Deadfall: Hunters by Richard Flunker

the intersection, having received word from the scouts at 10:05 a.m. that they had finally been able to coerce the horde to begin moving eastward on highway 74, unloaded from the trucks and began deploying across the intersection facing westward. Trucks were turned and placed about 100 feet east from the initial line, motors running to begin movement if necessary. Trucks were placed in four rows, two rows on each side of the highway. Snipers were placed on top of the trucks. 1 st through 5 th units were deployed in a straight line right down the intersection, immediately next to each other. Spare pikes were laid down directly behind the line for easy access.
    At 11:04 a.m., the first scout came in down Highway 74 and the snipers called down that they could spot the rest of the scouts with the horde following behind. At 11:15 the call went out to pick up arms. Pikes were raised as the remaining scouts passed behind us.
    Immediate reaction of the horde to our presence was clear. It was generally agreed that a large cry went out from among the Limps, a combination of screaming, moaning and crying. Most of us present on the field agreed it was not like anything we had ever heard from them before. Their pace also picked up considerably. As they approached our line, there was a murmur in our line, so I called out for one of the snipers to take a shot. 2 nd Unit sniper, Germaine Crasser, from Goldsboro, took a shot when their closest Limp was within 100 feet of our lines, cleanly taking it down. As the being was destroyed, the Units rang out in cheer. Morale is clearly very important in these situations.
    The horde crashed into our line. We compared numbers afterwards and estimate that about 20 crashed at the same instant into Unit 2, which was on the 2 nd lane if you're facing north on the highway. The line didn’t move and the Limps began to be dispatched easily. By 11:25 the entire line was engaged. Unit 5 had had to stretch north into the grass north of the highway, between the asphalt and the ditch. Flankers kept any Limps that came through the gap between Unit 4 and 5. Snipers fired no more shots but functioned properly by calling out the movement of the horde behind the line. Unit captains were able to keep their lines formed.
    Action was very busy in all Units. Once the horde was fully onto us there was very little rest. Thankfully, the Limps appeared to have no other intention other than coming straight at us, right down the pavement. There were no flanking attacks. The only exception to this were two Limps that came out of the forest to our southwest. These two were not part of this original horde, most likely attracted to us by the sound, and were quickly dispatched by a Flanker. One sniper was then assigned to keep a watch out on every direction other than the main line.
    Each separate Unit performed as had trained. Each Unit was in two lines of ten, rotating every few minutes. It became clear after a few minutes of combat that the best method of holding the pike was to use the weak arm to hold the pike midway, and use the strong arm to swing the pike in an upward motion toward the Limp head. The call routinely rang out among the lines when Limps were stuck on the pike. At this point either a free Flanker would come in and hack at the head or one of the pikemen in the second line would then use his pike to finish the job. Often that pikeman would then take the first’s place in the line as he would now have to remove the dispatched Limp from his pike. Communication also worked well as pikes broke and were substituted.
    As planned, each Unit held their line and there was very little backward movement. After about twenty minutes of action, a call came out from the snipers that the bodies piling up were stopping the Limps from coming straight at them. Having not faced this situation in the past, someone shouted to make a movement backwards 30 feet. It took a great amount of concentration in order to maintain the focus on