One Week Later
Now in Fort Frederick, MD, Jean began to fortify the area and send out NATO broadcasts working to modify his radio he cannibalized several dish tv communications dishes and he managed to contact the Belgian HQ which was operating out of Antwerp had become similar to the US remnants and terminated all communications with them shortly afterwards, saddened but still willing to fight on, Jean began a separate recruitment program to enlist locals as a part of a NATO law and order movement to bring freedom to the Greater Delmarva Area. Now living in colonial buildings once meant for re-enactments surrounded by a stone wall and gate, Jean decided he'd become the local NATO Supreme Commander and allow all non-military affairs be handled by an elected council of seven people. Their first vote was to expand operations, their second, to continue to attempt making contact with other NATO nations. Two days later after sending out messages on their secure frequency, the survivors from the NYC and DC NATO task force reunited with Jean and were all appointed to a staff or command position due to their military capability.
Three Months Later
Jean eventually was able to contact the Germans who had secured the cities of Brandenburg, Frankfurt, Bonn, Munich and Kalingrad which had been seized from the weakened Russian Government, however the Germans stated they were too weak to send any support due to their current state. They had declared martial law and a new Chancellor Jakob Von Pommern had taken the seat of Head of State as a former German General in the German Navy. The Germans confirmed that the French Government held on to Rennes and Corica losing the majority of their holdings but had relocated their government to French Guyana which had been mostly uneffected. The Italians had held on to Venice due to their ability to cut them off from the mainland and eliminate all surviving infected turned or not.
The Spanish held on to the Balearic Islands and Cadiz where their main government was walled off in the south of the city, however, Morocco which had held onto its entire Atlas Mountain region using the rough terrain to their advantage had made a minor comeback and had seized the Canary Islands to help create additional safezones under it's control, that it had held on to Tangiers, Agadir, Casablanca, and Meknes and reclaimed Rabat and former Spanish Enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla which it also annexed.
The Germans added that Poland had effectively fallen with a small, mostly militia based enclave in the countryside. Russia had gone silent though it is believed the Russians still control Moscow, St. Petersburg and have established refugee camps along the Ural Mountains but have an infection eradication policy and anyone that shows a symptom of fever, regardless of if their infected with the actual pandemic virus, is executed and cremated.
They added that Greece fell and was now divided with local province representatives claiming the right to lead Greece only worsening the problem and raising the probability of the entire region being completely compromised, only the local government of Corfu had a strong chance of holding on, and that's because it is an Island and didn't get hit hard in the first place. Word from Serbia according to the Germans was that only southern Belgrade is still safe as the central Balkans were the last part of Europe to be hit.
The Croats had actually done better than Serbia with Dubrovnik being a safe haven protected by a wall and 60% of the Croatian Armed Forces with Naval and Air Force remnants along the harbor area and Army remnants in the city imposing strict martial law with mass surveillance and a 0% infection tolerance rate, all infected are exterminated and burned, their families quarantined ASAP.
The Germans stated that Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were all confirmed as non-existant entities, and that Sweden had relocated to Gottland with the harbor of Stockholm secure and currently making an attempt to reclaim the city. The Norweigans had lost their capital and relocated to a military citadel in the north, Finland had lost Helsinki and were forced to move into technically Russian territory in Kola where they set up several encampments, the status of which are uncertain. Iceland has cut off all connections with the outside world and has seized 30% of the British Navy's Vessels, it is believed that the Icelandic government has begun compulsory military service and is working on a cure.
According to the Germans most of the worlds survivors are increasingly immune with (In Europe) a 65-75% Immunity Rate among survivors being reported with shaky data, this statistic includes the gifted and doesn't account for the dead highlighting the importance of natural immunity, it is estimated by the Germans that by the next year only 10% of Europe's former population will exist in a best case scenario, in which case, the estimated Immunity rate of survivors would be raised to a speculated 80-90%. Eventually the conversation returned to nations and he confirmed that the British Nation had completely fallen and that only a few British Naval Ships docked in Corsica holding their First Sea Lord/Chief of Naval Staff who is now the de facto state leader of the British in-exile government.
