ONE
It was carnage.
The PDF were manning barricades across the city, as part of the defensive order. However, the chosen perimeter only secured the vital parts of the city against attack.
Residential areas were not considered vital.
Hab Bloc Gamma, with its population of five million, was not considered vital.
Private Hale stood on the barricade facing Hab Bloc Gamma, praying with all his might as the civilians ran towards him and his fellow PDF. Most of Hab Bloc Gamma were dead, with only a few thousand survivors left. These scant few were now desperately trying to reach the relative safety of the PDF perimeter. The Tyranids were gaining ground rapidly, and some soldiers were risking careful shots above or between civilians to try and stop the horde. Others, clearly believing the civilians to be good as dead already, were firing almost indiscriminately into the mass, las-bolts and auto rounds cutting down Tyranids and civilians alike. Chilling screams rent the air as the Tyranids reached the rear of the civilian group.
They didn't scream for long.
They're not going to make it, Hale realised. They're all going to die.
With that simple thought, a switch flipped in his mind. His lasgun was up and firing, selector set to full automatic. The first few shots struck hardened chitin, and to his horror had almost no effect. He continued to fire into the 'nids, then an old man appeared in his sights. Before Hale even registered the man, he was dead, falling back with a smouldering hole in his chest.
I killed him. God-Emperor, I killed a man.
Hale didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He kept firing, aiming slightly higher in an effort to avoid the civilians, but they were dead anyway if the 'nids weren't stopped.
The crowd continued to scream as the monsters gained even more ground. Virtually all attempts at fire discipline had been abandoned, with mortars, rockets and heavy bolters all pouring fire into the killing ground.
And then Hale saw her.
A young woman, pale and terrified, clutching a baby tight to her chest, was sprinting towards the wall. She was at the front of the group; scarcely a hundred metres from the barricade. In that moment, Hale knew he had to do something.
"Kraemer!" he barked. "Female, 11 o' clock, 100 meters! Cover her!"
Kraemer nodded and swung his heavy bolter towards the woman. The 'nids nearing her fell back as the heavy mass-reactive rounds pounded into them. Hale began firing at the targets too close for Kraemer to risk a shot at.
The woman, perhaps sensing her guardian angels were watching over her, ran even faster. 80 metres to the barricade.
A termagaunt leapt towards her, before being swatted mid-air by a hail of bolter rounds from Kraemer.
50 meters.
An anti-armour rocket blew the nearest Tyranid warrior apart. The smaller creatures reeled visibly as the monster died.
40 metres.
Donne and Holzer began covering her as well. Sniper rounds began picking off targets.
30 metres.
Almost all the other refugees were dead or dying. Virtually every soldier on the wall was covering the woman. Surely the Emperor must hear so many frantic, heartfelt prayers.
20 metres.
Shouts of encouragement could be heard above the roar of weapons fire. The 'nids were being held away by sheer weight of fire, but it couldn't last long.
10 metres.
Smaller 'nids were dropping left and right. It looked like a solid wall of las-fire and bolt rounds were holding off the creatures.
The woman reached the wall, and scrambled for a foothold, only to find there was precious little purchase on the hard rockrete barricade. Nobody could climb such a wall, not while carrying something with one army.
She locked eyes with Hale, and in one terrible moment, he realised what she was going to do. Before he could even call out, the baby was in the air, arcing towards him. Dropping his rifle, he snatched it out of the air, ducking behind the rampart while he looked for a safe place to put the child. There was none. He switched the precious bundle to his left arm, picked up his rifle and looked back over the rampart.
There was a fresh streak of gore on the barricade directly beneath him, and renewed hatred on the faces of the soldiers. Hale held the baby close, bowed his head in prayer to the Emperor, and clenched his lasgun so tightly it hurt. Soldiers armed with flamers rushed to the wall, and blazing promethium seared into the horde below. The soldiers on the wall began to fall back, and Hale joined them. He found himself huddled by a medical tent, holding the baby.
5 million. There were – no, had been – 5 million people in Hab Bloc Gamma.
And this baby was the only survivor.
"Hale. Good to see you." Ellis was walking over, medkit in hand. "Are you injured?"
"No… I think I'm ok." Hale felt drained, utterly exhausted by what had happened. He held out the baby. "Can you check her?"
"Of course." Ellis carefully took the baby. "What's her name?"
Hale paused, looking back towards the barricade. Smoke rose from where the xenos had been torched. The flame troops were still firing, and from the sounds the 'nids were finally either falling back or all dying. Behind the smoke rose Hab Bloc Gamma, graveyard of 5 million loyal souls.
5 million dead. But the barricade still held. The PDF were still in command of the city. There was still…
"Hope." Hale smiled for the first time since the invasion, the word just sounding right. "Her name is Hope."