They Died as Heroes
Captain Talvern and his squad moved silently picked their way through the deserted battlefield. It was a horrific site to see. The land was bare of vegetation, soil replaced by gravel and stone, craters pocket the terrain along with the black burn spots of las fire, bodies littered everywhere some guards some disfigured chaos cultists. Talvern's boot crunched on the rocky gravel as he walked through the grounds looking for survivors.
He stopped walking and sighed. No survivors he thought and made to turn. He suddenly stopped in mid turn, something had gone behind a slab of concrete. He quickly pulled his bolt pistol from its holster and crept towards where the slab jutted from the ground. He rounded the slab and saw a man in a ripped guard uniform trying to crawl away. Talvern took a step forward and stumbled on something. He looked to the ground and saw a leg severed at the knee, looking to the figure Talvern saw why he was crawling, he was the leg's owner.
The Captain took another step forward and the man stopped moving after hearing the crunch of the gravel. 'Soldier we're here to take you back to our lines' Talvern said softly to the wounded man.
The figure's head perked up 'Why would I go back to your lines!' it shouted. The soldier then started to laugh but the laugh turned into a wet cough and Talvern heard the sound of blood dripping onto the ground.
The figure turned his head and Talvern reeled back. Half of the man's face was covered in oozing blisters. The other half had a large eight pointed star tattooed on it. A single stream of blood was leaking out the corner of his mouth. The figure saw the look of surprise, anger and sadness on Talvern's face and laughed aloud.
Talvern pointed his bolt pistol at the traitor. 'Chaos scum' was all Captain Talvern said before exploding the cultist's head with a bolt. Talvern holstered his pistol and spat on the body. 'Captain we found a survivor!' a trooper of Talvern's cried out.
Spinning on his heels he saw the trooper waving at him a top a burnt out leman russ tank about fifty feet away. He ran towards the soldier winding his way through a maze of debris, jumping over small chucks of concrete and pieces of metal. Trying not to look at the bodies he was forced to jump. He reached to where the trooper was perched atop the tank. The man jumped down and trotted off towards the survivor with Talvern in pursuit.
After running for a few moments, a hill lined with trenches with a burnt out structure atop of it came into Talvern's sight. Damnit Talvern swore to himself. i The building was supposed to still be standing. /I
Talvern caught sight of the rest of the men that had accompanied him. They were clustered in a circle around a slanted piece of concrete. As Talvern approached, he spotted the medic of the squad down on his knees 'Clear the way' Talvern said and the men parted before him.
Seeing through the men Talvern saw the survivor. The man was propped up against the slab, the medic was working as fast as he could to patch of the minor wounds on the man. Talvern then saw the soldier would not make it, his left arm was missing at the shoulder and his uniform was soaked in blood.
The medic finished his work, administered a shot of painkillers into the man's left shoulder and stood up. Talvern looked to the medic who was shaking his head. Talvern nodded and dropped to his knees.
'Soldier, I need you to tell me what happened here' Talvern said and was answered by a coughing fit.
After the fit died, the man looked into Talvern's eyes and said nothing for a moment.
'Sir' he said in a weak voice. 'Ill try to tell you'
Hundreds of cultists charged the hill. Firing as they ran and lobbing grenades at the guardsmen entrenched along the hill's sides
Trooper Bravnor, atop the firing step raised his las-rifle fired of three rounds in quick secession. The first slammed into a cultist's chest exploding it in a mess of gore. The second tore off another cultist's arm and the third round missed completely. Bravnor swore to himself when he saw the third round missed. He quickly intoed a litany of marksmanship under his breath as he sighted down the rifle again. He found a target, a burly heretic brandishing a flamethrower. He fired and the shot pierced the tank on the heretics back. The explosion from the tank exploding shook the ground and swallowed dozens of cultists. Yet they still charged on fueled by some unknown reasons
'Grenade!" Bravnor warned as he saw the egg fly threw the air and land in front of the trench. He and the rest of the men on the firing step jumped and landed into the trench split seconds before the grenade went off. One soldier was unlucky and was halfway into the trench when the grenade exploded. The man lay slumped against the firing step. His upper torso shredded from shrapnel. 'Looks like this may be the last time we fight together Brav buddy.' Bravnor quickly turned and smacked his friend Olrick on the arm before jumping back onto the firing step.
He ducked on impulse as one of the two leman russ tanks fired its main armament, the shell landed a midst the cultists vaporizing the ones closest to the shell and peppering the rest around it with shrapnel. Bravnor raised his rifle to fire when las rounds smacked into the ground just in front of him and made him duck down on the step.
He raised back up and fired his gun on full auto into the cultist mob that were now a few meters away from the first trench.
'Grenades!' Bravnor heard a sergeant from the first trench bellow. He watched as all the men on the firing step lurch down into the trench and lobbed grenades just a few feet from the lip of the trench. The cultists in the front of the mob tried to turn and run from the grenades but were pushed forward by their comrades.
