A/N : Remember the rules, the more comments I get, the more I'm motivated to continue to write.
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"... Seventeen... Eighteen... Nineteen... And twenty" a soldier counted.
In front of the soldier, Aether was doing push-up as well as other exercises to strengthen himself.
Apparently, his past-self didn't work out that much compared to him, he was just doing enough to not gain weight. But in a zombie apocalypse, he had to become stronger if he wanted to survive.
So he asked to the soldiers about a good training regime to get results in a short span of time. At first, they thought about making him some running, as it strengthen the whole body and increase the endurance. But with the lack of space in the outpost and the danger outside, they gave up this possibility.
So they started with ten push-ups, twenty squats and thirty sit-ups. But after three days, the soldiers doubled those numbers to not let Aether get used to it.
This was a very painful training, but Aether preferred this pain rather than being eaten by a zombie.
It's been seven days since he have been transmigrated to this world, his soldiers have been cleaning the outpost from the remaining undead.
Finding a lot of blanket in a tent, they got the idea to cover the fence to be out of sight of the undead. The weak spots of the outpost were reinforced by utilitarian vehicles, and the tent that were useless were dismantled, giving more space for the soldiers.
Going back in his tent, Aether opened a notebook and started writing.
From what he knew, it was only three months since people started to come back as undead. Which mean that the society haven't completely disappeared.
Because let be honest, most movies and books that portray governments falling under weeks against zombies are unrealistic. Especially when it come to the United States, if you gather both their military-industrial complex and the fact that they are the kind to make plans for an alien invasion. You can be sure that they have a plan in case of a zombie apocalypse, and that they have the means to follow it.
Of course, most of the federal territory have escaped from the control of the government. But that doesn't meant it was anarchy everywhere. The states probably started to act in autonomy, concentrated into certain places to keep the control.
The National Guards of the states were surely already mobilized, some of the states were struggling more than other, but anarchy wasn't here yet.
But you can't be optimist for the rest of the world. Europe for example have little to no military capabilities when it come to large scale operation. No doubt that most of the European nations have already fallen.
Even Switzerland and the United Kingdom, they might be protected by the sea or the mountains, but we don't know how the infection work.
In Eastern Europe, the situation might be better. With the war in Ukraine, the countries at Russia's borders are better prepared for an event like that.
Unexpectedly, South America and Africa might be in a better position. Their high criminality and the permanent danger they live with might unexpectedly help them. Criminal organizations can resist better than the governments, but the lack of cohesion will surely trouble intel's sharing.
As for Asia, they are probably the countries that will suffer the most due to its high population. But at the same time, their numerous population can help them to maintain the control and some resources. So it will entirely depend on how they will act.
Closing his notebook, Aether noted that it was only his own theory and that in reality he didn't knew anything of what was truly going on in the world.
But for now, it wasn't his problem. He first needed to know where he was. Sure he already knew that he was in the United States, the ridiculous amount of flag clung everywhere was the proof to that. But he didn't knew in which state he was.
Exiting his tent, Aether gathered his men for a meeting, leaving one on the concrete structure as a guard.
"Alright, I have made a decision concerning this place, we can't stay here" Aether declared.
The men and women all nodded to his statement, even if they all spent a lot of time to organize it, they understood that this place wasn't secure at all.
"But we can't go now, we don't know where we are and if we make a mistake, we are all dead. That's why I need volunteers to explore the..."
Aether didn't had the time to finish, that each one of his soldiers raised their hand to volunteer.
"... City we are in" He finished with an incredulous expression over his face.
[Host, I would like to remind you that your summon only exist to obey you. You must not ask them, you must order them]
The system advertisement recalled Aether that those soldiers were disciplined to obey, not normal people.
"I want those that have a poor sense of direction to lower their hand" Aether demanded.
Hearing this, eight of the soldiers lowered their hand. Six others were hesitant to whether or not lower their hand, as they didn't had a bad sense of direction, but they weren't good either.
"Those that are hesitant must lower their hand, the rest will be sent to explore the city" Aether ordered.
"Yes Commander !" One of the soldier replied with a salute.
Before sending the newly formed exploration team, it was important to provide supplies to them so they could survive.
Using the military backpacks found in the outpost, each soldiers had a 1L bottle of water and a first aid kit in case of wound. They were supposed to come back before the end of the day, so they didn't need any food.
