Chapter 94: Commercial Center - I

The next block took twenty-six minutes.

The one after that took seventeen.

And more.

Echo One checked each intersection before South One advanced. Mercer Squad handled the northern storefronts while Dobrev Squad took the buildings opposite them. The third squad remained with the Bastions until one of the others needed relief.

The pattern repeated.

Scouts went first.

Infantry next.

The Bastions followed once the roads were cleared enough for them to maneuver.

Big Rhino remained behind South One’s column, using the wider intersections to turn without forcing itself between abandoned vehicles.

South Two moved at almost the same pace through the service roads.

Sabine Krüger’s platoon secured two loading yards and a narrow street connecting back to South One. Novak Squad cleared the warehouses closest to the road while the other squads worked through the delivery offices and storage buildings.

War Elephant remained behind Sabine’s column, keeping to the wider sections of the service route.

Neither column entered deeper structures.

They checked the ground floors, stairwells, roof access points, and every entrance facing the routes. Buildings that required a longer search were marked for later.

Survivors appeared twice.

The first group stayed inside an accounting office with its doors blocked by filing cabinets. They accepted evacuation after one warning and were brought back through South One’s rear.

The second group refused to leave a restaurant several blocks southwest.

South Two marked the building and continued.

Loot collection points accumulated behind both platoons.

Electronics.

Jewelry removed from abandoned counters.

Cash drawers.

Small safes.

Boxes of watches and other loose valuables taken from abandoned stores.

The Engineers at Site Three sent recovery teams after the routes were secured. They worked behind the platoons instead of crowding the moving columns.

The pair Dobrev had left inside the first office building was relieved before the next hour ended.

The mobile platoons kept moving. It was nearing noon when two notifications appeared.

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[ Construction queue finished for: Pillbox. Please select deployment zone. ]

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Hans deployed it remotely along the southeastern line and queued the seventh. Site Three now had six operational Pillboxes. Only one now remained.

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[ Pillbox deployed. ]

[ Energy: 1,183 / 1600 ]

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[ Gold: 37,465 (-2,500) => 34,965 ]

[ Pillbox queued. ETA: 4 hours and 10 minutes. ]

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After handling the last Pillbox queue, Hans turned to the other notification.

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[ Multiple units have reached new Star Promotions. ]

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Hans opened the unit list.

Most of the Conscripts and Army Soldiers assigned to the two columns had already reached their first promotion.

Several Machine Gunners followed.

A smaller number of Guardian GIs had also promoted, though others still required more combat progress.

The difference had begun showing before the notification arrived.

Reloads became faster.

The soldiers adjusted between targets with less wasted movement. Their first bursts struck closer to the head and upper chest, even when the infected emerged from narrow rooms or broken stairwells.

The promoted soldiers also carried additional magazines.

Combined with Hans’s fifty-percent magazine-count bonus, the promotion left their webbing and ammunition pouches even heavier than before.

That mattered now.

They had already spent several hours clearing buildings, but none of the six squads had reached dangerously low ammunition levels.

The vehicle crews had barely touched their heavier weapons.

The Bastions had used their coaxial machine guns against smaller groups blocking the roads. Their autocannons fired only when infected gathered behind vehicles or crowded entrances that the infantry could not safely approach.

Neither Big Rhino nor War Elephant had fired its main gun. Their crews had spent the morning maneuvering behind the columns and covering routes the infantry had already secured.

Hans closed the unit list and returned to the Radar.

Echo One’s markers had stopped ahead.

The road widened several hundred meters south of South One.

Buildings that had previously stood close to the street gave way to a broad avenue divided by concrete islands and rows of dead trees. Beyond it stretched a surface parking area large enough to hold several hundred vehicles.

Most of those vehicles were still there.

Cars had stopped between parking lines, across pedestrian lanes, and against one another near the exits. Several buses occupied the outer edge of the property.

Behind them stood the first large commercial center Hans remembered.

The central structure covered most of the block.

Three floors of shops surrounded a wide entrance facing the avenue. A smaller shopping building stood to its east, connected through an enclosed walkway above the road between them.

Two banks occupied separate buildings along the western frontage.

Farther down were a jewelry store, a pawnshop, several restaurants, and a row of corporate offices.

The rear of the complex extended toward the service roads where South Two was advancing.

Loading bays lined that side.

Two ramps descended beneath the commercial center.

Underground parking.

Hans leaned closer to the windshield.

"There it is."

Matilda looked toward the buildings.

"The commercial center?"

"Yes."

Hans pointed toward the western frontage.

"One of those banks should have a private vault. The jewelry businesses supplied several stores around this side of Grefort. There should be more storage inside the center."

The Radar continued filling.

