The new day came as the sun rose, but things were not looking good.
"It's finally over," The commander stepped back, his body swaying in exhaustion.
"Has god abandoned us?" He looked before him, his eyes trembling as tears welled in them.
Buzz! Buzz!
The light in the corridor flickered.
The corridor stretched far in the distance. Corpses covered the floor.
Blood flowed from the open wounds of the corpses, red blood mixed in with traces of green.
The commander stood among the corpses, holding a blood-covered axe in one hand and a handgun in the other.
Blood covered his body.
Thud!
He leaned on the blood-covered wall.
"Commander, are you alright?" Vivian approached the commander from behind, covered in blood.
She held two handguns, one in each hand.
The commander looked back.
Further back, he could see Marcus resting, leaning on the wall.
And even further back, Lucian and his father, the governor, stood.
"Aghhhhhh!"
The governor's cry echoed in the corridor as he knelt.
"ELARAAAAA!" He roared, crying as he hugged a corpse. "WHYYYYY! GODD!!!!!! DO YOU EXIST!!"
His son Lucian quietly observed his father, tears rolling down his eyes.
"Vivian, arrange for the Lady to be given a proper memorial. It'll show the people the severity of the situation, and we can't even protect them. They'll need to contribute something if they want to survive, " the commander ordered.
"Yes, sir," Vivian nodded.
"How are our losses?" He asked. "The ammunition?"
"We can't calculate the ammunition loss at the moment," Vivian replied, pushing her glasses back. "Commander, I miscalculated and underestimated the virus."
The commander looked at Vivian, his eyes weighing down. He barely resisted the exhaustion. "What are you trying to say?"
"My previous calculation of 46% of the infected awakened was way off. " She pushed her glasses back again, her expression serious. "To be precise, my calculations were off by 36%. Of the 10.000 inhabitants of our military, only about 1000 survived and awakened."
The commander's eyes widened briefly, but he quickly accepted the reality. "I see,"
He took a step forward. "Let's go. We have a lot of work to do."
Worry replaced Vivian's expression. "Commander, please rest. You have fought for the whole night. At this rate..."
"Vivian, " the commander interrupted her. "There is no time. We need to go to each awakened and ask them about their abilities. We need to sort them into categories so they can use their abilities best."
He paused, looking around. "Those bodies can't wait. We need to get rid of them."
Vivian lowered her head, hiding her emotions. She hated that she couldn't convince him to rest but couldn't go against his wishes.
"There is..." Suddenly, the commander's vision went blurry. His world turned upside down.
Thud!
He collapsed on the ground.
"COMMANDER!" Vivian shouted.
'So much work to do,' With this thought, the commander's eyes closed. He couldn't keep them open any longer.
"EVERYONE! COME HERE!" Vivian roared.
Marcus immediately stormed to them.
"What happened?" His heart raced, fearing the worst - fearing that the commander got infected.
After all, even though until now, no awakened has gotten infected, so they couldn't be sure.
"I don't know. He suddenly collapsed." Vivian explained. "It might be from exhaustion. But we can't be sure. Please take him to his room to rest. I'll see if someone from the survivors is a doctor."
Marcus nodded.
He immediately took the commander in his arms and rushed to the room while Vivian ran towards the survivors.
...
It didn't take long before Marcus arrived and laid the commander on his bed.
'Such an admirable man,' Marcus couldn't help but admire the commander. 'In such a chaotic world, he still tries to care for everyone. He wants to save everyone, even if it means sacrificing his health. He doesn't stop to rest.
That's why everyone follows him and respects him. Because they know they can trust him. He won't leave them behind.'
Marcus bowed. "Commander, you have my respect."
...
Vivian arrived in one of the military storage rooms.
A pile of corpses lay before the entrance, a pile of burned corpses.
"Jim, Jin," Vivian called to the two young men standing guard before the entrance to the storage. They were almost identical, with a few red fibers coming up from the root of their hair.
Despite being covered in blood and their apparent exhaustion, a smile spread on their face as soon as they saw her.
"Vice-Commander!" They saluted.
Vivian shook her head. "Please stop calling me that. I'm just a secretary to the commander."
"Lady Vivian, you do just as much work as the commander." One said.
Vivian smiled. "Thank you, Jim."
"What brings you here?" The other one, Jin asked.
Vivian immediately became serious. "The commander collapsed,"
The eyes of the two twins widened. They became deadly serious. "Is he alright?"
Vivian nodded. "I think he's just exhausted, but just in case, I came to see if there is a doctor here."
The twins nodded and led her inside.
The storage was ample. It would take several minutes to walk from one side to the other, yet despite its size, it was packed.
Not much with supplies but with people.
The atmosphere in the storage was heavy. Many lost their loved ones, while no person remained immune to the fear.
As Vivian entered, the people close to the entrance noticed her.
"Everyone!" Vivian shouted, trying to take their attention. "Please listen to me for a moment."
The soldiers among the people immediately stood up and walked to the front. They stood in position, their backs straight, showing their respect.
However, when it came to the other people, while many stood up and listened, many remained sitting - a clear sign of disrespect.
An elderly man sat on the ground with a dozen younger men surrounding him.
With the others to the front, standing to listen to Vivian, they remained at the back.
"It seems we have some rebels here," Vivian pushed her glasses back, her expression dead serious. Anger burned deep within her eyes.
The elderly man smirked.
"You seem to be misunderstanding something," she said, directing her gaze to the back.
The people before made way, and her eyes met with the elderly man.
"The Lady of the city is dead. We can't protect everyone, " she continued. "If you think we have no obligation to protect you, you're sadly mistaken. The only reason we are protecting you is because of our kind-hearted commander."
"But from now on, If you want to stay here, you'll have to contribute. You can't leech off our resources."
The elderly man's expression turned dark. "Young people these days are truly disrespectful. As the military, you have to protect the civilians. Don't think we don't know that. You can't scare us with heavy words."
"That's right!"
"We are not easy to bully!"
The spirited young men sitting around him roared, supporting him.
"The commander is unconscious. He collapsed from exhaustion. If not for leeches like you, it wouldn't have happened, " Vivian muttered quietly.
"The commander has collapsed from exhaustion," She revealed.
Everyone's eyes widened, their expressions growing worried. Everyone had a reaction except the elderly man—as if he didn't care.
"I see," She pushed her glasses back again. "Too sad - his collapse is your doom."
BANG!
The old man's eyes widened as a red dot appeared on his forehead.
Thud!
He collapsed backward, blood spurting from his forehead.
Everyone stared at Vivian in terror as she held a gun, smoke rising from it.
"It seems the commander spoiled you all, but I'm not the commander." She spoke. "We must protect you? Who decided that? The collapsed government? Who can order us? The governor? He doesn't hold absolute authority anymore.
Indeed, he holds some power, but it's far from absolute. He can't move the military with a word. So don't misunderstand. If you want to stay with us, you'll have to contribute. If not, you must leave. And if you try to cause trouble, you'll end up like him." She looked at the now-dead man.
The people lowered their heads in fear. They understood the seriousness of the situation.
The initial heavy atmosphere turned heavier. Now that even the military didn't want to protect them, the last thread of safety they had broke. But no one dared complain.
Having put them in their place and shown them her authority, Vivian immediately got to business.
To her luck, two doctors stepped up, and she instructed them to wait.
She appointed several people to go around and record information about the people and their abilities.
Then, she left the room, leading the two doctors to the commander.