Chuck sat up in his tent, breathing heavily. In the distance, he heard a few booms from IBIS walkers, which sounded just like the explosions in his nightmare. He caught his breath and felt the extreme relief of knowing that a nightmare wasn't real, and he wasn't really part of the doomed Khantayskoye Lake expedition.
It was July 13th, 1994, and it was rather pleasant weather in Rio Verde, all told. It was sunny and slightly cloudy, with temperatures just around 28 degrees Celsius. Sporadic attacks had been increasing, but after a quick lunch of B-rations, it looked like the day might be relatively quiet, and it might be a few more days before a big battle happened. While eating, he thought on his dream, and was reminded of American failures: the attack on Fort Good Hope, the battle of Khantayskoye Lake, the disastrous retreat south from Borborema, and most worrying of all, the previous two failed incursions. He tried to cheer himself up by thinking of American victories as well. After all, America did defeat Canada and successfully fended off three separate invasions of Fanatics, for what that was worth, though the other two invasions were more successful. After lunch, Chuck and Jonathan manned their guard posts and chatted idly as the afternoon wore on, occasionally interrupted by radio messages in their earpieces.
At around 3:00 PM a system wide alert went out that the forward IBIS walker had seen masses of demons approaching, and that all soldiers were to man their posts and prepare for battle. Soon after, Sergeant Nathan Der Wales came on the radio and began giving specific instructions about who should be positioned where. Chuck looked out at the long-overgrown farmlands beyond. It was indeed a good position, and he had an unobstructed view for many kilometers. Lighting was also extremely good, and he was glad he wouldn't need his bulky night vision attachment. Further, work of digging in and building up was finished, to the point that Chuck could stand comfortably in the dug-out trenches and rest his M27 on a sandbag and look out at the area beyond. He had his 16X zoom flipped on, and things that were tiny specs without it were large and detailed as he looked out to the small hills in the distance, though he was annoyed that every tiny movement he made caused the sight to jump and buck. He also turned on the rangefinder, which had a battery that could last 80 hours or so, and found that the farthest hill he could see was about 6000 meters from where he was, and was a small mound in his scope, and looked like it was covered by pepper at this distance.
Jonathan was to Chuck's right, and as soon as he saw the specs in the distance, he idly sang to himself "Come the archers...come the infantry. Come the archers of hell." Chuck said nothing, and looked through his scope at the approaching tiny specs, and tried his best to contain his worry. Chuck wondered if anyone else was as worried as he was, and looked around at the people near him, but with the impending battle they all had their cloth facemask up like he did, so everyone became anonymous and their faces seemed the same.
At around 4:00 PM he saw his first cluster of demons in the distance. Already far to the northwest he could hear distant booming, and when he trained his sights on the source, he could pick out the IBIS walker already firing. He listened in his earpiece and heard the orders from Sergeant Der Wales: "Snipers and mortars, open fire. General infantry and minigunners, hold fire until you have targets within 1,000 meters. General infantry, set all guns to single shot. The boys at logistics made doubly sure that we all have plenty of ammunition, so no need to be stingy with your shots, but you aren't going to hit much at that distance on automatic."
Chuck looked at an ammunition crate that he was near. It was certainly true that it would take a long time to go through it. He had 10 full magazines of 30 rounds each in his vest pockets weighing him down, and a large stack of full magazine clips to his right easily at hand, ready to be loaded as fast as he was able. He turned his attention back towards the approaching force, still just specs at their current distance. He heard the popping sound as the sniper rifle infantry began their fire, and in the far distance saw a few of the Imps drop down. But now, the Imps and Demons were running at them at full force, and he knew that since demons had the endurance of sprinters, they would be in range very soon. Indeed, he watched his range finder tick down, and reach 1,000 meters. As expected, Sergeant Der Wales commanded "Open fire!" and mass, grouped firing began. Chuck picked out a target in the distance, made sure he was sighted in properly, grew as still as he could, and fired his first shot. It missed, naturally, but he had plenty more, and as quick as he could pull the trigger he gave his best guess and shot at the masses of Imps and Demons approaching, and did score a few lucky hits before he had to reload. In addition, the IBIS walkers directed their fire at the incoming groups, and Chuck saw large explosions as groups of approaching demons were destroyed while smaller mortar shells did their part to thin the demons out. As the demons got within 800 meters, the accuracy of the huge masses of infantry increased to the point that, supported by the long range fire of the IBIS walkers, the first wave of attackers petered out.
