Carter sat on a chair within his suite, staring out at the ruined cityscape beyond the fortified walls of the condo complex.
Their little community had been adapting over the last couple of days to the new world they found themselves in.
The survivors from the university had begun integrating into the condo community.
Most were grateful.
Others, wary.
Some still held onto the last scraps of their old world ideals—the belief that law and order would return, that someone else would save them, and free them from the mildly tyrannical rule of the Medjay troops, and whomever this one they referred to as their Pharoh.
Since modern technology had yet to fail them they still had access to running water, and power at least for now, and at the same time.
They still had access to the internet, but that being said the news coming in still wasn't all that great, there was a little bit of news from those who managed to flee the big cities and begin forming a human resistance movement, but there were others showing just how bad things had really gotten.
It seems if the undead are allowed to gather in groups, stronger variants and mutations will develop.
The Tier II and III versions we'd seen here in our small city were nothing compared to some of the Tier VIII, IX, and X ones shown in the videos before everything went dark.
We'd need to get strong, and to do that i'd need to level up and raise my system rank, bronze weapons were to weak, just barely enough to deal with Tier III's let along something worse.
But first they needed to expand.
If the world was going to be rebuilt, he would be the one to do it using his system to do so.
And the system seemed to agree.
As he sat, a familiar golden interface window materialized before him.
🚨 New Mission Available 🚨
Mission: Reclaim a Territory
Mission Briefing:
The apocalypse has reduced civilization to ruins.
Cities have become hunting grounds for the undead, and humanity is on the brink of extinction.
Survival is not enough.
A leader does not just defend.
A leader takes.
The first step to reclaiming the world begins now.
Objectives:
☑ Clear four city blocks of all undead.
☑ Establish permanent defences to prevent reinfection.
☑ Secure key resources and infrastructure within the reclaimed territory.
⚠ WARNING:The longer you delay, the greater the concentration of undead will become. New, stronger threats may emerge.
Mission Rewards:
🏆 50,000 Experience Points
💰 100,000 Dollars
📜 Unlocks 'Territorial Control' Feature
Carter's eyes narrowed.
This mission wasn't just about expansion—it was a foothold, their first real step...
A chance to begin retaking the city.
And their world.
~
Carter rose to his feet after thinking it over for a bit and turned toward his war council, who he'd summoned after getting the mission from the system.
Atem, one of the Medjay captains, stood at attention.
Sam, Rachael's husband, leaned against the railing, arms crossed being a graduate with a masters of engineering he was placed in charge of the support summons and responsible for getting their defences in place.
Marcus, the former security officer, sat at the table, flipping through a recovered map of the city found during the teams scavenging missions into the city.
"New mission for us from the boss?"
Marcus asked, already recognizing the look in Carter's eyes.
Carter nodded, sharing the mission details with the council.
The reaction was immediate.
Sam exhaled, rubbing the back of his head.
"That's… a lot. You're talking about expanding beyond our safe zone. That means more defences, more patrols, and more mouths to feed if we find more survivors."
"We can't just sit here forever, and the leader won't accept someone else getting a headstart, I don't really know how it works, but it seems this 'growth' will help him to become better himself and perhaps we can get more help from his Medjay in the process."
Carter replied.
"True,"
Marcus agreed.
"But his ask is quite a lot this isn't just about killing zombies. This is infrastructure work. We'll need barricades, trenches, and choke points. Reinforced strongholds. That takes materials."
Atem nodded.
"The Medjay will fight. But a war is won with both warriors and builders."
Carter grinned.
"We don't need to worry about that the Pharoh said he'll provide us with everything we need."
Though those closest to him probably knew his little act was a lie he still tried to appear at least publicly as nothing more than one of the complex's captains while his alter ego the 'Pharoh' ruled from on high in the shadows.
No one was allowed to meet with the Pharoh save for the Medjay themselves, and each time they would return with more food, more supplies, more warriors or even others.
