Adventure of True Dave 9

True Dave leads the push into an intersection choked with stalled cars. His ankle throbs as each hurried step loads the injured joint, while the defenders follow through the opening.

Yama plants himself at the rear of the moving formation, and Cheryl Lee swings her chainsaw toward the side streets, securing the defenders behind True Dave.

The city appears empty beyond the cars. Then a knock echoes from one adjoining street, followed by an alarm and the clatter of something dropped farther away.

Distant covering fire snaps twice, then fades. Taramisu cannot keep shooting while the formation identifies what is steering the horde through the surrounding streets.

Beyond the intersection, scattered undead turn toward the newest noise instead of closing on the defenders. The narrow route remains open, but every answering sound suggests deliberate timing.

The defenders hold behind True Dave while the adjoining streets answer one another in sequence. The next move belongs to him at the mouth of the open route.

True Dave stills at the intersection and reaches outward with the Force. The layered knocks separate into a pattern, each sound placed by a deliberate living presence beyond the eastern side street.

The sensed presence remains hidden behind the buildings, but its position is clear. The zombies are being redirected by timed alarms and impacts, not random movement.

The defenders tighten around the intersection while the undead drift toward another answering clatter. The eastern street offers a direct course to the hidden signaler before the horde can turn back.