By Cameron Keith

The death of a friend

Blood and tears begin from the same place but have different endings.

The blood covers all. It makes the bushes a sticky dark red. Iv over the clothes and makes the ground seem to move. The blood today was warm steam rising from the ground where it had just been spilled by the hate of the enemy. The cries and the moaning of the dieing drowned out all calls for help all was a lost cause.

As he sat there cradling his friends head in his lap he stared into the 1 remaining eye watching as all life faded from it and the body gave one last twitch. Gun fire in the distance. echoing booms splashing up great gouges of earth and dead bodies. Another black clad alien somersaulted over the trench ridge in a wild howl. Landing right next to the guard and his dead companion. Lifting its spiky weapon the alien stabbed at the dead body with a vicious laugh like a animal being flayed alive. When finally it was happy it turned on him even through the face plate you could almost tell that it was smiling. A lance of light shot up from the ground puncturing through the aliens thin amour and appearing out the back in a purple stream with a mist of blood around it like the deadly halo of an angle.

The hell if he would not make these aliens pay.

Hefting his rifle he stepped on top of the trench. All of a sudden the battle was right in front of him the guns were now deafening roars right next to his head and the gun fire splintered all around him. Raising his rifle he shot another passing alien right in the kidneys as it raised its sword to deal a death blow to a man on the ground. This is where hate kicks in. a surge step and then he was running right at the front ranks. Spraying laser blasts as he ran enemies dropped before him and their needle weapons flew by him puncturing the ground around him or whistling by his head. The projectiles screamed as they past seaming to claw at the air trying to hit him.

As his run tore into the enemy flanks a barbed skimmer crossed the horizon bringing 2 of its cannons to bear on him. Fortunately for him the blood made the ground slick. Skidding to a halt was hard and he slid right into one of the fox holes. More needles and plasma pocketed the ground around him burning his skin and causing some of his armor so smoke. When the firing stopped the tank slinked forward sure of the kill and on to cause more death. As the humming got closer he looked around the fox hole. 2 dead guards and a heavy bolter. He didn't know if it was loaded but he hoped it would work. Grabbing all the frags and all the power packs he could he got ready to run. As the tip of the skimmer crossed over him his heart sunk. The ship was heavily armored on the outside lined with swords and spikes and on top were crazed gunners firing randomly whooping every time they did.

He leaned over and hefted the bolter. Funny it seems a lot lighter when you just look at it. Resting the gun next to his shoulder he racked another round hearing the satisfying click. As the skimmer continued he saw he chink in the armor. A area where the fuel lines for the engines protruded. Taking some aim he squeezed the trigger. The air and ground around him tore into a bright fiery blaze with the roar and thud of the rounds pouring into the underside punching great holes and causing screams and panic from the upper deck with it. more rounds more holes and then a lucky shot found the fuel line. A blue flame erupted angled upwards from the shot it spewed from the deck of the skimmer causing the ship to buckle and be pushed downwards. Still he fired screaming as he went exacting his revenge. The heavy bolter then suddenly clicked empty. Nothing was left except a smoking barrel and an empty chamber.

Run…..

Vaulting out of the fox hole he busted through stunned aliens pushing through them slashing out with his fists and bringing out his knife from his boot. All of them to shocked to act or fight back. When the skimmer exploded he had killed at least 10 more aliens and was a good 20 paces away. The blast was a ball of blue flame pushing outwards with a shock wave like a punching titan. His mangled body flew through the air tumbling and falling to the ground among bodies more bodies just like his friend. But these were the aliens. He smiled and laughed. He had exacted his revenge and he still would. Trying to stand he felt a lance of pain. Both his legs were broken. But more importantly he was surrounded by the aliens. Non attack all just staring.

He wasn't going to die now. Scoping up a spiked alien rifle from either side of him he started firing in random arcs from his hip. The needle like projectiles flew through the air ripping into flesh and slashing bone. Causing havoc in their ranks. Then a needle rammed home into his back. Then one in his shoulder and another him his chest. Still firing but dazed and confused he killed some of his attackers holding on to the trigger for dear life. As his vision faded he took a last look at his beloved city. Fire and smoke pouring from holes in its walls dead men and women slumped on the defensive wall but more were alive and still firing. The smoke churned upwards into the sky and was ripped around like oil in water by the jets streaking around fighting against the alien skimmers.

His last sight was a fuzzy image of a large metal walker crushing aliens and turning them into smoldering piles from a gun on its side. How peculiar he thought. Why would they kill their own men?

When he awoke he was in a standard military hospital spared anything that might make it happy or inviting except for a vid slate playing next to him sounds of gunfire and death emitted from it. When he finally thumbed it to stop he saw that it was him on the vid killing the skimmer and all the aliens. When it came to an end he saw under the slate was a small treasure trove of medals promotion ranks and bravery and purple hearts all of them. Then it sunk in. he was promoted to captain.

And he thought his last day in the service couldn't get any worse.