"Turn off your engine and step out of the vehicle right now!" a voice in the megaphone exclaimed. Two men with balaclavas in gray camouflage fatigues with M4 Carbine disembarked their truck and positioned themselves behind me.

"One last chance, turn off your engine and step out of the vehicle, Right. Now!" the voice in the megaphone repeated. Another two from the truck in front of me positioned themselves in front of my vehicle.

Time was not on my side, so I decided to act quickly. I switched off the engine and hastily hid my rifle underneath my seat and relieved myself of any weapon. I raised my hand as I opened the door. I slowly disembarked my vehicle with my hands still raised. My mind kept saying that this is a colossal mistake, these people might be raiders or highwaymen.

"I have relieved myself of all weapons, don't shoot," I shouted as I closed the doors of my vehicle.

The four men armed with M4 carbines slowly approached, I can sense their anxiety as one of those men was struggling to control his trembling hand that was aimed towards me. He and his comrades exchanged looks and nodded as he was the one who went closer to me.

"Hhhh..hands up. Ddd.. don't make funny movements", he said with a trembling voice; with him closing in, I decided to play along. I fought the urge to grab his rifle and eliminate them; however, they are not highwaymen or raiders. If they were one, they probably shot me as soon as I stepped out of my vehicle, but they didn't. They are afraid of something, or these men are greenhorns.

The idling of the truck engine covered the silence of the area; in all of a sudden, a loud crashing noise broke the silence, the greenhorn was startled and fired his gun.

Pure luck allowed me to evade death, I was able to parry the barrel right on time as it fired, in a split second I held the handguard. I was pissed with what this greenhorn soldier did, and I wasn't able to hold myself. I pulled away from the gun towards me. However, he grabbed on his weapon, which brought him towards me, the soldier tried to hold on, but he lost his balance as I threw him forward where he fell on his face. My thoughts of shooting my way out of here were removed when a woman in olive drab fatigues appeared.

"Stand down! Put your guns down!" she said, as she disembarked on the truck.

Her men followed like a circus animal, they lowered their weapons yet remained vigilant. I threw the soldier's rifle down the ground and raised my hands again. Apparently, she is standing around 5'3", a bit muscular with an air of authority around her. She stood out from these bunch of greenhorns, I can definitely conclude she is the commander of this circus.

"I am First Lieutenant Ayenalyn Ballard, 17th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. You can lower your hand. We won't shoot you unless you give us a reason", she said as she stood in front of me.

I snickered, she was visibly irritated with it. The man in gray struggled to stand and went to pick up his rifle. He staggered as he walked towards his comrades, one of the men came to his aide and assisted him towards the truck, the two remaining armed men remained vigilant.

"I relieved myself of all weapons and followed what you told me to do, and yet one of your men still attempted to kill me," I replied. "And now you expect me to believe that you won't shoot me unless I gave you a reason?" I continued sarcastically.

"I admit my men were anxious. However, it is only justified because we are at war", she replied with a stern tone.

"Really? Isn't that your government has always tried to justify unlawful acts of violence because they are always at war with something? War on Terrorists, War on Revolutionaries, War on Drugs? What's new, War on Infected beings?" I replied.

"No. Because this time there is no government, we are left here all by ourselves to deal with a new threat we have never learned to deal with in the academy. Certain people can be opportunistic about this so-called end of the world scenario." she replied.

This cemented to me that she had already come to terms with the very system she tried to serve.

"I am sorry to hear about that," I said, commiseratingly, after realizing these people had every reason to be anxious, paranoid, and even afraid. They are left to their own devices and they still have a duty to a country that may no longer exist. "Is there any way I can help?"

The captain chuckled, she shook her head after hearing what I said, her aides were also perplexed with what I said. Almost a minute ago, I beat down one of her men, antagonized the system they are serving and now at the strange turn of events I am offering to help them. They say the gods must be crazy.

"You wanted to do what?" she asked.

"I would like to help you with your problems." I replied, "It seems that you have a lot of things to deal with on your plate."

"Fair enough, you can help us by coming with us to our Outpost. We have some questions for you."

"Well, how long exactly am I going to be held there?" I answered. "I have places to be. However, here I am, almost getting shot in the face, and now I am being detained for what. Being alive?"

She sighed, she was clearly irritated with my smart ass talking. I could not afford to lose more of my time; I had to reach PTC HQ no matter what shall be the cost.

