Calista had finished sorting out the Woodbury allocation plan today and came to talk it over with Rick.
Once they finished, it would be about time for her to return to Rock Fortress.
Rick sat on the bed, looking even worse than he had yesterday. His eyes were sunken, and his lips were dry and cracked.
Whoa. Calista was startled. How did he look worse while recovering?
"Your shoulder got worse?" Calista pulled over the chair across from the bed, sat down, and tapped the area near her own shoulder blade.
"It's nothing serious. I just didn't sleep well." Rick tugged at the corner of his mouth, probably trying to smile, but failed. "Lily said the bone is fine. I got lucky."
"Luck is a skill too." Calista decided to open first. She had already thought this through.
"Woodbury has sixty-three survivors, twenty-seven of them able-bodied adults. The rest are the elderly, the weak, women, and children. They don't have much food, but some of their building materials and tools are still usable."
She took a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and opened it. Her plan was written on it in clear categories.
"Here's what I'm thinking," Calista continued. "Rock Fortress only needs one researcher from Woodbury. Everyone else goes to you. They even have doctors among them. You're short on people right now, so adding them..."
"Calista, we want to merge with you," Rick suddenly said, his voice hoarse.
Calista's breath caught, and her words stopped cold.
She lifted her eyes and looked at Rick.
There was not the slightest hint of joking on his face.
Those blue eyes looked straight at her, carrying something she had never seen in him before. It was not the desperation of someone with nowhere left to turn, nor the humility of someone bowing his head to beg. It was more like a calm acceptance that came after being exhausted to the limit.
"What did you say, Rick?" Calista was surprised that her own voice still came out steady.
Rick repeated himself, every word clear. "We want to merge the entire prison into Rock Fortress. We'll follow your lead."
Only their breathing remained in the room, one light, one heavy.
Calista's mind buzzed, and for a moment she could not process it.
Merge?
Not allies, not mutual support, but merge? Under her command?
Her first reaction was that it was nonsense.
When they had first arrived at the prison, Rick had already hinted, politely but clearly, that he wanted to run the prison independently.
The man who, in the original plot, dared to challenge the Saviors and could still rise again with a battered group of survivors now wanted to bring his core team under her?
Taking the whole main cast was something Calista had never dared to force. She had only planned to be a friendly neighbor. And now he was offering it himself?
All those thoughts flashed through her mind in just two or three seconds.
Calista slowly set down the list in her hand and leaned back in the chair.
"Rick, are you sure you've thought this through? 'Merge' isn't something you just say. It means following Rock Fortress's rules. It means personnel and supplies are centrally assigned. It means major and minor matters ultimately follow my arrangements. You've run this place for so long. You finally have a home."
"Our home leaks from every side," Rick interrupted bitterly. "Hiding in this prison only keeps the storm off us for a while."
He braced one arm on the edge of the bed and leaned forward slightly.
"Yesterday, I had everyone speak honestly.
"Maggie wants to go because she doesn't want Hershel and Beth living somewhere their lives could be taken any day.
"Carol wants to go because of Sophia.
"Dale wants to go because he wants to see the books in the library."
Rick raised his head. His bloodshot blue eyes were filled with naked exhaustion.
"I want Carl and his little brother or sister to grow up happy too.
"I heard Rock Fortress has all kinds of positions. Maybe... maybe I could serve in the Defense Force?"
The exhaustion in his words was so heavy it made the heart ache.
Calista was silent for a few seconds. Then she slowly shook her head.
"No, Rick."
Rick clearly froze. He had not expected Calista to refuse.
"It's not a merger. You don't all have to leave with us. The prison and Rock Fortress are equals," Calista said carefully, word by word. "The prison can become Rock Fortress's outpost in Georgia."
She saw confusion flash through Rick's eyes and knew she had taken the right approach. This would lower a lot of his defenses.
See? I'm not here to swallow your territory. I'm here to work with you.
"An outpost?" Rick repeated.
"Exactly." Calista picked up the list again, flipped it over, and used the tip of her pen to draw a simple diagram. "Rock Fortress's main base is here. Blackberry Ranch is here.
"If the prison joins us, then this place," she tapped the paper firmly, "becomes our eyes, ears, and fist in the southeast."
She moved the pen and drew connecting lines.
"You'll still be yourselves. We'll send professionals here to help with administration and Defense Force training. People from the prison can also go to Rock Fortress if they want."
Calista stopped writing and looked at Rick seriously.
