"Quick! Everyone take action!"
Colbert's face was serious as he urged the soldiers to act quickly. Two rows of buses were lined up close together on the street, forming a barricade blocking the intersection. The doors and windows of the houses and shops on both sides were sealed to prevent the infected from sneaking inside and breaking through the defense zone.
They retreated completely, abandoning the outskirts of the town and concentrating all their forces on defending the streets around the center. Soldiers carried boxes of ammunition and climbed onto nearby rooftops. Some more daring climbed directly into the bus cars, ready to attack any infected who appeared at any moment.
Some of the remaining soldiers collected glass containers and filled them with gasoline to prepare Molotov cocktails. Others moved large furniture, such as sofas and closets, from nearby residences to block the spaces between buses, making sure to seal any gaps that might allow the infected to pass through.
Explosions could occasionally be heard on the outskirts of the city. They were probably provoked by the small commando patrol team on the outskirts, which used grenades to distract the infected as much as possible, in order to buy time for the large troops that were preparing in the center of the village.
Seeing that the narrow line of defense was finally deployed, Colbert felt a slight relief. At least they would no longer have to face the infected unprepared. He turned to the liaison officer beside him and shouted:
"Has the rest of the defense line been deployed yet?"
"The defense line on the east side has been prepared and the defense areas on the north and south are almost ready!" the liaison officer collected the news he had just received and reported it to the commander.
"Whistle--!"
Just as he finished speaking, a terrifying roar broke through the air, followed by the sound of accelerated footsteps in the darkness beyond the city. An instant later, countless infected with pale faces and bloodshot eyes emerged under the lights, advancing ferociously, their teeth and claws exposed. The horde rushed like an unstoppable force toward the bus that sealed the end of the street, an overwhelming chaos that seemed impossible to stop.
Seeing the infected people running in the distance, Colbert's expression suddenly changed, and he didn't care what to say anymore. He quickly ran to the window and shouted to all the soldiers around him, "Fire!"
"Da da da——!"
As soon as these words came out, there was a sudden burst of gunfire and bullets shot like hail at the front row of infected people. Blood splattered everywhere, and in an instant, dozens of infected people fell helplessly into the snow.
The first infected fell to the ground, their limp bodies tripping up those running behind. Before they could get up, the crowd coming from behind trampled them mercilessly, crushing them and leaving them buried under the unstoppable torrent of infected, drowning in a sea of chaos and despair.
Every time an infected person fell to the ground, several more stumbled behind them. To the naked eye, it seemed that the number of infected trampled to death exceeded those killed by bullets. Ironically, the chaos between them turned out to be more lethal than the shooting itself.
But after all, the infected person is a corpse controlled by the Cordyceps fungus. He is not afraid at all and does not even look at the death of his companions around him.
Colbert looked at the infected people who were getting closer and closer. Although he had experienced it on the battlefield, cold sweat couldn't help but gush out from his forehead.
When the infected group was less than a hundred meters from the defense zone, he shouted again to the soldiers around him: "Throw grenades!"
After hearing the commander's order, the soldiers who had been preparing for a long time picked up the grenades, took out the pegs, raised their hands and threw them forcefully towards the group of infected people who were running to the front.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Dozens of grenades flew through the air and exploded among the hordes of infected. In a matter of seconds, a series of detonations shook the street. A thick black cloud rose, engulfing the area in smoke. Through the mist, the bodies of the infected could be vaguely made out being hurled into the air, crashing into the nearby rooftops. Scarlet blood dripped from their mutilated bodies, flowing from the fractures with a grim drip.
As the black mist gradually dissipated, everyone discovered that the ground had been dented by the grenade explosion. Above the dent were infected people who had been dead for a long time or whose legs had been blown off and could no longer run.
At the same time, violent gunfire and grenade explosions were also heard in the streets adjacent to its main road. It seemed that infected people who could not enter this main road were already arriving on both sides.
Although the soldiers' submachine guns continued to fire wildly, the grenades they threw were also very effective in slowing the progress of the infected and killed many of them.
But everything they have done is like a drop in a bucket of water in front of an endless number of infected, and it can be said that the effect is minimal.
The infected soon came to their senses and, with a furious roar, returned to the charge. Trampling on the bodies of their fallen comrades, they advanced without hesitation towards the humans who were trying to stop them, driven by blind rage and an unquenchable thirst.
Colbert watched as infected people gathered together again and lunged at them mercilessly. Knowing that direct confrontation was inevitable, he quickly turned his head and shouted to the soldiers in the defense area: "All the soldiers on the roof of the buses, get ready! Quick, all the soldiers, get ready to withstand the impact!"
