Is it all Worth It?
-By David Lee
"JIMMY!!!" I yelled as shrapnel perforated my friend, who reached cover too late. In pure anger and frustration, I stood out from a demolished brick wall and pumped out as much laser fire as my lasgun and trigger finger could handle. It didn't matter who I hit; I just wanted something to die. Two of the advancing Chaos cultists dropped to the ground, their bodies smoking. Five of my infantry squad remained and bravely held the defense line with two other squads. Two of my squad were heavy weapons troops; I took comfort in that fact. Ashor, the missile launcher gunner, took aim through the missile scope as his comrade, Barkin, loaded the launcher. Barkin finished his task and thumped Ashor on the helmet, signalling the weapon was ready to fire.
"Package away!" Ashor yelled as he fired the missile launcher. It flew off like a bat out of hell. The frag missile hit on target, tearing a sizable chunk out of the traitors' front line. Seeing their pale, saggy flesh blown off of their rotting skeletons gave me a hint of satisfaction. They were closing in on us now: their numbers overwhelming us, the 15th Ground Platoon.
"Firing positions!" I yelled, standing up, lasguns ready. Other Imperial guardsmen did the same. "Fire at will!" A great wall of lasfire cut down cultists by the score, but by the Emperor, there were still too many. Stopping their clumsy advance, several pulled out frag grenades and lobbed them at our defensive line. Shrapnel ripped up our makeshift barricades of sandbags and loose bricks. "STAND FAST!" I yelled desperately, shooting anything in sight. Another grenade exploded, throwing Barkin twenty feet through the air. I cursed loudly; it would take a miracle to survive this battle.
And one came, but not what I had expected.
They danced through the air, appearing as if out of nowhere. Strange-looking vehicles shimmered and materialized out of thin air, firing massive laser weapons at the enemy. The aliens known as the Eldar had come to our aid. I had heard rumors about them before: that they were robots, that they were evil, but all those thoughts were pushed out of my mind. The enemy had reinforcements as well: hulking, horrifying Traitor space marines waiting behind the front lines to pounce forward. They looked twice my height, and probably just as strong. They were encased in thick, archaic power armor, which was adorned with skulls and other grisly objects. Worse still, a squad was charging straight for us.
Ashor was lucky enough to gun one down with his missile launcher, but before we knew it, the bloody carnage had begun. The chaos marines' vocalizers boomed with their oaths to Chaos. Their voices still haunt my every waking moment.
The motors of the chaos marines' chainswords whirred with insanity, the teeth hungering for human blood. My squad fell back, futilely shooting our lasguns as we moved. The bolts of lasfire bounced harmlessly off their power armor; curse these beasts! A bolter round tore a hole through Private Alexsander's torso, before two more took Ashor's head. The remains of my squad frantically dove into more ruins as the muzzles of the Chaos boltguns blazed ever brighter. One round blew up on the wall in front of me, debris cutting across my face. I crouched in the mud, clutching my helmet with both hands on my head. I suddenly began to mutter prayers to the Emperor; I never did before. My second miracle arrived with a scream.
White-armoured Eldar warriors leapt into the ranks of the Chaos marines with a ferocity the likes of which I had never seen. They let loose a howl that slammed right into my brain, boggling my senses. My ears felt like they were exploding; my eyes felt as if they were about to burst. It felt like an eternity before I regained my sense of direction and balance. Peering over the remains of the wall, I saw that the fight was quick; only one Screaming Eldar and one Chaos marine were alive. The Eldar moved like a blur, white light dancing back and forth. It didn't seem to be hurting the Chaos marine; he was able to block every attack. What happened next melted what was left of my hope of living.
With a roar, the Chaos marine slashed out with his chainsword, cutting across the helmet of the Eldar. It fell to the muddy ground, its clean, white armor stained dirt brown. The chaos marine then savagely beat the Eldar with the pommel of the chainsword. I looked on in horror, before something took hold of my mind. "No..." I uttered as, with manic bravery, I staggered out from behind the wall. Searching the ground in front of me, I found and picked up a fallen boltgun that lay soaked in the mud. "NOOOO!!!" I cried and pulled the massive trigger, letting loose shards of hellfire. The Chaos marine was knocked back by the power of the bolts, small chunks of ceramite ripping from his armor. My eyes were either blinded by the muzzle flash or by tears; I can't remember which. The recoil of the boltgun threw me to the ground. Heaving aside the weapon, I stood to my feet. The Chaos marine lay flat on the earth, the corpse smoking from a hundred different places.
I ran over to the Eldar and looked around. The battle was over; the Eldar gave us the edge we needed to win. But some of us still died. I knelt beside the Eldar and held two fingers against the warrior's neck; there was a faint pulse. Examining the helmet, I managed to pull it off with great difficulty. "It's a girl..." I uttered in disbelief. Her long hair was strewn in the mud, and an ugly wound was slashed across the bridge of her nose and face. For the moment that her eyes were still open, I saw that they were a crystal clear blue. Her skin was smooth and white, whiter than mine. Her blood-stained lips moved, speaking a few words in a language that was too fast for me to catch. The Eldar's hand weakly moved, holding mine and giving it a squeeze, trying to cling desperately to life.
"She does not want to die," a voice behind me said. I stood up and turned around to find myself facing another Eldar. He was covered from head to toe in dark, heavy robes. I looked at the dying Eldar warrior, then stared at him.
"Why did you help us? You didn't have to..."
The Eldar shook his head in sorrow. "If we didn't, others like her would have died. It is something you mon-keigh cannot understand." I lifted the warrior from the ground and carried her to the robed Eldar.
"We both spilt blood today, alien," I said bitterly. "Both of us have had friends die today fighting Chaos scum. That makes your blood as red as mine!" The Eldar slowly nodded his head.
"I see. We will disturb you no longer. Consider this day one of mourning for both of us, then." The Eldar turned and waved his hand, calling several Eldar infantry over to escort him and the body away. I looked at the sky: the sun was just beginning to set, the waning light casting a ruddy glow on the horizon. Slumping to the ground, I picked at a flower that had somehow survived the carnage. It was red...suddenly I began to cry.
=FIN=