Alabama, City of Birmingham.
At this moment, the low-flying helicopters had the task of herding the walkers along a pre-established route, in order to keep them under control in the future.
Patience is the fruit of victory in this kind of operation, so while the helicopters moved through the streets drawing the walkers' attention, there were special soldiers eliminating them from the top down inside the buildings.
Inside a C5 aircraft, the soldiers were ready for the elimination operation, which consisted of deploying troops by parachute with the goal of landing on the rooftops of urban buildings.
"Anyone who misses the target, I'll personally kick your stupid ass! You hear me?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Today we're not only fighting to reclaim Birmingham from the undead, but also marking the beginning of humanity's rise!"
"Glory to humanity!"
"Glory to humanity!!!"
"Begin!"
At the command, hundreds of soldiers jumped from the C5s flying through the sky, stabilizing their descent.
There was a nearby base that would serve as a support point to land the rest of the troops, so right now, the C5 aircraft were heading in that direction.
...
Ian Dietrich, a famous captain known for having participated in numerous operations alongside Commander Jason, carried high expectations regarding his leadership. He was now also participating in this swift operation to reclaim this strategic city.
"Zz… Approaching our target. If you're not sure you can make it, you can abort and wait for new instructions from the ground."
Thud!
Ian Dietrich landed hard on the rooftop of a building. As soon as he hit the ground, he stabilized his body and quickly removed the parachute from his shoulders.
"What's your status?"
"We're all good!"
A total of twelve soldiers landed on the same building as Ian Dietrich. After recovering, they all checked their gear and advanced toward the rooftop door.
The white door leading down into the building was slightly ajar, so after signaling his men, Ian led the squad forward to clear floor by floor and seal off the building so the cleaning team could finish the rest.
Thud!
When the door was struck open, all the soldiers advanced behind Captain Ian Dietrich. Flashlights on their weapons lit up, and their automatic fire was ready to eliminate any walkers they encountered.
"Corpse at five meters, stay sharp!"
The surroundings were dark, and the stench of rot was suffocating, so everyone knew there were large numbers of corpses or undead nearby.
As Ian moved forward and turned right, a figure suddenly came running out of the darkness and lunged at him. But Ian's reaction was much faster—his strong arms grabbed the walker's neck and pushed it away.
When the other soldiers saw Ian's reaction, the one right behind him turned his weapon and fired. The sound of the shot was muffled by the silencer, and after eliminating the walker, the body dropped and rolled down the stairs.
But from ahead, several figures were reflected in the flashlights' beams. When the fallen walker reached their feet, the soldiers didn't wait for the rest to approach—after spotting the enemies, Ian ducked to the ground, and they all opened fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After seeing the walkers go down, two soldiers moved ahead toward the nearest room.
"Cover me!"
One soldier advanced toward the first door right below the rooftop entrance, and as he got closer, he heard some faint growls—typical of walkers.
"Something feels off. Stay alert and don't get caught off guard by any type of walker," Ian said, moving forward. His gray combat suit was tough and covered his entire body.
After the release of the second version of the Arm-3J combat suit, every soldier wore one of these essential outfits for protection.
Thud!
Kicking the door open, the flashlight lit up the inside of the room, and the soldier stepped back to get a better view of the figures ahead.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
With two bursts of gunfire, the walkers inside were eliminated without issue. But if they continued at this pace, they wouldn't finish even by nightfall, so they kept moving forward.
Ian Dietrich, leading the way, suddenly stopped when he heard a strange sound—a ticking noise coming from a living creature. It crackled, and everyone immediately knew it wasn't a normal walker or animal.
"Stop!"
Ian raised his hand to halt the group. They moved cautiously down the hallway, tense and alert.
The squad stopped in front of a door—the sound was coming from inside. When they opened it slowly, they could see some kind of roots spreading across the floor.
Roots?
They didn't look like normal tree roots, but there was no clear explanation. What mattered most was discovering what was inside that room.
As the door creaked open, the sound became louder and harsher, as if reacting to their movement. After falling silent, Ian raised his weapon and aimed inside.
The door wasn't fully open, but Ian could make out a figure with a mushroom-shaped head. The creature didn't react to the light hitting its face, but Ian, observing silently, knew this was a serious problem.
"Fall back!"
But his low voice was enough to awaken the figure in the distance. It let out a deafening roar that echoed through the building and charged straight at Ian.
Realizing it was an infected with an unknown mutation, Ian quickly retreated.
Crash!
With a thunderous blow, the door shattered like paper and the creature struck Ian, sending him flying.
"What the—?"
"Open fire!"
When the squad saw Ian get thrown back by the figure bursting from the room, they all aimed for its head and fired repeatedly. The shots were numerous, some hitting the creature's body and causing severe damage.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But shockingly, the headshots weren't enough to kill it—the thing covering its head could withstand multiple hits.
When Ian got back on his feet, the creature that had attacked him was already down. His armor had absorbed the impact, though the blow had been strong enough to knock him down easily.
"Sir, are you alright?"
One of the soldiers approached to check on Ian, but he just nodded. Then, inspecting the thing that had attacked him, he said, "These variants are like the ones the commander encountered in the tunnel, but we couldn't find them afterward because the tunnel had collapsed."
Illuminating the creature's face, they could see it was completely different from any other they had encountered since the beginning. "How can there be so many variants?"
Ian knew he had to report it immediately. He grabbed the radio. "Zz… This is Captain Ian Dietrich, class-three authority. We've encountered unidentified infected."
"Zz… Repeat, there's a new variant of infected in Birmingham!"
"Zz… Understood, Captain Ian. We'll notify all our personnel in Birmingham."
Ian shook his head. "We have to be careful. Don't remove your masks until CDC personnel arrive and examine the environment."
"Understood!"
With everyone in agreement, the soldiers spread out. One of them, walking casually, said, "Don't you think we're invincible? I mean, we're fine after taking down walkers that are much stronger than the rest."
"They're faster, stronger, and more aggressive than any other infected we've faced," another soldier muttered, kicking one of the roots on the floor. "This crap's gonna be a pain to clean up. Disgusting."
"Everything's disgusting now…"
But the moment the soldier touched the root on the floor, a series of roars echoed through the lower floors, reaching everyone in the building.
"You hear that?"
He tilted his head slightly to listen, but when he felt the ground trembling, he slowly backed away from the door. It was too late—moments later, the door burst open and numerous infected like the previous ones came pouring out, trampling over two of the soldiers in mere seconds.
By then, Ian had already seen what was happening, and everyone started firing continuously. The sudden horde of infected caught them completely off guard, leaving them no choice but to fire over and over again.
However, there were too many infected, forcing everyone to retreat. Ian, at the front, threw two incendiary grenades to the side, burning the advancing infected alive.
"Fall back!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seeing that the situation wasn't in their favor, Ian did everything possible to retreat. These infected were different—no matter where they were shot, they eventually died, which meant they were still living organisms.
"Don't focus on headshots! Aim for their legs!"
Following the order, the soldiers pulled their triggers, firing relentlessly as the strange infected pushed forward.
Boom!
Suddenly, gunfire erupted from within the infected crowd—some of the soldiers trapped among the walkers were still alive.
Even so, Ian and the others had to keep falling back to stay alive.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Throughout the battle, Ian focused on eliminating every last infected. When there were no more in sight, the group—having spent nearly half of their ammunition—approached to check on their fallen comrades.
"Boss, looks like they didn't make it."
Although the combat suits were tough, their arms had taken serious damage. But this wasn't the only situation happening in the building.