The Walking Dead: A New Beginning From the End of the World

Central base at the Georgia Institute of Technology

At that moment, dozens of soldiers were boarding combat helicopters, preparing to assist in the battle taking place at the prison. At the very least, they could provide support from the air and improve the situation.

They couldn't risk the prison having to defend itself alone, so three helicopters equipped with Mag-58 and M-240 machine guns were dispatched, ready to provide aerial support for the situation unfolding on the ground.

Meanwhile, at the central base, the gunfire was constant and intense; people were running with boxes of ammunition while others filled magazines with bullets, one after another.

At that point, it could be said that the horde of walkers had just emerged, and it was unknown how many more were waiting behind the forest, ready to advance.

A few minutes after the gunfire began at the city wall, Morgan suddenly ran over to Rick, bent down, and shouted loudly, "Rick! The walkers are getting more numerous along the edges where the mortars aren't hitting. If this keeps up, it won't be long before they overwhelm the width of the walls. We need to deploy more forces to those sides!"

Rick had also noticed this problem, but he wasn't too worried. He believed the concentrated gunfire would draw the walkers toward the center, as the noise of the weapons would attract them.

Still, what Morgan said couldn't be ignored. After all, the gunfire would only lure the walkers at the front, while the barricades on the flanks might end up overwhelmed.

On the flanks, there was still barbed wire, and some areas had been sealed off, so they could serve as a final barrier if the front line were forced to retreat. However, the fields in front of the prison also had to be taken into account.

Rick turned his head toward Morgan, leaned in close to his ear, and shouted, "Call Corporal Rayan and have him watch the other directions! As soon as any of them get overwhelmed, they need to report it!"

Morgan gave a quick hand signal to show he understood and immediately ran toward the base of the city wall.

Months of training and preparation had paid off, resulting in exceptional performance during the battle. Many soldiers who had been in similar situations before understood the importance of speed.

By then, thousands of undead had been eliminated in front of the main gate, and a thick layer of torn-up corpses was scattered across the open space. At first glance, everything was soaked in blood. It was a never-before-seen scene, and the shooting was still going strong, with walkers falling faster and faster.

Indeed, just as Rick had predicted, the horde emerging from the forest was spreading wider and wider, gradually approaching the edges of the wall.

"Switch the mortar loads! We need more power!" Marco shouted while watching everything unfold from inside a tank.

Rick stepped back, received more magazines, and continued fighting. Following Rick's signal, the fortifications on both sides of the city wall roared to life!

The distinctive sound of heavy machine guns tore through the mass of walkers and echoed in the soldiers' ears.

To the soldiers, that sound was like magic, bringing a sense of stability and safety. In the towers on either side, multiple heavy M2 machine guns and light M249 machine guns were sweeping across the crowd of walkers.

The large caliber bullets shredded the bodies of countless walkers with terrifying force and consistency. A headshot wasn't even necessary; anything living—or undead—that was hit by those rounds was obliterated.

The great horde of walkers left behind countless corpses on the ground, piling up to the point where the people on the walls could no longer tell if what lay ahead were walkers or just bodies. Rick and the other captains noticed this, and Rick finally gave the order for what needed to be done.

Before long, five tanks started their engines and slowly moved along the flanks. Seeing this, the surrounding gunfire became much more careful to avoid friendly fire.

After charging ahead, the five tanks pushed beyond the defensive line formed by the armored vehicles and then spread out. It was the first time a tank had fired in front of everyone, and with just one round of shelling, everything around them was torn apart.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After the volley, everyone on the walls and in the watchtowers could see how the piles of corpses nearby exploded violently. Blood mist sprayed everywhere, and a fierce excitement ignited in the soldiers' eyes.

After that, under the relentless fire from the tanks' machine guns and distant mortars, the walkers were shredded before anyone even had time to process what they were seeing.

The five tanks moved in from one side of the battlefield, lining up and rolling forward toward the flanks.

Weighing more than 70 tons each, they functioned like five massive steamrollers. Any walker in their path—moving or not—was crushed.

After moving forward and back, the open area that had once been filled with roaming corpses was now flat and stained red.

As for why tanks hadn't been used to crush the walkers from the start, the main reason was that the walkers hadn't been clustered tightly enough, making them harder to target effectively—and the tanks would have interfered with the soldiers' line of fire. So at first, the tanks were meant to give the frontline fighters some breathing room.

But now, the tanks had fulfilled their purpose and withdrew again, awaiting their next assault.

The gunfire and power of the tanks astonished everyone on the walls. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, many would have believed the tanks were just decorative and useless at the base.

"Sir, three Eagles are moving toward the prison!"

Right after that, Shane's voice came through the radio Rick was holding, and moments later, three black helicopters with the red letters of the Second S.C.T. insignia began firing on the walkers from above.

At one corner of the wall, Daniel and Jim were firing intensely. Jim's face was grim, and the rifle in his hands kept piercing through the heads and torsos of countless walkers.

Although many bullets went astray, with the current concentration of walkers, unless the shots were fired straight into the sky, even missed shots could still hit something.

Daniel, beside him, was much calmer as he operated a machine gun. He aimed precisely and took down numerous walkers. The effect was clearly stronger than Jim's.

Each shot took out one or two walkers. Maybe it didn't kill them, but it tore off parts of their bodies, reducing their combat effectiveness.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jim suddenly spotted a crawling figure nearby. He knew who it was, so he ignored it.

Without paying attention to that movement, only seconds passed before something unexpected happened. Suddenly, Jim felt a hard impact on his side. He turned and saw a man in military uniform holding a pistol.

It was Mike, standing behind Jim. Beside him was a walker with half its body destroyed, which had slipped through his flank.

The anger on Jim's face instantly vanished, replaced by sheer fear.

"Captain! I'll be more careful."

"Stay focused—and don't just look straight ahead!"

The battle raged on, and tens of thousands of walkers were eliminated rapidly under the overwhelming firepower, from both air and ground.

At that moment, Rick had no idea that the sound of gunfire and explosions from the prison could be heard from far away, and the fighting could be heard even in areas once thought to be too distant.

Some survivors—groups large and small—hiding in the shadows, also heard it.

Suddenly, voices of discussion echoed across the countless survivor camps:

"There's fighting over there!"

"I hear helicopters—it's definitely a military shelter! I hope I can find them!"

The battle at the prison was still ongoing, but survivors everywhere were already preparing to set out in search of a better place to survive.