Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 180: Returning to New Reno

After admitting the truth to his companions, and reconciling with the reality of Zane's situation, the group finished up breakfast, where they quickly packed the supplies, and trading goods they needed to establish more friendly ties with the Settlement of New Reno, before heading out entirely.

Through the efforts of the residents of Gravestone and New Reno, the roads that connected the two of them had been fully cleared of any abandoned vehicles. A process that they had both been undertaking for well over a month.

Naturally, this was to help speed up trade between the two settlements, something the residents of New Reno had been forced to rely upon more and more while the supplies within the ruins of Old Reno began to dry up.

Thanks to Lily's efforts, Gravestone was able to grow an abundance of crops and at a rapid rate. Their food stores were quite full, with the primary thing they were missing being fresh meat. With human civilization coming to an end, there was indeed a massive loss of wildlife. Especially in the form of farm animals and pets.

After all, such domesticated creatures had a hard time surviving on their own without humans there to feed them. But there were still a few animals that had survived the collapse, mostly in the form of pets that were easy to take care of. Such as rabbits, dogs, and cats.

One of Zane's goals in visiting New Reno was to replace if anyone had some rabbits they were willing to trade. Out of the three most common surviving pets that existed within the wasteland, Rabbits was a food source that Zane had no moral qualms about eating, whereas dogs and cats were a bullet that was a bit harder to bite, so to speak.

The trip to New Reno was not that long, less than 45 minutes between the two settlements. And when Zane and the girls arrived, Garth, the local lawman, was waiting at the entrance. He and his deputies were, after all, the ones tasked with inspecting those who wished to enter New Reno.

Due to all of the recent violence in New Reno, visitors were required to surrender their arms for the duration of their stay. Only being able to retrieve them once they had left the safety of the settlement's walls.

Zane and his girls of course did not necessarily have to worry about this, as their weapons were crafted from the Grimforge, and they all had access to inventory systems which allowed them to hide their weapons in a space which could not be inspected by another person.

But Zane and the girls brought firearms with them just to avoid suspicion. After all, one did not travel the wasteland unprotected, for if they did, they were just asking to be killed or taken advantage of, either by the undead, or the many wandering bandits that still plagued the ruins of Old Reno.

Thus, when Zane and his companions approached the city gates, they handed over their firearms to Garth before entering the settlement of New Reno. Unlike Gravestone, which was only populated by a few dozen people and was relatively well maintained by its inhabitants. New Reno was a mess.

They did not have any access to power, with the national power grid mostly being destroyed. Perhaps one or two residences or stores here and there had solar panels, but the rest of the area lacked any form of illumination. Except for perhaps candles at night, that is if they were wealthy enough to afford such a valuable resource.

When Garth saw that Zane himself had come to visit, he quickly brought the man to the side, and spoke to him.

"So the Mayor of Gravestone comes to personally visit New Reno? It's been a while since I last saw you in these parts, friend, so what could you possibly be here to visit for?"

Zane knew that Garth was a trustworthy individual. After all, Angelica had confirmed this to be true with her special ability to understand people's true nature, as well as to detect lies. It's why Zane brought her along on this visit.

Because of this, he was quick to admit the truth to Garth.

"I have a few reasons. First and foremost, I'm looking to trade for rabbits. I hope to breed them in Gravestone so we have a proper supply of fresh meat. I mean, preferably I'd ask for swine or cows, but I doubt anyone here is hoarding pigs and cattle…

Second, I wanted to speak with your city council about arranging something between my companion Olivia and your settlement. She is the reason that Gravestone currently has an active power grid. And I was hoping we could come to some form of arrangement that will help you guys out as well.

My third reason for coming all this way is because I have some new items I'm looking to sell. Items that will help your strike teams fight the undead, and increase their survivability. For the right price, I'm willing to part with them.

And my final reason for visiting is I was hoping to decrease the burden of your excess population by taking trustworthy individuals back to Gravestone to help with our expansion. Knowing all of this, is there any way you can help me with my goals?"

Zane had stated reasons for visiting New Reno, and at least two of them were shocking. After all, he did not expect Zane to come with weapons and armor to sell. This was because New Reno had yet to properly unlock the community leader's achievement.

And the reason for this was rather simple. The settlement of New Reno had multiple leaders in the form of a city council, and in order to unlock the achievement along with the rewards that came with it, such as the recipe for the Grim Forge, a settlement needed a single leader.

This naturally worked in Zane's advantage, so he did not inform Garth of this, and instead chose to sell them the equipment he made from the grim forge, specifically the excess supply of lower-level gear that he used to equip his undead servants.

It took some time for Garth to process all of this information, but when he did so, he nodded his head, giving Zane an idea of how he could help.

"Regarding your desire to get some meat, you might just be in luck. There are some ranchers in town from Winnemucca. Apparently, the town was left relatively unscathed by the outbreak of the undead due to how remote it is.

They have brought with them some farm animals they were hoping to trade for ammo. Apparently they are starting to run out. If you brought weapons and supplies, they might be willing to sell what they have to you.

After all, lord knows we don't have the means to support livestock here in new Reno. It would be better for you to have them, as there is a lot of farmland outside the ruins of Old Carson City that could be used to raise them.

As for speaking with the City Council about helping re-establish the local power grid, and taking our excess population with you. Well… You will have to wait. There are already some people from a settlement in California that are speaking with the City Council.

They are quite the…. Interesting folk. A word of advice: I would avoid making contact with them if I were you. Those loons keep preaching about their goddess or some nonsense, and they just give off a real culty vibe, if you get what I mean."

Zane was surprised that there were visitors from California visiting New Reno, but if they were rallying how Garth described them, then he wanted nothing to do with them. Thus, he nodded his head and agreed to speak with the ranchers from Winnemucca first.

"Alright, point me in the direction of the Ranchers, and I'll see if I can't satisfy their demands for weapons."

Garth also nodded his head, where he then pointed Zane towards where the Ranchers were staying. He was actually happy about the idea of Gravestone getting their hands on farm animals, because it meant that they would eventually trade their excess supply with New Reno, like they had been recently done with the crops that Lily had rapidly grown.

Once Garth had done this, Zane said his goodbyes before leading the girls towards the ranchers. Where Madison was quick to speak about the visitors from California.

"I'm honestly, like, totally surprised that there is anyone left in Cali. What do you think they are like?"

Zane simply scoffed when he heard this, before reminding Madison what Garth had said about them.

"They appear to have some kind of cult, and if that's the case, it's best to avoid them. Lord knows the last thing we need is to upset a bunch of religious fanatics. So Madison, be on your best behavior, and if you see anyone acting abnormally, just avoid them. The same goes for the rest of you!"

Though Madison pouted after being told to avoid the Californian visitors, she ultimately obeyed Zane, while the others nodded their heads in agreement with Zane's orders. They had enough brains to know that getting mixed up with cultists was a bad idea.