An explosion shook the city, widows were destroyed and car alarms screamed. A line of twenty Abram tanks rolled side by side on parallel roads, through the town of Mesa Grande, but, all headed in the same direction, to the west. Boom, boom, boom-boom, as the Abrams fired their M256 120mm smoothbore guns in a hellish symphony at their targets, the Heat shells hit the target again and again, plumes of fire, smoke and sand they rise into the sky, forming craters across the desert west of the city. Rat-tat-tat-tat, while some tank commanders fired 12.7mm Browning M2 machine guns and loaders fired 7.62mm M240 machine guns at their targets, a special operations soldier had been assigned to each tank to operate the M240 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. All hell was breaking loose, or rather, hell had broken loose and was coming to Mesa Grande. Brigadier General John Preston was inside an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle that had come to Abraham's far left. The Bradley's M242 25mm main chain gun rang out as it took its place in the front line. A specialist soldier climbed to the top and brought the 7.62mm M240C machine gun to life. He had a satellite phone to his ear and listened intently: “Yes, we are making progress.” replied, “Hold the line at Mesa Grande,” sounded General Barney Mackland. "There is a large supply convoy headed your way from the east, I need you to build a barricade to block Route 17 in Mesa Grande." the four-star general laid out the details of the plan and then John put the phone aside. John Preston was in charge of an infantry brigade of 5,000 men and had those troops manning the perimeter of a deserted town called Mesa Grande. The city had approximately 20,000 residents, most of whom were located on the Gulf of Mexico. "I need air support at coordinates..." he reread the coordinates Alpha Helo One had given him. “We have two Hogs on decks ready to go” referred to the A-10 Wart Hogs which were long range fighters and were also used as tank killers during the Gulf War. The A-10s had a 30mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling cannon, the most powerful aircraft cannon available. Those aboard the American Fitzgerald were also equipped with AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles to strike ground targets with TV or infrared guidance. The Fitzgerald had informed John that the ETA on the A-10s would last approximately 45 minutes. He called Alpha Helo One and got an estimate of the speed of the zombie mass and Alpha Helo One reported that at the speed they were traveling, it would take the zombies hours to reach Mesa Grande..