Dominic, who looked at this seemingly harmless woman, knew she had great ambitions that, although they couldn't be fulfilled in a small place like this, she possessed certain leadership skills he needed.
"Zz... The General Commander is descending; keep your eyes open. Set targets and try to find out if there are hidden enemies."
"Zz... Understood."
Everyone in Alexandria looked at Dominic, seeing a young man dressed entirely in black with an insignia bearing the syllables of the New Dawn Union Organization. These people were soldiers, but their uniforms seemed entirely designed to face walkers.
"You must be Congresswoman Deanna Monroe. I am the General Commander of the new organization created to reclaim the world that was taken from us. We are the New Dawn Union, and I am afraid we need to have a conversation about the future of this place."
Those who heard these words couldn't understand what Dominic meant, but Deanna could grasp the situation. "I don't know what impresses me more, seeing a young commander like you or a new organization arising from the ashes of a shattered army."
"Will you allow us access?"
"What would you do if I refused?"
Dominic smiled and said, "I know you wouldn't refuse. You know very well that we are the last hope for a future you also wish to be part of."
Deanna nodded, gestured with her hand, and said, "Please, follow me. Let's have a deeper conversation elsewhere."
Once they were given the green light for access, all the soldiers with Dominic began to enter with their trucks, cars, and vans.
The people in Alexandria were happy; they had been waiting for this moment for years, and it seemed the time had come for the military to reclaim their homes engulfed in pure darkness.
Back to Dominic, he was led to what seemed to be Deanna's house and, after looking around, walked in, followed by Merle, who hadn't said a word.
"Forgive the place; I no longer have an office as before, and we don't have facilities for a more private conversation. This is all I can offer." Deanna wanted to serve a drink, which Dominic politely declined, as he had stopped eating food prepared by others.
"This place is fine."
"If this space is to your liking, then let's begin. What has really happened to the world, and why did you take so long?" Deanna wanted to know what had happened to the country and why they hadn't been assisted after creating this refuge.
"I will be brief." Dominic removed his leather gloves and said, "The world has mostly fallen to the infection that destroyed us from within. The infection spread faster than anyone expected."
"If you ask me, the only reason we lost is that the government leading us gave absurd orders to the army, resulting in a coup in every part of this country. The army split in two: those who followed orders and those who opposed them."
Dominic paused, pulled out a map, and spread it on the wooden table in front of him. "The base where I was stationed was in Los Angeles, the most affected place in the entire country, and it received the most damage from the army. To survive, we had to disobey orders and formulate a new survival plan, which, as you can see, put us on the right path."
"Many soldiers deserted, and I don't blame them. What kind of leader dictates that we should kill the people we swore to protect? They forgot that the soldiers were also humans and had families who were being treated the same way they were treating the people. That's the only way we survived the global collapse."
Deanna remained silent. As a congresswoman, she perfectly understood the orders being sent to the army and knew desertion could happen.
"As a new branch of the army, we took on the responsibility of saving those who could be saved. Hundreds of thousands are now on the islands near Los Angeles, and they are slowly reclaiming Arizona. But a problem arose that led us to communicate with another army organization called CRM, and for various reasons, we need to reclaim Washington."
"Is Washington safe now?" Deanna was impressed by this. She now knew that Dominic's men were very powerful.
Dominic nodded and said, "But here comes the problem. To reclaim Washington, we had to move the walkers from that area to Virginia, which is exactly where we are. We secured the area, but you will need to be relocated, and your position must be used again to communicate with people."
"I understand; you need a coordinator." Deanna knew Dominic couldn't waste time talking to people whenever something happened; she could perfectly fill that role.
"Notify your people. Once they're ready, a team will come for you in helicopters and establish you in Washington. Additionally, you'll have work cleaning up." Dominic, having explained the essentials to Deanna, left to check on his team.
After finishing things in this place, they needed to find Hilltop and the Kingdom. Only then would they have enough people to clean up Washington and expand to other areas.