Two weeks after the mutation, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
Despite the night, the area around the Louvre was ablaze with artillery fire. The fierce battle within the city had raged on for ten days and nights. Over ten million mutants from the entire Paris metropolitan area had converged within the city limits, and the city's defenders were on the verge of running out of ammunition and supplies.
The ten - day battle had eliminated nearly four million mutants, almost double the population of the Parisian core. Helicopters shuttled back and forth, delivering ammunition from nearby military bases into the besieged area and evacuating survivors to the safer southern regions.
All young people had been mobilized to the front lines. Men and women, everyone between the ages of 16 and 65, had picked up weapons. Thanks to the adequate preparations made before the disaster struck, the entire Paris urban area had held out for a full ten days.
However, by this day, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles had been abandoned in the middle of the road due to depleted fuel and ammunition. Only a few field guns and mortars remained operational at the artillery positions near the Arc de Triomphe.
The defense lines on the eastern and northern sides had been breached one after another, and the defensive forces were in continuous retreat. Mutants continued to pour in ceaselessly. The outcome of today's situation had been inevitable since the first day the military opened fire within the city.
The mutants in the city were lured by the sound of artillery, followed by those in the suburbs and the towns closest to the city... The roars of the mutants in those towns would then attract mutants from even more distant towns and the surrounding villages. Coupled with the impact of counter - urbanization, a large number of mutants had also gathered in the towns and villages surrounding the suburbs.
Until all the mutants within a hundred - kilometer radius surged towards the city center in wave after wave.
Unlike the British Army, the French Army had to hold their ground within the city until everyone was safely evacuated. They had to withstand wave after wave of mutants. These mutants, like their ancestors from centuries ago, flooded into the city. But while their ancestors had sought wealth and glory, these mutants craved a feast of flesh and blood.
Fortunately, over twenty thousand civilians within the city had been evacuated via helicopters, ships, and convoys. Only a rear - guard force of over three thousand soldiers and young people remained in the city.
Albert hurried into the catacombs. Before the mutation, the French government had never opened the catacomb area north of the Seine River. After the disaster, it became the best refuge.
Above the 20 - meter - high ground, a shell landed, sending down a shower of dust. He turned into a corridor, where the skulls on both sides now seemed oddly benign.
In one of the tombs, over a dozen French soldiers in military uniforms were anxiously trying to contact the outside world via radio. A soldier who appeared to be the commander turned to Albert as he entered and said, "Major, the evacuation helicopters will arrive in fifteen minutes, and the fleet will arrive in half an hour."
"No, that's not it," Albert replied. "Our artillery shell reserves are almost depleted. The cannons can only hold out for a few more minutes."
"What about the tanks?" the commander asked. "Send the tank platoon to break through."
"The tanks can no longer move. Only five are still defending the Arc de Triomphe, but they're out of fuel and only have shells left."
"The helicopters will bring some supplies," the commander said, taking a drag on his cigarette. "The nearby bases are also out of ammunition. They need to go to more distant bases to transport supplies."
Another shell landed, and dust fell onto the commander's helmet.
"We're facing an enemy more than two thousand times our number," Albert said. "Without sufficient ammunition and supplies, we simply can't hold on."
The commander flicked his cigarette butt to the ground and said, "There's no other way. The fuel and ammunition also need to be allocated to the convoys trying to break through. We can only wait for them to come back."
Albert asked, "How are we going to evacuate?"
The commander replied, "The last one thousand five hundred people will evacuate with the convoy. The helicopters and ships can take away another five hundred. As for the final five hundred... there are no available vehicles left."
"I said it from the start!" Albert shouted angrily. "We should have assembled all the armored forces and charged out of the city from the beginning instead of staying here and waiting to die."
The catacomb fell silent, and everyone turned to look at Albert. The commander took out another cigarette and put it between his lips, saying, "Without our vehicles, the civilians' cars wouldn't be able to break through the city. You've seen the number of those creatures. When they gather, they can even overturn armored vehicles."
The commander patted Albert on the shoulder and said, "That's why we're soldiers."
Above ground, the mutants were squeezing through the streets, charging forward. Some mutants even climbed onto the rooftops by stepping on the mountainous piles of their fallen comrades.
The ten - kilometer stretch from the Paris suburbs to the Arc de Triomphe was now nothing but rubble, except for the area near the Arc de Triomphe, which the artillery had not covered. Now, these remaining buildings provided the mutants with a more three - dimensional way of attacking. Searchlights, mounted on the barricades made of shipping containers and sandbag walls, illuminated the entire area around the Arc de Triomphe.
Some mutants rushed down from the rooftops and landed on the barricades. Gunfire, roars, and cannon fire merged into one deafening din.
Powerful as humanity's firepower was, after ten days of continuous battle, the mutants seemed to have finally gained the upper hand through sheer numbers. The amount of supplies delivered by the helicopters was clearly far from enough to keep up with the rate of artillery consumption.
Perhaps the military should have evacuated the civilians when the number of mutants in the city exceeded that of humans. But at that time, the military high - command, for various reasons, ultimately decided to establish a quarantine zone within the city.
On one hand, the military had already built barricades within the city and controlled the people who had mutated at the beginning. However, they had not anticipated the speed and severity of the situation's development. The military had initially thought it was just a small - scale public health emergency, but it turned out to be a mutation affecting the vast majority of humanity.
On the other hand, the military had little understanding of the influence between mutants. The roars of a small horde of mutants could often carry nearly a kilometer, attracting even more mutants.
By the time the survivors in the city began to evacuate, the number of mutants surging towards Paris had increased several times over.
Perhaps the decision to hold the city had saved more people within it, but now it had also put those who had not been evacuated in a desperate situation.
Now, no one could judge whether the decision to hold Paris was right or wrong. All that could be done was to leave it to future generations to assess.