RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Morning returned to Route One without gunfire.

The two Pillboxes continued watching the roads beyond Ramp Four, though their weapons had remained silent throughout the night.

Soldiers moved between the warehouse and receiving station while the survivors brought from Westgate waited under the covered section beside it.

Some had slept while others only stopped moving.

Blankets covered the benches and part of the floor. Bags rested against the walls beside their owners, while empty cups and food containers gathered near the receiving tables.

The eight survivors carried by Falcon One remained together.

The adults occupied one side of the covered area.

The teenagers sat farther along the wall, their improvised weapons and the two firearms still secured elsewhere after screening.

The boy who had worn pieces of road sign kept the smaller plates beside his feet. He had removed the remaining wire from his jacket sometime during the night.

Neither he nor the boy with the machete argued with the soldiers distributing breakfast.

Priya carried another container from the warehouse.

"Place the next trays on that table. Keep the drinking water beside them."

Two soldiers changed direction without stopping. The family of three remained near the receiving station.

The woman’s ankle no longer needed the heavy wrapping she had worn when Priya first met them. She still favored one foot while walking, though she carried several cups without her husband’s help.

Their daughter followed behind her.

The girl had grown familiar enough with Route One that she no longer remained against either parent whenever soldiers passed. She watched Priya organize the receiving area, then looked toward the new survivors waiting beneath the roof.

Several of them appeared older than her parents.

The teenagers did not.

One boy wore black cloth around his arm. Another had several lines of writing scratched into the sheath beside his bag, though the weapon itself was gone.

They looked tired.

Priya placed the container on the table and opened it.

The girl approached.

"Hey, sister soldier. Are those the people from last night?"

"Yes."

"Did they come in the helicopter?"

"Some of them."

The girl looked toward the teenagers again.

The boy with the remaining metal plates noticed her staring and turned away first.

Priya began separating the food between the trays.

"Take these to the end of the table."

"Okay!"

The girl picked up two cups. She carried them carefully, placing both where Priya had indicated before returning for more.

Her father watched from beside the receiving station but did not stop her.

The new survivors approached once breakfast was ready. Most waited for the people ahead of them. One of the older men asked whether the food had to be returned if he could not finish it.

"No," Priya answered. "Keep what you do not eat."

The man nodded and took his portion.

The teenage girl from the rooftop group came after him.

She accepted a tray with both hands and moved back toward the others. The boys followed without commenting, though one glanced toward the warehouse as more supplies were carried outside.

Priya continued until everyone had received something.

The young girl remained beside her.

She had stopped helping with the cups, though she had not returned to her parents.

"Did you need something?"

The girl looked toward the roads beyond Ramp Four.

"I heard everything last night."

Priya waited.

"The shooting. And those large explosions." The girl held both hands together near her chest. "Mama said we were safe here, but the windows kept moving."

"The fighting was far from here."

"I know."

She looked down.

"I was still scared."

Priya closed the empty container.

"That is understandable."

"Were you there?"

"Some of us were."

"Were you fighting?"

"I was helping move people and supplies."

The girl looked back toward her.

"You weren’t scared when you came here before."

Priya considered the statement.

There had been nothing unusual about the earlier delivery. She and the other soldiers had completed their work, returned to Site Three, then received another assignment when the concentrations moved.

The girl had watched only a small part of it.

"I knew what I needed to do."

"I didn’t."

"You stayed with your parents."

"That’s not much."

"It was what you needed to do."

The girl remained quiet.

Around them, the receiving area continued moving. Soldiers collected the empty containers while the newly arrived survivors ate. The boy with the metal plates had begun examining the fasteners he removed from his jacket, though he looked toward Priya whenever another vehicle passed through Ramp Four.

The young girl followed her gaze.

"I wondered if I could be strong like you, sister soldier."

Priya looked down at her.

"You’ll get there soon, young one."

The girl raised her head.

Priya realized they had spoken several times since the family arrived, but nobody had ever introduced her properly.

"What’s your name?"

The girl hesitated before answering.

"I’m Penny. Penny Ward. My parents call me Pip. I think sister soldier can call me Pip too!"

Priya handed her another cup, hiding the smile under her mask.

"Then help me with the water, Pip."