The Germans believe that Hungary has managed to reclaim most of their capital Budapest which at first had had its bridges demolished to save the Eastern Half and had been fenced off, the Hungarians claim that they are currently retaking the rest of the city, but a German flyover reported that only 20% of the Hungarian former Armed Forces remain and will likely not continue to pursue reclamation. Belarus has gone silent as well, their leadership fled into cold war bunkers and refused to communicate after the Germans attempted to make contact.
Eventually they asked Jean how America was, he said based on his limited knowledge, that the US was now led by a fascist government which bombed Chicago, that DC, NYC and most of the midwest and northeast had been overrun and likely the same fate struck the Canadians and Mexicans.
Jean still curious asked more about Europe and the rest of the world, the Germans said that most of the Balkans had fallen under the leadership of warlords who controlled some suburban areas, many of them former military officials, that Romania had been fractured with over thirty factions in the nation vying for power, and that the virus was benefiting from their disorganized chaos.
They stated that Ukraine had also fallen along with southern Russia which had been fairly overrun. That Iran had descended into anarchy after their leadership died of the virus and that Qatar and Bahrain had managed to get out of the situation and now execute any refugees attempting access to the nation, the UAE also has survived mostly not overrun but Abu Dhabi was sacrificed to make the nation survive, due to this they too have received an influx of refugees which are coming in too fast to stop.
It is believed that among the fallen nations in the Middle East there is Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan (though it is believed an enclave exists there in some form), Israel (Same as Jordan), Lebanon, and Kuwait. Palestine has managed to be effected less than Israel controlled areas and has a small safe zone in the desert near the Dead Sea, they have a massive refugee population but most are immune.
The condition of Sub-Saharan Africa is unknown, but in North Africa little has survived as well other than Morocco which has so far avoided the same refugee influx as middle eastern survivors by using its natural boundaries and military to keep away survivors, and perhaps Tunisia which has a few compounds still active in their southern desert, albeit purely military.
A Nuclear war has devastated Eastern and Southern Asia and there are no known governments East of Iran though the Japanese made contact a few months prior, their transmission only went through once and briefly mentioned Hokkaido, Okinawa and the Kuril Islands as well as Americans in Okinawa, the transmission had been hazy.
The Germans stated that Australia had lost all of its major cities with refugee camps in Tasmania and military bases in the outback. Meanwhile New Zealands North Island had been completely overrun while its southern Island had established a few safezones, the details of which are unknown. Other than French Guyana, nothing is known about South America, and they know nothing about Central America or the Pacific Either.
The Germans finished by adding that the Danish had begun reclaiming the island of Zealand where their capital is, however, their progress has been slow and not without major challenges.
The conversation continued for a few hours and eventually drifted over to the situation in Germany where the operator on the other end stated "Brandenburg and Frankfurt will likely be our only holdings in a few months, we walled off Brandenburg and Frankfurt but the other cities we 'secured' have only been gated and attempts to build walls have been abandoned. Our nation only has 35% of its Armed Forces left, and if you were to count only out immune then only 20% of our Armed Forces are either immune or carry the virus without symptoms." Jean replied "That is unfortunate." However their transmission was interrupted when the commander came on the other end and said "I need my operator to get back to work and contact another nation, send back another time when we aren't busy."
With that the conversation ended and Jean seemed to feel a bit more relieved in a way, at least no he had a basic idea of how things were, so many questions had been answered.
Twenty Years Later
Jean continued to contact the Germans and began communications with the Moroccans and Italians who were planning to create a joint task force to help further clean up Europe, but by now Jean had lost much of his interest in overseas affairs. He had gotten older, and he maintained his positions on most issues, by now the NATO task force had recruited many immune people and had taken back Annapolis which became their new HQ, the American Remnants seemed to not care too much as they had shifted their focus to a new Texan Republic that had arisen and were seemingly avoiding reclaiming cities in fear of the burden of not losing them again.
The Infected had gotten smarter, much smarter, but the NATO forces managed to continue to hold them off. The Task Force now had a mission to secure the Chesapeake Bay Area to make way for the eventual establishment of a local republic that could eventually encompass Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Their target would be the bay bridge, however, Jean had by now had a son who was now 19. His son named Francis Martin was to lead a task force west and establish covert operations in the mid-west, we was to take four other men and they rode in a technical that Jean had brought to the region long ago, it had been repaired and seen several battles, and now it would lead the NATO task force onward, if things went right, the Texans might be good allies.
