Doomsday Pillars

D'Day 130

Nevada, USA

Nevada was one of the 50 states in the United States of America that had a population of 2,600,167 people and an area of ​​286,367 km². The capital city of Nevada was Carson City but the most famous city, which was known throughout the whole world, was Las Vegas.

After the plague had struck, Las Vegas had also become one of the most dangerous cities in the US. Almost all residents who had survived fled to one of the military headquarters 50 kilometers north of the city. It was also a well-known place called Area 51.

Area 51 was infamous in the world because of the conspiracy theories surrounding it. Many people had suggested that aliens, UFOs, and other things were stored and being studied in the place due to how strongly guarded the place was. Although it truly did have many mysteries surrounding it, the real identity of this place, however, was the secret headquarters and the center of research and development for testing the latest technology weapons in the United States.

When the plague had arrived, this base opened its door and allowed the refugees from the cities infested with zombies to enter and became one of the largest defensive headquarters in the west of America. Hundreds of giant hangars, as well as thousands of large tents, had been set up covering an area of ​​nearly 100 hectares.. The whole base as well had dozens of watchtowers and its borders were protected by large defensive walls.

The temperature in Nevada was scorching-hot after all it was located in the middle of nowhere. But despite its tortuous weather, there were thousands of people gathering around the main hangar wherein hundreds of guards were keeping the people in line to wait for the arrival of a certain person. The people waited for that person as several children raised a small flag of the United States of America.

"It's here! They've arrived!"

"Where? Oh there! I can see it!"

From a distance, a black hummer jeep revealed itself, and not long after, dozens of the same vehicle, as well as a tank, approached the main gate of Area 51's complex. As the convoy passed the gate, dozens of more tanks showed up as well as several black cars in between, making a straight line until they finally arrived at the main hangar's gate. 

The vehicles stopped simultaneously in front of one of the giant hangars surrounded by large crowds. And then, dozens of special forces and people wearing suits came out from the vehicles. The black limousine in the middle particularly had more people guarding it. 

A person wearing a black suit with black glasses looked around first and placed a hand on his ear before opening it. He said, "All clear, Eagle has arrived."

After the door had opened, the crowd shouted in vigor as a beautiful blonde-haired woman came out and stood in the middle of the guards.

"That's secretary McCord!"

"You're wrong, she's now president, President Elizabeth McCord!"

"Madam President!"

Whether this was a call of joy or help from the people, President McCord looked around and her heart sank. She raised one hand and said, "The people of the Great United States of America, in the recent months, we all have been going through the darkest days in American history and the world's history. But I believe that if we unite, humanity can survive. God Save America. God save us all."

The people fell silent before cheering again. President Mccoy then waved goodbye at the crowd and started to walk accompanied by high-ranking army officers followed by aides and other officers toward the main hangar's door.

As soon as they entered the main hangar, Elizabeth asked, "are the Joint chief and the others ready?"

"Yes, Madam President. But would you like to rest first? You must be weary from the long journey."

"No, it's fine. Let's proceed."

When the Doomsday Pillars had shaken the world after its descent three weeks ago, President Elizabeth McCord had decided to travel from the Fortitude bunker located on the east coast to Nevada, traveling hundreds of miles and various cities.

All the cities and regions they had passed through suffered the same fate. Endless zombies and beasts infested especially the major cities of each state. They had also encountered the little monsters that came from underneath the earth.

Even though the conditions and order were becoming more stable in the past few weeks, they were still far from safe.

President McCord and her companions walked inside the hangar and descended through a staircase to arrive at a large lift that could carry up to 50 people. They entered the elevator and began to descend deep into the bowels of the Earth. Aside from being the center of research and development behind closed doors underground, Area 51 was also one of the secret bunkers of the United States.

"How many floors are there in this bunker?" Elizabeth asked.

"There are 10 floors and the depth of this bunker reaches 200 meters. We are now at the lowest floor, the safest place of this bunker."

"Very well."

After arriving at the lowest floor, they were welcomed by a reception, which didn't look far from your typical office in a multi-story building. They passed a couple more rooms, finally arriving at a large door that looked like a vault.

Inside the large door was a command center room with a giant screen in the middle and a long meeting table as well as another room filled with several sophisticated computers.

Dozens of people were sitting at the long table, and as soon as they noticed the president entering the room, they all stood up and paid their respects.

"Please, everyone have a seat," said President Mccoy.

"Welcome, Madam President. We have also connected with the Fortitude bunker, Fort Bragg, and Fort Carson."

America had succeeded in reviving communication lines in 50 regional areas and neighboring countries such as Mexico and Canada, but that's the current limit of their long-distance radio waves.

An officer from Homeland Security began the discussion and presented the latest data at this time. Although they had communication with the president during her three weeks trip, communication during on travel wasn't the best, so they started with updating the president with the latest updates they had found.

They first started with a recap and presented their report on the 50 states. America had lost control of the majority of the east coast, especially the big states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio becoming a dead zone. The southeast coast such as Florida and Louisiana also suffered the same fate. Until now, no troops could penetrate due to how heavy the number of zombies. Virginia as well as West Virginia also had no life since the bombs were released two months ago. So, most of the survivors on the east coast were forced to move toward the west to seek shelter at the nearest military post.

Every day more and more Americans fled to the west and sought refuge at one of 245 military posts spread across America.

As always Elizabeth asked the same questions. "Have you got the latest data update?"

"Madam President, this is the total number of residents who have managed to gather to date."

"19 million survivors," Elizabeth muttered, reflecting on the thought that they had only confirmed about 6 percent of the total American citizens from the last consensus. There wasn't much of an increase from last week.

"Madam President, please don't fret as the number of survivors is still increasing every day as they arrive at the outposts. We believe there are also a lot of people staying in the mountains or desert."

"How's our current supplies of food and clean water?"

"We have assigned a lot of people to work on farms, we don't have to worry about food supplies for the next 1 year. Still, there are many areas that we don't have access to, but our soldiers are still trying to help those areas."

"Very well. Let's move on to the main topic. The Doomsday Pillars."

"Currently, our troops have secured a total of 38 Doomsday Pillars spread across our country. This is all thanks to the intel provided by our guests from Indonesia. We now have security posts built on those areas. Also, we have sent a total of 20 special teams to start collecting artifacts scattered across America."

President Elizabeth Mccoy looked and easily identified whom she was looking for. It wasn't difficult for her to find the person in question since there was only one middle-aged Asian man who was invited to this meeting was named James Randall.

"It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Randall."

"The honor and pleasure is on me, Madam President."

"I've heard many good things about you, Mr. Randall. And according to the reports, the team of fighters that you've gathered managed to complete the Pillar's challenge in just one try. Is it true?"

"They are mostly American special forces, and of course, it's all because of their respective prowess. I didn't do much."

"You're being modest, Mr. Randall. Gathering a team of such prowess is a testament to your leadership abilities. After this meeting, I want to meet them and do joint training with the best of our troops because I've heard you're getting ready to climb the challenge of the next floor."

"Yes, that's right, Madam President."

"I am looking forward to seeing you all succeed. For now though, I also want to hear about the research you've brought."