The massive Amazon forest relaxed under the soft radiance of the white moon hanging in the midnight sky.
Through this faint but tranquil radiance, a large clearing appeared in the centre of the massive Amazon forest.
In the middle of the clearing was a colossal crater that spanned over two kilometres.
Its edges were jagged and uneven. The red-brownish ground around it was cracked and ruptured. There were mounds and depressions all over it as if it was a painting of an arrogant, rookie artist.
Surrounding this cracked ground was a black circular wall that had a height of over 300 meters. Dwarfing it was another wall that had a height of over 500 meters and was situated behind it.
The circular area between these two walls-spanning up to a couple of kilometers-were then divided into four sectors by four 150 meter tall walls. These four sections are called North, South, East, and West by the soldiers.
The area between the two massive walls-the 300 meter one and the 500 meter one-was called the outer ring, while the area between the 300-meter wall and the massive crater was called the inner ring.
Both of them combine was called "Viper Malloy", a military base.
Inside the outer ring, sectors were filled with buildings painted in white with the flag of the Federated Republic-An eagle holding two guns in a red background.
Military personnel dressed in black full-body uniforms patrolled the area with gas masks covering their faces. There were also machines of war-F-35A Lightning II, M1A2 Abrams SEP V3, AH-64E Apache Guardian, etc.- in the outer ring.
And they were ready to bring hell upon anything that the FR deemed an enemy.
The inner ring, however, was empty. Massive solar panels covered the dead ground while their cables stretched toward the outer ring and the crater.
Connected to the northern part of the outer ring was a base covered squarely with 100 meter walls.
Hundreds upon hundreds of zombies aimlessly wandered its cracked streets and alleyways. Most of the buildings wore a second skin of orange fire while the others stayed broken beyond repair. There were broken M-ATVs, MTVRs, M1A2 Abrams SEP V3, all around the camp, engulfed in fiery flames.
Disfigured zombie, human bodies littered the ground. There were also massive monster corpses that looked like beings straight out of nightmares.
There weren't even signs of humans to be found in this part, except for far north.
***
In a big tent in the middle of the defensive line, two middle-aged men sat opposite each other with only a brown desk separating them.
Captain Benson fiddled with the cold coffee cup that was in front of him with a dazed look on his face. The sudden infection and breach of the small base have left him in a sour mood.
After all, he was the leader who was tasked with protecting it.
General Fredrick, on the other hand, was completely relaxed and showed the expression of a person who had expected this outcome. He had already finished his coffee and was reloading a silver-painted revolver with a black grip.
He looked at Captain Benson and said with a smirk on his face.
"Didn't I say, captain?"
"No one escapes Viper Malloy alive."
Benson met his gaze for a moment before drinking the cold coffee cup in one breath. Then he put the cup down with a light thud before asking.
"Is there no way to open the gate?"
Fredrick stared at his eyes for a moment before shaking his head.
"Without an order from the south, I can't do that. If I did it without their orders, they would frame me as a traitor and hang me."
Benson lingered for a moment. For every second passed, his brows turned sharper and his expression turned more furious. Wrinkles appeared on his temple as he gritted his teeth and banged his hand against the table, causing the two glasses to flip and spill the remaining bit of coffee on the table.
"Those fuckers, they don't care about the people at all, all they care about is the fucking research."
Fredrick put the two glasses back to their previous state and wiped off the coffee with a page torn from a nearby notebook. He then threw the paper into the nearby trash bin before looking at his Friend again.
"Look, Benson, I know you are still angry about the death of your teammates in Iraq, but you have to understand that no matter what you do, you can't save everyone."
He then lingered for a moment and sighed heavily.
"Instead of regretting what you could have done, you should be grateful for the fact that you are still alive and try to save as many people as possible with the cards you have. If things get too hard, you should save yourself and...your son."
Benson listened with a sad look on his face. His mind was heavy with various thoughts from the past, present and future.
Then, after a few seconds, he lifted his head to say something, but quickly stopped himself when a young man barged into the room with panic written on his face.
He looked at Benson and screamed.
"Father, all the zombies are marching here. There are hunters as well."
Benson and Fredrick stared at each other for a moment before standing up in unison and running out of the tent.
Benson passed through the group of soldiers, took an M4 carbine, and dashed toward the defensive line.
"Shit."
Fredrick stopped near the group of soldiers and stopped Benson's son from following him. Then, under the gaze of others, he screamed toward his friend.
"Benson, if things go too south, come to the heli."
Benson ignored him and sprinted toward the defensive line.
***
Thousands of zombies clad in tattered clothes, drenched in dried blood, marched through the cracked streets through the broken white painted building in search of food to satisfy their hunger.
In their path toward the thousands of fresh bodies filled with blood was a barricade.
Behind a thick circular wall of sandbags was a defensive line made out of M-ATVs, Humvees and other civilian vehicles. Behind this defensive line were soldiers holding M4 carbines, M2 Brownings, FGM-148 Javelins, ready to use them the moment the Captain ordered them to. And behind all of them were 8 M1A2 Abrams SEP V3S ready to blast open anything that the soldiers couldn't.
Even this superior barrier looked feeble compared to the tens of thousands of zombies appearing through the ruined houses like a wave of death. They marched forward while stepping on the piles of zombie bodies littering the ground.
Under the headlights provided by the mass of vehicles, Benson turned around and looked toward Fredrick, who was sitting near the helipad surrounded by over 100 soldiers. His son also stood behind him.
When he examined Fredrick's face, the words he had uttered a moment ago, offering a safe passage, appeared in his mind.
A smile crept up onto his face for a moment before quickly vanishing. He stared at his friend and his son for a moment before nodding and turning around.
'Fredrick will take care of him.'
He then looked at all the soldiers who had entrusted their lives to him. He gripped his fist while clenching his teeth.
'I won't...let Iraq repeat. If I can't save them, I will die with them.'
He straightened his back and looked at the tide of zombies with resentment burning in his heart. From the top of his lungs, he ordered.
"Fire"
Hundreds upon hundreds of bullets flew through the air and extinguished the undead life out of the first row of zombies. Then they next line, the next line and the next line. Hundreds of zombies sprayed crimson blood into the dark night and fell to the ground while carving a bloody path to their friends.
Limbs broke, skulls exploded, and a thick scent of rotten blood started to appear.
Hundreds upon hundreds of zombies died under the rains of bullets, but for every one that died, three more appeared.
"Boom"
Suddenly, the M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 shot a projectile toward the horde, and a huge explosion overtook a portion of the undead horde. The rotting zombies melted into the air and scattered away as smoke and ash.
A show of murder and death overtook the entire area in a rich tapestry of violence.
This violent show made the massive hoard halt. When the soldiers noted that a tiny glimmer of hope started to appear in their hearts.
It was the hope of living as a natural human instead of a zombie lusting after human meat.
But that hope was instantly crushed when a couple of monsters, much different from the zombies, started to appear on the rooftops of the nearby building.
"It's the hunters."
"Fox Nine take out the hunters." Benson barked at the nearby M1A2 Abrams SEP V3 while staring at one of the hunters standing on it, four legs with its massive jaw of sharp fangs fully open.
"Boom"
The tank immediately turned around and blasted the building that one of the hunters was sitting on.
The building got engulfed in fiery orange flames. Debris flew through the air and killed a couple of zombies beside it, but it failed to hurt the hunter.
Because the hunter leapt into the air before the impact and jumped right behind the line of tanks while crushing a nearby soldier with its weight.
Benson stared at the massive figure of the hunter for a moment before immediately pointing his gun at it and pulling the trigger.