Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 273: Burned Gate of Bangkok

Day 6 — 06:15 AM, FOB Kemayoran, Jakarta

The early morning air was crisp and strangely quiet. Despite the ash-choked atmosphere and scarred ruins surrounding the perimeter, there was a surreal stillness—a vacuum left in the wake of annihilation. But within the heart of FOB Kemayoran, life stirred. Engineers patched the last solar relay. Cleaners checked hazmat seals. And above all, one truth echoed in every Overwatch soldier’s chest:

They had survived. And they were no longer alone.

Inside the converted command trailer, Phillip reviewed the new intake reports from Substation Echo. Ten survivors—all from the collapsed school basement—had passed their first full screening. Bloodwork showed no traces of viral infection or exposure. No cellular anomalies. No dormant mutations. Just trauma. Hunger. Grief.

Phillip exhaled, closing the report.

"Lieutenant," he called out. A junior officer entered.

"Sir?"

"Send a relay to MOA. Tell them the survivors’ location and survival strategy is confirmed. They used sealed water tanks, school pantry goods, and tunneled air vents to hold out for nearly three weeks."

"Yes, sir."

"And one more thing—" Phillip paused, his gaze firm. "Tell them Jakarta is ready for reclamation operations. We’ll need civilian planners, infrastructure teams, and—hell—teachers."

The lieutenant nodded and left.

Outside, the flag still flew. A white phoenix on a field of black. Hope, risen from fire.

—

Day 6 — 08:00 AM, MOA Complex, Command Tower

"Jakarta is confirmed secure," Rebecca reported. "Our projections were right. The nuke sterilized the biomass completely. And those survivors? They weren’t just lucky. They were resourceful."

Thomas Estaris nodded slowly. "Then the model holds. We’re not just clearing cities. We’re finding out how to rebuild them."

Colonel Sison stepped in next, tablet in hand. "Bangkok’s drone network is fully live. Harpy Drones Two and Three just completed deep-thermal scans. We’ve found potential ingress tunnels."

"Any signs of regrowth?" Thomas asked.

Sison’s tone tightened. "Minimal. But there’s one anomaly. We picked up sporadic human heat signatures near the Chao Phraya River. Not much. Four to six signals. Then they disappeared."

Rebecca’s brow furrowed. "Could be more survivors."

"Could also be scavenger militias," Sison countered. "Or remnant infected still capable of masking their signature."

Thomas didn’t hesitate. "We send the next detachment."

"Rainwalker Charlie?" Rebecca asked.

"No," Thomas said. "Send Shadow Two. Phillip’s team holds Jakarta. We need a team that can handle worse. Bangkok’s underground is a maze. Canals, sewers, shrine catacombs... the biomass may have rooted deeper."

He pointed to the map.

"We enter through the east edge. Deploy thermal charges at tunnel chokepoints. Then clear, sector by sector."

Rebecca turned toward the room. "Then this is it. Jakarta was survival. Bangkok is conquest."

"Exactly," Thomas said. "And conquest is always bloodier."

—

Day 6 — 14:30 PM, Hangar Bay, MOA Complex 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Shadow Team Two stood at full readiness—ten elite Overwatch commandos outfitted in next-gen exosuits. Their armor was matte gray, reinforced with ceramic plating. Jet-black helmets bore the red slash of their designation—"Shadow."

Their leader, Captain Rafe Mendoza, strapped on his sidearm—a custom .50-caliber slug pistol.

He turned as Thomas entered the hangar.

"Commander," Rafe greeted.

Thomas handed over the mission briefing. "You’ll drop into Thonburi. Old medical district. We think the biomass used the canals as natural veins. Your job is to confirm status. If it’s dead—reclaim the area. If it’s alive—contain and mark for strike."

"No evac?" Rafe asked.

"You’ll be alone until you confirm stability," Thomas replied. "Drone pods every twelve hours. Rainwalker Bravo will follow once you secure an LZ."

Rafe gave a tight nod. "Understood."

"And if you find survivors," Thomas said, "you know the rules."

"Bring them home."

The team loaded up into the modified tiltrotor. Twin rotors kicked up dust as the engines roared to life.

Operation Rainwalker’s second wave was in motion.

—

Day 7 — 03:50 AM, Bangkok Airspace, Above Thonburi

The city below was a graveyard of concrete, water, and ash. Bangkok’s canals, once the lifeblood of the old city, were now clogged with hardened biomass, collapsed boats, and shattered pedestrian bridges.

Shadow Two’s tiltrotor descended in blackout mode. No lights. No comms. Only HUD overlays guiding them in.

They touched down on an abandoned hospital helipad.

"Secure perimeter," Rafe ordered.

The squad fanned out. Autonomous drones buzzed out from their packs, scanning rooftops and sewer grates.

"Radiation reads within safe margins," whispered the team medic, Kale. "No ambient spores."

"Good," Rafe muttered. "Then let’s descend."

They entered the hospital.

—

05:10 AM — Bangkok, Lower Medical Wing

It was worse than Jakarta.

