got it…*

Outside on the roof of two different buildings stood both Guillermo and Jorge with a sniper rifle each.

The men stepped down with only five, drivers included, remaining in place. All of them have weapons like shotguns, assault rifles, and smgs.  

Logan waited inside the building. The men outside walked to the trucks and found them locked.

"The f*ckers must be inside." One of them said checking one of the roll-up doors.

"I want those kids so badly. I want to hear their screams beneath me as I enjoy their cries." That fat one said with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Keep your sh*tty fantasies to yourself Paul!" One of the others barked at him as they looked at the building.

"Shut it Duncan, you're being loud." 

"Seems like we cornered them." Another one said as they went to the locked door.

"Locking the door won't save you from what's coming." The first one said with a toothy smirk missing a few teeths.

"Let's open the trucks first, see how much of our food they wasted." One of them was about to shoot one of the locks to open the roll-up door, but one guy, bigger and more muscular than everyone else, stopped him.

"Stop, you'll alert them." He commanded which made the other guy back away not daring to go against his orders.

TICK 

They turned to the noise, but…

 BOOOMM!! 

BANG! BANG!... BANG! BANG!... BANG!

…

Logan, who heard them talking beside the trucks, simply opened a grenade and dropped it which exploded in the middle of them and exploded instantly.

After that Jorge and Guillermo took down the ones beside the trucks.

Logan stood up and walked down, and outside with his Kopis in hand, and a handgun in the other. 

The scene in front of him is disturbing. Scorched marks of the explosion, the guys were all scattered on the ground, some did survive but flying shards hit them, others have torren limbs and the unlucky ones were 6 who died from the explosion.

BANG! BANG! BANG!...

He started shooting some who were about to stand up, while moving toward the ones who were rolling on the ground in pain.

PIERCE! PIERCE! PIERCE!!!...

He pierced their heads with his kopis to prevent them from turning, and let the walkers eat them.

He inspected the weapons and took the undamaged ones before moving to meet with Jorge and Guillermo. Take the trucks, then rendezvous with the rest to move on.