The Rules Of Living On The Wasted Land - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Task Force (2)
“Alright, let’s set out.”

The task force, which had been temporarily restructured, began to advance toward the pre-determined extraction point.

It had not left the biological company for long when the already dim skies suddenly turned dark, and rain began falling on the broken down city, accompanied by the sound of rolling thunder.

“Damn! It’s raining. Everyone find a spot to put on your raincoat.”

The team leader gave his orders, and the task force quickly entered an abandoned shop by the side of the street they were on. A portion of them remained on alert as the others drew out lightweight rain coats main from special materials and donned them.

The people of the wasteland called rain water as ‘rain of disaster’. Even though the mildly radioactive dosage in rain water was not lethal, it could still damage the human body if one was exposed to rain for a long time. As such, unless it was absolutely necessary, everyone stayed indoors. If one had to venture out, one would try all means to shield one’s body from the rain, to reduce the harmful effects of radiation.

“Boom~”

The sounds of thunder increased in frequency, and the rain grew bigger.

“Our damned luck!”

The team leader could not help but curse.

…

Raindrops splattered on the dim, long stretch of pavement as the task force continued its advance, the sounds of the soldier’s boots dwarfed by the thunder and rain.

Only three hours had passed, and there were less than two kilometers left to the extraction point. The team leader estimated that it would take at most half an hour’s time for his team to reach the rendezvous location at its slowest speed, and the mission seemed to be proceeding quite smoothly.

Fate, however, always went against one’s will, and today was going to be a bad day for the team leader.

“Splish splash–”

The dim skies were suddenly split apart by a huge, terrifying flash of lightning, and it struck a spot in the forest of mutated Chinese parasol trees beside the secondary school, the searing temperature instantly igniting the trees.

The task force was still advancing toward its extraction point along the long street.

“Team leader, something’s amiss!”

An experienced soldier said suddenly as he halted.

“What? Are there mutants?”

The team leader signaled for this team to stop as he questioned the old soldier. The old hand’s instinct had always been very accurate- it was a sense of danger he had acquired after going through many life and death situations, and it had helped the team escape from the jaws of death many times in the past.

“I’m not completely sure, but I seem to sense a presence near us.”

The old soldier said honestly.

“Everyone, be on alert and watch your surroundings carefully!”

The team leader slowed down on purpose and glanced around for any sign of danger.

“Team leader, is this too…”

A recruit said, as he could not spot anything after looking around. He felt that the team leader was being overly cautious.

“Shut up! Remain on alert!”

The team leader did not hesitate to cut him off.

The recruit acknowledged the order dejectedly before scanning the surrounding area again.

The team leader’s face was shielded by a mask, and no one could see his features clearly. From his stance, however, one could confirm that he could handle danger that came in any direction.

“All of you have heard it, right?”

The faces of a few experienced soldiers turned a little more serious as they heard their team leader’s words, but a few recruits were still clueless.

“Something is sprinting at the front the street ahead of us.”

A veteran shouted.

“Right, and there are… quite a number of them.”

The team leader had confirmed the veteran’s hunch.

As the task force neared the junction of the streets, the soldiers could finally see the huge column of flames shooting into the sky in the school’s direction, and they could fee the heat wave surging toward them even at such a great distance away. The team of soldiers were stunned- that was supposed to be their extraction point.

At this moment, a few figures appeared in the streets and strode toward the flames, evidently very excited. The way these ‘people’ ran was, however, very strange, but with the dark skies and rain, the soldiers could not make out what they were. Therefore, they decided to draw closer and ask these ‘people’ what had happened.

The appearance of the task force successfully drew the attention of these ‘people’. They turned and cocked their heads sideways to observe the soldiers, and a few recruits opened their eyes wide to look back. They noticed that the eyes of the ‘people’ were glowing green, and their faces looked hideous. Their skin looked sickly and seemed to be rotting…

“They’re ghouls, prepare to fight!”

The team leader ordered in a low voice. He dared not and could not shout, without proper information on how many of these creatures there were in the surrounding area.

“Damn! Why are there so many ghouls here. There’s no mention of them in the intelligence reports.”

“All the veterans- fix your bayonets! The recruits remain on alert!”

