Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 148: The New Threat V2

The screen flickered for a second before stabilizing. The holo-display near the corner of the command room lit up as Marcus, Thomas's Deputy Chief of Staff, stepped into the chamber, tablet in hand and a grim expression carved across his face.

"Sir," Marcus said with a sharp nod. "We've completed aerial recon over the Mandaluyong–Pasig corridor, Sector Delta-4."

Thomas looked up from the tactical display. "And?"

Marcus didn't answer immediately. Instead, he tapped his tablet, and the image cast onto the secondary screen shifted—live Reaper drone footage from 0800 hours this morning.

The room fell silent.

The feed zoomed in slowly on what was once a bustling metro zone. Now? The streets were lined with twisted, pulsating growths. Entire buildings were cocooned in an orange-red biomass, tendrils stretching like muscle fiber across broken windows and traffic poles. It looked like the city had been eaten and regurgitated by something that wasn't remotely human.

"My God…" muttered one of the junior tacticians.

It wasn't just growth. It was structural corruption. Massive spheres of organic matter—vein-covered and bloated—clung to the sides of high-rises. Vines as thick as a man's torso wrapped around entire vehicles. From one bloated sack near the street level, the footage caught something even worse.

It popped.

And when it did—things crawled out.

Twisted silhouettes. Half-human, half-something else. Larger than the common infected, with hardened flesh and elongated limbs. One of them ran toward the drone's microphone array, letting out a high-pitched screech that caused the audio feed to spike with static.

"Play it again," Thomas ordered.

Marcus complied. The playback restarted, slower this time. The pod ballooned slightly—swelled from within—and then burst, sending out a cloud of spores followed by two figures. One looked humanoid, its skin like hardened bark. The other walked on four limbs, ribcage cracked open like a flower and pulsing with something alive inside.

"We're calling them Bloom Nests for now," Marcus said. "We count at least four growing throughout Metro Manila. Each one has at least one of these bio-nodes attached. The largest is in Ortigas, center of Pasig."

"And what's inside?" Thomas asked, voice tight.

"We don't know yet. But we ran thermal overlays. Whatever's in there, it's alive. Breathing. Expanding. Releasing these new variants when the pods rupture."

Phillip squinted at the screen. "Where the hell did this come from? This isn't Crimson Dawn tech. And it's not viral drift from the original strain. This is... something else."

"Exactly," Marcus nodded. "And that's what concerns us."

Thomas stepped forward, arms crossed. "Do we have any recovered corpses?"

"Only partials," Marcus said. "Most of them break down too fast. Acidic blood, degenerative tissue. A few of our scout drones got close before going dark—likely due to EM interference or spore corrosion."

The holo-display transitioned to an aerial shot—orange tendrils wrapped tightly around a radio tower, the blinking red light still glowing at the top, though barely visible under the infestation.

"This is spreading," Marcus continued. "Slow for now, but deliberate. Almost like it's... growing toward something."

Phillip looked at Thomas. "This doesn't match anything we've encountered. Not even during the wave. This looks… engineered."

"By who?" someone asked quietly.

Nobody answered.

Thomas let the silence stretch for a moment, eyes locked on the largest mass pulsing near the center of the screen.

"Send all this data to Research and Medical. I want full analysis—biochemical, electromagnetic, environmental. Everything."

"Already done," Marcus said. "Dr. Delgado is standing by."

Thomas exhaled sharply through his nose. "Good."

Another still frame loaded onto the display—a soldier's helmet cam showing the moment one of the creatures lunged from a half-formed bloom on the side of a building. It moved fast. Almost intelligently. It wasn't a drone. It wasn't shambling.

This thing was hunting.

"We'll designate this new variant as Bloomspawn until further notice," Thomas said. "I don't want our perimeter getting close until we know what we're dealing with."

"And the nests?" Phillip asked.

Thomas looked at him.

"You're going to find out."

Phillip blinked. "Me?"

"I need eyes on the ground. Not just drones. Real boots. You're taking Shadow Team. Reaper drones will give you overwatch. I want a sweep of the area around the Ortigas nest. No direct contact. Just recon. Confirm spread rate, pod activity, and what's living inside those hives."

Phillip nodded slowly. "Alright. We'll prep immediately."

Marcus tapped the final image on his slate—an overview of the infected zone with timestamps.

"We estimate the first bloom emerged less than five days ago," he said. "And it's already covered six blocks."

Thomas didn't like those numbers.

He looked back at the team, voice calm but firm.

"If this is natural, we study it. If it's man-made, we find who made it. And if it spreads…"

His gaze hardened.

"…we burn it to the ground."

***

Five minutes later, Philip and his men were now in the armory, preparing their gadgets for the upcoming mission.

He turned to the equipment list on the slate beside him and ran through it one last time:

Biohazard Containment Canisters – four vacuum-sealed, anti-corrosive containers for spore and tissue samples.

Spectral Particle Scanner (SPS-9) – a handheld device capable of detecting airborne particulate anomalies up to 100 meters.

Quantum Pulse Radar (QPR-11) – short-range scanner designed to map sub-surface structures and potential hive interiors.

Adaptive Visor Filters (AVF Mk II) – upgraded helmet lenses with spore filtration overlays and thermal mapping.

Cryo-Vials with Stabilizing Gel – to preserve any intact biological samples from Bloomspawn.

Miniaturized EM Field Reader – used to detect and measure EM spikes near nests and pods.

Portable Incineration Torch – just in case.

"Everything's in place," the quartermaster confirmed, slapping a magnetic seal on the final containment case.

Phillip nodded, securing the sling on his sidearm before moving to the comms station in the prep room. Shadow Team's icons were already tagged on the local network, syncing their vitals and feeds to the mission channel.

He activated his radio.

"Shadow Team, this is Shadow 0-1. Loadout complete. We deploy in twenty. Meet at Hanger Six. Bring anti-corrosives and AV filters."

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"Copy that," Ghost replied. "We've reviewed the bloom footage. Not looking forward to sniffing that up close."

"Don't breathe it in and we'll be fine," Phillip said, dry.

He tapped his slate again, pulling up the latest orbital imagery of Ortigas.

The bloom had grown overnight. Another intersection was already crawling with vines.

He stared at the image a second longer, jaw tightening.

Then he shut the screen and turned toward the exit.

Time to move.