Chapter 330: Against a Monster - III

The northern fabrication complex was a mess.

Blood stained the road and several concrete barriers surrounding the industrial facility, while broken pavement and pieces of twisted metal were scattered across the area. Several bodies lay farther ahead, some still impaled by enormous black spikes that had erupted from underneath the ground.

An overturned Guardian APC lay beside the old loading dock, its rear section badly damaged after something had struck it from underneath.

Farther down the road, a Vanguard MBT had partially collapsed into a large opening in the pavement, leaving one of its tracks hanging above the broken concrete while the other remained buried among the debris.

The vehicle was still operational, although its mobility was effectively gone.

Its turret slowly turned toward the fabrication complex, following the enormous marker situated somewhere inside the main building.

Around the damaged vehicles, Golden Eagle infantry maintained their positions behind the surrounding structures while several Medics worked on the wounded farther back.

One Army Soldier pressed his back against a concrete barrier and watched a Medic carry another injured Rifleman toward the waiting Guardian.

"How many did we lose?"

"Three confirmed dead in our section. More wounded."

"Fuck."

He looked toward the overturned APC.

Several Engineers had attempted to approach it earlier, but biological growth covered the ground around the vehicle and had already killed several soldiers. Most of the crew escaped, although one remained trapped inside the damaged compartment.

They could not just walk over and pull him out.

The Army Soldier checked his Radar picture.

The central infected marker remained inside the fabrication complex, surrounded by thinner biological outlines extending underneath the nearby streets and buildings. Some followed old utility passages while others spread through the fractured foundations, forming a network that covered much of the area between the building and Golden Eagle’s forward positions.

Every attempt to approach had been met with the same violent response.

A nearby Machine Gunner adjusted his position behind another concrete barrier while several Riflemen kept their weapons trained toward the complex.

"Contact moving underneath the eastern road," one of them reported.

The Army Soldier checked the new movement.

A section of the biological outline had shifted toward a damaged intersection, with several thinner extensions converging beneath the pavement.

"Watch the road!"

A sharp crack echoed across the street as the pavement erupted.

An enormous black spike shot through the intersection and tore into the side of an abandoned truck, lifting part of the vehicle before another extension burst through the concrete beside it.

The Machine Gunner opened fire.

His 7.62 mm rounds hammered against the exposed growth, breaking pieces from its hardened outer surface while several Riflemen joined him from farther back.

A Guardian APC fired from the opposite side.

Thirty-millimeter rounds tore through the base of the larger spike, and the entire structure broke apart before crashing onto the street.

The thinner extensions withdrew underground before the gunner could shift onto them.

"Motherfucker. It keeps doing that!"

The Army Soldier watched the broken growth twitch several times before becoming motionless.

The Vanguard trapped in the collapsed roadway adjusted its turret and fired toward another concentration of biological material exposed along the fabrication complex’s outer wall.

Its 120 mm shell struck the lower section of the building, destroying a large portion of the wall and several extensions attached to it.

Dust rolled across the facility as part of the network disappeared from the Radar picture, although the main marker remained unaffected.

"Another section destroyed," the Vanguard commander reported.

"Copy. Keep hitting the exposed junctions."

Vanguard Two-Nine’s leader checked the wider battlefield picture before turning toward the overturned Guardian again.

The trapped crewman was still alive, and the Engineers were waiting for a safe approach, but the biological outlines underneath the loading dock had begun moving once more.

He opened the command channel.

"Vanguard Two-Nine to Southern Command! Heavy infected contact still active in our position. Where is our reinforcement?!"

"Reinforcing elements are approaching from the south and east. Maintain containment, Vanguard Two-Nine."

"How fucking slow are they?!"

"Air package is ready, Vanguard Two-Nine."

"Negative! Target is underground, and we still have a man trapped here!"

Two-Nine’s leader returned his attention to the damaged Guardian.

Several soldiers had been watching the same movement beneath it.

One of the Engineers raised his hand.

"Movement under the APC!"

The biological outline expanded along the broken pavement.

A black spike suddenly burst upward beside the vehicle and struck the loading dock, sending pieces of concrete across the road while the overturned Guardian rocked from the impact.

The Engineer backed away as two more spikes erupted along the damaged roadway, their hardened tips tearing through the pavement where the recovery team had been standing only moments earlier.

The nearby Guardian opened fire again.

Its autocannon smashed through the first extension while the Machine Gunner and Riflemen concentrated on the second, but more movement was building underneath the wrecked vehicle.

