The Dream That Stayed

12. The Countdown Begins

# Part 12 The Countdown Begins

Lily looked at General Lucas.

"Even I don't know what those codes mean. I saw them in my visions. And I saw a blonde higher officer who was ordering you."

Ryan immediately pulled Lily back.

"General, stop!"

But General Lucas fired a warning shot into the air.

The loud gunshot echoed through the room.

"Stay out of this, Ryan!" General Lucas shouted.

Ryan froze.

"I won't spare you just because you're my friend's son."

His voice became cold.

"On duty, there are no friends. There is no family."

Ryan's eyes filled with tears.

"But trust us! We are not lying!"

He pointed towards Lily.

"She is my wife. Please try to understand."

"Please..."

Meanwhile, in another room, Bright and Lisa were being interrogated by General Scarlet Cooper.

The moment they heard the gunshot, everyone rushed out of the room.

"What happened?" General Cooper demanded.

After hearing everything, she immediately turned towards General Lucas.

"Put your g*n away. Right now."

General Lucas hesitated before lowering his weapon.

General Cooper then looked at one of the officers.

"Bring a lie detector."

The officer immediately left.

General Cooper looked at the group.

"As many of you belong to reputable families, let's sort this out before it gets ugly."

She glanced at Ryan.

General Scarlet Cooper was also an old friend of Ryan's father, General David, who had retired recently.

"We cannot treat you like criminals without evidence."

She paused.

"But you also cannot roam around freely without proving your innocence."

She folded her arms.

"Hence, this is the only way."

One by one, everybody was taken into separate rooms and tested using a lie detector.

The officers asked the same questions repeatedly, twisting the wording each time.

Hours passed.

Finally, the results were compiled.

General Cooper sat quietly while reading the report.

Then she looked up.

"They are not lying."

Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief.

"And there is no evidence that any military secrets have been leaked."

Ryan smiled weakly.

General Cooper continued,

"That doesn't mean we fully understand what's happening."

She placed the report on the table.

"But it does mean we are willing to help."

Everyone looked at her hopefully.

"However..."

The room became silent again.

"You all will have to join the military training program."

Ethan immediately grinned.

"We already learned shooting."

Several officers exchanged looks.

Arjun raised his hand.

"Wait. We have to fight zombies, right? Why do we need combat training? We're not going to touch infected people with our hands."

A few soldiers chuckled.

General Cooper shook her head.

"Combat training isn't only about fighting with your hands."

The room became quiet.

"It teaches you how to fight with your mind."

"How to think under pressure."

"How to react in time."

"How to make decisions when lives are at stake."

"How to attack with force when necessary."

She looked at each of them.

"In a battlefield, your weapon isn't the only thing keeping you alive."

She tapped her head.

"This is."

Nobody argued anymore.

General Cooper stood up.

"If what you're saying is true..."

Her expression turned serious.

"Then the countdown has already started."

The room fell silent.

"You guys should have lunch first. It's already too late."

General Cooper stood up and gathered the files from the table.

"We also have our side of the story to investigate."

She paused for a moment.

"And I don't think the apocalypse is going to wait until 2059."

The room fell silent.

Everyone exchanged nervous glances before leaving for lunch.

As they were about to leave, General Lucas stopped Lily.

He looked at her with a softer expression than before.

"Sorry, my dear."

"I knew you were Ryan's wife. I have attended your wedding."

Lily looked at him quietly.

"But for us, duty comes first."

He sighed.

"I hope you don't hold any bitterness toward me."

Lily smiled.

"No, I don't."

Ryan held her hand and smiled gently.

"We'll take our leave now."

General Lucas nodded.

As Lily walked a few steps away, she suddenly stopped and turned around.

"General."

Lucas looked at her.

"Yes?"

"She was the one who was ordering you." "GENERAL SCARLET COOPER"

General Lucas smiled at lily.

"You really are gifted, my child."

and goes to have lunch.

