Survival Bunker System Developer

PXE22 Ghoul Apocalypse

After hanging up, Caleb looked at his map. The first group of bunkers were marked out and ready to be upgraded. Caleb had almost enough to purchase the basic bunker space for the second group of bunkers. It took him two weeks after escorting Helen to her lab to create a functioning resource gathering automated assistant.

He spent the first few days thinking about an idea and eventually took inspiration from Wall-E the movie. With that design in mind, he built the body of the automated assistant. Then, he had to design the circuits which took him a week to complete. Once it was functioning as it should, Caleb worked on the programming which was the easiest portion of the development for him.

The finished product took two weeks and testing the system’s mass production function took an additional week to finalise. Currently, these automated helpers were making their way around the city going by the patrol route. Caleb couldn’t make them ghoul hunters because every automated assistant could only serve one function according to the system’s limitations. Caleb thought that the stolen cruises and ships were put to good use. As he lazed around in the safety of his bunker, Caleb was collecting resources from abandoned houses and shops. It would only be a matter of time before he sacrificed the Statue of Liberty t the system but that can only happen after the army pulled out of the city.

As the world escalated its state of emergency with the spread of ghouls, Rockfeller University finally published in its blog that Project PXE22 might be the possible cause of the plague spreading all over the globe. The American government did what it could to get hold of the researchers and put together a team to find a cure but nobody believed that PXE22 was a private project by Rockfeller University. The media portrayed PXE22 as a biological weapon that the American government was trying to create.

Caleb read up on articles that talked about how PXE22 could change the world. The university released some of Dr Rockmiller’s notes about the project and Caleb wished he had popcorn while reading the forum debates.

Some ‘experts’ claimed that ghouls were a new species of humans and animals that had greater intelligence. The doomsayers supported the idea and claimed that the world was coming to an end. Caleb didn’t fault them for thinking that way. In fact, the world had ended once in his previous life. The awakening of the intelligent ghoul was proof that PXE22 was capable of transforming into a more intelligent creature if it survived.

On the other hand, the world leaders were too busy pointing fingers at each other. Everyone blamed America for the disaster and nobody was putting any real effort into resolving the situation. Japan closed itself off from the world. China let millions of citizens die to stop the spreading. North Korea simply executed any infected ghouls, claiming that ghouls were not humans and have lost all their rationality. Anyone guilty of hiding a ghoul will also be executed. Europe and America were not very different from each other. The spread wasn’t contained and most of the population in major cities have dwindled to less than half by the end of May.

Thankfully, the president succeeded in getting the votes to pass the bill for the military to step in. In fact, if it wasn’t for some of the more stubborn senates getting attacked by the ghouls, the bill wouldn’t be passed so easily. Caleb didn’t know if he should be happy about it or annoyed that it took the self-centred politicians so long to come to a consensus. Millions of people have died while they debated over the right to shoot ghouls or not. If they didn’t pass the bill soon, Caleb might just decide to design an automated assistant to shoot the stubborn senates.

Amidst the chaos, Helen remained closed off to the world and focussed on understanding the mutation of PXE22. Caleb tasked her to find out how long it would take for PXE22 to evolve into an awakened ghoul and what the conditions were. In addition, he asked if Helen was able to find any new weakness that ghouls had. So far, Helen discovered that regular ghouls were able to starve to death and bleed to death if they were wounded. They were very similar to humans even though they have lost their rationality. Regular ghouls did not have regeneration abilities like the awakened ghoul and Caleb released that information in the dark net so that the people in high places can start taking appropriate measures.

As the army stormed into New York City to provide suppression fire and create ghoul-free zones for the survivors living in the subway bunkers, the world was still on fire. World War three was on the brink of happening when North Korea threatened America to hand over whatever research documents it had about PXE22 or they will start firing missiles. In fact, North Korea was not the only country willing to wage war with America for the cure. China supported North Korea and Russia was willing to side with them.

Desperate, the government pressured Rockfeller University to turn over everything they had about Project PXE22. Caleb didn’t know if he was doing the right thing by creating a lab bunker in Helen’s lab. The university couldn’t find anything apart from the data that Helen input to the shared system with Dr Fellowes. Her current research about ghouls was not recorded and the university couldn’t produce anything useful for the government.

News about Dr Fellowes’ death and Dr Rockmiller’s disappearance sparked a huge uproar. The world issued a bounty for Dr Helen Rockmiller and would reward anyone who could turn the missing doctor in alive. The World Health Organisation gathered for an important discussion to analyse Dr Fellowes and Dr Rockmiller’s notes about PXE22. Talks about a collaboration to bring together all the greatest talents went one without a conclusive outcome as more people die.

The army would arrive in New York City tomorrow and Caleb decided to come clean with Paul. He bared visitors from entering the shop and decided to visit the gun shop owner.

Caleb checked his surroundings with the hacked surveillance camera system. Only one ghoul was loitering a few blocks away so Caleb was safe for now. The system developer took the chance over the last few weeks to clean the area of ghouls little by little. At the same time, he expanded the bunker zone and converted his entire apartment building including the parking area into a bunker space of the most basic kind that didn’t allow anyone else in except for him for now.

