XV
Naomi was out of the M18 before her name was fully out of Rey's mouth. She shouldered the SPNKr and sprinted around to the receiving doors with Aaron on her heels. He took up position ten yards to her right, DMR aimed directly at the door. Naomi took a knee, flipping out the holographic sight and lining up her shot. She didn't know what to expect when she pulled the trigger. Would a tidal wave of Grunts flood out to meet them or would the blast potentially injure their allies inside? Anything was possible. She pushed the thoughts into the back of her mind and squeezed the trigger.
The single rocket coughed from the SPNKr, a cloud of exhaust engulfing Naomi. It slammed into the receiving door, blasting through the thin titanium-A metal with ease. Red-orange flames flared up, quickly snuffed out by the frigid atmosphere.
Naomi felt the wave of heat that dissipated, hunching her shoulders as she turned aside from the explosion. When the smoke eventually cleared, she and Aaron saw the whole picture: Grunts, hundreds of them, were scrambled for their lives. Scores of them lay dead from the blast, strewn about across the floor in nauseating pieces. The Grunts that weren't scrambling for the exits had curled up on the floor, overtaken by the freezing atmosphere that smothered them. And there, in the rear of the receiving bay, stood Jacen, Rey, Aiden, and Damon with Engineer.
It was maddening: hundreds of Grunts stampeded out of the bay, clambering over one another in a frenzy to escape. A rushing river it resembled, loud and untamed. Some were trampled underfoot, killed or injured in the chaos. They funneled through the angled hall where the four men had come from, running directly into the squad of armed Grunts that were in pursuit.
Rey saw their opportunity: the herd of Grunts began to thin out, the remaining left dead or dying on the floor. He shouldered his battle rifle, pointed forward. "Let's move!"
He exploded into a sprint, leading the charge through the maze of Grunts underneath his boots. The exit was so close, their salvation was so close. They just needed to load the Engineer into the M18 and it was mission accomplished. The attacking Grunts were held back from the surging crowd of panicked aliens, a stroke of good luck that Rey could say he didn't expect. It didn't matter. He'd take it where he could get it.
Damon was right behind him, his pace slowed to keep Jacen and Aiden within sight. They pulled the Engineer along behind them, pushing and shoving aside the Gas-suckers that ran past them. One of them fell forward from the surge, rolling into Damon's legs. The corporal hit the ground hard, feeling one of his molars loosen. He groaned as the Grunt's body beside him convulsed as ice crystals began to form across it's body. Hands reached down and grabbed him, snatching him upright and shoving him forward. He stumbled forward, catching his fall before continuing after Rey.
In the rear, Aiden and Jacen kept up their pace. The captain was practically at the blown open bay door, clearing the way for them. The docks were beginning to clear, with most of the Grunts either squeezing through the hall behind them or left dead on the floor. It wasn't until Jacen was lying flat on his back that he realized he'd been run over by one of the panicking aliens. Aiden was standing a ways from him, gunning down a Grunt at point-blank range that was clawing at him. Jacen scrambled to his feet, no longer feeling the gentle tug from the Engineer around his torso. The impact had severed the tether between himself and the prize. He held the frayed, broken tether in his hand and cursed.
"I'm loose!" he shouted out to no one in particular. "I can it tie back. Aiden, get over here!"
Aiden pulled the tether taut, denying the Engineer enough slack to move more freely. He imagined if the creature wanted to that it could easily slice though the fabric and go on its way. Why it didn't was a question Aiden didn't care to answer. It's uncanny obedience to the whole situation was over his head. He went over to Jacen, handing the sliced end to him.
Jacen took the two ends, rapidly trying his best to form a double fisherman knot amidst shaking hands. He missed a loop and cursed at himself. There wasn't time for mistakes now. He needed to get the knot secured and move before—
—A sensation like a branding iron sizzled against his upper right shoulder. Jacen went to his knees with a scream, having a section of his tactical vest boiled away down to the gel layer of his undersuit. He managed to crawl to Aiden's feet, turning his head around to mark the culprit. It was their old buddy, their adversary: the burgundy-armored Grunt. It had managed to muscle its way from the fleeing river of its own species, charging its plasma pistol for another shot. Aiden went to fire, only to hear the unsettling click—empty. He threw the sidearm away, swaying the Engineer to the side as the overcharged plasma bolt was fired. It sizzled past him, splashing somewhere behind him.
Jacen struggled for his gun, his vision clouded from the shooting pain in his shoulders. He guessed it must've been first and second degree burns, but he couldn't worry about that now. Before he could slip his fingers around the sidearm, the Grunt lieutenant was on top of him. It viciously punched him in his mid-section, just underneath the ribs. As if weighed as much as a feather, the Grunt tossed Jacen aside and charged for Aiden. It leapt up, careening into Aiden's long legs and buckled him. Once brought down to its level, the Grunt took a strong swipe for the human's head. Aiden evaded left, shoving the alien away before kicking it in its back.