The platoon leader looked toward the fabrication complex.

"Fucking bastard. You’re not letting us recover our men, are you?"

The central marker remained inside the building, while the trapped crewman was still inside the APC.

...

The first reinforcements arrived from the southern road.

Several Guardian APCs rolled past the damaged intersection, followed by Vanguards and additional infantry, while another Golden Eagle formation approached from the eastern side of the fabrication complex.

"Vanguard Two-Nine, this is Four-Six. We’re approaching your position."

"About fucking time! We’ve got a man trapped inside a Guardian, and that thing is doing everything it can to stop us!"

"Copy. We have the contact."

Vanguard Four-Six slowed outside the affected area as the local formation opened a route through its defensive positions. Its infantry spread toward the existing perimeter while the four DASF operators moved ahead of the vehicles and crossed into the damaged industrial block.

Two-Nine’s leader watched the operators move toward the overturned Guardian.

"Four-Six, your men are going in?"

"They’ll handle the approach. Other reinforcements are taking the eastern side."

A separate group of four DASF operators emerged from the adjoining street, moving through the ruins of an old warehouse before joining the first squad near the edge of the biological network.

More DASF contacts were approaching from the east, where another reinforcing formation had reached its assigned position.

The DASF squad leaders checked their assigned approaches through the shared Radar picture.

"Got the junctions?"

"Yeah. Western and northern extensions."

"We’ll take the eastern side."

The first DASF squad moved toward the damaged loading dock while the second crossed into the surrounding buildings, leaving the third squad to approach from the eastern side of the complex.

Around them, the infantry and armored vehicles maintained their firing positions as the biological network continued moving underneath the pavement.

The trapped Guardian crewman was alive, and his status remained visible through the System network, although the damaged vehicle could no longer open its rear compartment properly.

The DASF leader checked the surrounding outlines.

Several tendrils had spread underneath the vehicle, with a much thicker section connecting them to the main growth beneath the fabrication complex.

"Found the junction."

Two operators separated toward the loading dock while the other pair moved along the ruined warehouse opposite it.

The growth responded.

A section underneath the road suddenly thickened, followed by a sharp movement toward the nearest operator.

He jumped backward.

An enormous spike erupted from the pavement and tore through the space he occupied, sending broken concrete across the road while another extension burst through the warehouse wall beside his partner.

The second operator twisted away and brought his monomolecular blade across the exposed growth.

The blade cut through the softer section near its base.

Black fluid sprayed against the damaged wall as the spike fell apart, while the first operator fired several .338 rounds into the opening left by the eruption.

The underground outline contracted.

"One down."

"More coming."

Across the street, another spike erupted beside the loading dock, but the Guardian APC covering that area fired before it could fully extend.

Thirty-millimeter rounds shattered the hardened tip and tore through the exposed base, leaving the extension twitching across the road.

The DASF operators pushed deeper toward the loading dock as the network shifted beneath them.

One operator jumped onto a broken loading platform as three smaller spikes erupted through the pavement beneath him. His partner crossed the opposite side and fired a short burst into the exposed growth, destroying two extensions while the third withdrew beneath the concrete.

"Persistent bastard."

The leader checked the thicker junction beneath the overturned Guardian as its outline shifted again.

"East team, hit the connection."

The DASF squad approaching from the eastern buildings was already closing on it.

Two operators fired their HCMARs into a fleshy section protruding through the foundations while the others launched grenades into the damaged service entrance.

Explosions tore through the lower wall and exposed a large section of the network, revealing several thick tendrils wrapped around the buried utility lines.

The western Vanguard acquired the exposed section and fired, its shell striking the lower foundations and blasting apart the growth connecting the loading dock to the main building. Several thinner outlines beneath the overturned Guardian disappeared from the Radar.

"Connection severed!"

"Engineers, prepare for extraction," the DASF leader reported.

The recovery team began moving toward the damaged APC while the DASF squads spread around the loading dock, covering the surviving biological extensions.

For a few seconds, the ground underneath the vehicle stopped moving.

The Army Soldier watching from the perimeter almost smiled.

"Finally, some progress!"

A heavy vibration rolled through the fabrication complex.

The DASF leader checked the Radar and saw that the central marker had changed.

Several extensions that previously spread toward the eastern buildings were pulling back, while the remaining underground growth began converging toward the damaged loading dock.

The Lasher was concentrating its attacks.

"All teams, more movement!"

The road around the overturned Guardian began cracking again, but this time, the outlines were much thicker.