Chapter 2 A Peace's Ending
"A zergling, a vicious little creature that seem small when it maneuvers, but it stands up to attack, and when it does, it will cause any man to cower in the corner and beg to stop. I have met many Marines who have feared getting killed by a zergling. But there is much worst out in the universe then a zergling, such as a Hydralisk, a 15 foot spine spitting Zerg. But what was even worst was an Ultralisk, a 30 foot tall huge Zerg like tank. That day, I was experiencing…A Peace's Ending."-Stryke
The zerglings moved in faster and faster, their high pitched screams echoing through the halls. My back was against the wall, as I stared at the dead marine, I will soon be joining his side.
"You're giving up already, Justin?" a familiar voice called from above.
I looked up to see Matt in the air vents, having a goofy smile on his face, even at a time like this.
"How the hell did you get up there?" I yelled angrily.
"No time to explain" Matt began, then lowering his arm and holding out his hand for me to grab, "Grab my hand, unless you want to be lunch."
Why the hell would I want to be eaten alive? I then put the strap over my head so the rifle was hanging on my back, the barrel of the gun pointing at the ground, and the handle sticking diagonally up by my head. I then jumped as high as I can, reaching for his hand. Did I make it?
"God you suck, you should exercise more." Matt joked, but then his face turned serious when a Zergling was ready to pounce me.
A zergling attacked from the side, as I then jumped back and its claws lightly scratched my shoulder. Blood lightly dripped out from the new hole of my shirt. The Zergling cawed, and more came to back it up. Finally, shots were heard from above, shots from a gauss rifle. I looked up to see Matt leaning over the opening of the vent, his left eye closed, and the barrel aimed downwards towards his foes. The zerglings looked up and screamed in pain, as the two on the sides were shot back, blood splattering on the walls. The last one looked from side to side, groaning a call for his buddies, only to then be shot in the head a few times and blood splattered, hitting my chest, and then it fell down dead on it's stomach.
"Come on, we don't have much time!" Matt said, throwing the gauss rifle at his side and then lowering his hand again.
I looked over to see a zergling running at me.
"Oh shit!" I yelled.
"Get up here, dumbass." Matt commanded again.
I then looked up and jumped as high as I can, the zergling following, clawing the air. I grabbed onto matt's hand, and then he used his free hand to grab my other hand and he pulled me up into the vent, the Zergling just missing my legs.
"That was a close one." I panted. The cool air blew threw the vents, my hair kind of swaying with the very light wind.
"Yeah, you can say that again." Matt replied, taking a deep breath. "This is my first real combat exercise. Well…not really an exercise, but, a real life battle."
"Yeah, and your still a trainee, sarge" I shot back sarcastically.
Down below, gunshots blasted through the corridors, and zergling death screams were heard throughout the complex. Marine screams blasted through the vents. Even a lower pitched Zerg call was heard, which neither I nor Matt recognized.
"So, what now?" I asked Matt.
"Well, first of all, let's get the hell out of here. The next thing is, don't die."
"Easy said then easy done." I said glumly.
"How much ammo you got in that rifle?" Matt said.
"None, I ran out man."
"Well, here, take this." And he pulled out a clip from his back pocket and threw it to me, and I caught it with one hand.
I then held the trigger, and from the side, a panel open, and the old clip fell out, the digital number went from "0" to "N/A", and then I placed the new cartridge in, and then pushed it back in, and it clicked and went to its spot, then the number going to "1,500".
"I see you had your gun training" Matt said with another smile.
"Yeah, I'm not helpless."
I then remembered my brother back at the house, watching T.V; I have to go back for him.
"Hey man, we got to go retrieve my brother, I hope he is alright."
"He has a C-10 Canister rifle, right?" Matt said, looking down the hole of the vent.
The zerglings below looked up at him, they knew we were up here, and were waiting for us to fall down or something. Their red eyes reminded me of the blood shed they caused.
"Ok, Justin, let's move" Matt said, then turned around and holding the rifle in one hand, and was on his hands and knees like a baby, starting to crawl.
