War is Hell - Welcome to the Wasteland
As the dropships sped over the desert sands, Private Jerrons sat in his seat and let his thoughts wander. Most of them were about the mission he was currently engaged in. Earlier in the day, a small Wastelander patrol had arrived at the Freedom League's desert headquarters and had requested immediate meeting with General Torn. They had come across a Metal Head nesting site that was located a good distance from the main nest. According to the Wastelanders, the nest was small and still developing, so it had light defenses compared to what the larger nest had. Light enough defenses that a small group of soldiers and a couple of demolition squads could get in and make a mess of things with relatively few casualties. So that's what was happening. Two dozen soldiers and two demolition squads had loaded into three dropships at dusk and set off for the fledgling Metal Head nest under cover of night.
As they flew, Jerrons looked around the dropship at his squadmates in their seats. Several of them were new to the League, and, like Jerrons, this would be their first operation against the Metal Heads. Their eyes darted around nervously as they tried to focus on something other than their rapidly approaching mission. The veteran members in the dropship either checked their weapons and gear for the umpteenth time or simply sat and stared deep into something that only they could see.
One such soldier sat in the seat next to Jerrons. The big man was a sergeant, and was the squad leader in command of all the soldiers in the dropship. Rekk was his name, or at least that's what everyone called him. Although he had his goggles down over his eyes and covering most of his face, Jerrons could still see some of the distinct tattoos of the Krimzon Guard on his commander's face. The young private had learned from other members of the League that Rekk had been fighting in the war against the Metal Heads as far back as to when Baron Praxis was still the ruler of Haven City. If there was anyone in the dropship right now that knew what it was like to kill Metal Heads, it was Rekk.
"Approaching destination," came the pilot's voice over the intercom. "ETA two minutes. Get ready for drop off back there."
"All right men, you know the drill," Rekk spoke up, voice booming over the dropship's engines. "We get into the nest and cover the demo squads while they rig the place to blow it sky high. Kill any and all Metal Heads you see." He let that part sit for a few seconds before continuing. "After that, we high-tail it out of there and haul our asses towards Spargus in the west. We'll meet up with our pickup a few kilometers outside the city."
"ETA one minute and closing," announced the intercom.
"I know that several of you in here have never fought the Metal Heads before. Just remember that they will die if you shoot them, so don't hesitate. Kill them before they kill you, and you'll be fine."
"ETA thirty seconds," the intercom announced one final time. Jerrons could feel the dropship decelerating. He let out a deep breath as he slid his goggles down over his eyes and readied his weapon to dash out of the dropship as soon as the back hatch opened to let its cargo out. As the hatch started to drop open, Jerrons could see that the vehicle was still moving over the desert sands beneath them. In a few seconds it slowed enough that the soldiers could maintain stable enough footing to exit and the drop ramp touched the ground.
"Okay, let's go!" Rekk shouted over the roar of the engines of the three dropships. "Move move move!" In no more than a handful of seconds, all of the Freedom League soldiers were on the ground and the dropships that had brought them in were lifting off to return to base. The troops quickly began to spread out among the sands. Jerrons dropped to one knee and started searching for targets, pointing the muzzle of his assault blaster wherever his eyes went. He didn't see any Metal Heads. All that he could see before him were the bizarre structures that composed a Metal Head nest. Jerrons wasn't the only one that noticed the lack of Metal Heads.
"Okay, Demo squads get to work," Rekk spoke up after a minute. "The rest of you men stay alert. I want eyes watching every direction for those bastards." The two six-man demolition squads quickly set about their task of rigging powerful plasmite explosive charges to everything that didn't look like a natural part of the desert. The rest of the soldiers began to patrol the area looking for Metal Heads to shoot. One of the soldiers approached Rekk.
"I don't like this one bit, Sarge," the soldier said as he approached Rekk. "It's way to quiet here."
"I know, Vinnie, I know," Rekk replied. "Even a nest as small as this should have Metal Heads in it somewhere."
"If this is a nest, then where the fuck are all the Metal Heads?" came the voice of another soldier. Rekk turned to see who had spoken so loudly.
"Keep it down over there, Zayne!" he ordered. "Are you trying to give us away?"
"Give us away to who?" Zayne questioned. "I swear, we've got to be the only ones here. There ain't a goddamned Metal Head in si-" Zayne stopped mid-sentence as the ground he was walking on crumbled beneath him and he plunged into darkness below the sands. A few seconds afterward, the rapid crack-crack-crack of an assault blaster rang up the hole. It was followed by a scream, then silence.
"Shit!" Rekk swore out loud. There's a tunnel system under the nest, he thought to himself. "Now the whole goddamn place knows we're here!" All of a sudden, as if on cue to the sergeant's words, the loud roar of scatter guns came from the direction of one of the demolition squads. As he watched, several more holes opened in the ground in various places around the nest. Metal Heads began to climb out of them. Rekk toggled on his radio.
"Demo squads, report!"
"First demolition, charges all set!" came a reply. "We're returning to your position."
