RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Highcross did not become silent after the Broodmother died.

Vehicle engines continued rumbling between the buildings. Soldiers called from storefronts and parking ramps, while Engineers moved through the secured roads and marked sections damaged badly enough to endanger the recovery teams.

The gunfire had stopped.

Hans remained inside the Armored Command Truck and looked through the feeds from South One and South Two.

The main avenue no longer resembled the road he remembered.

Infected bodies covered the lanes between abandoned buses and private vehicles. Some had fallen where the Vanguards and Guardian APCs caught them in the open. Others had piled against the wreckage until the pavement and lower sections of several storefronts disappeared beneath them.

The operation had begun with more than one hundred thousand visible contacts.

That number had only covered the outer blocks.

Now, their bodies filled the roads around the shopping centers, the parking lots used as engagement areas, and the service streets leading toward the central structure. The concentrations destroyed by the Hellhammers and Strikers had been scattered farther. Broken asphalt, overturned vehicles, and pieces of infected covered the adjoining lots, while smoke continued rising from several wrecks that had caught fire during the engagement.

The shopping centers remained standing.

Most of their exterior walls had survived because Matilda held the artillery until the larger concentrations entered the approved areas. Their entrances had not been as fortunate. Glass doors were gone. Rolling shutters had been forced inward, and bodies filled the steps, lobbies, and openings where thousands had poured into the streets.

Several signs hung above them at an angle.

The pedestrian bridges connecting the larger properties remained overhead. Some had lost most of their windows. Others were stained by the infected killed while crossing between the buildings.

Beyond them, the office towers and banking properties still occupied the deeper blocks.

Two international banks faced the main avenue. Their outer walls remained intact, though abandoned vehicles and bodies blocked the approaches to both. The smaller local branch stood farther inside the district, surrounded by offices and shops that had yet to be inspected for anything beyond surviving infected.

The central parking structure carried the heaviest damage.

One entrance had collapsed where the Hellfire struck. Another lower ramp remained partly blocked by concrete, wreckage, and the infected killed by War Elephant’s shell. Holes crossed the upper levels where missiles, autocannon rounds, and grenades had struck the enhanced infected hiding inside.

The western service alley remained under guard.

Soldiers stood around the widened drainage entrance while Engineers continued inspecting the underground route. The pale tissue caught between the broken grate had stopped moving. What remained had already begun losing its color.

South One controlled the western avenue and the shopping properties around it. South Two occupied the eastern roads and the blocks surrounding the central parking structure.

Every building inside the operation area had been cleared.

The shopping centers, office towers, banks, parking levels, loading sections, and underground entrances no longer contained infected. Scouts had already passed through the last marked structures before Specter entered the drainage route, while South Two eliminated the remaining groups beneath the eastern ramps.

What remained was the recovery work.

The five enhanced recovery sites remained marked separately. Engineers moved none of their remains with the ordinary infected.

The Lasher and Leaper could still be recovered in larger sections; the Screamer remained behind the upper parking barrier, while the Tank and Spitter had been scattered across their kill sites.

Tyrus had already received the combat records. Larger transport cases, preserving materials, labels, and handling instructions were being sent through Site Three.

Soldiers moved bodies away from the entrances and the routes selected for vehicles. Engineers marked damaged pavement, unstable walls, and parking ramps that could no longer carry the weight of Guardian APCs or transport trucks.

Other squads established temporary posts around the larger properties and the roads leading farther into Grefort.

The Sniper Overwatch Teams remained inside the taller buildings.

They no longer searched for infected within the district. Their rifles faced the roads beyond it.

Bastion Four and Bastion Six waited along the eastern avenue.

Deep channels crossed their side armor where the enhanced Spitter’s acid had struck. Both vehicles remained operational, though neither would stay once the route toward the Service Center was ready.

Big Rhino and War Elephant held the wider roads with their cannons facing outward.

Hans changed between the platoon feeds.

Bodies blocked most vehicle routes. Several entrances remained buried beneath them, while abandoned cars and buses prevented the recovery vehicles from reaching the loading areas behind the shopping centers.

There was also too much to recover in one day.

Three banks. Jewelry stores. Offices. Department stores. Underground storage areas. Hundreds of individual shops spread across several large commercial properties.

The district had already taken several days to prepare and clear.

Removing everything valuable could take longer.

"Recovery routes are being opened," Matilda said. "The first collection teams can enter once the western avenue is ready."

Hans looked at the preserved shopping centers beyond the ruined roads.

He had refused to bury them beneath artillery for this reason. Everything inside them now belonged to him, but turning an entire commercial center into Gold would require more than a few squads carrying bags.