Yet, they still needed something else : Ammunition.
Thankfully, Aether's system was here for that. But Aether felt something weird in his mind each time he used the system, causing him to not use it at all since he summoned the personnels.
But as the time passed, the feeling became too tempting, so he tried to go with the feeling.
Trying to 'activate' this part of his mind, the familiar blue numerical light appeared in his hand, taking the form of a magazine before disappearing.
"What the fuck was that ?" Aether couldn't comprehend what happened, he just summoned a magazine for his Glock 34, but without using the system.
The feeling was like when he moved a finger, or something similar, as if this capacity was a part of him, an extension of himself.
[And this is exactly what it is Host, do you remember when I said that the system was bound to the Host both physically and spiritually ?]
"So, the system is indeed a part of me ? But how did I did that ?" Aether was still confused about how he was able to summon equipment without the system.
[Let me explain Host, do you remember when I told you to use the system for your first time ? When you summoned your first Glock 34 with a magazine, it's imprinted the command in your brain, so that you don't have to open the system next time]
"But, wouldn't imprinting new capabilities in my brain increase my mental fatigue ?"
[No, I have strengthened your brain so that it won't, I also made accelerated your thought processing's ability]
Acknowledging the system's explanation, the new abilities in his mind started to get less and less alien to Aether.
So he decided to make a few test to understand how it work.
To begin, it's only work with equipment he already summoned once, as he need to use the system the first time he summon a peculiar object to imprint the command in his brain.
That abilities also work with summoning personnel, now he could summon soldiers with their equipment in a spot he can see with his eyes. And that's also where the accelerated thought processing was useful.
For example, if you want to summon a certain amount of soldiers with a specific equipment, it's like saying 'Summon one soldier with this equipment at this spot, then another one with that equipment at this place, then...' You understood my point, this is very long.
But thank to his accelerated thought processing, Aether can perform those action in 0.02 second. To his mind, it's only feel like to bat an eyelash, he don't even feel he is thinking.
"Get ready, I'll move in 3, 2, 1, GO !!" One of the soldier screamed in a truck.
The truck the soldier was in had been used to block the entrance of the outpost, but since the exploration team needed to get outside, one of the soldier had to move the truck back.
The other soldiers that would stay at the outpost unholstered their pistol, as the sound of the truck would surely attract a lot of undead.
When the truck moved back, the exploration team and the other soldiers all exited the outpost. The escort proceeded to shoot on every zombies that were close to the outpost, while the exploration team made their way toward the city a few hundred meters away.
The exploration team being far enough and safe from the undead, the remaining soldiers returned inside the camp and the soldier inside the truck moved it in front of the broken gate.
But this wasn't over yet, the soldiers moved toward their installation, that allowed them to shoot over the fence, eliminating the remaining zombies safely.
"I want an complete check of our inventory, we will leave as soon as our guys come back" Aether ordered.
"It will be done Commander" The soldiers that weren't at the fence saluted.
---
In the city, the six soldiers in black uniform ran very close to the building at their sides. Suddenly stopping as the last one on the line turn in direction of the outpost.
"All good, the undead didn't followed us" He told to the other.
"Good, we keep a fast walk and stay close to the buildings, be sure to check those at the other side of the road, the undead aren't the only thing that would want to hurt us" The one at the head of the line ordered.
The exploration team moved as the leader ordered through the city. The city looked empty, some building had their windows shattered, showing sign of a previous pillage. There were many objects lying on the ground, but except that the city didn't looked too damaged. But it was completely normal, it was only the first stage of the zombie apocalypse.
As the soldiers were progressing in the city, one that was in the middle suddenly turned toward the barricaded window he was walking close by.
"There is someone inside, I saw some movement" The man said.
"Are you sure this isn't an undead ?" The woman behind him asked.
"No, it was to swift, I think there is someone inside"
"What do we do ?" Another man asked to the leader.
"There is no better source of information than someone, we enter and find whatsoever it is" The leader ordered.
The soldiers put themselves on door breaching formation in front of the doors of the store. The one in front of the door gave a first kick in it, seeing that it didn't work he gave another one, still without result. The soldier gave a last kick that successfully opened the doors.
"Move !" The leader ordered.
The soldiers moved as quickly as possible while staying cautious of their surroundings.
