Chapter 55 The downfall of Vienna within 10 minutes 

You could see Vienna and hear the moans, gurgles and groans of the infected. The dome flickered. The picture zoomed out and you saw masses of infected people. 

The image changed, it was skewed. It showed two security guards standing in front of a table. 

"I can't believe this shit worked. The test run with the infected bombs was a success." Came from one of them.

"Yeah, only you idiot activated the security system."

" Don't get so upset, we need to adjust the shield a bit, then the idiots will send their people in and we'll smuggle ourselves out. "

" And then what? Then we're in quarantine. It was already difficult to get the uniforms. The city really hired every idiot for security. "

" That's right, that's why we're registered as replacement staff. We do our time and go into the cells with the frequencies and blow up the bombs there. "

The other one laughed.

" Do you have everything? "

" I have everything in here, we can't put anything else on the net." 

" Good. Tell the others what our plan is. Tell them to stand by."

The image flickered, it came back into focus. 

It was filmed from a table, you could see the two security guards lying on the floor with their heads twisted. Sarge came into view and crouched down, holding a notebook in his hand and scratching the back of his head, his combat fatigues showing signs of battle. 

He looked up.

"That was a terrorist attack, they activated the radios. They think they activated the screen, but it was me. I'm sorry, sir. I'll scan the pages of the book and put them on a disk, which will be flushed out with the sewage."

He closed the book, rubbed the back of his head and looked at the bodies. 

"There are still survivors, I've tracked some down. I..." he paused for a moment and looked at the camera. 

"There will be a note when I weaken the shield enough for a helicopter to fly in to retrieve one group at a time. So the idiots won't notice, they'll fly along. But I'll mark them. Don't send any soldiers. At the latest when they get there and pass them on. I have a list of soldiers on their payroll. "

His gaze wandered to the bodies.

"Oh, did they talk ..." 

He grinned.

" Well... I'd say so. He hasn't gotten dull..." came John's comment. 

Sarge looked at the picture again. 

" You can use the shield and lock again in a month. If the Ai can hear me locate Sergeant Lospalisa."

"What?" asked John.

" Sergeant Lospalisa is at the supply depot, " a female voice rang out.

" He's their liaison to the forces, only through him are the security guards and officers on the list. If the sergeant is still at the base, the idiots can send out their messages." 

"I'll take care of it," John turned and walked out with the phone to his ear.

Sarge sighed. 

"Okay, let's say two months, you need time for the missions and I still have to prepare for your arrival here. " 

He lit a cigarette and rubbed his nose.

" Alex, don't tell Liz about this. You know her and she would try to get here. We can't interrupt now. And neither can the others ... "

Alex fell silent and looked at the picture. 

"Oh, that reminds me, Paris, Munich, Seattle, Tokyo, Beijing are clean. The facility on the moon too and the gene archive is also clean. Eliminated the targets there. "

He looked ahead, into the camera.

"If this goes wrong, boss, you'll have to ask him for help. 

 I'll take some more notes for Babsi so she can do something with the class. I saw what she was doing before this started. "

Luke couldn't help but grin.

"Luke, you'll shut up too."

Luke stared at the picture.

" I just have a feeling about this, but what the hell. Alex, I'm going to start the Manticore protocol now. "

The recording stopped.

"Data on the disk?"

" Aye sir, Sarge scanned everything clean and made a copy as a text file."

He looked at Tennington, who paled.

"I'd like to discuss the next steps with you in a moment. Can you imagine the scale?"

" Yes. I was a troop radio operator at the time. "

" Good. Can you print out the program? "

" Already done, sir." 

A soldier handed it to him. 

" Luke, not a word outside, not to anyone."

He nodded.

" Good. Take this to Babsi, tell her it was in my mailbox and I forgot to print it out."

"Will do." 

He took the printout and ran home. He was sweating profusely and his heart was racing. 

He came in and his mother and Babsi were sitting on the sofa drinking coffee.

"Oh Luke, you're late, aren't you okay?"

"I just ate something wrong, mom." He pulled the sheets out of his pocket.

"Grandma, Grandpa told me to give you these. He had them in his post box and forgot to give them to you."

She stood up, took the sheets and skimmed over them with a sigh.