I followed quickly. Anything would be better then being in here. I wanted to get out as fast as I can. The vents banged under our weight, giving the Zerg's offensive army a confused look, not knowing where we were, but able to smell our scent. I stayed close behind Matt; I don't want to get lost again.
A squeak was heard under me, and then a crack was heard. That was all I heard, and then me and Matt's scream in unison as we then fell down to the ground. I landed on my stomach, sprawling out and my rifle sliding out of my hand. Matt landed on his back, his hand tightly gripped on his rifle.
"Ouch." I moaned, then getting up into a kneel, my arm resting over my knee that was bent upwards. I shook my head; I think I was seeing some stars.
"Stay where you are, boys." A deep voice said. It definitely sounded better then a Zergling's ferocious caw.
"Hey, we're humans, not like it's hard to tell." Matt said angrily, his hands rose above his head.
I looked up to see General Duke standing in front of a squadron of men. All of them had different signs on their armors, like one had "Bad Boy" on the left shoulder pad and another had "You see me, your Dead" on it's arm, but all of them had the confederate flag on it somewhere. Duke stood like an ape, a powerful looking Shotgun in his hands, his visors was pulled over his face, and his whitish black hair ended right before his forehead.
"What are you boys doing up in those vents?" The general asked angrily.
"We were running away from the creatures, Sir" Matt said loudly, in a military fashion.
"Well, as usual, the headquarters of the Confederacy sent me to do the mop up job of this assault, so you boys sit tight in our squad and help out if ya'll can." And with that he began to march quickly off, always having a pissed off look on his face.
"Wait!" I shouted, and the general stopped dead in his tracks. "Did you know that an attack was going to happen?"
"No we didn't, boy. What's your name anyway?"
"Justin Schilling"
"Matthew Stubbs."
"Well, Mr. Schilling, Mr. Stubbs, I assure you we didn't know anything about the assault, and the Zerg are a weak species, they don't have as much technology as we do.
"Well how do you know the name of the species? Did you actually talk to them?" I asked angrily.
"Mr. Schilling, do not try my patience, or right here and right now I will have my men blow you to smithereens."
Just as the General said that, I heard all the guns click behind me. I couldn't take on them with just one rifle. So I surrendered and didn't say a word.
"Good, now that there is no more fighting, let's move out, shall we?" and with that the ape sized general turned back around and turn around the corridor.
"Sir, Mr. Schilling has been injured by the creatures." One of the general's men stated.
I looked on my arm, it was bleeding a little bit, and the scratch mark went clear into my skin.
"Medic!" General Duke shouted.
A male in a white medic's battle armor outfit came up to me, and then began to examine the wound. He then took a shot, and he stated that it was only going to hurt a little bit. Medics are very bad liars. After the shot, they then wrapped bandages around my shoulder, and then the medic saluted the General.
"Healing has been completed, sir" The medic stated.
"Good, go back and help any other men that might be wounded outside, there should be a good 30-35 men that are injured, get to work, son." The general saluted his medic back, and then the medic ran off and disappeared around the corner.
Matt and I stayed in the back of the crowd. They underestimated our abilities. They looked upon us as a "trainee" and a "civi". General Duke barked out commands, as the marines followed. They used the Stim Packs to keep them calm, and not to go crazy and shoot every living thing that was around.
After a bit of walking and killing, the walls began to crumble, and all the marines picked up their rifles, all clicking sounds being heard as they did. Me and matt also rose our rifles, looking around, and aiming the rifle where our head turned to look.
Finally, these creatures broke through the walls, caving us in. They were way different then the zerglings, especially in the size. These things were about 15 feet tall, and their claws were a little less developed. But they had a better weapon then those of the zerglings. It moved like a snake. In fact, it reminded me of a huge snake, rather then a Zerg creature. It had two jaws, an inner jaw, which was used for it to eat its victims. Its head reminded me of a cobra, and when the creatures attacked, the sides split open to show green spines sticking out. The creatures propelled those spikes so fast, you could barely see them. Its claws were a little bit shorter then the zerglings, but these were much harder to kill and way harder to avoid.