"Get moving, mate!" Aiden barked at Jacen. "We're running for it."
Jacen struggled to his feet as Damon and Rey began running over. More armed Grunts squeezed out of the crowd, opening fire almost immediately. Damon pushed Rey to the floor as pink needles detonated around him. Shrapnel spiraled around his left thigh, just above the knee. He hit the floor beside Rey, draining his magazine cartridge into the Grunt pair that entered into the fray. They squealed and scurried to what limited cover they could find as Damon gave a passing glance to his wound. Fragments from the needler shard had broken off in his leg, pass his armor, and into his skin. The bleeding to slow, for now. He got up, pulling Rey upright along the way.
Aiden made his way to them, running at an angle to compensate for the Engineer tugging at the one side of his body. He turned around to see the Grunt lieutenant aggressively on his heels. It snarled and lunged at him, the two dropping to the floor in a vicious brawl. Aiden kicked and punched, fending off the frantic alien lieutenant the best he could. The lieutenant clawed at him, wrenching its claws into Aiden's skin between punches.
Rey charged into the Grunt with his shoulder, tearing it free from Aiden. He slammed the lieutenant in its face with punch after punch; left and right, another right and then a left. "Go!" he barked between blows. "Get moving. I'll catch up."
"Let's go, brother!" Damon pulled Aiden up, his wound stinging and tearing open. He ignored it, moving around behind the Engineer and pushed it after Aiden. "Sorry about this, but you're floating a little slow."
Jacen strafed left, moving in reverse beside Aiden and the Engineer, firing warning shots to the combative Grunts to discourage their progress. Seemingly oblivious to the incoming gunfire, the little aliens kept advancing. A dozen of them seemed to appear all at once, launching themselves out of the retreating mass crowd. Jacen concentrated his shots, bring his right hand up to steady the gun. He felt his shoulder tear, the blistered skin crackling. Two shots dropped a single Grunt, another took its place. There was just too many of them, the unarmed shielding the armed as they grew closer.
A Grunt suddenly dropped from a headshot. Another went down from a round to the throat, and then two more from cranial excavation. Jacen turned around. Aaron, accompanied by Naomi, entered into the bay with guns blazing. Aaron took a knee with the DMR, picking off the Grunts one by one. Naomi came up beside him, shouldering her assault rifle and pulse firing into the group until they lost coordination and scrambled.
She fired the rest of her magazine, dumped it, and reloaded before running up beside Jacen. "You owe me one."
Jacen holstered his empty pistol and took Naomi's. "Add it to the list." He glared over at Rey. The captain was still wrestling with the Grunt lieutenant, trading blows and fighting to the death. He turned away and touched Naomi's shoulder. "Make sure they make it to the M18. Tell Kipp we're ready to roll."
Naomi squeezed Jacen's forearm. "Hell no! You get the captain; I'll lay down some suppressing fire."
Jacen didn't want to argue. There wasn't enough time and he was in too much pain. He unsheathed his knife and made his way over to Rey, running low underneath the swarm of plasma bolts, needler shards, and gunfire from Naomi and Aaron.
Rey took a shot to the face, rattling his teeth and feeling as if his brain was a pinball. He felt blood slide from his nose and into his mouth. The Grunt lieutenant drove its fist into Rey's gut, the force lifting the captain a few inches off the floor. Rey nearly vomited, his belly rearranged by the punch. The Grunt stood over him, grabbing him by the back of his head and repeatedly slammed him into the floor.
Jacen flipped the knife's blade forward, driving it into the lieutenant's mid-section as he ran over. The Grunt let out a high-pitched yelp. Jacen ripped out the knife covered in blood and stabbed the alien again and again. The lieutenant coughed up blood from behind its mask, grabbing Jacen and shoving him away before being stabbed again. It staggered away from the two of them, bleeding and out of breath. Two shots rang out from the DMR behind them, one clipping the lieutenant's shoulder and the next ripping through its chest. The Grunt leader collapsed to the floor, motionless.
"Time to go," Jacen said. He extended a hand to the captain.
Rey took his hand, grimacing as he stood. He and Jacen made a break for the exit as Naomi and Aaron followed suit with suppressing fire. Just a little closer, Rey pushed himself. He saw Damon and Aiden already at the exit, preparing the load the Engineer into the M18's rear trailer. All the anguish, the convincing, the seemingly endless hours of planning; it was all falling into place.
A future. They just might have a future.
A plasma grenade was hurled at them, arching high and landing just meters from Naomi and Aiden. It donated, flinging Naomi's body into Aaron's and sent their them tumbling across the floor. She hit the floor hard, her head smacking into the concrete. Aaron fought to remain conscious as Naomi's motionless body was strewn across his lap.
"Yo, Diaz..." Aaron's speech was slurred, his head swimming in limbo. He shook her body. "Diaz." He couldn't move her, too weak and dazed.
