"What's the situation with the other bases now? Is there any way to find out?"
In a room somewhere in a building, Negan, Stuart, and Dominic gathered around an oversized table, constantly scanning the map spread out before them.
"I'm afraid it's impossible."
Hearing this question, Negan, who had been facing one of the strongest bases on the front line, smiled wryly and said helplessly, "The beliefs and composition of the community we're attacking are completely different from those of other survivors, and the probability of sneaking in silently is extremely low."
"We sent several scouts and got information from the main base of the cult, but half of those sent returned to base. Basically, they have good defense, and it's not a good sign for sneaking in."
Hearing the news, Dominic frowned slightly and said, "That means we can only go directly, try to talk, and make them surrender, but not before waiting for news from the other bases still tied to the cult."
"For now, that's true."
Stuart looked at the map below and said, "For now, two-thirds of our people are concentrated on attacking the two remaining non-cult shelters. According to our plan, this base would be ideal to draw the cult's attention."
As he spoke, he pointed to the map, clicked on a red-marked spot, and said, "This is the location of our total control. In the red zone are the walkers, who are now being moved by our people."
Then, Stuart slid his fingers to the bottom right and bottom left of the city and continued, "Besides the people moving the walkers, here are the helicopters with containers full of walkers ready to take action."
"Our main combat force is silently surrounding the cult; a few kilometers away are the armored vehicles waiting for news from the search team that is currently locating the submarine."
Hearing this, Dominic showed a sudden understanding and said, "Once I get started, many things will happen. I need extreme control over the cult-linked bases, control of the submarine, and open communication."
"The cost of direct confrontation that the cult has to pay is too high, and I'm sure they will consider facing our group."
Negan looked at Dominic, as if he quite agreed with his words at the moment, and said, "In the past, we were very passive to avoid killing too many people, and even then, we had a chance to win easily. If we hesitate now, we will suffer a total loss. We have to keep in mind that those we are attacking are not humans. We have to go with the awareness that these people are complete lunatics."
"Right now, it's not easy for the people in the cult to go out with full force either. We haven't considered that we're attacking bases that are part of the cult."
Regarding this plan, Dominic didn't commit and said, "Are you sure you can find the second key and the briefcase if we destroy everything with the Apache helicopters? We need their resources, at least to compensate for the loss of eliminating them."
Hearing this, Negan looked at Dominic and asked, "I have a question: do we really need the second key? There are nuclear weapons inside. Just having those weapons in our possession is terrifying."
"We need to have a weapon powerful enough to defend against any threat."
At that moment, Dominic was a bit pensive. To be honest, he completely ignored another factor besides obtaining the key to that briefcase and, if possible, taking it to Washington. With that kind of armament, they would probably be at the peak of military power again.
Seeing Negan and Stuart's silent looks, Dominic's face became serious. Although he had participated in many confrontations, when it came to facing this enemy, he had many thoughts.
So far, he has done his best to deploy defense as much as possible. He attacked two important cult-advanced groups and thought very carefully about the cleanest possible victory.
Thinking about the conflicts he would have with survivors later and the deaths of many of his followers, Dominic knew that someday he had to be like the CRM and eliminate the enemy base without playing these little games.
"We need to have that power in our hands. They must not fall into enemy hands and have them as security in case another community can have the same," said Stuart while answering Negan's question.
"No, it shouldn't be that easy... I just hope not too many people die."
"We will win, as we always have... for all those who died at the hands of those bastards."
Seeing that the two no longer spoke, Dominic looked at the sky, which was slowly lighting up, and unexpectedly forgot the time while speaking.
Dominic smiled and said, "Alright, we just have to wait for our group to respond to get moving."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Enemy attack!"
But at that moment, there was a sudden sound from outside the room, and then someone started shouting about an enemy attack.
This movement immediately made the three people in the room stand up, looking at each other and seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes. They did not expect the enemy base they were closest to would come at this moment.
They knew that being here so openly would cause the nearby external base to launch an attack. This was also premeditated to really know what they were capable of.
...
Half an hour earlier.
Among the buildings near the largest base, below the main base of the cult.
The dense black shadows continued to advance through the still-dark streets, moving forward, taking advantage of every second of remaining darkness, perfectly hiding their figures, and slowly stopping in the illuminated area, not far from their position.
At this moment, the emerging light in the sky gradually revealed their figures, and this helped to reflect their bodies.
Dressed in simple, rough clothing, holding extremely sharp spears, machetes, bows, and arrows, and all kinds of weapons in their hands, with various colorful things painted on their faces, like the ancient primitive peoples, they seemingly aimed to attack the provisional camp ahead.
At the front of the crowd stood a tall figure, quite different from the image of the people behind him. He wore light armor and carried a long knife sheathed at his waist. This image was like a medieval sword. Like a general fighting with soldiers.
If Dominic saw the other side at this moment, he would definitely recognize him at a glance. The person before him was the leader of the community he had planned to ally with. But this man was called Neil, a man who practiced any method to eliminate his enemies.
Neil led his people, and they all stood behind him, surrounding the place they would attack. This was the first time so many warriors from the community had gone out with so many people.
For now, Neil remained silent in place.
Staring at the illuminated building in the distance, which had previously been abandoned, with deep eyes and clenching his fists tightly at the thought of being attacked by these people,.
"These damned bastards are really the ones who massacred my friend's community. I must cut them all down and make them suffer torment until their last damned breath."
At that moment, an old man approached Neil and said, "Sir, these people seem to come from the military base, and their armament is something we must consider before attacking them. If they have snipers in the distant buildings, it will be impossible to kill them in this place."
"Without the supplies the cult provided, facing this disadvantageous situation is not good at all. In the past week, walkers have blocked our main trade route, so we must consider it."
Speaking of this, the old man was a bit hesitant, not knowing if he should continue speaking. But after thinking for a moment, he continued, "If we go back now to keep watching them, we can be more sure of the decision we make."
"Go back?"
Hearing these two words, Neil's eyes flashed with sadness, and he said, "If we go back now, this betrayal will be enough for the cult to burn us alive. The cult wants these enemies who destroyed three important groups dead, and they will definitely find out if we retreat now."
As he spoke, a look of resignation but determination appeared on his face, and he said, "There is only one path before me now, and that is to put all these bastards on a pike, wipe out all their people, and take their resources."
Then Neil raised his arm, ignoring the old man beside him who hesitated to speak, and said loudly, "Prepare for the first stage of the attack, believers; Christ our Lord will open the gates of heaven to receive you. Do not fear death, attack!"
"Ahhh!"
Following Neil's order, a group of elderly people and a group of soldiers younger than usual began to advance towards the building, holding all kinds of weapons in their hands and charging forward.
Seeing this situation, the old man lowered his eyes and murmured, "I hope these people can really go to heaven."
Hearing this, Neil turned his head and looked at the old man, pursed his lips, and said in a low voice, "Don't be sentimental. The sacrifice of these weaker people is necessary. I need to know the enemy's firepower distribution, and we have too many people. Only by reducing a group of people can we feed stronger people into our base. We have to generate hatred within our group."