To prevent attracting more ghouls to them by gunfire, the team leader chose to instruct his soldiers to use their silent weapons instead. The veterans were happy to follow his orders; they were already well-versed in how to deal with these humanoid creatures.

The bayonets plunged into the skulls of the ghouls, and in the blink of an eye, all of the ghouls before them had fallen. The veterans withdrew their bayonets from the skulls of their opponents and wiped them on their tattered clothes.

“Team leader, the ghouls are running toward our extraction point. What should we do?”

A veteran asked, sensing that all was not going to end well.

“Let’s go over to take a look first. We’ll make plans again if things can’t work out.”

The team leader said, as he glanced toward the figures sprinting toward the fire, feeling uncertain himself.

The soldiers could no longer avoid using their guns, and the sound of gunfire rang out. The nearer they got to the school, the more ghouls appeared. Even though hundreds have already fallen, there seemed to be an infinite amount of them, and more began emerging from the surrounding area.

The ghouls shrieked as they charged at the veterans. Before they had even managed to open their arms, however, the experienced soldiers had already blasted a hole the size of a thumb out of their skulls, and the bodies of the ghouls fell to their sides. The recruits were a little flustered when faced with so many ghouls, and the creatures kept breaking through their line of fire. The team leader would always appear at the right moment and place around through the skulls of any ghoul that got through, however.

The ceaseless crackling of gunfire attracted even more ghouls to their location, and dark waves of the creatures began swarming toward the task force.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

The task force had to temporarily abandon its plan of advancing to the extraction point, as there were too many ghouls. They fought their way out and quickly escaped from in the southwest direction, where there was a smaller concentration of ghouls.

“Fire in the hole!”

The team leader tossed an explosive grenade out, blowing up the ghouls that were chasing after them into bits, as a veteran who was guarding their rear caught up with the team.

The number of ghouls chasing after them was undiminished by the task force’s attack, and the sound of gunfire drew even more of the creatures to take part in the pursuit. Gradually, the amount of ghouls behind the team grew larger and larger.

“Team leader, there’s a police station in front of us!”

A veteran at the front shouted as he marched.

A signboard identifying it as the ‘St. John City Southern District Police Station’ was barely hanging on at the entrance, and a few abandoned police cruisers sat in the parking lot outside. The main body of the police post was a three-storey cement building, and its surface area was small. The police insignia hanging on the outer walls had already begun to peel off.

“Retreat back into the police post!”

The team leader shouted loudly.

With one look at the building, anybody could see that its design allowed it to be easily defended, and there was only one door that served as its entrance and exit. It was also surrounded by a steel fence, another feature that would help restrict the ghouls’ movements considerably.

“All veterans remain on alert, and the recruits shall block the main entrance with tables!”

They had created a significant gap between themselves and the ghouls, and as such, the team leader decided that there was enough time to barricade the main entrance of the building, while the structural qualities of the police station would allow them to defend it easily.

The recruits quickly brought a few tables out and used their ropes to bind them together before blocking the main door. They stacked the tables up, completely blocking off the entrance.

The veterans on watch outside the building retreated in, crawling into the police station along the recruits from a window on the first level. There were a total of six windows at ground level, and the team leader ordered one veteran and two recruits to each.

The ghouls appeared again, their smell preceding them. They were thirsty for living flesh and began to get worked up and started sprinting forward when they saw the soldiers behind the windows.

The windows of the first floor of the police post were about two meters above ground level, and the ghouls could not reach them. Only their hideous heads appeared, and they could not break through the walls of the building. They began clawing on the walls after being unable to get at the objects of their desire. Soon, streaks of filthy blood appeared on the wall.

…

The soldiers did not tire of such mindless killing. In fact, they were a little excited. The team leader, however, had quickly noticed a problem.

After the few ghouls at the windows were gotten rid off, their bodies remained on the ground. The creatures behind them could step on top of their carcasses, and soon the ghouls were at chest level with the windows. If this continued, the soldiers would be in deep trouble.

“Abandon your targets at the windows! Shoot those ghouls behind!”

The team leader thought that this was the only way to solve their problem. Since the ghouls in front could not enter anyway, they should try to eliminate those at the back first.

As such, the soldiers switched to their rifles and began firing.