There was no time to waste, and what little fuel was left in the vehicle would soon be exhausted at this rate.
What made things even worse were the noises made by the engine and how they attracted an ungodly trail of Host Blighters.
Like a scene from a zombie movie, the heroes of the story would use cunning against the horde, conserve their bullets, and use whatever melee weapons they had to bash the heads of these walkers without attracting more monsters by gunfire.
Luckily for them, the Gobzkins seemed to have a knack for stocking up their vehicles with all manner of weapons, especially harpoons and axes. While crude and made of repurposed tools, they could still bash a few heads before losing their edge and durability.
The scene was unfolding at the spacious parking lot near the large shopping center targeted by Adam's teams. Usually, such a place would be crawling with organized monsters like the Gobzkins and the Hosts, and it seemed to be some sort of Gobzkin stronghold.
Still, the battle for the Gobzkin Gigiant seemed to have drawn out most of the Gobzkins from the place, allowing the Hosts to storm it with superior numbers. The Gobzkins were putting up a fight against the Hosts, but on the other side of the shopping center, which allowed Adam to circle around the place with the truck, where some of the Hosts still managed to chase him.
The following was a scene of brutal efficiency and tactical maneuvering. Adam dropped the team by the side and returned to face the Hosts with the truck, running them over and circling around them to keep them gathered in one spot. This allowed the rest of the team to pick on the Host Blighters from the sides, using all the melee weapons at their disposal, until the Hosts were eradicated.
However, this wasn't the smartest plan since the truck's engine broke down, and none of the team members had an inkling of how to fix an internal combustion engine, even with a mechanic of Sergeant Elena's caliber, whose indoctrination utterly forbade her from fiddling with relics from the Dark Fossil Age.
This wasn't that big of a problem for the time being, as Adam wasn't planning on taking this truck home. After the engine failed, Adam jumped off before the truck was swarmed by the Host Blighters and joined the melee fight.
Blighters were indeed zombies in function, but sometimes, even their actions had intelligence. In appearance, they were horrifyingly deformed humans: twisted skin layers where there once were faces; mouths open wide, drooling over prey; and wounds festering and rotten.
Somehow, their hearts were still weak. One good shot to the heart could collapse a Blighter, but it would still twitch and struggle for a few good hours. A blow to the head, however, was the best course of action. Adam had previously explained all that to the team back at the base, but right now, he found that the team was acting out of control, so he found it vital to give commands:
"Avoid getting scratched or bitten. This isn't zombie horror, but God knows what manner of diseases these fuckers carry!" Adam shouted at his team and approached Kave, who was wildly swinging a Gob's axe, frantically but ineffectively hacking at a Blighter's arms, trying to sever its hands, while avoiding getting flanked by another Blighter that was biding its time for Kave to slow down.
Adam rammed the flanking Blighter before bashing its skull with a club. He then let Kave retreat after picking up a long stick to tackle the other Blighter before taking its skull to the club one more time, effectively disabling the mutant.
Kave was panting hard, and it seemed like he was struggling to stand on his feet. Looking around, Adam noticed that most of the Blighters were already being dealt with, so he approached Kave.
"You've done well," Adam said, hitting Kave on the shoulder.
"Really?" he asked, struggling to breathe before holding his aching chest. "I feel like I am dying."
"Well, learn not to go all out in one go. No need for running fast and doing big swings. Walk normally, keep careful watch of your surroundings, and use everything to your advantage. Chopping off limbs and going crazy will wear you out and get you killed."
Each piece of advice Adam was giving was a precious fruit of his three-month survival experience, cold observations, and pragmatic solutions. While he would still be the same friend Kave had always known, in times like these, he shifts into a completely different Adam who knows his way around this dying world.
"Alright, everyone. On me!"
Adam called, and the team finished what they were doing and converged on him, ready for the next order.
"See this building over there; it is what we archaic people of the Dark Fossil Age call a Hyper Market," he said.
"We know what a market is, Sir," Elena replied, a bit insulted by how Adam was treating them.
"This is not some market, you grim dark apes. This is Mallwart, America's personal brand of freedom, abundance in ways you can't even imagine, capitalism, and democracy fucking so hard and giving birth to this beast you're about to enter. Yes, Gobzkins have invaded the place, but it would take them more than a hundred days before they strip it clean. So, we'll find stuff."
"Do we need a map?" Hammerhead asked.
"Nope. It's pretty much an open space, but I imagine it was repurposed in different ways. Luckily for us, Kave and I know this place well. This is the loading bay, so we'll need to find a vehicle to transport the stuff back home." Adam briefed the group before turning to Elena, "Sergeant, how should we do this?"
"Alright. We'll split into initial groups. One team will secure a vehicle, and another will scout the market from inside, mark enemies, and identify potential salvage." Sergeant Elena said, then split the team. "Commander Clay and I will be on vehicle duty. Sharp, you'll take everyone else and use Kave's knowledge of the layout. Kavie, make mommy proud."
"Sir." Sharp nodded and turned to Kave with a grin.
The group had a light-hearted chuckle as they split up. Their goals were clear in mind, and they had reached a state of well-established coordination with the two civilians who had proved their worth in the operation so far.
Mallwart may be crawling with Rift monsters, but the Wartopians had faced worse odds in their military career as they stepped into a stage of greater challenges.
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