A smile creased his face when the grenades exploded and dozens of bodies were thrown in the air and others were shredded with fragments. The smile faded though when Bravnor saw the mob of traitors bound into the first trench to engage in melee.
Bravnor frowned and made the sign of the aquaila, there was nothing he could do to help them since he was in the second trench. Bravnor raised his rifle and sent a shot into a heretic that was trying to climb out of the first trench. Bravnor suddenly felt a tug on his right arm. He turned and a soldier was at his side with his sleeve in his grip. 'Im out of ammo lend me a" was all the soldier said before his head exploded in a mess of gore. Bravnor quickly sought out the sharpshooter and saw a kneeling cultist just a few feet behind the first trench. Bravnor raised his rifle and fired off two shots. The body jerked twice then fell to the ground.
'Soldiers of the Emperor here me!' a voice pierced through the sound of gunfire and explosions.
'Today our duty is to not let the bunker fall into the enemy's possession! They think that in hours the bunker will be there's! We would be damned if we let them take it. I ask you hold out for five more minutes!'
Bravnor pumped his fist in the air and cheered as loud as he could. Men all around mirrored him.
The leman tanks fired into the now cultist controlled trench and were rewarded with the shrieks of death.
Bravnor put down his rifle and quickly touched little buttons on his electric watch. He finished and the time was set and began to countdown from five minutes.
Looking back up he saw the cultists were through with the first trench and now they came for his. He scooped up his rifle again and began to fire at the cultists that charged up the hill he did not bother to aim for the mob were so bunched together that any shot found a home.
He sighted down his rifle and put a single round into a cultist's head. Before the body even hit the ground, he was firing at his third target. No matter the amount killed they kept coming. He heard a sharp whistle blast, quickly he took his bayonet from his belt and attached it to his rifle. He vaulted from the firing step and landed into the trench. He glanced at his watch, three minutes left.
'Grenades!' Sergeant Arivik shouted and Bravnor pulled a grenade from a pouch, pulled the pin out and lobbed it over the firing step. Bravnor silently counted three seconds. The grenades exploded and cries of pain pierced through the explosion. Bodies were thrown over the trench lip and severed limbs fell into the trench. Bravnor stole a glance at his watch two minutes left.
The squad of men pointed their bayonets towards the lip of the trench and waited for the inevitable. The mob came into their sight and everyman stood and jabbed with his bayonet, impaling a traitor. The bodies fell back to be trampled by their comrades as they pushed to vault into the trench.
Bravnor and his friend Olrick lashed out and stabbed the same cultist, with a push they sent him falling backwards into the cultists that had yet to make it to the trench. A glance at the watch told Bravnor one minute left. The cultist mob now launched themselves into the trench, Olrick fought with a chaos worshipper trying repeatedly to stab him. The traitor dodged each blow. Olrick stabbed forward again and the traitor moved into the stab and wrapped his arm around the rifle. The traitor smiled and shot Olrick point blank in the chest with a las rifle.
Bravnor was too busy with his own cultist to notice his friend's tragic death. The cultist hacked at him with two crude axes. Bravnor parried with the body of the rifle and stabbed with the bayonet. The cultist smiled and smashed the weapon aside with one axe and drove the second axe towards his head. Bravnor sidestepped but it was not enough and the axe bit into his left shoulder severing his arm at the shoulder.
He screamed in pain and tried to take a step back but tripped on his own severed arm. On the ground, he tried to push himself up with his only arm but the pain from his shoulder was too much. The cultist stood over him smiling revealing a set of decayed teeth. 'Go to your false Emperor' the man said and raised his axe to finish him.
Bravnor looked at his watch one last time, it said Zero.
He felt the rumble before his ears registered the sound of a mighty explosion. It suddenly dawned on Bravnor. They blew up the bunker to prevent its capture.
The flames from the explosion washed over the trench killing everyone who was standing. The few leman russ tanks exploded adding their munitions and body to the sacrifice. The cultist standing above him was vaporized from the waist up, the legs fell backwards an landed in the mud with a wet thump.
He felt something hastily crawl over him, he tried to struggle but he couldn't budge. 'Don't die on me' came the raspy voice of his friend Olrick as used his body to cover Bravnor from the flames.
'Thats… what happened...' Bravnor said to Talvern. 'My regiment…they died defending that bunker!' he yelled his one arm pointing to where the bunker once stood. Tears were freely falling from his eyes. 'They died doing their duty! They died as heroes!' he shouted.
Talvner clasped his hand on Bravnor's good shoulder and nodded 'yes, they died as heroes.'
Bravnor gasped for air and life drifted from his eyes.
Talvner stood up and brushed his knees off and turned to his men 'When we get back to HQ I want to know the name of the regiment that gave their lives here. They are to be remember as heroes.'
The men nodded and they began to make their way through the maze to their waiting transport