"This isn't about breaking you apart and absorbing you, Rick. The prison itself is easy to defend and hard to attack. It's a very good outpost.
"We have the technology, a complete system, and a strong rear base. Put the two together, and we can build a bunker strong enough to withstand the storms."
Her explanation covered every angle. She gave Rick a vision of a future worth hoping for, while quietly placing actual control in her own hands.
Rick stared at the crude diagram for a long time before suddenly asking, "Why? You have more than a thousand people. You don't need our hundred or so. If your faction wants to establish a foothold in Georgia, setting up another base wouldn't be hard."
Calista's heart gave a small thud.
The most exhausted male lead in history really was not easy to fool. He was tired, not stupid.
So she put down the pen, folded her hands over her lap, and spoke honestly.
"First, we have a relationship, and you have strength. I trust your ability and your character. Second, the Governor won't be the last."
Calista looked straight into his eyes.
"In this world, people eating people isn't even rare anymore. Can you be sure we won't run into other major factions later?
"There will definitely be other ruthless players after the end of the world, people more dangerous than the Governor. We need to weave a network."
She meant the Saviors, the Whisperers, the Commonwealth, the CRM, and all kinds of other threats.
But she could not say that outright. It would expose too much that she should not know.
Rick fell silent, clearly thinking over Calista's words.
"So," Rick finally said, "you're saying we can't keep going alone. We need to band together."
"That's right, Rick. I've said almost everything I needed to say." Calista nodded with satisfaction and stood, walking toward the door.
Then she looked back at him.
"Think it over carefully, then talk it through with the others. Tomorrow, I'll come back with the specific regulations."
With that, she did not wait for Rick's reaction. She opened the door and walked out.
Calista did not leave immediately. She turned into a nearby empty corridor, leaned back against the wall, and let out a long breath.
She lowered her head and looked at her slightly damp palms, then gave a self-mocking twitch of her lips.
Recruiting the main cast. Such a small thing, and you got nervous?
Calm down, Cali. You're going to do big things one day. This is nothing.
Still, what Calista had just said about the "outpost" was half true and half false.
The true part was that she really did need Rick's team to retain a certain degree of autonomy and combat strength.
Completely breaking them up and absorbing them into the Defense Force would be foolish. She also did not want to give them detailed orders every day, reconnaissance today, search duty tomorrow. That would wear away their edge and resilience.
More importantly, Calista did not know whether her own efforts could beat protagonist luck.
In the original plot, chaos followed the main cast wherever they went.
The CDC blew up.
The farm was overrun by a herd.
The prison was destroyed because they did not finish off the Governor.
Alexandria lost its original good leader, and Deanna was replaced after they took over.
The Commonwealth had been ruled by Pamela for so long, and she was still brought down.
None of it had been deliberate, but that passive trouble-attracting quality still made Calista uneasy. It was better to keep them outside.
The false part was that so-called equality had never existed from the start.
Once Rock Fortress's rules, supplies, and personnel flowed continuously into the prison, once the prison's administration and Defense Force were both in Rock Fortress's hands, the balance of power would naturally tilt.
Rick probably understood that too. He was simply tired, tired enough to trade part of his autonomy for a more reliable future.
He had made the choice that benefited the group more. And Calista had obtained what she wanted most. She had brought these halo-bearing "protagonists" into her own script and placed them under her control.
What she needed was not a group of obedient subordinates, but sharp blades capable of standing on their own.
After all, near Georgia, in the known plot, there were still far too many storms ahead.
Leaving Rick's team here as Rock Fortress's feeler in the southeast, as well as the point of contact for future plotlines, could not be more suitable.
That way, Calista could maintain a rough grasp over the direction of future developments instead of moving everyone to Tennessee to live happily in peace, only to know nothing about how the main plot would unfold afterward.
By the time the Saviors and the Whisperers reached her doorstep, it would already be too late.
She wanted to control the risks from far away.
Let them keep the banner of the main cast. But beneath that banner would be Rock Fortress's laws, Rock Fortress's aid, and Rock Fortress's long-term strategy.
Slowly, they would become an inseparable part of Rock Fortress.
And Maggie, Carol, and the others wanted to go to the main base?
Perfect.
Let them come. Let them see with their own eyes how Rock Fortress operates. Let them personally feel the security brought by order. Let them carry what they saw and heard back to the prison.
The best assimilation was never forced.
It was making people long for it and accept it willingly.