Red markers covered the parking lot.

More occupied the avenue beyond it.

Others moved behind the glass entrances, between the stores, and across the upper floors.

The underground levels were worse.

Hans shifted the Radar down one elevation layer.

Hundreds of markers occupied the first underground level beneath the main structure and loading areas. Some gathered near the vehicle ramps, while others filled the parking lanes farther inside.

He lowered the focus again.

More appeared beneath them, though the icons were smaller and their outlines flickered against the dark map.

Anything deeper became increasingly difficult to distinguish.

Hans expanded the surrounding blocks.

The concentration spread farther than the commercial property.

Restaurants, offices, and apartment buildings around the center held more infected. Several streets leading toward the area were also occupied.

Close to ten thousand. Possibly more if the markers beneath the building were hiding one another.

"Echo One to South One," Dmitri reported. "Large concentration confirmed. Front parking area occupied. Movement inside both main structures. Multiple special infected visible."

Anton responded from Bastion One.

"Can you identify the exterior types?"

"Ordinary infected make up most of them. Runners mixed throughout. Two Brutes near the western entrance. One possible Tank beside the southern parking ramp."

Ethan’s microdrone climbed above the avenue.

Its feed opened beside the Radar.

The parking lot appeared almost covered.

Hundreds wandered between the vehicles. Larger groups crowded the shaded entrances and the pedestrian walkways leading to the main building.

The infected had not formed one mass.

They occupied separate sections of the property, divided by parked cars, concrete barriers, and rows of storefronts.

That would change once the shooting started.

"Echo Two to South Two," Adrian reported over the second channel. "Rear loading area is occupied. Three loading bays open. Western ramp goes underground. Eastern ramp is blocked by a delivery truck."

Sabine answered.

"How many outside?"

"A little over a thousand behind the complex. More inside the loading bays. The underground group is anyone’s guess."

"That’s helpful."

"I tried."

Hans moved the two platoon markers closer on the Radar.

South One held the northern avenue.

South Two had reached the service road behind the commercial center.

The streets connecting both forces were already secured.

The routes Matilda had marked now placed the two platoons on opposite sides of the commercial center.

Neither platoon had rushed toward the valuable buildings.

Now they could approach the commercial center from two sides without crossing uncleared ground.

Anton began positioning South One.

"Mercer Squad takes the western storefronts. Dobrev Squad holds behind Bastion One. Third squad secures the eastern side of the avenue."

Bastions One, Two, and Three separated.

Bastion One stopped near the center divider with its frontal armor facing the parking lot. Its 30-millimeter autocannon lowered toward the nearest rows of vehicles.

The coaxial machine gun followed the same line.

Bastion Two moved behind an abandoned bus and angled toward the main entrance. Dobrev Squad prepared to dismount from its rear.

Bastion Three shifted east, covering the smaller shopping building and the road beneath the enclosed walkway.

Behind them, Big Rhino moved onto the avenue.

Its turret rotated toward the commercial center.

The 120-millimeter main gun stopped over the northern parking lot. Beneath it, the coaxial machine gun aligned with the densest exterior group.

The commander’s 12.7-millimeter heavy machine gun turned toward the western entrance.

South Two deployed behind the complex.

Sabine placed Bastion Four near the first loading-yard approach and Bastion Five near the second. Bastion Six remained between the two underground ramps.

War Elephant stayed on the widest service road.

Its main gun covered the loading area without pointing directly into the commercial building. Its coaxial machine gun covered the loading bays while the commander’s heavy machine gun tracked the western ramp.

The infantry dismounted behind the vehicles.

Guardian GI pairs moved toward the firing positions selected by their squad leaders.

Machine Gunners followed.

Army Soldiers and Conscripts spread between the APCs, storefronts, concrete islands, and delivery walls.

The Scouts remained ahead only long enough to confirm the immediate approaches.

Then they withdrew behind the firing lines.

Zolyah and Ethan occupied the upper floor of a building overlooking the main parking lot.

The second Sniper Overwatch Team established itself southwest of the loading yards.

Hans watched the formation settle through the Radar.

Six squads.

Six Guardian APCs.

Two Vanguards.

Both Scout teams.

Two Sniper Overwatch Teams.

Every route between them was under allied control.

The infected nearest the avenue had begun reacting to the engines.

Several turned toward South One. Then more followed.

The movement spread through the parking rows until entire groups faced north.

Behind the commercial center, the infected near the loading bays started moving toward South Two.

Hans looked at the buildings once more.

Hellhammer fire would destroy the stores, the vaults, and whatever remained inside them.

That option stayed at the main base. This would be handled at ground level.

"Both platoons are in position," Matilda said.

Hans nodded.

"Begin when ready."