The creatures moved in, and me and Matt quickly brought reign of metal into them. But it didn't seem to stop them. The two bones of the outer piece of the head spread out, and then it spit out a green spine at a marine. It broke right through the visor. The marine dropped his rifle, which clanked on the ground, and the spike was sticking right out of his forehead through the hole in the visor. I watched the marine fall backwards and land with a sickening thud... A one hit kill
Now I really wished I had some of that battle armor on. I fired at a nearby hydralisk, the digital number indicating the bullets going down rapidly. I screamed as I fired, and then it finally screeched and turned into a heap of blood, a thump being heard from the bloody mess.
"These things are impossible!" Matt shouted, his gauss rifle still firing like there was no tomorrow.
"Their armor is much harder then those little ones!" I shouted back, another one dropped dead from my metal spikes.
A marine by me was hit by the spines, it punctured holes in his armor and he screamed, and then just dropped dead from the ground, a blood puddle formed under him.
When the battle finally subsided, 9 out of 20 men have died from the initial attack by the creatures. I sighed and looked at the digital number on the side of my rifle.
"547" I said softly to myself. Matt was doing the same thing.
"698" He said.
"Let's move out" said the pointy headed general.
Some men took out their stim packs and brought it to either their necks or their wrists, and it sizzled and they sighed out a sigh of relief. I guess that is what they use to calm themselves down. The men began to walk behind their leader; their feet (covered with high quality battle armor) clanked on the marble floor below us.
"Did you hear about the Korhal attack on the Confederate Station on Tarsonis?" Asked one of the marines, to his fellow comrade.
"No, but how far did those outlaw bastards get?" the other one replied with a laugh. Matt and I just listened.
"Not far, their forces are pretty weak. They don't have highly trained men, and Acturus Mengsk doesn't have very good war tactics."
"Ha, those men will be wiped out by us before they even know what hit them, boy"
"Who are the 'Korhal'?" I asked Matt, my head turned so my face was looking towards him, but still walking, the rifle in my hands.
"All I heard about them is they are an outlaw group that opposes the Confederate ways of dealing things. They claim they know more things then the confeds do, and they tried to prosecute things against us in court, but they never had any proof. I personally think they are just trying to screw over this way of life and suit it up to their own tastes."
"So you're basically saying, their bunch of moronic assholes."
"Pretty Much."
"Thought so, all fighting corps units are."
Our conversation stopped there. The marines' boots kept clanking against the floor. It's funny how these marines can carry on a normal conversation in a time like this. It must be their neural implants that have been implanted in their heads so that way they have to follow orders. In other words, marines are some pretty tough men.
The general brought us into an open room, and we all stopped dead in our tracks. The guns in the marines' hands clicked and they all held them up, and looked around. I did the same; this room looked a little dangerous.
In the little dim lights that the cracks made through the ceiling, I could see that blood covered the walls and the floor, and dead air force trainees and the confederate marines lied all over the place, gauss rifles thrown about the room, dead creatures lying everywhere. The room was a big one, and a fan was blowing downwards upon us, making a "Whoosh" sound with each blade that came by.
"This looks bad, boys" General Duke said solemnly.
I picked up a clip from on the ground, it was a full cartridge. I slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. I know that will come in handy later. I watched Matt do the same.
"Be ready for anything, man" Matt said, his rifle pointing in front of him as he looked from side to side.
The gun clicked in my hands, and I did the same. The group went forward very slowly, looking everywhere, ready for anything. We only had a group of about 11 men. The boots clanked under the metallic floor, the marines' face actually showed a bit of fear for once.
Before we know what hit us, the floor under us began to crack, and all of us looked down.
"What the hell…" General Duke said.
"Everybody, get back!" Matt shouted, and he jumped back.
