“The simulation wasn’t this bad!” Ryan shouted, trying to fire over the edge again.

The muddy, bloody, sloshing ground was gumming up the treads. Maria could feel their catwalk shuddering as it struggled through the muck. Scanning the staging area set up behind the mobile wall, Maria saw panic beginning to spread as some of the mobile units strained to move forward. The units were synchronized to move out in formation, but a few were already lagging behind. Some of the depressions that had been carved out of the ground by the Maelstrom Platforms were deep and several of the machines whined as the viscid mud clogged the treads.

Maria gripped the handhold and managed to get to her knees. Firing at the Scourge, she fought the fear threatening to engulf her. The display in her helmet was filled with a flow of information that was scrolling too quickly to even read. Another burst from the Maelstrom Platform sent clouds of blood into the air, the wind sweeping the bloody mist over the fighting soldiers.

“Fuck me!” Lindsey shouted, trying to clean off her helmet visor.

“Keep firing!” Vanguard Stillson shouted. He was moving along the inner catwalk, laboring to stay on his feet.

As Maria reloaded her weapon, Vanguard Stillson fired on the Inferi Scourge as the roar of the Maelstrom Platforms sounded. Maria felt Stillson’s hand briefly on her shoulder as she opened fire again, then he moved on.

A massive shockwave rippled through the perimeter wall, tossing soldiers off their feet and onto the catwalk, or over the wall into the Scourge horde below as one of the mobile units twisted around in one of the deeper craters and wrenched another unit completely about. The torsion between the two units sent another shudder through the perimeter wall and Maria clung to the catwalk as Ryan fell on top of her. Together, they rode the catwalk to the ground, tumbling into the mud. Maria immediately scrambled to her feet and gasped.

The steel mesh had torn free of one of the units and the Scourge were shoving their bodies through the frayed opening. The squads closest to the breach opened fire. The mesh wall shimmered as it wavered under the onslaught of the undead. The mobile units continued on their designated course to their next position, ripping another hole in the mesh wall.

“Fall back!” someone ordered as the Inferi Scourge shoved through the widening openings.

Ryan grabbed Maria’s shoulder and dragged her toward a section where the fallen catwalks formed a barrier along with some of the unpacked supply units. Lindsey scrambled to follow. The squads formed a line, shooting at the Scourge coming through the gap. For several agonizing minutes, they were successful at holding the howling creatures back.

“Tiltrotors are en route!” a voice intoned in her helmet.

Sweat poured down Maria’s face as she reloaded. Ryan lobbed several grenades toward the breach as Lindsey fired over Maria’s head.

“About that date…” Ryan said, grinning despite the fear in his eyes.

Maria slid around him into a better position and aimed at a Scourge trying to scale the fallen edge of the wall. “You’re supposed to give me a reason to live, dumb ass,” she groused.

Another soldier landed in the mud beside her and helped her obliterate the Scourge trying to scramble through another widening tear in the wall.

“This was a stupid plan!” she shouted.

“It seemed like a good one when we planned it,” the soldier answered.

It took her a full second to realize it was Chief Defender Dwayne Reichardt.

“Sorry, sir,” she said quickly.

He shook his head, still firing. “Let’s just live through this!”

The Scourge pushed further into the perimeter. Maria knew now it was only a matter of minutes before they were all dead. She tried not to hear the screams of the soldiers overcome by the Inferi Scourge. The Scourge tore at them, ripping at their body armor, trying to reach flesh so they could bite and infect. One soldier was pulled free of a group of Scourge, his armor still intact as his comrades gunned down the creatures that had attacked him.

Vanguard Stillson lobbed a grenade at a catwalk’s treads and the explosion toppled it over onto the Inferi Scourge.

They were losing ground swiftly and chaos ruled. No one was listening to orders barked over the feed anymore, but were just trying to survive. The perimeter wall attached to the city wall still stood intact with the catwalks still secured to it. Many soldiers clambered onto it, trying to escape the ground. Maria, Ryan, Lindsey and the Chief Defender started to fall back, providing cover to those trying to reach higher ground.

Rappelling ropes started to fall from the high wall. Frantic soldiers gripped the lines and climbed upward, their muddy boots slipping against the steel surface.

