Around a hundred soldiers who were in front of Dominic looked at him in silence; they all knew that their families had now been rescued. Some lost a father or a mother, but some were able to keep their children or pets safe, which was asking for a lot in a situation like this.
"Your relatives are being evacuated to safe places; there's nothing to worry about now." Dominic tried to be as direct as possible because he needed to end this as soon as possible.
"Where will our families be sent? That's the only thing we want to know before we follow the plans you've told us; we just want to confirm that they'll be okay." Cole asked who, to be honest, had asked this question on behalf of the others.
"A safe place? No place is safe after the army decides to bomb the cities with white phosphorus—bombs of the highest possible destruction—to eliminate the immense hordes of walkers. If you ask me, the place I selected for your refuge is the best there is. The coasts are very important given the possibilities, but still, no place is safe; we will make it safe."
Dominic walked to the front of all these men who were now under his orders and said, "I will take leadership of this base, and then we will abandon it, not without leaving the surrounding areas without resources. We will move to the main base, and we have to make sure that the coast guard comes under our orders."
When Dominic finished saying this, he pointed to Daniel by his side and said, "As some of you have heard, from now on, Mr. Daniel Salazar will be my spokesperson; he will pose as the commander of our organization and will be my spokesperson from now on."
"I don't understand; why hide that you're the leader?" Cole asked again a question that everyone wanted to express.
Dominic smiled and said, "In crisis situations, people with fear want to be led by men and women with the best possible experience. What do you think they will say if they know someone of my age is leading them? I don't want questions; for now, just knowing it yourselves is more than enough."
"From now on, I'll be the communicator; everyone must follow my orders." Daniel's voice didn't waver when he said this in front of so many people.
This was one of the reasons why Dominic had chosen him, while Victor would be chosen to be the spokesperson for the people. One left hand and one right hand, while Stuart and Antonio would be in the real hands-on positions.
The more confusing things would be clarified when everything was established, but for now, using the resources available to him, this was the best Dominic could do in the meantime.
To have a strong structure, he needed people willing to do anything to take care of themselves and, of course, their families; it wouldn't be smart to have any idiot by his side.
"So, what are your orders?"
Dominic looked at everyone and said, "Once the families of our other colleagues try to be contacted, we will take control of the base to move to the coastal guard settlements. We will use the uninfected survivors to evacuate supplies, and then we will take over Santa Catalina Island as our main refuge."
He had thought about this a lot, and that island would be the main base Dominic wanted to establish. Not only would they be out of reach of the walkers, but also of the enemy. It only took taking over the coast guard and starting to mobilize people to bring material to that island.
"There's a town on that island; what will we do if it's infected or they refuse us to stay in that place?" Sergeant Castro knew that place.
Dominic, who knew about this, said, "We'll help them; we'll do a general clean-up, and if there's no infection, then we'll stay with or without their permission."
Everyone fell silent at these statements.
But everyone knew that island was the best chance to be out of the clutches of infection if they protected it. If they managed to settle in that place, then they would have a starting point to begin taking all nearby places without fear of being attacked.
"Everyone, return to your normal work; we'll start the operation in a few more days." Dominic said, and after knowing that everyone was paying attention, he returned to where he was staying to make sure he had the report ready about his plans once he took over this place.
But when he returned, he found Alicia, who had a bottle of tequila. "You're back earlier than yesterday; is it about to start?"
"Are you drunk?" Dominic was surprised by Alicia's somewhat direct behavior.
Alicia shook her head and said, "What if we have a little drink?"
"It's not time to drink."
"Have you never done it?"
Dominic thought about it and said, "I'm still underage, so legally drinking is not something I could do, but I certainly did it when I had a bad day."
"Yes, forgetting everything for a few hours often helps a lot." Alicia uncorked the bottle and poured two shots.
"Just a little..."
Alicia smiled and showed the other bottles she had with her; she had taken charge of getting a large inventory for herself and whoever wanted to join her.