I crouched down behind the brick wall with the rest of my squad, I was terrified as I always was on the battlefield. Yet this time I was truly terrified, the enemy was unkillable, truly unkillable no matter how many bullets we fired into that lizard''s face. It would just come back, it should’ve been made into swiss cheese, a bloodied defiled mess. Yet it just healed right back up and continued laughing.
It was silent, deafeningly quiet. I, like the rest of the Kyntari forces, just a moment ago saw the Colonel get thrown up into the sky by the Lizard.
I didn’t know what to do now, any plan that I did try and come up with at that moment was immediately overshadowed by doubt. So all I did was just look upwards as James and the Enemy commander went higher and higher in the sky. I can easily guess what is going to happen next, with the end result being the Colonel dying.
“So now what Lieutenant Bomblitz?” Asked my Warrant Officer, His voice muffled through his armor.
“I am not exactly sure.” I gave a heavy sigh.
A few moments passed with nothing happening.
“Sir the enemy hasn’t moved at all. Nor do they seem to be planning on making a move.” Reported my Second Lieutenant.
“Maybe they are waiting for their commander to come back and finish the job.” I said solemnly, sitting down onto the ground legs up against his chest. As much as my armor allowed me to curl up into a ball. “This ain’t looking good for us.” I said once more over taken by anxiety something that never happens unless I know we are really screwed.
“It ain’t.” Added my Second Lieutenant.
A few moments of silence permeated as no one bothered moving, like everybody was holding their breath. Waiting for something.
Then in the silence an order appeared, the distinctive sound of morse code played in my mind, a sound that just doesn’t go away. I immediately snapped my attention to the area where the message was in my vision.
“The Enemy commander is dead, we have the advantage. Get ready for a continued assault.” Orders from Sharkface.
I just stared in disbelief at the orders, the enemy commander was dead, the one that lived after taking hundreds of rounds to the face.
‘Whatever James did, it sure as hell sounded like him.’ I thought, I stood up and saluted up towards James, my hand up at an angle outwards in the Mexican salute style.
“Incluso en la muerte se vive.” I said, a common saying my regiment had in the back of the Texas National Guard during his Patrol Duties in Mexico. The saying respected the actions of a dead man, whose name is not remembered.
After a brief moment of silence, I put down my hand as the rest of my squad was just confused at what I was doing “So you guys really aren’t military then?” I asked.
The rest of the squad simply shook their heads, “That explains a lot about all you.”
I sighed and looked back at the other squads hiding behind the other brick walls, there was an opening in the middle of the two squads. A large one at that big enough to let an 18 wheeler through, on the other side of that wall was the enemy fortified behind a sandbag wall.
The outside was where the hordes of goblins and ogres were along with the spot where the Colonel and the enemy commander fought. I was in fact right next to a pile of dead goblins.
I received another order, “Stormtroopers at the front, on the whistle charge the enemies position. Anti tank gunners target the sandbags the enemy is behind.” Orders from Sharkface.
I nodded and turned to my squad, who was now starting to panic a little. “Charge them?” Muttered one of the Privates. Despite the armor in the way he could tell.
I furrowed my brows confused at why now of all times they were questioning orders. But I simply answered their question. “Yes, we will charge them. It''s the only way we’ll be able to eat anything more than just human flesh and fish.”
“But I don’t wanna die.” muttered another private.
I snapped to the armored private, now annoyed at this disobedience. “I don’t care, we’re all going to die one day. Just accept that you''re already dead on the battlefield no matter who you are up against.” I grabbed my pistol and pointed the barrel between the eye slits of the private, “because if you don’t, well you’ll just be too afraid to fight and will die anyways. It''s not like most of you here have anything to lose from dying, either back home on Earth or here, so what''s the matter with taking risks?” I asked.
Upon a quick reflection of the last few days I finally realized most of these guys here were on some sort of welfare or unemployed benefits back on Earth. These were the worst of people, they were the leeches of society, the spoiled brats riding off the victory of the Third World War.
