A few days later, Hawk sat in a briefing room, giving a breakdown of the mission’s events. Hamilton and Holsan were paying very close attention. Dr Holland was sitting in on the meeting, waiting to add his information to the comprehensive briefing.

“In conclusion to the actual operation operative, Harrington successfully engaged and killed the ghoul that ambushed him and trainee Hills. From the reports given evidence on the scene, the fight was a short and brutal engagement. Operative Harrington was injured in the fight but not severely and both were medevacked back to command.” Hawk summarised the end of his report.

“This led to one major question that we spent the next few days trying to answer. Where did the ghoul come from?” He continued.

“A full search and detailed exploration of the engagement area revealed no clear trail of where the ghoul came from. A very faint trail was eventually found that led out of the zone. Searching a more expansive area beyond the boundary, we discovered several areas where bloodstains were located. We believe the ghoul was present in the zone but was outside when the operative and trainee began the mission.

This, of course, leads to far broader and more troubling questions that we are unable to answer at this time. Secondary investigation teams, as well as forensic specialists, are combing the area around the zone.

An emergency sealing order has been approved to aid in further investigations. The active zone is hindering any long-term, in-depth understanding of what happened. The zone should be sealed within the next three hours and any additional information will be amended to the report later.” Clearly, this was the end of what he was planning on saying.

“Dr Holland, what is operative Harrington’s present condition?” Hamilton asked.

“Presently, he has a slight fever and several laceration injuries to his back and left arm. The fever is a product of his body fighting off the ghoul virus. He is at no risk of turning. The lacerations are healing exceptionally well and he should be back in fighting condition within a month.

We should be able to release him by the end of this week. The additional data we are gathering on how his body is fighting off the virus has been a great help and we expect to have a trial version of medication to help fight off the ghoul virus within three months.” Holland said while studying an e-pad in front of him.

“Thank you, major and Dr Holland will take this time to review what you have shown and given us in your reports and will speak to you both at later dates.” Holsan dismissed them.

The two men nodded and got up and left the room. They both knew that the real decisions were about to be made about what happened during the mission.

“Damn it all! We got incredibly lucky there!” Hamilton exclaimed. Holsan was surprised by the outburst from the usually reserved man.

“Thankfully, Operative Harrington was on this mission and saved the trainee.” Holsan sought to focus on Hamilton.

“Sorry, Robert. It’s been a terrible few months, as you know. Parliament is in a full debate over the new act. The Cabinet, of course, is trying to push it through, but there are too many loopholes for abuses of the new act.”

“Don’t worry, Roger, I completely understand. The other generals and I have been trying to figure out how to implement new training regimes for the recruits that we will be receiving.”

Both men fell silent for a few minutes, thinking about their present and upcoming duties and burdens. They both knew things were going to get worse, a lot worse.

“But you’re right. We should be thankful that Operative Harrington was on that mission. Few other operatives have the skill or experience to fight a ghoul.” Hamilton said.

“I agree. I find it funny that the strange public rating system has him just outside the top 10 operatives in the nation. When really, it’s between him and operative Griffin on who is the best.” Holsan griped. Hammonton laughed at that.

“Come now, General, to pay attention to those foolish ratings? They are created by conspiracy theorists and talking heads who have no real idea what is happening.”

“Me no! But my wife and daughters love them. Our national operatives have become a great source of gossip for society. They are getting rated like football teams now in a league.”

“That is true. But to business at hand. From Dr Holland’s reports, three months is excellent news until we get a trial medication. This will be a great benefit to us and our allies across the world. We will finally have a way to reduce the numbers of infected from the ghoul virus.”

“Shame is not a vaccination we can roll out to the whole population.” Holsan thought out loud.

“One day at a time, Robert, one day at a time.”

“True. What of trainee Hills?”

“We will assign her to a new trainer. We should remove Operative Harrington from the training roster completely. The future missions we are planning for him are too dangerous to send any trainee with him.” Hammonton decided.

“I agree. I will let Major Hawk know. I will issue him signed orders you will implement with the rest of the command.”

“Excellent. That’s a least one problem out of the way.” Hamilton’s phone suddenly went off, stopping him from saying anything else. He lifted the phone and answered it.

“Can you confirm that? When did it happen? Okay, let me know as soon as you know more. No, I don’t care when you tell me. Yes, as soon as you get any more information. No, I will tell him I’m in a meeting with him right now.” Holsan only heard one side of the conversation. Hammonton hung up.

“Bad news then?” Holsan asked.

“The Portland zone in America. The perimeter just was breached by a massive force of grave threats. The US military seems to be taken by surprise somehow. Casualties looked to be severe. The zone is expanding as we speak. It looks like it will swallow up what’s left of the city. I am awaiting further information.”

