---
Location: FOB Echo Point – Southern Grid / Watchtower 2
Time: 06:43 | Day 11 of Infection Collapse
A thin drizzle pattered softly against the reinforced panels of Watchtower 2. Below, the muddy terrain had turned to slick clay overnight, leaving deep tire tracks and puddles that mirrored the dim sky. Logan Hale stood at the top of the tower with a cup of instant coffee, watching the horizon through binoculars.
Silence.
Not the comfortable kind, but a stretched, breathless kind that felt unnatural this far into the collapse. They hadn't seen movement in hours. Not even the feral dogs that occasionally skirted the fences.
Wraith joined him, stepping lightly across the metal decking. He handed over a tablet.
"Final sweep reports," Wraith said. "Drones are up. Still no contact in Grids 4C through 5A."
Logan scanned the report, then looked south.
"Either they're regrouping... or watching."
Wraith didn't argue. They both knew the rhythm of war. A lull wasn't peace—it was preparation.
---
Location: FOB Echo Point – Command Room
Time: 07:18
Inside the main bunker, the team gathered. Petrescu, Reaper One, Hammer, Sofia, and Dumitrescu stood around the central console. On the screen, the latest satellite pulse showed no major infected clusters within a 10-kilometer radius.
"We have the initiative," Logan said, his voice even. "And we're not wasting it. Today we begin construction of the Listening Post."
He pulled up the System interface:
> [WAR CREDITS: 1,211.8]
[New Infrastructure Available: Forward Listening Post, Tier I]
[Cost: 400 WAR CREDITS]
[Requirements: Secure Command Team | Sensor Web x2 | Recon Drone Access]
> [Support Units Unlocked: Logistics Truck x1 | Utility Drone x1]
"Wraith and I will oversee the post location," Logan continued. "Hammer, get the new drone online. Petrescu, you take charge of security drills. Sofia, you shadow him. Dumitrescu, help prep the supplies."
Orders confirmed, the outpost erupted into motion.
---
Location: FOB Echo Point – Construction Yard
Time: 09:10
Hammer clanked his wrench against a fresh-assembled logistics truck, muttering to himself as he double-checked fluid lines.
Nearby, Marcel and Mihai stacked sensor kits and ration boxes, under Reaper One's watchful gaze.
"That drone better fly clean," Hammer warned. "It's our eyes in the dark."
"Drone is operational," the machine replied. "Surveillance routines uploaded."
The utility drone launched seconds later, spiraling upward like a wasp and vanishing into the gray sky.
---
Location: Grid 5B – Proposed Listening Post Site
Time: 10:25
It was a lonely rise above the tree line, just under a collapsed radio tower. Logan and Wraith cleared a path to the ridge, while the drone hovered above, projecting a topographical map overlay.
"Good field of view," Wraith muttered.
"And defensible," Logan added. He brought up the interface and confirmed the build:
> [Listening Post Construction Confirmed – ETA: 4 Hours]
As they planted the first anchor beacon, a faint ping echoed through Wraith's scanner.
"Got something," he said. "Echo pattern. Not infected. Could be metal-on-metal. 700 meters northwest."
Logan froze. "Vehicle? Survivor?"
"Could also be bait."
He hesitated, then tapped his comms. "Command, we're investigating a sound signature. Could be civilian. Light support ready?"
> "Copy. Drone feed locked. Proceed with caution."
They moved slowly, rifles raised.
---
Location: Grid 5B – Abandoned Roadside Camp
Time: 10:41
What they found wasn't hostile.
A makeshift camp. Tent half-collapsed. Rusted rifle by the firepit. A body—emaciated, long-dead. A recorder sat near his side.
Logan pressed play.
"...we held the checkpoint until the dogs came. Then the ones with gear... they moved in formations. We hit six before they adapted. Then we died. If this message finds anyone... make it mean something."
Silence.
Wraith lowered his eyes. "Intel matches what we've seen."
"They're not animals," Logan said quietly. "Not anymore."
They marked the location for salvage and returned to the build site.
---
Location: FOB Echo Point – Watchtower 2
Time: 14:23
From the ridge, the new Listening Post rose under the drone's guidance. By sundown, Echo Point would have eyes far beyond its fences.
Logan watched the trees.
Something moved deep within them—too far to see, too faint to confirm.
But the war was shifting again.
And the silence was ending.