Athors note: A short chapter. And i keep getting reviews saying about paragraphing. This is an older story that i wrote years ago. The paragraphing does suck and i do apologise. Maybe one day i will go through and fix it. But for now my job keeps me kind of busy... ish. Thank you for your reviews and keep them coming. This story is quickly catching up to where i stopped writting it and i will have to start again so i am needing to know what you guys think and where it should go.
End note
Sean was crouched against the wall of a burned out warehouse. He'd berated himself for falling asleep, even if it had only been for a few minuts. A bright light had awoken him and then what sounded like thunder. He'd awoken with a start and stared off into space. Ignoring the stench of death and the scattered fresh bodies that lay all around the area he'd previously abandoned. Some were guardsmen but many were heretics. They're makeshift armour still brandishing the symbol of the blood God and a few even had the stink of decay on them and mutations that made them distinguishably Nurglings. The thunder kept up and then a massive comet came dashing through the sky and blasted somewhere nearby. Of course Sean knew better than that. He knew that it wasn't a comet, it was to big. It was the size of a ship. At the time Sean thought better of poking around and seeing what that might be. But he knew that search parties would be dispatched to check for survivors. It had only been an hour since he'd climbed out of that damned chimera, but he had no way of knowing if this was still Imperial held ground. He held his lasrifle close to his chest and slide across the wall. Daring himself to peek out. He did, and he caught a glimpse of a large, red corpse laying atop a cluster of robed bodies. The tang of warp craft still hung in the air and made his teeth tingle. But the space was clear. He drew himself back and flung himself into the open, sprinting for dear life until he managed to pin himself against what was left of a car. He dared not call out to check for survivors. He hadn't seen his friend Fobox since he'd taken cover. He desperatly wished the old ganger was here now. But beyond the sound of distant battle he didnt hear anything. The place was deathly silent and even the sound of rubble crunching under his boots sounded very far away. He rose his rifle and checked over the car. scanning the horizon with the custom Archaiosian sights. The lasguns of Archaios were unique. They're design was based on the standard cadian issue. But with its own enhancements. Archaios was a Very dangerous planet. its plains were filled with the native Carnax A large Feline like creature with 6 eyes that stood at mans height and was as long as a leman russ. They're claws could tear through ferocrete. So the lasguns were adjusted to meet the standards to kill one of these predators. The beam had been enhanced to be more concentrated and armor piercing, and the standard iron sight was replaced with a ring and cross sight aswell as the bayonet lug being put further back to support the longer and fully bladed Archaios bayonet. With bayonets up, you could turn the rifle into a slicing tool as well as a stabbing tool. putting your hand on the stalk beneath the blade. Sean put his boot to the tire guard of the car and hoisted himself over it. The giant body of the daemon smoldered and popped, obviously the sanctioned psykers sacrifice had done it. They'd not only killed the daemon, they'd turned its insides into a steaming jelly. But that didnt make him any more eager to get near it. So he avoided it as much as he could. Sticking to the walls of buildings and alleyways. Unfortunatly this was a habworld. It wasn't like Archaios. This planet was completly covered by a large city, save for a few spots of water that leaked from the planets core forming small seas. Hell you could barely see the sky past the city scape. The buildings rising into the clouds and spires of habs that promised the habworld would have turned into a hive world in the centuries to come. Sean could tell he was getting closer to the wreck. He could smell coolant. But sudenly something hit him from behind, A large palm slapping into his mid back, he felt it even through his flak vest. 'SEAN!' A booming voice echoed and Sean turned in time to see Fobox standing there, he held a bayonet in his meaty hand and a las pistol in the other. He must have lost his rifle. 'Seething feth and Emperor's blood!' Sean said trying to catch his breath and keep his voice down. He looked Fobox over. The guardsmen was beat up. His fatiges and vest torn and dented with pock marks from bullets. Lucky for him the heretics of this damned planet were using autorifles instead of las. 'Shit man what happened to you?' fobox exclaimed after Sean had caught his wind. Sean leaned against the wall of what he imagined was a storage shed used by who ever scruubbed the streets. 'I took cover and before i knew it, that street was a kill zone.' Sean said not telling him the part about him cowering in the dark. 'tanks, men... things i dont even want to think about. What about you?' Sean asked curiousity evident in his eyes. Fobox grinned at his friend 'I went down the east alleyway after i lost sight of you. ran into a ritual in progress, they didnt have time to blink' fobox said obviously happy with himself. 'The Emperor spit on them' Fobox finished. Sean nodded 'did you see it? It looked like a ship came out of the sky' Sean said. fobox could only nod in agrement 'i did. It was small though. maybe frigate size.' fobox said. 'You think that more are coming?' He asked noticing that the distant flashes of light in the sky were continuing and getting brighter as the sun dipped beneath the cityscape. Sean shook his head 'Couldn't be. were days ahead of the main invasion force. Its probably just a larger vanguard force. Nothing that the blockade can't handle' Sean said and prayed at the same time. 'Yeah' Fobox agreed and turned and stalked to a corner and peeked down the street. 'You headed for that crash site?' Fobox asked. Sean nodded 'The Lord General will send a search party for survivors. I'm hoping that they'll find us too.' Sean said as he motioned forward and fobox nodded curling into the street and Sean followed. 'Think they'll give us metals? You held your ground infront of some serious shit. I stopped a summoning ritual' Fobox said with pride swelling in his chest. It jsut made Sean sick. Held his ground... He wished he could tell his friend the truth. 