RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Anton gave the first order.

"Big Rhino. Northern parking rows. First concentration."

"I got you."

The Vanguard’s turret adjusted several degrees.

Its main gun fired.

The blast struck Hans’s SUV like a physical shove.

A shell crossed the avenue and landed between two rows of abandoned vehicles.

The parking lot disappeared behind dust, fire, and fragments of metal.

Cars lifted from the pavement. Windows and any remaining glass burst across the surrounding storefronts.

The infected nearest the impact vanished. Others were thrown across the parking lanes or buried beneath overturned vehicles.

Before the smoke cleared, Big Rhino’s coaxial machine gun opened fire.

Rounds cut through the infected moving around the edge of the blast.

The commander’s heavy machine gun followed.

Its deeper fire struck the western side of the parking lot, tearing into the groups crowding near the first bank and the shaded commercial entrance.

"Bastions, engage," Anton ordered.

Bastion One fired its coaxial machine gun first.

The weapon swept across the nearest parking entrance and struck the infected already moving toward the center divider.

Bastion Two joined from behind the abandoned bus.

Its coaxial gun covered the main pedestrian lane while its autocannon tracked the larger groups gathering between the vehicles.

Bastion Three opened fire from the eastern side.

The three streams crossed separate sections of the parking lot without touching the infantry positions.

The infected reacted at once.

Those nearest the avenue began running.

Others followed through the gaps between vehicles.

The blast from Big Rhino had broken part of the parking formation, but it had also drawn everything inside the commercial center toward the northern side.

Red markers moved behind the glass entrances.

More descended from the upper floors.

The front doors disappeared beneath bodies.

"Movement from the main entrance," Ethan reported.

Anton watched the shared feed.

"Bastion Two. Autocannon."

The 30-millimeter gun fired.

Its first burst struck the entrance.

Concrete broke from the columns beside it. Bodies came apart across the walkway, and the infected behind them stumbled over what remained.

The cannon stopped before its fire reached the interior shops.

Several seconds later, another group pushed through the doors.

Bastion Two fired again.

Mercer Squad held the western frontage.

His Machine Gunner lay behind a concrete planter with the weapon braced across its edge. Army Soldiers and Conscripts occupied the storefront beside him, rifles aimed on the lanes between the parked cars.

Dobrev Squad remained behind Bastion One.

The third squad held the eastern side near Bastion Three.

No soldier fired yet.

The vehicles had the longer lanes. They waited while the first ranks crossed the parking lot.

"Two hundred meters," Dmitri reported.

Echo One had withdrawn behind the center divider. Rex remained low beside Dmitri, watching the approaching mass.

Runners moved ahead of the ordinary infected.

They climbed onto car hoods and pulled themselves across the roofs, their hands and knees striking against the metal. Some crawled through broken windows, scraping their bodies against the glass still attached to the frames.

Others lowered themselves and squeezed between overturned vehicles. They twisted their shoulders, forced their heads through, and dragged the rest of their bodies after them.

The ordinary infected crowded behind them. They pushed against the cars and one another, too many to use the same narrow spaces.

The Runners slipped through first and continued down the road.

At that moment, Big Rhino’s commander shifted the heavy machine gun toward the road.

The barrel swung across the approaching Runners.

Then, it opened fire.

Heavy rounds tore through the ones in front. Bodies jerked and collapsed, while others were knocked from the car hoods they had climbed onto.

Several disappeared beneath the rounds.

The 12.7-millimeter bullets struck hard enough to tear through more than one body before stopping.

One Runner lost most of its shoulder and spun from the roof of a sedan.

Another was hit across the waist while crawling through a broken window. The impact folded it against the frame and left the lower half of its body hanging inside the car.

The others kept moving. They spread farther apart as the heavy machine gun followed them.

Some dropped behind vehicles as if covering themselves against the onslaught.

Others threw themselves across the open lanes before the weapon could settle on them. A Runner reached the roof of an overturned van and launched itself toward the next row.

Big Rhino’s commander shifted the gun.

The next burst passed behind it.

The Runner landed on the hood of a car, denting the metal beneath both feet.

It lowered itself at once and jumped again.

"Runner crossing center," Ethan reported. "One hundred eighty meters."

Bastion One’s coaxial machine gun moved toward it.

The weapon fired.

Rounds struck the car first.

The hood broke apart beneath the Runner. Metal fragments scattered across the lane as the infected stumbled, caught itself with one hand, and pushed forward again.

Zolyah’s scope centered on the Runner. She held her breath, then fired.

The Barrett round struck its chest and carried it from the vehicle.

Its body landed between two parking rows and disappeared beneath the infected following behind it.

"Too slow," Zolyah clicked her tongue.

Another Runner climbed onto the roof of a bus near the western side.

It moved along the top with its arms lowered, stepping over broken ventilation panels and loose pieces of metal.

Mercer’s soldiers tracked it from the storefront.

Nobody fired.

The Runner remained beyond their assigned range, and Big Rhino’s heavy machine gun was already turning toward it.

The weapon opened fire.

The first rounds struck the front of the bus, tearing holes on the metallic frames.

Panels broke loose from the roof.

The Runner changed direction before the next burst reached it. It dropped over the side, caught the edge with one hand, and swung through a shattered window.

The heavy rounds passed over the roof.

"Lost visual," Ethan said.

The microdrone shifted west.

Its camera moved past the bus and lowered toward the windows.

The Runner crawled through the passenger compartment, moving between the seats while the ordinary infected crowded around the vehicle outside.

"There. Inside the bus."

Bastion Two adjusted its coaxial machine gun. The weapon fired through the windows.

Glass and seat frames broke apart from one end of the bus to the other.

The Runner’s marker stopped near the rear door. Then it disappeared.

"Runner down!"

The remaining Runners continued ahead. They no longer moved as one group.

Some used the abandoned vehicles as cover while others crossed the spaces between them, forcing Big Rhino and the Bastions to divide their fire.

The ordinary infected followed behind in a wider mass.

They struck the parked cars from both sides, bending doors inward while shattering any glass left on the windows.

Several vehicles shifted across the pavement as more bodies pressed against them. One sedan rolled backward from its parking space and struck the car behind it.

The infected caught between them disappeared beneath the bumpers.

Those farther back climbed over the pile.

Big Rhino’s coaxial machine gun continued firing into the center. The rounds cut through the infected as they forced their way between two buses.

Bodies fell into the gap and the rest stepped over them.

The opening narrowed beneath the dead, but the pressure from behind kept pushing the next ranks forward.

Bastion Three engaged the eastern side.

Its coaxial machine gun swept along a row of compact cars where several Runners had gathered.

The first burst broke windows and punched through doors.

One Runner fell behind the vehicles. Another climbed onto a roof and continued forward with one arm hanging loose.

Bastion Three’s autocannon moved.

A single 30-millimeter round struck the car beneath it, collapsing the vehicle’s roof.

The Runner vanished inside the wreck.

The autocannon lost sight and stopped again.

The coaxial machine gun resumed firing toward the next lane.

On the other side, Hans watched the ammunition counters beside each vehicle marker. The machine guns had barely begun using their supply. The autocannons had fired only short bursts. Big Rhino still held most of its main-gun ammunition.

The three infantry squads had not spent a single round, but that would change soon.

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