Timeline: Short Stories from the Apocalypse - A Through Rough Times Spinoff

[ukron]

Aspiring Actress Part 8: Blood Compact
Weeks ago...
February 12, 2019 (Z-Day + 118)
Above the Visayas

The stealthy B-2A Spirit flew over the islands of the Visayas. It had a mission: to deliver the bioweapon known as Blue Rot on the request of the Philippine government based in Baguio. This time it did not need to worry about air defense systems and radar tech for the enemy did not use such. Furthermore, the Spirit flew over friendly territory.

Due to densely-populated urban poor areas, the outbreak was becoming so bad for the Armed Forces of the Philippines that entire provinces without natural barriers were crawling over the infected. Forced by his trusted advisors, President Duterte finally relented and allowed the Americans to drop the Blue Rot.

The Spirit, coming out from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, followed a flight path that circled all the way from Mindanao. It had just completed a sortie of dropping the Blue Rot over major cities in Mindanao. Now it was making a sweep in the Visayas. It was just above Bohol when it dropped its payload in Tagbilaran. Then it proceeded to neighboring Cebu, then to Dumaguete, then to Bacolod, and Ilo-Ilo. It flew over Panay and Masbate before emptying what remained of its paylod in Samar and Leyte.

"Badger-1 has emptied it's payload. We are RTB[1]." The pilot spoke as he turned the stick towards the Pacific to land and rearm. Another B-2A was going to relieve it's place to spray Luzon with the Blue Rot. It wasn't alone. Behind it were a couple of C-17s modified to to drop the Blue Rot over the archipelago.

Down below, the Infected shuffled, seemingly unaware that in its skin were bio-engineered flesh-eating bacteria that was slowly feasting on their skin. In just a few months, the Infected would drop in numbers thanks to this bacteria. What the humans now needed to do was go on the offensive while the enemy was knocked on its feet.

March 5, 2019 (Z-Day + 139)
Tagibilaran
Bohol, Philippines

The former fisherman roamed around the empty streets of Bohol. It moaned and followed on what it perceived food. It groaned along with the fellow brethren in their insatiable quest for flesh. Unknown to it, several of it's prey were watching from a distance.

"Fuck me. They really are rotting faster." Thea mumbled under her breathe.

"Yeah, see those things crawling around? Meaning whatever bug those Americans drooped over us is working." A reservist named Pedro replied.

"Command, shall we take them out?" Thea asked over the radio.

"You are cleared to engage." The radio squawked.

"Understood." Thea replied.

She then grabbed her Remington R4A3, looking down on its Aimpoint red dot sight. Thea was thankful a new batch of rifles arrived in past few weeks. Her old M16A1 badly needed replacement after so many jams occurred. Now with a real toy to play with that came with an optical system, Thea could dispatch the Infected effectively.

The Infected fisherman didn't realize that a 5.56 mm round penetrated its head. Several 5.56s entered the skulls of the nearby Infected. The reservists moved in armed with hatchets, machetes, and clubs. They simply moved in and stabbed or clubbed some of the crawling Infected in an effort to save precious ammunition.

Thea and her squad supported by technicals moved in to retake Tagbilaran City Hall which would become the temporary war room for the reclamation of Bohol's provincial capital.
The city hall was soon cleared of the Infected. Soldiers, policemen, civilian volunteers, and engineers quickly moved in to erect barricades and tents for the war room.

Outside the courtyard, the bodies of the killed Infected were piled unto dump trucks. Thea moved inside with her squad. While clearing the other rooms, Thea retrieved an important symbol of her province that was laying on the floor. She deduced that this flag must have fell over during the panic and was just left there. She unfurled the banner, revealing the blue, white and red tricolor with the Chocolate Hills and two arms locked in brotherly grip in the center white field.

"It's as beautiful as ever." Thea said, remarking the unique design of her province's flag. It has been remarked by local vexillologists as being one of the best provincial flags in the Philippines.

She took the flag with her and went back to her squad.

"Hey guys, I found this flag. I think we should take a photo with it."

The squad formed up in front of the hall. One squad held up the flag of the Philippines while Thea and her other squad held up their provincial flag. Cameras were rolling and snapping. The photo of Philippine Army reservists holding the both the national flag and pronvincial flag would soon become one of the iconic symbols of the resilience of the Boholanos against the Killer Pandemic.

