The first alert reached Abuja as a rumor.
It arrived as a forwarded clip shaky, vertical, full of screaming the kind officials normally dismissed as panic bait,Avoidable. Exaggerated and most somtimes were Misleading.
But the forwarding chain didn't stop.
It multiplied.
By the time the third version reached federal security channels, it wasn't tagged as social media anymore. It was flagged as ALERT RED.
Inside a restricted operations wing beneath Aso Rock, the air had already changed. When real danger appears, people don't shout first. They move faster.
In real crisis structure, only:
President
National Security Adviser
Defense Minister
Chief of Defense Staff.
would be physically present in hardened command early.
Others would be remote or delayed.
The President listened more than he spoke.
"Is this terrorism?" he asked.
"No, sir," said the CDS. "Its has been clarified as an infection, but we don't know what it is yet."
"Biological?"
"Possibly airborne vector with neurological override."
"is it Foreign?"
"Unknown sir."
That word again.
Unknown.
Governments do hate unknown more than enemies.
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A brigadier general stood at the center console, watching a wall of feeds from across the country flicker and return, flicker and return. Lagos traffic cams. Kaduna perimeter drones. Port Harcourt harbor eyes. Some feeds froze on empty roads. Others showed crowds running without direction.
"What are we looking at?" he asked.
The intelligence officer hesitated not because he didn't know, but because saying it out loud would make it real.
"Sir… coordinated behavioral collapse events across multiple states."
"Isn't That's a complicated way to say riot."
"No sir."
He tapped the screen.
The footage rolled.
A man ran across an open market lot. Five figures chased him with unnatural persistence chasing while shouting franticaly. When they caught him, they didn't beat him.
They bit him.
The room went still.
Someone near the back muttered, "Jesus…"
The general didn't blink.
"Zoom."
The camera zoomed. The attackers moved oddly they didn't seem coordinated, but driven by something.
"How many reports?"
"Confirmed violent anomalies in eleven states. Suspected in more. Transmission suspected through bites or deep wounds."
"Suspected?" the general asked gruffly.
"Sir… the ones bitten are attacking others within minutes."
That changed the room temperature.
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Somewhere in a lab....
A restrained infected subject was brought into a mobile containment truck outside Abuja.
It did not behave like a rabies patient.
It tracked motion.
Reacted to sound.
Ignored pain.
Blood oxygen low yet still mobile.
"Metabolism is false," the military doctor said.
"Cells decaying but motor function are still active."
"Dead?" someone asked.
"Not really but not alive too."
That answer stayed with the room.
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Telecom channels began choking next. Not from shutdown from overload. Too many calls, too many live streams, too many people trying to verify what they didn't want to believe.
Military networks stayed cleaner. Hardened lines. Priority routing.
Orders started flowing outward like sparks.
Drone units began sending atmospheric scans.
Unusual particulate density in multiple regions.
Microscopic unknown organic compound.
"Airborne carrier?" DSS asked.
"Possible enhancer," Air Force science unit replied. "Not primary agent."
Meaning:
Mist didn't create them.
Mist helped them....
Rapid response units mobilized. Air Force reconnaissance scrambled. Barracks sealed their gates. Police tactical divisions were told to abandon normal patrol patterns and switch to cluster defense.
Some nations that might hesitate, Nigeria's field doctrine under biological threat would likely escalate fast and hard once confirmed.
In the board on one of the military barracks as soldiers and personnel ranked moved about gear up.
Some came to the billboard on the new update posted.
Rules updated:
Headshots authorized
Fire teams in pairs minimum
Flame units requested
No solo patrols
Civilian rescue only under armored escort
A colonel muttered quietly;
"We are writing rules for monsters."
General Adeyemi answered;
"No. We are writing rules so humans survive monsters."
Real response were quiet at first.
The President arrived through the secured corridor, escorted but not rushed. His face held the look of someone who had already been told the truth privately and didn't like it.
"Explain," he said simply.
The Chief of Defense Staff did.
"Sir, this is not protest, not insurgency, not terror cells. This is biological or unknown neurological aggression spread. We are seeing loss of higher reasoning and predatory behavior."
"Is it contained?"
"No sir."
"Can it be?"
A pause.....
"Yes," the CDS said carefully. "But not everywhere at once."
That was the honest answer.
Then came the breach report.
A barracks in the north flagged internal violence. A soldier collapsed during perimeter duty, seized, then attacked two others before being restrained. Both bitten. Both turned within ten minutes.
The word turn entered the official vocabulary right there.
No one voted on it. Language adapts faster than policy.
Quarantine protocols were ordered immediately.
Helmets down, visors sealed when possible.
One colonel whispered, "We're fighting infection, not an enemy."
The general answered without looking at him.
"Infection becomes enemy when it runs."
It seemed as when you in need of the Government. The Government seems to act for one.
Drone teams sent atmospheric scans. Strange particulate density drifted across several regions mist without weather cause.
Scientists argued quietly at the side station.
"Carrier agent?"
"Enhancer."
"Vector amplifier."
Abuja itself hadn't fallen into chaos yet, but fear traveled faster than infection. Fuel stations crowded. Shops closed halfway through transactions. Churches filled, then emptied again when rumors spread that gatherings attracted attacks.
Government radio attempted a calm advisory broadcast.
It cut mid-sentence when the grid dipped.
Backup transmission restored it three minutes later, voice tighter than before.
"Citizens are advised to remain indoors and avoid—"
Static swallowed the rest.
Not every uniform in the room was fearless.
A young operations lieutenant stared too long at one live helmet feed a squad clearing a bus park outside Minna. With precise Efficieniency being in Control but Still brutal.
"Sir," he said quietly, "if this spreads fully… are we enough?"
The general finally looked at him.
"Enough is not a number," he said. "Enough is discipline."
Then he turned back to the screens because leaders in crisis don't get the luxury of doubt for long.
A new intelligence thread opened on the global emergency exchange channel cross-nation verified anomalies.
Individuals claiming structured ability interfaces.
"Mutations," one analyst read aloud, unsure how serious to sound.
"Internet nonsense?" someone asked.
"Some footage are verified authentic."
The general leaned closer.
On the paused frame, a young man stood in a ruined street somewhere overseas, staring at empty air like he was reading invisible text.
Calm in chaos.
While looking it felt that this person was too Adaptive to his situation.
And felt dangerous in a different way.
"Tag that," the general said.
"Why?" Asked one of the major in the room.
"Because wars change," he answered quietly, "when a few people stop dying like everyone else."
The tag line under the clip showed a captured audio label.
— Aren —