The team spread out beneath the high walls, creating a circular formation that allowed them to cover one another. Whenever one of them was overwhelmed, the others quickly provided support. On the walls, the soldiers of Washington DC base intensified their firepower.
No one questioned where Andre and his team had come from. In this moment, it didn't matter. They were human. They were fighting zombies. That was enough to make them allies. "Team Three! Where's your recoilless rifle?!" Scott shouted. "Provide support to the fur bears below!"
At the same time, the transport plane that had dropped Andre and his team circled back, flying dangerously low—barely skimming the ground. The maneuver made Scott's heart skip a beat. "What's that plane doing?!" he yelled down at Andre. Hearing the question, Andre turned his massive tiger head toward the wall, a faint smile playing across his face despite the chaos.
"Comrade!" Andre roared, his voice human despite his animal form. "We have nothing to fear!"
"Ula!"
Andre spun around, his massive tiger tail sweeping away a super hunter that lunged at him. Without pausing, he pounced on two more super hunters, his razor-sharp claws ripping through their chests with ease.
At the same time, the transport plane circled back, its intentions becoming clear. The rear hatch remained open, revealing more than thirty soldiers clad in simple exoskeletons. They carried heavy machine guns, their ammunition belts draped over their shoulders like trophies. Their faces were filled with a burning determination.
As the plane passed over the high wall, the soldiers of Washington DC stared in disbelief. One by one, the soldiers leapt from the transport plane, each jumping down from a height of over ten meters.
"They're insane!"
"Do they even have superpowers?!"
Scott's voice cut through the shocked murmurs. "They're not mutants!" he shouted, realizing the truth. "They're just men with courage!"
The soldiers watched in awe as they landed solidly on the high wall platform. Their crude exoskeletons absorbed most of the impact, leaving them ready for action. "Cover the officer!" one of the soldiers bellowed. Without hesitation, they rushed to the edge of the wall, heavy machine guns blazing as they unleashed a relentless barrage on the tide of zombies below.
Scott noticed something peculiar about their ammunition. "What bullets are they using?!" he yelled.
The language barrier made it impossible for them to respond. "Does anyone here know their language? Ask them what caliber they're using!"
A quick-thinking soldier picked up a spent casing and examined it. "Commander Scott! It's 12.7x108mm!"
"Logistics! Find every last box of 12.7x108mm ammo and get it up here!" Scott ordered.
The soldiers, understanding the gesture when the ammunition boxes arrived, shouted with renewed vigor. "Зачеловечество!" "For humanity, comrades!" They redoubled their efforts, their heavy machine guns tearing through the endless horde with unrelenting precision.
"Commander Scott! Reinforcements are here!" Scott turned to see Scarlett and her team of mutants arriving on the high wall.
"And us!" shouted a voice from behind. The security team, notorious for their misdeeds, joined the fray.
"You're just in time!" Scott said, a rare smile breaking through his grim expression.
With the combined forces of the mutants, the city defense army, the outside soldiers, and the changers battling at close range below the wall, the tide of zombies began to falter. For the first time, the base's firepower outpaced the flow of zombies. To the soldiers, it appeared as though the horde was retreating.
"We're holding them back!"
"Long live humanity!"
"Ula!"
The morale of the defenders soared. But their celebration was short-lived.
Boom!
The ground trembled violently. The joy on everyone's faces quickly shifted to fear and panic as they saw what approached next. Hundreds of Lords. The massive, hulking zombies that had destroyed the tanks earlier were now charging toward the base. Their sheer size and brute force were overwhelming—a true tide of humanoid steel. "No…" Scott's voice was barely a whisper. His face paled as despair overtook him.
Andre, still in his tiger form, turned to look at the advancing Lords. Lowering his head slightly, he sighed. "Comrades… I may have led us to a path of no return." He knew the truth. His decision to fight for strangers—to protect a cause greater than himself—had sealed their fate. He and his brothers would die far from home, in a place that might never remember their names.
"Is there still hope for a miracle?" On the high wall, Scarlett gazed skyward, her usually composed face now showing signs of despair. Even her sharp mind couldn't conjure a way out of this situation.
Then she noticed it. A faint white light streaked across the sky. "Wait…" she muttered. "Is that… a meteor?" The light grew brighter, descending rapidly toward the earth. But this wasn't a meteor—it was something far more precise.
A tungsten rod, fired from space, was falling at Mach 61. It tore through the atmosphere, glowing white-hot from the friction. Its target: the center of the zombie horde. "What is that?!" someone shouted, pointing at the sky.
"Roar——!" As the tungsten rod descended, a gray wolf changer near Andre roared, sensing the approaching juggernaut wave. But this time, hope was falling from the sky. Andre spun around, his massive tiger tail sweeping away a super hunter that lunged at him. Without pausing, he pounced on two more super hunters, his razor-sharp claws ripping through their chests with ease.
"Josh! Come back!" Andre roared, his deep voice desperate. But Josh didn't stop. He had already decided to throw everything into this final stand. The Lords were closing in fast. "Roar——!" Josh leapt into the air, aiming for the nearest juggernaut.
At that moment, the white light streaking across the sky, moving at Mach 61, slammed into the ground with an earth-shattering impact.
Boom!
The explosion shook the battlefield, but Josh didn't falter. He sank his teeth into the juggernaut's pale flesh, tearing off chunks with savage ferocity. The juggernaut's filthy blood sprayed everywhere, staining the lone wolf's fur crimson. Josh growled, refusing to let go. But soon, the Lords swarmed him. Massive humanoid tanks, standing three meters tall, grabbed Josh by his limbs and tail.
With terrifying strength, they tore his body apart. Chunks of flesh and fur scattered across the blood-soaked battlefield. "Josh!!!" Andre's voice echoed, filled with rage and grief as his comrade fell.
The ground trembled violently. The shockwave from the white light's impact rippled outward like an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude. Cracks snaked across the high walls of the Washington DC base, and soldiers clung to anything solid to avoid being thrown off. "What just happened?!" Scott shouted, his voice trembling as he gripped a cement pillar. "Send a drone to check it out!"