"He's been really forgetful since the outbreak, that reminds me, Lenni from the station said you have moderator number one on your scooter."

"I think Grandpa wants something from the discussion. He put the sheets in my hand and sent me to you."

She scrutinized him and put her hand on his forehead.

"You really should lie down, Luke, you don't look well."

"I will" He gave his mother a kiss and went to his room. There was no way he could sleep, so he pulled out his tablet and logged into the archives.

He typed in Manticore, the mythical stuff didn't interest him. 

He found an article about an operation in South America. The operation was classified as one of, if not the bloodiest operation the Northern Bloc had conducted against non-infected people. He waited until it got light. 

He washed up and went down to breakfast, then picked up Leonore and they went to school. They were amazed when Babsi dragged Liz in wearing normal clothes. What Luke thought were Liz's normal clothes were cargo pants, a T-shirt with her dad's band on it and running shoes. 

"Well, since my husband only gave me a timetable from your teacher yesterday, I had to improvise. I couldn't find a dance teacher or a chaperone in a hurry. So I had to find a replacement."

Liz grumbled, sat down at the teacher's desk and leaned back.

Leo leaned towards her.

"She has the same reclining technique as you." 

Luke sighed.

"I just got her out of bed. Lina, you can ask in the staff room for a pot of coffee and a mug. Tell them I sent you."

Lina nodded and hurried out.

"So, according to the plan, we're doing dance and movement as well as the normal stuff."

 Leonore raised her hand. "But how, if there's only one?"

April came in, yawning. 

"There's the second one."

"The second one for what?" asked April.

" You and your sister help me with the class. "

" I see, and what's the gorilla on the table for?"

Babsi looked at Liz, who was struggling to sit up. Luke saw the deep black circles under her eyes.

"I love you too, she dragged me out of bed, I've only slept an hour since I got back from Korea and why do you want me to dance?"

"Because it's my idea, honey, I mean George has a dance school listed here. But they're still closed."

Liz reached for the pile of sheets and read through them.

.

The next few days were exciting, Liz and April really showed dance exercises and corrected the students' posture. They were assigned partners and Luke joined Lisa, then Lina and finally he ended up with Leonore.

A few days later, there was a live television broadcast of a helicopter flying in and out of the dome of Vienna. Where the protective shield closed again just behind the helicopter. Tennington appeared in the picture.

"You have just seen live how the armed forces managed to bring in a rescue helicopter. We have been confirmed that the firing systems were not targeting civilian aircraft. The council has given top priority to rescuing as many civilians as possible who are still in the city and is continuing to try and get past the shield." 

Pictures were shown of a landing helicopter from which refugees came out crying and were received by paramedics. 

"We'll keep them informed and report on the survivors' experiences."

Luke had seen Liz's face when she'd seen that, she'd studied every face.

There were programs where Tenningston interviewed survivors and listened to their stories. 

They all sounded the same, describing hell on earth. How they had hidden in fear.

The helicopter flew a total of 34 times. 

Every other day, the shield opened so that a helicopter could fly through, land and take off. With each helicopter, the reports became darker. 

They told of anarchy, of survivors who had founded their own mini-states and were fighting each other. Of serial killers who went around killing people. They told of a monster that stomped through the streets and killed, whether infected or human. They told of screams of death at night or during the day, the howling of the monster. 

When Luke came to class one morning, Babsi only had the TV on. 

"No class today?" he asked.

"They've cracked the shield's code. And storm the town, it's on the TV."

"Uh-huh..."

Luke sat down, remembering in his mind. The two months are over.

The image was from a drone following helicopters. You could see the huge dome over Vienna, which began to flicker and collapse. Thick clouds of smoke rose.

"Why can't we hear the presenters?"

"I got the live broadcast directly from the drone," said Babsi, looking spellbound at the TV.

The drone flew over the city, it looked like a war zone, houses destroyed. The occasional infected person could be seen. The drone flew over huge burning pyres of infected people. Traces of battle could be seen everywhere. The drone flew over a square where people were kneeling and flew closer.

"And they're cutting here," Babsi commented.

Luke understood why, everyone there had been beheaded. Around each neck was a note saying murderer, rapist, traitor and so on. 

Luke could count over 100. The drone flew on, filming bodies wrapped in sacks. You could now see soldiers hurrying through the streets, you could see the open airlock from which soldiers also came. 

