"We have to thin them down before they arrive," Adrian said. "I want the HIMARS and the howitzers firing on the swarm the moment they enter effective range."

Inside the command center, the atmosphere tightened again.

The tactical map updated continuously as the massive red swarm pushed northward through the highways and ruined cities below. What had once been scattered infected moving independently was now becoming a migrating wall of bodies stretching across multiple roads.

The lead elements were fast.

Far too fast.

"Estimate on artillery readiness?" Adrian asked.

One of the artillery coordinators immediately responded.

"M777 batteries are already calibrated and waiting for firing coordinates. HIMARS launchers are synced with drone feeds."

Adrian nodded once.

"Good."

He pointed toward the southern sectors of the map.

"I want layered bombardment zones. We break the density before they even get close to the outer perimeter."

"Yes, sir."

Outside Basa Air Base, the artillery sectors had fully transformed into combat-ready firing positions.

Rows of M777 howitzer artillery pieces sat dug into reinforced emplacements near the northern edge of the base. Floodlights illuminated the crews moving around them while ammunition trucks continuously unloaded 155mm high explosive shells beside the firing pits.

The artillery crews moved with speed and precision.

No wasted motion.

Each howitzer team operated almost mechanically now after hours of nonstop combat preparation.

"Shell loaded!"

"Charge set!"

"Traverse left two degrees!"

The long barrels of the M777s slowly elevated toward the night sky while fire direction officers received updated targeting coordinates from the command center.

Further behind the artillery line, the M142 HIMARS launchers remained hidden behind hardened blast walls and camouflage netting. Their launcher pods were already elevated, rocket tubes angled toward the southern approach corridors where the swarm continued advancing.

Drone feeds streamed directly into the fire-control systems.

Roads.

Heat signatures.

Movement vectors.

Everything updated in real time.

Inside one of the HIMARS vehicles, the operator stared at the targeting monitor.

"...That’s a lot of contacts."

The launcher commander didn’t even blink.

"Good thing we brought rockets."

Back in the command center, Adrian folded his arms while watching the tactical display.

The swarm was still kilometers away.

But not far enough.

"Begin preliminary bombardment," he ordered.

The command relayed instantly.

"Fire mission authorized. All artillery batteries commence attack."

Outside, the first M777 fired.

The massive 155mm howitzer erupted with a deafening blast, the recoil system absorbing the force as the shell screamed into the night sky. A shockwave rolled across the artillery sector while smoke burst from the muzzle.

Then another fired.

Then another.

Within seconds, the entire artillery line came alive.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The night around Basa Air Base shook continuously as dozens of artillery pieces began firing in coordinated sequence. The flashes illuminated the crews loading shell after shell into the breach mechanisms while spent casings clattered onto the ground.

"Battery Alpha firing!"

"Battery Bravo online!"

"Continue cycling!"

The shells traveled high across the night sky before descending toward the highways south of Manila.

Then the impacts began.

The drone feeds captured it immediately.

The first explosions erupted directly inside the advancing swarm, tearing apart huge sections of roadway as the 155mm shells detonated among the infected masses.

Fire and debris blasted upward.

Entire clusters disappeared instantly beneath the explosions.

But the artillery barrage didn’t stop.

More shells landed seconds later.

The bombardment walked across the highways methodically, each impact carving massive holes through the advancing zombie formations.

Inside the command center, the operators watched the red mass fluctuate violently as artillery rounds continued slamming into them.

"Confirmed heavy casualties!"

"Density reduction in Sector Four!"

Another analyst shook his head slightly.

"...Still too many."

Because even after direct artillery hits—

The swarm kept moving.

Roads filled again almost immediately as more infected pushed through the destroyed sections.

"Jesus Christ..." one of the officers muttered.

Adrian’s expression remained cold.

"HIMARS."

Outside the base, the HIMARS crews finally received firing authorization.

"Coordinates uploaded."

"Launcher aligned."

The commander inhaled slowly before speaking.

"Ripple fire."

The first HIMARS launcher fired instantly.

A rocket erupted from the pod with violent force, leaving behind a trail of flame as it accelerated into the night sky. Then another followed.

Then another.

Entire volleys launched almost simultaneously from multiple launchers hidden across the base perimeter.

The sky briefly looked like it was filled with rising comets.

Inside the command center, one operator tracked the rockets in real time.

"Impact in twenty seconds."

The room waited.

Then—

The southern highways exploded.

The HIMARS rockets slammed directly into the densest sections of the swarm with catastrophic force. Multiple explosions erupted almost simultaneously across several kilometers of roadway, turning entire intersections into burning craters.

Cars were thrown through the air.

Buildings near the impact zones partially collapsed from the blast pressure.

The infected vanished beneath walls of fire and fragmentation.

One drone flying above the impact zone shook violently from the shockwave.

"Direct saturation confirmed!" an analyst shouted.

The tactical display finally showed a visible effect.

The swarm slowed.

Not stopped.

But slowed.

Huge gaps appeared temporarily across the advancing mass where the rockets had landed.

Adrian stepped closer to the screen.

"Continue firing."

"Yes, sir!"

Outside, the artillery crews were already reloading again.

Sweat covered the soldiers despite the cool night air. Their ears rang continuously from the nonstop firing while loaders dragged fresh shells toward the howitzers.

"Faster! Faster!"

Another artillery barrage thundered into the sky.

The HIMARS launchers repositioned slightly between salvos to avoid counter-targeting instinctively, even though there was no enemy artillery to fear anymore.

Only zombies.

And somehow that felt worse.

Back on the drone feed, the bombardment turned entire roads into graveyards.

Burning infected stumbled through collapsing firestorms while artillery shells continued landing deeper into the rear sections of the swarm.

Bodies piled across highways.

Vehicles overturned.

Bridges partially collapsed from repeated impacts.

Yet the infected still advanced.

"That’s the problem," Adrian said quietly while staring at the screen. "They don’t care how many die getting here."

Nobody disagreed.

One of the analysts suddenly looked up.

"Sir, new movement detected."

The map updated again.

Several portions of the swarm were spreading outward now, leaving the main highways and moving through smaller towns and secondary roads.

"They’re adapting around the bombardment zones," the analyst reported.

Adrian narrowed his eyes.

"Redirect fire patterns. Funnel them back toward the highways."

"Yes, sir."

Almost immediately, the artillery barrage shifted.

The M777 batteries began striking secondary roads and open terrain instead of the highways directly, using explosions and collapsing debris to force the infected back into predictable kill corridors.

The tactic worked.

Drone feeds showed thousands of zombies redirecting away from burning impact zones and back toward the larger roads.

Straight into the HIMARS kill lanes.

"Now," Adrian said.

The next HIMARS volley launched.

This time even heavier than before.

Dozens of rockets screamed across the sky before descending directly into the compressed mass of infected trapped along the highways.

The explosions merged together into one continuous wall of fire.

For several seconds, the drone feed became almost unreadable from the sheer scale of destruction.

Even inside the command center, several operators stared silently at the screen.