Chapter 2
Twenty civilians. One Guardian. Unknown number of Fallen closing in. Help on the way, but with an unknown ETA and no way to call for further support or contact them on approach.
Avgust ran through the list over and over. It did not look any better no matter what angle he examined it from. Perhaps he should have reached out to the fireteam. The fact that he had not wanted to did not sit easily in his mind.
"We must keep moving," he said, addressing some of the refugees who had started to lag behind. "The Fallen grow closer."
That drew a stricken look on their faces and the people picked up their pace, but Avgust knew it would not last. They were tired and hungry, and had already been running from the aliens for some time before he had rescued them. They were going to have to try to find a defensible position soon.
"You can't expect these people to fight," Svarog said privately. "They won't stand a chance."
«YA znayu,» he replied. "But the Fallen will run them down and butcher them otherwise. What weapons are you storing at present?"
"Not much," the Ghost said. "You haven't been in the field much lately, and we rushed out so I did not have time to prepare properly."
"Do not give excuses, just answers."
"I have the Fate of All Fools, the Jabberhӓkke-D, and the Havoc Pigeon."
Avgust grunted his displeasure. One scout rifle and two sidearms? That was not going to be enough to mount any sort of effective defense. Mentally, he ran through his options.
He could send them forward, stand and face the Fallen alone. He'd be able to take out a number of them, but eventually they would likely overwhelm him. Once he was down, they would pursue the others. By the time he was revived, it was likely they would be dead.
They could just keep running. As long as they stayed ahead of the pack, they would be safe. The oldest and youngest would have trouble keeping up, however, and would eventually fall back to be picked off.
Or, they could stand and fight. If he could find a defensible position, get them set up, then step out and challenge the Fallen, he could take out many of them as in the first plan, but this way the refugees would be prepared to meet the oncoming aliens. They still might fail and die, but at least they would be able to resist and, just maybe, have a few survivors to greet the transports.
Cassandra, the woman who had first approached him, weaved her way through the group to draw close to him. Avgust gave no indication that he had noted her approach. Eventually, she spoke up.
"What are we going to do?" she asked. "We can't keep pushing forward at this pace. Someone will break."
Avgust pursed his lips, then responded. "I have been going through the options. They are… not good."
Cassandra narrowed her lips, but said nothing further. Avgust looked out of the corner of his eye, watching covertly to see how she responded. The woman took in a breath, straightening. She was steeling her resolve. This was good. The Titan nodded.
"Our best chance," he said, "is to find a defensible position to lay in wait and try to hold them off until help comes. I only have a few weapons, but if I draw the Fallen to me, it will allow your people to do some damage."
"And where is this 'defensible position'?"
«YA ne znayu,» he replied, shaking his head. "I do not know. I hope we find it soon."
Cassandra bit her lip nervously and nodded, stepping away from him to try to help some of the younger ones keep up. Some of the children looked to be on the verge of an emotional meltdown. They would have to find a place to hunker down soon, or they certainly would not last. Also, the shadows were stretching longer as the sun sank lower in the sky. If they were still on the run when night fell, they would be at a major disadvantage.
"Why are you even doing this?" a little voice whispered in the back of his mind, a voice Avgust recognized but did not want to put a name to. "They aren't worth it. Twice they've turned their backs on what they said they stood for. They'll turn on you, given the chance."
Avgust shook his head, chasing away the voice and its line of reasoning. He would not turn his back on these people, even if they had deserted the City. As for them giving up on Osiris, he had no feelings either way.
A hunting call from somewhere behind caused Avgust to cast a glance over his shoulder. The Fallen were definitely closing on them. The Russian silently cursed the aliens. How many times now had he fought them over the decades? How many lives had they threatened? A cold hatred simmered in his belly at the sound of their pursuit.
If only he had time to prepare and a few more supplies. If he could somehow lay traps, slow the Fallen that way, but no. He had nothing to use. Unless…
"Svarog," he spoke to the Ghost through their neural link, "do you think you could adapt some of my grenades into tripmines? I know it is more of a Hunter discipline, but that does not mean we cannot use it ourselves."
"I could make some modifications," the Ghost replied, "but I don't know how to make the sensor. Perhaps if we had some filament wire…"
Avgust nodded and turned his attention back to Cassandra. "Do your people have any string or wire?"
"Yes," she replied after a second's thought. "Living out here like we do, we have to do a lot of sewing to make and maintain clothing. We should have some thread."