The probe took long shots of the city, it looked like a war zone, until it found something and flew towards it. When it became more visible, you could see an EXO suit almost 2.60 meters high. Luke even thought he saw soldiers.

"What's that?" asked Eddi.

Babsi looked at him.

"That's a Juggernaut Exo suit. The heaviest one the North Block has. They're moving tanks."

The Exo was all scratched up, had bullet holes, scorch marks, and was full of infected guts and blood. 

"If that thing was wreaking havoc in the city, I can imagine why they said there's a monster in there. You need a trained pilot for that. They're hard to fly and see." She pointed to the picture. 

"The hatch has been welded shut so the infected can't get in, or the attackers." 

The picture showed soldiers aiming a measuring device at the Exo and becoming frantic. 

"But why did the pilot lock himself in there?"

" Because of the fire, the suits have filter systems and air treatment and oxygen tanks. " 

She stopped and turned to the class. 

"I want to tell you something. What's been bothering me since I saw this. "

"What is it?" asked Leonore.

Babsi seemed to think about her words. 

" Before you were born, there was a conflict in South America. Cultists, followers of doom, warlords and so on. A paradise for psychopaths, mercenaries and money-grubbers. 

The Northern Bloc decided to do something about it and launched a shock attack. Units were sent out to spread fear and terror. Until the main troops arrived. Pictures were never published and none exist. 

The South Americans then erected statues of a manticore as a memorial when they became a free state. It was declared the Manticore Protocol. To terrorize the enemy, to scare them so much that they wet their pants. All the faces of the executed were distorted with fear. Television will not show them. "

She picked up her cell phone, dialed a number, switched to speakerphone. 

"Gitte where are you?"

The roar of engines could be heard. 

" Come back Babs I swear John is crazy. All we've been doing for two months now is dismantling terror cells, labs and weapons caches, he's pulled all the special forces and used them just for this."

"Did he say why?"

"He just said they caught a mole who had something to do with Vienna. Bettina told me that he came home with bloody knuckles before we got the order. My hydra girls tell stories about taking the refugees from John's people in the helicopters. You see, they're poof away. Babs, what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know Gitte, did you see the broadcast from Vienna?"

"The what? Min Turn on the transmitter!" 

A whisper was heard.

"SHIT! Liz squat down! April nock them out!" 

The connection broke off. Babsi looked at her cell phone, extremely irritated.

"That was very unexpected."

They were allowed to leave early Luke loitered in a comic book store until he drove home. He had just arrived when he saw a huge EXO being driven to a hangar by a semi-trailer truck. He followed it. He saw John and Alex standing there. Technicians were welding on the EXO's hull.

"Where the hell did he get that thing?" John asked Alex.

"That was the depo we were going to empty, remember?"

" That's right, the techs said it used 96 power cores. "

Only now did they realize that Luke was staring at the Exo with wide eyes.

"Is that right Sarge? Oh yes, Grandma Babsi is in a funny mood, we saw the drone pictures on TV and she called Grandma Gitte."

"Alex!!! What the hell!!!" Jannet came storming towards him, extremely angry. He glared at her, then looked to the exo.

"We couldn't risk the terror cells finding out!"

Jannet cried out.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

John remained silent. Alex looked at Jannet and grinned. 

"Sweetie, this was supposed to be covert and you know we had a weak spot in this situation."

Luke looked to the exo where the techs had finally opened the hatch and pulled it away, Sarge was lifted out. He had multiple gunshot wounds.

Janett looked to the exo.

"You mean Liz?"

Alex nodded. 

"She would have gotten wind of it. " 

Sarge was lowered down and paramedics rushed to him, examining him, removing his top. Luke saw all of Sarge's tattoos for the first time, they went all the way up to his shoulders. 

Luke saw bite wounds on his arms, countless scratches and a cut on his temple. 

The doctors tended to his wounds, held smelling salts under his nose. And he came to. Confused, he looked around, then rubbed the back of his head.

Luke ran to him. Sarge looked up, Alex, John and Jannet had followed Luke. 

"How is he?"

" He's still a bit groggy, sir, but the injuries aren't too bad, but he should be in the hospital later. "

Sarge nodded.

"George..." Jannet began.

