A light flickered on and off."These damn flashlights are worthless," Martin said as he banged his flashlight against a steel wall. "God forbid we actually get some decent equipment!"
"Oh no, Martin, I'm a Zerg and I'm coming to rend the flesh from your bones!" Joey said.
"Shut up, man, I'm not a rookie like you. My suit isn't updated with built in lights; when my suit was made, what you got stayed with you forever," Martin retorted.
"I'm sure the Zerg like veterans like you and Smith anyways, Martin. You're both crispier from the 'years of fiery war,'" Dan taunted.
"It doesn't matter to the Zerg. They kill everything, so shut up and keep your ears open," Smith said darkly.
An awkward silence fell on the four men. Bunker stationing was one of the most socially uncomfortable practices in the Marine Corps; especially when they mixed front-line veterans with new recruits. Usually, the bunker men were veterans getting a break from action, or newcomers that no one wanted to take on in a squad and train. Bunker 76 had a combination of the two.
"Do you think they'll even come? At least fifty drop ships flew over us yesterday; that had to have taken care of any threat," Joey said, breaking the ice.
"Well it's dark, dusty, and silent outside. Probably they'll rip us to shreds before we even know they're here," Dan said dropping his voice similar to Smith's mockingly.
"Shut up," Smith said in a husk voice. More silence. One of the marines, Dan, heard scratching on the roof.
"What was that?" he said, pointing his gun up. The mounted light on the end of his rifle threw a beam of light into the dark hollow canopy of the bunker. His light scanned left and right along the mounted platforms the men used to station their selves. A few marines were already up on the "shelves" as the army called them, watching their posts. Having been in the dark for a while now, one of them shielded his eyes from the searing light and flipped the bird.
"Probably sixty Hydralisks coming to eat your flesh, rookie," Martin said with a bullying chuckle.
"Not funny Martin. Not funny at all," said Smith.
Martin narrowed bush eyebrows at Smith in the dark. "Why are you such a hard-ass, Smith," Martin said, "I think you're just scared. Did you have a childhood accident or something involved with flesh eating aliens?" The other two marines chuckled.
Smith was brooding still in a corner of the room detached from the other three. "You've obviously forgotten what chaos is."Martins jovial laughter stopped and his face hardened. "I remember all right. I had friends die, courtesy of the Zerg. If any come here, I'll be doing myself a favor by slaughtering them all," He said to Smith. Smith opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly the marine stationed on the shelf started shouting.
"Dust cloud to the East gentlemen, lock and load- could be trouble!" the watchman said hoarsely. Smith rose quickly off his haunches and reached for his gun. He was half up the ladder before the other men even realized what was happening.
"What does it look like?" Smith asked in a hushed voice. His face appeared in the dark behind the watchman.
"A lot of fucking dust, that's what," Martin said coming up the ladder. Smith didn't respond; his eyes were focused intently as if he saw some deep meaning in the cloud of dust like paint blotches at a psychologist's office.
Holy shit, that thing is huge," Jimmy said, huffing from his climb up the ladder.Suddenly Smith snatched the watchman's flair rifle. "Hey you mother fu-" the startled marine started. The gun exploded and flare went streaming into the oncoming cloud.
And then they saw the Zerg.It was vague at first. The bright red flare hit the cloud, and as it made contact with the ground, the white light was too bright to make out anything. But in seconds, shadows and silhouettes took shape in the dust. Smith saw claws and scythes; the little dirt covered figures of far off Zerglings, and the unmistakable side-to-side swagger of Hydralisks. Finally were the eyes. Red beady eyes that promised death and hatred.Smith snatched the radio that had connection with the rest of the bunkers. The other marines stood in awe at the shapes as the flare slowly started to die out."Fire God damnit, fire!" Smith screamed in the receiver. The bunkers in the distance suddenly came alive with sparks and explosions as it dawned on the mile long front line that something big was coming towards them: a swarm. The Swarm.Smith aimed his gauss rifle and threw rounds into the cloud several hundred feet away. The other marines snapped out of their trances and started shooting bullets into the cloud. They continued their barrage, but the cloud never stopped. It only seemed to grow with the increasing thunder of gunfire. Smith kept firing and grimaced at the familiar kick of the rifle. He had a bad feeling about this one, but for once, he kept his dark omens to himself.
Far off, siege tanks were already launching explosives into the mass, throwing little bodies in the air like confetti. Yet still the cloud pursued. It grew; it got faster until finally, the men in Bunker 76 could see for themselves the hideous outline of Zerg bodies. The advancing Hydarlisks began to pepper the bunkers with razor sharp spines, hoping to slip a few through the slits the men were firing out of. Jimmy screamed as a spine struck his left shoulder. The force threw him back off the high up shelves, and the gun in his hand was still firing when his arms started flailing wildly. Gauss bullets shot through the back of a watchman's head, spraying Martin with blood. With a quick swipe he cleared his visor and continued putting bullets into the swarm. It soon was on their doorsteps.
More spikes barraged the bunker. Smith grunted as several spines were embedded in his belly. Dan saw and screamed; all around them, human screams of suffering mingled with the animal roars of the Zerg echoed over the pattering off thousands of feet. The Zerglings soon reached the bunkers. Most leaped like gazelles over the little slits of the bunkers that the men were firing out of. Others, eager for a quick kill, stopped and pounded the bunkers exterior with their claws. Martin could hear the surface metal being torn away. Martin turned around to face the interior of the bunker and readied himself to unload on the first little body that dropped through the growing holes in the ceiling. He felt a sickening feeling in his stomach when he heard the empty click of his trigger.
"We're out of ammo! Ill grab some from the back!" Martin shouted. It was of course, useless information. The remaining marines were absorbed in their own wars. Martin stumbled backwards and sprinted to the ladder. He could still hear the pounding of little creatures against the outside and the tearing of metal. He almost stepped on Jimmy's body which was lying face up on the floor. His eyes were blinking and his legs were twitching from the poison that coursed through his veins. It wasn't the first time Martin had seen a Hydralisk victim. He shook it off and started running along the dirt floor of the bunker until he got to the back crevice. The ammo reserves were there.
"Yes, sweet Jesus, more bullets!" He started loading boxes under his arms to take back up. He heard a thud of feet dropping from the ladder and turned around expecting one of his comrades had come down for more supplies.
The Zergling chirped gleefully as it jumped on top of him, slashing apart his arms that shielded his face. It only took seconds to get through the combat suit and to the exposed flesh. The floor of the bunker was wet with blood. More Zerglings dropped down into the structure and onto the shelves.
Overhead, the surface was a mess. Many of the other bunkers were already ripped apart and emptied of life. Soon there was no more screaming; only the sounds of scavengers taking a quick break to rummage through the many corpses of fallen brothers to find a human snack.
Martin's flashlight was still on in the bunker. A Zergling stepped on top of it and reared back from the electrical shock as the frame of the flashlight snapped. A light flickered on and off, on and off, and then finally, off.