RTS System in the Apocalypse-Chapter 129: Finding the Hive Spot
Corpses scattered on the concrete slabs; the concrete soaked in murky blood that spilled out from deep blade wounds.
Matilda kicked a lunging zombie and sent it crashing into a nearby wall. The impact crushed the corpse into a mangled heap of flesh, unrecognizable by its current state.
Her eyes were glued to the main road to their right. Shells and autocannon fires rained down now and then, yet for some reason, the zombie waves never seemed to stop.
We need to deal with this ASAP, Matilda frowned. "Ms. Kimmy, have you traced the hive's position?"
Sweat poured down Kimmy's face, soaking the cloth of her black blindfold. Her breathing grew uneven as the shapes that formed inside her mind became increasingly complex.
Countless root-like structures spanned across the nearby complexes. Some led to the heart of each refinery. Some simply extended out of nowhere.
The hive no longer looked like a simple nest. It was an entire network that expanded over a large area.
"It's... dense," she exhaled sharply. "I need more time."
Matilda clicked her tongue and cut down another infected that stumbled too close. The HCMAR's bullet wasn't to be wasted on such critters.
It was better to save it on direr times.
"Should we push forward?" Matilda asked instead.
"The refinery next to this building," Kimmy paused. "There are... tendrils that connect to it."
"How many?"
"More than I can count in a moment..."
"Good," Matilda nodded. "Strike Team One, on me. The rest, stay behind. Wait until the coast is clear."
Strike Team Two and Three nodded with affirmation.
Matilda dashed out of the building's cover. Her mind worked to the extreme—an invisible wave pulsed with her at the center.
Shapes formed as it crashed into objects that hindered its path.
Matilda's eyes glowed brightly, scanning the figures that appeared behind the tall, barbed wall.
"Fifteen left. Thirteen right. Twenty up ahead."
Her hands swiftly moved to the pouches and grabbed a grenade for each. With a flick from her index fingers, the pins flew out.
The grenades arced over the barbed wall, followed by four more—two to the left, another two to the right.
Matilda counted silently.
One. Two. Three.
The explosions shook the refinery yard across them. Dust stirred, mixed with scattered bodies that erupted over the wall.
"Go."
Matilda said unhurriedly but her speed said otherwise. The three of them vaulted over the barrier.
Her eyes didn't settle on the rusting pipes and machineries, nor to the ground blackened by the explosion. Instead, it was drawn to the center.
Tendrils—a node of the hive?
A gaping hole punctured the complex's open yard. A mass of pink flesh came out of it and extended with wanton abandon to the nearby structures.
"Strike Teams Two and Three, come over. We got a situation."
Six more DASFs arrived, forming a defensive formation around Kimmy and Yunera.
"Is this what you saw?" Matilda pointed.
"It's more than that," Kimmy shook her head. "It should be a—"
"A node," Matilda added.
"Yes," Kimmy nodded repeatedly. She reached out close to the pink flesh. "If I can touch it, I should be able to..." then backed away, as if on instinct.
The sensation of that prickling aura welled in her heart mind—a memory she barely could thwart away.
It should not be the case, right? Kimmy paused her movement. It shouldn't be. I can do this.
"What's wrong?" Matilda furrowed her brows. Her nose twitched, picking up a familiar scent.
"Biler!" she raised her head. "Up above us!"
Her legs moved faster than Kimmy and Yunera could react.
Matilda grabbed them both, barely escaping the blanket of green liquid that suddenly rained down from the sky.
Smoke erupted as it corroded the concrete inch by inch. Behind the fumes, a wave of zombies rushed in from the main road.
The DASFs unloaded their HCMARs, no longer opting for close combat. The shell bombings were adjacent to their location; any nearer and they might just receive friendly fire.
"Sniper team, I need these bilers down, now!"
"Negative," Zolyah immediately responded. "No shot on these targets."
"Then get some angle!" Matilda cursed. "First alley should be cleared. What are you waiting for?"
Another bile landed near her position, infuriating her even more.
These bilers are sneaky but accurate, she thought. The hive must be influencing them!
"Ms. Kimmy, can you locate the hive's location if you touch those tendrils?"
"I..." Kimmy hesitated.
"Can you locate it or not?"
"I..." she gritted her teeth, warding off the murmurs that plagued her mind.
Matilda grabbed her by the waist before stepping into the concrete wall. As their shadows flew past, a corrosive bile painted that wall to erosion.
"I need your answer now, Ms. Kimmy! We're running out of time!"
The two of them landed back to the ground; the concrete cracked under Matilda's hard boots. Kimmy hitched a breath and felt her gut acting up.
Her belch made Matilda pause on her steps. "Team Three, find that biler and shut it down!"
"Roger that!"
Three DASFs on their left flank dashed into the next complex where the projectiles came from. Combat blades slashed the life out of any zombie that hindered their path; their unstoppable momentum crashing into a small factory.
"Three-Two, move inside!" Team Three's squad leader ordered.
The second DASF unit danced around the slow infected, cutting the closer ones and ignoring the rest farther from his reach.
He leapt toward the factory entrance.
One hung loose to the sides, its hingers long broken from some impact. The other rested in place; the DASF unit spun in place and delivered a kick, blowing the door away.
Found it!
His eyes shifted into a dark corner that flashed intermittently with faint green lights.
He pulled his HCMAR into his left hand and tilted the grenade launcher forward.
The trigger squeezed.
A loud thump escaped the mouth of the GL. The grenade burst out of the barrel in a shallow arc, spinning through the dim factory interior.
For a split second, it bounced once across the concrete floor.
The explosion ripped through the room.
Metal fragments and rotten flesh blasted outward as the shockwave slammed against the torn walls.
The biler shrieked, its bloated torso torn open. Green fluid splashed onto the machinery behind it, hissing with smoke as it slowly corroded the materials.
"Leader, target destroyed," Three-Two reported.
"Roger that, Three-Two. Rendezvous back to the complex."
Three-Actual switched his channel. "One-Actual, we have killed the target. Returning to position."
Matilda held the HCMAR with her left hand.
She squeezed the trigger on the grenade launcher, inflicting numerous casualties to the unending zombie wave.
"Ms. Kimmy, it's now or never."
She grabbed Kimmy by her slim waist, pouncing forward into the hive's node.
Matilda gently lowered her into the concrete. Two zombies lunged from both her flanks.
"Tsk!"
Her right hand picked up the desert eagle and aimed—rifle to the right, pistol to the left.
Bang!
The two weapons roared.
The first zombie's skull exploded in a spray of dark blood, its body collapsing before it could reach Kimmy.
The second infected staggered backward before it fell.
Matilda didn't even spare them a glance. Her attention was already back on Kimmy.
She pressed a hand against the girl's shoulder. "Do what you need to do. We can cover you but not for long. We need that hive's heart located as quickly as possible!"
She turned back to the battle without waiting for a reply. "All units, Oracle is beginning hive localization. I need all available cover fire near our area—third refinery complex, left side!"
The radio crackled with static and voices as the rest of Hans's troops responded.
Meanwhile, Kimmy sat there, slightly dumbfounded.
Her head shifted back to the hive node, the murmurs of a distant voice still ringing in her mind.
She gripped her small fist and crawled close to the tendril. As her fingers inched closer by the second, those faint whispers became louder and more chaotic.
Kimmy gritted her teeth; I can do it! Believe in yourself!
With the last push, her hand touched the tendril.
