Chapter 265: Attack In the Square II

Ronan was already moving. He grabbed one of his men and pulled him backward as bullets struck the ground where they had been standing, then shouted for the formation to fall back two meters.

The line shifted toward the stone wall, allowing them to protect one flank while keeping their weapons trained on the approaching horde.

For several minutes, the square became a brutal exchange of gunfire.

The Pathfinders fired in controlled bursts, dropping infected whenever they came within range.

Bodies accumulated across the snow-covered street, yet the mass behind them seemed almost endless.

Every time one fell, another stepped over it. Some charged recklessly, screaming and swinging whatever weapon they had managed to pick up, while others stayed behind cover and waited for an opening.

The difference between them was becoming more obvious.

The ordinary infected were dangerous because there were so many of them. The others were dangerous because they were thinking.

Whenever the Pathfinders concentrated their fire on one group, another appeared from an alley or doorway and attacked their flank.

When the defenders advanced to clear a street, the infected immediately withdrew, refusing to commit until the Pathfinders had moved far enough to expose themselves.

Jade fired twice at an infected man carrying a cleaver before ducking behind the stone wall as something struck the ground beside her.

"Left!"

Ronan’s warning came just before another infected lunged around the corner. Jade stepped out, fired once, and watched the man collapse into the snow.

She looked across the square. Something was wrong.

Several infected had stopped moving.

One woman stood in the middle of the street with a kitchen knife hanging loosely from her hand, staring blankly ahead.

A man beside her staggered two steps before simply freezing in place. Another infected was still crouched behind a cart, but he had not moved for nearly a minute.

Yet farther ahead, a group of five moved together with almost perfect coordination.

One drew fire. Two slipped around the side.

The remaining two waited until a Pathfinder exposed himself before attacking.

Jade’s eyes narrowed. ’It’s concentrating on them. While leaving the rest.’

She didn’t understand how, but she could see the difference now. The parasite or maybe the hive mind wasn’t controlling every infected with the same intensity.

Most were little more than bodies reacting to whatever impulse reached them. But some were being directed with frightening precision.

And those were the ones surrounding the square.

Jade lowered her rifle for only a moment as she studied the streets around them. The infected weren’t actually trying to break through the Pathfinder formation.

They were herding them. Not toward the evacuation routes, away from them.

"They’re trying to keep us here," Jade said.

Ronan glanced at her while replacing his magazine. "Then we stay here."

"Exactly. But still be careful, look at some of the groups, they are more organized."

Ronan nodded, "I see that, we need to be careful of pinchers too."

Jade raised her brow, wanted to say how stupid that sound was. Pincher? Would they even be smart enough to do that?

But she ended up saying nothing. The hive mind, the infected, were able to trouble her and Freebound... they were indeed smarter.

Jade immediately raised her radio and tried the western channel.

Nothing but static answers.

Kilian had already lost contact with the western section, and there was no point wasting time trying to reach a channel that had gone dead.

"Ronan, contact the other sections. I need to know their situation."

He nodded and started to contact them. The eastern team responded first, reporting that they were already dealing with a small attack.

The northern section was clear for the moment, while the southern team had already begun evacuating civilians toward the gate.

Ronan listened to the reports before lowering his radio. "Some of them already sent men here when the attack started. There aren’t many left in each section."

Jade looked toward the streets surrounding the square. Pulling more people from those positions would only create another opening for the infected.

"Then don’t pull anyone else here," she said. "Have them clear the upper roads instead."

Ronan looked at her.

"The bridge routes," Jade continued. "Get the civilians off the ground. I don’t want anyone coming through this square if we can prevent it."

Ronan immediately understood. The connected paths running along the upper sections of the canyon would allow the civilians to move toward the gate without passing through the battlefield below.

"I’ll tell them to open the bridge routes and keep the roads clear."

"Do it. And have them check every house along the way. If they are smart enough, they are able to ambush."

Ronan relayed the orders while Jade turned back toward the square.

The plan was simple. The remaining men in the other sections would protect the upper routes and guide the civilians across them, while the Pathfinders here would keep the infected occupied below.

It would slow the evacuation, but at least the civilians would no longer have to pass through the ground-level fighting.

