RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

The convoy reached Highcross while daylight still remained.

The Guardian APC entered the western avenue.

Its turret followed the surrounding buildings while the two transport vehicles moved behind it, passing recovery trucks, secured storefronts, and the temporary barriers placed around the underground entrances.

South One still controlled the district.

Soldiers occupied the intersections surrounding the central parking structure, while another squad guarded the western service alley where Hans and the others had entered the chamber. Portable lights remained around the widened drainage opening.

The convoy stopped beside the outer barrier.

Tyrus left the first transport vehicle before the rear equipment compartment opened. Johannes followed with Evelyn and Marcus, while two soldiers began unloading the first sealed cases.

An Engineer waited near the entrance.

”Mr. Shearman.”

”The chamber?”

”Unchanged since the Commander’s inspection. The surrounding tissue continues deteriorating, but no coordinated activity has returned.”

”I would be concerned if it were otherwise.” Tyrus gave a short chuckle. ”Has anything been removed?”

”Only the two approved samples already delivered to your laboratory.”

Tyrus looked toward the open cases behind him.

”Good.”

Marcus approached the drainage entrance and studied the temporary power lines running below.

”You kept the inspection equipment active?”

”The drone completed another pass before your arrival,” the Engineer answered. ”Structural readings remain stable.”

Evelyn stopped beside the opening. Her shoulders tightened slightly.

Johannes noticed.

”You found something?”

She remained quiet for several seconds.

”There’s no hostile presence around here.”

”Nothing at all?”

”Nothing that would attack us from the darkness.”

Tyrus looked toward the Engineer.

”Take us down.”

Two soldiers descended first. The Engineer followed with the inspection drone, while Johannes waited for Evelyn and Marcus to enter before lowering himself into the drainage route.

Tyrus came last.

The smell reached him before his boots touched the shallow water.

Pale tissue remained across the tunnel walls, though much of it had already lost its earlier shape. Several sections sagged under their own weight. Others had separated from the concrete and collapsed into the drainage channel.

The portable lights continued toward the chamber.

Tyrus did not stop at the opened bodies along the first junction. Their positions had already been photographed and marked inside the Engineer’s report. He looked at each one only long enough to confirm that the connected tissue had not been removed.

Marcus slowed near one of the bodies.

Thin strands still passed beneath the ribs and disappeared into the wall.

”Same direction as the chamber,” he said.

The Engineer checked the location against his tablet.

”Yes.”

”Every body?”

”Every connected body found in this route.”

Marcus looked farther into the tunnel.

”They were part of the same physical network.”

”Most likely,” Tyrus said. ”Do not turn likelihood into a conclusion yet.”

Marcus gave him a short glance.

”I said physical.”

Tyrus continued walking. The chamber opened beyond the final turn.

The Broodmother remained against the damaged concrete support. Her upper body had not changed position, though more of the surrounding tissue had loosened since Hans’s visit. One arm remained attached. Most of the lower body disappeared beneath collapsed growth and destroyed sacs.

The damaged field equipment was still visible beneath her shoulder.

Johannes stopped near the entrance.

Evelyn remained beside him.

Her attention moved around the chamber before settling on the body.

”Still nothing, Evelyn?” Johannes asked.

”There’s no intent. No pressure directed toward us either.”

”The pressure the little Asters girl felt is gone,” Tyrus muttered. ”Strange. I could have used it to experiment on myself.”

Evelyn felt the hair along her arms rise.

”You... you’re a maniac.”

”Took you long enough to realize?” Tyrus chuckled. ”Don’t worry. My experiments will only hurt me. Once I obtain the secrets here, I’ll use it to improve your... HELIX enhancements.”

Johannes let out a cough.

”Oh come on,” Tyrus fanned himself. ”Are you offended by a little joke?”

”If the Commander was here, you wouldn’t dare to even do so.”

”No,” Tyrus shook his head. ”If he were here, he would have laughed.”

Marcus looked away from the tissue covering the nearest wall.

”He did not laugh at your last joke.”

Tyrus glanced toward him.

”He laughed internally.”

”He stared at you.”

”Exactly. He was holding himself back. Would not be too good if he laughed in front of others.”

Johannes released a slow breath.

”Can we inspect the chamber before you decide to experiment on yourself?”

