Yellow Dogs

The average Yellow Dog militiaman

### Leader(s)

Ralph Margolis, Steven Montgomery, Dwayne Everett, Carolina Mills, Tony Moretti, Jakub Sobotka

### Notable Member(s)

Derrick Kamen, Ralph Margolis, Steven Montgomery, Dwayne Everett, Carolina Mills, Tony Moretti, Jakub Sobotka, Walter Kriska

### Settlement(s)

Richmond, Augusta, Reedville, Oaks, Stony Hill, Camp David

## Beginning of the Apocalypse (January 2nd, 1993)

The Yellow Dogs began as a group of Appalachian steel mill workers working for Roanoke Electric Steel in Roanoke, Virginia. By happenstance, the apocalypse broke out while on their shift. With 3,000 employees all familiar with hard labor and the physiques to back it up, it was a no-brainer to use said men to defend the walled compound of Roanoke Electric Steel instead of abandoning it. Their foreman, Derrick Kamen, was the one to lead them through this time of strife, helping the men organize search parties to go and retrieve their families.

They held out there for weeks, waiting for the guidance of the U.S. government. The only time they ever left the compound was to scavenge. They saw on the TV and heard on the radio that a war was taking place against the infected, utilizing detailed strategies and making good use of heavy artillery. All they could do was watch for months on end as the government reclaimed some of California, then Colorado - for a while it seemed like tides were turning. News about the war went dark and for good this time. The vice-president-turned-president would occasionally come on the radio to give patriotic speeches about reclaiming the United States, but words were the only thing that came.

One thing that blue collar steel mill workers aren't known for is their maturity and higher education - most men, really, not just the blue collars. As such, in-fighting took place once they realized that no help was ever coming, most of it driven more by fear than malice. Some of it was childish; nothing more than some fist fights and bruised egos. But as the months ticked down, there were some serious attempts on other's lives - particularly Foreman Derrick Kamen's. Egos ran high, job positions were no longer respected when facing the end of the world, and worker solidarity was wavering. The workers and their families were scared and desperate for some sense of control over their situation. It got so bad that some even abandoned their post, taking their chances out in the wild. The vast majority opted to stay put, though - they had families, after all - but they were very discontent.

## Judgment Day (January, 1994)

All it took to restore their sense of unity was hitting rock-bottom, and that came on January 7th, 1994 when the bombs fell. Even though they were not directly hit by the bombs, the fallout from the nuke that hit Norfolk was devastating. 1,600 of their 3,000 employees died from radiation-related injuries. 3,000 family members living in Roanoke Electric Steel also died.

Ironically enough, the number of infected never really seemed to change after the bombs. A good amount of the supplies were now irradiated, alongside water. A nuclear winter also began and didn't let up for an entire 13 year long period, lasting from January 1994 to October of 2007. Everything was tainted and people were dropping like flies. With almost half their numbers gone, they could not grow food, and it was getting harder and harder for them to defend the steel mill. On February 2nd, Derrick made the hard decision to send an expedition north to find defendable, non-irradiated land. They found that at Augusta Correctional Center, except it was occupied.

With 1,097 inmates and 256 guards, the two sides had found a way to cohabitate out of necessity, although uneasily. And while initially the occupants of Augusta turned away the Roanoke scouts, when they realized that they were of equal number to their own and with just as much weaponry, they understood that they would have little choice to get along, lest they have a war on their hands. However, the prisoners and guards of Augusta debated just killing the scouts and ensuring they never reported back, but morality got in the way. After all, it was only a medium security prison, and while they were criminals, they weren't monsters - they knew these men had families.

Using their combined forces, they managed to clear out the outskirts of the prison, even growing crops in the courtyard as well as along Smith Creek and the Little Calfpasture River. The prison was used kind of like a castle, and smaller residential buildings were erected just outside of it to support the expanded population.

When encountering the prisoners, the Roanoke Electric workers were made fun of for never taking off their uniforms, as hard hats and jumpsuits provided protection from the elements and from the teeth of the infected. This was jokingly said to be devotion to their work, and the inmates nicknamed them, "Yellow Dogs" in reference to an old, derogatory term for Appalachian blue collar workers, particularly leading up to the Battle of Blair Hill in West Virginia. This name stuck.

## Overall Member Count (1994)

By the time the first radioactive winter hit, the member count consisted of this:

1,400 steel mill workers

2,200 family members

1,097 inmates

256 guards

This left a total population of 4,953 people.The nuclear winter would also prove to be especially harsh, as crops were and far between and most scavenged foods were unsafe to eat due to radiation. While they endured the nuclear winter with only a hundred or so casualties, they made plans to one day send out expeditionary groups to search for more fertile lands when the time was right.

## The Pitbulls and Further Expansion (February, 1994 - July, 1997)

After combining forces with the prison, the guards there formed an expeditionary branch of scouts and soldiers dubbed the Pitbulls as a further play on their name. Their job was to patrol Yellow Dog territories, keeping regional threats in-check such as large, migrating hordes and hostile factions

Before the winter of 1995, a group of Pitbulls was sent south to North Carolina where they would eventually settle Oaks, North Carolina. After this, they would begin broadcasting radio signals to attract settlers both to Augusta and Oaks.