When Ronan finally finished relaying the orders, the infected on both sides began advancing at once.

Ronan looked toward the left flank, then the right.

"They’re closing us in."

Jade raised her rifle. "Hold the square."

The Pathfinders tightened their formation and continued firing.

But holding the square meant preventing the infected from reaching those routes.

Jade looked toward the houses climbing along the canyon walls.

"Ronan, I need veterans up there, so the evacuation will move smoothly and no one would fire us from there."

He followed her gaze.

The upper houses overlooked several of the paths below. If infected reached those terraces, they could attack civilians from above or cut across the evacuation routes without ever entering the square.

"Two teams," Jade continued. "No more than four in each. I want them moving through the houses, clearing every terrace and narrow path they can reach. Don’t engage in anything they can’t track properly. Find them first, then kill them."

Ronan immediately called over several of his most experienced Pathfinders.

They were the kind of men who could move across terrain where ordinary soldiers would struggle, veterans who knew how to read tracks in snow, recognize disturbed doors and windows, and move silently through cramped terrain.

Before they left, Jade stopped them.

"One more thing."

The men turned.

Jade’s rifle remained pointed toward the square.

"You’re going to recognize some of them. You may even know some of them. Don’t let that make you hesitate."

Her voice was hard enough that nobody mistook the meaning.

"They’re still our people. That’s exactly why we’re protecting them. But if you give an infected person one second because you’re hoping they’re still themselves, that second can kill you and everyone evacuating below."

The veterans nodded before splitting into their respective groups and disappearing up the narrow paths toward the canyon houses.

Jade watched them go before turning back toward the square.

For a while, it worked.

Gunfire continued, but the pressure around the evacuation routes began to ease.

The veteran teams moved through the upper houses, picking off infected hiding behind doors, beneath windows, and along the terraces.

The civilians continued toward the exit gate while the main Pathfinder force kept the horde from crossing the square.

Jade almost believed they had regained control.

Then the radio crackled. "Jade, we’re clear on the—"

Static swallowed the voice. She frowned and changed channels.

"East team, report."

Nothing.

"South route, report."

Only static answers.

Jade tried again, but every channel was dead.

Ronan looked over. "The radios?"

"They were working a minute ago."

Another burst of gunfire echoed from above. Jade immediately looked toward the canyon houses.

One of the veteran teams was no longer firing.

Then another sound reached them from the opposite side of the square, the heavy footsteps of hundreds of infected moving through the streets.

Jade turned and saw them spreading through the surrounding buildings instead of rushing forward blindly, their movements becoming more deliberate as they began closing in from multiple directions.

The ones in front moved toward the Pathfinders while others slipped through the surrounding streets, cutting off the routes behind them.

Several stopped in the middle of the street as if waiting for an invisible command, while the infected closest to Jade suddenly accelerated.

Ronan’s expression tightened as he watched the infected close in from both sides. "They’re forcing us to commit our men to the flanks."

Jade kept her rifle trained on the street ahead, watching the horde deliberately slow as more infected slipped into position behind them.

They were leaving just enough room to make the defenders believe they could still push forward, while quietly sealing every path around them.

"Don’t give them the opening," she ordered.

Ronan’s expression tightened as he watched the infected close in from both sides.

"Pull the outer men in. Don’t let them get isolated."

The Pathfinders immediately adjusted their positions, drawing closer together as the two flanks continued to advance.

Jade kept her rifle trained ahead, watching the infected in front deliberately slow while more of them slipped into the streets behind the formation.

They were leaving just enough space to keep the defenders focused forward while quietly closing around them.

"Keep the formation tight," Jade ordered. "Don’t let them split us."

"Stay tight! Cover the left and right!" Ronan’s order echoed through the square.

The Pathfinders immediately closed ranks in the middle of the square, their rifles shifting between the three directions as the infected continued to advance.

"Watch your spacing! Don’t let them break through!"

"Second line, watch the alley!"

The command passed through the formation, but the infected were already inside the distance Jade had wanted to keep clear.

Sweat rolled down her temple as she watched the formation begin to buckle. It wouldn’t hold much longer, and she knew it.

"Ronan, keep looking for a gap or weak point. We need to break out of this pincer before they close it completely."