I, General Duke, and three other marines listened to Matt. We were lucky, as for the others, it was a kind of gruesome death. The floor cracked under them, and zergling and lower pitched screeches were heard below. Marines screamed and tried to scramble up the broken pieces of the ground. But it was too late. One Marine fired downwards, and then he disappeared into the darkness. One by one, the marines disappeared below. Shots were heard, but the slashes and marine screams.
"Damn monsters!" the last marine said, falling into the darkness with a thud. We all listened, then a scream pierced the air, then all went silent.
"Holy Shit..." the general said, a bit of fear in his voice. "These creatures are smarter then we thought."
"What do you mean by 'we thought'?" I said angrily, turned to Duke.
"None of your business, civilian." Duke said, looking over at me, shooting back a dirty look at me.
"Well, this is my homeland, and I think I should know" I said. "I can blow you to hell" and with that I raised my rifle and aimed it at Duke.
"Hey, Justin, calm down man." said Matt. He had to obey the confeds, Duke was a superior officer.
"I don't think you want to raise that rifle at me, boy" the general replied, and then the three Marines all rose their rifles at us.
Once again, the general had me in his grasp, I dropped my rifle and held it at my side, and then Duke nodded his head.
"Shall we continue, boys?"
Before we can all move though, a few zerglings jumped up onto the edge, and all of us turned to our left and then raised our rifles at them. They screeched and clawed the ground, looking at us with their red eyes. We all then opened fired, and then they all gave out their last cry as blood shot out from their bodies and then they flew back down to their hole. Their grave.
"I hate them things." Matt said, then lowering his rifle again.
"Better get used to them." I said glumly. My gun beeped, saying I was out of ammo. I held the trigger and the side panel came out. It dumped the old cartridge by itself. I took the new one from my back pocket and slipped it into the panel. I pushed it back in and it gave another "beep" and the light turned to green and said "1,500"
We all then walked around the hole, keeping our eyes peeled. When we got to the other side, we began to search for any survivors. But all was hopeless, there were none. All we ran into was more creatures and dead bodies, and rooms covered in blood. We were all too late.
"Ok, let's pack up, there is nothing left here, men." Duke finally said, giving up the search.
I didn't mind, we already searched the whole perimeter, besides, my brother is at my house, me and Matt have to get back to him and hopefully, he will be alright.
"We are lucky, man…" Matt said, looking at the ground some.
"Hey man, we did all we could do." I said, trying to cheer up my friend.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go get your brother."
We followed Duke outside, where we even found more bodies and blood. Nothing was left though, dangerous anyway. Flipped over cars, buildings either in rubbles or on fire, windows broken, all destruction and havoc. But before all was over, there was one last thing that was in our way.
A roar shook the whole ground, and I my knees bent as I kept my ground.
"What the hell is that?" I shouted nervously.
All our rifles clicked in our hands as we raised them up, looking around. Down the street, a huge creature came barreling down the street. It was about 30 feet tall, having blades about 20 feet long, a huge shell on its back, and a sort of tiny head right above its claws. It had four legs, and ran pretty damn fast for a giant. It spotted us, and then whacked a car to the side with its humongous claws.
"T-T-That's one big…guy…" matt said.
"Open fire, men!" Duke shouted. All the marines fired as the creature came barreling down the road after us.
Matt and I also fired, I tried to aim at its head, and even though I thought I hit it (because there was blood coming out of its head) it didn't seem to stop this monstrous tank. It ran up to one of the marines, Duke and the other jumped back and kept firing. The marine stopped firing and stuttered a scream.
"Uh…uh…..AHH!!" he screamed, and before he could turn and run, the creature's blades went into the air.
It then went across the marine, right in the waist. The marine dropped his rifle, and then the top half of him slid off, and blood spurted out of the lower half, which was still standing, but then fell to the ground.
"God Da---"said another marine.
But before he could finish his sentence, the creature turned and hit him with its claws, and the marine flew into the building across the street. The marine hit the brick wall with a sickening splat. You know he dead.
"Barry!" the last marine screamed.