"We did it guys. Tagbilaran is ours."
Author's Notes:
The title is based on the iconic Blood Compact monument in Bohol
[1] Returning to base

EDIT: Added C-17s to the operations. Next chapter will be the epilogue for Thea's segment along with a plot-twist.

[ukron]

Aspiring Actress Part 9: Coffee Date
"Holy shit, you're alive! How? Thank the Lord."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we get to catch up soon."

"Sure. I still got sweeping to do."

"Alright, stay safe Thea."

September 26, 2019 (Z-Day + 344)
Tagiblaran
Bohol, Philippines

The blogger turned Army reservist sat in the coffee shop with her laptop on the desk. Beside it was a small tripod with her smartphone. Ever since the victory of the human race over the Killer Pandemic, life was beginning to the start to go back to normal. There was still much job to be done as sporadic reports of Infected occasionally emerge. However, thanks to the lessons learned during the pandemic, responses against stragglers were swift and harsh. Because of her service, Thea was able to request for leave. It was approved so Thea spent time to be with her family and her surviving friends.

She was setting up a vlog with a special guest. Ever since the pandemic, Thea could not upload newer content to her blog. Even her trip to Bacolod roughly a year ago remained in storage, waiting to be released.

A young woman dressed in a sleeveless white button-up blouse and light blue jeans walked over to the table. Seeing her old friend, dormate, and classmate in college, both excitingly approached and embraced each other so hard.

"Gabrielle! I'm glad I get to see you again." Thea said, embracing her fellow accountancy colleague. "I'm happy you made it through this terrible times."

For the first time in so long, the two Boholana Carolinians finally met. They were in the same course up until 2017 and apparently lived in the same dorm. Ironically, they never really got to hangout during college because the School of Accountancy was a very large department.

"You too Thea! I heard you're serving in the army right now?" Gabrielle added.

"Yes since November of last year actually." Thea replied. "Been doing some clean and sweep recently. I also took part in the liberation of our province's capital city."

"Thank you for your service." Her friend added. "Wish I could have done the same."

Gabrielle then sat beside Thea while their drinks were being served. The two friends began talking about their experiences in front of the camera. Thea planned to make a vlog out of this.

Thea first shared of her experience in Bohol from the day the pandemic was declared to her family evacuating to Lapinig Island. Because she needed to take-off her mind, Thea decided to join the Army as a reservist. At first, her parents were reluctant to let her join but then Thea was old enough to decide for herself. Thea's selfless service to protect the safe zone saved countless lives. Her parents were proud of her for joining the Liberation of Tagbilaran.

"That's one interesting story there, Thea. I along with all Boholanos owe a debt-of-gratitude to you and your fellow defenders." Gabrielle said.

"I just did what I needed for my people, for the province, and the country." Thea remarked. "So what's your story, Gab?"

"It's a very long one. It's sad too." Gabrielle said.

"Do you mind to share it or not?"

"I don't. Frankly I really want to tell my story." She said.

Gabrielle began to narrate her experience. She told towards the camera on how 2018 seemed to be her year: first from graduating and passing the board exams to meeting her previous boyfriend. She spoke on how she traveled to various places within the Philippines, Europe, and America. It was then she said that the pandemic occurred while she was in the States. She then spoke on how the outbreak affected her. Then she said she met a college friend from Cebu in the midst of the chaos during Z-Day. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was bitten and turned so he had to be put down. Gabrielle narrated everything from how they were housed in LAX and almost died but were saved by deserting LAPD SWAT operatives followed by their temporary but lavish penthouse facing the Pacific Ocean where she and her fellow survivors including a French national headed down to San Diego drank and partied the night away. Continiuing to narrate her story, Gabrielle mentioned about going to one of the survivor's home but found out the girl's father had been bitten. Next was the chaos descending on San Diego until her Cebuano friend was shot. They just managed to get the last ship out of San Diego which was heading to Hawaii. She mentioned about spending five days inside a cramped navy flattop before arriving at Pearl Harbor. It was aboard this ship that her friend was treated for the gunshot wound. Now living as foreign refugees awaiting repatriation, Gabrielle mentioned that while Hawaii looked like a paradise, the truth was the beaches and the hiking trails were closed. She mentioned about being reunited with her family there. Curfews were enacted in order to accommodate 2,000 or so survivors from the mainland. Thea asked on what she did in Hawaii with her survivor friends. Gabrielle replied by saying they were given tasks in exchange for food, lodging, and utilities. She mentioned about having thousands of stranded foreigners just like her who were waiting to home.