"Okay, this is how it goes. You can help by coming with us to the Outpost and answer our questions, then if we are satisfied we will let you go. If we have available resources, we could assist you on whatever might be your problem." she explained. "Or maybe you can continue being a hard-ass and keep pressing my buttons, giving me a reason to shoot you in your fucking face. Just so you know, I don't miss my shots."

The first offer was too compelling to pass on, and it's not like she offered me a better alternative option. I had no information regarding the outside world, yet, accepting their offer would take time, depending on what they want to know. I had to playball to achieve my goal.

I just nodded, agreeing on her terms. It was fair for both parties to learn one another to trust them. She left as I stood in my car door, waiting for her instructions, her men assembled as she signaled one of the men who were standing by. There were around ten men who converged our position, soldiers in gray camouflage uniform lined up in an orderly fashion

"Squad, listen up." Lt. Ballard commanded, "We are going to return to the Outpost with our POI, Corporal Moore, divide yourself on each truck. We would conduct a convoy ride towards the North Outpost, be alert for an ambush. Sergeant Retuerma and Private Laminers on me."

After giving orders to her squad, she and her men approached my position, as they went near towards me, her men became warier of me. They didn't bother to hide their distrust and suspicion, they remained alert and observant with my actions, a miscalculation of action could be a grave mistake with these two.

"So here's what is going to happen," she explained. "We shall mount on your vehicle, and you'll drive us to the Crossing Medical Center, any funny actions, and my men would shoot you down like a dog."

"Fine by me, as long as they are not trigger happy, I would be fine," I replied as I opened the door. As we embarked in the car, Private Laminers went by the passenger seat near the driver, he panicked as he opened the door.

"He's got weapons in here, Lieutenant. Pistol and a Lever action rifle." Private Laminers exclaimed, he pointed his rifle towards me as he slowly backed down, the other soldiers stopped with what they were doing and looked towards me. Sergeant Retuerma aimed her rifle towards where I was sitting, Lieutenant Ballard just stood still and looked at me from behind the backseat awaiting an explanation.

"Look, your commander told me to relieve myself of my weapons and step out of my vehicle. I followed what she ordered me to do." I explained, "So would you please, stop pointing your fucking guns towards me and calm the fuck down." as I looked towards Private Laminers and Sergeant Retuerma.

Private Laminers remained silent. He gazed on Lieutenant Ballard, who just nodded. Private Laminers lowered his weapon, yet, his cautious demeanor remained as I placed my rifle down under the seats. I took my pistol and put it in the holster. We waited for the soldiers of Lieutenant Ballard to finish packing up. We embarked towards the North Outpost as soon as they finished.

We were going around 25km/h, the truck in front of me was moving slowly and had broken tail lights, which caused me to maintain a distance towards it. It was getting on my nerves when Lieutenant Ballard asked me.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" she asked, "Where were you staying all this time?"

I was hesitating to answer truthfully. Remaining quiet for a while wondering if I stayed elusive with the questions. Their trust will be diminished, and the opportunity for me to move towards the PTC HQ will be hindered. I could lie and maintain some secrecy without raising suspicions.

"You can call me Jack, I am looking for my father." I replied, "He was working at PTC HQ in Crossing Calamba, I hope you'll allow me to visit the facility."

Lieutenant Ballard nodded, she kept observing the outside for any infected beings as her loyal Sergeant kept an eye on me along with her Private. It was silent, the engine of the car and the truck in front and behind me were the only noises. We passed the Lawa Wet Market and reached the end of the Prinza Road, which intersects the Old National Highway. Then in all of a sudden, an infected being suddenly ran out of the old, dilapidated 7-77 convenience store. One of Lt. Ballard's men from the truck behind us shot it dead, its head blew off as its body fell down crashing.

"Tango sighted and downed. Over" said the man on the radio.

"Affirmative, Juliet 2. Have you radioed the North Outpost?" Lt. Ballard replied,

"Affirmative, Lieutenant. The North Outpost wasn't answering our calls", he replied,

"I see, once we pass RCL, try to contact North Outpost." Lt. Ballard replied, "Relay order to Juliet 1 to pace down until we manage to reach North Outpost. Over"

"Roger that, Lieutenant. Juliet 2 Out." the man replied, as the radio went silent again.