Parasites is what he liked to call them, ironic that''s what he and his friends would describe himself back in high school as a Parasite.
‘No time for that Daniel, just deal with them for now.’ I thought
“But… I don’t… wanna die.” Said that same private from before.
“You’ve fought the goblins before, shot them down. So what''s the issue now?” Daniel said.
The private from before remained silent, unresponsive.
As I heard Shark yelling off in the distance. Followed immediately by droning of the anti tank guns and the magic circles with them.
“We don’t have time for this, get ready for the charge.” I said, at that moment the guns fired followed by explosions which shook the ground.
A whistle was blown as others were blown in response. “Go now!” I ordered, running out and charging towards the thrown up dust and soot.
I hoped the rest of his squad was with me, I didn’t have the time to check.
I grabbed a grenade from my belt as I quickly approached the sandbag line as flashes of light lit through the smoke followed by more smoke making it impossible to see the battlefield.
Several musketballs pinged off my armor, I felt the sting of the kinetic energy. I primed the grenade and threw it into one of the warehouse windows, then another volley came at me with several more rounds pinging off my armor.
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I was around 20 feet away from the sandbag wall, the smoke however is making it difficult to tell though. Yet I kept running despite my unsureness, and then I ran into the smoke cloud, I slowed down and reached over my back and pulled out my smg.
A brief red flash of light went off through the smoke as an explosion went off in the warehouse. The lizards were yelling in their alien language, like orders.
I came to a stop as the sandbag wall was only a few feet in front of me yet I didn’t see them. I got down to be level with the gun hole. I heard cleaning rods slam down on the bottom of a barrel, as the lizards were hurriedly speaking in their high pitched tongue, they were still reloading. I pushed the barrel of my smg through the opening and blindly sprayed them.
The muzzle flash lit up the smoke filled area, yet I saw nothing only to be followed by the yelling and screaming of the lizards. I grabbed my trench mace and jumped over the sandbag wall, the smoke surprisingly cleared up quickly. The smoke revealed dozens of lizards all up, their heads were at my shoulder. Bayonets pointed out to me.
The lizards were short, somehow shorter than me and I was already short. Their muskets were short, the muzzle diameter was small, and their bayonets were about a foot long, through the slight vision the metal spears seemed dull.
One of the lizards gave a high pitched shrill and the lizards ran towards me, I quickly swung my trench mace outwards and into the skull of the closest lizard''s head. The other lizards charged me, the bayonets hitting the steel plates on my chest giving a resound dull clink, two grabbed my arms and began to pull me down, I stood my ground and broke my right arm free, and slammed down the spiked club that was my trench mace into the side of the lizard in front of me I could hit.
I shook off the lizard from my left arm and slammed my mace down into the lizard on the left side. Then into the one that was charging me, a subsonic gunshot cracked from my right and then the sound of metal on sand. I slammed my mace into the next lizard, at this point the remaining lizards were keeping their distance bayonets pointed out towards me. The battle field wasn’t silent as the occasional artillery gun fired off in the distance, accompanied by the occasional gunshot.
Yet here at the warehouse it was quiet, the lizards were now at the front as their commanders were just eyeing me, the commanders were fancily dressed, in fine silks that seemed to be very similar to the silks we found on the ship we raided only yesterday. With admittedly beautifully crafted chest plates that had intricate designs on them, their eyes suddenly shifted to the right of me, to the ruined brick walls that surrounded the warehouse.
Then the lizard commander slumped down to the ground, with a gunshot that echoed from everywhere. The lizards looked back in horror and screeched, clearly panicked. They all rushed to the warehouse door as more gunshots came from the walls, I quickly ducked down behind the sandbags. I just realized now at just how many lizards were here holed up in the warehouse, I quickly scrambled back to the other side of the sandbags as the lizards tried to get to the now wide open warehouse.
Their attempts at survival were in vain as hundreds of gunshots fired into the retreating lizards, I looked through the gun hole and reloaded my SMG. The lizard''s dead bodies piled up along the warehouse wall, sometimes the bodies were stacked on top of one another as if they were tripping over each other.