They all went to the bunker and had lunch. Ryan's dad had already received a call from General Scarlet Cooper about the incident. Lily also thought it would be troublesome to keep hiding things from their parents, so they finally came clean to them as well.

After lunch, they returned to the base to find out what General Cooper meant when she said that the apocalypse might happen earlier than expected.

All the officers attended the meeting.

General Cooper displayed a map on the projector.

Near the North Pole, a city called Longyearbyen was marked.

Then she began explaining.

"Longyearbyen is the largest settlement in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and one of the northernmost towns in the world.

Location: Arctic Ocean, between mainland Norway and the North Pole.

Latitude: About 78° North.

Population: Around 2,000–2,500 residents.

It has its own airport, making it the main gateway to Svalbard.

Temperatures can drop well below freezing for most of the year."

She changed the slide.

"A scientific team near Longyearbyen discovered an unusual microorganism trapped in ice.

During excavation, a containment accident occurred.

The infection spread among the researchers before anyone realized what it was."

The room fell silent.

"As they returned, they were immediately quarantined. Out of fifteen people, only one person is still alive. He did not get infected along with the group."

Everyone listened carefully.

"We have preserved the bodies of everyone who died. If we manage to develop an antidote, we may be able to bring them back."

"So it is curable?" asked Preet.

General Cooper replied,

"We don't know yet. We are still researching it. The country's top scientists and doctors are working on it."

Her expression became serious.

"And remember, this information is classified. If it gets out, it would be very difficult to control the public."

Ethan raised his hand.

"Then why didn't that person get infected?"

Scarlet opened another file and displayed it on the board.

"Look carefully."

She pointed at the medical report.

"This man has the HZV virus in his body. His white blood cells are fighting it, but his body is reacting as if it doesn't care about the virus taking over."

The group looked confused.

General Cooper continued,

"When the others got infected, it took time for the virus to take over their brains."

She changed the slide again.

"But now... it is happening in milliseconds."

The room went silent.

"It means..." Ethan whispered.

Preet immediately completed the sentence.

"HZV has evolved."

Both Ethan and Preet spoke at the same time.

General Cooper nodded.

"Yes. Exactly."

Her face turned grim.

"And that makes it much harder to save anyone."

Ryan frowned.

"So that man's body is preparing an antidote?"

General Cooper sighed.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

She looked at the medical report again.

"He may still get infected later."

"That's why we've kept him under observation."

"And according to Lily's vision, it started at Win Corporation's hospital inauguration."

Everyone looked at Lily.

Lily nodded.

"Yes. But now I don't know where the origin is. We thought it started from Bright's hospital."

Her voice grew worried.

"If it didn't... then we are in trouble."

The room fell silent.

Arjun suddenly looked at General Cooper.

"General Cooper, do you know Dr. Ron?"

Cooper nodded.

"Yes, I know him."

Everyone immediately became attentive.

"He is also going to work on the project later."

Ryan frowned.

"You called him?"

"Of course," replied Cooper. "We contacted him, but he said he would join us later."

"Why later?" asked Ethan.

General Cooper looked at the report in her hand.

"Because the researchers are also under quarantine protocols."

She continued,

"We are trying to avoid any accidents. Until everyone is cleared, movement between research facilities is being restricted."

Bright exchanged a glance with Lily.

Something about Dr. Ron still didn't feel right.

General Cooper continued the briefing, unaware of the thoughts racing through Lily's mind.

Meanwhile, Lily couldn't shake the feeling that Dr. Ron was somehow connected to everything.

And if he wasn't the source...

Then he might know who was.

Ryan said,

"Actually, we are suspicious of Dr. Ron."

General Cooper raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because he is the only one who perfectly fits into this puzzle."

Ethan added,

"What about his student? He is suspicious too."

General Cooper looked at him.

"You mean Max Cooper?"

Everyone froze.

"His name is Max Cooper. How did you know?" Ethan asked.