«Ochen' khorosho,» the Titan said. "Please, see if you can gather some while we are moving."
Cassandra nodded and darted away, searching through the crowd of refugees. Avgust watched her move among them, her blonde hair standing out in the dark clothes and growing shadows. Eventually, she made her way back to him.
"This is all we could get to without stopping and digging through packs," she said, handing him several spools of thread.
It would have to do.
"Thank you," he replied as he took them. Then, to Svarog, "These will have to work for tripwires. Hopefully the Fallen are in too much of a hurry to catch us to pay close attention."
The spools of thread disappeared in a transmat shimmer. Avgust silently hoped that the little Ghost could work quickly. From the corner of his eye, the Titan noticed a child stumble and fall. He angled himself in that direction and scooped the young boy up without breaking stride.
"Done," Svarog told him shortly. "It isn't my best work, but it should get the job done."
"Go ahead of us and plant them, but do not connect the string until we are past," Avgust ordered. The Ghost materialized from phase, bobbed a nod, then zipped ahead of the group.
Several minutes later, the Ghost was by his side again. It wasn't long after that that they heard an explosion somewhere behind them and alien screams of shock and pain.
"Guess it worked," Svarog stated matter-of-factly.
«Da,» the Titan replied. "And it should slow their pursuit. They will have to move more cautiously for fear of any more traps.
"Then I had better set a couple more, just to keep them occupied," the Ghost said and vanished again.
The sky, as well as the surrounding area, was beginning to grow dangerously dim. Avgust's mouth was set in a grim line as he considered the very real possibility of having to fend off the Fallen in the dark. The aliens' night vision was vastly superior to your average human. It would be a slaughter.
Then, they found what they had been looking for.
The woods opened up into a small clearing, and an abandoned house sat crumbling amidst the weeds that had overtaken the area. Several stone walls still stood, and there was a low stone fence surrounding them. It was no fortress, but it was better than anything else he had seen.
"Svarog, the weapons," Avgust said, holding out his arms. The scout rifle and sidearms appeared in a flicker of light.
"Cassandra," he called, and the woman suddenly appeared near his side. "Get everyone inside and give these to your best marksmen. I will engage the Fallen in the woods and try to keep them from you, but if any come, these will be your only defense."
"Thank you," she said, snatching the guns and running back to her people.
Men, women, and children tried to crowd into the dilapidated structure. Avgust saw several of them picking up sticks and rocks, desperately searching for anything to use if the Fallen reached them. These things would do little good, but Avgust admired their spirit.
The Guardian turned away from the Lightless, and sprinted back into the treeline. He needed to engage the Fallen as far back as he could, keep them as far away from them as possible. Avgust unslung Thunderlord from where it rested on his back, and he felt the gun hum to life, ready to sing again its song of death.
On his HUD, several red markers began to appear. Avgust slowed his pace, wanting to be certain that he was able to keep tabs on the Fallen's advance. One or more of them must have heard him approach because, as he watched, the line of dots began to converge toward him. Good. He hefted the machine gun into position and waited.
The first alien to come into view was a Dreg. The low-ranking, docked Eliksni was rushing in with a knife in one hand, showing a lack of restraint. Avgust squeezed the firing mechanism, and the alien paid with its foolhardiness with its life.
Thunderlord's call was answered with shouts of unknown words from the threes around Avgust. Quickly, the Titan moved back and to the left, looping away from his original position before advancing again, hoping to come up behind some of the Fallen that might be trying to track him from the heavy weapon's report.
He was able to ambush two of them that way, a Dreg and a Vandal, who had been in close proximity to each other. Unfortunately, he had failed to notice a third Fallen close by, another Vandal who sounded an alarm and fired at him. Avgust avoided being hit, but now the battle was truly joined. Aliens swarmed through the trees, trying to get to the Titan who evaded as best he could while alternating between wild sprays of machine gun fire and well placed shots to keep his attackers at bay.
Avgust dropped to one knee, aiming the Thunderlord and squeezing the trigger, his reward being a puff of ether from another dead Dreg. He had managed to cut through several of the attackers, buying the civilians a good amount of time to prepare. He checked the motion tracker on his HUD just as he heard the sound of something striking the ground near him.
"Grenade," Svarog warned.
