Parachute Drop

The dust-covered army was advancing along a rough, sandy road.

There were no imposing tanks, no swift armored vehicles, no air-force escort or cover, and certainly no integrated air-ground intelligence and reconnaissance.

The marching army consisted of battered little trucks and pickups, with motorcycles weaving through the ranks.

The trucks and pickups were packed with soldiers, crammed shoulder to shoulder. Their weapons were mostly basic rifles and rocket launchers, and their equipment was painfully crude. There was not even a shadow of sophisticated individual combat gear or heavy weapons.

This army, which looked especially shabby in the twenty-first century, was the force the Faha Organization had sent to Tewei City to fight alongside Jieko Group. It numbered more than five thousand men.

With the transport vehicles of this force traveling along the broken, rugged roads, they would have had no ability to conduct a long-distance assault if Sha City had not been only fifty or sixty kilometers from Tewei City. Most of their vehicles would have broken down halfway there.

In a relatively intact military-green jeep near the center of the column sat Tuxin, leader of the Faha faction, and Shao Meng, head of the Jieko Group Intelligence Department.

"General, we're just over twenty kilometers from Tewei City."

A subordinate's report came over the radio. Tuxin's spirits lifted, and he ordered, "Pass it down. Have the troops maintain this pace. We must reach Tewei City before three this afternoon. We need to go there and help Jieko Group purge the zombie virus. We can't afford any delay."

"Yes, General. Our army is moving in good order. We'll definitely arrive on time."

After a few words of conversation, Tuxin looked at Shao Meng and said, "Mr. Shao, we'll reach Tewei City before three this afternoon. Once we establish a foothold there,