Chapter 3 The stand
Omega squad walked out of the refuge of survivors and began walking across the torn landscape of the city.
"So where exactly is this weapon transport at?" Steve asked.
"Somewhere across the city." Aaron answered.
"Well, that really singles it out." Steve said sarcastically.
"Shut up Steve! I've seen transports before. You can't miss those damn things." Jeffery said.
Till midday the squad walked across the destroyed city, looking left and right for the transport. They had to be aware of their surroundings, just in case Locust or the Arachnipods came.
Slowly the sun began going down. Just before the sun went below the horizon a com link Aaron had went off. He answered it. "Hello?"
"Aaron you must find somewhere with lights before the sun goes down, or you and your team are dead." Feron said from over the com link.
"But why?" Aaron said, but it was to late, Feron had hung up. Aaron then turned to the other two. "We have to find somewhere with lights like a gas station or something."
"I saw one about half a mile back, it looked like it had lights." Jeffery said.
So the squad sprinted as fast as they could to the gas station Jeffery had spook of. They made it just as the sun came down and the lights went on. Each of the squad members caught their breath.
"Damn! That was a close one." Steve said.
"I wonder why we had to find lights." Jeffery said.
Then from the darkness the squad saw a lone Locust Drone walking towards them. Then they heard it. A loud buzzing noise and the sound of fluttering wings. A dark cloud of bat like creatures attacked the locust then swarmed away. All that was left of the Drone was a bloody carcass.
"What the hell was that?" Steve yelled.
"I have no idea, but I don't want to find out." Aaron answered.
Suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps from behind. The squad turned around. Standing in front of them was a old man carrying a shotgun.
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked.
"We're COG soldiers, we don't want any trouble, we just need a place to stay for the night." Aaron said.
"You're welcome to stay here we got plenty of space." The old man said as he lowered his shotgun and led them to the gas station. They entered and were lead to a room full of beds. They each layed down and fell asleep.
…
They awoke to the sound of a explosion. Aaron hoped up and ran outside. Three Arachnipods were out there destroying a squad of Drones. The old man was cowering inside the gas station yelling "Make sure they don't destroy the lights, they're our only chance at surviving!"
Aaron began firing his lancer at the Drones and spiders, trying to make them back up into the darkness. Steve and Jeffery ran out and joined the fight. Suddenly one of the spiders was shot by a Drone, before the spider died it fired a stray missile. The missile hit the lights and exploded. The whole scene was suddenly engulfed in darkness.
"Oh shit." Steve said under his breath and then they all heard the buzzing noise.
"Get in here!" The old man said as he light up a lantern. The squad ran into the gas station and watched as the the Drones and Arachnipods were engulfed by the dark shadow of the bat creatures. The creatures then began flying towards the squad members.
The old man, in fear, threw the lantern at the creatures. When the light hit the bats they screamed and turned to ash. Then the lantern hit the ground a broke. The squad members began firing into the darkness. They heard the old man scream as he was engulfed by the creatures.
"Someone find a back up switch or something we need light!" Aaron commanded.
"I'll look!" Steve volunteered and began walking into the dark gas station. After a minute a light went on. Aaron and Jeffery slammed the door shut and locked it and went to find Steve. They found him laying in the corner of a back room . A large gaping hole was now where his chest should be and his right arm was nothing but a bloody stump.
"What the hell! Not again." Aaron said as he fell to his knees.
Steve slowly put his left arm on Aaron's shoulder. "I'll be okay boss, I'll be o-" Then Steve's arm went limp and he died.
"Dammit!" Aaron cried. "I've already lost one, now I lost another. All because of this damn mission!"
"It's okay, at least he died a hero, saving us from those things. He sacrificed himself for the needs of many and let those things take him, all to save us." Jeffery said.
Aaron looked at Jeffery. "I promise you, I'm not gonna let anyone else die for me!" He promised to the older man.
They both then layed down on the dirt floor and fell asleep.
…
The next morning they buried Steve in the ground and continued their mission. Until the afternoon they walked across the city, then they saw it. A huge transport covered in blood. In the transports bed they saw a pile of weapons. Corpses of colonist littered the ground.
"Well this is it I guess." Jeffery said as he walked towards the transport.
BOOM! The ground below the transport erupted sending the vehicle on it's side. Out of the ground crawled something they hoped they never see.
A giant Arachnipod the size of ten.
The king...