“The Canadians are going to be more than concerned over that. Victoria is the closest city to Portland. Do you think they will implement their wall plan?” Holsan asked.

“No, that is politicians thinking that a wall can stop a zone. It’s just for public consumption to try to keep the populace calm. Anyway, if the zone were going to reach Victoria, you would have to go up through Washington state and Seattle. I think they’re okay. We both know the only true way to stop a zone is to go in and seal it. But a zone of that size….” Hammonton did finish it did need to. They both knew the truth.

“We need to know what happened. That zone perimeter was among the best defended in the world.” Holsan got out his phone and began typing a message.

“Agreed. The US military had concentrated quite a few assets in the area. Depending on their losses, this could have a dire impact on the national situation.”

“Are you heading back to London?”

“Yes, Robert. The situation demands I return. The Cabinet will be in a flurry. They will need calming until we know what’s going on.” Hamilton told him.

“I will need to speak to the rest of the general staff. We might be needed to move more assets to support the Canadians.”

“Good thinking. Please send me a report on what we have available. Expect to hear from the Canadian soon. The Cabinet will need options.”

“Very well. I will talk to you later.”

With that, both men got up and left the room. Their days suddenly became a lot longer and harder.

## ## ## ## ##

I was sitting up in bed in the medical wing. I was still suffering the after-effects of grave chill. The room was warmer than average, but I was not feeling it. I could not lie back as my back wounds would become irritable. I was watching the news feeds, trying to distract myself.

Suddenly breaking news broke across the screen. The footage I was watching changed from a puff piece to a live viewing of what was left of Portland in the US. It seemed the footage was coming from a drone overflying the few sections of the city that were not in the zone.

This was odd as the US had a no-fly zone around the area where their perimeter was located. And they enforce that no-fly zone religiously.

Just watching for a few seconds, I quickly realised what was happening. The zone was expanding. I could see the signs of fighting in the streets as US military forces pulled back. It was clear that they were under attack from grave types. Now I can tell what type; I hazard a guess that they were primarily zombies and ghouls.

The presenter was trying to give information as she was learning. It was clear she had no clue what was going on. I also felt sorry for the soldiers down there as I knew how bad it was fighting grave types. I had thankfully never faced such numbers in an urban environment.

That was the stuff of true nightmares for any operative.

Unsurprisingly the US military was saying nothing that was not obvious and that they were engaged in a zone incursion. Soon several talking heads joined the presenter on the feed. In truth, they could not add anything. We just had to wait and watch as it all unfolded.

My phone soon went off. Checking, I saw it was Henry, so I answered it.

“Dude, you seeing this!” He exclaimed as soon as I answered.

“If you mean Portland, yeah, watching it now.”

“That some seriously fucked up fighting, man!” I can make out from the background noise that he was watching a different feed from mine.

“Shit, man! I hope I never have to fight hordes of zombies and ghouls in a built-up city like that.” I told him.

“Preaching to the choir, dude! At least they can use guns on the perimeter.”

“Damn, that’s right, they can!”

We both went quiet for a few minutes as we watched what was unfolding on screen.

“You think we will be sent to Canada?” Henry asked.

“A few of us might be sent for training, but no major deployments. The Portland zone is just too far away from Canada. It will be a waste of time in the end.”

“So, just some public relations stuff, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I will try to go on that assignment. It will be nice to get away from all the normal crap for a week or two. You know, due to a holiday on the government’s dime.” Henry thought out loud.

“Go for it. What is the worse they can say? No.”

“True. True.” Henry agreed. “Anyway, I was going to call later. How did your training mission go? I have not heard anything from you. It was supposed to be a quick dive in and out.”

“That. It was all good right up until the point I got jumped by a fucking ghoul!” I told him.

“Ghoul! Fuck dude, what is with you and them? It seems that most times you’re on a mission, you end up fighting at least one. You in the medical wing again?”

“Yes.” I sullenly answered.

“Shit! How bad?” He asked, concerned.

“Got a dose of bad chill and some new claw marks down my back.” I told him.

“You good?”

“We’ll be. They’ve told me that being released soon.”

“That’s good news, at least.”

“Yeah, but I have trouble sleeping. I sleep on my back, so I’m a bit fucked at the moment.” This got Henry laughing. “Anyway, talk to you later. Got some things to do. So, bye. Talk later.”

“Bye, dude.” Henry said before hanging up.

I didn’t have anything to do. I just sat there watching news feeds. I was truthful with Henry. A healthy dose of chill had hit me. Depression was sitting heavy on me, and I was in no mood to talk.

Sitting dark thoughts were running around my head. I wonder to myself. How soon? How soon before what’s happening on the screen was the norm?