Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"First thing is I am going to get 100 people to start working on the fence," I said as I looked around the room. There were a lot of people here and this should make things easier. 'Should' being the operative word because it also had the ability to go completely sideways. Too many cooks in the kitchen and all that.

"This means going out scavenging for materials and actually creating the fence. You will have two months in the freezing cold to get this done, but it is crucial that you don't slack off. Those of you with earth or metal powers will be crucial, but you cannot rely solely on your abilities to get it done. I will post up a list for those that are on fence duty. The teams will be sent out tomorrow to gather the necessary supplies to build it, and construction will begin in two days. The heads of this project will be Liu Hong Tao and Liu Ming Jie. They built a fantastic fence at the ranch and I want you to do it again. But this time, at least 10 feet tall," I continued with a smile, remembering how hard they fought me the first time around about the height.

"And since I won't be spending any money, you don't have to worry about how much I am paying for it all," I finished with a smirk in the direction of the two men. They just chuckled and nodded their heads.

"Now, in addition to the fence, we are going to need to build several guard houses, both up high and on the ground. This list here," I said waving another piece of paper up in the air before handing it to Chen Zi Han to put up. "There are going to be eight stations, four up over the top of the fence on each corner and then another four on the ground between the others. The ones up top will be used as lookouts and sniper nests while the ones on the bottom will be for entrances and exits."

I looked around the room, trying to get a read on the people, but there were too many of them for me to really try.  "Feel free to come and talk to any of us if you want to signup for the guard towers. Remember, they are our first line of defense so only volunteer if you are serious. On the other hand, those that are here hoping for a free ride, feel free to exit the building within the next few hours. I won't be putting up with it."

I sighed, knowing that the next part was going to be even worse. After all, I was dealing with military and or Syndicate members that prefer to be more hands-on than administrative.  "I am going to need a team of at least 50 people to take care of the logistical side of this place. That includes dealing with any outsiders, keeping records of all our supplies, and keeping up with the day-to-day running of the compound." 

I looked around the room and more than a few people dipped their heads, not willing to look me in the eye in case I voluntold them that they were going to be the logistical side. "I will not order anyone to do this because as far as I am concerned, taking care of the logistics is just as important, if not more so, than guarding the perimeter.  It won't matter what is going on outside if we are starving to death on the inside."

"I have a few ideas on my side of who would do a good job," said Chen Zi Han looking down at me. "Unfortunately, two of them are out with Liu Yu Zeng so I can't speak to them right now."  I nodded my head in understanding.

I knew that not many people would be willing to do the technical matters that I needed help with. After all, I don't know anyone that joined the military because they liked doing paperwork. And, it might be a stereotype, but I didn't see too many members of a criminal organization joining because they liked accounting.

Most people think that it was simple to set up a safety zone. Like it just magically appeared out of the darkness like a beacon of hope, but the reality was completely different. It could take years to create a well-running mini-city, and that was if you could trust everyone that was running the different components of it. And trust was in very short supply at the end of days.

What was the hardest to explain was that even the stupidest role was absolutely crucial.  I remember the downfall of one safe zone happened because the guard in charge of guarding the water supply didn't take his job seriously. He decided to not show up for work one day, because who thinks that guarding a giant pool of water was important, and the rest of the civilian population completely drained out all the water, leaving nothing behind. In less than two weeks, that safe zone fell.

Now, I am sure that you are thinking, "Why don't the water power users simply fill up the tanks again?" but that was not the way it works in real life. The simple answer was that they could not supply that much water, the long answer was much more technical.I think you should take a look at

The average water user can put out approximately 1 gallon (4 liters) of water every day. On the other side, the average Olympic pool can only hold about 660,000 gallons (2.5 million liters) of water. So you would need enough water users to not only fill up that size of a pool but also maintain it. Because as much as 660,000 gallons of water seemed like a lot, that was only enough to supply a little over 1,800 people for a single year with the absolute minimum amount of water. And most safety zones will have anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people depending on their location.

So, if you take 660,000 gallons and divide that by let's say 50,000 people, you get 13.2. As in that pool of water would be completely gone in 13 days. And unless you have 660,000 water users, you can't get that water back in time.

I was lucky, we only had a little over 300 people, like 310. That means that I only need about 127,750 gallons of water per year for this building. And that math only worked if we didn't take in any more people. Plus it was a matter of how to store that much water without it going bad. Because, yes, water can and does go bad if it is sitting around for too long.

But that is all besides the point. The point I was trying to make was that there were no 'unimportant' jobs in a safe zone, especially when you were just starting out. Ah fuck, I just realized that I don't even have an Olympic size swimming pool to fill up anyways, or storage containers... maybe I should look into getting rain barrels. Crap, I would have to add that to the list too.

'Can't we just use the tap water? After all, there are no viruses in the water,' asked Wang Chao after I had been silent for a while.  I scoffed at that question. 'No,' I said, rubbing my forehead trying to ease the headache. 'There might not be a zombie virus in the water, but that is the least of your worries.  For the most part, all city water is recycled. That means, when you flush the toilet, it goes through a whole process before it comes out of your tap to drink. Without electricity, none of the sanitation plants will work which means that there is no clean water to drink.'

I saw Wang Chao's eyes widen at that thought. I shrugged a shoulder. Not many people really thought about where their water came from until it was an emergency and they had none. Everyone was currently using the water that I had stockpiled before the EMP hit, but my supplies were running low too. I was to the point that I was using the tap water from my space to keep up with the demands.

Looking back down at my list I put a checkmark next to what I had already discussed and added a note to the supply list that we needed water containers, bleach, and any other purifiers that they could get their hands on. My mind was going on what we would need in order to turn dirty water into something drinkable when I heard a throat clear in front of me.

Looking up, I saw Chen Zi Han. "Anything else for now?" he asked, knowing that I was not in any position to keep going with this meeting until I could figure out what more we needed. I shook my head and gave him the lists to post. Luckily my men knew the names of every last person in this building, otherwise, I was not sure how I was going to start dividing people.

As Chen Zi Han and Wang Chao started to talk to the men in front of them, my mind started to drift off to the math for water, and food, and how I was going to be able to grow enough food here to support everyone, the people that would have to help and everything thing else.

The white flame inside of me flickered just enough to cause me to pay attention to it. Staring, I saw Liu Yu Zeng beginning to walk away from the SUVs and into the subdivision. 'See if you can put a trap of some kind on the car,' I said to him, hoping that he could hear me.  There was no way I wanted to lose our vehicles to someone with sticky fingers. When I felt more than heard his response, I left the lobby area so I could pay attention to Liu Yu Zeng.

After all, that man was getting my supplies and I was going to need a lot more than I originally thought.