I looked to the left and right of me and saw other stormtroopers were behind the sandbag wall just like me, lizard bodies covered the entire ground, likely only dozens of lizards were dead. I heard the hurried squeaking of the lizards from the windows above me.
The guns died down, as the last lizard ran into the warehouse the double doors slamming shut with a thud having come from the door. It was clearly locked up or the doors were locked, unable to be opened from the outside.
I cautiously looked up towards the windows of the warehouse, I couldn’t see in it, but there was lots of commotion coming from the inside. Like the lizards were in a panic.
I looked at the other stormtroopers whose rank I can identify through their armband. From what I saw only officers and sergeants, any rank lower than that wasn’t present or I just didn’t see them.
”I should’ve expected something like this…” I sighed under my breath, the biggest threat to our success here isn’t the enemy but us. It’s always us, specifically from the cowards who won’t pull their weight. I of course will need to deal with this as the Colonel is dead already.
I heard the quiet shuffling of metal on dirt from my right and I saw the other storm troopers were headed towards me. The first one to reach me was Lieutenant Reivax.
”Do you know where the privates are?” His armor was coated in a thin layer of lizard blood and guts.
”I think they didn’t follow orders.” I answered.
”Really?” Reivax asked quickly, throwing a look back to the brick wall and then back to me. “Cowards.” Was all he said.
”Yep, they are cowards. For now however we need to focus on the battle at hand.“ I answered.
Reivax sighed with a bit of frustration, “Yea, I know.”
I looked back and peaked at the window once more and nothing had changed all that much except now it was more quiet, the lizards seemed to have calmed down or they somehow died.
“Stormtroopers get to the front entrance and prepare to assault the inside.” Orders from Sharkface.
Sighing I looked at the other storm troopers and they just nodded, I nodded and cautiously looked over to the window, as before I couldn’t see anyone in the window. I quickly jumped over the sandbag wall, and got to the wall to get cover. The stormtroopers did the same, an infantry man holding an anti tank rifle was quickly rushing to the sandbag wall. I reloaded my SMG. The soldier took position behind the sandbag wall. A bright red magic circle with a star in the center appeared at the window, with a high pitched groan the gun fired and five seconds later the door exploded open.
I turned the corner taking cover behind the brick frame that surrounded the now gone door. I saw a lizard man''s arm, then the occasional short snout and the eyes just briefly I took aim, I kept an eye out for any other movement. The muzzle of the lizard I was watching suddenly came out, more of their body was now exposed, I aimed my sights on them, their muzzle was half way pointed towards, more the body exposed. When the muzzle was all the way down a good amount of the body was exposed. I pulled the trigger. The SMG fired several shots in fast succession, but at that moment the musket fired.
A loud “ding” came off my armor, and I felt a sting on my chest. The warehouse erupted into gun fire as a dozen more guns and lizards exposed themselves and fired. I jumped Behind cover. I heard the brick crack behind me, as dozens of the dull cracks of the short muskets had hit the surrounding brick and mortar. I looked at the other Stormtroopers who were taking cover at the wall. I saw the smoke from the guns slowly waft outwards from the door, before suddenly the smoke was forced inwards.
“So they are controlling the smoke.” I mumbled to myself. I slowly poked my head over the doorway and saw the smoke just stop at the doorway, I couldn’t see past the smoke wall, it was just a gray whiteness of moving smoke. I pressed my hand through the smoke, it passed through with ease. It wasn''t solid, just opaque with a lot of smoke. Pulling my hand out caused disturbances within the cloud, and resistance from within the smoke. I was suddenly jerked towards the smoke, like my hand was pulled on, I was able to keep balance and the pulling stopped. My forearm was in the smoke.
“Did y’all see that?” I asked, looking at the others.
“Yeah, I did.” Reivax said.
I attempted to pull back, but I was met with counter pulling force, the more I tried to pull out, the more I was being pulled into the smoke.
“Hey can you pull yourself out?” Reivax asked.
”No, I cannot.” I stopped trying to pull out and the pulling in stopped when I stopped trying.
