Battlemaster, this place is inhabited.
Last transmission from Guard recon detachment Sierra; first engagement of the Braxen IV campaign.
The cries of the infected still rang throughout the valley, though Aurelius was grateful to some extent that the rolling force of the river drowned out the better part of their blood calls.
On the other hand though, he had no idea just how close they were getting, and if they could be outrun at all.
He kept running, and kicked up his feet to clear an abandoned car that obstructed the road ahead. Evidently, this place had seen the apocalypse at its onset as well, and mad panic had accounted for some casualties too, judging from the skeletal corpse that still lay in the driver's seat. Aurelius gave little thought for it though - the wall was getting closer all the time.
It was an imposing structure, as it subdued the force of the brutal rapids to it's will, and Aurelius would have probably pondered on it for longer if a humanoid form hadn't burst out of the bushes to his right. They tumbled into the dirt, nearly rolling off the narrow road into the rapids below, before Aurelius was able to arrest the movement. The thing screamed and bellowed at him, trying to snap at any part of him. Ramming one armored gauntlet into it's throat, the Battlemaster felt bones crack under the force, but it kept moving. Just then, a boot slammed itself into the infected man's head, and ground it into the dirt in a bloody mess.
'Might want to watch out for the madmen, Aurelius,' the guardsman spoke as he offered the Battlemaster his hand.
'I'll take that to heart,' replied Aurelius, and he took the hand, before realizing the undergrowth behind his friend, near to the crash site, were moving.
'Lets go before the rest of them turn up then; we can't stay out here, Caius.'
'We won't have much time to fortify that place, Aurelius,' the sniper interjected, his words slightly jarred with every time his legs hit the floor, as they pelted towards the apparent sanctuary.
Aurelius had to acknowledge that. They might outrun the tide for now, but evasion was impossible right now whilst they were in the open, and the tide had shown immense endurance. Eventually, they would catch up, and the only option would be to fight. Just as he realized that he would once again be up against the new horrors the homeworld of humanity had spawned for him, Aurelius' eyes fell upon a small control center, positioned on the right side of the river. There was no way to cross that he could see, but there was a body of relatively calm water behind it.
'You think you could give us some time then?' He asked Caius.
'You mean that shack?' The guardsman turned to face the building Aurelius had gestured at with a nod of his head. 'Could be done; they can't swim, I hope, and we could hold that pos. while you prepare a nice welcome for the bastards at the fort.'
'We'll see you there then.' Aurelius replied.
Caius nodded his head in agreement, before he called away two of the three hunters at the center of the formation. Quickly, Castor and Marius broke away, unslinging their long rifles to begin the hunt.
'The gate's barred!' Called the guardsman at the head of the squad, though Aurelius could plainly see that. The wired mesh fence would have been little obstruction, if someone hadn't piled up a number of now ruined cars on the other side. One actually looked like someone had willingly driven the wreck up and over the other vehicles to complete the barricade. Desperation by any standards.
Fortunately, it seemed that whoever built the stockade had not reinforced the fenced sections to the sides of the gate with as much zeal. After sawing through the fence with an outstretched Talon, Leandros led the way through a small crawl space at the foot of the fence. Korventhor, being Korventhor, decided to quicken the process by kicking down part of the remaining fencing, enlarging the space by at least three times. Sighing at his friend's lack of restraint, Aurelius moved through last, coming up only another gate; this time one of wood and iron, but was heavily reinforced given the fact Korventhor was throwing himself at it but to no avail. The wall that surrounded the gate was also solid concrete, leaving no structural weaknesses for the Guard to take advantage of.
'What happened to 'nothing I can't get by?'' asked Leandros, a grin evident under his helm.
'There ain't,' came a stubborn reply from the guardsman at the gate, 'just haven't used your head yet. It should be thick enough.'
As if he was suddenly inspired by the threat, Korventhor turned about and then began making his way towards Leandros, and Aurelius might have let the angry Guardsman do so, if they were not being pursued by a horde of hungry Infected.
Perhaps fortunately for Aurelius, another voice saved him the effort of stopping Korventhor.
'Drop your weapons and get your hands in the air now.'
Aurelius didn't even have to look up, but he could hear weapons, likely to be rifles of some sort, arming above him, on the wall. The Guardsmen looked to him for guidance, and Aurelius could sense the unspoken question; should we get them, or spit on Corinthus' grave and put down the weapons?
