May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 68: Virtual Meeting 2

The content of the meeting was generic and more concerned with collective survival. The government in this timeline is more or less stronger and resilient than its book counterpart due to the changes made by Aila and Alfred respectively. On Aila’s part, with cooperation with Albert, they were able to raise public awareness in regards to the initial outbreak signs, thus effectively avoiding a large-scale tragedy during the early stages of the apocalypse.

Aila estimated that most officials that were eliminated in the book have survived and could maintain the status quo until a new order is made. Though it is inevitable that the government will cease and could only adopt a new form in the latter part of the apocalyptic world, this was already a good thing to prevent some events from happening in the worst way.

Alfred who was on the screen was a complicated thing to see, as Aila was aware he was the reason why most soldiers were still good and fine at this stage of the game. Aila never wanted to recall some details of her second life, but she was thankful that Felix’s uncle was under his leadership this time around. When Alfred reported the army that was on his side, Aila knew that she would not feel a little less guilty towards the few good people in her life.

In her past life, Felix’s uncle did not last long and died before they could seek shelter. This was the reason why they were forced to go to Felix’s other relatives where they were, pitted and later forced to leave. Perhaps this could be a great thing for them, or a source of worry, as Felix’s uncle was well-known for being protective of his nephews. Maybe they should also discuss this matter at a later time if there is a chance.

The conclusion of the meeting was more of a summary of the things that the government has done in order to retain the best possible solution for everyone still alive. This includes the publication of military base locations for survivors to go to through radio. As there were more people out there who cannot reach these bases at all, the government asked the other bases to open their doors to those who seek shelter.

The majority were more or less welcoming the increase in people for many reasons, though these are bases which are bigger and have many more resources in their hands. More people meant more manpower. With a small surplus of resources they had, they could invest in these additional resources to build a more stable foundation for their base.

But their base firmly says that if they can find and come to their home, they can come, but they ask that their location is best kept as a secret, using their resources as a source of concern for them. Which was accepted as the government is aware that most bases are not too complete in some supplies to support a sudden influx of the population. Expressing that if time and their condition is sufficient, they could send some supplies to some bases should they need help in tackling the supply issue in the future.

When the screen had finally turned dark, Stephen murmured his hate of meetings, thus the reason he settled down receiving dividends instead of being involved in decision making. Meetings are simply a psychological warfare where the less mentally prepared and strong cannot simply keep up with the subtle changes they have. Better be a smaller employee who is only responsible for small work than be in charge of everything where your steps are on thin ice.

“You all hear it all and I am not joining all the other things that will come out of this meeting.” Stephen said as Cindy gave him a hot drink to warm his stomach. “I hope one of you will be strong enough to not let me be in the spotlight like I just did. I would rather be on the outside fighting a losing war than be there again. Most of your relatives are a damned irritating bunch as they somehow pay attention to our side more than what was said by the representative.”

“You’ve worked hard uncle.” Jerome commended Stephen’s sacrifice, but his next words made the other spill his drink in anger. “ Wait for three to five years before we take over the stage. Warm the seat in the meantime.”

The other people in the room stifled their smiles as Stephen choked on his drink. The anger as well as helplessness in Stephen's eyes were too evident, as the other really cannot refute much of Jerome's words. He is definitely going to warm the seat for a few years before any of these brats can take over the duties. Despair was on his face as he thought he had to do his most hated work and asked why he did not foresee this coming. Was it due to the fact it was his wife who wanted to make him protect the children? Or was it because he was too confident that these meetings would be different from those he used to attend? Either way, he has to suck it up and suffer in silence.

“Well, for now we could only do this.” Eugene tried to break the gloom. “Though if by chance there is someone who will be able to find our base, are we going to welcome them in?”

Eugene’s concern was of merit though. Although the government has not published their location to respect their decision, sooner or later someone will discover their place. It has yet to happen as of now, but it does not hurt to think far about the future.

“This issue is difficult to solve,” Harry said as he quoted the last chaos caused by Gerald. Everyone in their base is wary and definitely unwelcoming to strangers in their population.

“It is not really too good for us to turn them away without a good reason though,” Travis pipped at the side. “If those people are purely in need of our help, suppose we could allow them to stay at the western side of the base. That place is huge and practically empty to house others. But they definitely cannot stay on the base for long, as long as our people do not accept them.”

“That can work too.” Alexa hummed as she pulled out the real-time monitoring of the base, replacing all the scenes of the meeting with the dynamics of their people. “As long as those outsiders will not go to the isolated area of the infected, then there is not much worry. Only that we had to let everyone make the decision to welcome others before making a judgement of sorts. It would be unfair if it was because of us that another tragedy would hit our already grieving population.”

Sighing, Harry sighs wistfully. "...still having more people means more manpower. We need people more than anyone else now."

"For now, we could only slave away until we get to find a way to increase our people or be effective managers to manage our existing manpower for better efficiency." Bella said after she had read the notes that Cindy had given her when she was allowed inside the room once again. "The risk is too much for us to really do anything drastic currently."

“Let's just let things be for now.” Aila agreed and motioned Cindy to arrange for everyone to discuss this matter in public. Perhaps a better idea will come to them from this discussion.