General Cooper replied calmly,

"Because he is my son."

Everybody started looking at each other's faces.

General Cooper continued,

"Dr. Ron is creating an antidote for this kind of virus. He hasn't succeeded yet, but he has been working on the project for the last ten years."

The room became silent.

"It comes under secret military research."

She looked at the group.

"And my son is his student, so naturally he works alongside his teacher."

Nobody said anything.

"But let's not remove them from suspicion just because Max is my son."

Her expression became serious.

"We will investigate both of them as well."

The group nodded.

General Cooper checked the time.

"It's already 1 AM. You all should go home."

She gathered the files from the table.

"Inform your families about joining the military."

Then she looked at everyone carefully.

"And don't share anything crucial."

The meeting ended.

Everybody left the base and returned to the bunker.

As they stood near the cars, they started discussing everything they had learned.

Ryan spoke first.

"I don't think they told us the whole truth."

Bright nodded.

"Neither do I."

"They didn't explain any evacuation plan for the public," said Preet.

Arjun crossed his arms.

"Something is fishy about Scarlet Cooper and her son."

Lily agreed.

"If Max is really her son, she will naturally try to protect him."

Ryan looked at everyone.

"Let's not completely depend on the military."

Everyone nodded.

"We'll take the training and information they provide."

Ethan continued,

"But we also need to find our own answers."

"And somehow alert the public without causing chaos," said Lisa.

The next day, everybody submitted their resignations and quit their jobs.

They informed their parents that they would be joining military training.

"We'll visit you guys often."

Ryan smiled.

"And we'll stop the apocalypse before it even starts."

The following weeks were exhausting.

They began combat training and shooting practice at the military base.

Arjun was also included in the security department due to his technical skills.

Preet started helping officers understand the virus patterns and analyse the available data.

Ryan, Bright, Ethan, Arjun, Lisa, Preet, and Lily all underwent combat training together.

As their parents remained at the bunker house, the group eventually returned there as well.

The military had given them permission to go home after training sessions.

One evening, Captain Noah approached General Cooper.

Saluted her and asked General, "Why did you send those guys home?"

"They should stay at the base."

General Cooper didn't even look up from her documents.

"Let them go."

Noah frowned.

General Cooper continued,

"We are not actually involving them in the investigation."

"What do you mean?"

She closed the file.

"We are only going to use Preet's knowledge, Arjun's skills, and Lily's foresight."

Captain Noah didn't like the way she said it.

Something about it felt wrong.

That night, Noah quietly left the base and secretly went to meet Ryan.

He told him everything he had heard.

Ryan's expression darkened.

By the end of the night, Noah had become part of their group.

Now there were eight of them.

And for the first time, they had someone from inside the military on their side.

The night passed, next morning,

Bright went to the company. Since he was not an employee, he couldn't officially resign. For the time being, he had handed over all his work responsibilities to his cousin brother.

That afternoon, Bright returned and called all eight of them to the living room.

"I have something to show you guys," he said.

He handed them an invitation card.

Everyone looked at it and froze.

It was the invitation card for the inauguration of Bright's hospital.

Everybody was shocked.

"But it was still under construction, right?" Lisa asked.

"Yaa, but I don't know how they completed it. Most of the work is still pending, but my uncle is going to Australia for some business event. He may not return soon, so he wanted to inaugurate it before leaving."

"When is the inauguration?" Ethan asked.

"After five days."

"Are you serious?" Arjun said. "Oh God..."

The room fell silent.

Bright suddenly hugged Ryan tightly and started crying.

"I am going to die soon..."

Ryan stood frozen.

Nobody knew what to say.

The reality of the situation hit everyone at once.

Just five days.

Only five days remained before the inauguration.

And if Lily's vision turns true...

those five days might also be the last five days of his life.

Everybody stood lifeless.

The fear they had been trying to ignore was now standing right in front of them.

- To Be Continued...