"We did what we can. We enjoyed the little things just like that movie said." Gabrielle added. "We celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year in Hawaii."

"Oh that's great that you guys were still able to celebrate." Thea commented. "Even my family and I celebrate my birthday along with Christmas and New Year in Lapinig Island."

Gabrielle continued to the part when repatriation was in full-swing. They got back here in the Philippines in February, first stopping by at Guam and finally at Cebu. She bid goodbye to her Cebuano friends who she fought alongside with to survive. Now it was time for the boat ride back to Bohol.

"Honestly, I did not hear anything else from my family and friends while we did our long travel from Los Angeles down to San Diego then from Hawaii to the Philippines." Gabrielle added. "I was seriously concerned for the well-being of my sister and some my friends.

She paused for a while. "I know some of my closest friends didn't make it to see the end of this pandemic."

Thea nodded sympathetically. Even she knew some of her friends and fans were casualties of this outbreak.

"I can't imagine what it felt like, Gab. Being 6,000 miles away from home but you really cannot do anything about it because you are stuck in a foreign land in the middle of the outbreak." Thea commented.

"Trust me, you do not want to be in that scenario." Gabrielle added. She thought the scenario was similar to the movie No Escape but with walking flesh-eaters instead.

"I know that feeling of joy and relief you saw once you got reunited with your sister." Thea added.

"It was the best feeling in the world. I was worried about her safety for roughly four or five months." Gabrielle said. "I do not want to be separate from her or anyone from my family again."

The camera continued rolling while the two adventurers spoke. The two then reached the point of the end of the video where they asked each other what they plan to do next.

"Personally, I want to take law after all this." Gabrielle said. "How about you, Thea? Do you plan to continue vlogging or serving in the Army?"

"Hmm yes I do. I want to join Pinoy Big Brother as well. That is, if that program returns. I plan do more vlogging and the same time serve my fellow countrymen." The said.

"That's very noble of you, Thea."

The vlogger then wrapped up the video.

"So that ends our segment today with my friend Gabrielle. Her story of her return home here in Bohol is something out of a fictional novel or movie but it was all too real. I wish to invite more people to come up and speak their story of how they fared in the outbreak and what they plan to do next.

Bye for now.

This is 2nd Lieutenant Thea Rizaldo, Philippine Army-Reserve, signing out."
Author's Notes:
This ends the story of our PBB8 housemate Thea Rizaldo. So far, this is my first take of a fanfiction of a local celebrity here in my country.

[ukron]

The Fall
Z-Day
Moscow

The wind continued to blow, throwing ash, debris of plastic and glass all along the troittor, warped with blood. The fire from a nearby building radiated heat into the faces of men exhausted and stupefied by hours of fighting and fierce struggle against what had been their fellow citizens hours before.
In the lead, the T-72B3 heavy tank, the latter crushed without any problem wreckage of cars and what remained of their occupants, following it the only BTR-82A which had managed to reach this part of central Moscow, the others having was assigned urgently to the defense of the city's main arteries.
The men of the 1st Guards Tank army were currently in hostile territory, carrying out a recon / evac patrol, even though there was nothing more to evacuate from this area.

The tank stops as the golden domes of the Kremlin loom in the distance, invaded by smoke ... as a reminder of the worst date in the history of the city, when the tyrant Bonaparte had captured Moscow.
The fire and the infected devoured all that could remain of the Russian capital but like the Corsican tyrant and the little Austrian corporal before them, they could never devour the spirit of resistance of the Russian people, their army and their civilization.

[ukron]

The Fall (Part two)
Z-Day+6
Kaliningrad Oblast.

The Steregushchi-class corvette glided through the waters of the Baltic with a slight noise, since its departure from the base at Baltisk, it had not encountered a civilian ship; nor even a military ship, it seemed as though the whole of the Baltics would quickly collapse with the infected, unless their governments sought to lay low for fear of being visited by Russia.


