Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 276: Path Towards Victory

Day 15 – 08:00 PM, MOA Complex – Strategic Command Hall

The lights dimmed inside the MOA Complex’s Strategic Command Hall, now bathed in the amber hue of emergency lighting. Though the mood was calm, every officer and analyst inside knew what was coming. Large digital maps scrolled across the central screen, highlighting coordinates in eastern China—deep within the province of Zhejiang, where a massive Bloom Nest had been confirmed.

The nest wasn’t new, but it had grown exponentially over the past weeks—feeding on abandoned industrial zones and mutating in silence. Today, it had finally crossed a line.

Casimiro stood at the forefront, eyes trained on the latest recon footage. "We have movement," he said. "The biomass is expanding outward, forming a radial network across four surrounding towns. It’s not just defending anymore—it’s preparing to breach."

Thomas Estaris stepped forward, hands folded behind his back. The room quieted as he stared at the satellite images taken earlier by their high-altitude recon drones. No satellites. No orbital support. Just hours of persistent drone flight stitching together a gruesome truth.

"We tracked the heat signatures for two days," said Rebecca, standing beside him. "It’s spawning something. Something big. Not spores or roots. Something mobile."

Casimiro added, "Based on dispersal density and node activity, it’s prepping for a cross-water assault. Shanghai would be first. Then up the coast. If this thing hits Korea—everything we’ve gained could collapse."

A silence fell.

"Then we end it now," Thomas said.

A murmured breath rippled through the room. Everyone knew what he meant.

"No drones. No satellites," said Rebecca. "How do we guide the payload?"

Thomas turned to Sison. "We don’t guide from orbit. We fire from here."

Colonel Sison, already anticipating the order, brought up another screen—this one displaying a missile cruiser stationed just outside Taiwan’s territorial waters, along with a mobile land-based launcher hidden deep in the Sierra Madre mountains.

"We’ve been modifying our long-range cruise systems with inertial guidance," he said. "Old-school ballistic targeting, supported by relay drones for mid-course telemetry. The missile’s flight path is dirty, but it’ll hit."

"How many warheads are prepped?" Thomas asked.

"Two," Sison replied. "One on the cruiser. One mobile—commanded remotely through shielded fiber uplinks."

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. "What yield?"

"Twenty kilotons each. Localized devastation. Low fallout radius. Enough to vaporize the nest but not glass the province."

Thomas stared at the blinking red zone on the map. "Any civilians?"

"Minimal population density within blast zone. Those who stayed were either caught long ago or fled when the root clusters started growing."

Thomas nodded slowly. "Then let history mark this day."

He turned to the console and pressed the red key embedded in the hardened control terminal.

"This is Commander Thomas Estaris of Overwatch. Initiate Operation Thunderwake. Target: Zhejiang Bloom Cluster. Code authorization: Phoenix-7-Delta-2. Fire when ready."

—

Day 15 – 08:12 PM, Mobile Launch Unit ’Blackspire’ – Sierra Madre Range

Amid the jungle-shrouded ridgelines of the Sierra Madre, a mobile TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) system emerged from its camouflaged bunker. The massive hydraulics groaned as the launcher elevated its warhead into position. Several Overwatch technicians stood behind reinforced screens, running final diagnostics.

"Telemetry locked. Inertial guidance confirmed," said one operator. "Payload is live."

"Range to target: 1,203 kilometers. Time to impact: 13 minutes," another called out.

"On the Commander’s authority... launch."

The jungle lit up like dawn.

The missile roared from the launch bed, trailing a scorching column of fire behind it as it sliced into the night sky, vanishing into the upper atmosphere. Moments later, another launch lit the waters off Taiwan—the cruiser’s warhead following in silent pursuit.

—

Day 15 – 08:25 PM, Zhejiang Province – Bloom Cluster Nexus

In the heart of the dead zone, the biomass pulsed and writhed across factory walls and shattered overpasses. It had grown beyond imagination—structures fused with flesh and bone, spires of organic filth stretching skyward. Deep within the core of the cluster, a massive, swollen cocoon trembled violently, as though something inside was ready to hatch.

The first missile descended in a brilliant arc—its shell screaming through the upper atmosphere before splitting open and triggering its warhead.

There was no warning. No resistance.

Only white.

A flash brighter than lightning swallowed the sky.

The explosion vaporized the Bloom Nexus in a searing dome of fire and plasma. Steel twisted into vapor. Concrete shattered and turned to glass. The surrounding area, nearly four square kilometers wide, was swept clean of biomass, flesh, and stone in a singular instant.

