RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Recovery work had already begun around the nearest bank.

Soldiers moved empty containers through the cleared entrance while Engineers inspected the damaged vehicles blocking the underground access. Several recovery trucks waited farther along the avenue, unable to approach until the bodies and abandoned cars were moved aside.

Hans remained outside with Kimmy, Yunera, and Johannes.

An Engineer crossed the road toward them.

"Commander."

Hans turned.

"The chamber beneath the central parking structure has been inspected. The route remains stable enough for personnel. Some of the surrounding tissue still shows cellular activity, but no coordinated signal or movement has been detected."

"The body?"

"Unchanged since Specter secured it."

Hans looked toward the central parking structure.

The western drainage entrance remained several blocks away, hidden between the service buildings and the damaged road leading behind them. Soldiers still guarded the alley, though the operation around it had already shifted from combat to containment.

He wanted to see the Broodmother’s remains before they left the district.

Kimmy turned toward the same direction.

Her hand tightened around Yunera’s sleeve.

Hans noticed.

"What is it?"

Kimmy did not answer immediately.

Her blindfolded face remained fixed toward the western service alley. The recovery workers continued moving around them, but her attention had already left the bank.

"There is still something below."

Yunera moved closer to her.

"The infected?"

Kimmy shook her head.

"I do not think so."

Hans studied her expression, then shifted back to his Virtual Radar. No hostile markers remained around the bank or the drainage route. The dead tissue did not register.

"Is it alive?"

"No."

Her answer came quietly, followed by a longer pause.

"At least... it does not feel alive."

Johannes looked toward the parking structure.

"What does it feel like?"

Kimmy lowered her head slightly.

"I am not certain. I might have to get closer."

That uncertainty bothered Hans more than a clear warning would have.

Kimmy had spent the last several days using her ability beside South One. Her reports had not always been precise, but she could usually separate people from infected and identify where a presence came from.

Now, she could not even explain what she sensed.

"Is it the same connection you touched at the grate?" Hans asked.

Kimmy nodded.

"It is the same connection I touched at the grate," Kimmy said. "The body is dead, but the path is still there."

"Can you stop feeling it?"

Kimmy tried. Her breathing slowed, and the fingers holding Yunera’s sleeve loosened before tightening again.

"No. It followed me from the grate."

Yunera frowned.

"That is enough. She should return to Bastion One."

Kimmy turned toward Yunera.

"I am fine."

"You said you cannot stop sensing it."

"I did not say it hurts."

"It does not have to hurt before it becomes dangerous, sister."

Kimmy fell quiet.

Hans looked at the Engineer.

"How long has the chamber been clear?"

"Twenty-three minutes, Commander. Specter Squad checked every opening connected to it. No additional infected were found."

"Prepare the route."

The Engineer nodded.

"Yes, Commander."

Yunera immediately faced Hans.

"You are bringing her below?"

"She is already connected to whatever remains there," Hans said.

"That does not mean she should go closer."

"No." Hans turned toward Kimmy. "Do you want us to take you back?"

Kimmy remained quiet before shaking her head.

"I want to know why it is still connected to me."

He turned to Kimmy, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Do you want to proceed, or should we go back?"

Yunera’s expression remained tense.

Kimmy lightly pulled her sleeve.

"Sister."

Yunera looked down at her.

"I want to understand what it is."

Yunera sighed. "You do not need to understand everything, you know that?"

"I know."

Kimmy’s voice remained soft.

"But I would rather know why it is reaching me."

Hans turned toward the service road.

"Viper comes with us. One Engineer and one Medic pair as well. Specter Squad will secure the route."

He faced Kimmy again.

"You do not touch the body. If you stop answering, or the Medics tell us to leave, we leave."

"Yes. Yes, I won’t."

Johannes looked toward Hans.

"And me?"

"You recognized the equipment on the other infected. You may notice something we missed."

Johannes nodded.

The group left the bank several minutes later.

Recovery teams continued working behind them. Containers entered through the secured doors, while soldiers cleared another path toward the loading area.

The farther they moved from the avenue, the quieter the district became.

Kimmy remained beside Yunera. Her head never turned away from the drainage entrance ahead.

The western service alley remained occupied by South One.

Two squads guarded the surrounding roads, while several soldiers worked beside the drainage entrance. They had cleared most of the bodies from the immediate area and placed temporary barriers around the widened grate. Portable lights had already been lowered through the opening and positioned along the route below.

Specter waited beside the ladder.

"Route remains clear, Commander."

Hans looked into the opening.

The first light illuminated the concrete wall and the pale tissue clinging to it. Several sections had already sagged away from the surface, though the rest continued farther into the drainage channel.

"Any changes?"

"None detected. The remaining tissue continues deteriorating."

Hans glanced toward the Engineer.

The man’s reinforced tech-suit looked heavier than the equipment worn by the soldiers around him. He held his multi-scanner tablet in one hand, while the inspection drone hovered beside his shoulder.

"The route remains structurally stable," the Engineer added. "The drone completed another pass before your arrival. No new obstruction was found."

