Dawn broke over Imus, Cavite, casting a sickly orange light through the cracks of the barricaded living room.
"Boom! Boom!"
Distant, heavy explosions rocked the ground, shattering the eerie silence of the morning!
"Rattle-rattle-rattle!"
The thunderous roar of .50-caliber heavy machine guns and rapid assault rifle fire echoed from the main avenue outside the subdivision!
Elias snapped his eyes open, instantly scrambling to his feet with his R4A3 assault rifle raised!
Beside him, Sergeant Mateo Cruz and the riflemen of the 1st Infantry Squad were already at full combat readiness.
Maya sat up on the sofa, clutching her blanket as her face turned pale with fear.
"Brother... what is that noise?!" Maya gasped, trembling.
"Military forces," Elias replied, peering through a slit in the wooden barricade.
Beyond the residential walls, thick black smoke billowed into the sky above the main highway.
On only the second day of the global outbreak, the conventional Armed Forces of the Philippines were already struggling violently against the overwhelming tide of infected.
The continuous gunfire and artillery blasts were attracting tens of thousands of zombies from across Cavite toward the main road!
"Bzzzt—!"
Sergeant Cruz adjusted the long-range tactical radio transceiver mounted on his combat harness.
"Supreme Commander, long-range comms link with FOB Daang Reyna established!" Cruz reported, handing the radio handset to Elias.
Elias pressed the push-to-talk button.
"2nd Squad, 3rd Squad, this is Supreme Commander Elias. Report status," Elias commanded into the mic.
Static hissed over the speaker before a clear, disciplined voice answered.
"Supreme Commander! This is Sergeant Santos, 2nd Squad Leader at FOB Daang Reyna!"
"Forward Operating Base is fully secured! Sector perimeter is stable!"
"Good," Elias responded with sharp authority. "New operational orders for 2nd and 3rd Squads."
"Leave a minimum automated watch, mount up, and advance immediately to New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa!"
"Link up with Senior Officer Gabriel Torres at the outer administration building safe zone and reinforce their defenses!"
"Sweep all infected along your route of advance, harvest every Red Core, and store them for vault transfer upon my return!"
"Copy that, Supreme Commander!" Sergeant Santos replied without hesitation. "2nd and 3rd Squads mobilizing for Bilibid immediately!"
"Bzzzt!"
Elias handed the handset back to Cruz, his eyes cold and calculated.
"Sergeant Cruz, what is the situation at our perimeter?" Elias asked.
Cruz checked his tactical tablet connected to squad reconnaissance.
"Supreme Commander, the heavy fighting on the main highway has drawn a massive horde toward our sector," Cruz reported.
"However, Camella Subdivision's perimeter is fully enclosed by high concrete walls and heavy iron entrance gates."
"The main horde is pressing against the outer walls, but they cannot breach the main gate yet."
"Inside the subdivision walls, approximately two hundred turned residents are wandering aimlessly between houses."
Elias's eyes flashed with a sharp, decisive light.
We cannot drive the KM-450 onto the main highway while the exterior horde is swarming the military battle zone.
Instead, this enclosed subdivision was a goldmine of Red Cores waiting to be harvested.
"Here is our plan," Elias ordered, his voice echoing with military authority.
"First, send Fireteam Alpha to reinforce and chain-lock the main entrance gate, keeping the massive exterior horde outside."
"Second, leave two riflemen inside this house to guard Maya."
"Third, draw tactical knives! We clear the turned residents inside this subdivision in silence to conserve ammunition!"
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" Cruz saluted sharply, unsheathing his combat knife.
Maya looked up at Elias, her eyes filled with worry.
"Brother, be careful out there," Maya whispered, gripping his hand tightly.
"Stay inside and keep quiet, Maya," Elias said softly, stroking her hair. "You are completely safe here."
Elias turned back to his squad, pulling his combat knife from his chest rig as his 3x Peak Human strength surged through his veins.
"Squad, dismount!" Elias commanded.
"Secure the gate, clear the subdivision, and harvest every Red Core!"
"Move, move, move!"
Outside in the murky morning light, Fireteam Alpha sprinted to the heavy iron front gate of Camella Subdivision, wrapping heavy iron chains around the handles to seal the entrance completely.
Beyond the iron bars, thousands of rotted infected slammed uselessly against the outer perimeter walls, unable to break inside.
Meanwhile, Elias and Sergeant Cruz led the rest of the squad down the suburban street where dozens of turned neighbors shuffled aimlessly.
"Grrr!"
A turned male neighbor in a torn shirt lunged out from a driveway, snapping its rotted jaws directly at Elias!
Elias didn't even flinch.
With 3x Peak Human speed, Elias stepped inside the zombie's guard, seized its throat, and slammed it face-first into the concrete pavement!
"Crack!"
Before the monster could react, Elias drove his combat knife directly through the base of its skull!
"Squiggle... Squelch!"
Beside him, Sergeant Mateo Cruz executed a fluid military CQC maneuver, ducking under a female zombie's claw, driving his combat knife upward beneath her jaw, and twisting the blade with lethal precision!
"Thud!"
The zombie collapsed lifelessly onto the driveway.
Behind closed curtains and second-story window blinds, dozens of surviving families peeked out in utter disbelief!
Because this was only Day 2 of the global outbreak, most residents still had plenty of food and water stocked in their kitchens.
None of them dared to step outside into the blood-stained streets.
Instead, they cowered inside their homes, watching through window cracks with wide, terrified eyes.
"Look at them... who are those guys?!" a surviving neighbor whispered to his wife in shock.
"That young man... he just crushed a monster with his bare hands!" another survivor gasped in awe.
Elias moved like an unstoppable force of nature across the suburban street!
A turned neighbor rushed him from the side, but Elias delivered a lightning-fast side kick enhanced by three times human physical power!
"Boom!"
The crushing impact shattered the zombie's ribcage, blasting it five meters backward into a brick wall!
Elias sprinted forward, plunging his combat knife through its eye socket before turning to face two more approaching infected!
Sergeant Cruz fought right at his flank, his combat knife flashing in the morning light as he broke necks, shattered jaws with rifle butt strikes, and dropped turned residents with terrifying efficiency!
"Slice!"
"Crack!"
Together, Elias and Sergeant Cruz tore through turned neighbors like lethal reaper blades, clearing entire driveways in minutes without firing a single gunshot!
The surviving neighbors watching from their windows trembled in absolute awe, recognizing Elias as a terrifying, high-tier warrior amidst the apocalypse.
Within twenty minutes, forty-five turned residents in the immediate residential block lay dead on the concrete.
"Fireteam Bravo, harvest the Red Cores!" Sergeant Cruz ordered, wiping black blood from his tactical knife.
Two riflemen moved swiftly along the street, carving open the skulls of the dead infected to extract their glowing crimson crystals.
"Squiggle... Crack!"
They gathered forty-five Red Cores into a tactical pouch and presented them to Elias.
Elias touched the pouch, absorbing the energy instantly into his System Vault.
"Ding!"
[ System Notice: 45 Red Cores Absorbed! ]
[ Current Vault Balance: 70 / 500 Red Cores ]
[ Progress to First Lieutenant (1LT): 70 / 500 ]
Elias felt the warm surge of energy flow through his body as his vault balance reached 70 Red Cores.
He looked up at the remaining blocks of Camella Subdivision, his eyes gleaming with cold determination.