Duke walked back, while we all fired. He was to my right now, and the last marine's gun clicked. He was out of bullets. The marine then took his rifle and chucked it at the monster, only hitting it in the leg. The monster then turned around and stepped on the marine, and then lifted up its foot and then stomped over to us. I looked over at the bloody mess; it was a puddle of blood with a pile of human skin and mush. The armor was in pieces around it.
Duke's gun clicked, and he looked down, then he cussed.
"I'm out." He said.
My gun then clicked in my hands, and then I stood there, lowering my rifle and looking up at the behemoth.
"Same here…"
After a few more shots, Matt's rifle clicked.
"Damn…"
We all started to step back away from the creature, looking up at its head. It seemed to laugh as it approached us. Then, a radio went off on Duke's waist.
"General, all siege tanks are in place, waiting for permission to fire."
Duke must have called some reinforcements while the attack was going on. A couple of siege tanks then creaked on some buildings around us, going into siege mode. Duke pulled out his radio and then shouted into it.
"Fire damn it, fire!"
Suddenly, a wave of explosions went off around the creature, a few hitting it. The creature screeched a low pitch screech in pain, as blood poured out of its new holes. The explosions knocked all three of us off our feet. I sprawled out on my back, my elbows in the dirt, my rifle lying a bit to my side, looking up at the creature, my head raised.
More waves of shells went off into the creature; it looked around helplessly, not knowing where it was coming from. Finally, it fell to its side, it looked at us with eyes of pain, and then the eyelids went down. It died there. Matt gave off a sigh of relief, and the back of my head hit the dirt.
General Duke stood up. He then picked up his talkie and then talked to it.
"Send me a drop ship and pick me up, the Confeds need to hear about this one" he said.
"Whoa, you can't just leave without giving me answers!" I shouted, standing up. Matt just lied there, looking up at the sky.
"Listen, Mr. Schilling, I got something to do, and no punk ass civi is gonna stop me, you hear?"
I stood silent, as a drop ship came down and then general turned his back to me, muttering something, then he walked to the drop ship, and then I watched the drop ship take off.
"God that was a close one…" Matt said, not picking up his rifle while he stood up.
I had mine in my hands. I didn't want to go anywhere without it now. Even though Duke said the threat has been cleared, I can't just drop my guard. Now comes the harder task.
"Let's get to my house and retrieve my brother" I said, then beginning to walk down the street to get to my house.
"If he's still alive" Matt said, following behind.
People came walking out of buildings as we passed, crying or shaking their heads over the ones that have died. People asked in confusion, wondering what these creatures were that attacked. All I knew was three things, the little ones are zerglings, there are things that spit spines, and then there are these huge 30 foot monsters with gargantuan claws. Other then that, I was confused myself.
We finally reached our house, and we saw my brother out on the front porch, his head down, his canister rifle having the butt on the step, the barrel pointing in the air. He was holding it in his right hand.
"Hey Marc!" I yelled, walking up to him.
"Hey Justin, I'm glad your still alive." Marc said, looking up with a smile.
"So, you get attacked too?" Matt asked.
"Yep, these little creatures. Only about 5 or 6 though, not too many."
"Must be zerglings." I said looking around. Ambulances rushed to the scene, going to help the wounded.
"You know what they are called?" Marc said with curiosity in his voice.
"It's the only thing I know the name of, and it's not the only thing running around. There are acid spitter things, and then there are these huge creatures. Duke's squad was obliterated, we barely survived."
"This all happened at your Confederate academy?" Marc turned to Matt.
"Yep, the whole place was infested with the bastards. Everybody died in there except me." Matt replied.
"Lucky"
"Yep, I know."
"Well, Matt, me and Marc have some…cleaning to do….so we will talk to you tomorrow man. And be careful sarge" I said jokingly.
"I will man, see ya private." And with that Matt marched off.
"Well, shall we start boarding up and stuff?" I said to Marc.
Marc stood up and then gave me a grin.
"Before we do that, I am going to upgrade your rifle there, give you better bullets and accuracy."
"Sounds cool."
Marc and I then walked up the steps of the porch, and then went inside, preparing, in case of another attack.