Private Laminers is visibly bothered by this news, but I didn't manage to ask him about it. I remembered Lieutenant Ballard saying I was a POI, I was wondering what it meant.

"Lieutenant, you said I was a POI. Do you mind explaining to me what it meant?" I asked

"All I can tell you right now is you are a POI from an intel report." Lt. Ballard replied as she continued to look outside, "We'll brief you with the rest once we have reached the Outpost."

I was worried about what would happen when we would reach the North Outpost, thoughts of me getting executed ran towards my mind. I maintained a calm expression, although my mind wasn't. After a few moments, we were about to pass RCL, and the truck in front of me moved slower than it did. Perhaps North Outpost wasn't still answering the attempted radio contact. It was definitely strange, eerily silent as if something wasn't right.

The eerie silence was broken by the radio contact of Juliet 2.

"Juliet 2 to Commander, North Outpost is still silent. Over." the radio operator said,

"Copy that, Juliet 2. Alert Juliet 1 to be on alert." Lt. Ballard replied, "We shall disembark upon the entrance of the North Outpost and proceed on foot. Disseminate the order to Juliet 1 and 2. Over."

"Roger that, Commander. Juliet 2 out." the radio Operator replied and ended the communication.

Private Laminers checked his M4 Carbine's magazine, his Attention was focused on the North Outpost. Same for Sergeant Retuerma, Lieutenant Ballard readied her Glock 17 9mm pistol.

"May I arm myself as well?" I asked, "Just to protect myself, you know."

"Protect yourself from what? Arming a civilian with no experience is the worst thing possible." Private Laminers expressed furiously.

"You can aim and shoot properly, right? Because if not, you won't last this long." Lt. Ballard replied,

"You can use that cowboy rifle of yours and follow my soldier's lead, I expect you to follow my commands at all times. Are we clear?" she continued as she looked sternly towards me.

"Affirmative, Lieutenant," I replied,

After we passed the San Juan River Bridge, we arrived at the North Outpost. It was the former site of the Crossing Medical Center; they converted the old hospital as an outpost. The trucks stopped and parked in a Betrohn Gasoline station, which was near the entrance of the Crossing Medical Center. Lieutenant Ballard, Sergeant Retuerma, and Private Laminers disembarked as soon the car was parked. The soldiers assembled to their formation as Lieutenant Ballard stood and gave her orders.

"Attention! Everybody listen up, we have no idea what happened inside of North Outpost. The watchtower guards aren't responding either, so we have to determine what happened here." Lt. Ballard said, "We would split up into two squadrons, Juliet 1 and Juliet 2, you'll be conducting a recon operation. Determine the status of North Outpost. Maintain radio contact. Sergeant Retuerma, assign each leader to the respective squadrons."

"Affirmative, Lieutenant." Sergeant Retuerma replied.

Lt. Ballard went on and kept providing instructions to her men as I loaded my repeating rifle with .44 Magnum ammunition. As I finished reloading, I saw a boot lying around the corner, my curiosity got me and decided to go towards it to inspect it.

The boot contained a half-chewed flesh and torn leg. I saw a man in the same gray fatigues torn in half, his torso was torn apart as his entrails kept dangling around like a pulled apart mozzarella cheese. The abandoned cars around the area of the gasoline station covered the grotesque set up. I decided to investigate the surroundings. I approached the wall near where the torn body was found was damaged. Based on the damage that occurred, either it was a car in a high speed possibly collided on it, or something of heavy machinery was involved. It could be the people that Lieutenant Ballard said they were at war with. Still, I could definitely conclude that whatever the reason why North Outpost wasn't responding is not about signal interference.

I wasn't able to realize that Lt. Ballard was standing behind me, her face was bewildered, perhaps shocked with what she saw.

"What the hell happened here?" Lt. Ballard asked she was clearly shocked by the traumatic scene.

"Well, that explains why the North Outpost wasn't responding." I replied as I looked back towards her, "I suggest you should move your men and abandon North Outpost; perhaps there are doors that aren't meant to be opened."

"Negative, we must conduct a thorough search." Lt. Ballard argued, "Some of my men might be trapped inside, and we must save North Outpost at all costs."

However before I could reply, we heard a loud roar from the inside of the compound,

I remained speechless in both shock and terror as my eyes laid on that being. Pure terror enveloped my body as if I saw the end of my life.

God help us.