After more than thirty minutes of discussion, by exactly 8:00 a.m., the group finally settled on a basic action plan for the day.
Twenty-three small squads, totaling 245 people, were split into eight teams to carry out separate tasks.
Team 1, led by Emily with 30 mbers, was assigned to the refrigerated truck market to locate as many refrigerated vehicles as possible. After that, they’d head to the western part of the city to hit the cold storage warehouses and wholesale produce markets for fresh at and vegetables.
Team 2, under Liana with 20 mbers, was tasked with filling two 20-ton and two 5-ton fuel tankers with gasoline and diesel.
Team 3, led by Charlotte with 20 people and five box trucks, would search Springvale City for water stations, aiming to fill all five trucks.
Team 4 had only 10 mbers, led by Luxe. Their sole mission for the whole day was to collect fire trucks from fire departnts or water trucks from sanitation services scattered throughout the city.
Team 5, under Chloe with another 10 people, was headed to the bus station to locate long-distance sleeper buses.
Team 6, led by Sophia, consisted of 20 people and one cargo vehicle. Their job was to collect common dicines from pharmacies citywide, especially antibiotics and multivitamins.
Team 7, with 40 people, was stationed at the supply depot under the command of the special forces soldier Caroline Justice. They were to stay put, train the female mbers on driving, keep watch around the depot, and scavenge for supplies and vehicles nearby. Magnus also left Isabel and Taylor behind - they were both Awakened, unlike Caroline. It wasn’t just logistics - it was to keep her in check, just in case. Their presence alone sent a silent ssage.
Lastly, the crucial Team 8 was led by Magnus himself - over 80 people, backed by 10 box trucks. Their mission was the clearest yet heaviest: keep scouring all sized supermarkets, hardware stores, police supply points, and outdoor gear shops.
There was another job only he knew about - recruiting more won who could fight. He couldn’t leave that to anyone else. He only trusted himself with that.
Ti was short. As soon as the plan ca together, each team went its own way. Magnus’s team was the last to leave. Before leaving, he pulled Isabel and Taylor aside for a few last words. Then, with one long-distance sleeper bus and ten box trucks, they rolled out of the depot yard.
*****
The apocalypse had co without warning, in the middle of the day, right at the peak of city traffic. Cars were jamd in every direction, making it hard for Magnus’s convoy to move forward.
Still, the sidewalks remained mostly clear - wide enough, and with not many vehicles. The convoy couldn’t go fast, but at least they could keep moving without too much hassle.
The people who’d made it this far were mostly holed up in sealed buildings. Regular windows might keep bugs out, but they couldn’t stop those monstrous centipedes from crawling up - unless the glass was reinforced, or the windows had been nailed shut from the inside with wood or tal plates.
Magnus had been driving the sleeper bus down the pedestrian road for over an hour now. Nearly every five or six ters, a thick acid-laced spiderweb covered the path. Visibility was just as far - five or six ters. GPS was useless now, a complete joke. He had to rely on the two local Springvale girls in his group, trying to navigate by mory.
Springvale was still a provincial capital after all - big supermarkets were plenty, smaller ones even more so.
"This is Oak Street. Not far ahead there should be a pretty big Walmart - two floors, plus a basent. It’s massive," one of the Springvale girls said, racking her brain for every detail she could recall. The convoy rolled another thirty ters before the massive "Walmart" sign popped into view, though now it was crawling with centipede spiders - just the sight of it made your skin crawl.
Magnus cut the engine right in front of the building’s wide outdoor staircase. He turned to the female squad mbers and said, "Gear up. Spray the repellent. Oil the torches. Double-check - don’t leave any skin exposed."
He got up, gave himself a full spray, grabbed a gas can, and looked over at one of the newest additions, the special forces soldier. "gan, I’ll go first and clear a path. Watch my signal. Once it’s safe, you follow."
gan Bennett, despite being trained, was about as old as Magnus. She gave a quick nod, quiet as ever, then moved to the front. Sarah looked worried, but Magnus smiled at her and gave her head a light pat. Then he strapped on his motorcycle helt, pulled open the bus door, and started blasting away with the nail gun - spiders and centipedes dropping one after the other.
From the bus to Walmart’s revolving door was just under 20 ters. Torch in one hand, gas can in the other, Magnus swung the shovel torch back and forth to clear the bugs, pouring gasoline in twin streaks along both sides of the path. When he reached the door, he lit both fire lanes, flas racing along like twin snakes. Then he signaled gan with a sharp gesture.
No choice. Food was getting near impossible to find. Springvale City’s downtown roads were flooded with bugs - tidal waves of centipedes and spiders. Killing them all just wasn’t an option.
The bus door swung open again. One by one, the team piled out, lighting their torches from the fire lanes before dashing down the middle toward the entrance with the revolving doors.
Magnus had already cleared the doorway. One by one, teams flooded inside - six squads, sixty people slipped into the supermarket.
Inside the door, there were two sets of escalators - one going down, one up. Straight ahead, the main floor stretched out flat.
With spiderwebs everywhere, Magnus and the others set fire to them quickly. He noticed that, luckily, the infestation wasn’t too heavy. In less than a minute, they cleared out the entrance, dealing with fewer than a hundred creatures.
"This the blanket you wanted?" gan asked, holding up two heavy comforters. So won held blankets, so dragged planks, others carried gas cans - all gathered on Magnus’s orders. None of them knew what the plan was for.
"Pour gasoline on the blankets. Lay them across the glass doorway. Put planks on top. Soak it all again... then light it."
He demonstrated quickly, fla licking through the soaked fabric. Smoke curled upward. He turned to gan: "This’ll burn for about 40 minutes. You stay here with a squad. Make sure the fire doesn’t die - add more fuel if needed. I’ll take the rest inside and sweep the first floor. If anything cos up from B1 or down from level two... you handle it. Got it?"
"Understood!" gan snapped to attention and gave a crisp military salute.
Magnus gave a small nod, then turned to the rest of the female squad mbers ready to push in deeper. "Teams of three. Two with torches for cover, one behind with the nail gun. Four groups in a line. When you reload, hold position. Group behind moves up. Everyone clear?"
"Yes, sir!" they answered in unison.
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