TWD - Chapter 493: Becoming Your Eyes (Patreon)

The next day, in Calista’s office.

Calista sat at the head of the table, her fingertips brushing over the three reports spread before her as she looked at Joe standing across from her.

Joe stood casually, his weight shifted slightly to the right. There was something about his demeanor that reminded her of Merle.

“Joe, you work fast.” Calista picked up the reports, each of them accompanied by hand-drawn sketches. “I gave you a month to do the preliminary screening, and you brought me three complete reports in two weeks. You even drew maps.”

“Haha, Commander, I’ve always been efficient!” Joe replied in his rough voice, giving his shoulders a slight shake as he spoke.

Calista glanced up at him, then opened the reports.

She looked through the Dalton Military Reserve Depot first, then the Calhoun Textile Industrial Park, and finally picked up the third report, Black Rock Mountain State Park.

This time, Calista studied it carefully.

Joe’s handwriting was so messy it was almost ugly. Calista’s own handwriting could be pretty terrible, but even she had to admit Joe’s was on another level.

Joe noticed that her eyes lingered on the third proposal the longest and said with a hint of pride, “I’m choosing the third one!

“It’s on high ground and easy to defend. There’s only one road up the mountain, so all we have to do is hold the choke point. No need for a hard fight. And from that elevation, we’ll be able to see anything happening across northern Georgia clear as day.”

Calista set the report down and leaned back in her chair.

Her gaze rested on Joe’s face for several seconds, as though she were reassessing a tool she thought she understood, only to realize she had misjudged it.

“Joe, explain.” She tapped the third proposal with one finger. “Taking either of the other two locations would be a major achievement. You’re choosing a mountaintop that looks more like an observation post than a stronghold. Don’t you think you’re shortchanging yourself?”

Joe took a deep breath.

He had known this question was coming, and he already had his answer prepared.

He snorted. “Achievement? That’s for other people to look at. Staying alive is what actually matters!”

Joe stepped half a pace forward and jabbed a finger at the map with the blunt directness of a redneck.

“The first place has at least thirty or forty people inside. They’ve got guns and vehicles. How many people would we have to throw at it just to take the place?

“And even if we win, how much work would it take to repair those walls and gates? That’s a long-term job. You need people you trust for something like that.”

Joe moved his finger to the second location.

“The textile park looks great on paper. Plenty of space, room for people, room for production. But how many walkers are trapped inside? By the time we finished clearing the place, summer would be over!

“To get it running, Rock Fortress would have to keep sending cement, steel, seeds, technicians... just like what you’ve done with Rick’s prison outpost. But that requires trust and a long-term commitment.”

Joe raised his head and looked Calista directly in the eyes.

“I’m new here. When it comes to trust, I can’t compare to Rick. He’s been with you since the beginning.

“And personally, you’ve already invested in the community he manages. You expect something from it.

“If I choose the textile industrial park, I’d basically be asking you to invest just as much in me, maybe even more, before I’ve proven I can give you the same return.”

Finally, he pressed his index finger firmly against the green mark representing the mountaintop.

“But this mountain is different. The mountain itself is its best soldier. Small, but sharp.

“There’s one winding road up, with five hairpin turns. Put a few armed men at each bend, and a hundred walkers still wouldn’t make it to the top. The observation tower is solid as hell. Mount a machine gun up there, and we can spot movement several miles away.

“There’s game in the woods, and the mountain spring gives us drinking water. Even if snow blocks the road in winter, we won’t starve. This is what I know!”

Joe looked up, his expression completely open as he met Calista’s gaze.

“I don’t understand all your grand strategy, but I understand mountains. Give me that mountain, and I can turn it into the easiest pair of eyes you’ll ever have to maintain.

“You won’t have to keep sending me huge amounts of supplies. You won’t need to station a lot of people there. You won’t have to keep pouring resources into construction.

“Its greatest value is becoming your eyes, watching the gateway from Georgia into Tennessee.

“It won’t grow food. It won’t manufacture tools. It’ll produce one thing: strategic advantage!”

Joe paused before making his most important point.

“And strategic advantage is even harder to come by in this world.

“I can hold that high ground for you and monitor everything moving north out of Georgia, whether it’s walker hordes, raiders, or... something else.

“When you need to send teams into Georgia, it’ll be the safest staging point and supply stop you could ask for.

“When Rock Fortress needs an early warning, the view from that mountain can give you hours of advance notice.

“I don’t need to become some ‘little king.’ I just need to become the most reliable cog in Rock Fortress’s war machine. That’s enough for me!”

The room fell silent for several seconds.

Calista looked at Joe.

The initial surprise in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by deeper consideration and a trace of appreciation.

This redneck hunter had never received formal military training. He didn’t know tactical terminology.

But he understood survival.

He understood terrain.

More importantly, he understood people, and he understood exactly where he belonged.

Calista suddenly rose and walked to the window, turning her back to Joe.

“You’re right, Joe.

“My priority right now is Tennessee. I don’t have fifty elite soldiers to throw into Georgia for an assault on a fortified position, and I don’t have enough surplus supplies to maintain a large stronghold.

“And yes, I do expect to make a long-term investment in the prison. But you’re wrong about one thing.”

Joe’s brow furrowed slightly.

Calista turned around, her gaze sharp.

“I never allocate resources based on personal feelings or who joined first. I look at value.

“Rick’s prison outpost has value, so it gets resources. If your outpost proves it has equal or even greater value, it will get resources too.”

She returned to the table and tapped the third proposal.

“But your choice is the right one.

“At this stage, a low-cost outpost that can be established quickly and provide a high strategic return suits my needs better than a large stronghold that requires continuous investment.

“But a mountaintop outpost on its own is too isolated. If someone surrounds it, it becomes a death trap.”

Joe said nothing and waited.

Calista pulled a strategic resource inventory report from the large stack of documents on her desk and flipped to the section on aviation fuel.

Then she looked at Joe again.

This time, a faint smile appeared on her lips.

“You’re worried about the outpost being isolated and the supply line being fragile? Then I’ll give you wings.

“I’ll assign you a civilian helicopter. It can carry critical supplies back and forth between the outpost and Rock Fortress, evacuate personnel in an emergency, or rapidly deliver reinforcements.

“More importantly, it’ll expand your reconnaissance range. You’ll have what you can see from the mountaintop, plus what you can see from the air.”

Joe’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He hadn’t expected that.

A helicopter.

In the apocalypse, something like that was worth more than gold.

Calista actually had one, and she was willing to hand it to a newcomer who hadn’t even proven himself yet?

“But,” Calista said, her tone suddenly turning cold, “a helicopter is an extremely valuable strategic asset.

“If it gets destroyed because of your mistake, or if the outpost falls and the enemy captures it... I’ll come up that mountain myself.

“When that happens, you can choose which side you want to jump off.”

It was a crude way of putting it, but Joe understood perfectly.

She was giving him a powerful asset. If he used it well, they would share the rewards. If he screwed it up, she would make him pay for every last bit of it.

“Understood!” Joe nodded, his shoulders tightening slightly. “As long as that helicopter is under my command, it won’t lose so much as a hair. And as long as I hold that mountain, even a rabbit trying to sneak through will have to ask my permission first!”

Calista seemed satisfied with that answer.

She walked back to the table.

“Then tell me how you plan to do it.”