"Not a bad start," said Chuck.
After a few more minutes of fighting, Chuck had formed a little pile of spent magazines on his left, and was slowly going through the large stack of magazines on his right. So far, only a few demons had made it to within 500 meters of him, and those that did were quickly killed one way or another.
Chuck listened in on his headset. "More demons approaching from the northeast. Expect less fire from the IBIS walkers as they focus fire on that approach," said Sergeant Der Wales.
Chuck signed, and then shrugged. The demons wouldn't get close enough to hurt them at the rate they were going, even without artillery support. Plus, each platoon did have a mortar team, which was busy laying down fire; though each air detonation of the mortar didn't have anywhere near the effect of the large artillery rounds the IBIS walkers were firing.
Suddenly, Chuck heard and explosion far off in the distance to his left. He turned his weapon sight just in time to see a second energy blast hitting the IBIS walker that was on point, and its energy shield dissipating. The IBIS walkers' arms boomed in response to the assault, and from where Chuck was he couldn't see the source, but from the results it was obvious that a Greater Demon was approaching. Apparently he wasn't the only one surprised by the turn of events, as his helmet radio commanded to keep firing.
"Keep firing," said Sergeant Der Wales. "Every second you're not firing your guns is a second that the demons can use to get closer."
Chuck went back to picking out targets and shooting them, purposely ignoring the battle that was raging between the IBIS walker and some Greater Demon far in the distance. The masses of Demons and Imps had increased, though now they turned and rather than running straight at the fortifications, they were converging on the walker.
"General infantry, switch to three round bursts," said Sergeant Der Wales. "All units lay down fire around that walker. Give it some cover."
Any demons still running towards the fortifications were given a moment's respite as anyone that had line-of-site to the IBIS walker began focusing to protect it. Chuck saw a void blast hit the walker square in the chest, but it was too heavily armored and bottom heavy to tip much, and resumed firing soon after. But there were too many Imps and Demons approaching the walker like a mass of ants, and soon they were upon it. The Imps grabbed hold of the walkers' legs, largely ineffectively, like the Fanatics that had attacked the first generation IBIS walkers in Alabama years before. But when a cluster of Demons approached the robotic third generation IBIS walker, they began slashing at it with their claws, slicing at the legs and gashing the metal. From where Chuck was, even with 16X magnification the IBIS walker looked like a plastic army man and detail was difficult to make out, but he could see the IBIS walker raise one foot and stomp a Demon, crushing it with its weight. Also, stray shots pinged off the side of the walker as soldiers tried their best to clear the robot of clinging humanoids. However, the robot began swaying and swinging violently and soon fell over face-forward onto the ground. The demons briefly cleared the area as another void blast came in hit the robot square on the top of its humanoid head, which dented and deformed. Another blast hit the prone robot, destroying what was left of its ammunition stores, and it exploded in a large fireball. Chuck gasped. The expedition had 43,000 foot soldiers to spare but only 7 IBIS walkers, and a single walker destroyed risked the expedition falling below the threshold that it could defend again and risked a repeat of the previous two expeditions.
Over his radio he heard "Keep on burst fire for the time being. That Greater Demon will be in range soon, but for now, focus on giving the Imps and Demons everything you've got."
Chuck did as he was told, and was pleased to find that the Imps and Demons were thinning out. Shooting three bullets at a time at a range of about 500 meters was very effective against both kinds of creatures, and he was easily able to put an Imp down with one burst, and a Demon down with a few bursts if he was careful and didn't miss too much. They thinned out, and the onslaught stopped as the Greater Demon came into view in the distance.