What a joke, the admiral thought bitterly, he had tried to join the Kronstadt base without any success, it seemed that St Petersburg, maybe even Moscow had joined the long lists of cities deserted or destroyed because of this plague. unimaginable. The pandemic had been so rapid that the enclave of Kaliningrad had managed to preserve itself from infection. While Warsaw and Krakow were still the scene of bloody street battles between the Polish army and these "monsters". Kaliningrad and it is a little less than a million inhabitants had survived.

The Baltic Fleet, which he was to command, seemed to be the last surviving military force in that region, and that was hardly good news with those few frigates and corvettes, they wouldn't do much.

[ukron]

The Fall (Part Three)
Z-Day+3
Minsk, Belarus.

Nikolai was trying to swallow, the sweat running down his face, the smell of sweat mixed with the smell of plastic given off by his riot helmet, the clothes were heavy and blocked all movement and all vision.
All he saw was the shapeless mass advancing towards them, in the distance the flames and smoke from the fires ravaging the Belarusian capital, caused by rioters and hooligans.
Nikolai didn't want to know anything about politics, after all nobody wanted the KGB on their backs, right? but no rioters would ever stand up to the belarusian police and army...he didn't know who these people were, or what they wanted, except maybe the flesh of the living...Nikolai felt sick in the stomach, the bitter taste of iron and powder in the mouth. He and his comrades would block Independence Avenue as long as possible, at least the army was there. The soldiers would know what to do, they had to.

The T-72 maneuvered, mowing down a lamp post which crashed with noise and crash on the road, the cannon pointed at the crowd, which was advancing inexorably, the warnings were spelled out without any reaction from the compact mass. Nikolai saw the MBT shake off and thick smoke develop in place of the crowd, it was with horror that he saw the half-torn figures, missing an arm, sometimes part of the head, continue their journey towards the front row of the riot police from where murmurs, fears and shivers began to escape.

No, it was not possible...Nikolai was starting to panic, first the rumors coming from Europe, the loss of communications with Moscow and Kiev and now Minsk...hell was opening on earth, it was the apocalypse!.
The shots rang out from the back of the column, these bastards were shooting at the men who were trying to flee!
The ranks of riot police tightened as the horde approached and the smell of death and decay escaped...Nikolai ripped off his helmet and vomited, as much from the smell as the terror that had seized him.
May God protect him and his comrades!.

[ukron]

The Fall (Part Four)
Z-Day+6
Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Night had fallen quickly today over the devastated town, and Anna knew it was bad news, the walkers seemed so much more ubiquitous, more aggressive that it almost discouraged her from walking the 700m between her makeshift shelter (a garage whose roof had been partly punctured by a Russian shell) and the store whose front had been smashed by a crippled Russian armored vehicle.
Ironic? Ukraine and Russia had been the main belligerents in a conflict that had lasted less than 6 hours before the two nations (or at least what was left of the military and government of both countries) suddenly decided to try together to stop the flow of infected and refugees who were pouring in from all sides.
First bombarded by Russian artillery, then looted by the two belligerents and then by deserters and looters, Kharkiv had been abandoned to walkers, thus joining the cities of Kiev, Odessa and Rostov. Anna didn't know if there was still a government left somewhere (maybe in America, her uncle was there and told her that the state was so powerful that it could do anything to protect its people) and she thought she didn't care. . Life was dead like her family and she was just living on borrowed time like a flickering candle, sooner or later someone or something would take her life away, that was the rule and always had been, even though the society and the state claimed otherwise.

At least she would have made this charade, this real joke that was life, last as long as possible.
She blew a deep breath, checked the laces of her shoes and rushed into the night among the grunts and the screams of the damned.

[ukron]

The Fall (Part Five)
Z-Day+9
Baikonur Space Center (Kazakhstan).

Oleg would never get used to the idea that the last sufficiently safe place in this accursed country might well be a gigantic base, a veritable relic of the USSR, right in the middle of an icy and inhospitable plain.
Yet he and 250 people, scientists, soldiers and civilians had taken refuge here since Astana had stopped broadcasting, everyone had understood very well what was going to happen, some had tried to return to Russia but it was It turned out that a multi-day trip to a collapsing country was anything but a good idea.
At least the refugees and some members of the Kazakh army had had the presence of mind to bring enough food for the hundreds of people who had taken root here.
At least the plain was clear enough to foresee any enemy incursion (who was the enemy by the way, the infected?) and the energy didn't seem to run out yet.

