Pull them back from the east line."
Callum turned on me like I'd suggested surrendering the whole bloody territory.
"We give that up. They're inside the estate perimeter."
"They're already inside the estate perimeter," I countered.
"That's one infected fighter."
"One we know about."
Another howl broke somewhere behind us. Not from the border, but from the house.
Callum heard it too, and his face changed. "Dammit."
"Exactly. Pull them back."
He grabbed the radio. "East team, fall back to the second markers. Repeat, abandon the outer line and regroup at the estate."
The answer came through in pieces under shouting and gunfire.
"Alpha, they'll take the road."
"I know," I said into the radio. "Let them."
A fighter beside me looked over.
"Let them?"
"We've got infected inside our own line. Nobody chases coalition fighters into the smoke. Anybody who makes it back to the estate holds here."
The fighter nodded and ran.
