Chapter 142: Against a Hundred Thousand More - VII

"Falcon One to Golden Eagle. Final delivery section inspected. No visible Hive growth. No membranes or root formations around the exposed entrances."

Hans watched the helicopter’s feed pass across another loading ramp.

Concrete.

Wrecked vehicles.

Darkness beneath the structure.

Nothing else.

"Check the storm drains along the eastern blocks."

"Falcon One copies."

The previous Hive had remained beneath the streets until the artillery exposed it. Whatever was coordinating this district could also be buried beneath the shopping centers, connected to the parking levels, drainage lines, or service tunnels that crossed the district.

The aircraft could not inspect all of them.

Kimmy remained inside Bastion One with Yunera and the surviving SAS agents. Her ability might allow her to locate whatever was coordinating the infected, but she needed a medium to do so.

Falcon One had found nothing for her to use.

Bringing Kimmy closer might allow her to sense the network again. It could also accomplish nothing if the coordinating presence had buried itself completely. The enhanced infected moving around the district made escorting her toward the commercial structures far more dangerous than before.

"Kimmy stays with South One," Hans said. "We force whatever is inside the district to expose itself first."

Matilda opened the operational channel.

"South Two Actual, maintain your line."

"South Two receives."

"Striker Three, remain above the parking structure. Engage any enhanced contact that exposes itself."

"Striker Three copies."

"Specter, Viper, intercept anything that reaches the formations."

"Specter receives."

Raptor One continued its eastern circuit under Flight Operations, waiting for another enhanced contact to leave the cover of the buildings.

Falcon Two continued along the eastern roads, while Striker Two remained above the southern approach.

A report entered from the western channel.

"South One Actual to Fairy. Movement across the western blocks. Every remaining concentration is leaving cover."

Hans shifted the display.

Red markers poured from the shopping structures and office buildings facing South One. Groups that had remained beneath the parking levels entered the open roads, while others pushed through the side streets leading toward the prepared line.

The reaction had spread across the entire district.

"Do not let them return to the buildings," Hans said.

Matilda switched channels.

"South One Actual, maintain your line. Do not let them return to the structures."

"South One receives."

Big Rhino fired into the first concentration entering the western avenue.

Bastions One through Three divided the surrounding road mouths between them. Their autocannons swept across the infected leaving the buildings, forcing the larger groups toward the intersections already covered by the Vanguards.

The Missile Infantry selected the concentrations gathering beyond the autocannon lanes.

HE blast missiles crossed above the formation and struck between the abandoned vehicles. Bodies and wreckage filled the intersections, compressing the following infected into smaller spaces.

The Guardian GIs deployed behind the Bastions.

Their shields locked into place. MK19 grenades began falling across the road mouths several seconds later, breaking apart whatever survived the missiles.

Striker One remained above the western blocks and attacked any concentration that attempted to move beyond South One’s firing sectors.

Kimmy remained inside Bastion One.

Moving her now would mean carrying her through an active engagement area before she could even begin searching.

Whittle down the concentrations first, then find whatever controlled them.

Hans returned his attention to South Two.

The change reached them before Raptor One completed another circuit.

Ordinary infected abandoned the side streets and charged through every open road. They climbed over the bodies left by the autocannons, pushed through burning vehicles, and continued forward even when the Vanguards struck the groups behind them.

War Elephant fired again.

Its shell landed in the northern lane and removed the front of the concentration. The infected farther back entered the smoke without slowing.

The Missile Infantry spread their targets across the deeper concentrations.

The first pair launched toward the northern intersection. Two more missiles followed toward the infected pouring from the lower parking ramp, while the remaining launchers tracked the specials and the groups still concealed inside the adjoining streets.

The explosions struck beyond the Bastions’ autocannon lanes. One concentration disappeared inside the northern intersection, followed by another blast along the parking entrance.

The Guardian GIs held separate positions behind the armored line. Their MK19s placed grenades across the road mouths and the gaps between abandoned vehicles, preventing the damaged groups from gathering again.

The Machine Gunners covered everything closer.

Several M249s fired across the adjoining lanes. The two assigned to the mechanized squad remained near Bastion Four, shifting their fire whenever the lead APC changed position.

"Reloading!"

The next Machine Gunner took over before the first weapon stopped completely.

Above them, the Screamer appeared along the exposed level of the parking structure.

Its throat expanded.

"Striker Three has the Screamer."

The Apache fired before Matilda answered.

Thirty-millimeter rounds crossed the open level and struck the Screamer before its cry fully left its throat. The body disappeared behind the parking barrier, and its marker vanished.

Below it, the harvest continued.

War Elephant and the reserve Vanguards broke apart the concentrations entering the wider roads. Bastions Four through Six swept the adjoining lanes, while missiles and forty-millimeter grenades struck whatever gathered beyond them.

