The bombardment continued the next morning.
By then, the first defensive line had already moved several blocks deeper into Cinderrow, and the Hellhammers were firing over positions that had been covered in infected bodies the day before.
Hans stood beside the Armored Command Truck while another salvo crossed overhead.
The shells landed close to the edge of the haze.
Buildings disappeared behind explosions, fragments scattering across the street before the smoke rolled outward and mixed with the pale layer farther inside.
Hans watched the Radar.
Several hundred red markers vanished.
Others began moving almost immediately, some spilling away from the impact zone while another concentration pushed toward the northern line.
"Next sector ready."
Matilda looked toward the artillery map.
"Proceed."
Another battery fired.
Hans lowered the Radar for a moment and looked south.
The haze was visible between the taller buildings now, still covering most of the deeper Core in the same pale curtain that had frustrated every aircraft trying to look farther inside.
Something about it seemed different.
He narrowed his eyes.
"Matilda."
She followed his gaze.
A gap had appeared not in the buildings, but In the haze itself.
Several towers that had been nothing more than faint shapes minutes earlier were suddenly visible through a wide opening torn across the pale layer. Smoke from the artillery still drifted through it, but the thicker haze around the impact zone was gone.
Hans opened the Radar again.
The biological markers had not changed beyond the casualties from the shells.
"Flight Operations, confirm visibility over the last strike."
One of the officers beside the Command Truck raised a hand to his headset. A few seconds passed.
"Raptor Four confirms. Visual range increased significantly around the impact area."
"How far?"
"Several blocks. Still poor beyond that."
Hans looked toward Matilda.
"Wind?"
"Not enough."
Another Hellhammer salvo landed farther east.
The haze broke again. This time, Hans watched it happen.
The first explosions punched through the outer layer, followed by a larger blast farther inside. Pale material rolled away from the impact zone, thinning until entire sections of roadway appeared behind it.
For several seconds, there was almost nothing left between the northern line and the buildings beyond.
Then the remaining haze began drifting back slowly.
Hans stared.
"Are you seeing this?"
Reports started arriving from the other sectors before anyone could offer a better answer. Aldermere had seen the same thing after several artillery strikes near its inner approach.
Kingswell followed soon after.
Rushfield reported that bombardment along two dense intersections had opened temporary visibility through the southern haze as well.
Hans pulled all four sectors onto the linked map.
Different directions on different firing positions yet producing the same result.
Johannes stepped closer from behind the Command Truck.
"The explosions must be pushing it back."
Another explosion rolled through the district.
Hans looked toward the opening again. The haze had already started filling it.
"How long did the first one stay clear?"
"Still timing it," Matilda answered.
A Raptor passed high above the northern sector, remaining well outside the thicker layer while its camera watched the opening below.
Hans waited for five minutes, then ten.
The gap continued shrinking, though nowhere near as quickly as normal smoke would have moved through the streets.
By the time the next artillery section prepared to fire, most of the pale layer had returned.
Hans rubbed his chin.
"Hit another section."
Matilda looked at him.
"Testing it?"
"We’re bombarding the Core anyway."
The next salvo landed farther west.
Once again, the haze tore open with the city appearing behind it.
"Do it again."
The artillery schedule changed.
Hellhammer batteries that had been concentrating entirely on biological density began placing some of their fire closer to the visible edge of the haze, still striking occupied blocks but spreading the impacts enough to open wider sections.
The result became obvious within the hour.
Every bombardment stripped another piece away.
Some openings lasted only several minutes before the pale layer rolled back through the streets. Others remained thin long enough for Raptors circling outside the affected area to see several blocks deeper than they had the day before.
Flight Operations began marking the temporary windows as they appeared.
"Kingswell visibility improving."
"Aldermere has another opening."
"Rushfield reports the same."
Hans listened while watching the Radar.
Millions remained packed through the deeper streets and buildings, but the artillery was finally cutting visible holes through both the infected mass and whatever covered them.
A Raptor crossed the edge of another cleared window before banking away.
"Raptor Two has visual. Large concentration exposed behind the eastern block."
Hans looked toward Matilda.
"Use it."
