After Doctor Helens had left the room and closed the door the men inside got down to business.

“Well, that’s a decent end to the situation.” Alexander began.

“If the anti-bodies that Operative Harrington has produced can be successfully replicated into a vaccine or medication of sorts that could be a major help in future confrontations with these level 3 threats.” General Holsan mused.

“Reducing the threat of infection to our soldiers would be a major boon.” Alexander agreed.

“My main concern is what caused this zone to suddenly escalate its threat level. The investigation has not given a definitive answer yet.”

“No General we are still looking into it.”

The men paused in conversation glancing at the third who was still quiet. After a few moments, Hamilton began talking.

“We will continue with the debriefs and investigation into what happened. As with many things concerning the zones we may not get an answer.”

At this, he leans further back into his chair.

“These possible medical benefits from these ant-bodies will get top priority with the science unit medical research teams. This can be a major benefit for not just us but the other countries in our coalition.”

“Of course, we will need to monitor Operative Harrington as closely as ever.”

The other two nod at this.

“How is the situation internationally?” Alexander asked.

“Tense. The global public is unaware of the fact that the zones are steadily increasing in size and more are appearing. Even with our recent successes, things are slowly getting worse.”

“How so?” General Holsan asked.

“This year marks the sixth anniversary in September of the particle collider accident that caused the first breaches. We all remember the panic and confusion of that first year.”

“Yes, the random global blackouts and the chaos that went with it. Nations blaming each other almost triggered a war. Not good times for anyone” Alexander said.

“Well, this last year we have finally managed to begin to seal breaches. But the cost in resources and lives are still increasing.” General Holsan added.

Hamilton nodded.

“The British Isles and Ireland have been lucky as we have not been as affected as other parts of the world.”

“The rest of the CANZUK Alliance is also in a similar position to us. Intelligence and resource sharing are going well. The EU is also working well with us on all fronts. They however are reporting increased hostile activity in and around a growing number of zones over the last few months.”

“I had heard this from my contacts within the Euro corps.” Holsan said.

“They have done have the largest zone at the particle collider. They also sealed a number of breaches recently but report more appearing. Like us, their casualties are mounting.”

All three men wore grim expressions at this.

“As with the United States…” Hamilton began.

General Holsan lent back shaking his head.

“Eight months. We all told them to test the technology more and wait eight months before launching “National Liberty”. The military wanted to but President Robertson and his supporters forced the issue.” Holsan lamented.

“I know it was bad but was it that bad?” Alexander asked.

“It’s worse than reported” Hamilton answered.

“They are not giving us figures but we have conservatively estimated that they lost 80% of their first- and second-line assets.”

“Dear God!” Alexander paled.

“The Portland disaster was the biggest sign of the issue. The city was the fourth target in the eight that “National Liberty” was aiming to close. An Undead breach like our Mr Harrington is so good at dealing with.”

“I have heard parts of what happened and what was reported live by the media but not the whole thing,” Alexander said.

“General your best to explain this one I believe.” Hamilton answered.

“As you know the city was a place where the President or his party was not popular. The only reason it was added to the operation is that it was one of the largest zones in the country and is in a major population centre. Many had fled the city but a lot had stayed for different reasons.”

“Due to the sudden economic downturn of 2028, the city had a large homeless population that was concentrated near where the breach and resulting zone appeared. Many of the homeless were lost to the zone before the federal authorities could seal it off. This caused the zone to expand quickly.”

“The barriers were set up and the zone contained but the bulk of the homeless population were not moved by either local or federal bodies. Politics at its finest as both sides claimed it was the responsibility of the other.”

“The disappearance of close to forty people we believe a few weeks leading up to the national operation were marked down as homeless moving around. The homeless themselves however saw the danger and tried to flee when the operation began.”

Alexander nodded at this information as it was common knowledge due to the impeachment trial.

“They were being evacuated when the teams went in. Nine Operatives with a support team of thirty were sent in with the breach closer. The idea was that they would overwhelm want ever they encountered.”

“They did not take into account the disappearances and how fast Zones react to large scale operations. What has not been reported to the public yet is what happened in the zone.”

The General took a moment to mentally prepare for the next part of what happened.

“The Operatives were split into teams of three and placed themselves around the support team. Located to the front, left and right positioned in an arrowhead formation. On paper, it was a good setup and they were trained to deal with all planned possible outcomes. What they did not expect was they would hit by a wall of level 1 to 3 threats all at once.”

“The “Ghouls” as they are called were able to gather the rest of the hostiles in the zone and attacked the column when it was at the breach. The breach closer was of the first generation and it failed when set up. Of the eight deployed only one worked. The force had set up an inner and outer perimeter. The support team was the inner, the Operatives the outer. They were expecting twenty to thirty hostiles to be in the Zone Breach radius. They had eliminated several on the way in but were taken by surprise they were attacked by over a hundred at least when the breacher failed.”

