Seven silhouettes came from the hallway, making the previously empty corridors liven up with their sudden arrival.
Hans felt an odd weight in the air, like the entire eighth floor was holding its breath as the seven new soldiers arrived.
The four conscripts stood on Hans's sides, and together with their Commander, eyed the seven newcomers curiously.
The man on the left stood upright, his eyes scanning the room before lowering his weapon. His voice was calm, with a faint Middle Eastern accent.
"Conscript Noah Idris reporting, sir."
The second man appeared crouched, blinking rapidly as if counting everything in sight. His uniform was perfectly aligned, yet a slight hint of naivety lingered on his face.
"Conscript Ravi Patel, reporting for duty."
The third man was half-grinning, shaking his head at the sudden brightness from the sunlight leaking through the window. He slung his SMG before saluting in a serious flair.
"Conscript Diego Cruz, Commander! Show me where to point my gun!"
The man beside Diego was calm and motionless, his shoulders squared and his gaze fixed forward, like a carved statue. He said nothing until he met Hans's eyes.
"Conscript Kenji Watanabe, standing by, Commander."
The lively person on his left landed on one knee, with a sharp salute that almost looked too aggressive.
"Conscript Tobias Klein! Where are our enemies, Commander?"
As for the last two, Hans's eyes flickered. There it is, another case of women again.
The first woman steadied herself, breathing slowly. Her tone was clear and level.
"Conscript Amara Liu, awaiting for your assignment Commander."
Hans nodded and turned his gaze further to his right. The last woman's appearance felt softer, but Hans didn't feel she was any weaker.
She adjusted her strap and offered a slight nod before speaking
"Conscript Nadia Reyes, Commander!"
The seven finally introduced themselves, and Hans felt nothing but exhilaration and nervousness as his infantry grew larger.
Excited that he could now challenge the floors below, yet nervous as information about his enemies remained unknown, and he might lose one or two soldiers during this attempt.
If they died tragically, then so be it! Avenge one with a hundred heads, two with a thousand bodies!
He knew that death was something he wouldn't be able to prevent for his soldiers. Their lives and survival mainly depended on themselves.
Of course, he wasn't going to let them die foolishly or in vain.
He had the fundamental respect for every individual soldier who would be out there, sacrificing their lives.
Eleven soldiers now.
In any other circumstance, that number meant nothing. But in the zombie-infested Grefort City, it marked the beginning of the undead's long-overdue demise.
"Welcome, the seven of you, for being under my command." Hans stood up and extended his arms, exuding the aura of a noble officer.
"You already know me and the four comrades before you, so there is no need for us to introduce ourselves."
The seven nodded simultaneously.
"Now that Adam and his four-member squad cleared floors six to four, our next step is first to secure the upper floors, unlock any locked doors, barricade the windows, and clean the mess."
Hans decided on their course of action.
Though striking the last three lower floors was important, Hans didn't want to take any chances.
Barricading the windows served two purposes: to mitigate the sound of gunfire and to block any sudden entrance.
Hans knew that to take over the rest of the apartment, he and his team would have to shoot their way through. Gunfire is definitely loud, but with the tight walls, hallways, and stairwell, and by blocking the windows as well, he calculated that the noise radius generated by the MP5s would become smaller.
As for the upper floors, despite being high up, they could remain susceptible to zombies suddenly springing up and attacking his soldiers in two directions.
He also wanted to see what was behind those locked doors, no matter what it took. It could earn him the last 100 gold he needed, or reveal something surprising.
"Adam and Alexei, you two both lead a team. Choose whoever fits into your group. I'll leave the specifics to you." Hans delegated most of the hard work to these two conscripts.
Adam and Alexei saluted before they gathered their teammates in no time.
-----
Team 1: Adam, Ethan, Selene, Amara, and Ravi.
Team 2: Alexei, Noah, Diego, Kenji, Tobias, and Nadia.
-----
Hans offered no comment regarding their choice. He continued to debrief about the general course of his plan.
"Once you secure these floors, assign someone to night guard duty and take turns. We will strike the lower floors tomorrow morning. Adam, Alexei, Ethan, and Selene are still tired from the fight earlier. Any questions?"