The shop didn't seem to have electricity anymore, so it was very dark inside. The shelves and the ground were so messy that it was impossible to guess what kind of store it was before.
The soldiers inspected each part of the store with their guns in hand, until they suddenly saw some movement close to the counter.
"DON'T MOVE !!!" One of them screamed as they all rushed toward the counter.
"PUT YOUR HANDS UP !!!"
"Wait !!!" A feminine voice called the men, holding her hands in the air "Don't kill me please !!!"
One of the men moved around the counter and saw a little girl curled up on herself, on the verge of crying.
"It's just a little girl" The man said, holstering his gun and crouching toward her, he held his hand toward her "Don't worry, you're safe with us"
The other soldiers lowered their guns upon hearing this, the little girl slowly reached the man's hand and was lifted to a standing position.
"What are you doing here ? Where are your parents ?" The man asked with a gentle voice.
"M-My parents attacked me and my b-brother, they b-bit my brother when we ran away" The little girl said in a tearing voice.
"I'm sorry to hear that, do you know where is your brother ?"
"H-He is in the rear of the shop, he a-attacked me, so I locked him inside"
Hearing this, the man became worried "Did your brother bit you somewhere ?"
"No, he tried, but I run fast, faster than him" The girl replied.
The leader made a quick gesture with his head to one of the women of the group, that understood the order and entered at the rear of the store.
"What's your name ?" The man asked his last question.
"Audrey sir... You won't kill me, right ?" She asked worriedly.
The man chuckled at the question "Of course not, we're not cold-blooded killers"
*Bang*
A gunshot echoed from the rear of the store, giving a very ironic situation after the man spoke.
"That woman need to know the sense of timing" He muttered to himself.
The leader sighed at the scene, he didn't expected to find an 11 years old little girl in the middle of a deserted store.
"What do we do about her ?" A woman asked with a voice low enough to not be heard.
"I heavily doubt that the Commander will accept her we will try to find a safe place for her and leave her there" The leader replied.
"We are going to abandon her ?" The woman asked surprised.
The leader turned toward her with a serious look on his face "We are soldiers, our only master is the Commander, we won't bring any burden to him. Even if that mean that the rest of humanity must die"
"GET AWAY FROM ME !!!" Suddenly, someone screamed outside of the store.
The soldiers ran toward the source of the sound and saw a man waving a bat at a group of undead that encircled him.
After giving a solid strike at one of them, he was taken by surprise by a zombie that plunged his teeth in his neck.
"AAAAARRGHH !!!" The man screamed out of agony, as the zombies were ripping his flesh apart with their teeth.
The soldiers immediately opened the fire on the group of undead, aiming for the head as it was the only way to permanently end them.
When the last undead was shot, the leader moved toward the agonizing man and was about to end his suffering with a bullet in the head.
"Why are you going to kill him ? He isn't a monster like the other" Audrey asked to the leader.
Hearing her question, the leader turned toward the little girl and crouched "Do you remember when you told us that your brother was bit and attacked you ?"
The little girl nodded.
"Well, when you're bitten by those things, you'll inevitably become one of them and attack other humans" He explained.
"Is that why daddy and mommy attacked us ? They were bitten by other monsters ?"
"Exactly" The leader rose up and was about to continue his execution.
But again, he was interrupted. By the siren of a police car this time, the car stopped in front of them and a man came out with his pistol in hand.
"Stop, what do you think you're doing ?!" The police officer called them.
The soldiers immediately drew their weapons toward him, in case he would be hostile toward them.
"The man have been bitten, the only thing we can do for him is end his suffering" The leader replied.
"You don't know that" The police officer pointed his gun toward the soldiers "I can't let you kill him"
The leader was annoyed by the cop's naïve attitude, but he still wanted to solve the situation without killing anyone.
"Look at him !" The leader pointed at the agonizing man on the ground with a sharp tone.
The police officer was startled to see the state the man was in, all of his members, his abdomen and his neck had a little less than ten biting marks. The flesh was ripped apart from his body and the blood seemed to endlessly flew.
"Even if being bitten couldn't infect you, do you think that man can be saved in this state ?!" The leader shouted angrily.
"B-But, still..." The police officer tried to say something, but was interrupted by an angry soldier.
"Listen, that man is going to die, his death won't be meaningless if we shoot him now. Death become meaningful from the moment you have the assurance to not turn into those monsters after it !!"
