Time slowed down on the roof of the building Mike had taken shelter on. He had easily taken out the first wave that had stormed the building, but he was running out of strength and stamina quickly, as the Zerg approached him from all sides of the building. He dispatched of the Zerglings whom had tried to surprise him from the rear quite easily, it was the swarms of them who made it to the top which had provided a difficult problem. Hydralisks had taken up several firing positions, pinning him down on the side with the laser designator. He looked at his watch, one hundred seconds until impact. The Hydralisks were getting more aggressive now, unloading five to seven spikes at a time in an attempt to hit him or the designator. Then the Roaches hit the roof. They entered on the side opposite of Michael and began screeching and spewing acid on anything in their path as they barreled through.
Michael tossed a grenade at the first two, killing them quickly – but more had begun to approach the roof. Thirty seconds until impact now, he thought as he checked his watch. The Zerg than began an all out push on his position. He quickly dispersed of the first three Hydralisks, wounded the fourth, and used his last grenade on a trio of roaches heading his way. They fell through the hole in the roof and plunged to their inevitable death. Then, the Nuke struck. The blast decimated anything it touched, leaving nothing but torched earth and empty husks of the alien menace that had once thrived there. The initial blast isn't what worried Michael – it was the winds, debris, and other items that were hurling at him at insane speeds. The winds hit the bottom of the building, and shattered its base. It slowly began to topple forwards. He pulled a long cylindrical device from his belt (about the size of a large flash light) and jumped. He spun mid-air, aimed it at a steadier building, and pressed a button on its side. The top launched itself (and a metal cord) at the building, impaled itself in and sent Michael flying into one of the boarded windows. He landed on a Marine's corpse, one of the several corpses that littered the room.
"Lucky me," he mumbled to himself as he arched his back in pain. He pushed himself off of the blood stained floor and looked at his rifle. It was in working condition. He checked his belt – only a few of the pouches had made it – he had virtually no ammo for the rifle.
"Drat," he said as he flicked on a glow stick. It illuminated his surroundings immediately, and he almost vomited. The room had a weird substance growing on it, almost like the Zerg's creep that they produced. There were also several bodies that seemed to have melded with the substance, and were changing from their natural looks. One even had and extra appendage growing above it. He looked around, saw a pair of light SMGs, and picked them up. He searched the marine that wielded them and grabbed his remaining ammo. He took his grappling cord, and lowered himself slowly to the ground.
Looking around, he saw a clothing shop nearby. His current armor was in bad condition, and he would need to get some coverings before night fell. He walked in, secured the area, and found a long brown coat. He put it on, and left the store, now looking for shelter. He scanned the area with the one remaining Tac-Sat and began to make his way north, towards the extraction point. All was silent along his trips; he didn't even sense a Zerg presence.
He reached the point within four hours, it was getting dark now and he could hear Zerg in the distance.
"Orion Phoenix X-0-6-7 requesting evac over," he reported over the Tac-Comms (Tactical Communications) Network. He got static.
"Orion Phoenix X-0-6-7 requesting evac, over." He said grimly a second time. Then, a line sprung up on the frequency.
"All remaining Dominion forces on the planet of New Delphi – you are hereby ordered to evacuate by any means available currently on the planet. The Zerg have created a blockade in which we cannot break. We will leave in thirty six hours. Admiral Strauss, over and out!"
"Damn," he said as he sat down. That order was a last hope – it meant most of the troops had already been evacuated – the important ones at least. He pulled his half-helmet up and got his first real glimpse of daylight. His Orange eyes adjusted to the new brightness. He felt his long blonde hair and stood up – he saw a blip on his radar – apparently friendly. He cloaked himself and began to approach its position 500 yards away.
It was a marine; he was kneeling by the corpses of his recently deceased squad. Mike walked up to him and de-cloaked. Showing himself to the warrior – who was crying.
"Soldier, how long have you been here?" Mike asked.
"Since it was bright enough to burn both yours and my skins," he said quietly. Mike's skin, being somewhat pale would burn easily.
"What's your name, son?" he asked.
"Dylan, Private Dylan Gordon sir," the marine responded.
"My names Michael Hawkins, I'm a Lieutenant – we need to find shelter before night falls."
"Alright, alright – just let me take care of these guys first." He reached down and grabbed the first soldier's dog tags, then the second's, and so on. When he was done he sat up and began to walk with Mike, towards the outskirts of town where there were sparse houses.
They eventually found one that was in a good tactical position and in a defensive state. The windows were boarded several times over, with holes for firing out of. The upstairs had a large hole in it, but would allow for Mike to hit enemies with his Anti-Material rifle. It also had a large stock of food and water. Dylan made a small contained fire while Mike maintained watch. A fog was beginning to set in.
"I don't like this," Dylan said to Mike as he came down the stairs from the second floor.
"Neither do I, but we have to live with the conditions the environment provides," he responded simply.
"Yea, well – screw Mother Nature then," Dylan said as he pushed open his helmet.
He was Caucasian and had brown hair and blue eyes. He picked up some of the stew he had just heated up and shoved it in his mouth.
"So, what's the plan Chief?" he asked.
"We head to the Spaceport in the West tomorrow, see if there's any ships left that we can take back home."
"Sounds nice Chief, when is day anyways?" he asked.
