"I have put bandages on his wounds!" Sarah announced, tying off the last strip of cloth over the deep scrape on Matthew's arm.
"I am also done!" Ethan murmured, applying medicine to a cut on his leg before wrapping it.
"I think we should wait till the night falls," Emily said, her voice low.
Ryan's shoulders tensed. "Do you think we will be safe till that much time?"
"We have to," Ethan said, his tone final. "There's no other choice!"
Meanwhile, in one of the bunkers, a middle-aged man is constantly running from one soldier to another with a tension on his face.
"Please! Listen to me!" The man cried, his voice breaking as he gripped the soldier's arm.
"We understand, Sir," a soldier replied, gently disengaging. "But we can't let you go out."
"But my son is still out there."
"There are more than 1000 children outside." The soldier said, "We are trying our best to bring them back."
"Please do something, his mother had been worrying about him since we were brought here!" The man said.
"We are trying our best Sir!" The soldier replied.
"Hey, we have been called by Major Coogler and Major Azoff. New orders. Let's go!" Another soldier walked up, his eyes wide.
"They got something?" The first soldier asked.
"Maybe. Something big."
Both of them walk out of the bunker hall and walk back outside to their truck to move to the safe house, where Mayor Alden Aethon was there.
Back in the safe house, Mayor Alden, Hedjoin, Minister Tyrell, General Adam, Major Coogler and Major Azoff were all in the Mayor Office still trying to figure out a way to contain the monsters.
"I already have said, let's go for an all out battle!" Coogler added, sipping on his cup of tea.
"We should deploy the sonic containment units, not commit to a reckless frontal assault." Hedjoin said.
"It's not even possible!" Major Azoff quickly replied.
"The only way to kill them is by beheading them." Coogler added.
"I am with you on the decision of an all out battle!" General Adam announced.
"All right. It's all up to you! General!" Alden said.
"What are your requirements?" General Adam asked.
"We need at least 200 combat-ready soldiers before the night falls." Azoff replied.
"If we can't stop them by tonight," Coogler finished, his eyes hard, "the entire town will be destroyed."
General Adam nodded once, a single, decisive movement.
"I agree. We will hit them hard, and we will hit them before they can dig in." He turned toward the door of the office and bellowed, "Soldier! Get in here!"
The accompanying soldier immediately snapped to attention inside the doorway. "Yes, General!"
"Get to the safe house control room immediately," Adam commanded, his voice sharp and carrying absolute authority.
The soldier looked at the General with a fear in his face, he had felt the tense atmosphere as soon as he entered the room.
"You will contact the Military Base. The order is 'Code Red', highest priority. They are to dispatch 250 combat-ready soldiers with full gear, including specialized blades. Specify swords, bazookas, and any heavy ordinance they can carry. The rendezvous point is the South-Eastern perimeter. The deadline is 005 hours."
The soldier swallowed hard, his eyes wide with the magnitude of the order. "250 soldiers, swords, bazookas, 005 hours, South-East. Yes, General!"
He turned and sprinted out of the office, his boots echoing down the bunker's hallway.
The air in the room, already heavy with tension, now vibrated with the reality of war. Hedjoin Garatab looked pale, leaning back on the sofa and running a hand over his thick mustache. "Bazookas, Adam? Is this truly necessary?"
"When dealing with something that can shrug off rifle fire and regenerate, Hedjoin, you bring everything," Adam replied.
"We should leave everything to them now, Hedjoin!" Minister Tyrell added.
"Now, where are our remaining forces positioned, Coogler? We need to establish a perimeter and hold until reinforcements arrive." General Adam asked, turning to Alden and the two Majors.
Coogler stepped forward, pointing to a detailed map of Elyria Town on Alden's desk. "Most of the police and military were funneled back to the Central Square and then dispersed into the safe zone perimeters in the North. Azoff and I have about 150 men. We can establish a line at the Ratigion Residential Colony, where we last engaged them. It's a choke point."
"And the cost of holding that line, Major?" Tyrell asked, his voice strained.
Azoff, wiping a smear of blood from his military jacket, spoke with brutal honesty. "High, sir. But it's the only way to buy time for the arrival of the 250 soldiers."
The soldier, whose name was Private Finn, skidded to a halt inside the safe house's control room. The room was small, filled with radio equipment, blinking lights, and a central desk with a heavy-duty, wired field telephone.
Gun Caraz and Sane, the two soldiers from the earlier reports, were frantically trying to tune a long-range radio.
"Orders from General Adam!" Finn shouted, his chest heaving.
He rushed to the field telephone, grabbing the handset. He had to be quick; 005 hours was rapidly approaching.
He cranked the handle twice for a direct line to the Military Base command center. The line crackled for a moment before a voice answered, clipped and professional. "Base Command, Sergeant Major Diesel Reiss. State your call sign and purpose."
The Sergeant Major are High ranking officers just below the ranks of Major and the lowest of the Commander Level.
"This is Private Finn, on direct order from General Adam! Code Red, immediate response required," Finn said, pressing the 'Push to talk' button down hard.
He then recited the command in a rapid, stressed monotone. "We require two hundred and fifty combat ready soldiers. Full loadout. Specifically: swords, bazookas, and heavy ordinance. The rendezvous point is the South-Eastern perimeter, Ratigion Residential Colony. The deadline is zero-zero-five hours."
The voice on the other end, Sergeant Major Reiss, lost its professional monotone and rose in pitch. "Did you just say… bazookas and swords? Private, that's an unprecedented requisition. Confirm: 250 soldiers, swords, bazookas, South-East, 005."
"Confirmed, Sergeant Major. General Adam's orders. Failure to meet the deadline will result in catastrophic loss. Do you read?"
A second of silence stretched across the wire. "I read you, Private. Message received and understood. Command out."