Dawn was still just a cold rumor on the horizon when Valerica finally spoke the word.
She did not say it to the squad. She whispered it directly to the glowing zone map on her command band, staring down the East sector boundary line. It was an entry that had haunted the bottom of their dreaded second list since the very first prep session, and now, it was the only entry that mattered. She closed the band, cutting off the pale light, and turned her gaze toward the gaping maw of the secondary corridor.
"East," she commanded softly.
They moved as one.
Cael had delivered the final field reading an hour earlier. The massive, leading edge of the enemy migration was riding the deep magical current, currently thirty minutes away from flooding the secondary corridor. For exactly thirty minutes, the tunnel would be clear. After that, it would become a slaughterhouse.
