RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

That first hive scar was not the last they have seen.

Echo One and Echo Two continued to the northeast, and the same damage repeated across the corridor in smaller forms.

Dead biomass clung to manhole covers. Tower foundations had split open. Even storage yards carried marks of something that had once passed beneath and then withdrawn.

Dmitri marked each location, but he had not contacted the Commander. Yet.

They had mostly encountered abnormalities but no active threat. Whether it had been caused by the recent horde activity or something else, Dmitri found the pattern peculiar—and more threatening than an open attack.

”Echo One,” Adrian muttered on the channel. ”I didn’t know industrial areas had too many access points.”

Dmitri followed Adrian’s gaze.

A maintenance cover sat near the curb. Another rested beside a transmission tower foundation. Farther ahead, two more lay near the fenced edge of a storage yard.

Some even had warning signs blown off to the side.

Adrian continued, ”Talk about manholes or vaults. Either this place had people who liked to play hide-and-seek or I’m starting to see things.”

”It’s in their architecture,” Dmitri rolled his eyes.

They were Scouts sent to observe areas and detect threats.

They were not Engineers sent to analyze infrastructure and admonish architectural nonsense.

Whether there was one more manhole or not, it didn’t make any difference to him.

”Stop overthinking and walk over.”

As he scribbled on his notes, the two squads stumbled upon a fenced substation. It was a hundred meters away from the main road, tightly isolated from the desolate surroundings.

Dmitri glanced at his squad members, then raised his hand and signaled.

”Echo Two, to your left. Substation, at least a hundred meters.”

”Treasure hunting now, Echo One?”

”Leave no stone unturned,” Dmitri replied. ”The Commander wants everything laid out over here.”

Adrian shrugged, following Echo One toward this mysterious substation building.

”Cracks stopped at this point,” he pointed at the compact concrete. ”You see this, Echo One?”

”I do,” Dmitri noticed the peculiar situation as well. ”Keep moving.”

”Yeah. Oh wait.”

The two squads stopped, barely a few meters from the substation’s entrance. Dmitri turned to Adrian.

”What’s it now?”

”Look at this,” Adrian pointed to a crack on the concrete. The lines was too clean, as if some blade had cut through in a single slash.

”Ignore it. Something’s wrong with this substation. Check the front door.”

”Right on point. We share the same idea, Echo One.”

The gate had been cut open by something with force, but not crudely. If a hive was present here, it would have torn that thing apart.

Dmitri put down his notes and placed his hand on his weapon.

A professional move, Dmitri’s fingers slid down the metal gate. Only a human could do this.

From an angle, the locking mechanism had been severed near the frame.

”We got a situation,” his voice echoed through the channel.

Adrian’s reply came quickly.

”Same old?”

”No.”

Dmitri looked through the gap in the gate, toward the dark substation beyond.

”Professional.”

”Are they alive?”

”That remains to be seen.”

”Let’s just hope they’re not hostile then.”

Dmitri did not answer. He slowly pushed the gate aside.

The hinges groaned faintly—but it was louder than he expected.

Echo One froze for half a second, then quickly angled their weapons toward the substation yard. Echo Two mirrored them from the other side, covering the broken fence and the road behind them.

Nothing? Dmitri was unsure if he should be disappointed or relieved.

The low wind passed through the dead transformers and rusted steel frames.

He pushed the gate wider then stepped inside.

Rex followed, but his body remained low. The dog’s nose shifted from the cracked asphalt to the substation control building at the far end of the yard.

Adrian entered next. His NVG swept over the open ground.

”Good thing there’s no corpse here.”

Dmitri agreed.

A place like this should have bodies—workers, guards, infected, scavengers.Anything else.

Instead, the yard felt abandoned in a way that was too clean to be natural.

”Echo Two,” Dmitri said. ”Watch the perimeter. Squad, on me.”

”Copy,” Adrian replied. ”Try not to find a ghost in there.”

Dmitri ignored him and moved toward the control building.

The door was locked. That alone, said more than enough.

