37. Battle
[Rat-tat-tat-tat!!!]
[Boom!!!]
The gunfire erupting from all directions rang so fiercely it felt as though their eardrums might tear apart. Hot shell casings poured from the mercilessly barking machine guns like waterfalls. Coral District, surrounded by Madmen surging in like waves, had become a complete hellscape. Despite the order to regroup with the main force, each platoon had its retreat cut off by Madmen appearing from impossible directions, and simply pulling the trigger at the creatures closing in seemed to be all they could manage.
"Aaaargh!!!"
The Hunters were savagely bitten by Madmen that hurled themselves bodily at them. Screams broke out everywhere. Having lost the will to fight, some Hunters stumbled backward, threw down their guns, and fled into nearby buildings. A few were caught from behind while running and torn limb from limb. Those who made it inside crouched in corners, trembling uncontrollably.
[Fwoooosh!!!]
"Gaaah!!!"
The flamethrower mounted on an armored robot spewed burning fire. Madmen engulfed in flames twisted their bodies and shrieked, unable to endure the heat. Hunters who had been busy firing from the side were struck by the burning Madmen and suffered burns themselves. The flamethrower was powerful, but the Madmen did not go down easily. Still on fire, they charged the armored robots and began smashing their heads against the glass canopies of the cockpits.
"No! Stop! Stop it!"
The armored trooper inside one cockpit shouted at the creature. More Madmen rushing in from behind latched onto the robot's arms and legs as well. He struggled desperately to shake them off, but the overwhelming numbers dragged the armored robot down. The Madmen shattered the glass canopy and tore into the trooper inside. Blood burst everywhere like a crimson waterfall.
"Main unit! Main unit! This is Platoon Nine! We're isolated! Requesting immediate support! I repeat—main unit! Main unit! We're cut off! Damn it, do you hear me?!"
The headquarters radio crackled endlessly with the voices of platoons calling for backup. But only the communication equipment sat there by itself. There was no one to answer. The main unit, too, was completely occupied trying to repel the tide of Madmen pressing in. Mushaiger, commander of the 3rd District corps, hacked every Madman in sight into pieces with an armored robot fitted with chainsaws on both arms. His glass canopy was so smeared with the blood of Madmen that he could barely see ahead.
"Commander! You have to retreat! At this rate we'll all die!"
"Retreat? Retreat where? We are the main fighting force of District 3! Behind us there are only civilians! If we fall back that far, everyone dies like dogs!"
"The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoons are still in the rear! You need to call for support!"
"I already did! Hold the line! We have to hold no matter what!"
The aide looked as if he wanted to say more, but the commander had already roared and charged toward the broken left front line, where the Madmen had broken through.
***
"Damn it, where the hell are these bastards even coming from?"
From the balcony of a fourth-floor building, Supremer sprayed bullets wildly into the advancing horde of Madmen. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoons stationed in the refugee zone along the Coral–Siho border had heard the main unit's request for aid, but they could not move. Madmen were already pouring into the refugee zone as well.
"Supremer, how's the view up there?"
"You can still joke in a situation like this? I'm completely surrounded!"
As the corpses of the Madmen shot down by Supremer piled high enough to block the path, the creatures charging forward turned their heads toward the source of the gunfire. When they saw Supremer shooting at them from the building, they let out shrieks. The Madmen changed direction and rushed toward the building he occupied. The entrance had already been barricaded with furniture and whatever else they could find, but it did not last long against such overwhelming numbers. Before long, the entrance was smashed apart, and the Madmen came howling up to the fourth floor where Supremer was waiting.
"Tch. Guess this place is goodbye too."
Supremer pulled a small adhesive bomb from inside his coat and slapped it onto the wall. As the Madmen burst through the door and lunged at him, he threw himself off the balcony as though he had been waiting for that exact moment. A second later he landed neatly atop the jet board in his hand, and the craft shot away with the sharp whine of its engine. Trapped on the balcony, the Madmen shrieked after the fleeing Supremer. The moment he gave the command, the bomb attached to the wall detonated, and with a roaring explosion of fire, the cluster of Madmen was blown apart.
"Obi! Where are you?"
"Right now? Herding Madmen, of course!"
O'Brien, riding his motorcycle in flight mode, sped above the main road to escape the pursuing swarm behind him. Switching the bike to autopilot, he hoisted a massive bazooka onto his left shoulder and took aim at the pack chasing him. The targeting mark blinked. He fired without hesitation. The missile struck squarely in the middle of the horde and triggered a massive explosion. Thirty or forty Madmen at once were blown apart by O'Brien's bazooka.
"O'Brien! Some of the Madmen chasing you have changed direction toward the civilian zone!"
At Elysia's warning, O'Brien frowned.
"Aaah! Stay back!"
Madmen rushed the civilians. People screamed and ran. Those who could not escape in time were seized and thrown onto the cold asphalt. They trembled all over and wept like young deer caught in a lion's jaws. A child who saw it happen nearby burst into terrified sobs. Her father scooped her up, covered her eyes, and kept running.
The relentless attacks drove people half out of their minds. One man, panicking when Madmen forced their way into the building, forgot that he was high above the ground and threw himself out of a window. Another man, cornered while trying to flee, grabbed an iron pipe from the ground and smashed it into the head of a charging Madman. The creature fell, but did not lose consciousness; it got right back up and lunged at him. Someone else tried to climb over a barred window, only to have their foot caught and fall backward. A person running with a supply crate found it too heavy to carry and hurled it at the Madmen. Medicine and food spilled out across the ground.
