Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Xiaoyun, I got the footage all set up."

As Mingxu positioned the laptop towards Xiaoyun's seat, his face didn't change a single bit.

It was clear that Ningjing hadn't told Mingxu what she had talked about earlier in the confrontation.

"Great. Let's take a watch."

---

"Today is May 8th. The first day of scouting the metro station... This is 3rd Division's 105th squad reporting."

A male voice appeared as the camera view shook several times before it got firmly attached to someone's chest level.

"You all excited for the trip?"

The man's voice appeared once again as the view shifted from black to what seemed to be a metro entrance.

A long escalator alongside two staircases on opposing sides, all leading down to a dark room.

"Hell no. This is like the worst possible scouting mission we are ever assigned to."

As the camera panned to the left, two soldiers, one old and the other young, appeared in the view.

"It's not that bad. Come on, let's just get this done, " the older soldier replied as he prepared his rifles.

Just as the camera began to move forward, the view suddenly turned to the right, showing seven people who were armed to the teeth.

From night vision goggles to riot shields, they almost looked like a blend of riot police and special ops.

"You guys go first."

A voice appeared from above, seemingly to be the soldier that the camera was attached to.

The four men with riot shields walked to the front while the other three men with rifles stayed in the back.

"Ready up."

As the young and old soldier re-attached their gear, all of them were now in a uniformed position.

With every step down the staircase, the camera picked up the echoes as it traveled from the metro and back.

The camera was shaking up and down, with no regard if the footage itself was stable enough.

After almost a minute, the camera shake finally stopped.

The ten soldiers had arrived at the bottom of the staircase, where everything ahead of them was completely pitch black.

With only a slimmer of light coming from the back of the metro entrance, they couldn't even see their hand when they stuck it in.

Despite the pitch black, the soldiers advanced as the footage faded to black.

A few seconds later, the footage resumed as four soldiers with riot shields stood before the camera.

Everything was now black and white, with rhythmic taps every step the soldiers took walking forward.

"It's so quiet, " one of the soldiers murmured, as the only sounds were them walking on the floor.

As the soldier with the camera began to turn left and right, they were already at their first obstacle in the metro.

"No power." One of the soldiers murmured as they tapped the turnstile ahead of them.

"Just take the employee route."

As the soldiers kicked the fence open, they easily passed the turnstile, taking the fast route on the side.

"Why does everything look so clean?" another soldier murmured, as the entire metro looked barely touched.

"Odd..."

The camera suddenly detached from the chest as it appeared to be now hand-held.

Within seconds, the camera began to zoom in on one of the employee counters as they walked past a booth.

"A layer of dust... This place seemed to be completely abandoned. No trace of zombies at all."

After the short report, the squad of soldiers quickly went back into formation, with the four leading in front.

Meanwhile, the cameraman stood in the middle, holding the camera as it began recording everything around them.

From the dead ATMs to the giant poster advertising some of the games before the outbreak, there were zero traces of damage to them.

It was almost as if the metro was frozen in place as they continued down the long path before stopping at one of the maps.

Zooming out, they could see a giant map connecting the entirety of the Pearl River with metro lines.

A singular line that connected from Zhaoqing all the way to Dongguan connected by a highspeed rail.

After looking for a bit, the camera zoomed in to the location they were at, which was just a basic underground metro station near the end route.

"Thank God these metro lines aren't the same as high-speed rail lines, " one of the soldiers murmured.

"Yeah... You guys think we're going to get to use these metro lines one day?"

A young voice behind one of the riot shields asked as they watched over the nearby area.

"Nope. Impossible. Why would you want to make the metro run again towards Zhaoqing, of all places?

"This city has nothing in it... Those stupid armchair analysis in Luoping should be drafted if they want to go here."

An older voice answered back, seemingly to be the one from the beginning earlier.

"Ahem, let's just continue. We need to stay on track."

As the mission resumed, the soldiers continued forward until they ran into a split end.

"Which one do we take?" One of the soldiers in the front asked.

"Let's go to the closer one first."

As they turned right and headed down another staircase, the footage began to shake rapidly as the soldiers started speeding down.

However, despite the shake, the footage showed what seemed to be an entire metro train sitting right at the station.

"No traces of chaos at all again..."

Arriving at the metro station, they all quickly examined the surrounding area, only to find the metro train itself had all the doors opened.

With a short peek from the outside, there was not a single living thing anywhere near the train.

After walking down the entire platform and looking through the metro train's window, they still couldn't find any trace of human remains.

They couldn't even find any bugs or insects besides just a bunch of dust everywhere around them.

"Split up into two and check each one of them."

The formation instantly broke off as the soldiers paired up together and started walking in different directions.

As the camera walked into one of the trains, the inside finally showed some signs of human remains.

It was a school backpack with a little plush attached to the back of it.

"You stay here. If I don't say a word after five seconds, run out and yell something is wrong."

The soldier in the camera view nodded as the camera once again got re-attached to the cameraman's chest.

"A school backpack, seemingly to be abandoned a long time ago."

As the pair of hands began to unzip the backpack, the camera suddenly faded to black.

"Whew, that was close... Ugh, that was so much dust... Hope the camera isn't all messed up from that."

With a few wipes, the dust on the camera lens mostly cleared up as he resumed opening the backpack.

To no one's surprise, the inside was just some old textbook and homework paper of some student.

"August... The same month as the outbreak."

Having gathered all the information, the cameraman re-attached the camera to his hand and turned back to his fellow soldier.

"Nothing valuable. Let's leave."

As the two of them headed out, the other four pairs had already left their train section.

"All just a bunch of abandoned luggage and items. Nothing valuable." One of the soldiers stated the same, and the other stated the same.

"Huh... Let's go check the front then."

The squad quickly turned into formation as they began heading towards the end of the metro platform.

After arriving at the entrance to the driver's seat, they were blocked by a locked door.

With the reinforced metal door and a keycard pad on the side, there were ways for them to enter.

"How are we getting in?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Explosive?" The other soldier suggested as they all turned towards the camera.

"Jing, can you crack it?"

"I can try."

As a soldier with a young voice answered and stepped forward, he positioned his rifle's stock right against the keypad.

With a smash, the glass instantly scattered all over the floor, leaving a bunch of wires exposed.

More important, the four screws that were holding the keypad were now fully exposed.

"Give me a second... Let me find my screwdriver."

After looking for a bit, Jing finally found a screwdriver in his backpack.

He quickly unscrewed all four of the screws, causing the keylogger to fall onto the floor as he pulled out another tool.

"Can someone hold this?"

A nearby soldier quickly forward to help, holding what seemed to be a car battery charger

"Time to see if this works... Perfect!"

The train door finally slid open, revealing an empty seat with nothing much inside.

"You guys stay here. I'll have a check myself."

None of the soldiers rejected the idea, as the driver's seat room barely had enough space for another person.

As the cameraman entered the driver's seat, he began looking for any sort of clues or signs that told what happened here.