Seconds later, the second warhead struck from the sea—detonating on the opposite side of the cluster. The pressure wave collided with the first blast’s shock front, sending a plume of pulverized debris skyward and cracking the earth below. Fires ignited in the forests surrounding the dead zone, but the biomass was gone.

It had been erased.

—

Day 15 – 08:45 PM, MOA Complex – Observation Deck

The screen flickered with confirmation. Telemetry feeds showed near-total annihilation. Sensor sweeps reported no biomass left in the impact zone. The sky over Zhejiang glowed faintly orange, but the fires would soon die. There was nothing left to burn.

Inside the command deck, no one cheered. No applause. Just silence.

"Zone confirmed neutralized," said Sison.

Casimiro leaned back in his chair. "We... we just pulled it off."

Thomas stood at the front, unmoving, his expression carved in steel. "Get containment teams ready. And humanitarian relief for adjacent provinces. If there’s anything left to save, we save it."

***

Day 25 – 08:10 AM, Zhejiang Province – Extraction Point Echo-Seven

The Black Hawk’s rotor wash kicked up clouds of ash as it descended onto the scarred extraction point. Phillip stood at the edge of the blast zone, his exosuit coated in soot, visor darkened by the rising sun’s glare. His boots were stained with carbon, but his mind was clear.

"Get the samples aboard," he ordered. "Ghost, tag the husk’s location. We’ll send a recovery team later, once the radiation settles."

One of the recon troopers approached, handing him a sealed metal canister.

"Air quality, particulate samples, and two core shavings from the central mass."

Phillip accepted the case with a nod. "If we’re lucky, R&D will finally learn what that thing was supposed to be."

Ghost climbed aboard the helicopter first, already reviewing sensor data. "If it had gotten out, it wouldn’t have just hit Korea. That thing was meant to cross oceans."

Phillip looked back one last time as the engines flared.

The Zhejiang Bloom Cluster—once a continent-level threat—was now a black stain on the earth. Burned. Broken. Quiet. But victory didn’t feel like celebration. It never did. It felt like... buying time.

He climbed aboard.

As the helicopter rose, the dead city beneath them shrank into a single scar on the landscape—one of many the world now carried.

Day 25 – 12:15 PM, MOA Complex – Command Wing, Debrief Room

Thomas Estaris sat at the head of the long steel table, reviewing the first sensor sweep reports. Rebecca, Casimiro, and Colonel Sison flanked him. Phillip entered, still in partial armor, helmet tucked beneath his arm.

"We touched down at 0630," Phillip began. "Impact site is clean. No signs of regrowth, no spore counts above background radiation. Cluster central husk was confirmed destroyed before activation. We retrieved samples and tagged a secondary alpha form—burned, non-viable. Retrieval is scheduled post-radiation decay."

Thomas nodded. "Any human remains?"

"None in the zone itself. Perimeters were clean too. If anyone was still there, they left months ago."

Rebecca exhaled. "So that’s it. That node’s gone."

"It’s gone," Phillip confirmed.

Casimiro leaned forward. "Do we have confirmation that this was the largest? The satellite footage stitched together showed its sprawl almost matching Jakarta’s original bloom."

"We won’t know for sure," Thomas said. "But based on what we’ve seen... this was a lynchpin. Maybe not the last. But certainly one of the oldest."

Phillip added, "It was building something. Organically designed to spread across oceanic currents. That’s why it took longer. It wasn’t growing to consume. It was growing to launch."

The room fell silent.

Thomas finally stood. "Then we struck first. And for once, we weren’t too late."

He tapped the digital map nearby—Zhejiang’s red blotch now faded to black.

"One less nest. One less nightmare."

Day 25 – 17:00 PM, MOA Complex – Observation Deck

Later that evening, Phillip stood alone on the same deck where the first reports had once marked the world red. Now, five green zones pulsed gently: Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Taipei, and Busan. And just beyond them... a black zone, where once crimson had glared. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Not saved. Not reclaimed. But purged.

The war for humanity wasn’t about conquest anymore—it was about subtraction. Removing threats. Buying moments. Building back life from embers.

Rebecca joined him, silent for a while before speaking.

"You were right to go in person."

"I needed to see it," Phillip said. "To know it wasn’t bluffing. That we didn’t just fire a weapon and call it done."

She nodded, then added softly, "But that’s what we’ve become, haven’t we? Weapons."

"Maybe," he replied. "But if being a weapon is what stops the fire from spreading—then I’ll burn for it."

He turned to leave but paused as she spoke again.

"We can’t keep this up forever."

"No," Phillip admitted. "But we’ll keep going. One zone at a time. Until there’s nowhere left for them to hide. Southeast Asia and East Asia is pretty much secure, our only way of defeating the apocalypse is we nuke every cities."