Chapter Ten – Single Handed

Lieutenant Brewer stood in his office twiddling the receiver to the radio and listening to the static purr back at him in response. He lifted the headset to his mouth and spoke once more into the microphone.

"This is Lieutenant Brewer of Junior Company Compound, requesting urgent support. Locust have been sighted on the outskirts of the Compound, we need support and possible evacuation,"

Static hissed back at him, "Damnit." He sighed, placing the headset back down again and repeating the process.

He hated feeling so useless. He had always known from the moment they had dumped him in control of the Compound, miles away from civilisation, that the COG had just effectively found a way to disappear someone who was completely useless in the battlefield. The only time they had descended upon him was to take away the girls to the farms. It wouldn't be a surprise if they weren't interested in his plea now. If the COG took in a huge group of kids they would all be separated and sent away to battle, most certainly to their death.

Frustration bubbled up inside him, he had a good group of kids here, all capable of doing amazing things. Most still had parents in battle wanting to get back to them eventually and he owed it to them to protect them.

He thumped the console with his good hand and pressed the radio button again, repeating his statement again for what must have been the fifteenth time. This time the static hesitated for a moment before hissing back, then crackling with a male voice in response.

"This is Control, Lieutenant do you read, over?"

He let out a sigh of relief, "I read Control."

"Can you repeat your message again, we heard something to do with a compound and Locust,"

"I command Junior Company, it's a compound on the outskirts of Ephyra North of Jacinto, we have sighted Locust on the outskirts and we're requesting urgent assistance,"

"Doesn't Junior Company have its own unit situated in the Compound Lieutenant?"

"That's a negative Control, it's only children defending the compound,"

"Children?"

"And I don't think they can hold their own for long against the enemy,"

"I'm limited on Ravens Lieutenant, I'll see what squads we have available,"

"I don't care I just need assistance and as soon as possible,"

"Okay Lieutenant I'll see what I can rustle up, do you have the co-ordinates of the Compound so the Raven can find you?"

As he recited the location co-ordinates he walked over to the window and flicked a finger through the blinds to peer into the courtyard. His hopes sank rapidly as he saw a small troop of Locust making their way into the compound For any highly trained squad they would have been easy pickings, but for a group of children, these were a nightmare waiting to take their lives away.

"Control please hurry, Locust have breached the perimeter," he pleaded as he signed off, placing the headset on the table, and lowering himself to his seat in sadness. All these years of protecting these children and training them up to prepare them for such encounters, made him feel so helpless. There was no way he could help them, he looked down at his useless limb and cursed the moment he had lost it.

The ground shook beneath his feet, more Locust had emerged from another hole nearby, soon the compound would be surrounded and all would be lost. He slowly pulled open his bottom drawer, retrieving a rectangular glass decanter with a small drop of honey coloured liquor. He placed the decanter on his desk and heaved out the stopper, pouring the remnants of the container into a glass, letting it slosh around and splash onto his desk. He plonked the decanter back on his desk and downed the glass of golden denial, letting the heat kick back at his throat. He hissed between his teeth before placing the glass down and taking out a small gun from the bottom drawer, it was already loaded, filled the last of the bullets he had ever loaded into his weapon. He rose to his feet, there was no need to see what else was going on outside. He knew what he had to do.

With quick heavy determined steps he made his way to the doorway, positioning himself in the porch, slowly he slipped his head out quickly taking head count of how many beasts he was facing. He could hear a few of the older children in the neighbouring armoury taking up position ready to fire. He was also aware of the younger ones cowering beneath the Angel Statue in the middle of the courtyard. The Locust were making their way towards the unarmed younger children, each one laughing to each other in turn at how easy it would be to take them down. Brewer checked his antique pistol and unhooked the safety switch, ready to shoot the moment the creatures drew any closer.

But before he had a chance to do any heroics a voice sounded from the armoury as Washington stepped into the courtyard with a Lancer. One of the few weapons Brewer had extensively trained him in, the weapon looked huge in the kid's arms and he was a strong kid, handling a weapon of that power would be no problem for him. He revved the chainsaw to attract the Locust attention away from the children under the statue.

The Drone turned to him tilting its head in disbelief then glanced at the rest of its troop who mostly chuckled back throatily in response. It raised its weapon, aiming it directly at Washington, who had now darted back into the building. It fired back at him regardless, bits of stone chipped off the wall from the doorway he had been hiding behind.

