Doomsday Pillars

After three days of non-stop fighting, Alex can finally relax and have a proper rest in a comfortable bed.

As he lay, his mind drifted to the special warehouse he built. This particular compound is the VIP building. It may look like an ordinary steel warehouse from the outside, but on the Inside is anything but. Instead of an open space with bunk beds and share toilets, this VIP warehouse has multiple bedrooms, private bathrooms, a shared living room, and a kitchen. Alex would accommodate his special guests here.

That particular morning he woke up really early, went to the kitchen and start cooking breakfast. A personal stove and fridge connected to their own electric generator. Another special privilege of being the owner of the place. That moment he was reminded how long it has been since he last had a chance to cook in a kitchen, not to say that it’s one of his strong suit but today is a special occasion. He put together a simple American breakfast.. scrambled eggs, pan fried bacon, sausage, and toast. His daughter’s favorite. It took him no less than two hours to prepare.... again, not his expertise.

When he reached the dining table, his wife, Devita, Vily, her sister, Tiarra and Tiffany are all already set and waiting for the food.

"Food is ready.." he cheerfully announced from the kitchen.

Alex placed all the food on the table and then he takes his seat next to Devita.

"It’s not whole grain bread, but I make it extra crispy, hope you girls like it. Dig in!"

The little one, Tiarra said "Daddy we haven’t said grace yet!"

"Oh right you are. Now why don’t you be a good girl and say grace for the family, ok?"

"Yes, Daddy..." she said enthusiastically.

She closes her eyes, clasps her hands together and the others gladly followed.

"Thank you God for the food and the drink. Thank you for all the blessing You gave me and my family, Amen."

.

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Suddenly, Auntie Villy burst out in tears...

"Sob.. I’m... sorry..."

"Are you okay Auntie? Did i do wrong with my parayer?"

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"Oh no Tiarra dear, you did really well."

Alex smiled to the little girl and then noticed tears running down on his wife’s cheeks too.. he reached for her hands as a silent assurance...

.

"Let’s eat..."

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Tiffany shifted her right hand, ever so slowly, and all eyes were watching her attentively. She carefully touch and feel the table... then tried to reach for a plate.. when she found one, she went and grab a piece of the toast on the plate and took a bite.

"Daddy, Yummm!!"

As she chewed the food, a big smile on her face bloomed. Alex thought to himself, this is probably the most beautiful thing he has seen in this world.. the pure untainted smile of his daughter... only...

.

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Within Tiffany’s beautiful smiling face, there is a sight that also stings his heart deeply.. her eyes...

.

They are all white...

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she has lost her vision...

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"Can you help me with the fork Mom?"...

Still in tears, her mom helped her put the fork into Tiffany’s hand... The scene was really heartbreaking. Yesterday when Tiffany regained her consciousness, the redness on her eyes were gone.. but also her sight along with it.

The 16 spirit stones and the shiny pill from the Amulet of the sun, did save her life.. but blindness was the side effect. Another strange thing was that her physic too was normal. She’s supposed to be a peak stage of mortal realm, but her current strength is a regular 12 years old girl. Alex has no clue as to what other side effects she will experience, if any. She, most likely be the only survivor of the disease that killed more than 5 billion people. Probably Alex will soon find the answer inside the Doomsday pillars.

The atmosphere in the room was somber not only because Tiffany has turn blind, but also the simplicity of the prayer about the family have touched them deep in the heart. Only four days ago, 15 family members had lunch on the same table, together, and now.. there were only 5 of them. For once they let the feeling of loss surfaced and grieve to take place.

In this predicament, to say grace was a very hard thing to do. However, not so for Alex. He was ever grateful to still be able to sit with his family. He’s grateful Tiffany was alive. As for her eyes, he has silently vowed to himself to find a cure no matter the cost.

After Breakfast, Alex left both of her daughters to their aunt. While he took Devita along with him. Together there were plenty to do in this base.

The main base is currently bustling with many survivors who took refuge. Many of the people were separated during the chaos. The most demanding job at this point of time was the administration. Almost everyone who came, do so with a hope to find their relatives or friends. The base was more crowded than Alex has previously anticipated. In a way, he was grateful as it meant that his plans worked. On the flip side though, it also meant that Alex would need to make some quick adjustments for the population managements.

Area: 115 Hectares

Survivors: 86.345

According to the existing plan,100 warehouses were built and finished construction just one day before. But with each warehouse’s capacity at only 500 people, they were still left with another 36.345 people to accommodate somehow. Mathematically, that worked out to 80 more warehouses that needs to be built.

As Alex coordinated with Tony, his construction manager, he found out that the base has enough space to create more than a thousand warehouses, but their currents materials in stock were only sufficient for another 200 warehouses. With the steady flow of thousands of people each day, this has become an imminent problem.

Alex has many agenda that he wishes to do, but to make the base work effectively, he realized needs to assign operational leaders. Before he does that, he needs to make sure his authority was justifiable.

The highest ranking person in his community was the Governor. Alex had a discussion with him last night, the governor made it clear that he was neither willing nor capable to take charge and lead a survival base of this caliber. He was just a popular school teacher who turns into a role model, went into politics and got elected. Everything was alright until that day, when he saw zombies for the first time and see what they can do, he was overwhelmed with fear and still haunted ever since. He fully supported Alex to be the leader in command.

Alex added a few more names as operational managers and changed some. Theo had requested to step down from his position as a manager, he will continue to help, but managing chaos proofed to be too much. Captain Donny also preferred to be in the frontline. After a lot of considerations, Alex finally decided to assign 7 managers to lead 7 divisions, they will also take a role as decision maker for the base while he’s away.

Devita: Manager of supplies division.

Jane: Manager of the farming division.

Doctor Rachel: Manager of medical and research division.

Tony: Manager of Construction division

Benny: Manager of the administration division. He’s really good with people.

Agung, the ex-governor: Manager of the education division.

Major Sandi: Manager of public security division.

The seven managers will together be in charge of the developments and public security. Also in the works is to create a war council, but this will have to wait a few more days, when most of the leaders returned from the battles on the front line. To be on the safer side, Alex gave each of the leaders two Spirit stones, this will not only make them stronger physically but will also help them mentally as they lead under constant pressure.

Before he brought everyone together for a general meeting, Alex understood the importance of an identity. A name to this entity would not only let them to be recognized, but it will also help to boost the spirit to the group. Thus, regulating a law would be the next logical step to hold the community together.

Alex then thought about the doomsday pillars that will come down from the stars, so the name ’Star Base’ sounds fitting. Along with the Army, it too will adopt the same concept and be called the ’Star Army’. The rules he created are plain and simple.

1. Do not kill human.

2. Do not steal.

3. Help each other.

4. Everyone must contribute.

5. You can keep what you find outside the base, but remember all rules above.