Chapter 5

"RPG!" Was shouted, as the missile hit the jeep at the head of the convoy, it was propelled to the right, onto its side and clear off the road. Gunfire erupted from both sides as cultists poured out from all angles. The soldiers instantly fought back and a vicious fire-fight began.

Ryder sprung out from the vehicle into the chaos, closely followed by Helman. The pair retreated to the rear of the car, both letting off deadly shots from their weapons. Another volley of missiles screamed towards them. One just skimmed the bonnet of the jeep while another hit the front of the light tank near the rear. The explosive did not penetrate the armour but caused the tank to be violently shoved back, rocking the crew around inside.

One of the missiles exploded perilously close to the jeep, the shrapnel just missing the two men. However two nearby soldiers were not so fortunate, the hot, razor sharp pieces of metal slashing through them. Ryder looked away and noticed a nearby house that was occupied by a group of cultists. He ran to the left in a diagonal so as to avoid the deadly arc of fire from the building, as he went he caught the attention a few soldiers who followed the man. He reached a neighbouring house and hugged the wall, unclipping a grenade as he edged closer to the cultists.

When he got near a window he smashed it through the grenade and waited for the explosion. The entire wall of the already crumbling house exploded outwards in a shower of cracked cricks and concrete, that missed Ryder by only centimetres. The men all rushed into the house and let loose rounds into the survivors. Bits and pieces of humans lay everywhere, the area was caked in blood from the dismembered cultists.

By then the APCs had moved up the street, after chasing off the attacking cultists at the rear. They supported the front infantry and presented a wall of metal against the lightly armed enemies. Having wasted all of their heavy armaments on hand, in ill-aimed shots, the rabble made a hasty retreat into the thicker concrete jungle to safety

As the dust settled the soldiers spread out in a loose perimeter around the vehicles occasionally firing at the few cultists who stayed to hassle them. Ryder stood looking at a group of dead bodies. The cultists had clearly charged into a group of his men and attacked with melee weapons before being killed themselves. The bodies of the men and women lay scattered around, the wounds on them being brutal, but it almost seemed preferable to a death by Exclamber, starvation or the many other deaths so prevalent. Helman walked up behind his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder

"Hard isn't it. Seeing dead bodies are the norm nowadays, but to fight each other..."

"That used to be the norm. Ironic that the sight of us killing each other again is such a disgusting thing" Ryder Mused

"True, their casualties were pretty high" Helman replied looking around the scene

"Yeah, they underestimated us"

"They've been doing that for all the time I was based on the outskirts. They won't do that again"

"Best make as much headway as we can I guess. We'll be in and out as rapid as possible"

"Agreed"

They spent no time in racing forward, the bodies of their fallen were bagged up quickly and placed in the transports for burial later; the corpses of the cultists were left where they fell for the birds to feast on. As they sped through the industrial area, walkways towered over the convoy leading from factories and towers everywhere, all in a sorry state. The area had been ripped to pieces by all manner of weaponry. The scars of battle were everywhere and buildings had been broken apart, burnt out vehicles and aircraft lay scattered here and there, remnants' of the lost humanity.

After a short trip, the lead car ground to a halt outside of the large, open metal gates marking the resistance camp. The gate was battered and bruised with huge dents and cracks all around it. The buildings either side of the gate were fortified with sandbags, scrap metal, barbed wire and machine guns. All were unmanned and silent. The wind blew harshly though the area, the loosely fitted metal banged against the buildings, creating an eerie feeling of a ghost town.

All the men dismounted and spread out, guns raised, waiting for any movement. Ryder focused on one of the structures near the gate as he dismounted the vehicle, it was stained with dried blood which had run down the front of the building. He looked over at Helman who shook his head woefully before signalling to move forward

They slowly crept into the camp. The air was thick with the smell burnt flesh; it clung onto Ryder and filled all his senses with the feel of death. Blood stained the ground in nearly all places indicating a large battle had happened, yet there were no bodies anywhere, just the discarded weapons of the fallen scattered here and there.

"Gate is open and no signs of battle anywhere outside of the compound" Ryder said over the radio to Helman

"Agreed, they must've snuck in or had someone open the gate for them"

"Where are they all?"

"No clue, check in the buildings"

Ryder wasted no time in climbing up into the guard position situated next to the gate. Inside the stale smell of blood and dust hung in the small room. Most of it was boarded up with wooden planks and sheet metal in places, this fortification made the room dark with a few rays of light streaming in through the cracks. At the one window there was the heavy machine gun facing out. The red marks stained the floor and walls in wave like patterns as if an artery had been cut, forcing the blood to spurt out rhythmically. The commander walked slowly over the machine gun stationed facing into the long street. Outside the squad positioned to look after the vehicles glanced up at him before recognising him as a friendly. He grabbed the machine gun and opened the top of it revealing a full magazine of ammo inside, not one bullet missing.

Looking around he saw a hot plate knocked onto one side with thick stains of some liquid around it, bending down nearby he examined it. He deduced it was soup, from the vegetables scattered in the dried up mix. So whoever had attacked, came in through the door while the men on guard did not suspect an attack. A melee was fought, as he could tell from the lack of shell casings and the bodies were later removed. Apart from that there was not much else in the room he could use to tell what had happened.

The answer to the missing people came from Helman who had discovered a mass grave full of charred ashes in the middle of the camp. At least a few hundred bodies could be made out in the ashes of the pit, all burned to cinders with scraps of clothing still scattered throughout them which the flames had missed.