Vivian pushed back her glasses.
"According to my observations, the zombie virus..." She paused for a while as if searching for the right words. "Will take a lot of lives. I can't say that it's good or that it's bad.
The right word should be change. The zombie virus will bring a great change."
The people present looked at each other, confused.
"Let me say it clearer," She pushed back her glasses again. "The world was peaceful thanks to the three great cities taking all the dangerous war technology, so there was no need to feed and care for massive armies.
Our city has seven military bases, each base having about 5000 active and trained soldiers. In other words, the army of the whole city is slightly under thirty thousand soldiers. They are not used for war but are just kept as formalities. Our base had 5000 soldiers."
To this point, everyone listened carefully, waiting to see in what direction Vivian would lead things. After all the information she provided until now, everyone knew it.
"In the days since the zombie virus appeared, we sent out the soldiers on expeditions. We sent about 350 soldiers on expeditions while the rest stayed back and protected the base.
In each group, around 54% of the soldiers got infected by the virus and got killed before turning into zombies. While the rest awakened."
The eyes of everyone widened.
"Does that mean..." The commander was no exception.
"Yes. The zombie virus stimulated the potential of those who could awaken and awakened them while the rest died. Not only that, according to my observation, the awakened humans should be immune to the virus."
Everyone fell into deep thought.
"Vivian, are you implying to send the civilians out and purposefully expose them to the zombie virus?" The commander questioned, a deep frown forming on his face.
"Yes. Sooner or later, the virus will reach us. We can't keep them sheltered forever. Those who have luck will awaken, the unfortunate will die. Commander, we don't want them to die, but it will happen. That's something they can't escape.
If we do things my way, we will shorten their time, but we'll also gain a huge army of awakened humans. Commander, the choice is clear."
The commander fell into deep thought, a fierce internal war raging within him—a war of reason and logic against his morals and principles.
Sacrificing innocent civilians would create a marvelous situation for them with an army of awakened humans. But where is his humanity? Sacrificing so many people, who gave him the right?
"I agree with Vivian," Marcus raised his hand.
"I-I agree." The governor of the city raised his hand.
Everyone else raised their hand, pressuring the commander.
After all, what Vivian just revealed changed everything. Gaining a huge army in times like these would improve their situation significantly.
"We'll stop the first half of the meeting here," the commander dismissively waved his hand. "We'll resume in about an hour."
"Commander, what about your answer?" The elderly man asked.
"Leave it for the end of the meeting. I need some time to think."
Everyone looked at each other and nodded. They stood up and started leaving, chatting amongst themselves.
"Marcus, you stay behind," The commander ordered.
Marcus looked at the commander and stood aside.
The governor, leaving with his son, glanced at Marcus and then at the commander before leaving the room.
After everyone left, Vivian closed the door.
She always accompanied the commander, so "everyone" didn't apply to her.
"Marcus, could you refrain from stirring up trouble with the governor?" The commander questioned calmly, rubbing his temples.
"Commander, I don't understand. Why are we keeping that useless pig around? You even gave him a seat." Marcus complained. "He was the governor before, but now he is nothing."
"Marcus, that is your opinion. But do you truly think he has no power? Do you think your opinion applies to everyone? He was the governor of the city. If we want to control the civilians in those turbulent times, we need him. They trust him more than they trust us."
"Ahhhh..." Marcus rubbed the back of his head in frustration. "You're making things so complicated."
The commander just smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "You can leave now."
Marcus nodded and left the room, closing the door behind himself.
"Commander, about Orson..."
"I noticed his gaze," The commander interrupted Vivian. He knew what she wanted to say. "The governor may be cowardly, but he is greedy. He won't just sit still.
When he feels his life isn't threatened, he turns into a glutton. Since, at the moment, he has no power to protect himself, he will lay low. He'll wait for Lucian to grow and use him. Once he grows strong enough to protect him, the governor will show his true colors."
"It's a pity," Vivian shook her head. "His son Lucian has great potential, but he lets his father control him,"
"Hmph!" The commander scoffed. "Vivian, Vivian," He shook his head.
