Chapter 58 - The Bait
07:00
By this time, most of the undead were awaken and return to their basic instinct, ...the need to eat! The undead might move rather slowly but they have quite the strength to grab, pull and bite. Fighting zombies one on one might be easy, especially using a weapon. But for one human being surrounded by three, or ten, or consider an unending wave of tens of zombies, even high-rank mortal human will eventually succumb. The trick is to not get surrounded by either keep moving or fight within groups. Also, try to move as silently as possible since noises will attract more zombies.
<Main Base>
The morning sun has risen. In the last 8 hours alone, more than 10.000 survivors came to this base. They then were separated into 3 categories.. The fighters, the workers and the children and elders. There is nothing much the base can do to the elders and children at the moment. From there, Devita, Tony and Jane assign the workers depending on their individual skills: Administrator, Builder, and Farmer.
As for the fighters, they were directed under the command of Captain Donnie. As the situation is currently still in chaos all across Bali, these fighters were only given a few hours basic training, at the end of which they were equipped with weapons and right away sent to a mission with Bayu.
<North Section >
Jerry and Rangga Unit successfully finish their 150 kilometers marathon in 8 hours. They have managed to both inform and help dozens of villages along the shores. In the end, the group manages to recruit one thousand men to help. With this number, Jerry and Rangga decided to continue to the West section. The West section has two main areas, the Gilimanuk on the North side with a population of around 150.000 people, and Negara on the South side with 300.000 people. Rangga has special mission prepared by Alex beforehand. He head North to Gilimanuk, a port city on the westernmost of Bali, only separated by 2 kilometers strait to East Java. While Jerry went down to the Negara. Each unit brings 500 volunteers to help. This time they went in fully armed.
<East Section>
Benny\'s Group, meanwhile, has successfully cleared up all bodies in Antiga city. The road between Bay city to the main base is now safe. Lt Commander Karra Echo unit, on the other hand, has fallen short. Unlike Benny, the commander was not familiar with the locals. In the end, Benny\'s group came over to assist her. It took them the whole 8 hours to cleared up Semarapura with over 100.000 bodies.
When the dawn comes, there were only a few zombies left. After recruiting more people, the group moved on to the next city. It is the Amarapura city, with 350.000 people in population. The city is located on the far east, to go there they need to pass the Bay city.
"..."
DRATATATATATATTA
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DRATATATATATATTA
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Surprisingly the fight has already reached the bay city. Lieutenant Russel\'s Unit is currently defending against hundreds of zombies\' attack.
Lieutenant Russel Navy commandos were startled by the sudden attack.. the city and villages on the east of Bay city didn\'t have the chance to be given a heads up. The undead\'s attack came from the east. Luckily, the Villa covered the east side of the city. It was the first place under attack, therefore the nearby locals were warned by the shootouts of the Charlie units.
"Lieutenant! WTF is this..."
"That\'s what we are here for sergeant Joni, stay in formation.."
"!!!.. it\'s closing in on us!!"
DRATATATATATATAT..
"Calm down Sergeant!!"
Without a moment to spare, Commander Karra and Benny reached the bay city.
Benny said, "They are under attack!! Commander, should we join the battle now?"
Lt Commander Karra was shocked at the sight of the zombies, swarming at them, she was stunned!
"Come on Commander, we need the order to open fire..now!"
They rushed in and join the defense… After a few moments of agony, the situation was finally under control...
She finally calmed herself down and said... "Hold back on using your ammo, unless it\'s really necessary... use melee weapon instead, the noise of gunshots will only draw more of them in.
Mr. Benny, load every elders and children on the trucks to the base while all other able-bodied man and women who can pick up a weapon, should join the fight! "
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The Battle of the Bay city finally start.
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<South Section>
The battle in the South was on a much larger scale! The whole South section was divided into the North Denpasar city and the south, which is the Nusa Dua island. Both areas connected by a narrow space. An aerial view would reveal that geographically, it was in a shape of an hourglass.
On the North outer of Denpasar city itself located 6 smaller cities. They were: Kerambitan, Tabanan, Mengwi, Abiensemal, Sukawati, and Gianyar. Between all of these 6 small cities, Denpasar, the Capital city, and Nusa Dua Island, totaled more than 3 million people.
