Private Michael DiMaggio coughed violently, gasping for breath, his eyes tearing until he could not see. "Virgin lungs," Private Dumar crooned in a teasing sing-song voice. "Fuck you man," Dimaggio retorted between coughing fits. Dumar opened his visor and a thick cloud of aromatic smoke wafted from the shadowy orb that was his helmet. "You know, you guys really shouldn't be smoking that shit right now. There's Zerg out there." The two hardened veterans turned to the young recruit with incredulous looks. "Excuse me but uh...who the fuck are you?" Dumar asked rhetorically. "Nolan, Jeremy Nolan," the rookie replied. "Well isn't that fucking special? Hey Dimaggio, this is Nolan and he's one hard hitting, Zerg zapping motherfucker who knows exactly what we shouldn't be doing right now."

The sun began to peak over the horizon, commencing its slow ascent into the sky. "The sun's rising boys," Sergeant Hopper's voice crackled through his company's intercoms. "Take a good look. This might be the last sunrise you'll ever see." The officer's callous yet rational and sincere advice failed to phase the men of the 2nd Battalion but his words rang deep and hauntingly in the minds of the unit's new additions.

Artillery reports in the distance had been growing in volume over the past few hours and the veteran soldiers knew exactly what that meant. "That artillery's getting louder Sarge. The Bugs are coming," Dumar said as he walked up to the sergeant and recieving his ration of a highly nutritious edible gel called a BNP, a Battlefield Nutrition Packet. "Brilliant deduction," Hopper replied sarcastically. "You know what Dumbass? If I get hit before you, you can command my unit." "But you're right," he continued "As such, I'm volunteering you, DiMaggio, and one of those kids to go over about 30 clicks north and get ammo from Outpost 87. I'm sending the map to your suit right now." Dumar went back to his post and informed the other two of their mission. "DiMaggio, put your dress on, Sarge wants us to go re-up on ammo at some outpost. Oh, and the Body's coming too." "What did you call me?" Nolan asked angrily from a few windows down. "I called you a Body. That's what we call new guys, because that's what you all end up as within the next 24 hours."

This both scared and enraged Private Nolan but he figured the best way to get back at Dumar was to prove him wrong. He checked his gear and headed out with his new squad mates knowing he would have to score some kills to earn their respect and save his life. The three Marines set out along the suburban streets constantly checking the sensors on their combat suits that increased their peripheral vision to 260 degrees. Along the way they saw obvious indications of a previous battle scene. About halfway to their objective they came upon the shredded remains of a transport truck, it's inner walls completely covered in blood. DiMaggio broke the silence, "Poor suckers never even had a chance to get out." Gore covered walls and blood stained soil were a common sight since the invasion but the strange part was the lack of bodies. It was clear that dozens had been killed here, both Zerg and human alike, but all that remained were rifles and Hydralisk spikes. Unbeknownst the soldiers, the Zerg had been forced to cannibalize their own kin due to being away from the life giving Creep they usually lived on for so long. A short while later they came upon what was left of Outpost 87. A similar scene to that of the road, the makeshift base was destroyed and devoid of life. "Shit, the Bugs already got them. Leave it Hopper to send us on a fucking suicide mission," Dumar spat angrily. "It's not his fault," Nolan said. "The Com-Link between officers and HQ is the only one functional right now. Officers in different places can't communicate until the Corp can get the power grid back to full output. There's no way Sergeant Hopper could have know these guys had already been overrun."

The Marines accepted that they had come all this way for basically nothing but still knew to check the base for anything else they might find. They wandered through the ruins of the outpost and nothing but a few random clips taken from the rifles of the dead soldiers. "Alright, let's get the hell out of here," DiMaggio called. The three men were walking along the outer wall of the base when they heard the ground rumble. Suddenly their field of view was swarming with charging Zerglings and Hydrlisks behind them. The Marines switched their rifles to full-auto and began blindly firing in the group of aliens as ran for their lives. A volley of spikes from the huge reserves of the deadly projectiles Hydralisks grew beneath their shoulders zipped past them, penetrating deep into the concrete wall behind them. The men were nearly out of range when another wave of spikes were shot at them. Dumar screamed in pain and the other two Marines looked back. Dumar had been struck with a spike in his arm and it had pinned him to the wall. DiMaggio urged Nolan to keep running as there was no way they would be able to survive such a lopsided attack. Knowing his short violent life was about to end Dumar cried for help.

"Stop! Don't you fucking leave me! Help me you fucking pussies!" The brutal killer was on the verge of tears, seeing his life flash before his eyes. Then a voice of an angel came to him. "I'll get you out of here. Just keep shooting," the voice said. Dumar was suffering the effects of the Hyrdalisks poison but was still lucid enough to turn his gun towards the enemy and pull the trigger. He felt the foot-long spine leave his arm and his legs begin to be dragged along the ground. Years of drills allowed Dumar to quickly reload and empty his rifle despite the paralyzing pain that was spreading throughout his body and into his mind. The last thing he saw was the bloody and frothing mouth a Zerling as it prepared to launch onto his crippled body.