Arnquist had been unaware of the establishment of the two outposts and their supporting firebases due to the break down of communications. He later found out when one of the corp men had received an extremely garbled transmission.
The incoming artillery shells had confirmed the existence of the two outposts.
Shortly after Central Command had stopped receiving transmissions, but before all air craft had been grounded, CC had ordered the establishment of the two outposts in hopes that they could keep the mob off of the campus while being relatively safe themselves. Each outpost consisted of 4 fire bases arranged along the cardinal directions, and each fire base consisted of 6 batteries, with 6 artillery pieces per battery. All together there were 280 85 mm artillery pieces, and 8 155 mm Howitzers, all being used for precision fire, and all of the outposts were within range of one another.
Things were very quickly heating up, and the situation was getting worse. Soldiers had begun to pass out from the extreme heat and a lack of supplies would soon become an issue. The campus was now being looted for food, water, and medical supplies.
The good news was that the mob had not attacked the campus for about a day and a half, but even this was beginning to worry people. An occasional series of gun shots could be heard from the nearby city, which implied that there were survivors from the initial transformation of the crowd, and that these survivors were defending theirselves.
The perimeter defenders were very tired and very much afraid, and the guard was about to change up for the next shift when an announcement had come over the radio in the command tent on the campus. It was the Emergency Broadcast System. First came the long, loud beep, and then the words that no one would forget:
"This is not a test of the Emergency Broadcast System! THIS IS THE REAL THING! I don't know what they are, aliens, monsters, mutants, what ever they are.... There are so many of them. I'm the last survivor in the city I think. There may be more but I doubt it, I don't know why I didn't change. My name is Stewart Cooper, I was a student here at the university. I don't know if anyone can hear me right now, but if someone can, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could do me a favor that I'll be unable to repay.
My family lives in Chicago, Illinois. If someone is listening, please tell them that I love them very much."
After this, there was a loud bang. There was still a transmission, but there was nothing to hear, and the corp man in charge of the radio had been ordered to try and find other frequencies.
Two hours later the radio man had picked up another transmission, it was coming in as clear as the midday sun shining over a cloudless sky. And every word that came through carried nothing more than bad news. It was from one of the outposts - their southern firebase had was under attack.
Moments later the echoes of artillery fire could be heard in the distance. Only seconds after that, the communications center was lit up with incoming signals - all of the firebases were under attack, and the first outpost was receiving artillery fire, which suggested that the initial fire base had been over run and the artillery pieces were now under the control of the Wolf creatures...
Arnquist was informed of this and sat down in a chair, his hands folded and placed on his chin as if in deep thought, almost as if in a trance from which there was no retrieving him. He did not even budge when the machine guns on his own perimeter began to fire....