Coincidentally Prepared

[MyLittleHellhound]

North Korea. Probably one of the most infamous countries around the world. Unlike its counterpart, North Korea was well equipped to deal with the epidemic that struck the world on July 22, 2012. As soon as reports came in that the United States of America had, indeed, been overrun with the creatures, the North Koreans made a quick decision and abandoned their defences immediately.

Although, in the month of June before. . . Anti-tank guns, artillery, machine-gun nests, and watchtowers were constructed in little to no time at all. Pyongyang was a beehive of activity as workers, soldiers, and civilians alike scuttled about to their various jobs. Tanks rumbled into place, nuclear silos powered up, and planes circled above. The world watched in awe at this mass mobilisation of the army, and America warned them . . .

Unlike many countries, North Korea was placed so that it would only need to defend two or one fronts, whilst many others had to defend from all four sides. As well, North Korea's population was isolated from the world, and therefore no persons were infected. Previously, North Korea's status would have been frowned upon, but if anyone alive could see it today, they would realize it was a brilliant foundation for holding off all threats. And, cleverly disguised by feeding the American satellites with false images, workers had dug huge bomb shelters deep underground. These were meant for the nuclear wars, but they could contain well over the total population of women, children, and men that could, if survived long enough, rebuild North Korea in the event that the Earth was torn apart by nuclear explosions. Food and water were stored, as well as machinery, weapons, ammunition, and a self-sustaining electric circuit that provided hot water, electricity, air conditioning and heat.

On July 20, North Korea pulled back from the fronts. South Korea and the rest of the world was puzzled beyond belief. Troops just disappeared, going into their guard stations and never coming out. One bold American decided to step across the 2 foot-tall concrete block that ran along the border. A turret clicked into place and blew his torso back to the South Korean lands.

When July 21 rolled around, North Korea was completely quiet. Nothing moved. Creatures tittered in the silent air as the American satellite operators sat scratching their heads, wondering "what the fuck is going on!?" Attempts at communication were not answered, and UAVs flown over the airspace were shot down in an instant. Navy ships going near the coast cracked in half as water mines, anti-armor guns, and rockets lit up the night sky and crashed down upon the merchant ships and the Royal Navy. Scanners indicated no life. So, North Korea had put all of its weapons on auto-pilot? That meant the nuclear silos as well! The UN decided on this, and Operation:Shutdown was being carried out tommorow in order to disable all weapons.

July 22 started off as a normal day when the sun rose. It was the nicest summer so far, but that was going to end. The Navy sailed for the North Korean coast as an EMP flashed, disabling the electronics of the turrets. Paratroopers clouded the air, bombers roared in the skies, and tanks raced across the ground to overtake the defences before they reactivated. Unfortunately that was not the case. All turrets, not affected (by god they had advanced tech!)by the EMP, sprang into action and started chattering away.

"This is Tank Commander Weatherby. We are taking the objecti-*CRASH*"

"Overlord to Weatherby. Action Report?"

"Shit, Overlord, the machines are shooting at us! They have anti-tank guns! Oh shit oh shit get us outta here! I repeat full *explosion, machine gun chattering* fall back! Unit is taking heavy losses and my driver is *screams and explosion*"

"Weatherby? Weatherby? God damnit. Order the full retreat. Operation is aborted. Shit."

Later that day, the epidemic struck. Millions of citizens crawled to the swamped hospitals, pleading that "their stomachs were on fire and their limbs were shaking and they had high fevers." The doctors and the CDC (Center for Disease Control) didn't know what it was. US military police tried to restore order, but they were too late. Citizens transformed . . . into primitive creatures. Their eyes glowed through the deepest of nights which were punctuated with screams and gunshots. The States fell in a matter of hours. The other countries went dark as well.

Survivors of the epidemic, of the Pentagon, realized that hell, had North Korea been equipped more than anyone to deal with this? Had they started it? Or just expected it to come? Meanwhile, the North Korean citizens and soldiers were in their underground fortress, listening to the news reports of above and watching the disease that ravaged the world. Everyone except them. A day later the channels went down. 10 years later, the soldiers decided to open the doors for the first time.

They crept out silently, guns facing the world of disease and pain. Nothing in North Korea had been touched. The turrets sat silent, except for the constant chattering of the ones on the South Korea front. It was pretty much the world it was today, without the people around them. The ocean couldn't cover up the hundreds, millions of boat wrecks that lined the coast. It appeared that people had tried to escape to the prepared North Korea, and there was the Navy and armies. Canadian, American, England, Australian, and German (not to mention the dozens of other country's) troops lay rotting in the streets. Tank wrecks, long stopped burning, sat in the fields. Overturned cars, broken tables, and newspapers. Downed bombers and planes and helicopters everywhere. Crashed in buildings, embedded in the ground, what a waste of machinery. Nuclear silos had already fired. Turrets all had enough ammo to sustain fire for 5 more years. From other reports, all world powers had exhausted their nuclear abilities as well. By now the world would be a wasteland.

