RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

The first barrage reached Route One as a low rumble from somewhere beyond the southern buildings.

Pip stopped near the rooftop railing.

A few seconds later, another series rolled through the distance.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The sound had become almost continuous since morning. Below her, Route One looked very different from the receiving area she remembered.

Most of the longer-term residents had moved several hundred meters south into a cleared commercial block, taking over old stores, offices, and apartments that Engineers had inspected weeks earlier.

Windows had been replaced where materials allowed, laundry hung between two buildings, and the small gardens that once occupied containers beside the warehouse had spread into whatever open ground people could find.

Lights worked now too.

A deployed PCV occupied a walled section near the southern end of the block, with a Power Plant and several military structures kept behind the perimeter. Engineers had connected the surrounding buildings to the restored electrical lines afterward.

Pip still found that part strange.

The old shops had lights at night again.

Another distant barrage rolled across the city.

One of the teenagers beside her looked south.

"They’ve been doing that for hours."

"The Commander is fighting the center," Pip said, striking a pose with her small fists.

"You say that like you know him."

"I know sister soldier."

Priya sat against the rooftop access wall a few steps behind them, drinking from a metal cup.

"That does not mean you know the Commander."

Pip turned around.

"But you do."

"I’ve met him."

"That still counts!"

Priya lowered her cup, not wanting to argue with Pip.

The boy who once wore road-sign plates laughed from the other side of the roof.

Another distant impact followed.

This time, several windows below rattled softly in their frames.

Pip looked south again.

"That’s a lot louder than before."

Priya followed her gaze.

"It is."

...

The sound was worse in Cinderrow.

Hellhammer batteries stretched across several prepared firing positions behind the northern containment line, their guns cycling one after another while distant sections answered from the east, west, and south.

Hans stood beside the Armored Command Truck with the Radar map open in front of him.

Red covered nearly everything beyond the defenses.

The first bombardment had barely started changing that.

A Hellhammer salvo crossed overhead.

Several seconds later, the buildings beyond the containment line disappeared behind a line of explosions. Windows burst outward, upper floors folded into the streets, and the Radar picture thinned across one of the densest blocks before fresh markers began spilling from the structures around it.

The infected came with them.

Hundreds poured through the intersections first, followed by thousands moving between abandoned vehicles and over the bodies already covering the roads. Faster shapes broke ahead of the mass, some climbing across cars or dropping from the lower floors of buildings while the rest continued pressing north.

The Pillboxes opened fire.

Machine-gun bursts swept through the first ranks, and the roadway disappeared behind muzzle flashes from the infantry positions farther back. Guardian GIs sent grenades into the thicker groups while Vanguards fired past the Wall whenever something larger emerged.

One Tank forced its way through the crowd.

Infected bounced from its shoulders and disappeared under its feet as it pushed into the open road.

A Vanguard fired.

The shell struck high across its chest and threw the Tank backward into the mass behind it. Two Missile Infantry followed before it could rise, and the explosions disappeared beneath another wave of bodies.

Hans watched the red markers compress against the northern defenses.

"They’re really coming out now."

Another artillery salvo passed overhead. The ground beyond the Wall erupted again.

Some of the infected turned toward the new explosions. Others continued north. Several groups spilled sideways into parallel streets, only to run into fire from the neighboring positions.

There was no clean front anymore. The Core simply kept producing more of them.

A cluster of Runners reached the Wall ahead of everything else and started climbing over one another before concentrated fire tore through them. More arrived almost immediately, filling the space they left behind.

Behind them, another Tank appeared. Then another.

Near the Command Truck, Kimmy remained with Yunera near the protected observation position. She had been watching the same flood of infected for most of the morning.

Hans looked farther into the Radar map.

The density behind those streets barely seemed to change.

"...This is going to take a while. Kimmy, do you sense any Hive nearby?"

Kimmy concentrated for several seconds.

"Nothing like Ironford."

"Nothing?"

"Not from the infected close enough for me to feel properly. There’s no pressure holding them together."

Hans looked back toward the streets. That matched what he was seeing.

Some infected chased the explosions. Others rushed the defenses, while entire groups simply spilled into whatever road remained open.

"Keep checking."

"I will."

Another Hellhammer salvo passed overhead. Despite the severe losses, the infected kept rushing without any strategic approach.

It was as if the entire Hive network had gone on vacation and forgotten to leave anyone in charge.

"What about Broodmothers?"

Kimmy shook her head.

"Not from here. I can’t feel far enough into the Core."

"So there could still be one."

"There could."

Hans looked back at the Radar.

"That’s wonderful."

Although Hans did not want to encounter another hive near this massive infected group, the absence of it made him uncomfortable as well.

The ending fights were always glorious with the hero finally defeating the villain through flashy moves and world-ending attacks.

Reality had apparently chosen artillery and traffic management.

Hans zoomed the Radar out.

Cinderrow was only one part of it.

To the east, the red mass had pushed hard against Aldermere after the first bombardments opened several blocks. Sabine’s formations were holding behind their prepared line while artillery worked farther ahead.

Kingswell looked much the same. Thousands of markers streamed toward the western defenses, broke apart under fire, and gathered again wherever the streets gave them room.

Rushfield was worse.

The southern approach had started with the weakest containment line, and the infected there were spreading across several wider roads at once. Reserve formations were already shifting behind the sector while another Hellhammer group began firing into the concentrations building farther inside.

The whole Core was moving, not together, but simply outward.

Hans watched four separate fronts light up across the same map.

"Matilda."

"Commander?"

"You have reports about Hive presence?"

"None yet, Commander."

"Continue pressing the attack. I don’t believe they will remain hidden for long."

The northern line advanced first.

Once the nearest streets had thinned enough, the Wall gates opened and armored formations moved through under covering fire. Guardian APCs followed the Vanguards into the ruined blocks while infantry spread through the cleared frontage, dealing with whatever had survived the bombardment.

Almost at the same time, friendly markers began moving inward from Aldermere.

Kingswell followed several minutes later.

Rushfield remained slower, though its line was moving too.

Hans watched the ring tighten from four directions.

The red mass was actually getting smaller.

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