”That was always the plan.”

The humor left Tyrus’s face almost immediately.

He approached the marked boundary surrounding the Broodmother’s remains, though he did not cross it yet. His attention moved from the upper body to the collapsed tissue around the lower half, then toward the strands disappearing beneath the shallow water.

”Engineer, bring up the first chamber scan.”

The Engineer raised his tablet and combined the inspection drone’s repeated route passes with the chamber photographs. A three-dimensional layout appeared across the display, tracing the tissue attached to the concrete supports, drainage walls, opened bodies, and the remaining sections connected to the Broodmother.

Tyrus studied it without speaking.

Marcus moved closer.

”The connections continue beyond the visible chamber.”

”Through the western drainage routes,” the Engineer answered. ”Several branches have already collapsed, but the drone recorded residual tissue along the accessible routes farther inside.”

”How far?”

”Two hundred and fourteen meters from the chamber. The returns weaken beyond that.”

Tyrus enlarged the nearest section of the scan.

”Were all of those routes active before the body died?”

”We cannot confirm that.”

”Then do not label them inactive branches. Call them deteriorated branches.”

The Engineer changed the record.

Johannes approached the Broodmother’s upper body with Marcus. Both stopped outside the marked boundary.

The damaged SAS equipment remained beneath the surviving shoulder. Dark fabric crossed part of the back, while several hardened sections of growth had formed over the straps and fasteners.

Tyrus pointed at it.

”You look like you recognize it. Do you know which field cell they belonged to?”

”Not yet.” Johannes shook his head. ”If this was their operating area, their safehouse may be nearby, but I doubt it will be easy to find.”

”Hmm,” Tyrus looked around. ”Perhaps this place was their so-called safehouse.”

The three agents looked toward him.

”It’s possible, but we’ll need to investigate.”

”Well,” Tyrus shrugged. ”No harm looking around. Just don’t touch my samples.”

”We don’t plan to,” Evelyn scoffed. Who would touch those disgusting patches of flesh?

Tyrus looked toward her.

”You say that now.”

”Tyrus,” Johannes interjected.

”I have not done anything.”

”That is usually when people should worry.”

Marcus moved away from the Broodmother and examined the chamber walls instead.

The pale growth covered most of the concrete, though several sections had fallen into the water and exposed the original structure beneath them.

”This was part of the parking structure’s drainage system,” he said. ”It was not built as a shelter.”

Johannes approached him.

”A safehouse does not need to be purpose-built.”

”No.”

Marcus pointed toward several marks beneath the damaged tissue.

”But those do.”

The Engineer moved closer with his tablet.

Four narrow holes remained along the concrete wall. Two more appeared farther down, arranged at the same height despite the uneven growth surrounding them.

”Mounting points?” Johannes asked.

”Something was attached here before the tissue covered the wall.”

Tyrus looked toward the damaged harness beneath the Broodmother’s shoulder.

”Field equipment?”

”Possibly,” Marcus answered. ”Or storage.”

The Engineer directed the inspection drone toward the exposed section. Its scanner passed over the holes before continuing across the tissue around them.

A second set appeared beneath the growth farther along the chamber.

Johannes studied their arrangement.

”A temporary operations wall.”

Marcus nodded.

”Equipment racks, communication boards, weapons storage. Any of those would fit.”

Tyrus glanced around the chamber.

”So our Broodmother may have been nesting inside her former office. Quite devoted to her work.”

Evelyn ignored his remarks and looked toward the opened bodies connected to the walls.

”That is one way to describe it.”

”Not the preferred one?”

”No.”

Johannes stepped closer to the exposed mounting points.

”If this belonged to them, there should be another section nearby. Sleeping space, supplies, and a secondary exit. A field cell would not keep everything inside one chamber.”

”Unless they stopped caring about comfort after becoming infected,” Tyrus said.

”They would still care about escape routes.”

Tyrus considered that.

”Fair.”

The humor left his voice again.

He turned toward the Engineer.

”Add every exposed mounting point to the chamber map. Scan behind the remaining tissue for metal fixtures, sealed cavities, wiring, or anything else that does not belong to the original structure.”

”Understood.”

”Do not remove the tissue to reach them yet.”

The Engineer adjusted the drone’s scan parameters.