But what happens to them later on? What will the North Korean troops of "The New World" encounter in this bleak and unforgiving desert?

As MyLittleHellhound, I have a challenge for you.

Write the continuation to this. Make it first, or third person, have an antagonist, it really doesn't matter to me how you write it. I'm not totally sure if anyone will do this, but if you do, you already have my respect and admiration. It shouldn't be that hard to write it, this is a really easy foundation to write from.

[MexicanIlluminati]

This is awesome

Have you read World War Z? Very similar writing scheme I like it! Nice set up with explaining the situation in North Korea. If I have time, I'll definitely write a continuation.

I'm a little confused as to what it should be about though. About the North Korean army emerging from their quarantine and combating the undead?

[MyLittleHellhound]

In fact, I have read World War Z. Very good book! Well, what is it about? Who knows? Really I meant this to be a short thing, for you to decide what happens next! Maybe the army will combat the undead, maybe they will fall. Who knows?

That's up for you to decide ;)

[MexicanIlluminati]

Its a biggun!!

After the crisis, the first to leave the bomb shelters were the North Korean Special Operations Force (SOF). They were the renowned for their unrivaled abilities in combat, and the “Great Leader” was confident that their first steps into the new world would bring nothing but success. Their mission was twofold. The first objective was to provide a full report documenting the conditions of the surrounding area, and decide whether returning to the surface world would be advisable at this time. Their second objective was to rendezvous with a satellite access point (SAP) and take in-depth photographs of the former superpowers of the world to assess their capability for resistance.

The expedition was composed of four teams to spread out North, South, East and West to the borders of the city and report back to a base camp stationed in the center, near where they had surfaced. Each team consisted of seven squads of infantry riding in trucks and one tank, crewed by a team of four. The Northern team was also tasked with making contact with the SAP one mile in and remotely handing over control of the Satellite to base camp.

The first hours of the mission brought nothing but good news. As they had expected, the entirety of the city was perfectly untouched. The city seemed like a completely separate world than the nightmare they had watched on TV from the safety of their shelter. The only casualties were the dead Americans rotting in the streets, or slumped over at the controls of their vehicles. A few lay twenty feet from their own limbs. One was even impaled on a lamppost where he had fallen from the helicopter embedded in the office building above. The SOF felt no pity for them. It took the end of the world for them to come crawling to the Fatherland for help and now they had paid.

It was only after the Northern team reached the SAP that things began to fall helplessly, morbidly, out of control. That was when the headaches started, the stomach spasms, the vomiting. Each team reported a handful of soldiers who claimed the pain was too great, that they simply could not go on. They were mercifully lifted by helicopter back to base where they were inspected by medical personnel.

It was as the Northern troops reached the base of a large hill in the city, their dreams of an ideal world began to fall apart, piece by piece.

Commander Namgung of the Northern army was riding shotgun in one of the rear trucks when the news came.

His driver who had been fiddling with his radio with his free hand now held the walkie-talkie up to his ear. He soon turned to him, “Commander sir, its base camp. They say its urgent.”

Namgung had barely set the walkie to his ear when the voice of a panicked medic came screaming through, “Commander, turn your men around NOW! The tests came up positive!”

“Slow down! What’s going on? What tests?”

The medic rambled even faster and ever more incomprehensible, “We’ve begun pulling back the rest of the army! It’s not safe there! Get your men back! Turn them around and-”

“SHUTUP! Just shutup and tell me what’s going on!”

He had no sooner said the words when the truck came to a halt. He stepped out and advanced along the road, radio still in hand. He reached the top of the hill, and just before he dropped the walkie in terror, he heard one final sentence, “Commander… That entire area is radioactive.”

The Medics words were soon explained by what the Commander was now seeing. The hill provided a far reaching view of the city. Or rather, what had once been the city.

A orange-tainted sky provided the background for the hellish scene that lay before them. The city was completely eroded into the ground. What remained of the city’s once majestic skyscrapers were leaning, shredded masses of metal that looked like giants kneeling in death. The land beneath the buildings had eroded into a sea of radioactive glass.

Kneeling and breathing heavily in despair, the Commander spoke into his radio, “We were told nothing of the country was affected!”

The medics voice was grim, “The satellite images have just come in. We are in a bubble

of 10% of the nation that wasn’t completely destroyed.”

“And what of the rest of the world?”

“Its all gone sir, were all that remains”

Somehow, this fact did nothing to ease his pain. Troops then marveled as a single tear descended the Commander’s war hardened face. The irony of it all. We sought to expand our nation to the four corners of the earth, and now we are trapped in a bubble of our own sins.