"Naomi!" Jacen raced over, sliding on the floor next to them. He lifted her body up from stop Aaron's legs and positioned her head in the crook of his arm. "Naomi, do you hear me? Wake up!"
Damon witnessed the spectacle from outside, cursing at himself. They were so close. He left Aiden and pointed to the M18. "Get the Engineer in the truck. Move!" He ran into the fray, nearly being struck by a plasma bolt himself. Dropping to his hands and knees, he crawled over to Aaron and snaked his hands underneath the dazed man's armpits. "I'm getting you outta here. Can you walk?"
"I…I think so," Aaron replied. "I don't… what happened?"
"I'll take that as a no," Damon grunted, dragging him out. "Pearce, get off your a** and let's go! We'll assess her when we get back."
Jacen snapped to attention, shielding Naomi's body as another grenade went off nearby. Debris showered over him with intense heat from the ionized blast. He picked her up, hooking his arms behind her back and knees and proceeded to carry her to the exit Damon had already pulled Aaron through. Rey brought up the rear, shooting aimlessly behind him.
The Grunt lieutenant took in a sudden breath, gargling blood and fighting to breath. In a pool of its own blood, it slowly sat up with the human intruders in view. They began to ease the Huragok out the buildings, moving toward what appeared to be a human vehicle of some sort. The lieutenant growled, rearing up on its dying feet and snatching a pair of plasma grenades from its belt. With a scream, it charged forward with fleeting strength and reckless abandonment, leaving bloody footprints in its wake.
Rey had just dropped down outside the loading bay when he heard the scream. He turned and marked the approaching the lieutenant running toward them with its allies behind it. "You just don't quit, do ya?" Rey finished opening up the M18's trailer as Aiden disconnected the tether from himself and the Engineer. "Get it inside and lock it up."
He drew his revolver, loading the last eight rounds into the chamber. By the time he prepared to fire, the first Grunt was already on him. It jumped out of the destroyed bay door at Rey, missing as the captain sidestepped. Rey swung around and shot the alien in the back, moved up, and fired around two rounds to keep the rest back.
"Hurry it up, people!" Rey shouted.
Jacen and Damon loaded Naomi and Aaron into the cab of the M18, securing them in the backseat before jumping out to help Aiden. Jacen took Naomi's assault rifle, running around to the rear of the trailer to see Rey hunkered down behind the trailer's open door for cover. He fired at the Grunts standing on the edge of the loading bay, killing one and injuring another.
Damon came up around from the other side, moving beside Aiden to coax the Engineer inside the trailer. The alien seemed to investigate the architecture of the truck, oblivious to the hell around them. Damon ultimately jumped up into the trailer, grabbing the Engineer from the front and attempted to pull it inside. His eyes became saucers when the saw the Grunt lieutenant stumbling toward them with two primed plasma grenades in its hands.
It dove out of the docking bay, falling on the ground underneath the Engineer and Aiden with a boisterous laugh.
"Aiden, get clear..."
The grenades went off, engulfing Aiden and the Engineer in cerulean flames! Jacen and Rey were blown back as Damon was flung back further into the trailer. He hit the back of the metal with a clangand fell face forward. Rey rolled over on his back, the air snatched out of his lungs. He sat up, struggling to see through his cracked NV monocular; but what he was able to see was enough to turn his stomach. The mangled body of the Engineer was lying on the ground, luminous blood pouring out from its body. But worse yet, the body was Aiden was next to it.
Jacen groaned, lifting his head up from the dirt and turned around to see what Rey was still trying to process. "What the hell…?"
"We gotta go," Rey said, his tone so low that Jacen could barely hear him.
Jacen wasn't ready. Aiden's body was there, lifeless and unmoving. They couldn't just leave him there; but the possibility of reclaiming his body wasn't ideal. More Grunts were undoubtedly coming and they needed to leave. He got up and staggered around to the back of the M18, its trailer doors scorched and mangled from the explosion. He jumped into the trailer, stepping over the remnants of the Engineer's body. Aiden's body was to the far left. He forced himself to keep moving, finding Damon trying to get up.
"Don't move. We're getting out of here."
Rey poked his head in the trailer. "Hang on to something. We're moving out!" He ran around to the cab and jumped inside, slamming the door shut. "Kipp, go! Drive!"
"Wait, where is everyone else?" Kipp asked.
"Jacen and Damon are in the trailer. Drive!" Rey barked.
Kipp put the M18 into gear. "Aiden… what about Aiden?"
Incensed, Rey grabbed Kipp by his collar and pulled his close. "Aiden is dead, the Engineer is dead! Mission is scrubbed. Now, DRIVE!"
Kipp leveled his foot on the gas. The M18 kicked, jerking forward before gaining traction on the soil and accelerated forward. Rey looked in the side-mirror, glaring at the burning Grunt compound as it reduced in size until it was no longer in view. He averted his eyes away and fell silent.