Surviving the Apocalypse

Deliveries

The next morning 6 of the men who had licenses for the trucks began going to the different warehouses she had ordered things from, most of them needing multiple deliveries despite their ability to haul 50 tons of cargo at once. Most of it was non perishable food stuffs that would be stored in the mine itself as Peter had been surprised when the first delivery of construction supplies that arrived at the mine itself was what he needed to make the internal warehouse in a massive cavern that had 3,000,000 square feet of storage area with a 15 foot ceiling. The top floor had three more of these, each one he was going to convert into crop areas to grow food. His wife designing the indoor systems that would turn the three chambers into indoor grow rooms capable of vertical and horizontal farming techniques as each one had 20 foot ceilings. The issue was the soil she would need, nervous as she approached Hanna and handed her a list of everything she wanted.

"Excellent, I will get on the phone with the greenhouse supplier immediately. You sure this is all you need?" Hanna asked her.

"That's $3 million worth of soil and implements for the greenhouses." she said as Hanna nodded.

"Yes, but we will also have outdoor gardens and farms that will need implements as well. If I need someone-" she began before the older woman stopped her.

"How many are you planning on? The farms in the bunker will produce enough to feed 35,000 people." Pamela said evenly.

Hanna nodded as she smiled. "We have no idea how many we will need to provide for. I would rather have more than we need and be forced to preserve things, than fall short of the amount we need and be forced to watch people starve. My plan isn't for just this year, but for the next 5 years or longer that we are going to have to fight for our very right to exist." she explained as Pamela nodded.

"Good thing I grew up learning how to operate a farm, cause I am your girl. Let me revise this a bit, but know it is going to cost about $10 million now." Pamela told her.

Hanna nodded to her once as she handed back the list before Pamela walked outside and grabbed one of the 4 wheelers as she went to examine the full property to determine the best crop sites.

She went to the warehouse when it was quiet for lunch, the people she had assigned here for deliveries doing an excellent job as she absorbed everything that had been delivered that morning into her storage space before she went back to the mine and deposited it all into the empty ore warehouse. They had cleaned it thoroughly before leaving, so she didn't even have to worry about any of that while she secured all sorts of supplies that they would need. As the sun rose, she watched in amazement as everyone worked hard doing exactly what they needed to in order to get the main Camp Facilities constructed exactly where she wanted them to be. They had built all the framework for the foundations of the kitchen, dining hall and administrative office that would be part of the defensive perimeter for the entrance to the mine. She was serious about making it a secure bunker that could support as many people as possible. They would also design these same facilities inside, only to be used when they sealed the actual bunker to keep humanity alive.

James was the construction expert leading the charge on the exterior construction, most of the first round of supplies being for it, especially as it had been relatively simple as she just ordered every type of lumber, screw, nail, and tool she could get her hands on at the building supply store. She had purchased 5 carts worth of tools herself, all of it going into her storage after it was purchased. He had 20 people helping him, all of them apparently part of his construction crew that helped him in his company. They didn't waste time on any of the small stuff, as her designs had been perfectly detailed to let them do the work they needed to.

Even the experts for the perimeter wall had arrived and begun work on the steel wall that would be 20 feet tall and completely enclose a 10 foot thick concrete reinforced stone wall with another steel plate on the interior side. They assured her it would be complete within 3 weeks, able to support the weight of 5,000 men if they needed too. The second crew they had deployed was on the opposite end of the canyon doing the same thing, each side with a gate that would be delivered in two weeks time. Each one specially built into the wall to make them a unified piece.

For three days they all repeated the same work, each day more and more of the supplies coming in the very supplies and equipment that would ensure the entire Camp would be able to provide the comforts of society for years to come. The fourth day however was the cattle auction, Hanna taking Pamela, Grace and Willow to the auction house as each of them had experience in the very cattle they wanted to purchase and raise.

When they got there they were making notes on the lots on they definitely wanted to purchase because the animals were of high quality. They also noted the ones that would likely need medical intervention or may even perish prior to them returning to the Camp, as their haulers wouldn't be there for another 2 hours. They were surprised at how few buyers there were, Hanna remembering that for the next several weeks there hadn't been many sold. In fact most of the animals trapped here had perished in the apocalypse, the corpses creating a major hazard to the health of anyone within 5 miles of the site.