Though he didn't like it any more than they did, Aurelius had a feeling that firing wouldn't have helped them much, as Guard armor was designed for stealth, not exactly heavy combat. They couldn't wade into a torrent of fire and survive, something which the humans above them seemed very capable of doing at the moment.
'Very well, drop them.'
There was a moment of hesitation, but eventually, the hellfire rifles hit the damp grass at their feet, though Aurelius did not hear the sound of Leandros' sheaths, and, with some misgivings, realized the Blademaster was no longer with them in the clearing. The woman who had first issued the instruction was speaking though, so he forced the thought of Leandros' whereabouts from his mind.
'What's the military doing out here? Got lost, or is it something we're not going to like?'
Again, Aurelius wondered if they resembled the Earth's current military in anyway, or if they were just not around a lot, which would explain why people had forgotten what they looked like, and why this whole mess had developed in the first place. He sensed though, that voicing that opinion would not be a good call.
'I'd put it more as something you are not going to like.' he honestly replied.
The woman's trigger finger tensed.
Wrong answer.
'As in there is a horde of mad men at our tails and we need some place that can be fortified in a hurry to make a stand.'
The woman took aim again, this time solely at Aurelius' head.
This is not going well.
'Then you came to the wrong place. Either get out of here, or we can put you down and save you the misery when they get you.'
'Not sure if I like those choices...'
'They're your only choices - you have five seconds.'
Then a shadow moved from behind her.
Aurelius still wasn't entirely sure how Leandros had ghosted his way inside the wall in time to aid them, when the Blademaster lunged for her.
Locking his left arm around the woman's neck in a choke hold, while his other hand held a short straight blade for throwing, Leandros positioned the leader of the humans between himself and anyone with a gun, as his blade hand drew back, daring anyone to move for him, and pay the price.
Pandemonium erupted.
People were baying for blood, ready to open fire, if Leandros had just given them a chance. In the meanwhile, taking advantage of the distraction, Aurelius, Korventhor and the rest of the Guard recovered their fallen weapons and trained them on the men on the walls.
It was a tinderbox environment ready to explode into chaos at any time.
'Look, why don't we all just put down the weapons, and work from there, eh?' Asked the Battlemaster, though his confidence was just a cover - he had no idea how this would go, and every moment it stewed, the larger the explosion would be. He was still trying to figure out how to reach Leandros, before he was shredded by fire from a dozen angles. While he was certain they could wipe out the humans here, it'd take too long, and they'd soon be trapped between two foes; one actually cogent and calculating, and another driven mad by hunger and madness. Those were two foes he didn't want to face at the same time, particularly when he was right between them.
'Yeah, why don't we?' asked the woman Leandros still held.
'Only if you're not responsible for that.' Leandros hissed, before he relaxed the pressure on her neck slightly to let her see the plume of smoke still rising from the wreckage of the behemoth in the distance, and the graves of five guardsmen. 'In which case, I'd rather you kept the weapons. I don't like killing unarmed opponents. Too easy.'
Nervously, she shook her head.
'Hunters.' She whispered. 'It would be hunters.'
'Which I take does not include you?'
Another shake of the head. Clearly though, Leandros had little trust in her replies, so he turned back to the Stormcaller, who still stood below his position, rifle trained on the humans in the other watchtower who threatened his friend.
'True or false?' He quizzed. After a moment, the reply came.
'True.'
'Great then,' Leandros exclaimed, before he turned back to the humans. There were about two dozen of them now, and each had some kind of firearm trained on him.
'So why don't we do this? I let her go, after you drop the guns.' Leandros noted. There was more uncertainty in the humans now though, with their leader at stake. Some's aims wavered, whilst others resighted their marks, trying to level their sights with the Blademaster's exposed head.
Wrong move.
With more than just one threat at hand, and no way he could threaten them all with a single blade at once, Leandros instantly reversed his grip on the blade, before he placed it to back of the human's head. The serrated edge pressed into her skin, though not so much that it drew blood. That wouldn't last long if they didn't drop their weapons. He'd served with Korventhor for long enough, and knew everything about humans; how to eliminate them the fastest route possible, or the slowest.
'Better drop those guns now boys, or you're gonna be cleaning up for a long time.'
