The winds of doom whistled outside the abandoned factory like the roar of the Grim Reaper, constantly reminding the survivors inside the factory that danger was never far away. Ryan knew that in order to survive in this cruel world, it was imperative to transform this abandoned factory into a sturdy shelter, and fortifying the defenses was the first priority.
Ryan stood in the open space in the center of the factory, surrounded by his teammates. Jamie, who had recovered from his injuries after the previous battle, was holding a metal plate he had recovered from the rubble of the factory, his eyes full of anticipation for action. The young mother sat in a relatively safe corner holding her baby, who slept peacefully in her arms while she looked worriedly at Ryan and the others, silently praying for them. The older man sat off to the side, examining his surroundings with his deep gaze, seemingly pondering something.
"Listen to me, everyone," Ryan's voice was steady and strong, "This factory, while it has the potential to be a sanctuary, the current state of its defenses is too poor. We must act and fortify our defenses, or the monsters and unknown dangers could swallow us up at any time."
The crowd nodded, they knew Ryan was right. Clare stepped forward, her eyes determined, "Eric and I found some materials that can be used for reinforcement near the infirmary earlier, as well as some medicines that we can utilize first."
"Good, let's split up into teams." Ryan began to assign tasks, "Jamie, take a group to the entrance of the factory and use those metal plates and any heavy objects you can find to set up some barricades to stop the direct impact of the large creatures."
Jamie patted his chest, "No problem Captain, I'll make sure to guard the entrance like gold."
"Eric, you and Lucas take a couple of men and go check the factory's fence to see where there are holes and patch them up with metal materials and concrete blocks. If necessary, set up some simple alarm devices so we can know in time if something touches it." Ryan continued.
Eric pushed up his glasses, "Understood, we're on our way."
"The rest of you join me, we'll set up some defense barriers inside the factory. Using the mechanical equipment and scrap materials here, construct some bunkers and traps that can withstand attacks." After Ryan finished speaking, he picked up his tools and took the lead towards the depths of the factory.
Jamie led his group to the entrance of the factory, which was in a state of disrepair, with huge iron gates that were already rickety. They began to get busy, putting up metal plates and securing them to the ground with wire and bolts removed from the machines. Behind the metal plates they piled up all sorts of scrap machine parts and heavy concrete blocks.
"Everyone pay attention, these barricades should be strong enough so that those mutant creatures can't easily break through." Jamie commanded as he tightened the bolts hard.
One of the team members asked, "Jamie, what if there are those flying monsters?"
Jamie frowned as he looked to the space above the factory door, "Let's set some sharp metal spikes above the door, just like a rejection horse, so that they won't dare to approach easily."
So they got some long metal strips, sharpened one end and fixed it to the beam above the gate, the sharp metal spikes facing downwards, glinting coldly in the sunlight.
At the factory fence, Eric and Lucas were scrutinizing every inch of the wall. The fence was cracked in places, and some had large and small gaps.
"Lucas, go over there and find some smaller pieces of metal, we'll use them to fill in the small cracks first." Eric said.
Lucas nodded and ran off to find materials. Eric, on the other hand, stopped at one of the larger gaps, he surveyed his surroundings and found a pile of discarded cement blocks not too far away.
"Let's move these cement blocks and build a wall here." Eric said to the team.
Working together, they moved the cement blocks, one by one, to the gaping hole. Using some improvised tools he found from the factory, Eric filled the gaps between the cement blocks with cement paste, a bit rough in his technique but strong enough.
"Dr. Lin, what about our alarm device?" A team member asked.
Eric thought for a moment, "We can utilize some scrap wires and metal pieces. Attach the wires to the metal pieces, then fix the metal pieces to the inside of the fence, if something touches the fence, the wires will trigger it, and we'll be able to receive the alarm by setting up a simple signal receiving device in our temporary stronghold."
They followed Eric's method and began making and installing the alarm device. During the busy process, Lucas accidentally cut his finger on a piece of sharp metal.
"Are you okay?" Eric rushed over to check.
Lucas shook his head, "I'm fine, it's just a small injury."
Eric still took out antiseptic solution and bandages from the medical kit and treated Lucas' wound, "In this environment, any small injury should not be taken care of."
On Ryan's side, they set up defense barriers on the main passages inside the factory. Ryan directed the team to push down some of the large machinery and equipment across the middle of the passageway to form the first barrier.
"Let's set some traps behind these machines." Ryan said.
They dug some pits in the ground behind the machines, inserted sharp metal rods found from the factory in the bottom of the pits, and then covered them with some used wooden boards and papers to disguise them as normal ground.
