The event at the chemical lab was a week ago. From then on the soldiers had taken their incursions much more carefully. David later learned this from the teams still going in, as he had been moved to Echo when it was apparent he was overkill for the situation, that the place was a pharmaceutical research center.

Every day after they returned to the safe zone David would treat those that went inside to food of choice and cheap beer. Which went just fine for those men. Even Echo got a free cold one once David joined up with them. Foxtrot, however, never showed. They were full of officers.

On the thirteenth day, David and the others were told that they were going to start camping at the dungeon. Which no one liked. Especially Rick, who had to be brought out there to get David out of the suit.

With him, Jake and three freelance soldiers he managed to pick up came in a jeep David had gotten for emergency sake. As soon as David was sealed up for the day, they were heading back to the safe zone. It was about halfway through the day when the attack began.

-----

“ Holy fucking shit, that was badass. How many of them do you think you got?”

“ Not enough. Echo and Foxtrot were better off than you as the team's inside were already on their way out. They probably were out front by the time I got to you.”

“ Then they probably made it?”

Miller gave his soldier a look and he shut up. The Dreadnaught took extra precautions and secured his legs to the truck as they pulled to a stop. The Dreadnaught turned slightly to look at Miller over his shoulder.

“ Are we stopping for the others? I do not think they are still behind us.”

Miller did not know and that worried him.

“ Mark, why did we stop?”

“ The Lt. told us to. He wants us to keep our eyes on the dungeon.”

Miller got off his radio.

“ Fuck.”

“ It gets worse.”

Miller turned to the Dreadnaught and saw him pointing. At first, he thought he was pointing at the newly swarmed dungeon, but instead, it was in the distance that was what looked like an endless horde of giant horse-sized army ants.

“ Yea, no. I am pulling override on this shit. We stopped, we scouted and now we are getting the fuck out of here.

Miller goes back to his radio.

“ Corporal, I want this truck moving right now. We don’t need to see that the bugs have the dungeon. Now get our ass out of here.”

-----

As Miller ordered his driver to move, David recorded what he was seeing and sent it to John, who was looking at the swarm of ants and whistled.

“ You seeing this Rick?”

Rick nods and turns to Jake.

“ In the gaming world, we call that a monster stampede. How many do you think John, fifty thousand? As the first wave?”

John nodded and was already typing on his computer.

“ And if gaming experience has told me anything they are heading right here. Those at the dungeon are probably scouts. Since we had not seen them till now, I would wager they expand somewhere in the ballpark of somewhere between three and four miles a day. In a week their first scout teams will be on us and by the end of the month here...”

Jake picked up what John was implying.

“ We are likely going to have to survive that before we get to move to the full update, won’t we? I thought safe zones were permanent.”

Rick laughed at that.

“ Was there truly such a thing as a safe zone back on Earth? The illusion has kept us from killing each other and now that illusion is about to pop.”

“ So what are we going to do?”

John and Rick both lifted their shoulders as people in uniform started running around.

“ John, do you hear me?”

“ I hear you, David, that is a shit storm heading our way isn’t it. I do not think even you could have predicted this.”

“ No, I could not. But I do have my rainy day fund. If Jake is there I want him and any other boom guys to run the numbers on how much boom, burn or bang we are going to need to handle such a threat. Whatever cash I have left I am going to funnel into ammo, explosive, or good old fashion traps.

Rick, I need you to put a contract for ten million to get my minigun in full working order. I am going to spend everything else I have on ammo for it. And one more thing. I do not give a fuck about dick measuring with this.

Tell the others my thoughts and if they don’t want to help, or don’t agree with how Jake and the other experts would handle this. Tell them to fuck off and stay out of the way.”

“ Many of them are not going to like that David.”

Jake gives his two cents after John.

“ Especially the army boys. They typically have a wait and see attitude.”

David laughed at that, hard.

“ Oh yes, the unit I am currently with last received order was ‘wait and see’. You know what he said seeing what I am seeing. It was, let's GTFO.”

Jake smiled hearing that.

“ Must be a good Sergeant.”

There was a pause before David spoke more soberly.

“ Speaking of Sergeants, how is Smith doing?”

Jake shook his head.

“ When you did not show up last night he just wandered off. No one has seen him since.”

“ Fuck... He was a good man. He deserved better.”

“ Yea, I've seen it before. But there is nothing we can do now.”

“ Right... Moving on, keep the teams scavenging for another three or four days before pulling everyone back. We are going to miss out on some supplies, but at this point surviving the month is more important. And we are going to need every able body we can.”

“ And what about the other groups?”

David took a deep breath and slowly released it anticipating the headache waiting for him in the safe zone.

“ Arrange a meeting with everyone, and make sure you have a preliminary plan set up.