The two male Medics waited several steps behind him. One held their bio-scanner tablet while the folded stretcher remained prepared between them. Their med-HUD visors were already active.

Hans looked toward the entrance again.

"What about the chamber?"

"No movement since the previous inspection," Specter answered.

Johannes approached the opening.

"This was how you entered?"

"Yes," Hans replied.

"And that creature remained beneath the district throughout the operation."

"Looks like it."

Johannes stared into the drainage route.

The five enhanced infected had fought aboveground while the Broodmother remained beneath the parking structure, hidden behind thousands of ordinary infected and the swarms she had produced.

Hans still did not know how much of the battle she had controlled herself, but whatever organization remained within the district disappeared after her death.

His attention returned to Kimmy.

She had grown quieter since reaching the alley. Her head remained lowered toward the opening, while one hand held Yunera’s sleeve again.

"Anything changed?"

"It feels clearer."

"Stronger?"

Kimmy hesitated.

"Closer."

Of course it was closer. Hans did not say that aloud.

"Specter will lead. Viper stays with us. The Engineer and Medics will follow us."

"Understood, Commander," Specter answered.

Two members of Specter Squad descended first.

Hans followed once they reported the lower section clear. His boots entered the shallow water beneath the ladder.

The smell worsened.

Drainage water mixed with rotting flesh, burnt insects, and whatever fluid continued leaking from the tissue along the walls.

How wonderful.

Hans moved away from the ladder and allowed the others to descend.

Callum reached the bottom after him and looked through the tunnel.

"Clear."

Yunera came next. One of the DASFs waited beneath her, though she ignored his offered hand and stepped into the water on her own.

Kimmy followed more slowly.

Her foot searched for each rung before lowering toward the next. Yunera remained beneath her, ready to catch her if she slipped. Johannes waited above until Kimmy reached the floor.

The moment her boots touched the water, her body stiffened.

Yunera caught her arm.

"Sister?"

"I’m fine."

"You keep saying that."

Kimmy did not argue. Her blindfolded face turned toward the tunnel ahead.

"It is much clearer now."

Hans watched her breathing.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Tell me if that changes."

"I will."

He was not certain she would. The lass was a little stubborn sometimes.

Specter resumed moving.

The group passed through the first junction where the opened bodies had been found. Engineers had pulled them away from the center of the passage, though the cavities beneath their ribs remained visible.

Pale strands still connected some of them to the drainage wall.

Johannes slowed.

"What happened to them?"

The Engineer looked away from his tablet.

"Unknown. Something developed inside their bodies before connecting them to the surrounding tissue."

"Incubation?"

"Possibly. We do not have enough information."

Johannes stared at the opened remains for another moment.

Nobody had a better answer.

Kimmy passed them without turning her head. Her attention remained fixed farther ahead, beyond the curve leading beneath the parking structure.

The swollen sacs along the ceiling had collapsed.

Their outer membranes hung in torn sheets, while dead insects remained stuck to the wet surfaces beneath them. A few still crawled through the folds and cracks, but none gathered together or reacted when the group passed.

Hans watched one disappear into the wall.

The Broodmother had not merely produced them. She had kept them working together.

The tunnel widened after the next turn.

Damage marked the chamber entrance. Part of the concrete edge had broken where the Broodmother’s hand struck it. Fragments remained beneath the shallow water, mixed with severed tissue and pieces of insect sacs.

Specter Squad entered first and separated around the chamber.

"Clear."

Hans followed with Callum.

The Broodmother’s remains still occupied most of the space.

The explosions had torn apart the layers surrounding her lower body. Large sections of flesh had separated from the concrete supports and collapsed into the water, exposing cavities filled with destroyed sacs and blackened tissue.

The upper body rested near the far support.

One arm remained attached. The other ended beneath the shoulder. Most of the abdomen was gone, while the head leaned against the concrete at an angle that no living person could maintain.

Half of her face remained.

Loose hair covered part of the ruined side. Black veins still crossed her neck and cheek, though nothing moved anymore.

Johannes stopped beside Hans. For several seconds, he said nothing.

The torn strip of dark fabric remained caught beneath one shoulder. More pieces had become visible after the surrounding flesh loosened, including part of a harness buried against her back.

Johannes narrowed his eyes.

"SAS field equipment."

"Anything useful?"

"Not from here. And not from that state."

Hans looked toward Specter.

"Let him approach."

"Understood."

Two DASFs moved with Johannes while the Engineer began inspecting the tissue closest to the entrance. The drone passed ahead of him, keeping above the shallow water as its feed appeared on the multi-scanner tablet.

The Medic pair remained near the rear of the group.

Kimmy had not entered the chamber.

She stood several steps behind the broken edge with Yunera beside her. Her shoulders had tightened, and the fingers holding Yunera’s sleeve had begun trembling.

Hans turned.

"Kimmy?"

She did not answer immediately.

Her breathing became shallower.

The faintest trace of pink appeared beneath the edges of her blindfold.

"There are too many of them," she whispered.

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