This didn't mean they were self-sufficient as the Medjay started regularly conducting scouting missions into the city, clearing some undead when they came across them, and looting what they could find before bringing it all back to the complex.
Oddly enough the first day of scavenging cause friction among the Medjay and the survivors but let's call that difference of values.
Since the medjay came back from the first trip with nothing but a near endless supply of hair care products, means to remove ones own hair.
This of course sparked fury from the survivors since they cared far more about food and water, or even weapons.
But the Medjay being of Ancient Egypt it seems had ingrained desires to keep themselves hairless as a sign of their opulence and wealth, so when sent out for anything valuable they looked for precious metals, gems, and of course a means to remove their hairs.
But after getting the first round dealt with I mediated and the Medjay agreed to prioritize food and the 'weapons' we described, while still occasionally collecting the other supplies they came across as well.
The other thing that changed, was that Building C became the sole property of the Pharoh, any pre-existing residents were moved to other buildings along with all of there things, but they were 'paid' for selling their places to the Pharoh through the means of substantial food and water supplies retrieved during the scouting missions.
With Building C firmly within his grasp, Carter was free to do as he pleased, and do so he did.
Once he'd detailed the plan to the war council they started to move about getting ready for what came next.
Carter on the other hand, along save for his personal guard opened the System Shop.
Under the "Support Personnel" sub-tab of the troops menu, he scrolled through his options:
📜 Engineers – Masters of fortification, construction, and defense planning.
📜 Laborers – General workers capable of gathering materials and reinforcing barricades.
📜 Blacksmiths – Capable of repairing and forging weapons, armor, and even structural reinforcements.
Carter made his choice.
📢 Purchase Confirmed 📢
☑ 20 Engineers – 30,000 Dollars
☑ 50 Laborers – 50,000 Dollars
☑ 10 Blacksmiths – 20,000 Dollars
💰 Total Cost: 100,000 Dollars
[Remaining Balance: 3,950,000 Dollars]
Golden summoning circles formed in the penthouse, or rather the penthouse that had been formed from the sixth floor after breaking down all the none load bearing walls to create a grand open floor, and 80 new figures materialized—clad in linen tunics, wood and bronze tools hanging from their belts, their eyes filled with disciplined focus.
The Engineers immediately began surveying the area, their leader—bowing deeply before Carter.
"Pharaoh, what do you command?"
Carter's grin widened.
"We're going to take back this city, but your commander will be Sam I'll introduce you to him later."
The eighty new summons moved on, before another combat unit was created as one hundred further Medjay armed to the teeth with blades and armour likewise rose from the floor.
Building C was like a factory, churning out new warriors and men, clearly containing a secret that the survivors wanted to discover but at the same time, due to the clearly overwhelming power that even these ancient warriors wielded none were stupid enough to try finding out what was going on inside.
~
The armed forces weren't solely his summons either, with their numbers rising to over four hundred now, a call was placed for volunteers to serve in a militia, those who took up arms would be giving a salary of food, along with some luxury goods, plus the chance to recover their own scavenged good when out though they were required to follow a sort of military protocol so one could not go off on their own to satisfy their own greed by weakening their team by running off.
The attack was swift and coordinated.
The Medjay warriors—close to three hundred in total—formed into three groups:
First was the vanguard team this was the majority of the attack force itself they would move out in various teams acting like a human wave clearing the streets and forming natural blockades preventing further incision into the 'free' zone.
Next up would be the followup team, composed of about equal parts Medjay and Militia these teams would be going through the buildings within the freezone their primary purpose was to clear out the undead, looting could take place later but if an survivors were found they would be directed to the complex where they could be processed and given the chance to integrate into our growing society.
Lastly was the smaller of the groups but probably the most important.
The Support group, composed of laborers, engineers and volunteers from the survivors to create new walls of stone and wood to block off the new 'free' zone.
