Chapter 261: Defense - III

Federick’s mind went back to the first time he saw the monstrous organism near the center of the city.

Countless vines of flesh clung to the surrounding buildings, some thick enough to cover entire sections of concrete. They pulsed from time to time as if blood was being pumped through them, disappearing through broken windows, walls and streets before appearing again somewhere else.

The sight revolted him then and it still did now, but disgust was never the problem.

The MDC simply did not have enough to destroy it.

They tried pushing into the central sectors before. Every attempt cost ammunition, vehicles and soldiers they could not easily replace, while the infected kept coming back in numbers large enough to make those losses feel meaningless.

There was still plenty of military equipment scattered around Silverpeak, but scattered equipment was not the same as a working supply chain.

Ammunition had to be recovered, repaired or rationed.

Damaged vehicles stayed damaged unless spare parts could be found somewhere else. Every trained soldier killed was one less person holding the districts that were still alive.

And until they could restart enough of Silverpeak’s military and industrial production, every large operation took something away from the next one.

Federick pulled himself back to the present.

"Get Colonel Voroltz on the radio. Tell him the southern concentration is getting worse."

He looked toward Brandon.

"The infected are closing in. Are you sure you still want your vehicles going back inside?"

"There are still civilians trapped in those blocks," Brandon replied. "If we stop now, some of them won’t make it out."

"No, Commander. This isn’t just another horde."

Federick stepped closer.

"If that thing in the center is moving them again, then the numbers you’re seeing now may not even be the whole wave."

Brandon looked toward him.

"You’ve fought it before?"

"Enough times."

Federick glanced toward the distant streets.

"Every time we push too far, it gives us something else to deal with. More infected. Different routes. Sometimes stronger ones mixed into the group."

He looked back at Brandon.

"Have your people encountered Hives before?"

"Not me personally, but some of my soldiers have."

Federick frowned slightly.

"Then they should already know why I’m telling you this."

His voice became firmer.

"Pull the evacuation vehicles and infantry back before that second wave reaches the bridge. If they get cut off inside those blocks, you’re going to lose civilians, soldiers and vehicles at the same time."

Brandon looked toward the bridge.

Another Guardian was already returning with civilians inside while two more moved in the opposite direction for another run.

"I can’t leave the rest behind just to make the operation safer for us."

Federick wanted to argue again, but stopped himself. It was not because he wanted those civilians abandoned. That was the part people outside the MDC rarely understood.

They had tried doing exactly what Brandon was doing now.

They sent patrols farther than they should have. They pushed vehicles into sectors they could barely hold. They spent thousands of rounds covering rescues that sometimes brought back only a few dozen people.

Some succeeded. Others ended with burning vehicles in the streets and soldiers who never returned.

The problem was never whether the people were worth saving.

The problem was whether saving twenty people today would cost enough ammunition and men that two hundred more died next week. That calculation bore nightmares which followed the MDC for months.

And Brandon’s soldiers looked far too valuable to throw away.

The tanks alone were stronger than anything Federick still had under reliable command. The Guardians could move civilians and troops through places where MDC trucks would have been torn apart. Even the strange infantry Brandon brought seemed trained well beyond what Federick expected from an unaffiliated force.

Losing them here would be stupid.

But Brandon had already made his choice.

Federick let out a breath.

"If you’re going to continue, then at least don’t push farther than the bridge. Once that next wave closes the southern roads, I’m not sending another company in after you."

Brandon studied him for a moment before turning back toward the tactical picture only he could see.

"Don’t look so miserable, Major."

Federick raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Brandon’s attention shifted across the moving concentrations.

"The next part is about to start."

He touched his communicator.

"Southern Command to Fires."

Static answered first before several voices came through.

"Fires receiving."

"Prepare saturation fire on the marked southern concentrations. Keep all civilian and MDC sectors off the target list."

Acknowledgments followed across the channel.

Federick looked toward him.

"Commander Brandon, what exactly are you planning to do?"

Brandon glanced back at him.

"Keeping the evacuation line running."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"And make sure your Hive has more infected to send at us."

"What—?!"

Before Federick could ask what Brandon meant, something bright rose into the sky far beyond the southern edge of Silverpeak.

At first, it looked like a single streak of fire climbing above the darkened buildings.

Then the sound reached their ears.

A deep roar rolled across the city as the first MLRS rocket climbed higher, leaving a long trail behind it before beginning its descent toward the southern sectors.

The people noticed its approach.

An MDC machine-gun team holding one of the intersections stopped between bursts and looked up. One of the soldiers had been feeding the weapon while another counted what ammunition they still had left beside the barricade.

Neither of them said anything.

Inside a residential building several blocks away, civilians crowded around the stairwell while gunfire continued outside. A child who had been crying against his mother’s shoulder looked toward a broken window when the light crossed the sky.

Farther down another road, two MDC soldiers were dragging a wounded man behind a concrete barrier. One of them glanced upward before returning to the man’s arm.

Even the people who had spent the last several minutes hiding inside rooms and hallways saw the light through whatever windows remained uncovered.

It moved across Silverpeak like a shooting star—except it was heading down.

Federick watched it disappear along the buildings.

"Commander Brandon..."

The rocket reached the marked southern concentration.

Boom!

The explosion came several seconds before the full sound reached the MDC positions.

A large section of the road was swallowed by dust and debris. Infected packed along the approach were thrown apart while abandoned vehicles shifted under the blast. Windows shattered across several nearby empty buildings, sending glass down onto streets already covered with bodies and broken concrete.

The shockwave rolled outward afterward.

Federick felt it against his uniform. Before it could settle, another trail appeared in the sky. And then another.

His eyes widened as those were followed by several more.

Across the southern side of Silverpeak, the first salvo came down over the infected concentrations Brandon had marked.

The explosions did not land randomly across the city.

Some roads were struck repeatedly while others were left completely untouched. Residential blocks containing civilians remained outside the impact areas, and the MDC positions farther north were nowhere near the bombardment.

Federick did not know how Brandon’s people were separating everything that accurately. He only knew that they did.

Another series of impacts rolled across the southern approaches.

The infected advancing through the widest road disappeared under dust and smoke. Groups farther behind broke apart as explosions landed among them, while those spilling out from the nearby side streets were forced around burning vehicles and collapsed debris.

After the long fight against the infected, the pressure against the MDC positions had finally stopped increasing.

One of the officers beside Federick stared toward the southern skyline.

"Co-commander Brandon..."

The officer slowly looked at Brandon, but he ignored their shocked faces.

"Major, more areas still need reinforcement. The artillery is buying your people time. You might want to use it."

"Yes, yes!"

Federick stuttered before finally coming back to his senses and rushed straight into where the radio operators were.

He grabbed one of the radio and spoke.

"All positions, this is Major Federick. Keep the evacuation moving. Hold the main line at all costs. Golden Eagle soldiers will reinforce your area after a short moment. All Recon teams, keep your watch on the southern approaches and report anything coming through the bombardment."

Responses came back at once.

Federick put the radio down and shifted back to the city once more.

Tonight, Silverpeak was about to finally change—all for the betterment of its occupants.