The soldier looked to be in his mid-thirties, wearing one of those new orange army coveralls, his dog tag said Sergeant Danse.
He was now sitting on the bed in the hut that served as a hospital, looking at the people around him.
- Where am I? He asked.
- In a safe place... Edward said... You remember what happened?
- I remember...
All the surviving military took refuge in the castle, Danse helped block both entrances and went to report to General Arthur.
General Arthur Maxon was a tall, broad-shouldered man, the overcoat and black overalls underneath adding to his muscularity.
Despite being only 20 years old, he quickly rose through the ranks of the national army.
Danse saluted, but before he could speak, Arthur waved at him.
- Everyone is allowed to speak freely.
Dense nodded.
- The entrances are blocked. They won't come in unless they learn to use explosives.
- Good, because we have bigger worries than those monsters... Arthur sighed... Before we had to run, I got a message from the commander-in-chief. The entire commonwealth has been surrounded by a concrete wall, they will not send transport, we have to arrange it ourselves. Fortunately, I think I know where we'll find our ticket over the wall.
Arthur took out a map and pointed at it.
- There is one of the new models of vertibird at the airport. It can take about fifteen people on board.
- There are twenty-five of us here. Danse said.
- It will be tight but we have no choice. On the first day of the month, the entire commonwealth will be cleansed. Danse's eyes widened.
- You mean...
- Yes... Arthur nodded grimly... They'll drop a nuke here. They can't let these monsters spread all over the country. It would be the end of the United States, and perhaps the entire world.
Shots rang out outside, and they ran to the walls to see a horde of ghouls rushing towards the castle.
Despite the barricade, the door groaned horribly.
They shot at the ghouls, they killed them one by one, but instead of one killed, four more appeared.
Then new enemies appeared. These ghouls looked swollen, the inside seemed to be filled with fluid. When they killed one, it exploded like a grenade, spraying acid all around.
A few managed to run to the entrance and detonated themselves, the door and barricade fell, four soldiers with flamethrowers stopped the waves for as long as the tanks would allow them.
Arthur and Danse started to run to the armored vehicle, they were already at the entrance when Arthur shouted.
Danse turned to see the Ghoul bit him on the shoulder, Dense shot the Ghoul, Arthur looked at the arm oozing blood, his neck already glowing green, looked at Dense.
- Run away. He said.
He turned and jumped on the horde of ghouls, which had dealt with the rest of the soldiers and were rushing towards them. Arthur pulled out two grenades and pulled the pins, jumped into the crowd, crashed into the wave just as the grenades detonated.
The explosion reached the weapon stockpile, which also exploded.
Danse was thrown back and hit his head against the wall separating the driver from the rest of the vehicle. He closed the door and jumped in the driver's seat, started it and ran away...
- ...I drove until the fuel ran out, I entered a hut and lost consciousness.
Everyone was silent, after a while Curie whispered.
- The first day of the month is three days away. whispered Curie, pale as a sheet of paper.