"I believe it's around an eleven hour night here, so most likely in around seven hours," Michael responded.
"I see," Dylan commented, and then it went awkwardly silent.
"So how is it being…."Dylan began but then Mike cut him off.
"Shhh, something's coming!" he whispered as he pulled his SMGs out. The door opened, something cloaked stepped in, and then it closed silently again. Whatever it was then realized that it had three weapons aiming at it and de-cloaked.
"Woah there!" it was another Ghost.
"Name and rank?" Mike asked simply.
"Ensign Shad Callisto – Ghost," he responded his violet eyes still wide with fear. He still had three firearms aimed at him.
Mike nodded to Dylan and they both put their weapons down.
"I saw you on the Tac-Sat; they sent you to Hystenburg up North didn't they?" Mike said.
"Yea, they did. We cleared it out pretty well until our air support began to get cut off. I had already called in a strike on the Hive there and they just kept appearing out of nowhere!" Shad responded," Had a squad of marines with me, they fought with courage and valiance – but alas we were eventually surrounded. I was able to escape by cloaking, but the marine's weren't so lucky." His skin gleaned orange as he looked at the fire," You've got food? May I please have some – I haven't eaten since two days ago."
"Sure," Mike said, and then looked at their current food supplies in the room.
"Hey Dylan, bet there's more in the fridge, why don't you go loot the kitchen?" Mike grinned.
"Sure, why not," Dylan responded as he got up and closed his helmet, and then walked towards the kitchen.
Shad ate in silence while Mike spun his fingers around. After a while Mike felt a wisp of Psi energy in the kitchen area.
"Woah, was that you?" he asked Shad.
Shad just shuck his head and shrugged as he pulled out a large pistol. They both got up and flipped their half-helmets down. They looked into the kitchen area, and then moved inside as they found it clear. The fridge was open, shedding light into the area.
"What the Hell?" Shad whispered, there were boot prints heading out the doors, and then from there the fog consumed.
"Let's follow it out," Mike said," We got Thermal's anyway."
Both switched to Thermal Vision as they moved outside. They checked on the now glitching Tac-Sat Map view and saw what they thought was the area clear. Nothing was in sight with Thermal's above or in the near surface of the ground. They followed the tracks shortly until they became a trail, as if he was pulled away. They followed that more cautiously, weapons up, until they stopped. The trail just ended there. They then saw the Facemask of Dylan's helmet, lying there in the ground with a hole in it.
Mike picked it up," Hydralisk spike definitely went through this, or something of this size."
"Shhhhaadddd," came from the mists, a ghostly whisper.
"What the….." Shad responded to Mike.
"Shhhhaadddd," came the whisper again.
"No, it can't be," he said.
"Shhhhaadddd," the whisper came again.
"Damn it, it can't be it can't," he said then began to run in the distance.
"Shad, NO!" Mike shouted as he ran after him. Soon, his footfalls became silent – Mike however still kept running. Then, he saw something in the Mists. He moved forward to get a better view. He saw Shad, he was being held up by the neck by someone. He moved forward more then gasped as he came to a stop. The Queen of Blades had Shad's neck in her right had. He was smiling at him as she set him down. Mike cloaked quickly, hoping to avoid being seen. Shad seemingly couldn't move, she was probably keeping him in place with her Psionic powers.
"Such a cowardly Terran," she gloated," Haunted by the Ghosts of the past are we?"
"I can take you to a place where none of them matter," she grinned as she pulled her finger across his chin. His eyes were wider then before with fright," Perhaps I should bring you to it," she said as she opened her mouth to expose two fangs, much like the vampire's in stories of old. She then clamped down on his neck, and something changed within Shad. From the bite around his veins slowly turned purple and his skin green. He then collapsed to the ground as Mike shouted," Shad!"
"Ah, there you are," she said then disappeared in the bat of an eye.
Mike began to walk backwards and ran into something solid. He turned and was about to fire when his weapons were smacked out of his hands.
"Nice try, but even if you used them they wouldn't harm me," she laughed as she disappeared again. Mike pulled out his knife, and then she appeared to his right. He spun and struck at her – missing by inches. He then brought the knife around for another strike when she grabbed him by the neck and hefted him up.
He attempted to resist but her grip was that of a robotic arm (unstoppable). Then he looked at her eyes and froze. She grinned as she set him down.
"You know, all you Terran's always fall for that little Psionic trick. Your pride always makes you look an enemy in the eyes – one way or another," Kerrigan grinned," Michael, Michael, Michael – always fighting, never any relaxation. You are always at war, sometimes even with yourself. I can bring you the peace you need, the peace you want."
She stepped back towards him.
"No." he spoke simply.
"Impressive, you broke through there for a second," she stepped closer and closer," Also, No is just not an answer for a girl like me."
She then clamped down on his neck, and he fell to his knees, then to the floor. His vision became cloudy, and he felt a new feeling flowing through his bloodstream.
"The Swarm is in need of your assistance, and I'm sure you will be glad to take your place amongst us," Kerrigan grinned as she stroked his cheek. He tried to move but had begun to lose feeling in his appendages.
Kerrigan, noticing this smiled and calmingly said," Sleep Michael, Sleep."
Slowly his vision closed until all was darkness.