They waited until the auction started, the first animals to go through being chickens and chicks of different age groups. Most of them not even reaching $3 a head, which they collected every one they could as it was well below their target price of $4.50 each. Turkeys, ducks, quail and rabbits were all next, almost no one buying them except for Hanna and the other women with her as they varied which lots each of them purchased each one. The first of the livestock was sheep, which the auction house had 350 total on auction that day. They watched as a few of the buyers hiked the price up on the first ones bought, 160 of them going for over $50 per head. After that however the price collapsed back down to $25 per, which was when they systematically purchased the 150 of them they got, each one of them dropping out as soon as the price exceeded $25.

They kept up the same tactic as pigs, goats and donkeys went through, even though they didn't purchase any of the donkeys. Hanna did however purchase a dozen horses, knowing that they would be excellent for use in the Apocalypse, as they would be able to use them for transportation near the Camp. She would be teaching Scavenger Squad 1 and 2 how to utilize them, each one the perfect breed for warhorses that they could protect from the zombies with armor. The final ones were the cows that had come through, the auctioneer starting with the heifer's that all of the dairy farmers were going to fight over.

Hanna and Grace both knew these would be more expensive than normal, as they had been specifically bred for dairy output. They sold for over $300 per, a price they gladly paid in order to get 50 of the young heifers that would be the start of their herd. The young bulls were next, far fewer people interested in the hundreds that were available, the price for them dropping to only $15 each after only 50 were sold. Hanna however bought each and every one of them, the total number being well over 300 as their meat production in the next few years would be amazing as these could be raised as steers to reduce testosterone levels. They would only need a few bulls for breeding, that was until the adult heifers, bulls and steers came through. They bought a fair share of these as well, paying the auction house a premium to feed everything they had purchased as soon as she did. Several of the young ones they had demanded bottles of formula right there and fed them before they would allow them to be escorted into the back. Hanna had come prepared with vaccinations and medications for them, surprising the staff they would do it right there in the auction ring without slowing down the sale even a little bit.

She had secured the cattle haulers to take as many trips as necessary, Grace and Willow ensuring each animal had been fed before being loaded as Hanna and Pamela kept buying them inside. 3 of the auction house handlers helping them feed the small bulls that hadn't been fed in over twelve hours, each demanding a bottle to feed on.

Hanna was surprised when some of the Heifers coming through were pregnant, her system alerting her to it each time as it had helped her analyze them for purchase the entire time. Some of the injections she was giving them purchased from the system itself to ensure they survived to be raised. She bought every one of them at nice prices, the auctioneer starting at the sellers bottom dollar, her bid sometimes the only one. She was glad when the sale ended at 1545, the total cost of animals more than she had expected to pay in one day, but still far under the total she had planned. She knew she would be back the next week, hoping for more of what they had purchased that day.

When Peter and 6 other leaders approached her after a week, her daily payments exactly what she had promised for each of them, sometimes more when they had done excellent work and made more progress than anticipated. They however were concerned about long term leadership, and who would design how the future of the Camp would be run.

"How is everyone?" she asked as they sat in the office attached to the quarters she had redesigned for herself on the first floor. It was the only one up here, and it had links to every system that would eventually be setup in the mine as more of the people she was trying to recruit decided to join her. Some of the more skilled ones she wanted taking much more significant payment to be enticed enough to come join her. She had recruited 15 of the 50 people the system wanted, all of them specialists in one way or another. Her most exciting acquisition a dog trainer that specialized in combat training and had 15 Rottweilers that had just finished training. He had 7 more females that he would be able to use and establish a breeding program using the animals he had available.

"Hanna, we would like to discuss the leadership structure of the Camp." Peter said as they all sat around the conference table she had made that was actually a state of the art holographic projector. "We feel that with so many of our people joining the creation of the Camp, we should have a say in how it operates."

Hanna smiled as she looked at all of them. "I was hoping some of you would say that and be willing to serve as leaders. Because we are going to need them if we are going to survive what comes next. I however will be the Camp Leader once society ends, but I fully intend to create a Council of Advisors as it were that will have real power within the Camp, and a proper voice about what we do and how we do things. The first thing we need to do is decide who is going to run what and who exactly gets a say. We can even make it so that the Camp votes for these leaders every so often, but at minimum we are going to need a Head of Guards, Scavenger Captain in command of all the Scavenger Teams, expansion manager, construction, farmers, greenhouse, medical, mining foreman, research and development, more than any of us can do alone. All of it going to be necessary for us to survive and become the beacon of humanity that wages war against the Zombies." she told them with a smile.

All of them were surprised as they decided they did indeed need to form the Camp Council and decide how many of them there would be and how they would be appointed.