It had been three years since Glen took over the Red Viper's gang and rose to prominence. When he first took over the gang, of course, there was some opposition but he managed to convince them.
Well, even though he called it opposition it really wasn't that bad. It was just some people thinking that he was too young and inexperienced. And once they noticed Glen was truly fit for the job they stopped.
Now, a 22-year-old Glen was the leader of a hundred strong outlaw gang. They were strong enough that unless the government sent a company level army it would be impossible to eradicate them.
And in such situations, Glen and his gang would just avoid them since it was impossible for an army of that size to go unnoticed.
Most importantly, they were richer than ever!
In order to not tick off the government too much and cause public outrage, Glen decided on some ground rules for his gang.
1- Never touch the old, the woman, the children and those that surrendered.
That included r*ping. If he heard of any complaints from the women he would cut their manhood himself!
2- Never shoot anyone that doesn't have a gun.
3- Never take so much money that the other goes out of business completely. It was like shearing sheep. If you kill it for the meat, you can't get wool anymore.
4- It's alright to kill someone but never desecrate their corpse or humiliate the dead.
They didn't have to time to deal with people who came for revenge just because they were disrespectful.
5- Never open fire against government officials. Only retaliation is allowed.
6- Lastly, you can retire whenever you want but never betray your brothers even if you leave.
They were a family. You can stray away from family but you could never completely cut off your connection.
Thanks to these simple rules, Glen's gang grew by the day and reached its current size.
As for the ones that broke the rules, they were killed by Glen himself personally.
It was actually more apt to call Glen's men a private army rather than a gang thanks to their unity. Any of these men would die for their brothers.
Currently, their fame was so great that even merchants that they had robbed would curse their own bad luck rather than them. After all, aside from the red plains, where had they seen such kind bandits that would protect them till they reached the nearest town after robbing them?
Public sentiment wasn't that bad either. Since they were usually robbing the bloodsucking merchants some of them even worshipped his gang and they would eventually join his gang.
However, he had to limit his gang to a hundred. This was a behind the scenes deal he had with General Ross.
If they had more than a hundred men the government's rule on the area would be shaken and they would have to take drastic actions to wipe them out. Glen was not arrogant enough to think that he could go against the government so he happily complied.
The government was happy with the deal as well.
Even if they cursed them out in public, Red Plains was currently free of big-time outlaws due to Glen's frequent suppression of the gangs.
He was basically doing a public service to them.
As for the cries of the unfortunate merchants that were caught by him? Who cared!? Even if one of them stopped working, another one would come to take his place anyway.
***
*Growl*
"Boss, here is the night devil that the natives and the townsfolk were talking about. It was very hard to catch actually. No matter how many times we shot it kept getting back up. We could only main it and bring it to you" said Wesley as he dragged a maimed zombie with a rope tied around its neck.
Seeing the green skin, rotten flesh, protruding red eyes, Glen couldn't help but murmur to himself.
"...zombie?" Glen was shocked beyond belief.
WTF!?
He believed that he had just reincarnated in an alternate world with a slightly different history. What was a goddamn zombie doing here?
"Zombie? Is that what they are called?" Wesley asked while scratching his head looking confused. This was the first time he hand encountered such a monster in his life.
6 months ago some rumours had started to travel amongst the common folk.
According to the rumour, some idiot grave robbers decided to break into an ancient native temple to steal their riches.
After coming out, almost half of them were dead. The remaining ones refused to comment on what happened. They just said some mumbo jumbo about night devils.
Then one of them became a monster and started attacking those around him. That was how a monster outbreak started.
At first, Glen didn't take it seriously. Night devils? What the heck was that? He was sure that this was some sort of native propaganda to keep the grave robbers out of their sacred temples.
He was even flattered, actually. He thought that natives were calling him a devil and using him as a children's bedtime story.
But even after six months the rumours didn't stop and started to grow bigger and bigger. There were countless people swearing that they had seen the night devils with their own eyes.
Some were even spotted on his territory. So Glen had sent Wesley, his most trusted right-hand man, to investigate the issue and if possible bring one of their corpse as well.
And that was what Wesley did.
"Did anything happen? Were any of you hurt?" Glen asked with a voice cold as ice.
"Nothing happened... Right! This, erm, Zombie, bit George's ar-"
*BANG*
Before even Wesley stopped speaking Glen drew his gun and shot George, who had a bandage on his left arm, right between his eyes.
"Boss! What did you do!?" asked Emmet, a young man with brown hair and green eyes. There was a glaring knife wound that ran across his face. He had gotten it while protecting Glen against some natives.
"Anyone else?" Glen didn't say anything and kept looking at them with bloodlust. Along with the zombie's growling the atmosphere suddenly become eerie.
