Location: Departing FOB Echo Point, Sector 4A
Time: 08:40 | Day 7 of Infection Collapse
The Humvee rumbled through the ash-blown roads like a steel beast with purpose. Dust and cracked pavement blurred beneath its tires, the M2 Browning atop the turret gleaming under the faded morning sun. Behind it, a military cargo truck followed in staggered formation—its reinforced panels repurposed from armored riot shields and construction scaffolding.
Logan Hale rode shotgun, visor down, rifle across his chest. Wraith drove—quiet, composed, eyes flicking between the road and his tactical HUD. Petrescu sat behind them, map in one hand, radio in the other. Sofia rode in back, scanning the roadside ruins with sharp, wary eyes.
She hadn't spoken much since they left. But Logan knew better—she was calculating. Learning.
> [MISSION OBJECTIVE: Supply Acquisition – Suceava Region] – Retrieve Power Cell (Comms Uplink Restoration)
– Secure Fuel, Food, Medical Supplies
– Rescue Any Survivors
– Return Before Nightfall
> [Bonus: WAR CREDIT Reward – 150 upon successful return]
---
Location: Highway 47, Approaching Suceava Outskirts
Time: 09:05
The outskirts were worse than expected.
Burned-out civilian vehicles littered the highway like metal corpses. Some still held the real ones—shriveled bodies melted into seat frames. Others had been stripped bare.
Black scorch marks ran like scars across concrete and signage. One billboard, half-missing, still read: STAY INDOORS. OBEY CURFEW. TRUST THE STATE.
Petrescu lowered the radio. "No comm traffic. No movement on Romanian military channels."
Logan nodded. "Stick to visuals. Wraith, slow to recon pace. No blind corners."
They rolled past a burned gas station, its roof collapsed. Sofia leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
"That's the old Sector 3 marker," she said. "We're a few minutes from the industrial park. That's where the hospital storage used to be."
"Used to be?" Logan asked.
Sofia hesitated. "Before… I don't know. My uncle worked security there. Said the place got locked down first. No one heard from the crews again."
Logan turned to Wraith. "We hit the hospital first. Then the power substation. Petrescu, mark fallback zones every two blocks."
"Already on it."
---
Location: Suceava Industrial District – Hospital Access Road
Time: 09:22
The convoy came to a slow halt outside a steel-gated complex surrounded by rusted ambulances and sandbagged checkpoints. Flies buzzed in swarms. No infected in sight. But Logan could feel it—something had happened here.
> [WAR CREDIT UPDATE: +10 – Zone Reached: Hospital Cache] [Bonus Objective Activated: Medical Supply Recovery]
"Let's sweep," Logan said.
They dismounted in formation—Sofia at the center, Reaper One watching the rear from the turret-mounted Humvee. Wraith breached the emergency entrance. Logan followed, weapon raised.
Inside: rot. The smell hit first. Then the silence.
They found the first body slumped against a supply closet, pistol in hand, badge still pinned. Petrescu checked the locker.
"Meds still sealed. Not looted."
"Grab everything," Logan said. "Painkillers, antibiotics, clot packs, saline—anything with shelf life."
> [+25 WAR CREDITS – Medical Cache Secured]
Sofia found a cart marked TRAUMA – MILITARY USE. Inside were three sealed kits and a folded document. She opened it carefully.
"Logan… these look like emergency protocols. Evacuation maps. Substation's marked with a red triangle."
He took the map and grinned slightly.
"Nice work."
---
Location: Suceava Power Substation – Sector 2
Time: 10:03
The complex was surrounded by concrete walls topped with barbed wire. Half the southern fence was down, twisted from some impact. The gate hung open. No movement inside. But scorch marks on the pavement suggested something violent had happened.
"Eyes up," Logan said. "Wraith—thermal?"
Wraith scanned. "Two cold bodies. One faint heat signature—still moving, inside the main control shack."
They approached cautiously.
Logan signaled Petrescu to flank. He approached the door and knocked once with the butt of his rifle.
A voice came from inside.
"Don't come in! I swear, I'll blow the relay!"
Sofia stepped forward. "In Romanian—'We're not infected. Military rescue team. Don't shoot.'"
There was a pause.
Then a click.
The door creaked open.
Inside crouched a terrified young man—mid-twenties, grease-streaked coveralls, holding a flare and a rusted sidearm.
"I—I thought you were one of them…"
Logan nodded once. "Name?"
"Cristian. Maintenance tech. I kept the power running. Hid when they came. I've got the cell unit. Thought maybe… someone would come."