"Begin with the banks and jewelry stores," he said. "Everything else will be divided between the recovery teams."

"Understood."

Specter Squad and Callum returned from the drainage entrance several minutes later. Their armor carried pieces of pale tissue and black fluid from the chamber below, though none of them had suffered any damage.

Hans closed the tactical display and stood.

Looking through the cameras had shown him what the operation destroyed.

He wanted to see what remained.

The Armored Command Truck moved toward South One once the Engineers opened a route through the western avenue.

Big Rhino and several Guardian APCs had already crossed most of it. Their tracks and tires pressed bodies against the pavement, leaving two narrow paths between the abandoned vehicles. Soldiers worked farther ahead, pulling the remains away from entrances and marking the roads wide enough for the recovery trucks.

The command vehicle stopped beside Bastion One.

Hans left through the rear door with Callum. Specter Squad followed and spread around the vehicle while he approached the APC.

Its ramp lowered.

Yunera stepped outside first and helped Kimmy descend. Both wore masks over their noses and mouths. Johannes followed them and stopped near the ramp, studying the avenue ahead.

Kimmy remained close to Yunera.

Her blindfolded face turned toward the surrounding buildings, then toward the road beneath her.

"It smells horrible."

"It does," Hans answered.

She took another careful step before stopping.

"Is it really over?"

Hans looked along the avenue.

Bodies filled the spaces between abandoned buses and private vehicles. They covered the entrances of the shopping centers, the intersections where the Vanguards had fired, and the smaller roads leading toward South Two’s position.

Beyond them, soldiers were already preparing the district for recovery.

"Yes."

Kimmy lightly held Yunera’s sleeve.

"The entire place? Were there any... people that survived?"

"The entire place," Hans looked at her. "And no, my soldiers found no survivors around the area."

"Oh."

She became quiet after that.

Yunera guided her around what remained of an infected near the APC’s ramp. Hans waited until they reached the cleared part of the road before continuing.

Johannes walked beside him.

The four of them followed the path opened through the western avenue, with Callum nearby and Specter Squad covering the surrounding roads.

Dead insects cracked beneath their boots.

Kimmy slowed and turned toward the central parking structure.

"Still there?" Yunera asked.

"Fainter."

"Then leave it alone."

Kimmy faced forward again.

Some remained whole after falling from the broken swarms. Others had become dark stains across vehicles, windows, and the bodies beneath them. Pieces of wings continued moving whenever the wind passed between the buildings.

The first shopping center occupied most of the block ahead.

Its exterior remained standing. The glass around several entrances had shattered, while damaged shutters hung above the openings where thousands of infected had forced themselves outside. Bodies still covered the steps, though soldiers had opened a path through the middle.

Nobody guarded the entrance from anything inside.

The soldiers positioned there watched the avenue and the roads beyond the district.

Recovery markings had already appeared around the building. One entrance had been assigned for personnel. Another would receive carts and smaller vehicles, while the loading area behind the structure was being prepared for the transport vehicles.

The shops inside remained dark.

Clothing stood behind broken display windows. Electronics covered shelves farther along the first corridor. Several signs remained lit only by the daylight entering through the damaged front.

The infected had occupied the building for months.

They had killed whoever remained inside, broken through doors, and filled the corridors with filth, but most of the merchandise had no value to them. It stayed where the former owners had left it.

Kimmy turned toward Hans.

"There are many stores here, are there not?"

"Hundreds."

"In this building?"

"Across the district. Why? You want to stroll around?"

She nodded slowly.

"What about the banks?"

"There were three of them."

A small smile appeared on her face.

"You sound pleased, Hans."

Hans looked toward the banking properties farther along the avenue.

Two international banks occupied separate sections near the wider intersection. The smaller local branch stood deeper inside, surrounded by office buildings and another shopping property.

"It took a lot to prepare for this operation. Of course, I would be pleased."

Kimmy gave a faint smile after hearing his answer. Yunera glanced toward her sister.

"Do not tease him."

"I am not teasing him."

"You are smiling."

Kimmy tried to hide it and faced forward again.

Hans ignored both of them.

Johannes looked toward the nearest bank. Its exterior walls remained intact, and no artillery damage crossed the entrance or the upper floors.

"You kept the valuable buildings away from the engagement areas."

"That was the plan."

Johannes nodded.

He had already noticed Hans’s unusual interest in valuables. He still did not understand why the Commander cared so much about them.

Recovery soldiers had already gathered outside the property. Empty containers, carts, and several vehicles waited beyond the bodies blocking the approach. Engineers worked around the abandoned cars while another group marked the safest entrance into the underground parking area.

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