Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

December quickly rolled around.

The training was hard, but it was exactly what I imagined when I first thought of joining the army.

There were grilling exercises every single day. Being told to stand still under the hot sun instilled discipline.

Learning how to repair, taking care of, and even performing emergency rescue for fellow soldiers.

Everything that a soldier needed to survive on the battlefield was being taught. I was learning things that I was supposed to learn back in Pingdingshan.

After a month of initial training, an old man who is well in his sixties, wearing a worn-out officer's outfit, appeared.

He congratulated us for completing the training. Next thing I knew, I was in a car next to twenty other men.

Right outside the window were even more cars and armored vehicles, all heading towards the same goal.

My mind was filled with excitement, just like everyone else in the car. Not a single person showed any fear at all.

We were going to bring the fight to the zombie, right at the very capital of Hunan. We weren't just turtling in some hidden corners on Earth.

Our first objective was to clear the Northern Entrance of Changsha. An area that was just slightly over 100 square miles.

A relatively simple task in my eyes when I first heard it.

Especially after learning we had twenty thousand soldiers, all fully armed with rifles and heavy weapons. We even had helicopters flying overhead, ringing in the sky as we approached closer and closer to the city outskirts.

It almost felt like a short mission that would only last a week or so. A complete cakewalk if it were used against the zombies I faced back in Pingdingshan.

Unforunately, it was at Changsha.

The first day, my ear was still ringing from the sheer amount of explosives after being rotated out.

Zombies were almost endless as they kept on flooding towards us. It was the first time I truly faced what a 'zombie horde' really meant in the urban area.

It was almost like a nightmare. Every inch forward was surrounded by zombies from all three sides.

The worst part was yet to come, as I soon learn what 'mutants' really meant on the second day.

It wasn't just some hazy witch in a grocery store. But an absolute unit of a tank that could throw an entire car towards us.

A tank mutant, as everyone calls it. A mutant that was supposed to be 'rare', yet five of them showed up all at once.

If it weren't for several explosives that left only a pile of flesh, I wouldn't even believe that thing was killable.

The third day was no better.

Even more mutants appeared. Ones that are called Jockey and Hunter. All they do is jump onto us and cut our chest, or even worse, our neck.

Just from the three days of fighting, we had lost over a hundred people. With thousands injured, some even dying from friendly fire.

The attack was quickly put on pause, forcing us to retreat.

Some people's faces were filled with terror, while others were filled with anger as we arrived back in the barracks.

I wanted revenge. I wanted to avenge the fallen even if I had never met them. An invisible flame had engulfed my heart.

The words of the old man at the graduation popped up in my head. One that made me want to continue.

"Don't you want to take back the land that once belonged to our ancestors? Don't you all want to be hailed as a hero?"

"This will be the first, the most honorable, the greatest achievement of our generation. The fight that will make history remember us."

"Who's with me?"

---

The attack quickly resumed after a week's break. This time, it was with even more men and reinforcement.

At the same time, the plan was even more ambitious. The central command had set the goal to create a permanent outpost.

How well did it go?

As you could have imagined. A complete disaster. It was so bad that it had triggered an entire wave upon wave of zombies going absolutely insane.

It was almost as if we had triggered the zombies' survival instinct, realizing that they were under an extinction-level threat from us.

In every single direction of Changsha, the zombies were flooding out, including directions that we didn't even attack from.

We were all caught off guard. The central command was caught off guard. Everyone was caught off guard.

The entire army was instantly commanded to split apart, heading to various villages in an attempt to contain them within Changsha.

I was sent into one of the southern villages, stationed away from my family for the entirety of the new year once again.

---

By the time January had rolled past, the zombie outburst was fully contained. I was filled with happiness when I saw a letter from Jieqiong.

My family had survived... But many of my peers' families had not. It was a dark month as no one dared to speak up about continuing the plan.

The central command in Zhongxiong eventually postponed the offensive plan indefinitely, shelving the plan completely.

The civilian casualties were greater than anyone ever expected. More than a thousand dead from the zombie outbursts. Entire villages were wiped out due to arriving too late.

All of the responsibility was pinned on the military's ambition in wanting to clear an entire city rather than just being defensive.

A Tenth of the soldiers quit on the spot.

Many of them had lost their loved ones and felt there was nothing to fight for. Some just wanted peace and to hide away.

Where was I in all this? Still rotting in the military. I was the small minority who still wanted to fight back against the zombies.

I knew many readers getting here might be scared when they get to this part.

They might start thinking, what if this ends up as my family? What if the military attack triggers the zombies to go all haywire?

Let me tell you one thing. The zombies will always show up at your door no matter what you do.

As a man who lived through the collapse of Pingdingshan, hiding and hoping it will go away will never work.

There are no miracles.

---

Rotting in the military for month after month. Every day, we were sitting at the barracks or patrolling different villages.

The last news I heard was another budget cut towards the military.

It's almost as if humanity was just doomed from the start...Until a new group of visitors arrived in Huanrong County.

I could still remember the exact month—first week of April.

Soldiers who wore completely different uniforms rolled in. Many of them had a heavy Cantonese accent and weapons that didn't make sense at all.

A hybrid of what seems to be the Russian AKM, German MG-42, and even American M-16, all in a single army.

Yet their armor units were clearly from the army. One of my peers instantly recognized one of the tanks as a brand-new one meant for amphibious assault.

We didn't even know what units or names were. The only thing I knew of was the fact that they were constantly attacking Changsha every single day.

Every day, I could see their vehicles coming back all painted in blood. Zombie bloods, as some of the flesh remained.

A small rumor began to spread—a reignition of the offensive plan. More and more soldiers were being called upon.

A tenth of the army initially assisted alongside the mysterious unit from the far south, but soon it expanded to a fifth.

After just a week had gone by, they had managed to accomplish what we couldn't do.

They had established not just one permanent base right at the outskirts. But all seven of the main entrances to the city.

I just couldn't believe it when I first heard it. It almost sounded straight out of a fantasy, based on the soldiers who bragged about the progress.

They somehow didn't trigger the zombies to go all crazy despite having almost the same number as us when we first went in.

My rotten body was instantly rejuvenated. I was asking every single senior officer I knew of, trying to be a part of the action.

But they kept refusing me, reminding me to stay at my post and be patient. But only after a week of asking, I was given the opportunity to join.

This time, almost a third of the army was a part of this brand new 'secret' plan—more than even the second offensive we had done in the past.

This was when I learn how they truly have 'expertized' in fighting the zombies. A fight that taught the entire army a lesson.

It was also the first time I learn who exactly they were—a group of mercenaries from the far, far south of Luoping and Guangzhou.

A settlement that already controls multiple cities and hundreds of villages in Guangdong, almost infinitely bigger than Zhongxiong's defense force.

Their name?

1st Division of The National Reclamation Government.