Ethan first raised his hand. "Commander, what do we do about the bodies?"
Hans looked at him and replied, "Dump them through the windows. Make sure that it will fall to the ground."
He had no choice but to do this. Otherwise, the decomposing bodies would fill the hallways with stench that even his system wouldn't be able to help him compose himself.
Adam followed, raising his hand as well. Hans nodded to him, gesturing Adam to continue.
"Commander, sir, will you join us in the frontline tomorrow?"
Hans narrowed his eyes, wondering why his unit would ask this question. "I will join you, but I will stay in the rear. You can assign someone to guard me then."
He didn't really want to stay up here while chaos descended below. The anxiety itself would kill him.
What if a special zombie suddenly breached through from the upper floors, and he had nobody to depend on?
He also wanted to see how this group would coordinate when they were an 11-member squad.
Lastly, he wanted to earn that last 100 gold during the fight and promote himself as quickly as possible.
"Are there any other questions?" Hans surveyed them once again. Seeing everyone silent, Hans internally sighed in relief. "If there is none, then dismissed. Continue with your work."
The two team leaders quickly gathered their members and started assigning roles and duties.
"Adam, do you want to be on top, or on bottom?" Alexei asked a very vague question, earning the displeasure of the three ladies.
Ethan, Noah, Ravi, and Diego held back their laughter. Slip even a little, and they might find themselves punished out of nowhere.
Adam frowned but refrained from arguing with Alexei, "My team will secure the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors. Once we're done, we'll go over and assist you."
"Thanks for the help then." Alexei grinned before leading his team to the lower floors.
After the short interlude, the two teams worked hard to follow Hans's orders. In some rooms that were skipped on the upper floors, Adam's team met a few zombie stragglers.s
However, they were taken care of easily with a few strikes to the head. Their progress was even faster than Team 2, which supposedly had more members than they did.
In just six hours, the six upper floors were cleaned. Hans even gained Gold resources, but still lacked a few more to get his last conscript unit for his Rank promotion.
[ Gold: 7 (+88) -> 95 ]
It appeared that most doors were locked, as no resident was occupying the area. The rest contained little in the way of valuables—mostly small silver trinkets and gold-based items.
Hans wasn't too disappointed about his luck either.
If he got promoted, the operation tomorrow would go very well. If not, then he would make do with what he had.
After the cleaning and securing were done, came the problem about barricading the windows.
Most of the furniture was immovable. The rest could be moved, but they were too heavy.
This led to Ethan having to expend a great deal of effort in moving them. It took the entire team a lot of time to barricade each window properly.
As the furniture ground through the flooring, the team members could hear the groaning from the floors below.
A few stragglers came upon the barricade, but the somewhat makeshift barrier halted their advance.
As the conscripts passed through the stairwell, they glanced at the helpless zombies and moved on.
Once the entire task was completed, the eleven conscripts returned to Hans's room, took their dinner using their meal ration, and assigned someone for guard duty.
Meanwhile, Hans had surveyed the area outside from his room's view. It seemed that the complex was mostly empty, but zombies lingered not only within but also outside.
He considered sniping them from above with his conscripts' MP5 submachine guns, but rejected the idea immediately. The barricade's integrity remained to be seen. He was also unsure how many zombies there really were.
Moreover, the noise generated by firing from the window was no different from announcing Hans's presence to the zombies and survivors around a large radius.
If a massive horde crashed through the barricade and broke it down, then Hans would have nothing but to blame himself for his carelessness.
The buildings nearby were silent, though he noticed a few movements on some floors. He wondered if they were survivors or the undead.
If they were survivors, then he would assess their initial behavior first.
Should their initial contact turn friendly or neutral, Hans would either invite to take them in or leave them alone. However, if they turned hostile, then Hans wouldn't hesitate to bring them all down and purge them entirely.
It took Hans a few hours scribbling more notes into his blue book before feeling the same throb on his head again. He closed the blue book and rested on his comfy bed.
His dreams drifted far, sometimes a nightmarish one, and sometimes, a delightful one.