A Bible is placed in front of me by a member of the “Committee”.
“Swear an oath, to tell the truth,” says the leader, “The whole truth, or so help you God.”

I smirk.
“Sorry, I’m an atheist,” I say, “That wouldn’t be right of me.”

“You trespass on our land, armed and bearing badges of a foreign country,” said the loud and fat member, “And now you tell us that you are a pagan son of a bitch who doesn’t believe in the Almighty?”
I shrug.

“Execute this bastard and send him to hell where he belongs,” replies the fat bastard very seriously.
I get quickly up from the stand in the stifling hot courtroom. The guards quickly train their rifles on me. I grin, and sit back down again.
“No, I think we have to hear this,” says the leader, sitting where a judge normally would, “regardless of his crimes and … immoral disposition.”

I am not particularly listening.
Several thoughts are buzzing around in my mind, distracting me from the conversation. Most of them consist of uselessness like, “Fuck this shithole,” “Who are these damn nobodies?” and “When the hell are they going to come?!”

“Sir, like I said, state your name for the record,” says the leader, apparently repeating himself, although I’m not sure.

“Tom Barry,” I say.

“And your allegiance?” prompts the leader.

“European Union Nordic Task Force,” I say, “But that’s just my day job.”
Whispers and conversation break out after that. Amusing.
Fatboy is laughing his arse off. The leader remains silent.

“You’re fulla shit,” says Fatboy, “No way you pussies would come over here.”
The leader interrupts my reply.
“Alright Tom, tell us from the start,” he says, “Your story seems pretty far-fetched.”
“It’s only far-fetched to you lot,” I mutter.

“Get on with it,” the leader insists, “Or I’ll chuck you in the jail with your friends permanently.”
“It will take a while,” I say, “A long while.”
“We have all the time in the world,” he replies.

“Fine,” I state, “I’ll give you a little background first if you don’t mind.”
“Do,” replied the leader, “We heard nothing after November 2nd.”



The infection started in European Russia sometime in late October, spreading from there to Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the US. The incubation period for the virus was initially seven days, or so I was told by the Doc. You know, the one you have locked up? The effects of the infection on the human body during its first stages were curious enough to cause several patients to be flown to the US for study. Bad idea.

Soon afterwards, the virus mutated, causing its incubation period to reduce to a few minutes, increasing its effects massively and changing its form from airborne to blood-borne.

At first, the unusual behaviour of the infected was put down to a public order problem.
Their activity was not observed until later, so the appropriate response to a mass riot was organised in Eastern European countries. However, the response teams and units soon became infected themselves. Perhaps you remember the footage of that reporter in Estonia being attacked? You know, the one where the camera gets dropped and she is seen being eaten by a cop?

After that, it became clear that it was a bigger issue than just mass riots.
The newly signed Treaty of Dublin emergency clauses were immediately enacted, and all European military forces came under one command. You Americans may remember hearing about it before you lost contact. The infection in Europe had reached Eastern Poland, Finland, Sweden, Norway and was well on its way into the Balkans. At the same time, it had reached the Middle East, China, and had started to spread rapidly here in the US.

The Parliament decided the Rhine and the Alps to be the Frontier where a defence against the infection would be made.

“What parliament?” asks the leader, interrupting me.
“The European parliament,” I reply.
He mulls over it for a second, then tells me to continue.

The day after, the Pyrenees were added to the list as it became clear that Spain and Portugal had been overrun as well. About sixty thousand Spanish troops made it to North of their country, and were holding nicely.

The Brits had quite a few outbreaks, but rapid response units set up to deal with terrorism controlled them, and they got the situation under control pretty quick.

The Italians had been pushed back to the Alps, although they were not short in numbers. Italian thinking was along the lines that they could retreat, let the infected batter the Alp line, and then counterattack. That said, a large force was also left in Taranto, to guard the naval docks and industry there. The USS Mount Whitney was seized by the Italian navy in Gaeta before that, I think they renamed it Manzini.

Mainland Greece had been overrun after an unsuccessful defence of the Corinthian Isthmus. They evacuated their remaining troops to Crete and their islands. They’re still there, last I heard, they were being supplied from France.

Ukraine was one of the first countries to act upon the virus, and a safe zone had been established in the Crimea. However, it lost most of its military rescuing its citizens.
Israel held all their territories initially, as did Palestine. I guess all those checkpoints held the spread of the virus at bay very effectively.

Iraq created a safe area between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Iran held out well in its central regions, but Israel soon put an end to that.

“What about Ireland?” says the leader, “Your uniforms’ badges were mostly Irish.”
“Who gives a shit, he’s full of it!” shouts the fat committee associate, but he is ignored.
“Basically, the same sort of thing that happened in the UK, happened with us as well,” I reply, ignoring the idiot, “Except our infection rate was tiny. By the time it had reached us, proper protocol was already in place.”

Now for the important part.
Up in the North, two pockets of resistance had formed in Norway.
In Oslo, the Norwegians refused to give up their capital, but were eventually convinced to do so by the British. However, it is in Narvik, way up North where it truly began.

Around eighty thousand troops from Norway, Sweden and Finland had made their way to Narvik for evacuation. Another Dunkirk in the making. Ironically, it was left to the British to evacuate them, but it wasn’t organised until December. I was there.

By the time we got there, they were running out of ammo, as bad weather kept planes out of the air. Thousands of infected came in groups, erratically. Some days there were no attacks, others swarms came at the defence areas.