Stroking the face of a trembling woman hiding inside a building, a little girl said,
"We have to go too. Don't be scared. Just look at me and run."
The child looked at the woman with grim determination. The woman nodded. Taking her by the hand, the girl led her to the door, carefully turned the handle, and opened it. Outside was pure chaos—people running everywhere.
The girl quickly pulled the woman along and began running in the same direction as the others. Behind them came the hideous cries of the Madmen. They ran faster and faster. Their breathing grew ragged. The child started overtaking people one by one. Then screams erupted ahead. Madmen burst from the direction of the sound and began pouncing on people from the side. The child faltered for a split second, looked around frantically, spotted a less crowded path, and darted toward it. But suddenly she collided with people rushing out from a side alley and fell. The Madmen came at her with bloodshot eyes.
At that moment, a man shoved one of the creatures aside, scooped the fallen girl onto his back, and began running. The child screamed at him, looking back at her sister on the ground, but he either could not hear her or chose not to stop. The woman, unable to rise, watched her younger sister being carried farther and farther away, tears welling in her eyes. A moment later, a Madman rushing up from behind pounced on her. She screamed and fought desperately, but the creature flailed over her, thrusting its face down toward her neck to bite it open. The child wailed.
[Thud!]
With a dull sound like a sack of flour bursting, a huge hole opened in the Madman's head. Blood sprayed everywhere. Splattered in the face, the woman let out a startled scream. She shoved the heavy body of the Madman off her with difficulty and struggled upright. In the distance, a black motorcycle was racing toward them.
The Hunter riding it held a silver rifle in one hand and fired shot after shot into the heads of the Madmen charging at the woman. Accelerating, the rider overtook the pack chasing the fleeing people and came to a stop near the fallen woman with a sharp 180-degree turn.
"April. Arrived at Sector C4."
April dropped the oncoming Madmen one by one, each shot from her silver rifle punching through a skull. The woman stared blankly at the Hunter who had appeared out of nowhere, unable even to think of getting up.
"Unni!"
The child ran to the fallen woman and threw herself into her arms.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Only when she saw her younger sister's face did the woman seem to come back to herself. She nodded.
"Hey. What are you doing? Go!"
April turned her head and shouted at the woman. Supporting her older sister, the child began running again.
"Elysia. Scan."
At April's command, blue light spread out in every direction from her satellite.
"A total of 248 Madmen confirmed within a radius of one hundred meters, with more continuing to enter the area."
"Well, well, April. Looks like you're surrounded. Need a hand?"
O'Brien's voice came with a teasing lilt. April snorted.
"Transfer. Powertrain."
At her command, the satellite hovering over her right shoulder split into six pieces. Each piece projected blue laser light toward her arms, legs, front, and back. As the blue light adhered to her body, it took shape, swelled, and then transformed into a black titanium protective suit.
The Madmen all charged her at once. Just as their beastlike hands were about to reach her, April suddenly lowered her stance—and with a loud boom and a burst of flame, she vanished like a blink, punching straight through the horde as though she had teleported. Then she reappeared farther ahead, in the midst of another cluster of Madmen, and ruthlessly blew their heads apart with the guns in both hands.
Every shot she fired passed cleanly through a Madman's skull. The creatures could do nothing against her movements, which were too fast to follow. Their heads burst apart before they could even react. More Madmen, hearing the gunfire nearby, rushed toward her. They slashed at her with clawlike hands, but April dodged lightly as though she could read the trajectory of each attack, then fired upward beneath their jaws and blew their heads apart. Madmen charging in from farther away had their legs blasted out and fell where they were. Though the distance between April and the creatures was often less than a single meter, it was as if an invisible barrier surrounded her body; the Madmen could not close the final gap.
As the dead piled up and ever more Madmen crowded in around her, April judged that she no longer had enough room to move. So she stepped on the knee and shoulder of one charging Madman and launched herself into the air. Then she kicked once more off the satellite and rose to a height of roughly five meters. Arching backward, she flipped through the air—and at the instant her body inverted and began to fall, she switched ammunition and fired a special round.
It landed in the center of a cluster of Madmen beyond her and detonated with enormous force, blowing apart everything within a radius of three meters.
"Well now. Looks like you haven't lost your touch."
O'Brien arrived belatedly on his motorcycle.
"Where's Supremer?"
"Probably getting chased by Madmen somewhere again. Who knows."
"I heard that, baldy."
A moment later, Supremer descended from the sky on his jet board and landed.
"Did you try the headquarters on the radio?"
"No. The signal's getting through, but there's nobody there to answer."
April hesitated, wondering whether they should remain here or cross over into Coral District to support headquarters.
"If we still haven't heard anything by now, then it's one of two things. Either they dealt with the Madmen… or they've been wiped out."
O'Brien and Supremer seemed to agree.
"Let's clear this area first. Obi, circle the outskirts of the city and confirm the Madmen's positions."
"And you?"
"Supremer and I will gather the people and move them to Guard Post Four."
"Right. Be careful."
April nodded. Supremer flashed a lazy V-sign with his fingers, hopped back onto his jet board, and the two of them raced toward the direction where the civilians had fled.