Chapter Fourteen – Pray and Prey
He felt the presence of something standing over him. He attacked at his stubborn eye lids with his mind. Slowly and unsteadily he opened his eyes. The vision that greeted him was blurry and unfocused. He hadn't a clue as to where he was or what was going on but the familiar smell of gun powder and decaying flesh greeting his more than operational nostrils. Strange clicking noises rung out from the figure standing above him, followed by two slivers of metal sliding against more metal, like a blade leaving a scabbard.
The next few moments were just as unrealistic and unfocussed as a deafening explosion roared from his right along with the screams of men. A flash of unfocussed blue overwhelmed his vision for less than a couple of seconds before dimming down. Instinctively he tried to sit up before a large unclean foot stamped him back flat with force. He felt his lungs deflate as air was forced from his body. His vision focussed just as two pronged blades attached to a giant creature's wrist came speeding towards his eyes. He yelped in horror as he sent his hands up to defend himself. Both his hands caught the creature's fist while the blades stopped an inch away from both his eyeballs. The enormous creature grunted angrily and put more force in its attack.
It was like the opposite of a tug of war match as both sides pushed fiercely at one another. Smashington felt his arms waver significantly under the immense strength of the creature. He flailed his legs about trying to dislodge the predator's firm stance. He heard more people around him crying out in pain and discomfort at whatever had caused the immense blue light and explosion. He could hold against the creature no longer as he felt it's one arm push with more strength than both his arms combined. Just as he was about to allow the blades to end his life in resignation several bullets rang out from nearby. Sparks of the ricocheted attacks illuminated the creature's masked face for a brief second. It recoiled slightly in surprise and anger. This allowed Smashington just enough time to slide away from the beast. He fumbled backwards trying to get to his feet. The creature had continued its attack but hit the empty spot where Smashington was little more than a second ago.
It roared out ferociously before whipping out the familiar looking Frisbee-object that had wounded him earlier. Instinctively he threw himself to the ground as three laser-pointer-like lights zoomed over him. The disc lurched forward giving him a slight hair cut as it skimmed past. He heard the sickly squirt of blood and instant crunch of bone behind him. An unfamiliar marine wielding a simple pistol behind him had been instantly decapitated by the mechanism. His headless body crumbled to the ground as blood squirted out nauseously. A Further cry of alarm surfaced as people beheld the dead marine. Smashington had no time to dwell on it as the mighty creature descended upon him with its blades stretched out once more. He backed away hastily as it swung at him. It would have hit true if another marine hadn't attempted to tackle it. It stumbled ever so slightly as a large man, Smash also hadn't seen before, charged without qualm into the side of it.
The next few moments blurred once more as friendly human arms grabbed both his arms and pulled him from the fray.
"Fuck it up Tyranus!" a man cried out angrily behind Smash. The man attacking the creature with little more than a knife and his fists was apparently called Tyranus. His vision focussed once more upon a line up of deadly weapons all poised at the creature. None dared fire outright upon the beast lest they hit the marine named Tyranus in the crossfire. So each bode their time and aimed.
Tyranus was no stranger to melee combat. He had trained with his lads many times in the past. You need three things to prevail against any target. Strength, speed and luck. If the enemy was superior in any of those then you must be more adept at another. He soon learnt he held no contest in strength against the mighty creature; a swift unarmed blow from the creature sending him reeling backwards. It was intelligent however, it knew quickly to stand between him and his men lest it receive a thousand bullets to the face at once.
It swung again this time with its bladed arm. He dodged the strike only slightly before countering with his knife. He slashed at it viciously against its masked face. It had the same effect as slashing a cinderblock as only sparks illuminated the area. He didn't have the speed to recover from his strike as it suddenly grabbed him by the throat. His body suddenly felt immensely heavy as his entire weight rested on his neck where the beast clutched him. He whipped his knife up to its un-armoured bicep. The jab slid in like a knife skewering a reptile. The outer layer of skin was as hard as scales but once through it sliced cleanly and efficiently. The beast growled in agony before smashing its head down onto his. The full realisation of how hard the mask was became abundantly clear, as if the full force of a truck on the motorway had transferred all its force into the small area of the helm.
Tyranus felt his brow and nose break instantly under the force of the head butt coupled with the metallic mask. Blood ran over his eyes and mouth obscuring his already blurring vision. It was painful admittedly but adrenaline, shock and numbness had made it less predominant. He had fallen to the ground without realising it. The creature instantly realised its mistake in making itself a wide open target. Everyone including Tyranus gasped slightly as it suddenly disappeared into thin air. Gun fire and angry growls filled the air instantly as the predator disappeared. Every now and then fluorescent green blood seemed to appear from nowhere in the hail of gun fire until all fell quiet once more.
Angus was the first next to Tyranus wielding a bottle of water and clean bandages. He looked angry, scared and confused.
"It killed Kaelax!" the man cried out his face visibly shaking in anger and grief. "The mother-fucker killed Kaelax!" he repeated with clenched fists. Tyranus groaned slightly as his adrenaline left him.
"How many...? How many wounded?" he managed to groan before placing his head back against the grassy patch beneath him. Falcon stepped forward with a grim expression.
"We found two more dead. Time2Win was found missing his head and Martyraire died in the explosion," he reported with hazy eyes. Un4seen was the next on the scene with an equally dismayed expression.