“That is not good.” I heard a storm trooper to my left say.
”No it is not.” I said.
”Any ideas?” Reivax asked.
”Well we are to attack them, might as well jump in.” I said.
”Alright then y’all heard the first lieutenant, lets go.” Reivax said.
I took a moment to spike myself up and then I jumped in through the smoke, I felt the resistance drop and the opaque smoke start to get a bit more transparent. The smoke didn’t pull me in at all, the inside didn’t change at all, it was just very smokey on the inside, I could barely see 10 feet in front of me, and I saw the lizards. Muzzles pointed at me, and at the door, a yell came from one of the lizards. I immediately dove for the closest cover as dozens more gunshots fired from the surrounding lizards.
I landed onto my side, my arm went numb from the shoulder plates digging into my right shoulder. I quickly got up as a lizard. I heard the footsteps of leather boots run straight to me, a lizard giving a battle cry. I barely had time to pull out my mace as a lizards’ bayonet slammed Itself in between the plates of armor onto the weaker leather armor, the lizards were learning for sure. My left arm flared with a sting then numb, the lizard pulled the bayonet out, I grabbed my trench mace and slammed it into the left leg of the attacking lizard.
Gunshots went off behind me the moment the lizard had hit the ground, I got up and saw the other stormtroopers came in, visibility was even lower than before. The smoke was lit up with consistent flashes of light from the muzzle flash. Through the gunfire I heard the lizard’s scream, and cry in their high pitched voices, alien in pronunciation, alien in biology, yet somehow familiar in technology.
I grabbed my spell book, and activated a healing spell. I saw red particles fall which were clearly visible even through the thick smoke and are absorbed through the holes in my armor. My numbness and stinging in my arm disappeared as I felt rejuvenated.
I looked at my trench mace, the body was covered in lizard blood. I then got moving, taking cover behind a pillar looking over. I saw more smoke, up above me was the ceiling which above that was the second floor.
“This second lieutenant Bomblitz! I will be on the second floor!” I yelled out over the gunfire and yelled. I began to follow the wall, stacks of boxes lined the walls yet it was still navigable. Under the gunfire I heard the squeaking of a lizard to my right behind the boxes.
I investigated the scene, by the way I was barely walking for 10 feet and I was met with another lizard, who was hiding behind a box looking away from me towards what can essentially be described as an aisle. An LMGer was recklessly blasting down the aisle with no regard for ammo usage, although I can’t blame them though visibility sucked.
The lizard was crouching behind four boxes with a slit in it, facing towards the gunfire in its hands was the short muskets they used, its barrel between the slits. The lizard was panicking, yet it kept the barrel down the aisle. I slammed my trench mace down onto the lizard''s head under the gunfire. It didn''t notice my approach.
The lizard slumped forward when I took out the trench mace and I continued on. I heard the duller gunshots of the lizards muskets and visibility dropped even more with more thicker smoke having wafted in. I didn’t know how they were doing this but it was starting to get annoying.
”BOOM!“ A louder duller explosion went off, it was close to say the least. A grenade it sounded like.
Yet I continued on, and luckily I quickly found a staircase. It was an obscured step that led up and another one. It clearly led to the second floor of the warehouse. I switched weapons to my SMG, and aimed it upwards, I couldn’t see no more than a foot in front of me now. I kept an eye on the stairwell itself as I feared it was destroyed, yet those fears were unfounded as I slowly took one step followed by another, and within a flight I arrived at the top.
I couldn’t hear my footsteps under the gunfire, and so wouldn’t the lizards. The smoke slowly began to clear up as I reached the second floor. When I reached the top it wasn’t Smokey, just barely. Visibility was good. I could easily see a central tower of boxes, and I saw over a dozen lizards each. Who were all watching the stairwell I came up from.
“Dyrea!”
I aimed my SMG at one of them.
”Ima!”
I put my hand on the trigger.
“Efri!” I heard a lizard yell.
”Shit.“
I pulled the trigger.
A dozen guns fired at me, and mine fired back.