Oleg a little reassured let his gaze wander towards the gigantic Soyuz FG which was to take the Progress MS-10 to the ISS, if there had been an apocalypse on earth, the astronauts and cosmonauts orbiting the globe must have been refueled , the time that NASA, ESA or Roscosmos finds a solution. At least Oleg and most of the inhabitants of the space centre/refugee center would not have to be bored over the next few months provided the virus do not arrive.

[ukron]

"Fog of War" (Part 1)
Taiwan Strait, Z-Day+2

Captain Cheng's F-16A (ROCAF) had crashed not far from the buffer zone between the Taiwanese territorial waters and that of the People's Republic of China, forcing the Jing Chiang patrol (Ching Chiang class) to temporarily turn away from its mission recovery of refugees from the continent (for the moment a few hundred thousand, of which only a small part could be saved and placed as best they could in quarantine) to head for the pilot's distress beacon. Want to know what could have caused the crash of the Taiwanese fighter? mechanical breakdown or even worse: a Chinese attack?
It must be said that with this virus which resuscitated the dead, the PLAAF had other concerns to do than the few aging F-16 A and Mirage 2000 of the Air Force of the Republic of China. On the other hand, the PLAN, for its part, had reinforced its naval force off the coast (obviously the Chinese were trying to prevent the refugees from going to Taiwan) which did not fail to give cold sweats to the Admiralty and the Taiwanese presidency, which already had a lot to do with the epidemic in the city of Keelung.
All the officers and sailors of the Jing Chiang were perfectly aware that the slightest incident, the slightest gunshot or misunderstanding could have serious consequences in the context of a zombie apocalypse.
But yet what is happening this early morning should go down in history as the most serious incident between two countries since the end of the Second World War, and this with the key to the death of thousands of sailors and airmen from both sides.

The patrol was advancing resolutely towards the GPS position indicated by the distress beacon when it advised a few nautical miles away of a group of Chinese refugees aboard a set of rubber dinghies obviously drifting in Taiwanese waters. A certain problem then arose for the officer commanding the ship: should he stop to assist the refugees or continue on his way at the risk of seeing them drift again into Chinese waters (where they would most likely be shot down? ), he and his ship were alone in the perimeter.

A few other nautical miles further on, the PLAN type O54A Jiangkai II frigate had noticed the group of refugees very well thanks to visual contact, her sonar had failed several hours earlier and it was unthinkable to return to the naval base (if it had not been infected). Her commander had received the order to shoot down as many of his boats as possible (unless he could convince them to return to China), a task he hated but he understood very well why: the high command and the Politburo wanted very probably on the one hand hiding their own errors from the face of the world (which was illusory the naval officer thought) but on the other it was possible that Beijing wanted to preserve Taiwan as a place of fallback in case mainland China was lost: it was unthinkable for the Politburo to take refuge across the Pacific but we could always get along between Chinese, right?
In any case, he ordered to get closer to the group of boats, as long as they were nearby, in order to sink them with his Type 210 100m cannon (he reserved his eight YJ-83 missiles for a completely different type of target).
The two ships were heading towards each other towards a confrontation as sudden as violence...

[ukron]

"Fog of War" (Part 2)
Taiwan Strait, Z-Day+2

The commander of the Jiangkai II-class frigate stifled a curse as he saw the Nationalist Navy patrol vessel headed straight for the dinghy full of refugees: which confronted him with a stark choice: his ship was clearly in violation of international agreements , opening fire on refugees in international waters (even Taiwan waters) in close sight and in clear view of a ship of a power hostile to Beijing, something China simply could not afford to let see!
He could say goodbye to his career, or even his life if he didn't make a quick decision.
To fall back at the risk of disobeying direct orders from the Admiralty and find yourself shot in the back of the neck? or open fire on a weakly armed patrol vessel, so as to prevent any investigation?
The choice was easy and he didn't even have to hear the opinion of the political commissar to understand that he agreed with his solution.

A few miles further on, the commander of the Taiwanese ship was obviously not born yesterday, a worthy officer and having already several years of service under his belt, he had learned to be wary of everything, and especially of the PLAN. ...times were tough for Beijing and there was nothing more dangerous than tyrants on a precipice.
With a quick order, he meant that the crew be put on alert and the crews of the 76mm OTO melara gun to be ready in case of hard knocks.
On the other hand, the report of a Chinese frigate in the direct vicinity of national waters would not fail to round up anything that could float or fly, which would chase this untimely intruder from the area of operation of the Ching Chiang-class Patrop Ship.

