Doomsday Pillars

The Middle East, a region situated between 3 different continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa; and acted as their crossroads. This made this region become one of the most complex regions in the world, where a single mistake could easily disturbed several parties’ interests.

Before the Doomsday descended to the world, there were 4 problematic states and 3 wars already happening in this region alone, as major powers taking opposite sides and doing their things in this region, using the Middle East as their chessboard. It was a known fact the region had been caught up in conflicts since the 20th century.

Due to that very reason, countless armed militias and terrorist groups rose from this region in the name of ending the tyranny the major powers imposed on them, making them saviors in the eyes of the Middle East’s population. However, these so-called saviors either chose violence as their way of exhibiting themselves, or started with a more peaceful method and then, slowly, lost their initial morale and purpose, resorting to the same violent approach.

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D-day #482

Yemen, Middle East.

A ship could be seen roaming the Arabian Sea before it entered the Gulf of Aden. The ship then immediately headed towards the harbour near Aden city, which was one of the two capital cities of Yemen.

The city itself was located at the south of Yemen with the Gulf of Aden on its southern, eastern, and western borders; making only the northern part of the city connected to the mainland.

On top of the approaching ship, a young woman was seen standing at the bridge of the ship, as she saw the harbour of Aden city, which was getting closer. Looking at her complexion, it appeared the young woman was in her twenties with her short hair tied up.

The young woman looked pensive, her hand holding a yellow hairpin. Gripping the hairpin tightly, the woman muttered softly, "Adam, are you still alive?"

A voice came from behind the woman, startling her.

"Don’t worry, Daisy. We will definitely find and rescue him from those bastards."

Turning her head around, Daisy saw a woman and a man approached her and stand beside her. They were Melissa and Rick.

Melissa was Adam and Daisy’s school friend who was the daughter of a high-ranking Indonesian official, while Rick was her apartment neighbor who by chance went through the apocalypse together with them.

The two of them were members of Misfits, who fought and went through fire with her in Jakarta. Because of that, the both of them obviously decided to accompany Daisy in her journey when this ship stopped in New Java to replenish its supplies before heading to this place.

Seeing the ever closer harbor, Melissa nudged her and said, "Daisy, we are almost at the harbor. Let’s get ready."

Moments later, the ship finally docked at the harbor. The people inside the ship immediately disembarked and gathered at the harbor platform. Together with the three of them, this group was formed by 30 selected fighters, as well as Alex’s best fighters. Rama, the fire spirit enhancer, who was also a martial arts expert, and the mentalist Theo, the leader of this group. Not to forget, there was also Ardeth the great fighter from Egypt, the guy with tattoos on his face. Before disembarking, the group saw how Ardeth was kneeling in prayer asking for safety in the coming mission.

These people were a group Alex chose to find out and confirm the existence of the Heavenly Gate headquarters, rescue Adam, and capture or kill Hafiz, the head of the Heavenly Gate.

When the group got off the ship, they were welcomed by a group of Yemeni government soldiers, who were already lined up neatly. After doing some basic pleasantries between them, the Yemeni soldiers quickly took them to the quarters that had been prepared for their temporary residence.

Of course, the reason this Yemeni party knew of their arrival was thanks to the connections Ardeth had, who was a very influential person in Egypt.

As they made their way towards their residence from the Aden city’s harbor, Daisy and the others except Ardeth, could truly sense a difference which was in stark contrast to the conditions in Bali Island.

Along the way, Daisy could see hundreds of malnourished children sitting on the side of the road, who watched their vehicles passing through, and adults who did not have complete body parts on the streets.

This city managed to survive the apocalypse only because of its geographical condition, where there were only two ways to enter the city: the harbour and the north. The harbour completely eliminated the chance of monsters storming the city through there, while the north was bordered by the Iron Mountain, which served as a natural defense point, making the route to enter the city via land closed.

However, even though the border Aden city had was naturally advantageous, the condition of the residents who live in the city was still poor.

When Ardeth noticed the expression Daisy had when she saw those unfortunate people, he immediately said, "Those people were already living like this, even before the doomsday began. This is how Yemen is as a nation, and how Aden is as a city."

Yemen was a country plagued by decades of bloody civil war, exacerbated and sustained by foreign intervention. The country had a population of 28 million people, with two thirds of its city starving because of the food scarcity and the ongoing civil war. It was both amazing and puzzling the nation could still manage to survive for a year after the apocalypse happened. After a year of apocalypse, there were currently only ten thousands of survivors staying in this city.

When the group arrived in one of the quarters, they were welcomed by a Yemen general named Nasser. After shaking hands with the man, Theo immediately asked the man to send the other fighters to their residence, while he and a few people he selected would hold a closed meeting together with the general.

The general then went ahead and began to tell the condition of the Middle East region during the past year. Before the Doomsday happened, the Middle East was dominated and controlled by the two big states: Saudi Arabia and Iran, which continued to spark conflicts between each other, as if they couldn’t see the other side continue existing.

Even after the Doomsday began and zombies started killing people, both countries still seemed unable to see eye to eye with each other and coexisting peacefully during these difficult times.

With the fact that nations in the Middle East were disconnected with the outside world and free from the influence of major power because of the apocalypse, Saudi Arabia finally showed its prowess and swiftly dominated the region, putting it under their rule.

The country shocked the others as they had the resources and manpower to successfully become the first Middle East nations who claimed to be zombie-free. However, when the situation looked favorable to the Arabians, Iran suddenly made their move with the new Heavenly Gate group that suddenly appeared out of thin air.

And just three months ago, the king of Saudi Arabia accepted an offer of peace with Iran. Ever since then, the Heavenly Gate had moved its bases to Saudi Arabia. The whole situation was reported and became shocking news to all neighboring nations.

The intelligence they received seemed to say Hafiz was actually in Saudi Arabia, just across Yemen’s border. There was also a bizarre information that stated most of Saudi Arabian’s population had become devoted followers of the Heavenly Gate.

When they heard that information, the group was especially disturbed by the fact most Saudi Arabian citizens had been converted. They then decided to find more information regarding the situation, so as to not let things go wrong, while they were waiting for Alex’s arrival.

A day later, after countless hours of scouting and searching for information, the group finally found some leads about one of the Heavenly Gate’s important establishments. The facility was located just near the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. As its location was quite close to a Doomsday Pillar, Theo decided to move and made the pillar as their operating base in this mission.

However, when the group had just crossed the border and entered Saudi Arabia, Daisy suddenly felt something wrong.

"Be careful I can sense a group of people merge in on us"

But for some reason, the message seems unable to be received by the General. A moment later, their convoy was suddenly ambushed by hundreds of Insurgents.

BOOOMMM!!!

Hearing the loud explosion, Theo asked the general, "What’s happening here?"

"We are under attack, Mr Theo. It’s a trap!"

Daisy added "We need to get away quickly before more surround us"

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Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

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