"..." The cop stayed silent for a moment "I understand, do what you must"
The police officer lowered his gun, allowing the leader to point his own on the wounded man on the ground.
"Thank... You..." The man struggled to mutter those word.
*Bang*
The police officer was about to go, when he saw Audrey that was following the soldiers.
"Wait a minute, who is that little girl ?" He asked confused.
"Her ? We found her in the store right there" A soldier pointed the store with his finger "Her brother got infected and attacked her, thankfully she wasn't bitten or anything"
"I see, I will ask you to leave her to me, I will bring her to a safe place" The police officer requested.
The soldiers weren't opposed to the cop's demand, on the contrary they were happy to have found a solution to their problem.
"Take her with you" The leader said to the police officer "You have a safe place in the middle of this mess ?"
"Yes, before we had a company of rangers that were protecting us, before they disappeared they helped us to secure a district, we have food, weapons and the mayor organized the Police Department to ensure it stay that way" The police officer explained.
"The rangers didn't disappeared, the undead got them, we are now occupying their old outpost" The leader revealed the truth.
"Oh..." The cop said with a saddened expression "I hope you will have better luck than them in that case"
The people were about to separated to follow their own path, but the leader asked a last question as the cop was putting the little girl on the backseat of his car.
"By the way, where are we ?"
"..." A silence suddenly fell on the scene, the police officer didn't expected that question at all.
Seeing that the soldiers stayed silent for an answer, the police officers decided to reply to this strange question.
"Well, you're at Suwanee, in the state of Georgia and at 30 min of Atlanta" The cop replied.
"I see, thank you" The two groups finally separated.
The little girl on the backseat of the police car looked at them going away, wondering if she will ever see them again.
---
"Four M4, twenty-four other M4 that are broken" A soldier said.
In the outpost, a soldier was doing the inventory in front of Aether as he was ordered.
Many of the equipment were broken or unusable, the ranger's company probably lacked of equipment a while before falling.
"Eight Glock 20 that are broken, not a single cartridge of any caliber or whatsoever"
Something that was also very strange was the lack of ammunition in a military outpost, the rangers probably had used all of them before the fences were destroyed.
"Enough MRE for two more weeks, twelves first aid kit, eighteen if we count those the exploration team took with them. But most of them only contain bandages, the meds were all consumed by soldiers for their health problem or to commit suicide" The soldier closed the notebook with the inventory.
"Good, get all of this in the truck at the exception of the guns, we will depart when our guys will come back" Aether ordered.
"Yes Commander"
The soldiers also prepared themselves for the journey, they put their personal belonging in their backpack and took some supplies in the ammo crates.
Aether also spent a moment to fill ammo crates with Glock 34 magazines, to ensure that he won't need to summon things during a fight.
Each soldiers possessed a tactical belt with a holster and four emplacement for magazines, meaning that a soldier could carry five magazines of fifteen bullets. But Aether felt it wasn't enough, so he ordered to his soldiers to have at least six magazines in their backpack.
Suddenly, a soldier ran toward Aether and made a salute "Commander, the exploration team is back"
Looking upside the soldier's shoulder, Aether saw the six soldiers he sent away entering the outpost.
"Perfect, now at least we will know where we are" He commented.
"We will be ready to go in three hours Commander" The soldier in charge of the inventory said.
"That's good, I have something I want to do before we go"
---
Outside of the outpost, Aether and ten of his men were digging holes in the grass.
Aether wanted to honor the rangers of the company that welcomed him as last time before turning the page.
Sixty tomb were dig in the dirt, the soldiers put the body bags in the holes and started to put the dirt back over them.
Upside their tombs, they planted crosses roughly made with two sticks and deposed the ranger's respective plate on it.
Aether gave a last thought to Arthur, by putting his own medal of 'Merril's Marauders' on his cross, before leaving.
Approaching his men that were charging three military trucks, Aether was gave a last look toward the outpost.
Opening the passenger door of the first truck, Aether sat on the seat and closed the door behind him. Giving a deep sigh as he had no idea of what to do next.
"Where are we going Commander ?" The driver asked.
"To Atlanta"
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A/N : Not gonna lie, thing are going a little too slow, even for me.
A/N : Next chapter should be interesting to write, from the notes I took it will be better than this chapter that I find kinda lame.
A/N : Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story.