Alexander could only shake his head at the arrogance and waste he was being described. But then no one really understood the Zones even today. The General continued.

“The Operatives were overrun in less than a minute. They did alert the support team before their deaths but it was to no avail. They too were quickly overwhelmed.”

“If they were overwhelmed, how do we know what happened?” Alexander asked.

“One of the support team managed to get out of the trap by the rest sacrificing themselves to buy the time.” The General answered with respect in his voice. Even in times of terror bravery could still be found.

“The problem was we believe that the “Ghouls” may have allowed this to happen. As the survivor reached the gate that they had started from and were being retrieved they struck.”

“The garrison on the gate did not know what hit them as the hostiles just kept pouring out of the zone and it began to expand its area of effect. They too were quickly overrun.”

“We have surveillance drone footage showing this before the zone expansion shut them down.” Holsan said to pre-empted Alexander’s question on how they knew.

“We all saw what happened next from the local and national media. The zone created new hostiles as it expanded killing those trapped as it expanded. The city was swallowed as the population who had not left or been moved were killed. Military and law enforcement units were being forced to flee or be wiped out. Mass civilian exodus as fighting raged in the streets all live for the world to see.”

“Just under two hours as it took for the city to be lost and God knows the death toll because I doubt even the Americans know for sure.”

Silence dominated the room as all three men recalled the images from that day.

“Failure and heavy causalities were reported by six other teams. Only the last targeting the smallest of the breaches that day was a success but not without loss.” Holsan continued.

“The Federal Government was able to secure a new perimeter around the former city but was under constant attacks until they did. This added to the casualty figures and of course, the Ghoul Virus was discovered.”

“At least we may have hope on that front now.” Came from Hamilton. The others nodded.

“We must keep the surveillance up also as the Americans are pouching Operatives and support personnel from other countries to help rebuild their forces. International outrage is building and if they continue sanctions might be implemented. They cut most intelligence links to the rest of the World due to the push back and are now very isolated.”

“I have read the reports on the Pacific Co-operative and India they seem to be coping well.” Alexander spoke.

“Yes, they are working well with us and the Europeans.” Hamilton admitted.

“South and Central America are also getting things a lot better organised after what happened in the US as well.” Holsan added.

“The Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa are a complete mess. The rest of Africa however is quite stable at the moment even the usually more chaotic parts.”

“The refugee crisis from the area is taking up a lot of the European Union’s resources as they have closed their borders.”

“It is making the Syrian crisis from the late teens pale in comparison. We estimate nearly sixty million people are trying to flee the chaos caused as the zones have caused most of the organised Governments to collapse due to religious extremism. They are all sitting in Turkey and North Africa trying to get to Europe.” Hamilton said.

“That only really leaves Russia and China.” Alexander said.

“Yes. the two big unknowns.” Hamilton admitted.

“We know they too have tried their own version of what the Americans did but not to the same level of disaster. Both countries are ineffectively martial law states since the zones appeared. Information is hard to come by but satellite imagery clearly shows zones increasing in size. Military activity is also high near the largest expanded zones.”

“What can be done” Alexander asked.

“At the moment nothing” Hamilton answered.

“We cannot afford the losses like the Americans so the new body armour will be issued as soon as it is produced. I believe its “test by fire” was a success as it helped in keeping Operative Harrington alive.” Hamilton declared.

“I agree Mr Hamilton. Its production needs to be amped up to meet demand.” Holsan replied.

“Statistically Operative Harrington is the best at dealing with what the public call “Undead” zones and is ranked third best operative overall nationally. His loss would have been a major impact on the Governments plans going forward. But Dr Helena’s report has given the possibility of good news that can be reported to the Cabinet.” Hamilton began.

“As soon as Operative Harrington has been confirmed medical fit, we need him back in action. I am going to recommend that he and a few others be listed as full-time rapid responders.”

“He won’t like that he’s been pushing to be assigned to the North East Scottish area full time.” Alexander said.

“Well, he will not get that he is too competent at dealing with zones and the unknown we face with them.” Hamilton replied.

“He understands the situation but his mother is pushing for him to quit the service entirely.”

“Alexander we cannot let that happen I will make sure that you have a D notice on hand to make sure we can control the situation if she decides to do anything rash with the media.”

“Talking about the media they are getting more unofficial information from the “Zone Watchers” than we like.” Holsan said.

Hamilton face twisted to a disgusted look.

“Dam bunch of conspiracy theorists, madmen and nutjobs!” Hamilton exclaimed.

“For the moment we can only monitor them to the best of our abilities and prevent them from accessing zones.”