Chapter 5
"What do you mean retreat?" She was scowling at him as he started walking down the mountain pass.
"Didn't you hear the order on the radio? The EDF is pulling back because the nest is being guarded by a shield. One shot from anybody and those guys will swarm at us, we got no chance."
She still had an angry look on her face like she expected a different answer out him.
"If we don't destroy that nest they are sure to multiply and reach the city eventually we can't just leave it the way it is!"
He was beginning to wonder when she would drop this pointless argument. It's not like there wasn't any hope left it was just a tactical retreat for now, not a complete loss on the battlefield.
"HQ hasn't given the order to attack. Our resources are thinned out and we can't risk any more soldiers' lives. We are on our own besides take another look around all the soldiers have already retreated so we should do the same"
He started picking up his trusty Lavender and Stinger and began to walk off in the other direction.
"You can't be serious!?"
He stopped for a second to look back at her.
"Dead serious! We aren't taking on that enemy there is just no way and there's too many of them. Not only that, there is a shield bearer guarding that hill; one shot and we'll be a dead giveaway."
She ran up to him and blocked his path.
"I know you can do it, those small houses on the other side what if there are survivors on the last remaining cabins of the entire region, we can protect them and we'll prevent future casualties"
He stopped and looked at her
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Believe me, I am more than motivated to kill a few bugs and I wouldn't ask you to do something I didn't think you were capable of doing."
"Good! Then let's be on our way" He started walking off again.
"My squad all my comrades I worked with died just because I was too useless to protect them. I was the only one to survive." He continued walking as if not paying attention.
"Consider yourself lucky you survived then"
She jumped in front him.
"Like hell I will! There should have been more I could have done. HQ is abandoning the people on the other side of that mountain."
"Yeah! Because they can't risk resources and lives, it's called common sense." He observed her pouting and found it amusing, chuckling at her sour face as if she was trying to make sense.
"I took this mission because of the common sense you showed me that day."
"Hey! If you're referring to that little web incident then just forget the whole…"
She blasted her jet pack and took off in the direction of the shield bearer.
"Dammit!" That idiot!" He ran up to the mountain where he was set up earlier and prepared his Stinger and Lavender. With the shield in the way he wasn't going to be able to provide protection for her, the situation looked grim, as he started to contemplate the possibility that if he didn't fire any shots he could at least survive.
"Dammit it all" Through his scope he could observe her approaching the shield at a high speed. He knew Wing Divers were fast but this was the first time to actually see one in action. Entering the Shield she immediately opened fire with her plasma gun straight at the shield source, the shield bearer itself. Now she'd done it, every single jumping spider was aware of her presence and begun shooting their web at her in an attempt to subdue and kill her. Lucky for her, the shield bearer was automatic and designed to move the moment it was fired upon directly. The shields force field began to move in the opposite direction of his stationed mountain, leaving many of the spiders exposed to his Lavender and Stingers wrath.
He started picking them off one by one but was immediately noticed by the nest presence, the swarm of spiders was beginning to pour out of the hole in response to the incoming attack of its enemy.
One web shot after another she managed to dodge in the air shooting off her plasma gun in the direction of the shield bearer. The only thing he could do was to worry about the incoming jumping spiders headed in his direction. He wasn't worried about running out of bullets, he was worried that in time the spiders would reach his location, and even with every shot he fired he could only take down one or two at a time, it would only be a matter of time before they reached him.
"Elusive bastards!" He suddenly heard an explosion in the direction she had taken off in. What a surprising feat, even with all the odds stacked against her she had managed to take down the shield bearer but she was still helpless as more and more spiders kept coming after her.
"Dammit" He couldn't target the spiders while their movements were unpredictable, they each wanted a piece of her and it was making it difficult to target each one separately. He needed to protect her somehow; the answer came to him in that split second.
"That's it!" If he couldn't target the jumping spiders he would just target her. He set her sights on her and began to predict her movements, as she readied to dodge left he set his sights slightly right and readied himself.
At the moment she went left he hit his trigger and three were taken down at once.
"Yes!" They could do it, with the shield bearer gone; it was open season on all bugs. He started to predict her movements and with a few more rounds shot off she began firing back instead of just running away.
Now with enough bugs off her back, he shot at the nest to cease the constant flow of spiders trying to crawl out. He managed to close and collapse the tunnel in six shots taking the last of spiders in a barricade of fire, closing it permanently.
He was beginning to have the invincible feeling of "survival of the fittest" as he kept taking down the remainder of the spiders that were still hot on her trail only to realize he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings again. He kept firing off without hesitation trying to keep her safe and closing the tunnel that he forgot about the incoming onslaught of the spiders that were tracking his shots.
"Dammit" His situational awareness was lacking. He began to fire on the nearby spiders closing in on his location catching them in the air as they leaped even closer to him. Only 9 more spiders left; He shot the first three in the air, the other two were smashed into the nearby boulders and splattered. The four spiders spread out in an attempt to get to him before his final shots; missing one he stood up and waited for the incoming web. The spider sent a flurry of web after him but he rolled to the side and took it out in one shot.
"3 left" Two spiders shot their web at him, he managed to shoot down one but the other two now had him surrounded. His arm was paralyzed and he could only manage one more shot. He fired off another round and came close to its mark hitting a spider but only managed to take off a leg.
"Shit!" It was his last round, they were too close and he had to reload. He was done for; he was trapped in their web and couldn't manage to free himself. He was going to die like the other soldiers, slowly and painfully.
…
…
…
He heard the sound of the Wing Divers plasma cannon go off as sticky wet blood from the spider covered his face. He could hear her yelling as she got closer to him in a heartbeat. The last thing he remembered was a flash covering his face and a voice that sounded like heaven to him.