Avgust sprung to his feet and jumped to the side just as the shock grenade exploded in a flash of Arc energy. The Titan hit the ground, more stunned than actually injured from the blast. Even if it had not wounded him severely, the blow did slow him enough that several of the aliens were able to close in on him.
The Guardian barely rolled in time to bring his arms up to deflect a knife swinging down toward him. Another alien lunged in, this time one of them using a spear-like weapon that he had never seen before. Avgust was able to knock the blade aside before twisting to punch the alien in the knee, which buckled back the wrong way, eliciting a scream of pain. Avgust continued the motion, rolling to his stomach so that he could push himself off the ground. He knew that if he did not get up, the Fallen would overwhelm him with sheer numbers.
It was already too late.
More of the creatures fell on him, knives scoring his armor, seeking the soft points. Fists and elbows struck him and feet kicked at him. A Shock Dagger found one of the joints in his armor, and Avgust felt the blade dig into his skin, followed by another shocking jolt of Arc energy. Avgust gritted his teeth to keep from crying out. He refused to give them the satisfaction.
In desperation, the Titan pulled a grenade, infusing it with Arc Light and threw it toward a nearby tree. The metal cylinder stuck, pointing in their direction. Avgust managed to work his way free of grasping hands and throw himself to the ground just before the Arc Light stored in the grenade lanced outward, streaks of lightning crackling as it shot through the gathered mass of aliens, who were thrown backward by the force of the discharge.
Avgust pushed himself back to his feet, feeling the stab wound beginning to heal as Svarog knitted him slowly back together. Still slowed by the stun effects of the Arc grenade and Shock Dagger, he was unable to respond quickly enough when shots rang out, and he felt the first two rounds from the Shock Rifle strike him before the third ended his life.
…
Avgust gasped and sat up as the Light poured through him. Svarog hovered a meter above him, the star-points of his shell closing back in following the resurrection of his Guardian. The Titan climbed to his feet, surveying the area.
«Skol'ko?» he asked the Ghost.
"Less than an hour," the fragment of the Traveler replied. "They shot you a few more times after you fell, then waited around several minutes to see if you were going to jump back up. When you didn't, their Captain shouted something and then all took off in the direction of where we left everyone else. I revived you as soon as I was sure they were gone."
The Titan nodded in response, then shook his head, trying to clear the slight fogginess that sometimes came along with resurrection. He checked his position, then set off at a sprint, running to where he left Cassandra and the others. It was probably already too late, but he had to hope that it was not.
By the time he arrived back at the ruined home. There was little movement, and no signs of battle. Whatever had happened here was already finished.
Avgust could see several bodies lying on the ground in the moonlight. To his surprise, most of them were Fallen. There were several human bodies as well, including more than one child. Avgust stopped and knelt by one of the small forms, staring into the lifeless eyes before reaching out to gently close them. He pressed on, closing toward the house. A shot rang out from the direction of the home, and dirt leaped up from the ground in front of him.
"Don't move!" someone shouted.
The Titan raised his hands and called out, "It is me."
"Hold your fire," came another shout, and several heads came into view. Avgust strode forward, until he could make out their features. Cassandra stepped out of the crowd and approached him.
"Thank the Traveler," she said. "We thought we'd lost you."
Avgust grunted. "What happened here?"
Cassandra glanced around, her face grim. "We could hear the sounds of your gun all the way out here, so we knew you had fought them. When we heard no more sounds, we feared the worst and hunkered down.
"After a while, they all came charging from the treeline. I think they assumed we were helpless, as they didn't even try to use caution. If you hadn't left us the few guns that you did…" she trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.
Avgust nodded.
"Do you think there are any more of them?" the woman asked.
«Da,» Avgust replied. "More will come. Always, more will come."
"What do we do?"
"For now, we wait for daylight and hope transport arrives before more Fallen."
…
AN:
FF: Thanks to Shy911 for the story favorite/follow!
Bit of a delay between chapters. My attention has been almost entirely consumed by Warhammer lately. I've been painting Space Marines, building Seraphon for my daughter, and working on a homebrew Space Marine Chapter and Knight World.
The first chapter of this ended up being an unintentional birthday present. Between that and releasing a wedding story on Valentine's day without planning it, it's been an interesting series of coincidences lately.
Going to take an opportunity to remind people about m n. You can find me there as JSMulligan. Patrons receive previews of writing, characters appearing in stories, short stories written for them, and more. Recently, I have been posting samples from my self published poetry book.
Stay safe out there.