The Benz that had been damaged was now repaired, courtesy of the system. Caleb grasped the opportunity to turn the sedan into something capable of taking on ghouls for when he had to go out for errands. Today, he was out to get ammunition that he accidentally sacrificed to the system the last time. While he was still in his apartment, the gun never ran out of bullets. However, the same couldn’t be said when he left his special bunker.

Before the army arrived, Caleb wanted to do a little something to help out the survivors in the subway bunkers. His blog had become immensely popular all over the world as more and more survivors turned to him for advice. Caleb took the opportunity to set up some meet-up points for survivors to gather resources they needed while he worked behind the scenes to manually transport the needed resources to those meet-up points. So far, nobody was short on food or drinking water but Caleb thought they needed to be better equipped to fight the ghouls still loitering around the city. Baseball bats or any kind were grabbed and even crowbars were deployed for the desperate survivors but the blunt weapons can only take down so many ghouls without risking the safety of the survivors.

Hence, Caleb wanted to tell Paul about his system and ask the old man for a favour to help him with the weapon distribution. There was a new function in the system that he discovered after distributing food and water to those who needed it. The system worked like a smart multi-level marketer and made Caleb the top of the pyramid. For anyone who used Caleb’s bunker materials or resources, Caleb would get a share of what they gathered or killed. Right now, Caleb had no problems gathering resources thanks to his automated assistants. However, he was sorely in need of ghoul kills. The best way to get ghoul kills from the comfort of his apartment, for now, is to distribute bunker produced firearms.

The black Benz pulled over just outside of Paul’s gun shop and Caleb took a moment to check if the coast is clear. Once he was certain that there weren’t any ghouls nearby, Caleb got out of the car and ran towards the shop.

Paul was in the middle of his breakfast when Caleb showed up. The startled gun shop owner choked and Caleb had to help the elderly man get a glass of water. He didn’t forget to grab the things he needed from Target before coming over and was glad for an excuse to showcase the power of the bunker system more believably.

“I know you said that you’d be coming in a few days but I didn’t think you were a morning person,” Paul said dryly.

Caleb laughed. “Just a change of pace. I brought you some things you might want to keep in your fridge. Also, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Paul nodded and watched as Caleb pulled out food from thin air. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Caleb pulled out enough to cover his countertop.

“How much did you get and where is everything coming from?”

The system developer grinned. “It’s related to what I have to tell you. But first, let’s choose something to eat. Coffee?”

“Yes, please. You’re not going to leave anything out from me now that I’ve seen this magic, right? The gun shop’s replenishing of the stock must also be your doing. I might be old but I’m still too young for dementia.”

Caleb coughed. “I don’t know about young but you’re not imagining it. The stock that you sold will automatically replace itself just like how I’m able to pull stuff out of thin air. If I told you that this apocalypse isn’t the first one I’m experiencing, would you believe me?”

The cautious look in his eyes made Paul relent. “I can’t say I believe you but I do know that you always do things for a good reason. Let’s hear it and try not to shock me too much. I don’t want to go into a cardiac arrest.”

Caleb took a seat and started explaining to Paul about his death in the future and the appearance of an intelligent ghoul. He also mentioned that he was in contact with Dr Helen Rockmiller who was in a special bunker similar to the gun shop’s bunker. Then, the system developer divulged details about the other special bunkers he had and expressed his concerns about the limitations to expand the bunker capacity due to the lack of ghoul kills.

“Hence, I need your help. The system has a way of collecting ghoul kills if the weapons are distributed. I’m currently distributing food and water to the subway shelter survivors but they need better weapons to fend for themselves. These ghoul kills will help me increase the bunker capacity to accommodate the survivors after the army pulls out of the city in a month. However, I have one more concern about securing drinkable water supply for the bunker. The government is going to cut the power and water supply to the city.”

Paul took in everything without asking any questions. He didn’t comment and didn’t judge Caleb. Instead, the old man sighed. “No wonder you gave me the permit to leave the city. You’re afraid that I’ll die again trying to take down those monsters.”

Caleb chose to remain silent. Indeed, Paul was a good friend of his who helped him greatly in his previous life. He didn’t want the old man to die so quickly this time when he had the ability to help.

“Let’s see. You just need my help to deliver weapons and ammunition to the meet-up points twice a week. I can handle that. The truck might be old but it can still run over a few ghouls on the way.”

At the mention of transportation, Caleb stopped Paul. “Actually, I would like to borrow your truck and modify it a little with the system. Can I?”

The gun shop owner blinked. “Are you going to turn it into scrap metal?”

“No. I’m just going to improve it so that it is more robust against ghouls. My Benz has been improved too and I believe that you need a stronger truck. Manhattan is filled with ghouls, unlike Brooklyn.”

Paul laughed. “Do what you want. I’m not the system expert, you are. Still, is there anything else I could help with?”

Caleb shook his head. “This is more than enough. Leave the rest to me.”

Nodding, Paul watched as Caleb busied away. Looking at Caleb work his magic was like watching a single ray of hope in the apocalypse. While people were dying and struggling to survive outside, Caleb was busy planning for something big and making the ghoul-infested city his home. The bunker system lived up to its reputation. It was impregnable and existed on a different plane.

Should humanity regain its former glory someday, Paul wished that Caleb would be able to see it happen.