As one of the Captains, and thanks to the boost of his skills, armed with one of the few firearms they had access to thanks to the scavenging, Carter rode at the head of his vanguard party, standing tall in his chariot as they approached the first set of city blocks that their forces was to clear, already the first team had engaged the undead that had gathered in the block just outside the complex gates, while the others had riden over the walls and circled away heading towards their own designated blocks to clear.
And in these blocks they had only been brief for the sake of scavenging.
The undead were waiting.
A horde of Walkers clogged the streets, hundreds of them drawn by the noise of civilization, and the racing of the chariots and the roaring hum of the following vehicles.
But this wasn't like before.
Carter had prepared for this, knowing their city of 100,000 had all but turned into the undead even with the thousand or two they had already slain, tens of thousands of their former people still waiting to feast on their flesh.
"ARCHERS!" he bellowed.
At his command every single passenger in the chariot force launched a volley of flaming arrows, that sailed through the air until they struck their targets.
Fire spread rapidly, setting dry husks of flesh ablaze, the moans of burning undead echoing through the ruins.
And once they'd started the battle the Chariot formed a defensive wall, as the drivers taking up their weapons dismounted.
The Medjay charged, while the archers held the line behind them.
Bronze met rotting flesh, spears impaling torsos, khopesh cleaving through necks, shields bashing skulls into pulp, the survivors watching from the safety of their vehicles behind could only swallow their saliva audibly at the showcase of raw power and skill being displayed as those who once were people just like them were hew down like a forest of trees.
Carter himself moved like a storm, dodging, striking, carving a path through the chaos, armed with a pistol in one hand while he swing a khopesh blade with the other.
It was an execution, not a battle.
Within twenty minutes, the street was cleared, of all the undead, and they could carry on with their plan.
With the undead exterminated, the following 2nd and 3rd squads began their own work, as the infiltration team began to break into buildings and houses within the block, while the Engineers and Laborers moved to move the brought supplies and being construction of walls and fortifications.
And in only a matter of hours.
☑ Barricades were erected—using scavenged materials, overturned vehicles, and stone blocks provided by the Pharoh.
☑ Watchtowers were constructed, allowing archers to monitor the perimeter safety when behind the defensive lines.
☑ Supplies were raided in large quantities as almost every home they entered had a good stock of at least one weeks worth of food, and a sizeable store of preserved goods also existed, while frozen foods were also in ample quantities allowing for a large amount of eating to happen before the power went out causing all frozen goods to spoil.
Carter watched as the vision given to him by the system became reality.
The first reclaimed block was secure under his guidance, while the other required three were still being worked on, the greater their territory the more they could spread out their populace and the less close together the people were the lower their tensions and therefore their angst and agressions against others.
It happened all the time in media as well, and for good reasons, after all if you were working hard to survive in the apocalypse but you saw someone you thought was just half assing it then it would piss you off, and eventually you'd confront them on it, of course they would react defensively since perhaps they themselves thought they were trying their hardest, the same would be true of the supplies situation, since supplies were being dolled out based on usefulness if the latter saw someone else getting greater than what they did they would aggressively respond questioning who that person got more than they did and how it wasn't fair.
Such was the ugliness of humanity and it all came from their inherent greed and desire to always have better for themselves.
~
But of course not everything was all sunshine and daisies, the reclamation efforts were hindered slightly by the fact that the large buildings did infact contain a decent number of undead forces but in the end within a pair of days the area was blocked off, and cleaned of the undead.
Though it was at that point a new political discussion came about.
Mainly on what to do with the undead's bodies, they were after all formerly humans, while some wanted to burn the bodies to get rid of all trace of them, others wanted to bury them, and the Egyptian forces were of the same mindset since the body needed to be preserved as much as possible for the afterlife.
Though with limited space creating a graveyard was difficult, so a mass grave was created in one of the local parks and while it gave some peace of mind to the survivors who for the first time since everything began got to put to rest some of those tormented souls who'd fallen alongside the world.