He applied more pressure to his blade hand, drawing a trickle of blood, and eliciting a whimper from his hostage. That was enough to galvanize some movement, and one man stepped forward, his hands raised in a sign of peace.
'Maria, it'll be okay,' the man called out, before he placed the rifle in his hands on a oil drum. Soon, others followed suit.
'Alright, now let her go pal,' called the man who'd put down the rifle first.
'Do it Leandros,' Aurelius instructed. There was another agonizing moment of tension, before Leandros finally let her go, and she fell to the floor gasping for breath.
'Well, then,' the Blademaster said in a conversational tone, 'that wasn't too hard...'
He got no further before he sent the blade in his hand flying, into an arrow aimed for his head. The two projectiles cracked into one another, and they fell to the ground, the blade pinned solidly into the arrow's shaft.
His eyes instantly fell upon the origin of the shot, and the culprit; a girl standing on a raised platform several dozen meters away, another arrow nearly nocked in the string, green eyes boring into his own. Before she could finish though, Leandros let two of the five constantly concealed throwing blades in his right hand fly.
The first, barely longer than a matchstick, but still honed razor sharp and serrated, spun horizontally at his target, bypassing the obstructing wooden frame of the bow, before it severed the bowstring, letting the arrow fall to the ground, as the girl's pull suddenly exceeded the tension of the now non existent bowstring. The first blade also had the additional effect of burying itself in the girl's right shoulder, causing her to drop the weapon entirely.
Unfortunately, it also resulting in her hunching over to her right side, causing his second blade, which had been aimed solely for her head, to miss entirely, clearing her by a few centimeters before it struck a wooden post behind her.
Cursing his lack of foresight, Leandros prepared to throw another to finish the matter, only to be stopped by the black circle of a firearm's barrel aimed solely at him. The man behind the sights was not exactly new to the world, evidently from his greying hair, but he controlled the weapon; a short pistol with a drum shaped loading system, with a sense of familiarity. Leandros had spent a long time analyzing opponents in the field, and he instantly knew this one to be a dangerous one.
Which worried Leandros, since at this range, a bullet would easily outrun a blade.
'Stay away from her,' the man growled, his sights constantly locked on the Blademaster's head, as he moved to position himself between the girl and the Guardsman. As he did so, his finger slowly tensed around the trigger.
At the same time, Leandros quietly slipped another concealed blade into his throwing hand, his eyes landing on another nearby human that could be used as a hostage.
This would be interesting, he thought.
'Enough!'
With a final boost from Korventhor, Aurelius vaulted over the wall as he bellowed the words, landing heavily on his feet before he strode to the center of the courtyard he found himself in. Despite the fact many had reacquired their weapons after Leandros' throw, and now had them realigned on him and his fellow Guardsman, he spoke with authority, and in the moment, many sights wavered.
'There need not be any more violence. There will be more than enough very soon.'
'The hell there will be,' shouted one man, 'Just get out of here and move on.'
The call for their departure quickly began to spread throughout the human ranks, but Aurelius remained steadfast.
'We've wasted too much time as it is. The infected will be here, and we must ready to hold. There isn't much chance of escape now. Not with them so close anyway.'
Just as he spoke, Caius broke in on the comms. Before he could say anything though, Aurelius put it to the speakers. Whatever was happening, it couldn't be good, and they needed to know that there was no escape from the oncoming battle.
'Aurelius, if you're getting this, we can't stop them. They're on this side of the river as well! Marius was pulled over the edge by them; he's gone, dammit, open fire Castor!'
Gunfire cracked down the comm unit, alongside the inhumane cries of the infected.
'I'm breaking contact, say again, I am breaking contact. I'm going to try and draw them off, and then loop back about to give you more time. I hope you're ready, because there is a lot of them.'
'That's debatable Caius,' muttered Aurelius, considering the standoff that had occurred in the time they were supposed to be fortifying the place.
'Say again? Didn't hear your las... Shit! Fire, damnit Fire!'
The comm line crackled into static.
Looking up from the bead, Aurelius eyed the humans. They'd all heard it. They knew what was coming. They knew there would be no escape from the infected with so little time.
'Well, what are you waiting for?' he bellowed, 'Get those rifles pointed somewhere else, and maybe they won't find corpses when they get here, eh?'
Not the best first impressions one could have, but what will happen next? Will the Guard and humanity join arms, or is betrayal around the corner?
