Chapter 31

20 years into the apocalypse, Philippines has been fully reclaimed from the undead. When the Major cities were taken back from the rotting grip of the zombies, taking of the provinces came easy. I don't know how Aunt Pheene, Commanding General, figured that out but damn that's one hell of a strategy. If it was me who'd strategize, I'd probably start with the rural areas because of lower risk with lower population compared to the sub-urbs and urban areas. Well personally, I didn't ever asked why. I just did my job as lookout/sniper. And because the entire country has been freed from zombies, there's barely any need for soldiers anymore, especially for OW's.

And 20 years in without the hindrance of previous government before the pandemic, science has gone way far. All projects of researchers, no matter how big and small are all approved to be worked on.

The Bio Researchers (BR's) has created some concoction where degradation of individual cells are slowed to the greatest level that life expectancy is greatly enhanced. According to them, with such medicine, life expectancy is 150-170 years! I don't know how they did it but props on them. When I was a kid I was also hoping to make some miracle medicine that heals up all sickness. Now I heard from my cousin Nigel, the right hand of Aunt Pheene, Vice Commanding General (what's up with their stupid high ranks?!) The BR's studying to make another serum to enhance the body's limiter higher. Resulting in increase of strength, indurance, speed, agility, and durability by 5 fold. That's hella strong!

The Engineering Researchers has developed two awesome stuff. One was developed by my cousin Jarren; An armor that's light, durable and accommodates to the surroundings. If the temperature is hot and dry, the armor has some kind of cooling system inside; when the temperature is cold, it warms up to a comfortable state and never gets too hot inside. And during the rain, it has a built in metal glass helmet. And when the Sun's too high, it starts to tint. Real cool stuff my cousin has invented.

And then there's Kuya Jush, my Aunt Pheene's best friend. He's created the most revolutionary thing of all ages. He's created a storage he named Jupiter Cube. It's in the shape of a 2inch squared cube. It's as small as your typical keychain. But despite it being tiny, it's got the storage the size of Jupiter. It can store infinite amount of items. Yes, items. Anything can be stored in it: water, food, clothes, weapons, ammo, etc. It's crazy! It works by breaking down items atom by atom and stores its construction data in the storage. And when retrieving the stored items, it does things in reverse. It forms the object by constructing it based on its stored data. Kinda like black hole and the speculative "white hole." Kuya Jush perfected this for almost a decade and now it's the most used item. Now they're trying to fuse this storage with the gauntlets of the armor for weapons and gear themselves. Like everyone else, I'm looking forward to it.

And lastly the Builders made phenomenal work in 20 years. Working alongside ER's and BR's, they built all sorts of power plants. Nuclear, solar, hydro, geo, fossil, and windmills. They've made it all giving Philippines the most power there ever were in history. Now they're trying to invent some new vehicles: land, water, air, heck even space. Because of my connection to Aunt Pheene, I've tried driving a car prototype. It was designed to go by any terrain and have an oddly cool self fixing and modification system. It's like having a group of car mechanics in it. Also, it's only for one rider. It doesn't have a passenger seat. And lastly it goes almost 500km/hr. Damn fast! Faster than any race car! But I don't really know why are they developing it.

Right now, I'm seated along with my fellow soldiers. We're called here in Ynares Arena. Thousands among thousands of soldiers have gathered in here. It's a meeting with Aunt Pheene leading. But She's somewhere else, I believe she's in Philippine Arena in Bulacan. In the middle of the arena are four huge screens similar to cinemas that are facing all four sides. It turns on and we saw Aunt Pheene's face.

"Good day soldiers, I am Pheene Ogram, Commanding General. I've called you here today because I have an announcement. We've been sending messages around the world to see for any response. To see if there are any survivors outside of our country. And yes, there was a response. Surprisingly it's from the closest country to us geologically, Taiwan. Now, all S-Rank Expanders, Top 5 BR's and ER's, and 50 Builders will be sent to Taiwan. Approximately 500 soldiers will be dispatched, 10 researchers, and 50 Builders. 1 week time will be given for you to prepare. To know if you'll be coming, wait for your Regional Captain's announcement. This shouldn't take too long. For the rest that won't be coming, always be ready to go. In 10years time, Taiwan will be freed from the undead. Thank you and good day."

And then, the screens fade to black.

Only Expanders?! Really?! Arghh!

Soon after the meeting, I went straight to my dad. My dad, Frodery Ogram, is CALABARZON's Regional Captain. And since he's way older than Aunt Pheene, maybe he can convince her to come to Taiwan. All these 20 years, I never left my post. I'm one of the best snipers in CALABARZON and I'm a Rank-S. I'm so sick of letting myself rot in my post. And I never even left Cainta!

I took my big bike and rode to Cainta's Municipal Office. In 20mins, I arrived there. Because of all the connections I have, I didn't have to wait in any lines. I can just walk in straight to my dad's office. I knocked on his door and called for dad to give him idea that it's me. He then gave me the permission to enter. I turn the knob and opened the door. Dad lifts his head up in anticipation of me. I walked in his office.

"Hey dad."

He blinked.

"Aunt Pheene announced we'll try to free Taiwan."

"Yes?"

"Well I was just..."

"Before anything, can you get me some water?"

Dad hands me his tall plastic cup while pointing at the water dispenser. I took the cup from his hand and I went to the dispenser and fills it with ice cold water. While filling it, I continued talking.

"Only Expanders will be dispatched next week."

"Ah-huh."

"What about the other S-Rank and SS-Rank soldiers that aren't Expanders? I'm pretty sure there aren't that much Expanders in the entirety of Philippines."

I finish filling up the tall ass cup.

"I don't think they'll reach that number, 500."

I hand the cup to my dad and he accepted it.

"Of course they will." He said before chugging a third of it in one go.

"But most of them are actually A to B-Rank. S and SS-Ranks are very rare for the Expanders. I'd guess there's 200 of S-ranked at most and less than 100 for SS!"

"Mhm," Dad groaned while drinking.

"If they go there with just their numbers, that would be suicide!"

Dad finished drinking, leaving just an eight of the water. "Nah, not really."

"Huh?"

"Too many people they bring will just add up to zombies' numbers. Besides, if they received a response from Taiwan, there should be survivors in there. And probably communities like ours."

I can't argue with all that. Has Aunt Pheene already thought of that and the other higher-ups? If so...why say 500?

"D-dad??"

"Hmm?"

"I wanna go...to...Taiwan..."

"No."