Rose and Little White also came back with many other people. They had brought in two big truckloads of inventory and the people on the trucks stared at them in awe. Rose and Little White had gotten rid of all the enemies that came while everyone on the trucks who were fighters on base as well were relegated to just being furniture and food movers. Previously, only Aida's prowess was acknowledged, but now they knew that no one in their new base leader's group was to be messed with.
Aida welcomed them back and gave each of them a big hug. Rose looked a little smug as she saw the haul that they brought in, while Little White also looked fairly happy as well. Little White's expressions were slowly growing as he observed the social cues of the people around him. He was clearly happy to have gotten the chance to go out and kill as was the nature of a Reaper. Through Aida's influence and Light's teaching, Little White had managed to suppress a lot of his true nature but that didn't change what he was.
The three tails all had a great night's rest as they felt fulfilled by the day's work and their contribution to the base. The rest of the base was in a buzz. Everyone had heard about their new base leader's omniscience through the new team leads, her viciousness in catching the criminals and how even the kids that followed her were equally capable.
They all went to sleep in both fear and wonder. They had a renewed purpose in life. Their leader not only protected them but also treated them as humans, providing them with a decent place to sleep and food to eat. They were extremely satisfied.
In contrast, Aida stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. After the kids went to bed, she secretly snuck out through the window and climbed onto the roof, breathing in the fresh air. All the issues of the base kept running through her head.
Staring off at the night sky, she felt compelled to think about her future and where they would go after taking down the organization. 'It wouldn't be too bad to come back here,' thought Aida.
Aida ended up staying up all night, staring into the night sky and then watching the sun rise. Leaping down from the roof, she agilely climbed down the building and walked towards the field. Today, she intended to take a huge group of people into the city to gather materials.
The objective of this trip was not only to acquire necessary items, but also to team and acclimate the people of this base to the post-outbreak setting. They had to know how to fight and defend themselves against Variants and Reapers alike. No amount of lectures and knowledge could supersede the experience of fighting the Reapers directly.
She intended to teach a group of self motivated volunteers to become Green Base's fighters. These fighters could then pass on the knowledge.
A row of 50 trucks and buses were parked out on the field with over 100 people waiting for Aida. They would all be heading out together along with Aida, Rose and Little White. Aida was pleasantly surprised by the number of people willing to learn.
Lackey 1, who had become Aida's secretary over the past few days, trotted over to Aida and reported, "Boss, there are 100 people volunteers here primed and ready to head into the city. There were far more applicants, but we didn't have enough resources so these were the first 100 to sign up. We made sure there was no discrimination between age or gender per your demand."
Aida nodded in appreciation. She believed that in this climate, everyone needed to be treated equally regardless of their background, age or gender. She surveyed the people gathered with her eyes.
They all looked wide awake and refreshed despite the early start to the day. Everyone had adrenaline pumping through their veins as they thought about the possibility of killing a Reaper. As with the other populations many people here had also lost their loved ones in the initial outbreak either to the virus itself or to an Enraged or Reaper. They were all eager to get their revenge.
Aida, Little White and Rose sat atop the leading truck and Lackey 1 said, "Move out!"
All the vehicles began moving along the paved road. The cars that typically blocked the roads had long been cleared and the drive to the city was only a short 30 minutes at high speeds. As they approached, the adrenaline began to wear off and people in the cars were beginning to get scared. There was a group of Reapers and Enraged charging towards them, attracted by the noise.
Noticing this, Aida hopped off and slashed the nearest Reaper, retrieving it's gem. "Get out and fight!"
Seeing Aida defeat the Reaper so effortlessly, they regained a bit of confidence and climbed out of the vehicles. Each of them were holding a stick or a weapon of some sort as they grit their teeth and charged towards the oncoming infected while screaming.
Aida signalled to Rose and Little White as they cleared all the Reapers in the area, leaving the Enraged to the people from the base. This was meant to be training for them so it should be challenging, but not impossible.
The quality of Enrageds had changed over time. At the beginning of the outbreak, the Enrageds were mostly intelligent and functioned much like human beings who were driven purely by rage. Soon after, those that still retained full consciousness turned into Variants while those that were particularly strong or retained some small amount of consciousness turned into Reapers. The rest of the infected remained as Enrageds. The current Enrageds were the leftover infected that couldn't evolve, so they were like mindless beings driven purely by instinct.
This is what made these Enrageds the perfect warm up for the people here. Men, women and children alike attacked the Enrageds with purpose. With every success, they got braver and became bolder with their moves.