Brewer watched at the diversion as Hunter quickly ran to the children under the statue, ushering them away from the Angel and behind the safety of the schoolhouse doors. He stood in wonder at the organisation the children showed, the unity in getting the younger ones to safety. It made him think whether he was really needed at all to protect these kids, clearly he had done his job well in training them.

Washington had started to fire back at the Drone, each blast of the bullets smattered into the grey scaly skin. It just looked down at its injuries, shrugged and kept firing. He could hear more voices from the other side of the courtyard where Hunter had gathered some of the other older kids and they had started to fire back in response to Frost. Each child responding to the fire power of their gun differently. Some taking a long time between shots to get over the kick of the weapon. Some trying to accurately line up a Drone in turn and either missing or skimming it by mere millimetres. He scanned the grounds for the chosen few children he had picked to train to use the Longshot, there had only been a select few who had been steady and patient enough to hit the target. He wondered where Aidan would have settled. She knew the grounds better than anyone after being forced to hide in the multiple joining lofts for many years, she would know the perfect spot to climb into the rafters and onto the roof.

A smash of glass from the armoury and a couple of screams inside indicated that the Locust hadn't been far off on their aim. This time more children returned fire, obviously with the broken window the other kids were able to fire back. Brewer could hear the Locust communicating to one another, a guttural grunt here and roar there. He could distinctly pick up the words ooman and destroy. A few drones stepped back to allow a larger beefier and all round uglier Locust to step forward, he thunked heavily closer holding a massive weapon aimed for the armoury. The Lieutenant watched in horror as it lined the window up and tightened its claw on the trigger as it let out a deep rumbling 'Boom' sound.

This was his moment, he wasn't going to let the boys die for nothing. He jumped out of the doorway and shouted at the huge Boomer.

"Hey, over here!"

The Boomer swung his weapon towards him and released the trigger, the Boomshot kicked back as the grenade leapt out at him. Brewer jumped across into the courtyard. He could hear Washington scream to him in desperation as the Boomer ambled heavily after him, grunting as he took a step closer.

Brewer had been a quick runner in his young days and had always prided himself in his nimble speed when he used to fight on the front line. Although today he had lost a lot of that speed with age. He was still a damn side faster than the Boomer. He knew his weapon would be no use against the lump of flesh that was plodding after him and there was no way he could use any other weapon. Instead he had to hope that the boys would see this as good opportunity to fire at the Boomer using their hardier weapons. If he was only any good as a distraction then so be it, he had to treasure the bullets left in the barrel of his gun.

He darted in and out of the statue too quick for the Boomer to understand what was going on. It was true what he had heard, they weren't the brightest of the Horde. He kicked at it from behind before running round to avoid it swing back at him. Instead something hit him in the arm, it swung him to the ground, he felt a stinging sensation burn right through his limb. He grit his teeth, heaving himself up, turning to see a Drone approach him, Hammerburst aimed directly at him. Obviously it had gotten bored with Brewer's game with the Boomer. He lifted his arm, feeling the pain scream through him as he pulled the trigger watching as the Drone took a bullet to the eye. It squealed in pain as it doubled over, thick red blood squirting from the wound and between its clawed hands.

From somewhere else in the compound someone else fired at the wounded Drone. Hitting it in the side then the back then the head. Brewer could hear it scream as it blindly fired in response at nothing in particular before taking a final bullet to the head and it slumped to the floor in a series of grunts.

Meanwhile the Boomer had found something to entertain itself, he had found Hunter's group, he lined up his Boomshot and pulled on the trigger. This time it hit his desired destination as Hunter leapt away from cover into the open, a few of his group had been caught in the grenade, their bodies now scattered into bloodied pieces. Hunter screamed at the Boomer running at it in anger, forgetting about the perfectly good shotgun slung over his shoulder. The Boomer laughed at the teenager and before the boy had even reached him Drones had started to fire at him. He stopped in his steps as he wobbled on his feet clutching his chest suddenly. He looked down at his hands, now covered in blood, a look of disbelief on his face as if he couldn't understand how this had happened to him. He let out a cough as blood trickled out of his lips, and he turned desperately to Brewer.

"Help me," he cried, mournful and empty.