"Back to single shot," said his Sergeant. "Don't be disheartened if it doesn't look effective. Every hit against the Greater Demon's shield saps its energy. Hit it enough times, and it WILL die just like every other demon."
The Greater Demon was at about 1,100 meters away, and difficult to hit. However, its greater size provided a larger target, and soon it was putting off hundreds of little energy sparks as bullets pinged off it. It cast a void blast at the army, and hit with about the same force as an IBIS walker's cannons. Dozens of soldiers died with each blast, and Chuck knew that it was a matter of luck whether one of those orbs would hit close to him. But, his luck held for the time being, and two IBIS walkers were retasked to engage, and their blasts supplemented the seemingly ineffectual sparks or energy on the Greater Demon. With so many soldiers concentrating on it, and two IBIS walkers blasting away as fast as their railguns could charge, it was only a few minutes before the glow dissipated from the demon, and another few shots from the IBIS walkers killed the beast.
Chuck breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around him. He could see a few defensive positions shattered, but otherwise it looked like the foot soldiers of the United States Army had come through well. He was also informed that four IBIS walkers had engaged and destroyed another Greater Demon to the north with only light damage to show for it, and were now mopping up clusters of Demons and Imps with their cannons and machine guns. "So far, so good," said Chuck, and Jonathan nodded in agreement.
The respite was brief. Around 5:30 PM large masses of Imps were spotted in the north, and a few clusters of Demons. Again, as soon as they were in range the army opened fire. The new guns found their marks easily and Chuck killed many Imps. However, the sheer number of them was overwhelming. They got within 500 meters, then within 400, and Chuck was ordered to switch to automatic fire. He did so, emptying his magazine after magazine into the coming mass, as IBIS walker artillery fire did its best to thin them out. But they got closer and closer, down to 300 meters, and some as close as 200. Chuck switched to 8x view, and then down to 2x.
"Faster!" Sergeant Der Wales ordered. "Fire and reload faster, or they'll close with us!"
Chuck ejected his spent magazine, and as fast as he could, rammed a full magazine in and charged the gun. He emptied the clip in a few seconds, and repeated the action, making sure not to slip up, as fast reloads could easily become sloppy reloads where a soldier dropped the magazine, put the magazine in backwards, or worse, damaged the gun. The Imps were still coming. He selected a few of the closest, giving a few bullets to each, and then reloaded again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Private Kade working frantically to change his box magazine on his gun.
"Arm the claymores!" he heard through the radio. A few minutes later, and now within 50 meters of the sandbag embankments, he heard blasts go off, and each one of the anti-personnel mines detonated and ripped into the oncoming little Imps.
"Grenades!" was the next thing he heard, and Chuck briefly paused shooting, picked up a waiting grenade, armed it, and flung it out, as did every other member of the first line of defense. Each had been armed and thrown at a slightly different time, so what followed was a series of loud pops like a line of firecrackers going off, as the defensive fragmentation grenades further thinned the groups of Imps running at them. In a few more seconds, if there were any more Imps left, Chuck would soon get his first taste of close combat. However, again luck held out, and the long run at the fortification, the claymores, and finally the grenades had succeeded in thinning out the thousands of Imps that had charged towards them. The combined fire of the soldiers finally finished off the charging Imps, and one Imp fell down to the ground, dead, less than 10 meters from where Chuck was standing. A brief silence fell over the battle as gunfire tapered off.
"Another wave coming!" said Sergeant Der Wales. Chuck looked off at the distance in the north and saw at about 800 meters another large cluster of Imps surrounding larger Demons, and worse, another one of those wretched Greater Demons.
"Back to burst fire," said Sergeant Der Wales. "Concentrate on the Imps and Demons. Let the IBIS walkers deal with the Greater Demon."