On board the PLAN ship, a kind of dull panic had invaded the mind of the commander and the political commissar, instead of withdrawing (which would have been the most logical and surest choice), the two men couldn't stop imagining what their senior officers had in store for them when they returned if their mission failed.
With a brief command, the salvo of the two YJ-83 missiles took off in the direction of the Taiwanese ship, partially supersonic in the final phase of the attack, the two missiles, here fired at close range, crossed in a few seconds the distance connecting the two ships .
With unexpected luck, one of the YJ-83 missiles suffered a technical failure, going to hit the sea a few tens of meters from its original target. The other fulfills its mission, going to explode right in the castle of the patrol ship, incinerating most of its crew and breaking the hull in two.
Only a handful of lucky people, present on deck, had survived, thrown into the waters of the China Sea, joining at the same time the unfortunate people they were trying to save.

[ukron]

"Fog of War" (Part 3)
Taiwan Strait, Z-Day+2


Wu Ren didn't even feel his third-degree burns, just as he couldn't remember the ship's explosion, just as he couldn't have remembered how he desperately clung to the metal debris floating limply in the waters of the Taiwan Strait.
The Taiwanese sailor could only associate a few souvenir bridles, torn from his time at the dock, the emergency departure from the port of Zuoying, the rumors that an illness was bringing the dead back to life, and his concern for his girlfriend. Li, who had remained in Taiwan.
In fact he had no idea why he was floating, his head heavy and with a strong desire to sleep, nor why this gigantic ship was approaching him...
aboard the Jiangkai, consternation had given way to silence, after all sailors had to obey the orders of their superiors without argument, even though most knew full well that the captain had made the biggest mistake of his career, especially in ordering to "clean up" any survivors of the shipwreck.
Sailor Gong shouldered his Type 95 assault rifle, aiming at the human figure clinging to a piece of hull: "what a crap that old asshole ordered us to do" he thought before strafing the castaway. Soon there would be no more witnesses to this incident, nor even any refugees to testify to the presence of the ship in the area.
But history wanted it to be otherwise...


Captain Hao of the Taiwanese Air Force had a mission, and he hated the idea that he might miss it, Captain Cheng had he survived, must have hit a smoke bomb to indicate his position if not To be able to rescue him, Captain Hao's P-3 Orion would at least tell the rescuers the pilot's position. Hao was short on fuel but a few extra minutes in the air could be critical to a colleague's survival, especially with the rather ominous presence of this Jiangkai class in the surrounding waters. If the Communists got their hands on Captain Cheng, hello political incident: already it wasn't catastrophic enough with the thousands of refugees leaving the country because of this fucking virus!
"Contact with target Bravo, identification: Jiangkai II class frigate, target is in our territorial waters"
More and more worrying thought Hao as he gained altitude (the last thing he wanted was to be shot down), his fears were reinforced when the enemy ship opened fire with its 30mm Type 730 cannon on what appeared to be be refugee groups!
China had simply violated the sovereignty of Taiwan, and opened fire on refugees!.

It was more than a simple political incident!.

[ukron]

"Fog of War" (Part 4)
Underground PLA bunker, undisclosed location
Z-Day +4


Zhang Shengmin crossed his arms in spite of President Xi's attitude, it was completely unacceptable to propose a ceasefire to the Taiwanese; since the infection had begun to propose itself in northern Manchuria, the army and the party had suffered very heavy losses which only weakened China in front of its adversaries.
And now that they had a chance to finish off the rebel province, lo and behold, Xi refused to press ahead!
They had a golden opportunity, since the Americans were entangled in a catastrophic epidemic, the Japanese were about to lose Tokyo and this puppet refused to crush the bad apples of Taipei? pathetic!

Zhang could have opposed Xi head-on, but there were far more effective methods that would finally allow him to take control.
The man left the meeting room taking advantage of the ambient chaos where advisers, generals and representatives of the Politburo were shouting at each other, to join one of his faithful men, the latter being on the verge of taking control of part of the chinese nuclear arsenal.

Then we would see who would have the last word, thought Zhang, mechanically straightening his cap.

