May 15th, 2017, 5:03 PM.
South of Springvale City, a wave of fighter-bombers roared past. In under ten minutes, three square kiloters of the southern district were set ablaze.
But these weren’t carrying typical blast bombs - they dropped notorious napalm.
Humanitarian concerns aside, napalm had long been banned by the UN back in 1980. But this was no ordinary ti. Against doomsday creatures, nothing worked better.
Thick smoke rolled across the burning streets. Dozens of infantry fighting vehicles spearheaded the assault, flanked closely by lines of ten infantry troops on each side. Within minutes, over 90% of the infected were wiped out. Clouds of giant mosquitoes scattered in all directions, driven off by smoke and fire.
Gunfire popped constantly as infantry squads cleared out whatever was left crawling.
With napalm shielding their advance, the battle was manageable - just as Commander Cliff had anticipated. The real trouble began past this scorched zone, at the doorstep of the Lightwater Residences.
That place - right near the city center, not far from the train station - was Springvale’s biggest residential block. For the Seventh Sovereign Vanguard, it was the best candidate to station 20,000 troops.
But once inside, napalm couldn’t help. Full of narrow alleys and dense buildings, a swarm of centipede-spiders had been driven here by the heat earlier. Smoke was sparse overhead, and the giant mosquito clouds were thickest in this area. The Vanguard was hitting a wall.
Inside the battle command vehicle, a soldier stord in with urgency. "Commander! Report just in from Sweep Unit 37. They found a destroyed WZ-10 attack chopper near Springvale University up north. Also found the bodies of Sweep Squads 11 and 12. All weapons stripped."
"What?! They shot down the WZ-10?" a colonel blurted out, eyes wide.
Cliff’s face tensed. Shock flickered in his gaze before he frowned in silence.
The colonel nearly barked an order but caught himself, rembering who stood beside him. He turned instead with a crisp salute. "Commander! I recomnd we send a full-strength company to find out what’s going on. This isn’t sothing to ignore!"
Definitely not sothing to ignore.
Taking down an attack chopper? That’s no ho-dweller with a rifle. And those two sweep squads - they were reinforced platoons, ard to the teeth, even packing launchers.
Not sothing cops or civilians could pull off.
Cliff’s voice cut cold through the air. "Luke Adams!"
"Sir!" The colonel straightened fast.
Cliff’s eyes locked on him. "Pull one reinforced company each from Regints 1 through 3. Best gear you’ve got. Get moving. I want answers."
"Roger that!" Luke snapped a clean salute, turned sharp, and left the command vehicle without another word.
One reinforced company ant 200 troops. Three companies made 600 - top gear, handpicked. And this was in the middle of an offensive, right at the gates of Lightwater Residences, short-staffed and all.
But Cliff still made the call.
This ant he was taking this dead serious.
*****
The second benefit of heading for Dunwich Hollow as a base - Magnus kept the teorite matter to himself for now, but the second advantage was worth sharing. "The location of Dunwich Hollow is perfect."
He pointed at the map. "Here’s Redridge Hold, right off the highway. Our convoy will take a turn here, go through Redridge Hold to Unity Point, and then we’ll reach Dunwich Hollow at the foot of the mountains. It may seem remote, but it’s the largest village around here. Because it’s surrounded by mountains on three sides, the villagers live off wild ginseng and other dicinal herbs they grow on the slopes. They’re actually the wealthiest around. Plus, it’s easy to defend, hard to attack..."
"But..." Sophia frowned. "If we run into an attack chopper here, aren’t we just sitting ducks?"
"No way, not anyti soon," Magnus shook his head, confident. "The Seventh Army’s tangled in the Springvale fight, most likely based at Lightwater Residences. Their infantry can camp there, but air corps can’t. None of the radios work. Orders won’t reach that fast."
Of course, Magnus was bluffing - but he had his reasons. He’d lived through this before. Last ti, after the Ice Regint fled Springvale, they didn’t see a single aircraft for ten days.
And there was sothing else.
The Seventh Army stord Springvale with good intentions at first - to save survivors. Back then, Cliff still had that soldier’s duty, thinking about saving the nation. But two months from now, once food runs low and the first rebellion breaks out, his mindset would start to change.
Even now, if an attack chopper spotted them, they probably wouldn’t just open fire.
That earlier ambush at Springvale University? That was because the WZ-10 saw two of its assault units wiped out. It was retaliation.
But what bugged Magnus most was the ambush at the campus gate. Why did the Sweeper Squad fire first?
Nine months of this end-tis hell had reshaped his instincts - seeing Emberleaf emblems made his hands itch to kill. But thinking back, that shouldn’t have been the case this ti. They should’ve spared civilians.
Why didn’t they?
The five SUVs covering the rear at the school gate - all female squad mbers - were now gone. No witnesses, no answers.
By dusk, the convoy - 69 vehicles strong - curved into Redridge Hold. They rolled through Unity Point without trouble. Thanks to the "New Countryside" policy from before, there were cent roads now, and few village vehicles to get in their way.
As they passed through, Magnus noticed sothing odd. Redridge Hold had three teorites, each sizable. Unity Point had seven. That was a lot. From his past life, he rembered finding one or two in most villages was already rare.
As night closed in, headlights from Magnus’ lead vehicle lit up Dunwich Hollow’s houses. The closer they got, the harder it was to stay calm. When they were just about thirty ters from the village, dread knotted in Magnus’ chest. He stomped the brake and jumped out, ignoring Sarah’s call to stop.
This... was this even a village anymore?
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