Chapter 17: Luring the Zombie Horde
The command vehicle’s radio operator immediately patched into all combat channels, and ’s voice reached every soldier at once:
“Attention all units—executing the lure-and-kill tactic. Maintain radio silence throughout. Open fire on my command.”
Twenty minutes later, the deployment was complete.
Four Mengshi Assault Vehicles took up positions on the road shoulders on both sides of the highway. Their hulls were half-concealed behind breaches in the perimeter wall. The heavy machine guns on the roofs were lowered, aiming at the corridor entrance.
Each vehicle had one primary gunner and one assistant, with linked ammunition belts and spare barrels set aside.
A high-power vehicle-mounted loudspeaker was set up on Vehicle No. 1, blasting a piercing alarm in a continuous loop. The sound cut through the afternoon air and traveled straight north toward the zombie horde.
crouched behind a firing port on the east perimeter wall. His rifle rested on a stack of bricks, and his gaze swept the entire corridor.
“East security group in position. All alley mouths are blocked. Clear line of sight.”
“West security group in position.” ’s voice followed immediately.
Inside the command vehicle, stared at the radar map. The originally scattered red dots gradually converged under the pull of the loudspeaker’s sound—moving south along the centerline of the road as if strung together by an invisible thread.
He didn’t rush to give the order. Only when the vanguard of the entire zombie horde stepped into the 800-meter firing line did he speak in a low voice:
“Attention all units. Target has entered effective range. Open fire in echelons.”
The instant his words landed, the heavy machine guns on the two northernmost Mengshi vehicles roared simultaneously.
“Thump—thump—thump—”
The gunfire wasn’t as crisp as rifle fire. Each round carried heavy penetrating power.
The heads and chests of the dozen or so ordinary zombies at the very front shattered at once. Black blood and bone fragments splattered, and their bodies dropped straight backward—knocking over several behind them.
The gunners fired three-round bursts. Each volley cleared a patch of area.
Bullets kicked up gravel half a foot high from the concrete pavement. Even if a round only clipped a zombie’s limb, it could tear off an entire chunk of flesh and bone.
The corridor was narrow, and the horde was packed tight with nowhere to dodge. The bodies of the front row became obstacles for the back row immediately. The zombies behind them trampled over their comrades’ corpses and surged forward—only to meet the next volley.
pressed against the wall, clearly hearing the dull sounds of bullets tearing through flesh and blood, along with the unending roars of the zombies.
A few zombies that tried to crawl out through a collapsed hole in the wall barely showed their heads before the assault riflemen beside him shot them with single shots to the head.
“Vanguard horde has advanced to 600 meters. Mutants are accelerating. A total of eight—mixed in the middle section of the horde.”
didn’t answer right away. He stared at the map’s several fast-moving red dots for two seconds.
“Vehicles No. 2 and No. 3—concentrate fire on the high-speed targets in the middle section. Infantry groups, be alert on the flanks.”
The two Mengshi vehicles positioned in the middle on both sides immediately swung their turrets. The heavy machine guns’ rate of fire jumped. They shifted from long bursts to continuous short bursts. The bullets lashed out like two intersecting steel whips, viciously striking the middle of the horde.
zombies weaved and dodged within the mass, but the lethal radius of 12.7mm rounds was far greater than rifle bullets. Even a glancing hit could shatter bone.
The first zombie had just leaped over a pile of corpses when a bullet struck its left leg. The entire lower leg and kneecap exploded instantly. It lost balance and tumbled forward. Before it could get up, a second bullet pierced its skull.
The remaining seven scattered, sprinting along the edges of the road shoulders on both sides—trying to bypass the frontal fire.
“Two on the east shoulder—distance 400 meters!”
“Three on the west side—approaching the wall breach!”
immediately waved his hand. Two assault riflemen moved to the breach, switched their rifles to semi-automatic mode, and aimed for single shots.
Two zombies fell one after another as bullets struck them.
The three on the west side were intercepted by ’s team, who used the wall to kill them one by one.
All eight Mutants were killed. None managed to get within fifty meters of the assault vehicles.
Nearly a third of the frontal zombie horde had fallen. Bodies piled up into a wall of corpses in the middle of the corridor. Black blood flowed southward along the cracks in the road, and the air was thick with the heavy stench of blood and burnt flesh.
The zombies behind them were still ceaselessly climbing over the corpse wall.
The heavy machine guns had been firing continuously for nearly ten minutes when the gunner on Vehicle No. 1 reported loudly: “Report—barrel overheating!”
“Permission to change barrels. Vehicle No. 2, fill in and maintain firepower.”
The roof gunner put on heat-insulating gloves, released the barrel locking pin, removed the hot barrel, and set it aside. Then he quickly replaced it with the spare barrel.
The instant the swap was complete, the gunfire resumed.
looked at the map, his brow slightly furrowed. Two streams of red dots were bypassing the corridor through the small alleys on the east and west sides.
“ , —immediately pull the infantry back to defend the east and west alley mouths. Two groups of zombies are circling around.”
The moment the order was given, dense roaring erupted from the alley mouths.
The circling zombies numbered over two hundred each. Once they got behind the position, a pincer attack would sharply increase the pressure on the infantry.
made a snap decision. He left three people to keep watching the wall, then led the rest straight to the east alley mouth.
The alley mouth was narrow, so the zombies could only enter single file. His men hid behind the shop doors on both sides. When the foremost zombies rushed in, more than a dozen rifles opened fire at once—cutting down a swath immediately.
On the west side, adopted the same tactic, relying on the buildings at the alley mouth to set up crossfire and firmly block the zombies inside the alley.
The zombie offensive on the frontal corridor clearly weakened.
When the sunlight shifted from overhead to the west, the encircling zombie groups on both the east and west sides were all annihilated. The feinting zombies in the front were also cleared out by the heavy machine guns.
The entire highway corridor was strewn with corpses. Black blood soaked the pavement, making it sticky and slippery to step on.
A soldier crouched by the roadside, using his bayonet to finish off a zombie that was still twitching. He pulled out the blade, flicked off the black blood, and stood up. His knees were smeared with a layer of viscous grime.