Chuck finished off the rest of his magazine on automatic in the general direction of the cluster, reloaded, and switched to burst fire. He then steeled himself for another onslaught. It was getting close to 6:00 now, and the sun was just touching the horizon in the west. Chuck set his sights back to 16X zoom and worked to fire quickly and accurately at the masses of humanoids now charging at him. There were not as many Imps in this wave as the last, and by the time the group was within 400 meters, all the Imps were dead. However, the Demons were still coming, and were annoyingly durable compared to their smaller brethren. Chuck was reminded that the mines had now been used up, and on cue switched again to automatic fire. In the far distance, he saw streaks of light emanating from the Greater Demon, and great flashes as cannon fire stuck it and bounced off its energy shield, but he was more concerned about the approaching Greater Demons. They got close, and again a volley of grenades were thrown, injuring all Demons they detonated close to, but the larger Demons could stand greater injury without dying. They approached the line of soldiers, thinned out but not quite thinned out enough, and there were uninjured Demons among them. Thankfully, they ended up largely charging to the left of Chuck's position, and as Chuck switched both scopes down and looked through iron sights, he saw the poor soldiers of another platoon group get slashed with claws, picked up and thrown, and get impaled by the long claws of the Demons. However, the combined fire of the soldiers nearby was enough to take the Demons down before they had killed too many soldiers.
With that wave finally destroyed, Chuck switched back to 16X sites, and was horrified he didn't need them to see the Greater Demon, which had used the assault as cover to move closer to the IBIS walkers and soldiers. He briefly checked his rangefinder and as he had guessed, the terrible Greater Demon was within 150 meters of him, its halo of light not shining as bright as when it was first spotted, but obviously still shining enough to make it bulletproof. He looked back at what the Greater Demon was focusing on, and saw a badly battered IBIS walker with one cannon held limp and parts of its chest warped, its chest-mounted machine guns all bent and useless. With no further Demons to fight, the soldiers turned their attention to the Greater Demon and began shooting it. The Greater Demon stopped, turned, and lifted its arms towards Chuck's comrades. Out shot black swirling orbs and to Chuck's left he saw a cluster of soldiers thrown around like leaves in the fall. Another one hit, this time closer, and he felt the wind from the closer explosion. He emptied his clip into the Greater Demon just as a new orb shot from its hand, coming right at him. He knew it was coming, and saw it coming, but could think of nothing to do that would help if it struck close. And indeed, the dark orb struck the ground close to Chuck, throwing him away and into the sky. He tumbled and free-fell, seeing the world spin around him, and landed about 10 meters away, hitting his head on a bolder and bruising his limbs. There was no heat, as the peculiar thing about the void blasts of the Greater Demons was that they were pure force, and didn't greatly increase or decrease the temperature of the area around them. However, the force of the blasts was just as powerful as a bomb's blast even without the burning heat. But the new armor was designed specifically for this kind of punishment, and though Chuck was momentarily blind and deaf to all the violence, he was not dead. The armor's padding had absorbed the lion's share of the impact, and Chuck slowly, shakily got to his feet, his head swimming. He had no idea where his gun was. He looked at the IBIS walker, and saw that its chest plate was now torn off entirely, and its nuclear reactor showing and vulnerable. Also, the Greater Demon was uncomfortably close, so close that he could have counted each shining white tentacles streaming from its large head, glinting in the last light of the setting sun. He shakily got to his feet and saw a soldier nearby. He checked the young soldier, who was still, knelt down, and took off the young soldier's helmet and facemask. He gasped, and found the soldier that landed close to him was Jonathan, now dead with a broken neck.
"You...you killed him," sputtered Chuck, looking at the Greater Demon. He realized that the void blast must have hit to the right of him, and that Jonathan must have gotten more of the force than he did. There were no pings of energy around the demon, and Chuck realized that at that moment, there probably weren't any other soldiers in range of the demon, and the IBIS walkers were probably out of cannon ammunition and in the process of reloading. Indeed, he looked in the distance and saw one of the robots loading more rounds into its back, while the heavily damaged IBIS walker stood disabled, close enough to see clearly, ready for a final blow that would reduce the number of IBIS walkers down to five.