”This isn’t going to be easy,” Dmitri furrowed his brows.

One of the Scouts stepped forward and checked the lock.

”Squad leader, it’s mechanical. No electronic seal.”

”Open it.”

The Scout took out a compact tool and worked in silence. A few seconds later, the lock clicked.

Dmitri raised his hand.

The team stacked beside the door. Then he pushed it open.

The smell reached their nose.

Dust, old paper, and dried sweat littered around. Mixed with it was a faint scent of metal and gun oil.

Adrian’s voice came through the channel.

”How’s the inside?”

”Not your ordinary worker’s office.”

”How special?”

”Probably SAS.”

The other channel turned silent. Dmitri swept his eyes across the room.

He saw several folded sleeping mats near the wall. Empty ration packets packed neatly into a plastic bag.

A portable receiver sat on the table, its battery unit dead and its casing opened. Several wires had been pulled out and rearranged by someone who knew what they were doing.

On the far wall were photographs.

Cargo trucks.

River freight containers.

Warehouse entrances.

The North Industrial Corridor.

Even a few people were included, marked with Xs or circles.

Every image had a date, a time, and a short note written beneath it.

Dmitri approached a table. A folder rested beneath a cracked tablet. Its cover had faded, but the stamped letters remained readable.

------

SAS FIELD CELL 7

SUBJECT: UNAUTHORIZED HELIX MATERIAL TRANSFER

ROUTE: NORTH INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR

------

Silence enveloped the scene.

As expected, Dmitri slowly opened the folder. Tracking HELIX shipments?

Inside were freight schedules, plate numbers, chemical batch references, and names of shell companies. Most of it meant little to him at first glance.

Then, one yellow paper attached on the document caught his attention.

------

[ FIELD NOTE — CELL 7 INTERNAL ]

[ Cross-reference request to Cell 12 remains unanswered. ]

[ Unconfirmed chatter between cells suggests internal compromise within Cell 12. One operative may have defected or gone rogue. Verification pending. ]

[ Despite communication delays, source reports indicate a new shipment will move through the North Industrial Corridor within seventy-two hours. ]

[ Suspected cargo: HELIX-controlled compounds / derivative stabilizers. ]

[ Route: river freight terminal → utility service road → northern transfer point. ]

[ Environmental exposure risk remains unconfirmed. ]

[ Directive from top brass remains unchanged: no HELIX material breach is permitted near Ashington water systems. ]

------

Dmitri read the note twice.

Cell12, he paused. Must be Johannes? The rogue agent fits Elias too well.

His expression did not change, but his fingers tightened slightly on the paper.

If the note was accurate, then Johannes’s team had not been an isolated survivor group stumbling around after the collapse.

The Commander had mentioned that Johannes believed other SAS agents might still be scattered across the city. This document made that possibility harder to dismiss.

Cell 7 watched a different target—a large area where goods moved in and out through various platforms.

Strange, Dmitri narrowed his eyes.

Johannes had never used that label in his own records. His base had listed names, roles, and field assignments—but not the formal cell number. This was the first document that identified them from the outside.

”Echo Two, big catch.”

”What’s the harvest this time, Echo One?”

”Place is an SAS observation post, similar to Johannes.”

”That so?” Adrian perked up. ”Who were they watching along this route?”

”Smuggling route for HELIX materials.”

Adrian paused, then chuckled as he answered. ”No wonder we have more manholes here than anywhere else. Seems like people really wanted that superhuman juice.”

Dmitri nodded, not rejecting Adrian’s words. ”The agents are nowhere to be found.”

”No shit,” Adrian clicked his tongue. ”If you saw a large horde coming over your ass, wouldn’t you go somewhere else too?”

”Hmm?”

Dmitri froze.

His eyes swept across the room again.

Folded sleeping mats. Packed ration waste. Dead receiver. No blood. No shell casings. No claw marks on the inner door.

The place had not been overrun. It had been shut down.

Did the recent horde miss this place?

Dmitri’s fingers tightened around the folder.

”Echo Two,” he said quietly. ”You may be right.”