After the order was issued, all the soldiers who were on the bus lay down on the roof of the bus, but their hands were not idle at all. They unloaded and replaced the magazines with smooth movements and continued to shoot at the infected with their machine guns.
On the other side of the bus, several pieces of furniture were piled up, creating a barrier between the street and the vehicle. Hearing Colbert's order, the soldiers quickly stopped what they were doing. Almost a hundred people lined up quickly, positioning themselves on the bus, ready to withstand the impact with the utmost determination.
With the deafening roars of the infected and the gunfire and screams of the soldiers, the crowded group of infected, both in front and behind, crashed into the body of the bus, pressing hard like a hamburger.
The enormous impact caused by the agglomeration of thousands of people caused the large bus parked in two rows to recede several centimeters. The bus in the center began to tilt back and forth, creating two spaces large enough for infected people to pass through.
Several soldiers lying on the roof of the car did not expect to encounter such a large impact. They flew directly from the roof of the car and fell on top of the group of infected people, letting out bursts of desperate screams.
Colbert stood behind the window, staring at the infected people blocked by the bus below, but his face wasn't nervous, but rather relieved.
What worried him most was that the buses, parked next to each other, would not be able to withstand the enormous impact of the group of infected people and would end up creating a huge gap. At that point, they would have to evacuate immediately and flee, trying to escape as quickly as possible with as many people as they could.
He had just ordered everyone to shoot and throw grenades so that the infected could not use their inertia to hit the bus. Although the current situation was still very dangerous, it was much better than I expected.
But just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the group of infected people behind him began to move forward. The truck that had been parked next to each other began to shake slightly, and in fact backed up a little, and the space between the buses began to increase.
Seeing this situation, Colbert's pupils contracted sharply and he no longer felt as relaxed as before. He shouted to the soldiers: "Stop the bus, prepare the Molotov cocktails and throw them towards the back of the infected! Don't miss it! If they keep squeezing together, we won't be able to resist!"
Of course, the soldiers also saw the situation on the bus, especially the soldiers on the roof whose faces were pale as paper. However, they did not flee, but instead raised their weapons and, in anger, pulled the trigger on the infected people who were squeezing into the breach.
Soldiers on the rooftops on both sides also lit the Molotov cocktails they held in their hands and threw them towards the group of infected in the distance with all their might.
"Crack!"
With several crisp sounds of broken glass, the Molotov cocktail hit the infected person's feet hard, and the red flames ignited all the infected people nearby. There was even a bottle of Molotov cocktail that exploded directly into the air, like a fire dragon, falling on the infected person's head.
Instantly, a sea of fire engulfed the group of infected behind them, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime. Dense, black smoke rose into the sky, as the flesh of the bodies of the infected was slowly devoured by the flames. Those that were not hit by direct fire began to ignite spontaneously. A foul smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.
The reason why the Molotov cocktail is not thrown at the front is that there is still gasoline in the tank of the bus. If it is accidentally detonated, the entire line of defense will instantly collapse. The second reason is that if the corpses pile up too close to the bus, the infected person will climb the bodies and they will get straight on the bus. At that moment, he was literally digging a grave for himself.
The best thing to do was to throw them towards the most distant group of infected. This would not only prevent them from advancing, but also eliminate more infected, even if the flames reached nearby houses. It didn't matter; all were already infected. The priority was to stop the horde and reduce the number of enemies, no matter the cost.
Although the Molotov cocktails ignited all the infected people in a large area, they could not kill them immediately. Even so, they advanced with all their might, even though the soldiers behind the car were sweating profusely and their faces turned red. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't stop the bus from backing up and the gap widening step by step.
Colbert's eyes were red, and he was staring at the gradually widening space in the middle of the bus. Even the telescope in his hand made a noise. She thought desperately in her heart: it's over!
Just when everyone was filled with despair, dense and rapid footsteps could be heard on the street behind them. Hundreds of figures suddenly jumped from across the street to help the soldiers resist the fight.
With the addition of new forces and the blocking of the incendiary bottles, the bus's retreat momentum immediately stopped and with everyone's combined strength, there was even a tendency to push it back.
Watching in shock at the sudden appearance of reinforcements, Colbert saw that those figures turned out to be civilians who should have been hiding in houses in the city center.
But then he saw Harry's figure in the crowd, and instantly understood what was going on. The weight of the situation brought him down so much that he almost fell to the ground, and a smile uglier than crying appeared in the corner of his mouth.