Less than a handful of NYPD officers, all SWAT certified, were issued MilSpec weapons. Modern military battlefield gear was far too destructive to deploy in a city under normal circumstances and, honestly, MilSpec urban warfare gear hadn’t changed a ton over a hundred years. It got more sophisticated in terms of optics, communications, and computational capacities, but a bullet was a bullet, and most police forces still used calibers comparable to what their great grandparents packed.

It was just cost effective.

“Here it comes! Hold your fire until we’ve got them in the kill box!” John called, resting his rifle on the armored surface of the SWAT APC.

Lyssa scrambled to her feet, taking up position beside him as she too looked through the optics of her M-4C rifle. The enemy wasn’t exactly trying to sneak up on them—the insects were actually shoving trees out of their way as they approached—so drawing a good sight picture was far from difficult. She just hoped that they were packing enough firepower to do the job.

“Steady! Aim!” John called as the first of the alien beasties stepped out onto Central Park West. “FIRE!”

The air was rent with the staccato bursts of automatic fire, fifteen cops opening up with everything they had.

NATIONAL GUARD COMMAND POST, INTREPID SEA, AIR, & SPACE MUSEUM

“WE’VE GOT REPORTS of fighting all through the city, sir. Most of it involving civilians or police at this point.”

“Why are my squads not in position yet, Lieutenant?” Potts growled.

“The city is gridlocked, sir. Opening a path through that mess is taking time.”

The general growled, but it was more of a frustrated sound than anything else. He knew how hard it was to move military vehicles through a city at the best of times, and what was going on in New York was far from those. The aliens had slammed into the city in their initial penetration, taking some buildings down and generally causing no end of panic, and now he had millions of empty, or hopefully empty, cars out there blocking every street and alley in the whole damned city.

His men were cutting through it. They had orders to do so without regard for the property, but it was taking time. Even with cowcatchers mounted on the tank chassis, there was a definite limit to how fast you could clear a road.

“More pressing, sir,” Lieutenant Sky told him, “we’re already detecting troubling signs on our seismic systems.”

“You know the orders on those. Flood the subway system with men, flush them out,” Potts ordered. “Do it delicately if you can, but do it.”

“Yes sir. I have men moving through the tunnels faster than above ground. Anything down there is a top priority.”

Potts grunted, but at least that was some encouraging news. He wished he could move more of his units through the tunnels but, aside from the fact that they were still evacuating people through them, there was just no way his armored units would make it cleanly through the stations they’d need to emerge from.