10

DDay +17

"Next!"

"Name?" "Barry."

"Battalion?" "8th Battalion."

"Platoon Number?" "Platoon 077."

"Here it says you are an elite soldier?" "Yes."

"How old are you again?" "I am 16 this year."

"Here is your 10 portions high-level first stage meat."

This morning Barry received his canned meats, he was selected as an elite soldier 3 days ago.As expected, the elite soldiers got special treatments. Other regular soldiers only received three portions canned meat. Even the city guards, the soldiers who received earlier training, only got 5 portions.

The Starbase managed the people this way, everyone needed to contribute, but in return, they receive housings, foods, and security. On top of that, the people who gave a special contribution will receive extra treatment. These 10 portions canned meat was an example of those special treatments.

Immediately this morning Barry consumed two portions of this meat... He felt his body temperature rising, he sweat a bit and after a few minutes, he felt charged... just like taking a cold shower after a whole day of strenuous exercise.

After eating his breakfast, Barry returned to his platoon. The Star Army modified and simplified the known military units. A squad has 10 men, a Platoon consists of 10 squads, a total of 100 men. Lastly, a Battalion consists of 10 Platoon, a total of 1000 men.

As an elite soldier, Barry was forced to become a squad leader. The last 3 days were a disaster for him, he's the youngest squad leader in the Star Army. He never knew what Milo saw from him, most other squad leaders came from the military, law enforcement or at least had some martial art experience. His squad of 10 men have been looking down on him and worried that Barry would get them killed.

"Squad leader! I saw you got lots of those canned meat, please share some with me."

Barry gave one of his canned meat to this guy name Yuda, he was one of the untalented Black Snake Gang fighters... a troublemaker who always told the squad how he had been in the army from the very first and how the system was not fair...

25.000 regular fighter and 3000 elite fighters. All have passed basic training, but most have no battle experience. For those who had a slight leadership or battle experience like the pencak silat society, police officers or military soldier would be accepted as the elite members. The ones who didn't get accepted as elite soldiers were either too old or had a questionable attitude like Yuda.

"That canned meat is wasted for him, you must quickly take control of your unit, your nice guy routine will only endanger your squad."

This is Dylan, an elite member who also became a squad leader, they were both in the same 077 platoon.

What Dylan said is actually true, Yuda had been fighting zombies in the front from the very first day, he ate a few spirit stones before, a stage one beast meat no longer has much effect to him. But for people who never ate any spirit stone, this would affect them greatly. Even Barry who already ate one spirit stone still got benefits from this meat, but Barry planned to give some of these meats to Cynthia. The thought suddenly improved his mood.

"Gather Up!!"

Chris, the 077 platoon commander gathered all his 100 men. This Chris was a sergeant in the Red Barret special forces. Out of the 500 special forces, 250 who had talent in command was selected to be platoon leaders. The Star Army also modified army rank titles, as more civilians took command positions. The Star Army also modified army rank titles. There will be no longer sergeants, lieutenants or generals within the Star Army. There are now only unit leaders, platoon leaders, and battalion commanders.

"We got a report of unusual sightings, our 077 platoons are sent, let's go!"

"Yes... platoon leader!!"

A few kilometers west of the Starbase, the 077 platoons saw something that shocked them.

Thousands of beasts have gathered... they were heading straight to the Starbase.

- - - - - - - - - -

Since morning Alex had been busy having another division meeting. He was checking the current data and all division reports.

<Star Base>

Size: 115 hectares

Population: 108.318

Guards: 2.000

Administration: 1.000

Children: 9.497

Elders: 5.611

Farmers: 21.428

Fishers: 6.215

Construction workers: 25.290

Scavengers: 27.311

Helpers: 9321

Chef : 500

Medic: 131

Researchers: 14

<Military>

On training: 26.832

Regular soldiers: 24.119

Elite soldiers: 3177

Special soldiers: 489

Number of Battalions: 25

Number of Platoons: 241

The population had increased for another 10 percent in the last 4 days. Most of the new workers were being directed to fishing. And like before 40% were moved to Antiga to get basic training.

The busiest were still the constructors and steel workers. These workers now spent more time creating tools and weapons other than making housing. There were now 140 warehouses built, it's still not enough for everyone but as the tent was already set up, the situation was not dire.

These workers now spend a lot of time making sabers, spears, shields and the recent cans for beast meats. Alex had another task for them, he ordered them to start gathering tailors between these workers. They need to start making armors for the soldiers. Simple light armor that would cover from animal bites or scratches will be helpful for the army.

But Alex's actual main goal was a design and creation of light armor from the second stage beast snake. This snakeskin was one of a kind of light, durable and strong material. It took the help of the steel construction workers to cut this material. As for the mother snake material currently, it couldn't be done. Alex will need to find a better weapon later on within the doomsday pillars.

Alex told the workers to collect other useful parts from these snakes. The fangs and the poison, these two parts with the right modification could be useful for Alex and his team.

This morning Alex also just received a report that the HAM radio in the Gilimanuk City finally received a message from James Randall. It seems he's in need of help. Alex really needed to start sending the army, but...

Suddenly, a soldier walked in the room to report to Major Sandi, he seemed nervous and told the group:

"There have been multiple sighting of mutated beast headings to this Starbase."

"Isn't it like any other day? What's new?" Tony said...

"Each sighting reporting the beasts were numbered in the thousands. The soldiers believe that at least 40- 50 thousand of them will arrive in an hour or two."

"..."

Alex was also suddenly shocked, this thing never happened in his previous life, unlike the zombies, mutated beast rarely moved together in this big number... Alex tried to think about any other possibilities and finally remember about a similar case in the Philippines.

"The eggs... they are coming for the eggs!!"

"If I'm not wrong, this means, even more, will come...! We need to defend this Starbase... Sound the alarm, and contact the star army...Gather all the soldiers!"