Chapter 262: Chapter 174: Rearguard
As Bloodfall’s team drew closer to the Foundry, they soon discovered that all the zombies on the road had vanished!
This stretch of road turned out to be the easiest part of their journey so far.
Claire Chapman clicked his tongue. "Looks like the fight started a while ago."
"Yeah. And it’s intense."
Paige Summers’s hearing was far superior to everyone else’s. She was the first to pick up the distant, overlapping sounds of battle.
Soon, the others also began to hear the roars of the Zombies!
Instead of fear, the group was excited, each of them looking eager for a fight.
They had been in such a rush to get here that it felt like they hadn’t had a good fight in ages. They were itching for some action!
But at Claire Chapman’s command, they immediately reined themselves in. They found a hidden earthen slope, parked their vehicles, and began to observe the battle.
Claire Chapman’s eyesight wasn’t as keen as Paige Summers’s, so he used a pair of binoculars.
After watching for a while, he silently passed the binoculars to the teammate beside him and cursed, "What kind of shitty captain just tells their team to charge the main gate? Are they trying to see who can die the slowest? What a complete moron!"
Paige Summers frowned and pulled back her focus, nodding in agreement.
The other team was surprisingly large—at least twice the size of Bloodfall. Even more surprising was that they were quite strong.
But a hundred or so Superpower Users were all clustered together, making a direct charge for the Foundry’s main gate... which was where the Zombies were most concentrated. They were immediately bogged down. At the same time, all the nearby Zombies were drawn in, completely swarming them!
In short, they were asking for it.
It was just a shame about those Superpower Users; their numbers were visibly dwindling.
She mulled it over for a moment, then turned to Claire Chapman. "What’s the plan? Are we helping them or not?"
Claire Chapman gritted his teeth. He took the binoculars again to study the situation carefully before finally nodding. "We’re going in."
"Alright."
With an agreement reached, they immediately planned a route and assigned roles: a rescue team, a rearguard team, and a support team, each with specific duties.
Paige Summers, with Ben in tow, naturally took her place on the rescue team. They were more suited for the front lines.
Claire Chapman, meanwhile, would act as the overall commander and lead the support team.
Before they moved out, he warned the squad leaders, "If the Zombies are too much to handle, or if that other team tries anything funny, signal immediately. Full retreat. Got it?"
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Paige Summers knew exactly what he was worried about.
First, just from what they could see, the Zombies were not only numerous, but some of them looked particularly tough to handle. Bloodfall was a small team; their plans had never accounted for a direct, head-on confrontation with such a massive horde. He was worried his people wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Second, in these times, rescuing people didn’t always earn you gratitude. She knew this better than anyone; it was common for the people you saved to turn around and stab you in the back. Besides, both teams were after the same objective, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to call them rivals. With a captain that foolish, there was no telling if the other team would see the bigger picture. They had to be prepared for the possibility of being double-crossed.
On the other hand, there were simply too many Zombies. If they chose to just watch, it was only a matter of time before those Superpower Users were wiped out. Then Bloodfall would have to face the horde alone, which would be extremely difficult. If the two teams worked together, the worst-case scenario was splitting the resources, but the risk to them all would be significantly lower.
This was one of the possibilities they had discussed in the car earlier.
Just as everything was ready and Paige Summers was about to lead her group out, Sean Raines suddenly called out to her.
"Take this." He pressed a piece of talisman paper into her hand, speaking just loud enough for the two of them to hear. "Ben is getting too ’agitated.’ Use this on him. You have to!"
Paige Summers froze for a second, then immediately clenched the talisman paper in her hand.
She glanced at Sean Raines and met his knowing eyes. ’He must have noticed something,’ she thought. But there was no time to talk. She could only give a slight nod. "Got it. Thanks."
Sean Raines shook his head silently and stepped back, a worried look on his face.
Paige Summers turned away crisply. "Move out!"
The rescue team moved stealthily toward the sounds of battle. Along the way, Paige Summers noticed that Ben was, just as Sean had implied, not his usual self. He seemed restless and agitated, especially when the roars of the Zombies reached them.
Without hesitation, when no one else was looking, Paige Summers slapped the talisman paper onto his body.
The markings on the talisman paper flared brightly for an instant before fading. The paper itself then burned away to nothing... Ben seemed to feel something and turned to look back at her.
The calmness was gradually returning to his eyes.
Paige Summers let out a sigh of relief and gave him a smile. One after the other, they picked up their pace and took the lead, guiding the rest of the team toward the besieged group.
No one made a sound. Silent yet unstoppable, they were like a newly unsheathed blade, tearing through the Zombies’ encirclement.
In this type of battle, Paige Summers didn’t use her Crossbow, instead opting for an unusually shaped long knife.
Its hilt was rather long, making it easy to wield with two hands.
The spine of the blade was thick and heavy, while its edge was razor-sharp. The tip of the long knife was curved to one side, somewhat resembling a scythe.
At the right angle, any part of the blade could deliver a fatal blow.
Combined with her astonishing strength, it was basically one swing, one Zombie head.
As for Ben, the Low-level Zombies seemed to have an instinctual fear of him and wouldn’t attack him directly. He, in turn, had no desire to kill them. He focused his efforts on protecting Paige Summers, and the vast majority of attacks aimed at her were blocked by the Earth Shields that flickered in and out of existence around him.
With him guarding her, Paige Summers’s assault grew even more ferocious. She was practically unstoppable.
At the same time, the other members of Bloodfall were performing admirably as well.
Their pent-up desire for a fight erupted all at once. With their fierce vice-captain clearing a path, they unleashed a barrage of different superpowers.
In no time at all, they had carved a path through the dense horde of Zombies!
The trapped Superpower Users naturally spotted them. Realizing it was a rescue party, many of their spirits lifted, and looks of joy spread across their faces.
Paige Summers’s gaze swept across the group. She guessed that the disheveled young woman being protected in the center was their captain. Her heart sank. ’Don’t tell me she’s another Nora Lowell,’ she thought. ’That would be awful!’
But she had no time to dwell on it. She yelled to someone at her side, "Frank, get them to fall back! I’ll cover the rear!"
"Yes!"
Frank sprang into action. He and the other members of the rescue team began organizing the other Superpower Users, ushering them through the path they had cleared to safety.
The other team was cooperative, following Frank’s directions without any arguments or pointless heroics.
The retreat went smoothly.
Paige Summers could no longer afford any distractions. More and more Zombies were now charging toward her, the most obvious target. She had to give it her all.
"Ben, with me! Hold them back!"
’We have to buy more time for the others!’
With that, her movements suddenly accelerated. She was as nimble as a butterfly, dancing between the Zombies. Heads rolled wherever she passed.
Before the headless Zombies even had time to collapse, she was already on to the next.
The retreating group glanced back and saw the spectacle, their eyes struggling to follow her movements.
Amidst a sea of grotesque corpses, her slender, graceful figure was a breathtaking, heart-stopping sight!