'Heh doubt it. hey maybe they'll sign us up for storm trooper training' Sean said with a chuckle. Fobox brightened at that. 'Now theres something to think about' he said with a chuckle as the two guardsmen entered a collapsing bank. The roof caving in. Sean picked his feet carefully. Stepping over the fallen denominations of thrones, the Imperial currency. He tried to keep moving over them, no need to accidently kick something and alert something nasty. A deep and sinister breathing stopped Sean dead in his tracks. His Rifle slung over his shoulder was imediatly in his hand. He aimed down and started inching forward. Fobox got the idea and raised his pistol and bayonet. Resting his gun hand on his knife hand wrist for easy use of both. The breathing turned to a loud crunch. Sean prayed that it wasnt what he thought it was. He rounded a corner and sure enough it was. Only what he saw chilled him deeper than what he'd imagined. Kneeling beside A dead female was a child. No two children. Identical twins. Both naked and covered in blood. Only they were wrong. One had a large bulbos growth on its head and its eyes were slanted the wrong way. A hand grew from its chest and lay limp against its grey fleshed stomach. Ironic that it held a hand in its mouth, which was split verticaly and lined with jagged nail like fangs. The other had a tail, and its hands had only 3 fingers all of which ended in bladed points... A pale woman's head was impaled on the tail like a grisly trophy The tip of the tail curling through the left eye socket. The two children were feasting on the corpse, which looked as if something had burst from her stomach. Sean could already guess what that was. They were finishing off they're unsuspecting mother. How deeply did this chaos infection go? He raised his lasrifle. The two children hadn't seemed to notice him yet. 'May you in death. Find some mercy when the Emperor casts his eyes on you' Sean said swallowing hard. Fighting with the bile that rose in his throat. He tried not to look at the gore. Tried not to look at the mutant children. He would put them out fo they're misery. He tightened his finger on the trigger... The rifle discharged, but into the cieling. Sean didnt realise it at first. But he wasn't infront of the carnage anymore. Instead he was on his back, laying ontop of a pile of dead bodies in various states of decay and ... some had been eaten. There was a loud ringing in his ear and his arm felt on fire. He looked down his body and saw his lasrifle's sling wrapped around his arm. It must have snagged something when he'd fallen... or been flung. He realised to late that there was a loud growling in the distance. Barely heard over the ringing. he looked down his body... Over the rivets of his flak vest. A massive hole in the wall where he'd been standing before. Fobox was grappeling with something that didnt seem quite real. It didnt have shape. Its flesh was a purplish grey and it seemed to never settle on a shape. its insides flowing beneath. But one thing he could definitly see were the beady eyes... Massive teeth that didnt seem to have a mouth to sit in. And Arms that were massive and covered in spines. Sean looked at his torso and saw six deep gouges in his vest. One even leaked blood. That creature must have hit him through the wall. He began to pick himself up, only to be shoved back down by one of the mutant twins. The bubble headed one screechd at him sending spittle on his face. he threw his arm forward and clubed it away and rolled to his feet. He wiped a gloved hand over his face and ignored the seering pain in his chest. He could swear a rib was either bruised or broken. He tried to raise his lasgun as the bubble head and the spike tail began to circle him. Both had crazed looks in they're beady little eyes. The spike tail lunged at him and he clubed it aside with his lasgun. 'Feth off!' He jumped at the chance and stomped down on its body crushing its insides. He stomped again until he felt a sharp pain in his shin. He looked back and saw the bubble head bitting him. But only the tips of its teeth were reaching through his boots thick shin guard. He kicked it away and drew his laspistol with his tangled hand and put a round through its head as it leapt for him. The creatures head popped more than burst. Like a teenagers pimple. Sending puss and brain matter through the air. Luckily the blast had sent it backwords and he was spared being rained on. He holstered his pistol and untangled his arm and brought up his rifle. He aimed down the sights at the beast that was now beggining to get the upper hand over fobox. Its maw only inches from his face. Fobox was snarling like a beast and battering the thing with one fist and holding it off with the other. Fobox only blinked as the bluish beam scythed through the creatures head. Then another and another. The daemon was left standing for a moment. Unsure of what had just happened, Its body between trying to eat Fobox with its nonexistant head and falling and dieing. Suddenly it began turning a dark purple and Fobox screamed. He shoved the corpse off of himself and looked down at his arm which was read and obviously severly burned. 'Shit!' Sean said as he ran forward. The creature started to dissolve and send a noxious gas into the air. Sean pulled the rebreather on his helmet up and inhaled and rose the shade to his eyes. 'Fobox your mask!' he shouted. Fobox fumbled for a moment with his bad arm and finaly managed to pull his mask on. The gas still hurt to breath in... but atleast now it wasn't deadly. The masks were made for this situation. 'Fething monsters!' Fobox said fumbling for his medigel. Sean grinned but it couldn't be seen behind his full faced mask. 'Yeah.' he said, his voice muffled by the mask. 'But we did it man! We killed the son of a bitch!' He said with a cheer. All the regret and shame he had of hiding before vanished when it connected with his mind that he'd actualy killed a daemon. Though he couldn't say he'd have done it if it werent Fobox being attacked. 'lets get a move on. i want to see imperial lines and have a nice wall of Leman Russ infront of me by sunup' Sean said with a laugh and the two friends limped out of the building, seeing the first sings of the crash as they walked into the market district.