Brewer stood back, behind the safety of cover, shaking his head ever so slightly, a look of sadness crept across his face.

The Boomer had taken a lolloping step towards Hunter and had grabbed his arm, his sharp claws piercing the boy's skin, he looked back pleadingly at the beast.

"Please," he wept, tears had started to fall freely down his cheek now, as the pain seared through him.

"Die now!" the Boomer bellowed at him, as he threw him to the ground and lifted his heavy boot over the boy's head.

"No!" Brewer cried, jumping out from cover and firing at the Boomer's head. It stumbled backwards away from Hunter's stricken body, it was also enough for Washington to come out from the safety of the armoury and fire at the Boomer in response. His weapon leapt out at the Boomer constantly taking hits now with a renewed anger. Brewer kicked the beast back with his foot, leaving it at the mercy of Frost's Lancer. His teeth were clenched as he pulled the trigger again and again as the beast staggered around in shock. It had now dropped its Boomshot as it tried to defend itself with its claws. Instead it backed right into Frost and the revving of the chainsaw. For a moment it leapt forwards as it was suddenly sucked back into its force, Washington hesitated for a second unsure as to what he should do.

"Just dig it right in!" Brewer shouted back at him as he stood over Hunter's fallen body.

Frost closed his eyes as he pushed inwards, feeling as the chainsaw reached bone and the blubbery mass squealed in agony, the body started to kick out, twitching in response. In an instant blood starting splattering back at him, he turned his head and pressed the chainsaw sideways. It groaned momentarily through the heavy mass of bone and meat as it suddenly freed itself and with it a vast portion of the Boomer's intestines wriggling alongside the beast's body. It looked down at its guts before trying to turn to respond to Washington. How could the thing still be alive after all that?

He stepped back, exhausted, blood splattered across him, smearing across his face and he stank. He had no answer to take down the Boomer, granted it was unable to fight back but it was still standing.

A voice behind him made him turn, Eli had come out of the armoury and had picked up the Boomer's weapon, he was now aiming it at the lump behind Frost.

"Wash, move out the way!" he hollered. The grenade launcher just looked wrong in Eli's arms, it was huge and outsized him in all ways possible, but it didn't stop him. He pulled on the trigger and watched as the Boomer splattered across the courtyard, finally defeated.

"Elijah, the Drones aim it at the drones!" Brewer directed, he had now pulled Hunter into safety and was watching from the sidelines.

"I think I only have one shot left," he called back, checking the weapon as he hid himself with Washington behind the Angel Statue.

"How do you know how to fire that thing?" Frost asked him, crouching beside him, bemused that Eli could pick anything technical up and know what to do with it.

"Well it's a type of gun isn't it," Eli responded simply, "you think you could take my weight? This thing kicks like a mule and I don't fancy ending up on my back."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go on your hands and knees so I can lean against your back,"

"You what?" Washington looked back at him aghast, almost tempted to turn the chainsaw on Eli.

"I need to lean against something to get the right trajectory for the grenade," he responded easily as if he was asking to borrow a pencil.

"Why? Surely you just need to hit the Drones,"

"Why hit the Drones when you can hit the emergence hole and stop the rest of the buggers getting out,"

Washington sighed as he placed his Lancer on the ground and dropped to his hands and knees as Eli positioned himself against his back sitting on the ground. He pulled his knees to his chest as he steadied the Boomshot, one eye shut as he aimed the launcher at the Compound gates and the incoming Drones. He heaved on the trigger, feeling himself be pushed against Frost as the shell sped out of its cannon into the troops not far from them. The ground shook as Drones scattered, some missed the explosion some were hit partially, their bodies were thrown forward. But importantly the hole had been sealed. Eli leapt forward from Frost in celebration letting out a whoop. Washington pulled himself back to his knees and retrieved his Lancer, attaching it to its sling and letting it sit against his back for a moment. There was a smile on Eli's face he hadn't seen in a long time. This was a guy who enjoyed getting his head round a predicament, he worked well with Frost, despite their differences, together they had always seemed to get it done.

"If you tell anyone I ever went down on my hands and knees for you I'll most definitely kill you," Frost mumbled with some threat, why was it Eli's ideas had often resulted in him demeaning himself in some way.

Eli chuckled to himself, "Don't I know it."