Doomsday America.

Chapter 404 The First Wedding

We chatted and thought about it at the same time.

Gavin and Lao Feng, along with five or six office workers, rode their horses slowly for more than forty minutes before finally arriving near the farm town.

The town now looks completely different from when the disaster struck.

After all, on the first night of the disaster, a fire broke out in the farm town, and the flames destroyed many wooden houses.

Fortunately, Steve, who had struggled to escape from the town, managed to extinguish the fire by crashing his pickup truck into the town's water tower.

Even though the fire didn't completely destroy the town, nearly a third of the town was covered in black burn marks.

After the rainy season, the charred wood immediately became a favorite breeding ground for zombie fungi.

So much so that even though there were no zombies in the farm town, the burned-out area of ​​the farm town still formed more than three zombie fungus nests, and the surrounding area was covered with white fungal carpets, making people not want to approach.

So, at this moment, nearly half of the town is visible as burned.

Because—before the workers moved into the town's farm, in order to completely eliminate the mushroom carpet they saw, they simply set fire to the areas where the mushroom carpet was located, burning them again—

Of course, before doing so, the guys made preparations to put out the fire and prevented it from spreading further.

In short, in Gavin's eyes at this moment, the farm town in front of him was completely divided into three parts.

One is a scorched area to the northwest, which spreads out at an angle across half of the town, centered on the water tower.

The second area is the residential area near the south. The guys at the town camp spent half a month cleaning and tidying up about fourteen houses. After cleaning and tidying, the houses looked much cleaner and stood out from the surroundings.

As for the third part of the town, that part is the area that was neither burned down nor cleaned up.

In that area, every house was covered with thick vines, moss, and mushrooms.

Most of the houses in the town are made of wood, which makes them more susceptible to fungal infestations during the rainy season. Although no mycelium was produced, the excessively humid environment made the houses look like they had been abandoned for six or seven years!

If you approach that place at night, it feels like you've stepped into a horror movie.

Now, Gavin, riding Octavian, led the wolf pack and his companions, swaggering towards the town's residential area.

When Gavin was about two kilometers away from the town, the town's sentries spotted him and notified the town's officials.

When Gavin entered the town, the person in charge of the farm town, also known as Scarface Barn, was already waiting in front of the living area with his lover Adele and a dozen other field workers.

As Gavin drew closer, Barn strode forward, leading his men in a rush toward Gavin.

Barn rushed up to Gavin, grabbed Gavin's reins, and led Gavin's horse into the town, saying something to Gavin as they went.

"Boss, I dreamt last night that you came to inspect this town, and when I woke up, you actually came! This must be Odin's will!"

Well, Barn is now a devout follower of the Odin cult.

Although Abel and Arturo didn't know how to formulate various doctrines.

Having spent a long time roaming the streets and having extremely low moral standards, the two of them shamelessly took most of the things in Christianity, changed their names, and attributed them to Odin.

Aside from the different prayer postures, Byoddinism and Christianity look remarkably similar.

Oh, it's a little different. Because Odin is the god of war, most of the Odin worshippers like to have a good fight in the boxing ring, which means dedicating the war to Odin and Thanos to Gavin!

Some of the young people who wanted to make a name for themselves in the camp couldn't wait to step into the boxing ring every day and show Gavin their skills.

As for why Barn is in charge of the farm town?

There's a reason for that.

Based on Gavin's required level of trust in the leaders of the branch bases, it would logically be someone like Madison or Edward, who were more trusted by Gavin, who should be in charge of establishing and managing the branch bases.

In reality, Old Mike and Edward, as the core field commanders of the alliance, had no intention of going to any branch base to become mountain kings.

After the field operations team continued to expand, the number of personnel had long been close to seven hundred. Each of these company commanders, who were trusted by Gavin, had more than one hundred subordinates under their command. This number was much larger than that of the branch base.

In the No. 2 sub-base farm town, field workers make up a large proportion of the members. Since the sub-base was established for the purpose of guarding the storage center, it is necessary to select someone with a certain status in the field work to manage it.

And so, Gavin searched and searched, finally focusing his attention on Scarface Barn.

This young man, who had been harmed by the Holy Fire Cult cult members, had long since become one of the few field personnel whom Gavin could trust, yet who was not qualified to be a company commander, thanks to his loyalty and solid field experience.

And so, Gavin found Barn and made him the leader of the second base.

His visit to the farm town was also to see the atmosphere of the farm town for himself.

If things go smoothly in the farm town, Gavin will need to consider transferring Steve back to headquarters and replacing him with someone with a similar background to Barn, to lead the power plant.

In that case, Steve could focus his energy on the Seventh Company of the Alliance.

In short, Gavin patted Barn on the shoulder and laughed as he pondered.

"You said you dreamt that I came to inspect your place?"

"But why would you have such a dream, Barn? Is there something in the town camp that you don't want me to see?"

After saying this, Gavin stopped Octavian and jumped off his horse.

As he landed, Barn couldn't help but roll his eyes and said, half-laughing and half-crying.

"Boss, what could I possibly not want you to see? It's just that the construction of the town camp is a bit slow."

"Look, apart from the fifteen houses behind me, we haven't managed to tidy up anything else. The fortifications are only half-finished, and we've only dug simple trenches and pits. We haven't even had time to put up barbed wire yet."

"That's why I'm so worried, boss, we're working too slowly!"

At this point, Barn shook his head regretfully.

Upon hearing this, Gavin turned his head and glanced at it again.

Indeed, Barn is quite right. The construction of the farm town is not progressing fast. The trenches are not only half-dug, but clearly not even a third of them have been dug.

Gavin nodded and said in a slightly stern tone.

"The progress is a bit slow, Barn. You need to speed things up and try to finish all the remaining work within two weeks!"