"Damn it Sarge! Stealth is down and breathing hard. Half his face is charred man! In the newcomers Adrian, Trevinator and Silbern are unconscious. Silbern's missing some fingers," he reported with a lump of horror and terror all too obvious in his throat. Tyranus's eyes lulled slightly before rolling up and unconsciousness took him.
Smashington recognised some faces instantly amongst the peculiar crowd of people. There was Falcon, Crusty, Aussiekanga and a few others who were lying unconscious.
"Smash? Jesus mate, thought we'd never see you up and about again," Falcon whispered as the others transported Tyranus into the shuttlecraft along with the other unconscious men.
"What the hell's happened? Where is everyone?" Smash queried hoping not to get the answer he expected. Falcon paused for a bit then grimaced.
"They've gone to attack those black monsters," he answered looking as though each word weighed on him deeply.
"Black monsters? Oh Joseph and Mary not those reptile things? They'll get killed!" Smashington cried out in horror. His only memory was of the one that had attempted to latch onto Malice's legs in the compound. It was a brief view but left a lasting image.
Both men fell silent as Time2Win's headless body was escorted past them. Falcon gagged and then let what little food he had in his stomach spew out next to him. He coughed out an apologetic sorry to those around. He needn't have bother has nearly everyone was doing the same. Those caught in the blue blast bore black charred parts. The unconscious ones were generally the only ones.
"...and what the fuck was that?" Smashington finally ended the pause whilst thinking of the beast that had tried to skewer him.
"We've never seen them before. Wouldn't have a fuckin' clue." The pause descended once more before a sudden rippling in the ground made everyone stand up and look around in worry. Everyone still conscious formed into a group wielding their weapons threateningly as the shake in the ground grew more predominant. Suddenly like a wave of unrelenting water, a burst of air knocked them all onto the ground. What followed next made every man latch onto their ears in agony. An enormous explosion sounded off in the distance of the forest. Each man squinted their eyes in bewilderment and fear while continuing to block their ears from the continuous roar of the explosion.
The roaring winds and deafening noise of the explosion held true for several prolonged seconds before everything died down to silence once more. Everyone slowly and carefully got to their feet once more as if hasty movement would spark off another immense explosion.
"Oh god! What was that?" Un4seen whispered with wide eyes.
"I just want to go home man; I just want to see my family again!" Crusty cried out with fresh tears running down his cheeks. Everything that had happened continued to wear on their morale. Only Smashington, who had been unconscious for a majority of the daunting situations, was still holding onto a shred of composure and clear-headed thoughts.
"This is a no go Falcon, we need to round up every survivor and head back to Earth," he said without hesitation.
"How? We haven't enough fuel to reach even halfway back," Falcon replied as men whispered and murmured their theories of the explosion around him.
"We siphon as much as we can from one or two of the vessels and put it evenly into the last three. We may not fully reach Earth but at least we can call command if we're close enough," Smashington explained before standing.
"You fuckin' genius sarge!" Falcon cried out joyously.
Angus turned to stare at the two with confused and dismayed eyes. He looked like a man given up on hope. Survival was merely something he could choose to continue to do now if he wanted. Death almost seemed a better option; an end to the fear, the surprises, the agony of losing close friends.
"What's going on?" he queried weakly.
"Round up everyone, we're going to the dropships," Smash informed with leadership clearly in his tone.
"No... we're staying here until Tyranus orders us otherwise," the man rebuked with little effort in his voice.
"I thank that man for saving my life. But we're getting off this planet and I'm not leaving any of you behind." There was a pause as Angus let his words sink in.
"Get off this planet? Ha! Your torpor has made you delusional," he said at last with a sarcastic bitter laugh.
The ignorance of the man was getting on his nerves but Smash held himself together as he calmly explained his idea of escape. As bravo leader he shouldn't need to explain himself to a grunt but given the circumstances he'd let it pass.
"We wait until Tyranus is awake before we decide anything!" Angus growled, his motivation returning in the form of a challenge.
"We leave now and we take the wounded with us... know your place," Smash replied with growing annoyance.
"I'm not following an order from someone who's been fuckin' sleeping while we've been getting ripped apart out here, take your orders and blow them through your ass," Angus angrily roared letting everyone nearby hear clearly.
"I'm not asking your permission grunt. Follow or I will carry you myself," Smashington yelled back somewhat spraying the man's face with salvia. Everyone could see it would come to blows very soon.
Their prediction became correct as Angus launched a clenched fist straight for Smashington's face. The leader of Bravo squad sidestepped and grabbed the offending arm before twisting it around. Everyone watched in surprise as within seconds Angus was pinned to the ground with his arm twisted behind his back. He grunted out his anger and dissatisfaction still refusing to give up. It was Un4seen who brought an end to the quarrelling by putting a friendly hand on Smashington's shoulder.
"Sir, we've lost many good men to these beasts. We've all got short fuses. I know more than anything in this world that I want to be back home... but me and my boys have fought under Tyranus's command for several good years now. He's never done us wrong. Let us wait until he's back with us before we decide anything." The silence grew once more as Smashington grasped at his words.
"Aye... well said soldier, it would be easier with conscious men anyway. Alright we hold our current position until your squad leader is back."
"Thank you sir."