Chapter 184: The Ground Beneath Us

Both carried pistols and moved with calm, deliberate steps despite the chaos around them. They didn’t waste bullets or fire wildly. Each time an infected approached, one of them raised a weapon and put a round directly through its head before moving on to the next. BANG! BANG! Head after head exploded as the two figures calmly advanced through the street.

"Natasha, on your right!" Na-rin spotted an infected rushing toward Natasha and immediately switched positions with her. She raised her pistol and fired without hesitation, the bullet punching straight through the creature’s skull before it could reach them.

"Cover me," Natasha said as she rushed toward Elena while firing ahead of her. Elena was still on the ground, dragging herself backward with one leg badly injured, but she continued firing at the infected closing in around her.

Natasha reached her and quickly pulled her to her feet.

"You look freaking cool right now," Elena said with a weak chuckle.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "What are you doing risking your life like that? Hold on to me."

She hooked Elena’s arm around her neck and helped her move, keeping her pistol aimed toward the approaching infected.

At the same time, Thomas, Bong-gu, and Haris moved toward Na-rin.

"Na-rin?" Bong-gu stared at her in disbelief. "Where the hell did you come from?"

He had known her for a long time. She had always been quiet and difficult to read, but the girl standing in front of him now seemed completely different. She moved with confidence, firing without hesitation as if the battlefield didn’t faze her at all.

Na-rin simply pointed toward the building above them.

The three men looked up and spotted two more women on the rooftop. One was firing a pistol while the other kept an M16 trained on the street below.

"Isabel and Cindy?" Bong-gu’s eyes widened. "They’re here too?"

"Are the others with you?" Haris asked, quickly scanning the surrounding buildings.

"No. Just the four of us," Na-rin replied. "We’ll talk later. Get up there."

Thomas nodded. "You heard her. Move!"

He and Bong-gu helped Elena while Haris covered their flank. Natasha stayed behind them, firing at anything that came too close as they began retreating toward the building.

"Go! Move faster!" Natasha shouted.

The infected were already closing in, pouring through the street from every direction. With most of the soldiers either dead or forced to retreat, nothing remained to slow the horde down.

"Get up here!" Cindy shouted from the rooftop. "They’re coming!"

Isabel stepped forward and pulled a grenade from a small bag. She quickly removed the pin and tossed it into the densest part of the horde.

BOOM! The explosion tore through the mass of infected, sending bodies and limbs flying across the street.

"Keep moving!" Isabel shouted. "We’ll cover you!"

Thomas and the others pushed forward as the remaining infected surged after them, while Cindy and Isabel continued firing from above to keep the path open.

Natasha and the others finally reached the rooftop, stumbling onto the concrete one after another. Bong-gu immediately dropped onto the ground, breathing heavily as Thomas and Haris helped Elena sit down against a wall.

"Huff... huff... I almost died down there," Bong-gu gasped.

Isabel quickly crouched beside Elena. "Is everyone okay? Anyone else hurt?"

"My leg," Elena said, grimacing as she checked the injury. "But I’ll live."

Haris looked back toward the street below, his expression darkening. "The other soldiers... they didn’t make it."

For a moment, nobody said anything as the distant gunfire and screams filled the silence between them.

"At least we’re alive," Elena finally broke the silence.

Thomas nodded, though his expression remained grim. "They were soldiers. They knew what they were signing up for. All we can do now is keep living."

Bong-gu lowered his head. He barely knew most of those soldiers, yet watching them die right in front of him still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Before anyone could say anything else, a dark figure suddenly crossed the rooftops in the distance.

Bong-gu immediately raised his rifle. "Crawler!"

Everyone turned toward the figure and raised their weapons, but Na-rin quickly stepped in front of them. "Don’t shoot. It’s Jaxon."

"Huh? That’s Jaxon?" Bong-gu narrowed his eyes, barely able to make out the figure through the darkness.

The figure leaped across another rooftop, clearing the gap with ease before landing several meters away from them. Jaxon straightened and looked around at the group. "You’re all here?"

"Jaxon!" Cindy immediately rushed toward him, looking him over. "Are you hurt?"

"I’m fine."

"You’ve been out there for too long," Natasha said, her brows slightly furrowed.

"We were about to go find you," Na-rin added, her expression equally concerned.

Jaxon glanced between them before shaking his head. "Sorry for taking so long, but we need to leave. Now."

His expression turned serious. "The infected are pushing deeper into the safe zone. This place won’t hold for long."

Thomas shook his head. "It won’t fall that easily. Most of the soldiers have gathered here now. We’ve got armored units, special units, and air support reinforcing the western sector."

Jaxon didn’t answer immediately. Then his expression suddenly changed as he felt something strange.

A heavy pressure formed in his chest, sending a chill through his body. ’What is this?’

He slowly turned toward the street below, and saw that the ground was trembling.

At first, it was barely noticeable, but the shaking quickly grew stronger. Dust fell from the nearby buildings as cracks began spreading across the concrete.

"Jaxon?" Natasha asked. "What’s wrong?"

Jaxon’s eyes suddenly widened. Something dark was moving beneath the street.

Through the widening cracks, he caught sight of familiar black flesh spreading beneath the ground like roots, crawling through the soil and concrete.

"Infected..." His voice became tense. "They’re coming from underground!"

"What?" The others barely had time to react before the street exploded.

BOOOOOOM! Concrete and asphalt were blasted into the air as several infected were thrown from the massive eruption, their bodies tumbling across the street.

Everyone on the rooftop immediately raised their weapons as Jaxon’s expression hardened. "Get ready."