The real storm was still coming.
Nobody inside the command center spoke for several seconds.
The drone feeds continued updating across the massive screens.
Every update looked worse.
Every zoom-out revealed more infected.
Every reconnaissance report added another concentration.
Another highway.
Another town.
Another river crossing.
All moving toward the same destination.
Basa Air Base.
Ryan stared at the tactical display.
"...This is basically last year all over again."
Nobody disagreed.
Because he was right.
A year ago, they had faced a massive wave of infected.
The difference was that back then, nobody knew why it happened.
Now they did.
Now they knew there was an intelligence guiding the infected.
An intelligence capable of learning.
Planning.
Adapting.
And apparently retaliating.
Adrian stared at the map for several moments.
Then finally spoke.
"Wake everybody up."
The operations officers immediately looked toward him.
"No reserve status."