"N-no" said one of the men.
*BANG!*
Glen shot the squirming zombie on the ground.
"Joe! Strip them down and search for any bite marks. If they have any, shoot them. Mark! Gather everyone! After Wesley and others get checked I have an announcement to make"
"Yes, boss!"
"Yes, boss!"
The duo answered in unison.
***
As he sat in front of the campfire while all his men stood in front of him, Glen could see the fear in their eyes. They didn't know why they were called so suddenly. They had also heard some rumours about their boss shooting someone without any faults. They were afraid that their boss had finally gone mad and no one wanted to face a crazy Night Rider.
"I know you all are feeling indignant. Especially, Wesley and the others" Glen said as he gazed towards them.
Taking his cue Wesley answered "No boss! I am sure you had your reasons"
"You are right. I had my reasons. However! Even if I had my reasons, we still lost a brother tonight. So let me explain then. Let me explain to you about the zombies" said Glen.
Murmurs started amongst the crowd. Zombies? What was that? Was that some kind of a new native drug?
"Zombie's are dead that rose from their graves. They are grudgeful spirits that refuse to leave this earth even after dying. You think this is a hoax?" Glen asked the crowd. They were obviously disbelieving his story.
Dead rising from their graves? Who would believe that? Especially not them since they had too much blood on their hands. If it was true, how many people would come to take their revenge against them?
Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, Glen ordered his men to bring back the body of the dead zombie.
"Wesley! Explain to the others what this is!"
"Yes, boss! That was a zombie we caught ourselves. It never stopped moving even after we got rid of its arms and legs!" Wesley said.
The crowd started to believe Glen a little but there was still some doubt. How would they be able to tell if this wasn't just some random corpse their boss dug up from somewhere?
"I can see that you all are still on the fence. Then let me tell you another scary thing about the zombies. One bite! It takes just one bite for zombies to make you one of them!" said Glen.
Then the eyes of some smart ones started to glisten. They had connected the dots.
When Glen signalled, his men brought George's corpse who was bitten today.
"See this!?"
Glen said as he pointed at the corpse. Then he took out his knife. Some of the fainthearted ones couldn't help but yelp.
Then Glen went down and cut off George's bandage and shirt. Leaving his arm for all to see!
It was pale with black veins climbing up his arm!
There was some black pus surrounding the zombie's bite mark.
The crowd gasped at the revelation!
"Now that you see the results we have to get ready for these zombies"
"But boss, how are we going to do that?"
"Simple, these zombies are not invincible. As long as you shoot them in the head. They die like any other person. But don't forget!! They ONLY die if you shoot them in their head. This is all for today. Dismissed! Only the leaders should stay" said Glen as he ordered his men to disperse. Watching all those zombie movies should come in handy now. At least, he had some sort of idea about what to do.
***
"Boss, what do we do? We can't mess with the undead. If what you are saying is right, they will eventually overrun the whole country!" said the doctor.
"I know, that's why we have to build a stronghold and recruit people. We need farmers, blacksmiths, tailors! People from all sorts of professions. Once this scourge is spread, all the trade and communication between towns should go down. So we have to be self-sufficient"
"Then do we start building a strong wall around our camp boss? We are inside a forest and there is a river near us. As long as we put down a high wall around us we should be safe" said Joe.
Glen shook his head. They were too naive.
"Tell me, how can we kill the zombies?"
"By shooting their heads?" said Joe
"Then what do you shoot their heads with?"
"With the gun? Boss, I really don't understand why you are asking me that"
"No idiot! We shoot them with the bullets! Bullets!!"
"So?"
"What do you mean so? After all the trade goes down we won't be able to purchase bullets, so we have to make our own. That's why we need a mine. A copper mine that's still functioning"
"Are we going to raid a mine town boss?" asked Allen.
"I swear to god. You mooks have been outlaws for too long! We are going to buy one. Did you guys forget? We are rich. And right before this threat, we can't but heads with the government. So we are going to buy a copper mine and create a town near it. So the question is where do we find one?"
That was when Wesley rose his hand "Boss there was a copper mine in my hometown. Maybe we can just buy the whole town along with the mine. There are 30 people living there at most. So it should be cheap"
***
One month later Glen and his gang settled in the mountains near the copper mine.
This was their land.
It belonged to them.
The hardest part of being an outlaw was that you couldn't set down your roots. You would have to be on the move constantly if you didn't want to get caught. Red Viper's gang was better on that front but they would still have to move from time to time.
Now that they had their own land even their grand grandchildren could live here safely and proudly.
They were finally landowners.
"From now on, I name this place Rionel's Keep!" Glen shouted as he looked towards the land he owned and his gang cheered alongside him.