"You alright kid?!" Salvatore shouted as he ran over to where Adam sat on the ground, still mildly shell shocked. After all, you don't go through such a death-defying experience everyday and walk away without a bit of trauma. Even he needed a moment or two to catch his breath.
"Yeah I'm… fine…" Adam said, his mind racing a million miles a minute and his thousand yard stare piercing through the dirt where he sat. Salvatore sighed deeply in relief and then patted Adam on the shoulder twice before looking back at the firing line.
"I got work to do still, kid. Rest up if you gotta." He said with a firm nod to him before he walked back to the sandbag wall and began to fire into the crowd of feral ghouls.
Adam let off a long and heavy sigh of relief as he took a moment to himself. He knew, logically, that he was still in the middle of an active battlefield, he needed to help, but he needed a minute, and not a single person seemed to be faulting him for that.
After a moment to regain his footing Adam slowly stood back up and surveyed the battlefield.
Surprisingly everything was going well. The ferals were swarming onto the parking lot, many were falling into the trenches or tripping on rubble. The killbox was doing its job, laying waste to the horde that kept filtering in. The only true hazard was the fact that ghouls seemed endless and that the bodies were already starting to show signs they might end up stacking up. However those were problems for the future, for the moment everything seemed to be going to plan.
The North and South flank were very secure, there were some scattered ferals, as expected, coming around that way but the guards stationed there were cleaning them up easily. Ammo was stacked high along the sandbag wall, brought in, in huge numbers, by War's men, to aid the defenders and allow them to fire freely.
Not a single feral had breached the defensive line yet, everything was going smoothly. If only Adam's APC had not stalled and his armor was not wrecked he could call the initial phase a massive success. Of course it was hard to feel that way after what he just went through, but since he survived he had to remain optimistic.
A quick glance around did not give him a view on Mira anywhere, she could still be stealthed elsewhere, but with over 200 faces all in a state of combat it was hard to say for certain if she was here or not. He could only hope for the best.
Adam then walked over to the spot where his APC used to be, where his group had put all their stuff, including all his gear he didn't want to take with him in the APC, and potentially in the power armor, and then recollected everything.
Armed and ready Adam took one more deep breath to recollect himself after his near death experience and then joined the defensive line at the sandbags.
He walked over to Eve who was firing a spritz of grenades all at once from her grenade machine gun that she was easily lifting up, and holding aloft, with ease.
"Oh hello darling~ Come for the party?" She said with the same flirty tone as ever, despite the carnage before them. It was almost endearing.
"Just left one party, now I got the party favors and I'm back for round two." Adam joked as he leveled the laser rifle against his shoulder and took aim at the parking lot, starting to lay down fire at the feral ghouls running towards them all.
God, laser rifles just felt so right in his hand. He was trained to use it, after all. He liked the 10mm pistol too, it had its uses, and it was standard equipment as well. But nothing beats the feeling of a warm laser in your hands. The low recoil, the smooth trigger, the distinct sound, the red light, it was a form of art in itself. Oh how he missed this. His laser pistol had nothing on this feeling, the laser rifle truly was the perfect weapon, conventional firearms had nothing on this puppy. Adam couldn't help but smile in spite of himself. A small part of him felt like he was back home in a way. However twisted that might be.
"Oh I saw.~" Eve said in response to Adam, breaking him from his intimate moment with his favorite gun the US Army ever produced. "We all saw you running straight through the minefield, fearlessly weaving through the ghouls and avoiding getting shot. Even I must say, the fact you made it out unscathed is a miracle."
"I know." Adam chuckled as he nailed yet another feral in the head, killing it instantly. Honestly there were so many ghouls that it was hard to miss. Truly the only question that was worth asking was if they would run out of ammo and steam before the ferals ran out of numbers. "I definitely got a guardian angel looking out for me." Eve chuckled softly at Adam's comment.
"You believe in angels?" She teased. Adam shrugged.
"You can take a man out of the Christian era, but you can't take the Christian out of the man." He said casually as he fired down range.
"I didn't know you were religious." Eve said back as she fired the last grenade from her machine gun and then swapped to another weapon she had laying by her side, firing into the crowd with an impressive accuracy.
"I'm not, but you gain a healthy fear of God when in the trenches on the battlefield." He chuckled.
"Can't say I share the sentiment, I always found that the only thing you can count on to survive is yourself." Eve said in an almost sardonic way, though not intended to be rude.
"Try sitting in a frozen foxhole, waiting for a company of chimera tanks to roll over the hills, while you fight off frostbite by rubbing your hands together as best you can because a fire would give away your position to the enemy, and then tell me that there's no use in praying." Adam said back with a grin, enjoying a slightly more casual conversation despite the copious amounts of combat they were in. He needed it, it helped re-ground him. If they were in active danger he would not have the wherewithal to chat but this was not much different than target practice so he could afford to be casual. Though of course they did have to shout rather loudly, the sounds of gunfire and explosions were loud after all.
"I suppose for us robots, we know who created us, and why, so there's no point speculating on a higher power." Eve said, considering the psychology of her statement.
"It doesn't hurt to believe in something is all I'm saying." Adam said with a shrug as he nailed another feral in the head.
"I suppose that is fair. But I think I'll stick to believing in myself if its all the same to you handsome~"
"Suit yourself." Adam said with a soft chuckle back.
The fight continued on like this for another long while of active combat, the ferals did not once get close enough to breach the defensive line and not a single casualty was taken so far. They even had the luxury to ground the Vertibird, reload its miniguns and then send it back into the sky to begin more strafing runs in the sky where it was safe from the feral ghouls.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly to plan, but you know what they say about plans: 'They never survive contact with the enemy.'
Everything changed when a scream could be heard from the northern flank as a wave of ghouls crashed into the flank from behind the lines, specifically from the West. The West, the only area they didn't actively man since the ferals were moving in from the East. The Vertibird or one of the ghouls on the very outskirts would have informed the army if they had swung around and were bypassing the parking lot altogether to hit their lines from behind. However no news had come in and it seemed everyone was just as shocked to see the ghouls come from behind. It was immediate pandemonium. That was all it took for the lines to collapse.