Church's Crusade #30: Deus Mortem

It was difficult, Church realised, to describe the silence created by having several hundred rifles pointed in your direction. The very dynamic of the situation seemed to suck the life from any potential sounds. It was truly frightening. What was more frightening still was the sound of several hundred safety catches being flicked off in perfect unison.

Once again Church spoke the first words that came into his head.

"TAKE COVER!"

He dived just as the men opened fire, taking Penny, Sister and Tucker with him, while Rourke did the same on the other side. As he hit the ground Church heard the soft thud of bullets meeting flesh and a gasp of pain and surprise. He turned as the gunfire trailed off and a horrible sight met his eyes.

Paul still stood in the centre of the passage, but this was only because he had not had a chance to fall yet. At least fifty bullet holes pierced his armour and blood ran freely from all of them. Church watched, uncomprehending, as Paul turned his head to look in his direction. Then, without a sound he fell slowly forward.

There was a long moment of silence as Church and the others stared at Paul Stevens' prone form. Then Church looked up, "Quick! We have to get out of here!"

His voice seemed to jog the others from their stupor, for they got up and began to sprint off back the way they had come. Church watched them go then walked into the centre of the passage to collect Paul's body. He idly noted the bullets flying towards him, mostly missing, though occasionally ricocheting off of his armour and even more rarely piercing it. In response he idly raised his SMG and sprayed the group with automatic fire. AI controlled or not, these people had killed one of his team and therefore deserved death in his book. Picking up Paul's body he put away his SMG and pulled out a grenade which he threw through the doorway. He then closed the door, smashed the controls and began to run off down the passage as the grenade detonated. He had to find the remainder of his team. That was the only thing that mattered now...

Penny was at a loss. She had no idea where to go and now all the doors that had previously remained closed were opening and soldiers were spilling out. She had already had to kill more than a dozen of them and they were running out of options on where to hide.

She was just about ready to give up hope when Sister called out, "Look!"

Penny looked up and saw it, a sign printed with one word. 'ARMOURY.'

"Quick, down there. Into the armoury. It's our best hope of surviving this."

Everyone nodded briefly and changed direction to enter the armoury. Penny and Rourke checked all approaches and were about to follow when another door opened and more soldiers poured out.

Penny dived into a nearby side passage, with Rourke close behind. As soon as she was back on her feet she moved to the corner to return fire. Several soldiers fell immediately. Rourke tried to help, but could not get a clear shot. He gestured for Penny to provide covering fire then leapt, while firing, for a doorway on the other side of the corridor…just in time to meet the barrage of oncoming fire. He fell back with a cry and hit the ground with a dull thud. Penny cried out in shock and rage. She pulled a grenade from her belt and was about to trigger it when she felt the barrel of a gun press into the back of her head and a voice say, "Alright, drop your weapons, stand up and turn around. Slowly…"

Church had been jogging through the hall with Paul's body for some time, occasionally shooting a soldier who happened to blunder into his path, when he heard the nearby gun-shots. Quickly setting down Paul's body, he hastened towards the noise. After several sharp turns he rounded the final corner…and a horrible sight met his eyes.

Rourke lay in a widening pool of his own blood and Penny was pinned by a man with a pistol. As Church watched he slowly began to pull the trigger…and collapsed as Church's sabre suddenly drove itself through his head. Church, now seeing through a red mist of rage, realised that he must have thrown it. As he started moving in Penny's direction, another nearby door opened and a soldier came out. Seeing Church he raised his weapon and pointed it at the blue soldier's broad chest.

He got no further. Church reached out and wrenched the rifle from the soldier's fingers then smashed the butt into the man's forehead. As the man fell, Church glanced into the room and saw more soldiers bringing their weapons to bear. Without thinking he threw a grenade into the room and slammed the heavy eight inch door. As the explosive detonated Church gave a manic yell of triumph…and felt a knife slide through the space between his neck and right shoulder. He turned about and punched the supposedly unconscious soldier with such force that the man flew into the wall behind him. Church then turned and bodily tore the door from it's frame. He advanced on the soldier who was only just pulling himself to his feet and before he could react, began to beat him into the wall with the door. The screams were horrific, but Church barely heard them over O'Mally's exultant cries and Sierra's shrieks of horror sounding in his head. Finally he stopped swinging the door and looked at his victim. The man was now no more than a lump of pulped flesh and bone held together by broken pieces of armour. As he watched the head and the left arm fell from the body and hit the floor.

"Church? Church are you all right?" He turned to see Penny walking towards him, his blood spattered sabre held gingerly in one hand. He gave a shudder and his vision seemed to clear. He looked at the remains of the man and felt a sick feeling rising where his stomach should have been. He then turned to look at Penny again…and saw a man coming up behind her, pistol in hand. Without thinking he tore the knife from his neck and hurled it at the figure. The soldier saw the weapon coming and managed to dodge and avoid a fatal wound, however the blade took him in the shoulder and he fell back against the wall. Penny turned to see him and in a second Church's sabre was activated and gripped tightly in her hand and she was swinging, swinging the weapon down to cut the man straight down the middle. Penny swung with such force that the blade cut straight through him and even went a few inches into the concrete beneath. Penny looked at what she had just done with an expression of disgust. She then deactivated Church's sabre and handed it back to him.

"This is yours. Are you okay?"

Church nodded, "For the moment. You?"

"Fine. So what do we do now?"

Church shrugged, "We gather up Paul and Rourke and go find the others I guess."

Penny nodded, "I'll lead then…"