"That way, when an enemy or mutant creature rushes by, it will fall into the trap." Ryan explained.
In the other passageway, they used the conveyor belt from the factory and some chains to create an improvised tripwire device. One end of the conveyor belt was secured to the wall and the other end was attached to a weight with a chain, when something touched the conveyor belt, the chain would pull the weight and the weight would cause damage to the enemy.
"This device has to be adjusted to be sensitive, not too easily triggered and not too sluggish." Ryan said to the team member in charge of this device.
They also set up some bunkers that could be used for attacks at some key locations. Ryan led the team to build a small bunker with metal plates and sandbags, which were left with firing holes to make it easy for them to counterattack in case of danger.
"We need to make sure that each bunker is at the right distance from each other so that we can support each other." Ryan said.
During the process of building the bunkers, one of the team members discovered a problem: "Ryan, we don't have many weapons, if we encounter a large number of enemies, our firepower might not be enough."
Ryan frowned as he thought for a while, "We can make some improvised weapons, such as making spears from metal tubes and sharp objects, and crossbows and arrows from springs and metal pieces."
Thus, they began to make improvised weapons. Ryan himself demonstrated how to weld metal tubes and sharp pieces of metal together to make a sturdy spear. The team followed suit, and soon, they produced a batch of spears and crossbows.
"These crossbows and arrows may not have a long range, but they can be lethal at close range." Ryan said as he picked up a crossbow.
In a corner of the factory, they also found some used chemical reagent bottles. Ryan looked at these reagent bottles and had an idea in his mind.
"We can use these chemical reagents to make some improvised explosives." Ryan said.
He carefully picked up one of the reagent bottles and checked the labels on it, identifying the nature of these reagents with his previous knowledge.
"This mixed with this could have an explosive effect, but we'll have to handle it very carefully." Ryan said to the team around him.
They were in a relatively safe open area and began to try to make improvised explosives, following Ryan's instructions. Wearing protective gloves and goggles that he had found from the factory, Ryan slowly mixed the two reagents together and put them into a homemade container hooked up to an improvised detonator.
"This stuff is dangerous, we need to keep it in a safe and easily accessible place and only use it in a pinch." Ryan reminded the group.
In the process of fortifying their defenses, they also encountered some unexpected situations. In one of the factory's underground warehouses, they found a group of small mutated rats. These rats were small in size, but they moved quickly, had sharp teeth, and were numerous.
"Everyone be careful, these rats are not easy to deal with!" Ryan shouted.
The team grabbed their weapons and fought the rats. The rats poured out from all corners and lunged towards them. Ryan waved his spear and stabbed at a rat that rushed ahead, the spear accurately pierced the rat's body, but more rats continued to come.
"Attack with fire!" One of the team members shouted.
They picked up torches and waved them towards the group of rats. The rats seemed a little afraid of the flames, and they began to retreat. Ryan took the opportunity to direct everyone to block the entrance to the underground warehouse with wooden planks and stones to prevent the rats from running out again.
After a full day's work, the factory's defense was significantly strengthened. Jamie set up three sturdy barricades at the entrance to the factory, each of which was strong enough to withstand the onslaught of large creatures. Eric and Lucas not only patched up the holes in the fence, but also managed to install alarm devices that would signal the temporary stronghold whenever there was a breeze. Ryan constructed multiple layers of defense barriers, traps, and bunkers inside the factory, as well as crafting a collection of improvised weapons and a handful of explosives.
When everyone returned to the makeshift stronghold in exhaustion, Clare had already prepared simple food. Although it was just some dry food found from the factory warehouse, everyone ate it extraordinarily sweetly, as it was the fruit of their hard labor in the apocalypse.
"Everyone has worked hard today, our defense has improved greatly, but this is just the beginning." Ryan said as he looked at everyone.
"Yeah, we can't let our guard down, the world is full of dangers." Clare said.
"We also need more supplies, especially food and water." The old man said suddenly.
"You're right, we need to look for water in the factory next, as well as plan an outing for supplies." Ryan responded.
The group rested for the night in the makeshift stronghold, and despite the humble surroundings, everyone slept soundly, knowing that they had secured one more guarantee for survival. And in the ruins of this apocalypse, their story continued, more challenges and opportunities awaited them, and they would continue to move forward in this dark world with hope and courage.
The next day, the sun still rises, but the sunlight can't dispel the gloom of doom. Ryan woke up early and he began to plan his actions for the new day. He knew that there was still a long way to go before this abandoned factory could truly become their refuge, and they had to take one step at a time to find that glimmer of light in this cruel doom.