Manuel Chavez turned his gaze towards the commanding general and replied in a heavy tone. "It turns out that your words were true, general. There is indeed a zombie virus and it has already infected a lot of people in Asia. We are just lucky that there are no cases in our country at the moment, but it is only a matter of time..."
"How about those stubborn officials? Are they already aware of this?" Lieutenant General Rivera asked while frowning.
Manuel Chavez leaned on his chair and shook his head. "I'm not sure, but with their influence, I believe some of them already know about the virus."
"Then what do you want me to do, Mr. President?" The commanding general's eyes narrowed as he stared at the acting president.
Manuel Chavez took a deep breath and responded in a cold voice. "I just want you to intimidate those greedy vampires. I will do the rest."
Hearing this, Lieutenant General Rivera's lips curved upwards. "I understand. Leave it to me." He replied.
***
At 3 p.m., the emergency meeting finally started.
The acting president showed everyone the video of the attack in Islamabad. The sea of zombies made everyone's skin crawl. They never imagined that things were already so serious in other countries.
"Is that real?"
"Are those zombies?"
"How come bullets seemed ineffective against them?"
The high officials were scared after watching the video.
"Everyone, that was the latest recording I got from Islamabad. From what their president has said, the capital of Pakistan has already fallen and a large portion of the country's population is already infected with the virus. At this moment, the virus should have already spread to their neighboring countries." Manuel Chavez paused as he scanned the faces of the people inside the conference hall. He saw a multitude of expressions on their faces, but most of them shared the same feeling... Fear...
"Maharlika is still safe, but the same thing could happen to us so I plan to create a shelter for our people." Manuel Chavez clicked on the remote as he pointed at the projection on the wall. It was a blueprint of a shelter that was surrounded by tall walls.
"This is what my team has come up with. A shelter that could accompany five million people. We will be using this location as the central point of the shelter. We will evacuate the people first and build walls on the area marked with a circle." Manuel Chavez pointed at the projection of his PowerPoint. It was a map of a city and there was a circled portion of the map.
Some people frowned when they heard this.
"Mr. President, there are some important buildings that would be destroyed if we do this project. Those business owners wouldn't allow us to blow off their establishments. And worst of all, they might even cancel their partnership with the government. You should reconsider this plan." An old senator voiced out his opposition to the idea.
Lieutenant General Rivera glanced at the old senator. This was the same person who stopped him last time when he suggested to create a shelter for the civilians.
Manuel Chavez furrowed his eyebrows when he heard the old senator's words. "We don't have time to care about those businesses. The safety of our people is more important! Without a shelter, tens of millions of our people will become infected with the zombie virus! Do you think our army can stop that many zombies?!"
The officials were silenced by the acting president's words.
The old senator didn't give up. "Mr. President, how about we choose another location instead? I suggest we make the shelter in the rural parts of Cavite. We can-"
"Do you think we still have time to gather enough manpower to send to Cavite? Once the virus spreads in our country, those people won't hesitate to abandon their jobs to go back to their families! We will need more time and resources if we build the shelter in Cavite. We can make use of the buildings in the city as temporary housing! The only thing we need to do is surround the area with walls that could withstand a large wave of zombies!" Manuel Chavez was really angry at this point. He was aware that one of the buildings that would be destroyed in this project was owned by the old senator's family. However, there was no other choice for them since the location was the most ideal spot to create the shelter. It has three hospitals, food processing facilities, an energy powerplant, and many other important facilities that would prove to be useful in the apocalypse.
The old senator took heavy breaths as he tried to contain his anger. "Sir, you are just the acting president so don't go too far!" He said through gritted teeth.
Everyone could sense the rage in his trembling voice.
Manuel Chavez sneered at his words. He ignored the old senator and scanned the faces of the officials as he said. "Hate me if you want, but this project has to be done! Whoever is against the idea will be forcefully removed from his position! The military will confiscate their properties and send them to prison!"
The moment he uttered those words, the soldiers who came with the commanding general entered the conference hall. All of them were armed with guns, making the officials nervous.
The old senator snapped when he saw this. He believed that it was just an attempt to scare them. Ge stood up from his seat and pointed at the acting president. "M-Manuel Chavez, are you out of your damn mind?! This is against the law! You don't have the right to order us as you please!"
The atmosphere inside the conference room suddenly changed after the old senator's outburst. Everyone turned their gazes towards the acting president, wondering what he would do next.
"Detain him!" Manuel Chavez shouted coldly.
Lieutenant General Rivera who was seated at the far corner stood up and shouted. "Capture the senator!"
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