Sarge looked up, then at her.

"Hey Jannet."

" You want to explain to me why you weren't in one of the choppers?"

" I had to lower the shield so the chopper could fly in. " 

She squatted down.

"Liz is spinning her wheels because of you, she had to be knocked out. I hope you worked something out for that."

He looked at her. "Well, I didn't think of that, when is she coming? "

Jannet looked at his watch. 

"In an hour."

Sarge nodded. 

"Were you able to find her?" 

"Yes, we did. But we still don't have the main producer of the stuff. Come by my place later and we can talk about it." 

"Will do."

Alex left with John, Jannet still looking annoyed after him.

"Jannet?" 

"What, George?"

"It was my idea, I made him do it. You know Alex, he could have done things differently. When I found the idiots, I told myself I had to act. Do you understand? Alex would have called Uther about that shit. 

The Omegas didn't get blunt just because they're under the guise of the corporation now. I've read all the reports where they've been active since the second outbreak. Jannet, remember when it hit Alex and the emergency protocol went active? "

Jannet nodded.

"Yes. Unfortunately."

George coughed.

"They've let up zero, even now. What's being pumped into the front lines is scary. "

Luke looked at her uncomprehendingly.

Jannet looked at him, sighing.

"Luke, when it started and Alex started securing the north block area, no according to Babs before that. I remember she told me that Uther was already in Kiel when the first soldiers joined Alex and Alex told me that he met him on the way to Kiel. 

It's not for nothing that the elders call him a monster. He is one, one in human form. Alex conquered Denmark, Uther wanted carper rights for trains and ships, they gave him an inhuman task. He created the first line of defense. The monster did it, so effectively. That we copied it. 

I asked Alex how the heck they got all the supplies, from the monster from the underground network and he wanted nothing in return. No power, nothing. They put him in a higher position, hoping to control him. "

She rolled her eyes. 

"Monster remains monster, John doesn't trust him. Alex does, too much to John's displeasure. "

"And you?"

She looked at him in silence.

" I don't know, maybe because Tes is around him and Erkiam is there too. He's normal there, but I've seen how he can be on his own. I think it was when Alex dragged him to Area 51 with his lapdogs. 

I wanted to break Alex's bones then because he triggered me and held a gun to my head until Uther grabbed my hand... . I was scared, just scared, despite the exo-suit. "

"Uh-huh..."

She looked at him grimly.

"Luke, our wealth stems from the fact that we all, even John, Bettina and George, trusted Alex to give him our life savings. He gave everything he owned himself to Uther for the group, and Uther didn't just give us shares, he gave us money. More than we could spend. "

George grimaced and laughed.

"That's true Luke. "

Jannet looked at him.

" But why couldn't we strike like we always do George?"

"Vienna fell in ten minutes Jannet, it only took them ten minutes to turn an entire city into a contaminated hole. Even when everything was sealed off, they captured refugees, tagged them and let them go, only to detonate their bomb. One push of a button and you have level 2 infected. I sent Alex the data, I'm sure he's read it."

Jannet looked at George for a long moment and then rested her head against his. 

"I should never have told him you were my brother, George."

"Brother?"

Jannet looked at Luke. " My mother remarried then. George was from her marriage. "

"The marriage broke up, but by then we were both fledged and on our own two feet. "

Sarge stood up, yawning.

"I'm going to wash up and change," he swayed. 

" I'll drive you." 

Luke watched her take him away, he was confused. He looked at the Exo. He liked the thing. He hurried home, where Babsi was pacing restlessly.

"Where have you been?" she looked at him with piercing eyes. 

" I was looking after the exo, it was brought to the camp by Grad. "

She came closer, which kind of scared him.

"They said they kept it a secret because Sarge was still in town and Liz had done something wrong."

Babsi sighed heavily. 

"Who knows Sarge is still here?" 

" Um you, Uncle John, Grandpa and Grandma Jannet, she's taking him home right now so he can change. "

Babsi looked at him.

"Don't tell Luke yet, even if you want to. I don't know if they can handle what they're going to see."

" Grandma, we've seen dead bodies."

"I'm just worried."

Luke went upstairs, calling Leo first. An hour later Luke arrived at the hangar, all his friends were already there, the whole class in fact, only Ted was missing again.