Here, the biomass had integrated into the walls. Though dead and crumbling, it still clung like ivy made of rot. IV bags were fossilized in place. Desks and gurneys had merged into the floor.

In one room, a child’s skeleton rested beneath a collapsed ceiling fan.

"Movement!" a soldier hissed.

They aimed—but it was a cat. Emaciated. Eyes wide. Somehow still alive.

Rafe lowered his rifle. "Take it. Might mean food or water nearby."

Minutes later, they found it.

An old breakroom with a sealed freezer. Inside—intact water bottles. Cans of tuna. Expired, but edible.

It wasn’t much.

But it was something.

—

07:45 AM — East Tunnel Network, Bangkok

Rafe led his team through a collapsed parking garage that descended into a canal system. The ground was wet, coated in black sludge.

"Careful. Slippery," warned Kale.

Then something shimmered in the dark.

Not biomass. Not infected.

Lights.

"IR flares," said their tech, Lani. "Recently used. Last six hours."

They followed the path deeper, guns raised.

Then, a voice.

"หยุด! อย่าขยับ!"

Shadow Team froze.

A flashlight clicked on—revealing a man, young, holding a rusty assault rifle.

More appeared behind him—five in total. Men and women. Dirty. Tired. But human.

"Overwatch," Rafe said, raising his visor and switching to Thai. "We’re here to help."

The man hesitated. "We saw the fire from the sky. We thought we were next."

"You were," Rafe replied. "But now we’re here."

—

Day 7 — 18:00 PM, MOA Complex, Command Center

"The Bangkok contact is confirmed," Rebecca reported. "Six survivors. All under thirty-five. Possibly part of a local university militia."

Thomas sat forward. "And the biomass?"

"Dead," Casimiro confirmed. "But rooted deeper than Jakarta. Bangkok may take weeks to fully clear."

"We’ll give it the time," Thomas said. "Have Bravo team reinforce Shadow Two. And get sanitation teams prepped. That canal system may still contain spores."

Rebecca tapped on her tablet. "And after Bangkok?"

Thomas looked at the world map.

"We move to Taiwan."

—

Day 8 — 11:00 AM, Substation Echo, Survivor Compound

Adi sat on a bench beside a shallow koi pond. He was cleaner now. Fed. Wearing a donated shirt. His eyes were still haunted, but they no longer drifted toward corners or shadows.

Rebecca sat beside him.

"You’ve saved others," she said.

"I didn’t do much," Adi murmured. "We just waited. We were scared. We thought the world was gone."

Rebecca nodded. "But you kept going. That’s what matters."

Adi hesitated. "Are... are we going back?"

She smiled. "Maybe not today. But one day, Jakarta will be your home again."

Adi stared at the water, eyes shining.

"I’d like that."

—

Day 9 — 16:00 PM, Forward Relay Platform, South China Sea

Two Overwatch cruisers—refurbished freighters turned military command vessels—drifted just beyond the Philippine maritime line.

On deck, engineers tested long-range radar and air filtration balloons. The next step was coming.

Taiwan.

And beyond that... the mainland.

Thomas stood at the rail, watching as clouds gathered ahead.

Rebecca stepped up beside him.

"Everything’s in motion," she said. "Shadow Three is prepping for Taiwan. Satellite recon shows minimal biomass. The geography helped. Mountains and narrow coastlines slowed the spread."

Thomas nodded. "It’s our first real chance at full-scale infrastructure recovery."

She studied his expression. "But?"

"But I’ve seen the map," he muttered. "We’ve cleared three cities. There are thousands more."

Rebecca gave a faint smile. "One green dot at a time."

Thomas glanced at her.

"Then let’s paint the world green."

—

Day 10 — 08:00 AM, Jakarta, FOB Kemayoran

Phillip walked the streets of the cleared zone. Kids—real kids—were playing again. A jump rope fashioned from electrical wire. A drawing on the wall, childlike and crude: a sun, a house, a white bird.

He stopped beside it, staring.

One of the little girls tugged on his coat. "Is that your bird?"

Phillip nodded. "Yes. It’s our bird."

She smiled. "It means we’re safe, right?"

Phillip crouched down. "It means we fight to make it safe. Every day."

She gave a small salute and ran off.

He stood again, wiping his eyes with a gloved hand.

Reclamation was more than territory.

It was moments like this.

It was hope.

—

Day 10 — 20:00 PM, MOA Complex, War Room

Thomas stood before the glowing map.

Red still covered much of the Earth. North America was silent. Europe was a patchwork of uncertainty. Africa... gone dark long ago.

But Southeast Asia?

Three green dots now pulsed: Jakarta. Bangkok. Cholon.

Rebecca entered. "Transmission from the UN Archives Vault. Enclave Kyoto has made contact. They’re holding, barely. And they’re watching."

"Then let them watch," Thomas said.

He tapped the map.

"We’re not done."

Rebecca whispered the new codeword:

"Operation Rainwalker: Phase Three."

And the screen shifted.

A new region highlighted—

Taiwan.