"You were right," Logan said. "Grab it."
Cristian pulled a compact cylinder from under a workbench—plug-ins, heat shielding, intact.
> [+50 WAR CREDITS – Power Cell Secured] [Secondary Objective Complete: Comms Uplink Enabled upon Return]
"Any other survivors?"
"Six of us holed up in the mall across from here. The rest… didn't make it."
---
Location: Suceava Commercial Block – "Complex East" Mall
Time: 10:45
The mall's parking lot was a graveyard. Cars riddled with bullet holes. Banners reading FOOD DROP: STAY CALM fluttered in tatters. As the team approached, movement flickered near a collapsed toy store entrance.
"Thermal shows four heat signatures inside," Wraith said. "Two more on the second floor. Stationary. No infected pings—yet."
They moved quickly.
Inside the atrium, they found five survivors: three women, two teenagers, and one unconscious man wrapped in blankets. Their eyes widened as the soldiers stepped in. One of the women dropped a pipe and ran to Cristian.
"You're alive!"
"Thanks to them," he said.
Sofia helped calm the others. She spoke in soft Romanian, guiding them out toward the truck. The man on the stretcher was burned but breathing.
As they loaded up, Logan scanned the far hallway.
A motion.
"Contact left!"
A crawler burst from the debris—a Class Charlie infected, its movements jerky but fast. It shrieked and lunged. Logan fired twice, center mass, then head. It dropped like wet meat.
Another followed—then two more.
"Infected breach—north stairwell!"
"Reaper!" Logan barked into comms.
> [Combat Initiated – Class Charlie x4] [+48 WAR CREDITS Earned – Threat Neutralized]
The Browning .50 cal thundered as Reaper One opened up, mowing down the last of the incoming threats as they emerged from a ventilation shaft. Concrete shattered. Blood painted the walls.
When the echoes faded, Logan checked the squad.
"All green. Load out. We're done here."
---
Location: En Route to FOB Echo Point
Time: 11:58
The convoy thundered back across the battered highway, trailing dust and diesel fumes. In the truck bed, the rescued survivors huddled under blankets. Cristian rode shotgun in the Humvee, holding the power cell like a relic.
Sofia leaned back, eyes closed.
"You did good," Logan said.
She opened one eye. "I didn't freeze."
"No. You fought."
She smiled slightly. "You gonna put that in the report?"
"I might."
---
Location: FOB Echo Point – Main Courtyard
Time: 12:25
The gates opened as the convoy returned. Dr. Moraru met them at the medbay ramp, her eyes scanning the new arrivals with the speed of someone who'd already triaged more bodies than she cared to count.
"Get him on a gurney. Burns are severe. I'll do what I can."
Cristian handed the power cell to Hammer, who grinned like a kid handed a toy.
"Comms are coming back online."
---
> [MISSION COMPLETE] – Medical Cache Secured
– Power Cell Recovered
– 6 Survivors Rescued
– Infected Neutralized: 6
[+150 WAR CREDITS – Bonus Objective Success]
[Total Earned: +283 WAR CREDITS]
[Current WAR CREDITS: 1,195.4]
[System Unlock: Tier II Comms Uplink Activated]
---
Location: Comms Center – FOB Echo Point
Time: 14:30
The uplink tower hummed with fresh power. Static cleared. Lights pulsed blue across the screen.
Marcel sat at the console, hands flying.
"I'm in. Broadcasting encrypted beacon now. Should ping any NATO satellite still functioning."
In the medbay, Dr. Moraru finished treating the burned man. She removed her gloves, walked to Logan, and handed him a datapad.
"Ran another blood panel," she said. "Something's off. The infected don't just carry the virus. Their blood's thickening. Slower oxygenation. They're not just losing humanity. They're stabilizing."
Logan frowned. "Mutating?"
Moraru nodded. "Like the virus is adjusting. Becoming… selective. Some of them even show muscle regeneration. That's not rot. That's evolution."
He looked out the window at the dusk setting in over the hills.
"So it's not just infection anymore."
"No," she said. "It's transformation."
> [VIRUS STATUS UPDATE – CLASS DELTA AND CHARLIE UNDERGOING STABILIZATION] [Behavioral Threat Model Adjusted: Coordination Expected at Higher Levels] [System Suggestion: Prepare Tier II Defenses Immediately]
Logan stepped out into the courtyard where the new survivors were eating near the generator, and the base lights flickered on.
They'd won the day.
But the war was changing.
And it was only Day 7.
---
To be continued…