I picked up Max, and we escorted the three children out the back door, doing our best to keep their focus away from the gore in the surroundings, and especially away from the sight of who we assumed were their parents just outside the front door.
We ended up leaving out the back door and made our way back to Alex's house that way. The rest of the community was equally shocked at our discovery, and everybody quickly took them in. Kaitlyn, my mother, and Atasha lived up to their [teacher] class as they were the ones who took charge of integrating the children into our group. A solemn atmosphere took hold for the rest of the day.
That night, however, I called a council meeting.
Kevin, Rachel, Jackson, Alex, my Father, Dante, Antonio, and I gathered inside our makeshift conference room in what had once been Alex's office. We had placed his desk in the corner and instead had placed a smaller foldable table in the center with chairs we had scrounged from Alex's backyard. They had originally been plastic pool chairs, but they served much better in their requisitioned purpose.
I began the meeting just as Rachel made her way in. She had been helping my mother with Ross. Apparently, he was taking the transition much harder than his older siblings. Not much of a surprise though considering his young age. The absence of his parents would take a particularly hard toll on him.
"After what happened today, I think we need to move faster and also expand our efforts in our attempts to look for survivors," I announced. My father was particularly enthused by the idea, after all, he had personally known the parents of our three new additions. "Look, its already been a few days since we all decided to make a stand in the area, and both Kevin and I can attest to the fact that the way things are heading, we only have a few more days before we might have to face off a wave from the cemetery," I said.
Kevin took that chance to jump in, "plus, there is no way in hell we want to be unprepared for it!" Kevin said.
I smiled at Kevin.
Just then it was Antonio who chimed in, and in accented English said, "So what do you think we ought to do?"
Taking it as an invitation I announced some of my thoughts from earlier in the day. "I think it would be best that in addition to our recovery operations that we begin to build a much more formidable line of defense. We have at least a dozen people who could eventually fight if need be, but I'd rather avoid having everyone face-to-face with a horde of the dead. So, I propose that we begin building a wall around the entire Community. I think we can cover this entire section of homes on this side of the Mana Zone, and up until we brush up against the barrier leading outside of it."
This immediately led to a small uproar among those present. Kevin and Dante stayed silent though, they both were more familiar with the dangers outside, and I could tell that Dante was also well aware of the glaring holes in our defenses.
"Quiet!" Dante yelled out.
His voice reverberated throughout the room. His large frame in no small way helped project his voice. After a few seconds of silence, it was Alex who piped in. "Just so I can voice the opinion I am sure everyone has, I'm confident nobody has any qualms with building a barricade, the only issue that I can see is how you anticipate having one built in only a matter of days, and not only covering my property, but also likely the entire section of the block?" Alex stated. Most of the others in the room were interested in hearing an answer; namely Rachel, Jackson, Antonio, and my Father.
"Here's my reasoning then. I understand that a week ago the task would have seemed insurmountable, but look, with the introduction of classes many of us could do the same work that would have previously taken several people to do. We're stronger, and faster, and I have no doubt that while a difficult task, it is completely doable. Plus we don't have to completely craft everything from scratch. I propose we just take the disabled vehicles strewn along the road and throughout the surrounding houses, push those to block the roads." I stopped for a moment. "And before anybody says anything, keep in mind I'm pretty sure I could move an entire car by myself and not have too much of an issue with it. With Kevin, it should be fairly easy to do. The second thing is that we can cut down some of the surrounding tree cover and use the logs to form the remainder of the makeshift barrier around the community." I finished.
Pretty much everybody seemed surprised at the scope of the plan. "Wait," Antonio announced, "What you're planning would basically imply that you want Alejandro and me to cut down hundreds of trees, of not at least a thousand to make what you're saying. How the hell are we supposed to do that?"
I was a bit taken back by his more aggressive tone but quickly responded, "look, I think you are underestimating the potential of what your class can do. A [Builder] class should allow you to do any type of construction remarkably quicker than what you're used to doing. Even gaining a [Basic Woodcutting] skill should enhance your ability to fell trees dramatically." I said and then added, "Plus, I wouldn't expect you and Alejandro to do all of the work. I'm sure anybody in the community would be willing to pitch in. It shouldn't take long for Kevin and I to blockade the roads, and then we can help out, and that's without including everyone else." I finished.
It was then my Father who actually spoke up next. "Back when I worked on my parent's farm, we had to replace our fence. With just my Dad and I, we had managed to lay down a fence all in a single day. So... Taking what Thomas said into account, it is entirely feasible for us to get what he is proposing all done within three or four days. If all of us pitch in that is."
It was then Alex who surprisingly supported my Father's statement. "I agree with my Dad. Look, at first, it sounded ridiculous... But, I don't think there's any other way, is there?" Alex asked, looking at me.
I nodded in confirmation of what he said. "I support Thomas's proposal, if it means ensuring that the family is protected, then I don't see any other way."
It was Alex's declaration that ultimately solidified everyone's support on the idea, even Antonio who had been largely skeptical.
With the decision made, we quickly drew out a small design of our plans. Luckily we had a few axes that we had managed to scavenge from the surrounding homes and their sheds, as well as from what Alex had in store. So with them, we could likely handle up to five people felling trees at a time. As such we decided to organize our efforts as so; Alex, my Father, and Dante would initially begin with felling the surrounding trees. Antonio and Alejandro would saw apart the logs into their respective sections. This way we should be able to get about three full-sized logs per tree. Jackson would then come in later. It was clear that we lacked the supply of heavy-duty nails we were going to need. It was unanimously decided, per Jackson's input, that we would recover the materials he needed to craft a simple forge in the morning so he can get us some of the nails we would need. He noted that they wouldn't be pretty, but they'd at least be functional.
Kevin and I were going to round up the vehicles after we scrounged together Jackson's shopping list. The vehicles might be a bit tougher, but I reckoned that as long as we were able to get into the cars we could disable whatever emergency breaks they had and shove them into neutral. That way Kevin and I could just push the cars before flipping them onto their sides to block the roads. With our strength stats, the task shouldn't be altogether that difficult, so I wasn't too worried.
Hopefully, by the end of tomorrow, we could join the others in getting the wood required to form the barricade. It was going to be a lot, but I think by the end of our discussion all of us agreed that the construction would likely be necessary, especially in the near future. I only reaffirmed their resolve on the matter when I reminded them that within the next week we'd like to see threats from outside the mana stone, just as much as we were seeing threats from the interior of it.
The only issue that I foresaw was that the noise we created may be enough to track more undead to our location, but we could use that to our advantage and power level through the situation. If we limited our wood gathering in the direction away from the cemetery, then we can minimize the impact of our efforts.
All-in-all, I was quite pleased with the outcome of the meeting. It was a universal fact that I was sure everyone would feel much more secure knowing that there was at least some sort of barricade preventing a sudden incursion into our camp.
Here's an updated map following the end of the chapter! :)
I don't recall if this one was from this chapter or last when I copied it, but "our most recent exhibition from the house" should be excursion... I doubt they were holding an exhibition.
Also, in this chapter you referred to the mana zone as a mana stone.