[ukron]

Fog of War (Part 5)

Over the Taiwan Strait, 4000m above sea level.
Z-Day +5

J-15 number 17 disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris after encountering an AIM-9P Sidewinder fired from what appeared to be a Taiwan Air Force FCK-1A; Lieutenant Cho released his countermeasures and took a short break to his right in order to spot the harassing Taiwanese fighter. After a few days and hours of violent clashes between the navies of Taipei and Beijing, things took a much more serious turn with the mobilization of Chinese naval aircraft and on the other hand of FCK-1A and F-16V from Taiwanese AF.
Lieutenant Cho having taken off from a "hard" runway, and this because of the Liaoning in full overhaul in Dalian, could not help thinking that the prospect of dying pulverized in his aircraft was much more desirable than being torn alive by the infected who swarmed near the base and who ended up coming to die in the minefield or under the bullets of the sentries. He may have been unaware of how much the virus had eaten up China, but the commander had made it clear to them that they had to triumph in their task (that of reducing the Taiwanese air force to nothing in order to prepare for the reunification of the country) or else perish with China, whom they would thus have condemned.
Lieutenant Cho thanked fate and his ancestors when the AESA active antenna radar allowed him to detect the aircraft that had shot down his mischievous colleague, the on-board computer calculated the position, the trajectory and the speed of the FCK-1aA before to launch one. six active-guided Pl-12B missiles. Closing his eyes at the launch of the missile, the lieutenant turned and descended to sea level hoping that his Taiwanese adversary would not have detected him, because of his obsolete AN/APG-67 radar, moreover he would prefer to avoid attracting the attention of one of the opposing anti-aircraft batteries, which had been a real nuisance for the past two days.

Observing with pleasure that his opponent had disappeared, either he had been shot or he had escaped with his tail between his legs, Lieutenant Cho noted that his tank was almost empty and that it was time to go home.
The command would surely not appreciate the loss of a J-15 but that stupid Wong had been looking for it, ignoring all the instructions and flying in a straight line like in training, damn the good pilots were starting to run out.
Since the Second and Third Squadron had mysteriously disappeared with the sudden interruption of radio communications from the Southern Fleet base, most likely due to the infected.
The lieutenant's J-15 headed for the base of the Eastern Fleet, passing over what was left of the city of Wenzhou, evidently engulfed in flames.
Well, the "safety belt" protecting the Sanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo urban community had let go, leaving the millions of residents and defenders, already busy smothering local outbreaks of infection, before the horde of infected who had ravaged all the south coast from Hong Kong to Fuzhou.
The lieutenant shivered as he thought of the words of the base commander, if they wanted to evacuate and have a very small chance of surviving, they would have to win the air "round" as soon as possible.

[ukron]

Fog of War (Part 6)/ Z-Day+6/7

Position:classified/ in transit over western China
Altitude: between 500 km and 800 km above sea surface
Operational status: active

USA-245, or for NRO technicians, NROL-65, had been very active in recent days since the outbreak of the zombie pandemic, taking turns photographing Russian military installations besieged by hordes of infected, Indian and African cities half destroyed, half in flames, and finally the progressive fall and of one of the greatest powers in the world: China.

Truth be told, the NRO engineers somewhere in a bunker in New Mexico continued to do their job despite the feeling that the world was about to end.
Today the orbit of NROL-65 would take it to pass over part of Manchuria, to fly over Shanghai (or what was left of it) and to pass very briefly over Taiwan, a whole program which would allow a perfect shot (both in the visual and thermal spectrum) of the situation in China.

Carrying out its work without the slightest concern for human civilization, on the verge of collapse, the spacecraft continued its orbit, transmitting its digitally transformed shots to an SDS satellite, which itself relayed the data to one of the many NRO centers on earth...


Nanking, at the same time.