10:00
When the zombies started to rise.. all chaos breaks loose... casualties count start to drastically incline. The spread out tactic was not effective anymore. Alex then ordered all men to slowly retreat to the outer city.
Alex quickly gathered all the leaders for a Tactical meeting. Lieutenant Aria, Captain Farell, Captain Adnan, Colonel Jaka, Major Sandi, Governer Agung, and Rama were present.
"It\'s good to see that you are save, Governor!"
"Yes, yes, indeed..." still with traces of sweat on his forehead he responded.
As if on cue, "AARRRGGGHHHH one of that thing bit me.. am I going to infected too?"
"Don\'t worry Colonel Jaka, it is not infectious, you\'ll be fine."
Alex commences the meeting.
Alex reminded them about the strength of the zombies and the best, most effective ways to defeat them. He also explained to them about the red mutated zombies, who have greater speed and strength, and last but not least about the spirit stones.
"The tactic we have now is simply too slow. There are roughly a million zombies in the city.. it would take too much time. We need a more aggressive approach! The objective is to save as many people as possible with the least casualty, while preserving as much ammunition as possible."
As an intelligence officer, Captain Farell interjected with a brilliant strategy.
First, to create 6 posts on each smaller cities. These 6 posts will contain the zombie\'s movement from Denpasar to many other areas north of it. These not only will become survivor posts for those who were injured but also pickup points to transfer all children and elders to the main base. The police and the army together numbered 1,800 people. The pencak silat society 1,000 men plus 5,000 volunteers. All together, 7,800 men will be divided to guard the 6 posts. Each with 1,600 men. This operation will be organized and led by Captain Farell with the assistance of Colonel Jaka.
Second, a main strategy called "The Bait". As the name suggests, the idea is to lure in as many zombies as possible to one place and bombarded them with heavy weaponry. The allocated point is Bali International Airport, which is located strategically on the narrow path between the Denpasar city and Nusa Dua island. The narrow path provides the ideal defensive stance. This location will not only draw in a flow of zombies from Denpasar, but also from the Nusa Dua island.
Eight APV were allocated for this strategy. Only APV would be robust enough to charge into millions of zombies. Without counting in the red mutated ones.
This will be a highly dangerous mission, therefore, joining will be voluntary. Among the 104 men selected, ranging from The Deathsquad, Army Redbarret, Police Densus88, and Red Belt and white shash top Pencak silat disciples, none of them refuse.
Finally, Aria with 30 Deathsquad, Captain Adnan and 20 of his Red Barret, Major Sandi and 20 of his Densus 88, Rama and 20 of pencak silat disciples, along with a few of the soldiers specialized in Operating the APV were gathered, armed, and ready.
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Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Alex caught a stare along with a big smile.. its Cindy.. It doesn\'t take a genius to understand what crosses her mind..
"..."
"Nope!! you are definitely not coming"
12:00
Eight APVs power through the Denpasar city using eight separate routes, while making a very loud noise to attract the zombies.
"WE ARE FROM THE ARMY... WE ARE LEADING THE UNDEAD TO THE SOUTH... ALL SURVIVORS MUST IMMEDIATELY MOVE TO THE NEAREST SURVIVAL POST NORTH OF THE CITY... I REPEAT... WE ARE....."
DRRAATTATATATATAT...
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It\'s working! Along the way, the APV fired up the machine guns to make noises and thin them up. Bit by bit...
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16:00
The APVs arrived at the destination... hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of zombies right behind them...
All 90 fighters jumped out and got into position. One squad start planting C4s all around the airport. While two other squads made their way into the terminals and cleaned up the zombies... but as Alex reluctantly anticipated, they found hundred of survivors hiding on the second floor.
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This could be tricky.
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"ATTENTION TO ALL UNITS! ITS SEEMS THAT WE NEED TO HOLD UP FOR A FEW HOURS!"
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"I have sent for urgent reinforcements.
Meanwhile, let\'s give our guests here a proper welcome!"
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"LIGHT THEM UP"
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DRATATATATATATATATA.....