The fighter disappeared behind the skyline.
Several seconds later, two missiles crossed the open section and struck the concentration before the haze could return. The Radar picture flashed with disappearing markers as the buildings around them broke apart.
Another pair of Raptors worked a different opening over Kingswell.
The Strikers stayed closer to the advancing ground formations, attacking anything that survived the artillery and emerged into streets already cleared enough for low-altitude work.
By noon, the process had become almost routine.
Bombard.
Wait for the haze to break.
Use whatever could be seen.
Move the artillery farther inward.
The companies followed once the nearest concentrations collapsed, pushing through streets that had been completely red that morning.
Hans checked the northern approach again.
Friendly markers had advanced several more blocks.
"So far, so good."
Matilda looked at the latest comparison.
"The haze is taking longer to recover."
Hans turned toward her.
"How much longer?"
"The first openings were mostly gone within fifteen minutes."
She changed the display.
"This one has been open for thirty-two."
Hans looked south.
The gap remained visible between the towers. Not completely clear, but nowhere near what it had been earlier.
Another bombardment struck farther inside. The haze broke apart again. This time, it did not immediately begin drifting back.
"The situation’s improving. At least we can move to the Core grounds once the infected are down."
Matilda kept looking at the display.
One of the Flight Operations officers leaned closer to his terminal.
"Commander."
Hans turned.
"Rushfield’s reporting another visibility increase."
"Another strike?"
"No. Their batteries are shifting positions."
Hans opened the southern sector. The haze had thinned across several streets anyway.
"Has the wind gotten stronger lately? It’s about to rain too."
"Still negligible, Commander."
A second report arrived from Kingswell less than a minute later.
Another section had cleared.
Hans checked the artillery records himself. The nearest impacts were several blocks away.
"That one wasn’t hit now, or did I miss that?"
"You did not, Commander."
Johannes stepped closer.
The pale boundary continued moving.
Not quickly enough to resemble smoke being thrown aside by an explosion, but steadily enough that the difference became visible from one minute to the next. Buildings that had disappeared behind the haze emerged floor by floor, followed by entire intersections farther inside.
Hans switched between the four approaches.
Cinderrow.
Aldermere.
Kingswell.
Rushfield.
The same thing was happening everywhere.
"Hold the strikes near the boundary," Hans said.
Matilda looked toward him.
"Continue hitting the infected. I want to see what this does on its own."
The artillery did not stop. Batteries farther outside the haze continued pounding marked concentrations while the companies maintained their advance, but the sections nearest the pale boundary remained untouched.
Ten minutes passed. The haze kept moving.
Twenty minutes later, several hundred meters of previously obscured ground had become visible around parts of the Core.
Raptors immediately took advantage of the clearer airspace without crossing the remaining boundary. Their cameras picked up streets packed with infected, ruined towers, collapsed intersections, and more of the same pale layer farther toward the center.
Nothing explained why the outer portion was disappearing.
Hans enlarged the historical overlay.
"This morning."
Matilda placed the current boundary over it. The difference was no longer subtle.
Johannes stared at the two outlines.
"We didn’t do all of that."
"No," Hans clicked his tongue. "Something else is causing it. Any ideas?"
The two shook their heads. Hans turned to Kimmy instead.
"Kimmy, still got nothing on the hives? Even with this?"
"I really don’t feel anything, Hans. I’m... sorry. I think I might have... I—"
Hans quickly placed his hands over her shoulder.
"You’re acting again. If you can feel any Hive or Broodmother, then it’s okay. Maybe they’re not here."
"Should I change areas?"
"We’ve already done that multiple times, and you still said nothing. Stay here."
"O-okay."
Hans looked south with his own eyes. What had been a pale wall between the towers that morning now sat much farther behind them, exposing buildings he had barely been able to make out the day before.
The infected did not retreat with it.
They remained scattered through the newly exposed streets, still reacting to artillery, aircraft, and anything else that drew their attention.
Hans watched the Radar for another several minutes.
The outer haze continued shrinking. Whatever was happening, the explosions had started it. They were no longer the only reason it was happening.
For days, they had worried about it creeping toward them.
Now it was going the other way.
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