"You all saw the snow just now, right? Winter came earlier in Dallas this year. In a few days, the surrounding land will be too frozen to dig."

"So I'm only giving you two weeks, just two weeks!"

"If you still haven't finished a trench in two weeks, then I'll personally come and smash your ass with a shovel, you bastard!"

""

At this point, Gavin chuckled and patted Barn on the back, causing the guy to stumble and fall heavily.

After regaining his footing, Barn immediately addressed his men.

"You all heard that, right? Damn it, don't wait until the boss comes with a shovel to deal with me, and then I have to ask him to take care of you lazybones one by one!"

"We only have two weeks. For the next two weeks, put everything else aside. The trenches must be dug first, and the sandbags and barbed wire must be prepared!"

"Get out of here! Get to work now, quick!"

"Hurry, hurry!"

With that, Barn chuckled and kicked the nearest guy, who immediately scattered and headed off into the distance.

Of the field crew, only two people knew how to operate an excavator, one of whom was a heavy drinker whose name Gavin could remember. This was probably why their trenching progress was relatively slow.

As the men walked further and further away, Barn shook his head helplessly, then went to his lover and pulled her back to Gavin.

"Boss, let's not think about those frustrating and stupid things for now. There's something I want to ask you."

"uh-huh?"

Gavin smiled immediately, then looked with interest at Barn and Adele's tightly clasped hands and asked expectantly.

"You want me to be your witness at your wedding? If so, I'd be more than happy to! You two really should walk down the aisle!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin looked at the two of them expectantly.

Meeting Gavin's gaze, Adele lowered her head shyly, unable to help but recall the time when Gavin saw her at her most disheveled.

As for Barn...

He nodded emphatically and answered excitedly.

"That's right, boss, it's exactly what you think!"

"If it weren't for this damn apocalypse, maybe Adele and I would have picked a good day in the summer and had a grand wedding."

"But even if the end of the world has come, it's only been postponed for a while. Winter is a good time to get married, isn't it?"

"It's time for me to take responsibility for the family and give Adele a guarantee, boss!"

At this point, Barn released Adele and turned to look intently at Gavin.

After a brief smile, Gavin nodded in satisfaction and chuckled.

"No problem, buddy, I'll be your witness, and we happen to have a pastor too."

"Recently, Hogan has been building his future church all by himself. Although the progress is slow, he has even developed some of the qualities of a bishop through his dedication."

"Believe me, with his and my blessings, your marriage will be happy and fulfilling."

"So when do you plan to set your wedding date?"

At this point, Gavin patted Barn on the shoulder.

Barn couldn't help but scratch his head and whispered.

"Actually, I'd prefer Abel to be our priest. I mean, I actually prefer the Odin Cult, boss."

"I'm definitely not thinking this way because of you. It's just that when Adele and I were going through hardships, and when the end of the world finally broke out, God didn't care about us at all."

"You're the one who saved us from this misery, boss!"

"No, please don't do that!"

Gavin was stunned. He never expected that the Odin Cult would have such devout fanatics in such a short time.

Even for his wedding, he wanted Abel, that tattooed former gangster, to officiate.

What do you take him for? Is he even cut out for it?

Gavin quickly stopped him, laughing and scolding Barn.

"Don't fucking joke around, buddy. Your wedding with Adele is the first wedding the Alliance is ever holding, the very first one!"

"I admit that the Odin cult has many followers, but Odin does not have the authority to protect marriage."

"The first official wedding in the league should be kept solemn. Let's respect the marriage traditions that Texas has maintained for hundreds of years, and also give our priest Hogan something to do."

At this point, Gavin raised his hand and took both of their hands, putting them back together.

Looking at Barn's silly grin and Adele's shy smile.

Gavin patted the back of their hands and said.

"However, no matter how you choose to arrange your wedding, I am only offering suggestions. Ultimately, it is up to you to make your own decision."

"Because it is your wedding, your sacred wedding, and as an outsider, even if I am your leader, I should not make decisions for you."

"If you really want the Odin Church to host this wedding, then I'll have a good talk with Abel and Arturo and have them send a guy who looks more composed and is familiar with their messy doctrines to be the officiant in their place."

"Those two bastards, one has a scorpion tattooed on his face, and the other, although his face is clean, has two beautiful tattooed arms."

"From an artistic point of view, their tattoos are indeed quite artistic."

"From a wedding perspective, it's best not to let their tattoos affect your sacred marriage."

At this point, Gavin shook his head in annoyance.

Who knows why the first people to think of forming the Odin Cult were those two former marginal figures in the alliance?

But thinking about it, it makes sense, since those who worshipped Odin were the Vikings of Norse mythology.

From this perspective, Abel and Arturo do indeed have some of the Viking spirit.

Especially after they formed their sect, they both started growing beards.

Although their beards weren't long yet, after growing them for more than half a year, they were long enough to be tied into small braids, making them look even more like Viking pirates.

Thinking this, Gavin chuckled and took a deep breath, then finally spoke to Barn in front of him.

"It's settled then, Barn. You two decide on your wedding date and style."

"As for me, I'm going on a long trip tomorrow and won't be back for at least half a month."

"Your wedding date absolutely has to be after I get back, guys. I don't want to miss your wedding; it'll be the first wedding I attend since the apocalypse!"

"Having heard this news, I've lost all interest in continuing to wander around the town's camp."

"You two get ready for your wedding. I'll head back to the estate now and talk to Thomas and the others about your plans."

"We will make this wedding a really big party."

"So, look forward to it, you two!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin, who had originally planned to go into the town and take a stroll towards the warehouse, simply mounted his horse, Octavian, and led his men away from the town camp.

Barnes and Adele stood there with their hands clasped tightly, watching Gavin disappear completely on the horizon before reluctantly turning away.