Vivian looked at him in confusion.
"You might have awakened an ability that enhances your mind," The commander spoke. "But, you can only formulate plans if you have certain information and within the borders of logic. Human nature is complicated. Sometimes, it's the most predictable thing, but sometimes, it's completely unpredictable."
"Commander, what do you mean?"
The commander let out a heavy sigh. "The apple doesn't fall far away from the apple tree. Lucian might be quiet, but he's not stupid. In my opinion, he is the hardest to see through." The commander let out another sigh. "Do you think he'll let himself be played by someone so inferior to him? Lucian is slightly weaker than me. His father won't be able to control him..." He paused for a while. "Father and son...Two troublesome individuals,"
Vivian's eyes widened in shock. 'I knew he was strong, but to be only second to the commander...'
The commander continued rubbing his temples, the exhaustion evident on him.
Vivian's gaze softened a bit. "Commander, why don't you rest? You haven't had a proper rest in a while. If you continue like this..."
"There's no time," The commander interrupted her. "I need to plan for the future. The city might be big and have resources, but those resources can't last forever, especially if we want to shelter the surviving people.
We need to get to the factories and gather materials to start them up again. We need to plant food, but we need to think of a solution to stop the virus from getting on the plants and spreading through them.
We need to restore a small portion of the city and automatize its food and water source. To make sure we can survive without going outside of it."
"The burden you carry, commander, is heavy." Vivian bowed in respect.
"I'll do my best to share it."
While the commander and Vivian discussed further plans, time passed, and the hour flew by. It was time for the meeting to resume.
The board members slowly returned to the room and sat on the stone chairs.
As everyone arrived, the commander resumed the meeting.
"Everyone, the report of the damage arrived." The commander started.
He took the half-rolled paper before him and unrolled it, spreading it across the table. A map of the city.
"As you all know, our city has a surface of approximately 50,000 km2. The city's dimensions are 250 x 200. It has a rectangular shape and a population of approximately 113 million."
The commander pointed at the city center, marked with a red dot.
"The tower has fallen exactly at the center of the city. We estimate it has formed a crater of 0.5 kilometers to 2 kilometers. We can't get close enough to inspect.
The radius of destruction is about 34 kilometers. The inner city has been destroyed. The damage has even reached the outskirts, but it's minimal.
We estimate about 35 to 50 million people died when the tower fell. The demons from the towers have caused further casualties, and with the zombie virus now, we don't know how many will stay alive.
But if Vivian's hypothesis is true and the virus does indeed help the people awaken, around half will die while the rest will awaken. At least several million will survive."
"The casualties are far greater than we expected," The elderly man spoke.
"Forget the casualties, if so many people survive, then the number of people coming here for shelter would increase. It won't be long before there are a hundred thousand people gathered or even more." The only other woman besides Vivian said. "Commander, have you decided what to do?"
The commander frowned. "It's still not the end of the meeting. Next, about the electricity generators. We have gathered plenty of fuel for them. On what do we use the generated electricity? My suggestion is cameras."
Everyone agreed with him. They were not particularly interested at the moment.
"We are starting to form separate teams with special awakened abilities." The commander continued. "For example..."
"Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
A horrified scream rang from outside the room, interrupting.
"Kyaaa!"
"Noooo!"
Several more followed, reaching their eyes.
Everyone in the room frowned and got ready for battle.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of heavy footsteps approaching reached their ears.
Pam!
The door flew open as a soldier entered, out of breath, his military uniform sprayed with blood.
"What happened?!" Marcus roared.
"Commander, someone turned into a zombie!" The soldier reported in a breath.
The eyes of everyone widened in terror.
Swoosh!
They acted quickly and ran out of the room, hurrying to check the situation.
Only Vivian, the soldier, and the commander remained.
"What one runs from comes for him. I wanted to delay it, but the inevitable still came at my door."
With a heavy sigh, the commander walked out of the room. Vivian and the soldier followed behind him.