103

Stay Alive

Chapter 103 — What Has Happened to the World

More than two years had passed since the end of the world began. Alan had led his entire organization and, in less time than anyone expected, they had taken control of Los Angeles. It was then that an organization called the Fireflies made contact with them.

As was well known, the world had collapsed completely: more than seventy percent of the population had become infected, and those who did not had died from causes related to the virus outbreak.

The New Dawn Unification, led by Alan and now known as the NDU, had spread its wings across large parts of the country, focusing on military bases to seize all their resources.

During this time they had created a containment barrier that connected Oregon with California and concentrated on taking Nevada in order to expand their territory.

All expectations had been exceeded. Alan knew his refuge had grown so much that it had matched FEDRA — no, the NDU might even be much stronger now than the old government of the country.

Having nuclear bombs at their disposal was not a game; it gave Alan a power that very few, if any, possessed in this world.

“Zz… All infected have been cleared from Nevada. Containment teams are doing their job, placing separations so the infected cannot enter our territory.”

In a command room, Alan sat watching the mission unfold. Helicopters were transporting the metal containment barriers while soldiers began clearing buildings one by one.

So far they had not encountered the long-awaited mutated infected; nothing like that had shown up, which made everyone feel more secure.

The forward bases were at their peak: most of the soldiers were young, between twenty and thirty years old, while older men or war-wounded took care of growing food. Of course, not everyone was a soldier — they needed doctors, nurses, police, transporters and laborers.

Most of the construction workers were Latino; they had been rescued in national waters, and others had been accepted by the NDU after Alan’s forces cleared the border towns that fell under his control.

Everything was running very well. There had been some racism, but it was solved once Alan showed them what color the blood inside his body was.

“Proceed with the cleanup. Send the bodies — they must be turned into fertilizer.” Tommy cut the communication with the forward team after learning Nevada had been secured.

Alan then changed the subject and showed some photos of abandoned submarines they had been recovering. “We’ve recovered about sixty submarines in total. We estimate the others were abandoned at sea, so we’ll know more when we find them.”

“The fleet is being recovered as well. We currently have three aircraft carriers in operation, used as training points and for practical exercises.”

The New Dawn Unification now had four hundred thousand soldiers; 150,000 of them were in reserve performing other functions, while the rest fought day after day.

By next year, Alan hoped to double their numbers to take more and more territory. He had contacted numerous human refuges, accepted them all into his training program, and those who refused were eliminated.

“All right, that’s it for today…” Alan ended the meeting and all the department leaders returned to their work.

Joel stayed behind. He had a serious look and said, “A group of our agents ran into one from FEDRA. The confrontation lasted twenty minutes before each side responded with heavy artillery. The fighting stopped when both armed helicopters engaged. What are we going to do now?”

“I’m thinking about it. Obviously they’re similar to us, so ideally we should merge. But if that happens, we must be the ones to lead. If it doesn’t, then we will kill their leaders and take everything.” Alan said, standing up.

“I’ll handle it then.” Joel replied, already thinking about the best way to eliminate those FEDRA leaders. The ideal would be to use CIA agents for the job, so he would recruit the perfect team to do it.