"Second demolition, we've got company!" came the next reply. Even though he could already hear them, the roar of the squad's scatter guns came through Rekk's radio. "We've still got a few charges left to set, but we've got our hands full right now!"
"First demo, reinforce second so they can finish their job!" Rekk ordered the demolition squad that had reported their job finished.
"Copy that. En route to support." With that taken care of, Rekk turned his attention to the rest of his troops. They had already begun to pour fire onto the Metal Heads that had begun to emerge from the holes in the ground. Unfortunately, more holes opened and more Metal Heads came out of them. Rekk turned just in time to see a man-sized grunt charge at him and managed to squeeze off a quick burst from his blaster. One of the bolts hit one of the metal plates on the beast's head and diffused into nothing, but the other two hit it square in the face. The Metal Head went limp in mid-leap and crashed to the ground at Rekk's feet.
From his position up on the hill where the Freedom League troops had landed, Jerrons watched the battle unfold before him. Metal Heads were pouring out of the ground, and the soldiers were doing their best to keep them at bay while the demolition squads hurried to finish setting their bombs. As he watched, a pair of Metal Heads backed a soldier into a wall and pounced on him. A fellow soldier shifted his aim to the try to clear the two creatures from his comrade, but in doing so left himself open to attack by another Metal Head, which promptly jumped on his back and clamped its jaws around his neck. Jerrons hesitated for a second, then aimed his weapon and began firing at anything that didn't look human.
The nest was quickly turning into a scene of chaos. The two demolition squads had teamed up to finish laying their charges. The soldiers were grouping up to avoid being overwhelmed, and more Metal Heads were crawling out of the ground as fast as the troops were killing them. And to make matters worse, their numbers were slowly dwindling.
"This is second demolition," buzzed Rekk's radio. "Charges set. We're returning to the main group."
"Roger that, second demo," Rekk responded as he slammed to butt of his rifle into a Metal Head grunt that had gotten too close for comfort. He switched his radio to the all-hands circuit. "Listen up men! Demolition's coming to join us! Make sure you don't catch them in your crossfire!" Less than a minute later, he heard the roar of the demolition squads' scatter guns as the soldiers began to fight their way back to the main group. When they reached the rest of the soldiers, Rekk saw that there were only seven of the original twelve demolition troops remaining. Shit, he thought to himself. But there was no time to dwell on casualties at the moment. They all had to get out of there. And the Metal Heads were slowly overwhelming his troops. "Okay men, let's get the hell out of here! Back up the hill! Demo squads go first! Everyone else cover out asses!" Rekk knew that the demolition squads would have an easier time tearing through any Metal Heads that impeded their flight with their wide-firing scatter guns, and there was still the group of soldiers up on the hill itself providing cover fire. So after the demolition troops charged up the hill with guns blazing, the rest of the soldiers began to backpedal up the hill as fast as they could while still pouring fire into the mass of Metal Heads that was advancing behind them. When they reached the top of the hill, the troops up there abandoned their positions and joined the rest of their comrades in their retreat. "RUN!" Rekk shouted out loud, and everyone turned and broke into a full run away from the nest. "Demo, how long until we can blow this place?"
"Right now if we hit the dirt!" came the reply from his radio. Rekk turned to look behind him. They were still being followed by Metal Heads. But they didn't have the time to run to a safe distance before detonating the explosives.
"Do it now!" he ordered. Then over the all-hands circuit "Everybody drop!" As he stopped running to drop to the ground, Rekk managed to twist himself around so he could see the Metal Head nest. And the Metal heads still following them. As Rekk started firing at the approaching Metal Heads, he heard the crack-crack-crack of more blasters going off, telling him that more soldiers had managed to turn around when they dropped to the ground.
"Fire in the hole!" someone shouted. Seconds later a flash of light appeared from the Metal Head nest. Almost instantly, the flash grew into a massive fireball and was joined by a thunderous explosion that ripped through the night and drowned out every other sound aside from itself. Private Jerrons was one of the soldiers that had managed to get turned around before dropping. He watched the fireball erupt from the nest, and then he saw and felt the effects of the shockwave that followed. As he watched, he saw the pursuing Metal Heads get knocked off their feet and flung over their heads. An instant later he was hit with a force that felt like his entire body had been slammed into a solid wall. After a minute had passed, Jerrons hears Rekk give the all-clear to stand. The young soldier stood, the explosion still ringing in his ears, and looked around. He saw the other soldiers standing from where they had dropped in the sand. He looked around for any Metal Heads. There weren't any to be seen. There weren't any living ones, at least. The creatures that had been pursuing them and been hit with the full force of the shockwave from the explosion, and they had been flung through the air like nothing. Some body parts lay strewn around the soldiers, but that was the only traces of Metal Heads anyone could find.
Sergeant Rekk took a moment to take a head count of his soldiers. He didn't like the results. Out of the 36 total men that had embarked on the mission, demolition squads included, only 20 remained now. The sergeant muttered a curse under his breath.
"Okay people, let's move to the rendezvous point," he ordered over the all-hands circuit. "Stay alert for any more Metal Heads." With that the remaining soldiers started off in the direction of where they were going to meet the dropships again for pickup. Their trek was uneventful. Along the way, they passed the ruined remains of some armored vehicles, but nobody recognized them as belonging to the Freedom League. When the group reach their pickup point, Rekk called a break while he radioed the dropships.