The infected kept coming.

They also kept dying.

Thousands disappeared between the road mouths and South Two’s formation without reaching ordinary rifle range.

Then something green crossed the avenue.

It traveled farther and faster than any Spitter projectile Hans had seen before.

"Spitter!" Striker Three warned.

Bastion Four turned before the warning ended.

The projectile still struck its forward-left side.

Acid spread across the armor. The outer coating blistered immediately, followed by smoke as the liquid ate into the plate beneath it.

Bastion Four continued reversing while its autocannon remained on the advancing infected.

"Bastion Four operational. Armor holding."

The acid stopped before breaching the hull, though a deep channel remained across the damaged plate.

The enhanced Spitter withdrew from the exposed parking level before Striker Three could bring its chain gun around.

Another marker moved through the pedestrian bridge.

The Lasher broke through one of the windows and launched its tongue toward the building opposite it. The flesh wrapped around a concrete support and pulled its body forward.

It crossed above the advancing horde, released the first anchor, then struck another farther along the road. Every swing carried it between buildings with the speed of a Runner, but it changed direction with far greater control.

"Enhanced Lasher moving east," Striker Three reported.

Its projected route appeared across the shared display.

"Specter moving," Callum answered.

The escort APC accelerated toward the eastern buildings.

Specter left through the rear ramp.

The Lasher released its tongue and dropped toward the APC’s rear quarter, using the corner of the building to conceal most of its approach.

Specter fired before it landed.

The first .338 round entered the shoulder controlling the tongue.

The second broke its right knee.

The Lasher struck the pavement and rolled once, attempting to rise.

Specter reached it before the tongue moved again.

His blade entered beneath the jaw and passed through the back of its skull.

The enhanced infected collapsed.

"Lasher eliminated."

Specter pulled the blade free and turned toward the parking structure.

The Lasher might have once belonged to the SAS. Whatever training remained had not been enough against Specter.

The fighting around South Two continued.

A low buzzing entered Striker Three’s feed.

The gunner shifted the camera toward the parking structure.

"Fairy, movement from the lower vents."

Something dark poured through the openings.

At first, Hans mistook it for smoke. The cloud continued spreading against the wind, followed by another stream from the delivery ramp below.

Striker Three increased the magnification.

Insects filled the screen.

Their bodies were larger than ordinary flies, with swollen abdomens and wings that blurred together as thousands left the structure. More emerged from nearby storm drains and the broken entrances beneath the shopping center.

Hans’s Radar showed no separate markers for them.

The first cloud descended on the bodies covering the northern road. It spread across the corpses until most of the pavement disappeared beneath it.

The insects lifted together.

They turned toward South Two.

"Break the swarms before they reach the formations," Hans ordered.

Matilda opened both platoon channels.

"Missile Infantries, deal with it."

Both platoons acknowledged.

The Missile Infantry stopped selecting the ground concentrations. Airburst fragmentation missiles replaced the HE rounds inside their launchers. The six units across South Two divided the approaching clouds between them, while South One did the same along the western line.

The first pair left South Two. Both missiles climbed above the northern road before separating; one turned toward the front of the largest cloud, while the other continued farther behind it.

The first warhead opened in midair, throwing a wide cone of fragments through the insects leading the swarm. Thousands dropped onto the road and the bodies below. The second detonated several moments later and tore through the denser section behind them.

Another pair launched before the broken cloud could gather again. Their missiles turned toward the flanks, cutting through the insects attempting to spread beyond the first fragmentation cones. The remaining two launchers tracked the lower clouds approaching South Two.

Four more missiles rose from South One in staggered pairs. Their explosions opened across the swarms forming above the western shopping blocks before either cloud reached the platoon.

The first volleys destroyed most of the leading clouds. They did not stop what continued leaving the district.

More insects poured from the storm drains and lower parking entrances. The new swarms spread wider and descended closer to the streets, no longer presenting the same concentrated targets.

Across both formations, exposed infantry sealed their masks and visors. The Bastions closed every open ramp, while Strikers One and Three increased altitude before the next clouds entered their rotor range.

More promotion notices reached Hans as the fighting continued. Several belonged to the lower-star units assigned behind the veteran squads.

At twelve o’clock, the counters changed.

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[ Daily ammunition replenishment complete. ]

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Missile racks refilled across both platoons. Magazines, belts, grenades, and vehicle ammunition returned to their full allowances, while the promoted units received the increased supplies provided by their new ranks.

The aircraft counters changed with them. Raptor One’s air-to-ground missile count returned to four, while the Strikers recovered the rockets, chain-gun ammunition, and Hellfires they had used since sunrise.

More insects continued leaving the drains.

Both formations had their ammunition back.