Doomsday Pillars

The whole coast battle lasted for about an hour. By the time all the mutated crabs were gone, the sky has turned black. The night came and was followed by the soldiers carrying the victims' bodies to the city outskirts. More than one hundred men died but most of the victims had no family to cry for them, there were just too few tears.

The bodies were prepared by their fellow comrades, flaming torches filled the night and all the bodies were burned. These simple burials came so often, that the people already got used to it. Most were just glad they managed to outrun death one more day.

Alex wanted to go find James, but considering it's already late in the night and he already arrived in Bangkalan city, he decided to stay in the city. This city probably was the largest survivor base in East Java. He needed to know of its people.

As the hero of the battle, Alex and the team were cheered and welcomed with open arms. All survivors were curious about him, many wished to get close to him.. Alex realized the survivors living in the city were separated into three groups. The local Madura people, the Surabaya Javanese, and Chinese ethnicity. The majority were still the Javanese people and the Chinese were always the minority. The ex-governer Cahya seemed to do a great job uniting these three groups.

Cahya and Colonel Dion took the group into a large hospital building which already turned into a command center. There were about fifty people already in the room waiting for him. They were the survived government officials, public figures, and high ranking police and army officers.

These people have been stuck on the island since doomsday, they were curious about the situation outside, especially the other base Alex had prepared. James mentioned his friend in the east quite a few times.

But these people currently felt uneasy. They have heard of the incident earlier today with Colonel Dion, they were anxious, not sure how to approach Alex. They were all taking part in the decision to blow up the bridge, so in a way, they were complicit in James Randall's death.

Inside the room, a dinner has been served as a way to break the ice between them and to celebrate the battle victory against the mutated crab. Alex and the group sat on the front table next to survivors' top figures. Colonel Dion, Cahya and few elders of the Madura people.

The dinner was surprisingly sumptuous, cream tuna spaghetti, mushroom soup, and apple juice. Alex was surprised and the ex-governor seemed to realize it.

"Mr. Alex, this meal was courtesy of the Randall family as well. They have stockpiled lots of food supplies enough for hundreds of thousands of men for months."

James was one of the richest men in Indonesia, for him, this task should have been easy.

Alex responded: "For a second there I thought you people fished the tuna from the sea. These fish taste excellent."

"No sir, James not just only prepared the food but he also storage it well and even prepared professional chefs to prepare it."

"..."

"Being rich does have its advantages", he thought.

"What about fishing, I thought many of the locals were expert fishermen?"

"Yes, we have thought of that, this man is a well-known fisherman. He can explain better than me."

Cahya pointed at one young man in his 20s, Alex recognized the man. It's Ruslan, the man he just saved from the white mutated crab just now. The man looked nervous being asked to speak to him.

"Yes Mr. Alex, thank you for saving me just now... We did manage to fish some before, although the fish seem more aggressive, it's manageable. It's just we only have wooden boats on the island, they're not strong enough and often get attacked by the beasts from the water."

Cahya added: "This is one of the reason James strongly disagreed of blowing up the bridge, without the bridge we are stuck in this island, but now I believe you have more of the ships like the one you brought right, if you can lend one or two of them, we will be really grateful."

Alex gave it some thought and asked:

"I do have more ships ready, and I can give a few to you."

The people in the room suddenly cheered. This man named Alex seemed to be the generous type.

"But... let me ask what you plan to do with the ships?"

Cahya responded: "Well, obviously we need transport to connect this island to the Java Island, although we have lots of items prepared in here, one day they will eventually run out. We might be safe in here, but the things provided on this island are limited."

Alex suddenly stood up from his seat, everyone was startled.

"Listen up all of you!! Listen well!! This island is not safe, it might be for a while, but not after a few months, and definitely will not survive to see another year."

"..."

All eyes suddenly stared at him, he seemed to get everyone's attention.

"The mutated beasts will only get stronger... In a few months those white crabs are just a toy compared to what's coming... The monsters will come in much larger hordes and each one will be stronger than those crabs."

"..."

"!!!"

"That's insane!!"

The crowds turned chaotic. What Alex said was an affirmation of what they have seen. The zombie and the mutated beast attacks do gradually increase and were much harder now. The ex-governor Cahya stood and calmed the crowd. He then turned around back to Alex.

"Please tell us more."

Alex told the group about the doomsday pillars that will drop in Central Java and the one in Bali. Alex and James planned to move the survivors into these two bases. The news was very hard to be received by these people. Cahya, on the other hand, was a smart and wise person, it's better to prepare for the worst, he thought.

In the corner of the room, a group of people mostly high ranking government officials were having a little discussion

"This man is crazy."

"Leaving the island facing those millions of zombies? Who on the right mind would do that?"

"Pillars from the sky? Does he think this is a sci-fi novel?"

"We need to drive him out of the city as soon as possible. Before more people sway from his fantasy."

"How?"

"Colonel Dion is useless. Don't worry, we should be able to persuade commander Dario, his special forces soldiers will not be afraid of that Alex."

"Yes, yes, I agree."

"There, he's already here... This will be interesting. Commander Dario never likes to bow down to people not even to the colonel or any of us."

Not long after, a dozen men arrived in the hall. Cahya mentioned them as the commanders of the other battalions that went to battle the zombie on the east of the island. They returned quickly after hearing about the attack in the east. These men were the best military fighters of the island. Cahya mentioned if they were in the city when the mutated crab attack, the battle would have been much easier.

Alex saw they were all military men. Weirdly these men weren't interested in him, but they stared directly at the beautiful girl next to him.

"..."

Alex thought Aria really was beautiful, but come on...

The group of men in the corner was excited, seeing this.

"This is much easier than we thought. You see, Lieutenant Dario doesn't care about that Alex at all."

"What's with the attention to the girl next to him."

"That's even better. We can even ploy to make him kill Alex and give the girl to him..."

"Wow, that's vicious..."

"You mean viciously smart right...?"

The group of men smiled gleefully in the corner.

"Watch, he's approaching that girl..."

Dario and a few men walked forward and approached Aria...