Captain Sheng no longer had a drop of saliva, just a taste of blood and powder in his mouth. With a mechanical gesture repeated hundreds of times, he engaged the magazine of his QBZ-95 and took out his binoculars to to better perceive the thousands of silhouettes advancing resolutely towards his position and that of his men, it was necessary to keep the G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway open at all costs in order to be able to evacuate as many civilians as possible from Hefei and Wuhu, and why not to leave time for the defenders to secure Shanghai.
It was his mission and what was left of his infantry company, backed into the rubble and wreckage of cars pushed hood to hood, to form an improvised line of defense.
"Captain! people running at 9am!!" shouted one of his men.
Pointing his binoculars at the position, the captain was able to see with horror that a woman and a little girl were trying as best they could to make their way through a mass of infected, he watched with horror as the woman fell and was devoured alive by the infected...but the little girl (6-7 years old?) had been able to survive the bites and scratches, she only had a few hundred meters left to go before reaching their position.
The captain would have remained cynical, perhaps he would have survived to tell his story, but he was a brave and honorable man.
With a good, he rushed towards the direction of the young survivor, aiming at the heads of the infected (damn, they must have been thousands, even hundreds) at the guess, the weapon much too much solicited and little maintained stopped.
The captain spitting a curse, dropped the weapon in order to take out his service pistol, trying and succeeding in widening his gap with the young girl before a dozen emaciated arms tried to cling onto the child paralyzed by the fear.
Suddenly, the arrival of a man in military uniform, a sympathetic figure, changed the situation for a few moments: "Run, little girl, don't stop!" screamed the man before being swallowed up by the mass of infected.
The captain had traded his life.

NRO Data Analysis Center, classified location, a few hours later.

The center manager rubbed her temples, stifling a sigh and a half-whispered prayer for the unfortunate people still stuck in Nanjing and Jurong, she gathered what little strength she had left and said, "Damn, there are millions of them. , it's impossible!" a wave of pestilence and death was about to descend on China, and no one in the Politburo to respond to Washington!.

[ukron]

Fog of War (Part 7)
Z-Day+7
Undisclosed location.

The lieutenant put on his balaclava before checking his weapon, the weight of which in his hand was like a moral comfort before this mission, the outcome and implications of which were doubtful, even for a man accustomed to obeying.
China would be dying and the doubts of a handful of men would drag down hundreds of millions in cascades of blood and fire.
He and his men in ambush waited with some tension for the passage of the convoy carrying the most absolute weapon that China has ever possessed: nuclear fire.

Comrade Zhang had given him very clear orders, bluntly and without any embellishment, it was necessary at all costs to seize the two ICBMs DF-31, those having to be evacuated towards the north, for fear of seeing the infected overwhelmed the base.
Without the capture of the two missiles and their Tractor-Erector-Launchers, the mission would be a failure and they would certainly be shot.


The first vehicle of the convoy came out into the light announcing to the lieutenant and his men that it was time to accomplish their dirty work.

[ukron]

Fog of War (Part 8)
Z-Day+10

Not far from the Chinese coast

In the deep waters of the Pacific, the sleek, streamlined silhouette of a Seawolf class submarine passed by. The USS Connecticut, which left Groton, Washington, several weeks ago, was hurrying toward its next mission area, somewhere in the waters between Taiwan, mainland China and the Philippines.

Despite years of training and mental preparation, none of the ship's personnel, from its CO to the ensigns, could have imagined being involved in such a cascade of events.
On the one hand, the emergence of the virus required the medical team to develop a procedure that required the establishment of a quarantine zone, the distribution of handguns to a team of sailors and ship's officers, and constant monitoring of the crew's health (which fortunately had been excellent).
That was the good news.

The other news ranged from bad to catastrophic: morale was deteriorating rapidly, the men from Connecticut were probably the best sailors in the world, but that didn't stop them from worrying about their families, their friends and their country when a virus revived the dead and drove them to consume flesh.
The Commander knew he couldn't ask the impossible of men who were on the alert 24 hours a day in normal times, he himself couldn't do it.
When he received these orders and the report from CINCPACFLT on October 15, he almost choked on his coffee: "Due to the unusual and highly lethal nature of the new virus striking the continental United States and other allied countries in the Pacific region, all ships on mission are ordered to continue operations until further notice.

Stuck under the sea during a zombie apocalypse, not exactly reassuring.

But now after days of unbearable waiting (the crew was so on edge, he feared the crew would end up going down their throats), CINCPACFLT's orders had fallen by shortwave broadcast, a transmission generally reserved either in the event of ultra-confidential operations (this imposes a fairly slow transmission of code letters), or in the event that the other means of transmission have been destroyed or rendered inoperative.

Whatever was the reason for such a transmission, it didn't bode well.

Tearing the page coming out of the printer, the commander pushed his cap on his head with a gesture studied and repeatedly realized.

"We're going on the hunt! kids!"