Chapter 166: Chapter 166: The Hidden Horde
"Jaxon, should we try to look for Elena and the others?" Isabel asked as she followed closely behind him.
"The chances of finding them in all this chaos are almost impossible, Mom," Natasha quickly answered before Jaxon could speak. She glanced at the soldiers rushing past them, then tightened her grip on her weapon. "There are soldiers everywhere, and we don’t even know where they were assigned."
Even after everything they had faced and survived, the situation around them was enough to make Natasha uneasy. Jaxon noticed it immediately, and it was not just her. Na-rin, Cindy, and Isabel were also tense, their eyes constantly moving around as they followed him.
The distant snarls and roars of countless infected mixed with the nonstop thunder of gunfire. Explosions erupted every few seconds, some powerful enough to send tremors through the ground beneath their feet.
"We’ll look for Elena, Bong-gu, and Haris when we get the chance," Jaxon finally said, glancing back at them. "But for now, we need to focus on what’s in front of us. With everything happening right now, wandering around looking for them will only put us in more danger."
Isabel nodded slowly, not saying anything further.
"And don’t worry too much," Jaxon continued calmly. "This safe zone won’t fall that easily. The military has been preparing for something like this, and we haven’t even seen everything they have yet."
The women nodded and continued following him, though another distant explosion soon shook the ground beneath their feet.
.....
Several hours earlier, before Jaxon and the others had even left their residence.
Hundreds of soldiers had already taken their positions along the massive walls surrounding the safe zone. Powerful searchlights swept across the forest beyond, their bright beams cutting through the darkness and illuminating everything within hundreds of meters.
Snipers watched from the towers with their rifles trained on the tree line, while armored vehicles remained stationed near every major gate. Helicopters stood ready to take off at a moment’s notice, and military drones constantly circled high above the surrounding forest, searching for any sign of movement.
The entire safe zone had been placed on full alert ever since the massive explosion.
Everyone expected an attack. Yet throughout the entire day, nothing happened. Not a single infected had been spotted approaching the safe zone. Even the drones sent farther into the surrounding area had found nothing unusual. It was almost as if the infected had suddenly disappeared.
Hours passed, but still, nothing came.
...
Deep within the darkness, far beyond the reach of the searchlights, a lone figure slowly stepped out from between the trees and into the pale moonlight.
Its body was tall and unnaturally thin, standing much higher than an ordinary human. Thick, dark veins pulsed beneath its pale skin, spreading across its long arms and legs like twisted roots.
Not a single strand of hair remained anywhere on its body. Its arms hung almost to its knees, while each of its fingers had grown into long, sharp blades that gave off a faint shine beneath the moonlight.
The creature came to a stop. Its completely black eyes stared toward the distant lights of the safe zone as its mouth slowly opened.
"RAAAAAAGH!"
A deafening roar tore through the forest, and a few seconds later, the ground behind the creature began to tremble.
The earth suddenly split apart. Chunks of soil collapsed inward as something forced its way up from beneath the ground.
Within seconds, dozens of infected were climbing out of the massive opening. The ground around it had been completely torn apart, revealing a crude underground passage that stretched deep beneath the forest.
The infected kept coming. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and perhaps even more.
They poured from the darkness without stopping, spreading through the forest like a flood. Trees shook as infected pushed between them, while countless bodies filled every space between the trunks until the forest floor itself seemed to disappear beneath the horde.
At the very front of the massive horde stood the strange infected. Once, it had been an elite fighter among humanity’s surviving forces. But now, it stood as the new leader of the horde.
Its intelligent black eyes remained fixed on the distant safe zone. There was something almost familiar in the way it stared at the lights, as though it were looking at a place it had once known.
The creature slowly tilted its head. Then, for the first time, its lips curled upward as a twisted smile appeared on its face.
...
Inside one of the safe zone’s monitoring stations, several officers sat in front of rows of screens, keeping watch over the live feeds from the drones circling above the surrounding forest.
For hours, everything had remained quiet. Then one of the screens suddenly detected movement.
The officer watching it frowned and leaned closer. The drone’s night-vision camera had picked up several figures moving between the trees.
Then more appeared. Dozens of pale shapes emerged from the darkness, their bodies glowing faintly green through the enhanced night-vision feed. The drone’s tracking system immediately began marking them one after another.
The officer straightened in his seat. "Sir, we have a situation."
The commanding officer on duty quickly walked over. "Report."
"Mass movement detected in the northern sector. Visual tracking is still counting."
"Bring up the other drone feeds."
"Yes, sir."
Several screens immediately switched to enhanced night vision. More infected appeared on every feed, moving through the forest from multiple directions. The system struggled to track them individually as hundreds quickly became thousands.
The commanding officer’s expression hardened. "How did a force this large get this close without being detected?"
"I don’t know, sir. The previous sweeps showed no movement."
"Sound the general alarm. Alert all defensive positions and notify command immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
The commanding officer kept his eyes on the screens.
"Then pull the previous recordings. I want to know where they came from."
.....
Emergency sirens suddenly screamed throughout the entire safe zone.
Soldiers who had been resting immediately jumped to their feet, grabbing their weapons and rushing outside, while those already stationed along the walls quickly moved into their assigned positions.
The ground started to tremble, and a deep rumbling sounded from deep within the forest, growing louder and louder.
Shrieks, cries, snarls, and countless strange noises echoed from the darkness, all mixing together into one terrifying sound that seemed to fill the entire forest.
"Movement ahead!"
"Hold your positions! Get your weapons ready!"
The soldiers raised their rifles and aimed toward the darkness beyond the searchlights. Fingers rested against triggers as hundreds of eyes remained fixed on the tree line, waiting for the first sign of movement.
Suddenly, something massive flew out of the darkness.
One of the soldiers spotted it first. "TAKE COVER!"
BOOOOM!
A huge chunk of rock slammed into the top of the wall. The impact sent shattered pieces of stone flying in every direction. Several soldiers were thrown from their feet, while those standing closest to the impact disappeared beneath the explosion of debris.
"What was that?!"
"More incoming!"
Another massive rock came flying out of the darkness. Then another appeared behind it.
"TAKE COVER! MOVE!"
The rocks crashed against the walls and watchtowers one after another. Cracks spread across the reinforced concrete as soldiers desperately scrambled for cover, while pieces of the damaged wall rained down around them.
"Find whatever the hell is throwing those things!"
Before anyone could respond, the trees at the edge of the forest suddenly began shaking violently. Branches snapped, trees bent aside, and the ground trembled harder and harder until the entire wall seemed to shake with it.
Then the first infected burst from the woods. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. They flooded out from between the trees like a massive wave, sprinting toward the walls without any hesitation.
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