"Come in Task Force Airborne. This is Task Force Ground. We have completed our mission and are at the pickup point. Are you en route?"
"Negative, Ground!" came the response. "We are unable to make rendezvous! Repeat, we are unable to make rendezvous!"
"What is your current situation, Airborne?"
"We have picked up tail from KG fighters! Repeat, we have picked up tail from KG fighters! We're gonna try to lose-" the transmission cut off. Rekk swore under his breath again. The dropships had run into KG fighters, and he was sure that they had been shot down. They had launched the mission at night in hopes that they wouldn't encounter any air resistance, but it seems that General Malice still had a few patrols out and about. And why shouldn't he? Rekk thought to himself. Machines don't need sleep like living things do. Rekk thought about what to do next. His radio only had operating frequencies for Freedom League units, so he couldn't call on any Wastelanders for help. Besides, he knew his radio didn't have long enough range to reach Spargus in the first place. After letting his men rest for a few more minutes, Rekk made up his mind.
"Okay people, listen up," the sergeant spoke up. "Our ride outta here's been shot down, so we're gonna have to hoof it to Spargus City and wait for pickup there." Several of the soldiers voiced complaints, but Rekk raised his hand to silence them. "Or we can wait here until more Metal Heads find us. Now let's move." With that, the group set out towards the Wastelander city that was their new destination. Along the way, they came across the wreckage of one of the dropships that was originally supposed to pick them up. The pilot's body was a few meters away from the crash. Part of his upper torso had been burned away by a bolt from the cannons of the KG fighter that had shot him down. After that, the soldiers had to hide several times in the rocks that dotted the landscape from a group of fighters, possibly the same ones that shot down the dropships, when they flew overhead. At one point, one of the soldiers spotted something glowing in the distance in front of the group.
"Sarge, we've got company!" the soldier announced. Rekk came up to see what the man was talking about. In the distance, he could see many small glowing specks. Specks that greatly resembled a Metal Head's skull gem. Rekk swore under his breath.
"Look alive, people!" the sergeant shouted. "We've got Metal Heads in front of us. A lot of them, from the looks of it." Several soldiers cursed out loud as they hefted their weapons and looked in the direction that Rekk was indicating. Several of them dropped to the ground and waited. Private Jerrons dropped to one knee so that he could have better control of his rifle. As the glowing specks got closer to the soldiers, the private heard something. It was a low rumbling sound, like that of an engine. And it was getting louder as the specks got closer.
"Sergeant?" the soldier spoke up.
"What is it Jerrons?" came Rekk's reply.
"I don't think those are Metal Heads, sir," Jerrons offered. "It sounds like vehicles to me, sir." Rekk pondered for a moment. Metal Heads didn't have vehicles, and the KG didn't have a land base of sufficient size to support as many vehicles as they were potentially facing. And the Freedom League didn't have any patrols in this area. That must mean...
"Wastelanders!" someone shouted. "A whole bunch of'em, too! We're saved!" The glowing specks were now close enough to the group of soldiers that they could tell that they were actually headlights, and they could see the forms of Wastelander vehicles behind them. The soldiers got up from where they had been lying in wait for Metal Heads and started moving towards the convoy in front of them. As they approached, the large all-terrain vehicles slowed to a stop and their drivers began to climb out of them. Private Jerrons watched as sergeant Rekk approached one of the Wastelanders that was climbing out of a large vehicle with a chaingun turret mounted on its top.
"You don't know what luck it is that we ran into you," the sergeant engaged in conversation with the Wastelander. "And here we were ready to engage a bunch of Metal Heads."
"Ha ha!" the Wastelander laughed. "Your General called and asked if we could pick you guys up, seeing as how your other ride got wrecked. So here we are!"
As private Jerrons was moving towards the Wastelander vehicles, he got a better look at the person is commander was talking to. The Wastelander was a big man. In the light of the vehicles' headlights, Jerrons could see that was dark-skinned, and that he had a mechanical eye. One thing that caught the soldier's eye was the armor that this person wore. It was made out of the armored plates that cover a Metal Head. Jerrons and some of the other new soldiers were directed into the large vehicle with the chaingun mounted on it. Jerrons managed to get the shotgun seat.
"Oh man, did you see all those Metal Heads back at that nest?" one of Jerrons' companions asked as he climbed into a back seat.
"I know!" the other replied. "They were everywhere! I didn't think we were gonna make it out of that place."
"Yeah, but we showed them. Blew'em sky high!"
"If that's all there is to killing Metal Heads, then winning this war should be a piece of cake."
"Sounds to me like this is your first time killing Metal Heads," the Wastelander with the Metal Head armor stated as he climbed into the vehicle's driver seat. "Am I right?"
"Yes sir," Jerrons responded. "First time for all of us here."
"Well then," the man chuckled as he started the vehicle's engine. "You ain't seen nothing yet. Welcome to the Wasteland, cherries!"