Maria tripped, falling on her ass, and the Chief Defender hauled her up swiftly. The Scourge were everywhere now, smashing through the clusters of soldiers, howling. Maria fired point blank into the face of one as it charged her. The Chief Defender knocked another one back with the butt of his rifle. Together they charged through the mud toward the city wall.

Ryan and Lindsey were just ahead of them and nearing the remaining catwalks when Maria saw a flash of light. A massive force slammed into her and sent her sprawling through the air. Blackness surged up to claim her, and she fought not to drown in it. Pulling herself onto her elbows, her body felt numb and her helmet was gone. Beside her, the Chief Defender struggled to get up. His armor was punctured with shrapnel and blood poured through the tears.

Lifting her weapon, Maria aimed toward the creatures trying to climb over the corpses of Scourge and soldiers the grenade blast had killed. Pulling the trigger, she felt the rifle pulsing as it hurtled bullets into the bodies of the rampaging dead.

“Tiltrotor!” Ryan’s voice screamed near her.

She kept firing, but flicked her gaze to one side to see Ryan carrying a badly-wounded Lindsey over one broad shoulder. The churning wind pulled her gaze up to the aircraft slowly descending over the fray. Beside her, the Chief Defender fell over onto his side, unable to get up. Maria grabbed his arm and shifted her body under it. Rising to her knees, she pulled him upright. He screamed. Together, they managed to get to their feet as Maria fired at the Scourge drawing closer.

Vanguard Stillson’s huge body moved through the crowd of Inferi Scourge like a rampaging elephant, tossing them left and right, shooting a few as he went. His helmet was gone and his armor was smoldering. Maria could see the shrapnel from the grenade had sliced away parts of his face. Yet Stillson kept fighting. The Scourge were so intent on him, Ryan and the others were able to skirt past the mob and head toward the aircraft.

Casting one last look at Stillson, Maria gasped as a Scourge grabbed the man’s thick neck and bit into his cheek, infecting him. Usually the Scourge abandoned a victim successfully infected with the virus and moved on to another, but this one kept tearing at Stillson, chewing and appearing to devour his flesh.

Reichardt stumbled, forcing Maria’s attention away from Stillson’s demise. Pulling her superior up to his feet again, she continued to fire at any Scourge rushing them. Around her, other soldiers continued to fall, fighting the undead to their last breath.

“Keep moving, Chief Defender,” she urged him. “I don’t want to die today.”

“Neither do I, and my name is Dwayne,” he said crisply, his voice filled with pain and determination.

“I’m Maria.”

“Nice to meet you, Maria. Now, let’s not die,” Dwayne said

“Is that an order?” Maria kicked over a Scourge and shot it in the face.

“Without a doubt,” Dwayne answered with a grin.

Ryan led the way through the grim terrain, firing at the Scourge charging from every direction. Lindsey hung lifelessly over his shoulder. Maria shot anything that moved toward them that was not uniformed. Dwayne managed to draw his sidearm to help fight.

Another aircraft zoomed low nearby, its engines sputtering as its fuel ran dry. Maria watched as the pilots hurled themselves out of the hatch just before the aircraft hit the ground and slid through a mass of Scourge, crushing them beneath it.

The remaining tiltrotor was already packed with soldiers, but the crew kept hauling more up into the interior. The pilots of the other tiltrotor managed to reach it and clamber on board just as Ryan reached the tiltrotor and tossed Lindsey inside. Maria saw her friend’s eyes flicker open for just a moment to gaze at Ryan.

“Ryan!” Lindsey cried out weakly.

“Get out of here, Linds,” he answered, then Ryan grabbed the Chief Defender and pushed him into the arms of another soldier.

“There’s no more room!” Maria exclaimed.

People were piled on top of each other nearly to the roof and she felt panic fill her.

Ryan grabbed her rifle harness on her vest and wrapped it around the handhold outside the hatch a few times before clamping the end to her armor. The tiltrotor began to rise.

“Get ready to fly, Maria,” he said with a grin and kissed her passionately.

A mob of Scourge was almost upon the tiltrotor.

They were torn apart as the tiltrotor ascended.

“Ryan!” Maria gasped, reaching for him as the tiltrotor lifted her away.

“I’ll catch the next airlift!” he shouted, firing at the Scourge leaping for the tiltrotor.