Just then, the eastern defensive line suddenly fell into critical danger. A large pack of infected had somehow found metal plates and corpses to use as shields, weathering the bullets as they closed in on the guardrail. Several infected leapt simultaneously, flipping over the rail.
"Free fire! Hold them back!" Sergeant Devon bellowed.
Valerie watched the combat unfold calmly. The heavy bolters of her two security operators tore the vaulting infected apart mid-air, but their numbers were too great, and two of them landed inside the defensive line. The Raiders immediately stepped forward into close-quarters combat.
"A3, A5, clear the internal targets. A2, A4, suppress subsequent vaultsters," Valerie commanded.
The two security operators turned, using their rifle butts and the raw strength of their power armor to smash the grounded infected to pieces. Their movements were highly efficient and cold. The Raiders coordinated with them to deliver finishing shots.
Valerie noticed that while these infected moved quickly in close combat, their actions lacked discipline and relied entirely on instinct. If faced by a well-trained, heavily equipped squad, they were actually not difficult to handle. The issue lay in their numbers, alongside that lethal contagiousness.
"Breach in the defensive line!" Devon shouted.
A section of the guardrail was slammed by multiple infected at the same time, finally collapsing. At the breach, even more infected surged upward.
Valerie assessed the situation rapidly. "Abandon the area five meters in front of the breach, fall back, and establish an arc-shaped field of fire. A1, use a concussion grenade."
One of the security operators retrieved a non-lethal weapon from his waist and hurled it toward the breach. The intense flash and deafening boom brought the surging infected to a brief standstill of confusion.
"Fire!"
Concentrated fire mowed down the infected at the breach in sheets. The infected behind them continued forward, stepping over the corpses of their own kind, but their speed was slowed down by the bodies.
"Use incendiaries!" Valerie ordered.
A Raider threw the last molotov into the pile of corpses; flames ignited, temporarily sealing off the breach.
The eastern defensive line held, but the cost was the consumption of a large amount of ammunition, and one Raider was scratched by an infected's claw, requiring emergency isolation.
The darkness before dawn was the deepest. The dropship's effect as a decoy gradually failed, and the infected began to return. Meanwhile, the engineering units' first ultraviolet defense tower finally lit up with a piercing purple glow.
In the area illuminated by that light, the infected emitted agonizing shrieks, their skin smoked, and their movements turned sluggish.
"It's working!" Dr. Hanson said excitedly. "Increase the ultraviolet intensity! Expand the exposure area!"
But the area covered by a single tower was limited. More infected surged from other directions. There were still three hours left until dawn.
The glow of the ultraviolet defense tower acted like a beacon in the dark night, illuminating a small area while drawing even more surrounding infected toward the medical station—they seemed to hold both dread and hatred for that light, madly attempting to destroy the source.
"The tower's guard unit reports extreme pressure!" Matt's voice came through the comms. "They need reinforcement!"
"We can barely save ourselves!" Tychus roared while using the iron boot of his power armor to crush an infected climbing onto the roof. His armor was already completely covered in dark green slime and shredded flesh.
Raynor looked at the growing number of infected all around, realizing that the tactic of holding the roof had reached its limit. The infected were scaling from all directions simultaneously, the roof's guardrails were broken in multiple places, and the defensive line was being compressed smaller and smaller.
"We have to change strategies," Raynor spoke into his communicator. "Matt, how many dropships are available?"
"Four, but two of them require maintenance."
"Have all flyable dropships ready; we are evacuating the roof. But not everyone goes at once—the infected are drawn to sound and movement. We need to evacuate in batches, while using the dropships as decoys to scatter them."
He assigned the tasks quickly: "First batch: the wounded, Dr. Hanson and her assistants, and non-combatants. Escorted by one dropship, head directly to the starport quarantine zone. Second batch: Miss Valerie and her team, plus half the marines, rappel down from the eastern side to establish a temporary ground position to receive the third batch. Third batch: myself, Tychus, and the remaining personnel will evacuate last. As each batch evacuates, use another dropship to create noise and lights in the opposite direction to draw attention."
"Understood!" Matt immediately began coordinating.
"Miss Valerie," Raynor turned toward her, "the ground reception task is highly dangerous. I need your people to establish a stable foothold on the ground and hold out until we come down. Can you do it?"
Valerie nodded calmly. "I can. But I will need at least two automated miniguns and ample ammunition."
"You've got it," Raynor said without hesitation. "Sergeant Devon, take your squad and move with Miss Valerie. Follow her command."
"Yes, Commander."
The first batch of the evacuation commenced. A dropship touched down on the roof, and the wounded and non-combatants quickly boarded. At the same time, another dropship circled at low altitude on the western side of the refugee camp, playing blaring music and flashing lights, drawing a massive crowd of infected away in pursuit.
The first batch lifted off smoothly, flying toward the starport.
"Second batch, get ready!" Raynor shouted.
Valerie and her five security operators rappelled down to the ground first. Sergeant Devon and his eight-man Raider squad followed immediately behind. They landed in a relatively open cargo-loading area on the eastern side of the medical station. Quite a few infected corpses lay on the ground, and the air was thick with a burnt odor and the scent of blood.
"Establish a circular defense! A1, A2, take the high ground points of the left building. A3, A4, the right side. A5, with me in the center. Raiders, fill the gaps and establish overlapping fire," Valerie commanded swiftly.
The team members moved instantly. The power armor of the security operators emitted a low hum as they moved, quickly occupying advantageous positions. The Raiders constructed simple cover using sandbags and abandoned vehicles.
Up on the roof, the third batch of personnel was preparing to rappel. But just then, an emergency transmission came from the decoy dropship on the western side: "Sustaining a high volume of impacts from flying objects! It might be rocks thrown by the infected or... they're jumping up themselves! The engines are damaged; we must climb altitude!"
The decoy had failed. A massive number of infected lost their target of pursuit and began returning to the medical station area. Worse still, some infected seemed to have learned simple throwing, hurling rocks and metal fragments toward the roof and ground positions.
"Second batch, cover us!" Raynor shouted through the comms as he, Tychus, and the others began to rappel.
Valerie calmly watched the tide-like mass of infected surging forward. "All units, free fire, suppress the front. A3, use a concussion grenade to delay the cluster on the left. A4, the right."
The security operators executed the orders precisely. The concussion grenades detonated amidst the infected, the brief chaos buying a few seconds for the personnel rappelling from the roof.
Raynor, Tychus, and the final eight Raiders successfully touched down at the ground position. But by the time they landed, the infected were already close at hand.