29. Assembly Point
The next day, April's team arrived at the 3rd Corps 1st Assembly Point, the widest area in Murmansk. The 3rd Corps had five assembly points with supply stations, where hunters held strategy meetings or rested. The assembly point bustled with southern hunters and armored units. City staff moved busily carrying heavy materials, apparently short on barracks. Newly arrived hunters got off porters looking around, some demanding help finding their barracks. Dark clouds filled the sky from day one, threatening rain.
"Welcome. I'm Armored Unit 3rd Company Commander Mushaiger. Thank you for your long journey."
Mushaiger stood on a platform before over 150 hunters.
"Before the operation briefing, I'll convey the current situation accurately. This 3rd Corps where you are has a population of about 5 million—the most populated area in Murmansk. Regional defense headquarters estimates approximately 500,000 madmen distributed throughout the 3rd Corps. All regional transportation and communication are severed. Civilians have been isolated in buildings for 30 days, surrounded by madmen. Obviously, we can't use mass destruction weapons with madmen mixed among civilians.
Centered on this 1st Assembly Point, we'll process madmen scattered throughout downtown while delivering supplies to civilians. Regional defense forces and 2nd support units are already deployed at outposts performing missions. You'll rotate with them continuing purification operations. The 3rd Corps purification rate is currently 60%—quite encouraging given the speed. This 3rd support unit will mobilize all firepower for final purification. I ask everyone to help complete missions quickly so you can all return safely. Daily operation plans will be delivered through armored unit commanders assigned to each unit. Good luck."
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April's team fiddled with weapons received from the supply station. Supremer's pistol was a Malcolm Company 9mm semi-automatic with recoil control, allowing one-handed rapid fire—widely distributed in military and civilian sectors. He inserted the magazine and holstered it on his right hip, stuffing spare magazines into empty pouches. O'Brien pushed a 20cm magazine into his rifle and added spares to his magazine vest—the many pouches looked suffocating. April opened her protective suit bag and fixed an arm guard to one arm.
"Wow, April! Cool! Like Robocop."
"Wow, really? You look like a walking grenade."
Supremer laughed watching O'Brien's sour expression as he covered his bursting laughter. Since the enemy's main weapons were sharp teeth and nails rather than bullets, they worried about lacerations. Protective suits of lightweight, tear-resistant special material covering the whole body were supplied.
"Soldiers fight with such good stuff, so they don't die easily. Our headquarters is poor, so aren't our people always dying using their bodies?"
"Then become a soldier."
"No way. Can't meet women or drink—what fun is that?"
"Do you even meet women? I've only seen you hitting on them."
At April's words, Supremer looked like he'd taken a hit, and O'Brien giggled at him.
"But what's with that person?"
Where April looked, a man herded people around. He wore a neat white suit with golden slicked-back hair shining, approaching people at the assembly point shaking hands like a politician campaigning. People who shook his hand bowed with bewildered faces while he patted shoulders seeming to praise them as dependable. His security pushed aside onlookers. Eventually his group came to April through several people. Seeing April in protective gear, the man's eyes widened as if finding interesting prey.
"Oh~ How surprising! I didn't know such a lovely female warrior was among our support forces..."
At the man's smooth words, April smiled sourly as if another lunatic had appeared.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Golden Tower's mayor, Victor."
Though Murmansk's mayor, he specifically introduced himself mentioning only Golden Tower, the central district.
"May I ask where our lady comes from?"
"Houston."
"Ah, Houston. You came from the far south for us. Thank you so very much. I hope you liked yesterday's accommodations. When the unit tried to guide you to a shabby nearby motel, I specially instructed them to guide you to Golden Tower's most famous hotel. You're rescuing our city from filthy madman bastards—isn't this the least we can do? Tell me if you need anything. I, Victor, mayor of Golden Tower—the world's center, the golden city—am always with you. Hahaha."
Victor couldn't contain his self-promotion before women. Politicians all alike, conscious of public eyes, sensed opportunities to win favor like ghosts and rode them for attention showers. Whether sincere or false, loved or unloved (though not saying he liked opposition), such definitions didn't matter much to them. They only wanted to turn attention toward themselves at moments everyone focused, making their presence stand out.
"1st Platoon! 1st Platoon! Come on! Once you've gathered equipment, hurry to the operations room!"
Palmer, the platoon leader, urgently rushed hunters slowly gathering equipment. The previous day, he went to Nick, the armored unit commander, claiming statistical errors and that he'd been unanimously chosen as platoon leader. Nick, fed up with his continued claims, backed out saying to talk with O'Brien. When Palmer found O'Brien and asked him to yield the platoon leader position, O'Brien patted his shoulder saying he'd gladly count on him, then left the operations room heading to the hotel lobby with the casino.
"I'm Nick, the armored unit commander assigned to the 1st Platoon. We'll handle the 4th Outpost with the 2nd and 3rd Platoons. Operations have two platoons daily moving to different locations. As you heard, we must support civilian supplies, so work will feel slower than expected. Well, if the government supplies arrive punctually, there's no problem. The real problem is... this..."
Nick turned on his satellite and spread the screen. Combat with madmen appeared. Madmen began pouring from buildings in the distance, growing numerous enough to blacken the entire screen.
"We call this situation a 'burst.' Like one part bursting with madmen streaming out. Previous support units were nearly annihilated precisely because of these swarms bursting out. Once they start pushing from one side, they gather from everywhere—you don't know where they hid—and you're instantly surrounded. In that situation... well. There's actually nothing we can do. You must run unconditionally."
Nick spoke matter-of-factly turning off the satellite, but hunters' expressions darkened after seeing the screen. They wondered if they'd ever faced such numbers of madmen.
"Well, that's roughly the situation. You're younger and have better combat skills than me, but when you actually go on operations, there'll rarely be thrilling fights. And schedules often don't go as planned. Purification work is important, but many places need supplies. More patience will be required than expected."
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The sky had darkened. Platoons assigned to the 1st and 2nd Outposts had already left the assembly point, and 5th Outpost people prepared to move. Hunters were tense, barely speaking outside. Everyone seemed worried they'd soon actually see the battlefield scenes commanders had shown.
Watching people prepare to leave in the distance, April smoked.
"What? Missing Pramo already?"
O'Brien approached April smoking alone. He took a cigarette and fumbled in his pocket for a lighter, then looked at April. April glanced at O'Brien once, took out her lighter, extended her hand and lit it. In the dim dusk space, the cigarette burned in red light.
"Damn. After playing so hard yesterday... can't adjust."
O'Brien stroked the back of his neck with one hand.
"The madmen. Why are there so many?"
April said.
"What? Scared? You're no exception before numbers either."
When O'Brien countered April's words as if waiting, April looked at him and shook her head as if pathetic. She watched people leaving. But strangely, she didn't feel like she'd see them again at the assembly point.