The long walk back was quick and silent. They only stopped once when a soldier dropped dead from the radiation, to wrap him in a body bag.

This was when the Commander noticed one of his men staring idly into the sky. He followed the man’s gaze and saw it. Something shining, gleaming in the sun. A suit! A chemical suited figure watching them from the rooftop!

Apparently he wasn’t the only one to see it, as a shot soon rang out and hit the watcher in the upper torso. The shining suit reappeared once more, only to then run in the opposite direction. The Commander ordered his troops into pursuit.

So, we are not the only ones left. What nation is still capable enough to have spies mounted after this disaster?

The watcher took down an impressive 20 soldiers before he was finally cornered in an allyway and taken into custody.

Back underground, the watcher was stripped of his chem suit and taken into the torture chamber. The Commander approached him. American, by the looks of him. It took a shot of truth serum and a full 3 hours of torture at the Commander’s hands to get anything out of him. The Commander held a knife just inches away from the man’s eye.

“If you value your sight you will tell me. What is your name?”

The answer came through spurts of blood and agonized breath,

“My name, is David Mason”

:D

[darkflareon]

I really like both bits of writing and love the idea of having one to carry on.

This is where my idea comes in. I was hoping that by leaving mine at a loose end, with several loose ends, there would be plenty of angles that more people could write from.

Unfortunatly what I wrote was before I saw the section alredy written and dose contredic it .

Here is my section plaese carry it on in anyway you wish.

Staring around I follow my father out into this new world, my younger brother has never seen the sun before, and I myself don’t remember it. It feels strange breathing fresh air that isn’t filtered before entering the below level volts. I lift the gun I have been handed its reasonable small compared to the ones the adults have. I look back to take the hand of my younger brother who looks dazed and terrified, He’s bilking violently squinting at the emptiness awaiting us a sudden explosion to the north makes us all swing our pistols.

“They are still out there? How can they have survived?” men were now running past me shouting to their familes to go back inside but too many doors were open if the frount line failed we were all dead.

“Look after your brother, keep him safe.” The screeches rose from the borders. “Don’t wait for me gust run if they break us. You know where the supplies are, get them now. Go.” And my father was running to where he expected to die.

I paused hoping that I was going to be able to wait but a second explosion confirmed what we had prepared for. They wouldn’t eat themselves away they would keep going. Even when we could not.

I ran dragging my little brother behind me they were other families doing the same but we were small and so faster. Getting to the supplies first meant we could choose the two biggest packs hoping that there would be some left the solders that survived.

Moving to a sheltered area I took the small pistols from my pack loading them and holstering one to my side. I smiled weakly at my little brother who had started to explore the surrounding areas. I sighed leaning against a wall. A sudden hissing made me jump. Next to me was a large snake. It wasn't native and should have died from the swim getting here. I looked into its eyes, they were glowing.

I sprang to my feet screaming for my little brother. I wished I hadn’t as he ran into the room the snake struck.

It missed but not by enough. One of its fangs had grazed along his arms only just piercing the skin but doing so none the less.i grabbed a stone and smashed it repetedly agains this monstrosities skull.

I stared around crying for help. No one came there was more screaming from around the town more crying for the dead.

I was too young for this, I couldn’t cope, I should have to cope, this wasn’t my mess this was other countries, and I wouldn’t deal with this lying down hiding in fear. I could feel the walls the restrictions I had been taught to live by breaking.

I was a new person when I left that room and my brother knew it. He followed silently behind me.

Whoever was responsible would pay.

Any coments or idea for inprovents are welcome

-Flareon

[MexicanIlluminati]

Hey Flareon,

I think your a very good writer! Your good at describing the details of the little things.

One thing I think you could improve on though, is the spacing of your events. Like everything happens too fast. You should spend more time in between events of action to develop your characters or talk about what they are thinking or further explain the situation they are in. If things happen too quick it can be kinda tiring for readers to follow, get me? Just a thought, feel free to criticise mine. :D

[darkflareon]

Hey Flareon,

I think your a very good writer! Your good at describing the details of the little things.

One thing I think you could improve on though, is the spacing of your events. Like everything happens too fast. You should spend more time in between events of action to develop your characters or talk about what they are thinking or further explain the situation they are in. If things happen too quick it can be kinda tiring for readers to follow, get me? Just a thought, feel free to criticise mine.

I thought this about this one to but could think of a way of expanding it. I really apreciate the feed back and will definatly try to incorporate this into other pieces.

When reading yours though I couldnt think of any critasisums, there were a couple of point where I was a bit confused b ut it was explained later in the text. there wasn't as much description on the characters but as it was about a group it still works really well.

-Flareon