The next day had us awake before the sun was even up.
Everyone was gathered—well, mostly the guys.
The rest of the ladies were either tending to the greenhouse and the farm, or they were on cooking duty.
Last night, we introduced Michonne to the rest of the group.
The women were thrilled to have another lady join them.
What everyone didn't like, however, was the news she brought with her.
We debriefed everyone on what was going on after the kids were laid to bed.
They didn't need to know—at least not yet.
People were furious and scared, rightfully so.
Another group was planning to come kill everyone and take their things; anyone would be furious.
Some had brought up the possibility of negotiating, same as Dale, but they were quickly left disappointed after hearing that it wouldn't work.
We made sure to let everyone know to keep pretending everything was okay and to keep going about their lives as usual, albeit shifting their schedule slightly to focus on the important aspects that are gonna be crucial—such as accelerating their training and digging the trenches.
Which brought us to where we are now.
In front of me were Rick, Morgan, Shane, Daryl, Merle, Morales, Glenn, Hershel, Dale, and T-Dog.
Daryl and Merle were fully geared up and ready to head out to do their mission.
"Listen, and listen carefully," I said to the Dixon brothers. "You go out, you careful out there, and always watch your six. Keep your distance and observe only. Don't engage."
I turned to Merle. "I mean you, Merle. Don't fuck this up more than it already is."
Merle muttered something under his breath in response, but nodded nonetheless.
I turned to Daryl, "Keep a close eye on your brother, Daryl. Don't let him do anything recklessly. If something unexpected happens, you have the radio."
Daryl grunted in agreement.
"Alright, good luck."
I wished the two good luck and watched them disappear into the treeline, before i turned back to the rest of the crew, I looked over at Dale.
He was standing there next to Hershel with his bucket hat pulled down low, still looking down from yesterday.
"I'm sorry, Dale, but you have to substitute for Shane during this time period while he and Rick accelerate everyone else's training," I said, pointing toward the watch posts.
"We need eyes on the perimeter at all times, and Shane's gonna be busy alongside Rick getting everyone as prepared to the limit of what little time we have can allow them to be."
I paused for a bit, then continued, "Seek the other guys to lighten the load for you sometimes if you get worn out, but in the meantime, I'll be counting on you."
Dale let out a gruff, somewhat soft laugh, waving his hand in the air like it was no big deal.
"It's alright, son. Everyone else is doing their best; I am no different."
Nodding my appreciation, I addressed the rest of the guys standing in the circle.
"The rest of you guys will pour everything you have into digging the trenches," I said, my voice rising so everyone could hear me clearly. "We have to hurry them. The sooner those ditches are deep enough to stall anyone who dares to invade us, the safer we're all gonna be."
The guys nodded, their faces grim, and spread out to retrieve the shovels, picks, and heavy tools from the barn to start digging.
Before he could walk off toward the barn, I turned to Hershel and motioned for him to hold up a second.
The old man stopped, leaning lightly on his cane as he waited for me to speak.
"Hershel, you keep supervising the farm work as usual," I told him, keeping my voice down so it didn't travel.
"Keep everything up and running on your side, but refrain from going down into the cellar. We need to keep it secret. If Woodbury's scouts are sitting out on some ridge watching us through binoculars, we don't need them seeing people hauling crates or coming and going from a hidden underground bunker. As far as they know, that root cellar is just an old dirt hole."
"Understood," Hershel said, nodding his head slowly. "Makes sense. I'll keep the girls and the rest working out in the open fields where things look completely normal—just standard farm chores."
"Good," I said. "If they think we're clueless, they'll take their time planning. That gives us more days to get ready."
Hershel gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder before turning back toward the house to get the morning farm duties organized.
Once he was gone, I headed toward the equipment shed where the heavy machinery was parked.
Jim was already inside, leaning over the engine bay of one of the bulldozers with a wrench in his hand.
"Jim," I called out as I stepped into the shade of the shed. "Get the earthmovers ready. I'm gonna help dig and supervise the trench work today. We need to move as much dirt as humanly possible before dark."
Jim wiped a smudge of black grease off his cheek with the back of his hand and nodded, tossing the wrench into a toolbox and grabbing the key ring off a peg on the wall.
"They're fueled up and ready to roll, Zephyr," Jim said, his voice quiet as usual.
"My man," I said, pulling a heavy pair of work gloves out of my back pocket and slapping them against my thigh to knock the dust off. "Let's go dig us some trenches."
(To be continued...)