Carl, upon seeing the camp, immediately decided to hide behind a tree and observe it. Although the camp looked abandoned, he couldn't be sure.
The camp consisted of a dozen or so small tourist tents and two quite large field tents. A few infected were roaming around the camp.
Carl sneaked into the camp and started eliminating the infected. He approached them quietly, and with a precise blow to the knee with a stick, he knocked each infected person to the ground, delivering a final blow to the head. In this way, after a few minutes, the camp was cleared of all infected, but Carl stayed cautious, as there could still be more inside.
Upon closer examination of the infected, Carl could tell that this was a camp of surviving soldiers from King County. There were many bodies, shell casings, and abandoned weapons scattered around.
Carl decided to search the entire camp, starting with the small tents and slowly moving to the larger ones. The findings were significant. Almost every tent contained food, various weapons ranging from knives to rifles, and other useful items.
The first large tent turned out to be a field kitchen and food storage area. Carl found enough food supplies to last him for several months. The most notable items were:
-372 packs of MRE,
-531 packs of instant noodles,
-137 canned goods,
-12 lbs of powdered milk,
-23 lbs of powdered mashed potatoes,
-14 lbs of rice,
-5 lbs of powdered eggs.
Carl knew that transporting this might take him a few days, but he still didn't know exactly where he was.
The second large tent turned out to be a command center. Inside were two tables and a cot. Additionally, he could see a detailed military map of the area, covering all of King County, the state of Georgia, and maps of Atlanta, Macon, Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, and several other cities. Against the back wall stood a desk piled with various papers and the corpse of what was likely the officer in charge of the camp.
Upon closely inspecting the officer's body, it appeared that he had committed suicide, shooting himself in the head. Next to him on the ground lay a well-worn Beretta 92 pistol.
Under the cot, Carl found a chest containing the officer's personal belongings. The chest held various items such as photos, clothes, documents, and a journal. Besides these, there were a few bottles of alcohol, a map of the Savannah area, a small wooden box of cigars, and several M67 grenades.
Carl was immediately interested in the journal, which turned out to be a diary of this young and possibly inexperienced officer. Carl decided to glance at the first entry: "I don't know why that psychologist thinks writing this is a good idea. In my opinion, it's a waste of time. But fine, no one's going to read it anyway." This was enough to pique Carl's curiosity, but for now, he chose not to read it and focused on his situation.
Thanks to the map showing the camp's location, Carl figured out where he was — about 5 miles from his base.
Searching the camp took Carl much longer than he expected. He had about an hour left before dark, so he decided to gather the weapons and store them in the command tent, where he planned to spend the night. In the camp, he found:
-7 M16 rifles,
-3 M24 sniper rifles,
-1 large-caliber M107 sniper rifle,
-1 M249 SAW machine gun,
-1 M203 grenade launcher (attached to an M16 rifle).
The most interesting finds were in crates covered with tarps near the command tent. They included:
-1 M136 anti-tank grenade launcher,
-1 M120 mortar,
-1 Stinger anti-aircraft missile system.
Carl couldn't stop smiling, pleased with how things had turned out, as he would never have found this treasure otherwise.
In the meantime, it had grown dark, but before nightfall, Carl set up a simple alarm around the command tent using empty cans and some string.
The night was difficult for Carl as he couldn't sleep, plagued by negative thoughts. He feared that infected might wander into his camp while he slept, so he decided to read the officer's journal.
The journal was rather strange; in one moment, the officer described his childhood, in another, his experience in officer school, and yet in another, he simply wrote about the wildlife and places he visited. The journal was chaotic, but Carl could glean some useful information from it, such as this:
The officer's father was a prepper, preparing for the end of the world. His theory was somewhat similar to what actually happened. He allegedly amassed huge food supplies, enough for 100 people for years, and a vast stockpile of weapons. Additionally, he modified his RV into a small fortress on wheels, and his house was also a fortress with armored walls, windows, and doors. The only way to enter was with a key and a code. The officer seemed confident no one would read this, as he noted the code in the journal, and he wore the key around his neck as a necklace.
Besides this, he recorded an interesting fact:
Everyone is infected. Being bitten or any kind of death leads to transformation.
For Carl, this was a shocking revelation, making him wonder if his father, Rick, was still alive or had become one of them. Despite his actions, Carl respected Rick and considered him a good father. As for his mother, he saw her as a traitor who would betray him for any reason, since Lori had already cheated on Rick with Shane and even with Carl's math teacher.
Carl held no respect for the math teacher either. The man was married and had children.
Carl finally managed to fall asleep around two in the morning, but before that, he decided to visit his father in the hospital.
Carl woke up with difficulty a few minutes past eight in the morning. He immediately set to work on securing the supplies. He gathered all the bags and backpacks from the camp, packed them with all the food, weapons, and other useful items, and collected all the ammunition crates. While doing so, he discovered several crates of 155mm artillery shells, although there was no howitzer in sight.
From the journal, Carl knew that the soldiers' trucks had been used in the evacuation of soldiers from King County. They never returned, nor did the soldiers assigned to operate and guard them.
Under several tents, Carl dug holes about four feet deep and four feet wide. He reinforced their walls using branches, a few found boards, and some rope. He stored all the supplies in these pits, covered everything with branches and a layer of dirt, then moved the tents back to their original positions, hiding any signs of his caches.
For any other survivors who might find this camp, he left some food in the kitchen as a decoy, along with one M16 rifle and some melee weapons. It was a clever way to hide the supplies so that anyone finding the place would assume the soldiers had nothing of value. At least, that's what Carl thought.
The entire process of hiding the supplies took Carl until 4 p.m. He then immediately set off for his base, taking some food and an M24 sniper rifle with ammunition.
Carl reached his base after a continuous three-hour march, during which he had to avoid a small group of infected. He immediately started planning his next move.