By 1997, the Yellow Dogs would have a settlement in every corner of the state of Virginia, as well some on the coast of North Carolina. However, these men were no governors or leaders, really - just a bunch of workers who had no idea how they got there.

## The Civil War (August 4th, 1999 - December 2nd, 1999)

After Foreman Derrick Kamen’s passing due to radiation-related complications, this lack of direction became abundantly clear. With no clear line of succession or, really, any governing system at all, infighting broke loose within the group once more. This time it was far more serious than just a few fistfights.

The first human-to-human conflict they had began on August 4, 1999 when a short-lived civil war between the settlements in West Virginia and North Carolina took place, with North Carolina trying to separate as they no longer wanted to send their abundant crops up north to a West Virginia that did not produce all that much in return - industry included, not just food. Keep in mind that a very large part of North Carolina is made of cecil soils, one of the most fertile soils in the world, and as such acts as an extremely valuable territory. The Yellow Dogs were forced to fight this war, losing over a thousand men on both sides in the process. The war came to a bloody end on December 2nd, 1999 in a barely-won victory by the Augustas, retaining their control over their North Carolina settlements.

Those who incited the rebellion were exiled, and those who refused to leave were executed - the first brutal decision they would have to make in a long line of them.

## Governing (1999 - 2006)

The civil war acted as a wakeup call for the Yellow Dogs to get their act together, and as such, formed a representative republic.

Their settlements are the following:

Augusta Correctional Center, Virginia (which was just shortened to Augusta); elected Steven Montogemery, a former corrupt politician sentenced to five years in prison after committing tax fraud. While in prison, he found God and converted to Catholicism.

Reedville, Virginia; elected Dwayne Everett, an original Roanoke Electric Steel mill worker. He was also a little league football coach before the apocalypse and acted as a pillar of the community before the apocalypse.

Oaks, North Carolina; elected Carolina Mills, a refugee who came to Augusta when responding to their radio calls. She joined the Pitbulls and headed south to found their newest community in South Carolina. A farmer’s wife before the apocalypse, she saw Oaks as a blank canvas to work her magic on. She was not the original leader of Oaks, as they were exiled after the civil war, but was the second in command who sold the former leader out in exchange for her life and loyalty.

Stony Hill, North Carolina; elected Tony Moretti, a prominent figure in the civil war and a resident of Stony Hill before the apocalypse. A niche conspiracy theory by some is that he was secretly a prominent figure of the North Carolina separatists - if not the architect of the entire revolt - and somehow he got someone else to take the fall. However, there is no evidence for this.

Camp David, Maryland; elected Jakub (Jacob) Sobotka, a polish immigrant who worked at Roanoke Electric Steel. A hulking brute of a man, he was a force of nature in the civil war and led multiple squads that utilized hordes of infected to overwhelm their enemies, even going as far as to infect their water supply to make the rebels turn. Jakub was recruited by the Pitbulls to lead an expeditionary squad north into Maryland to find unsettled, rural land with good soil and to establish a foothold in the state. They found that at the former campground of Camp David, and Jakub retired as a Pitbull after being elected as Camp David’s representative.

## Reclaiming Richmond, Governing Richmond (2007 - 2010)

These 5 representatives would convene by radio and postmen for years, opting to use their resources to begin clearing trade routes and establishing stability in their respective regions.

In 2007, the nuclear winter that persisted for an entire 13 years finally lifted. A great period of celebration was had, and even though the infected remained, the literal darkest times were over.

That same year, it was decided that they would pool together their resources to reclaim Richmond, Virginia. Untouched by the bombs and a holder of both supplies and industry, the reclamation would be paramount to the continued growth of the Yellow Dogs, but it would take a war’s worth of men, resources, and time. The clearing and resettlement of Richmond took the Yellow Dogs militia two years. One year spent clearing, retreating while waiting for more resources, and then fighting through previously-cleared territories because they had been forced to fall back. The second year was spent infected-proofing it. Storage containers were gathered and placed like walls around the vulnerable areas of the city, and the vast majority of bridges and interstates running through the city were demolished using explosives. By the time they were finished in 2008, Richmond was the Yellow Dogs’ new capital and the first city they could call home.

Ralph Margolis would be elected the representative of Richmond, and as such, he would hold a great deal of power in the area. And, despite all settlements being equal, Ralph became a sort of de facto president due to the sheer size and importance of Richmond; the other settlements couldn’t hope to compare.

## The War for Pittsburgh (2011 - Ongoing)

In 2011, as ammunition became dangerously low and more scouts from other communities were appearing at their borders, the Yellow Dogs realized they would need to expand their industrial capabilities. Convening in Richmond, they set their sights on the city of Pittsburgh. Notorious for the size of its industry, they decided to begin clearing the I-64 eastward until they hit the I-79, and then clear that until they hit Pittsburgh. Using melee weapons to conserve ammunition, this process took them 2 years.

By the time they arrived, they encountered the locals as well as the UAN. Unable to compromise and neither side willing to give up the city, the conquest for Pittsburgh began.

## Overall Member Count (2013)

In the modern day (2013), the Yellow Dogs have 18,270 citizens, making them one of the largest governments on the eastern coast of the United States. As it does not have a dedicated army, it utilizes a mandatory draft for its civilian militia force.