The girl took it with both hands.

...

At the colony, Tyrus had been awake long before the morning deliveries reached Route One.

The laboratory lights remained steady. The old generator beneath the office building had been shut down after the structure was connected to the colony’s restored power network.

Moisture gathered along the colder sections of concrete, while the desk lamp covered the center of his worktable and left the sealed storage areas in shadow.

Several containers remained against the far wall.

They held the samples Tyrus had taken from the earlier hive carcass with Hans’s authorization.

Most had already lost their original color. Some had hardened inside their containers, while others remained suspended in the preserving solutions his laboratory could still produce.

A padded transport crate waited beside them.

After the first chamber report reached the Colony, Tyrus prepared two empty specimen jars, preserving solution, labels, and written handling instructions. Site Three sent them south to Highcross with the next secured vehicle.

The Engineer assigned to the chamber collected two approved samples only after the materials arrived. He sealed them inside the prepared jars and recorded where each had been removed.

The crate returned before sunrise with the last secured convoy from Highcross. Two Army Soldiers escorted it, and the Engineer’s transfer record remained attached beneath the outer seal.

Tyrus left it closed until he finished reading every page.

Highcross District.

Underground chamber beneath the central parking structure.

One large infected body recovered with damaged SAS field equipment.

Surrounding tissue connected through the drainage routes and several infected remains.

The Commander had ordered everything preserved after the chamber was secured.

Tyrus returned to the first page and read it again.

One soldier remained beyond the red line near the laboratory entrance. The other waited upstairs with the transport vehicle.

"Was this taken from the body?" Tyrus asked.

"Two samples were approved for transfer," the soldier answered. "One from the body. One from the tissue surrounding it."

"And the five enhanced bodies aboveground?"

"Their recovery is still underway. The larger cases you sent reached Highcross with one of the secured convoys. The Engineers are keeping every site separate."

"Good. Nothing from one body is to be combined with another. What about the rest?"

"Still beneath Highcross. South One is guarding the chamber."

"That is enough to begin."

The soldier looked toward the crate.

"To begin?"

"Removing the body before the surrounding structure is documented would destroy part of the evidence."

Tyrus set the report aside and checked the outer seal.

The Engineer’s markings remained intact. Neither container had leaked during transport.

He opened the crate.

Two specimen jars rested inside fitted padding. The first contained a pale strip taken from the growth covering the chamber. The second held darker tissue marked as part of the Broodmother’s upper body.

Tyrus did not touch either jar immediately.

His attention moved between the new specimens and the older hive samples at the end of the table. The differences were visible even before examination, though nothing in the transfer record explained whether they came from separate stages, separate functions, or a completely different process.

The samples were enough to begin.

They were not enough for a conclusion.

"Was Agent Schandler present during the inspection?"

"Yes."

"Miss Kimmy?"

The soldier paused before answering.

"She entered the chamber with the Commander. The medical report says she was transferred to the Field Hospital afterward."

Tyrus looked up.

"Injured?"

"Exhaustion. No physical injury was recorded."

That explained why the report avoided describing what happened around her. The soldiers had preserved the biological evidence, but whatever Kimmy experienced inside the chamber belonged to another record.

Tyrus closed the outer case without disturbing the two containers.

"I need the Engineer’s complete inspection, the medical readings taken from Oracle, and Agent Schandler’s account."

"I can forward the request."

"I also need access to the chamber."

The soldier remained quiet.

Tyrus looked toward him.

"Is there a problem?"

"Highcross remains an active military position. You cannot travel there without authorization and an escort."

"I am aware."

"The Commander is still at Site Three."

"Then the request does not have far to travel."

The soldier remained silent.

"Tell Golden Eagle the samples arrived intact. Tell him I will not give him a conclusion from two pieces removed from their original structure."

"I will relay your words to the Commander."

The soldier turned toward the entrance.

"Ah. One more thing, soldier. The chamber. I hope nothing is to be moved until I have seen it."

"The Commander already ordered it preserved."

Tyrus paused.

"Then tell him I agree with his decision."

The soldier began sending the request.

Tyrus returned the Highcross report beneath the desk lamp and opened it to the first page again.

The two sealed samples remained inside the case beside him.

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