The Greater Demon sensed Chuck, and stopped briefly. It was closer still now, and passing by the ruined platoon heedless of them, but when Chuck spoke it turned to face Chuck and looked into his eyes. Chuck wasn't sure if the creature was somehow communicating with him, or he was just remembering something from long ago, but one way or another, he thought to himself "Your feeling of helplessness is your best friend, savage." It then turned away from the unarmed soldier and prepared to throw one last void blast at the disabled IBIS walker.
Chuck's face grew red, as blood filled in his veins and his anger surged. He stood, looked around, and saw a minigun close by, thrown by an explosion and devoid of its user. He went to the minigun, which still had a heavy drum of ammunition below it. Chuck could barely guess how much ammunition it had, but it felt full. He turned it on and was pleased that it started spinning. With all his strength he picked it up, propped gun on a sandbag to try to stabilize it a bit, and pulled the trigger.
The minigun was difficult to handle, and Chuck was inexperienced with the heavy gun. But it began spitting out bullets and occasional tracer rounds, so without any sights to guide him Chuck was still able to guide it on target. The gun began pinging off the Greater Demon, and Chuck was pleased to find that soon after, the energy sparks stopped, meaning that he was now hitting the demon's skin directly.
"Ha!" said Chuck. "You might have magic, but I have a gun!"
Bullets tore into the demon, shredding bits of flesh off it. It turned to Chuck, its arms rising, and it prepared to fire. Chuck was horrified, and tried to stay calm and keep the gun aimed square at the demon, though he saw his doom approaching. He thought "A gun...no...what I have are bullets. Just bullets, and the hope that when the bullets are gone, he will no longer be standing, because he'll kill me long before I'm able to reload."
Dark red blood flowed from the demon's chest, and Chuck was horrified to hear the gun no longer spitting out bullets, and for a moment it was quiet save the electronic whir of the spinning chambers. The Greater Demon now tried to lift his arms with great effort, like its arms were as heavy as IBIS walker cannons. Chuck turned off the gun and watched with morbid fascination as the arm raised, raised, and raised a little more, coming ever closer to his doom...and then lowered, dropping. The Greater Demon dropped to its knees, staining the grass below it with blood. Its tentacles no longer shined with inner light, and now only reflected light like a glossy magazine in the setting sun. The Greater Demon then dropped face-first onto the ground, dead of exsanguination.
Chuck just stood for a moment. It was all so surreal. Him, of all people, getting enraged and facing down an avatar of death, and killing it right before it could kill him. He looked behind him, and where the disabled IBIS walker was still standing, and the other walkers were now finished reloading and had resumed firing at new waves of demons approaching.
Chuck dropped the minigun clumsily to the ground, and went back to the corpse of Jonathan. Around him, he could hear the groans of injured frontline troops, and realized that not everyone was dead, and there were some, like him, that had survived the attack. He opened Jonathan's vest pocket, and took out his harmonica. He then put it to his lips and blew. As loud as he could, he blew a high note, tapering down to three low notes. He did again, as loudly as he could, so all around could hear him. He then sang a cappella.
"This is why, why we fight, why we lie awake. This is why, this is why we fight."
From behind and to his right, came shakily "And when we die, we will die, with our arms unbound."
Chuck sang loudly, "This is why, this is why we fight. Come hell. Come hell."
The response had come from Private Kade, who was lying injured nearby. Chuck sang to him "So come to me, come to me now, lay your arms around me." He went to Kade, cleared the debris off him, and helped him up. Shakily, he responded "This is why, this is why we fight. Come hell."
Chuck used the harmonica and the song to walk around and collect the remains of the shattered platoon. Many were too injured to continue fighting. He found the body of Nathan Der Wales, and realized that the Sergeant was dead.
"What do we do now?" asked a soldier.
"Fall back," said Chuck. "There's a whole army behind us, and we're just the front line. Collect the wounded and get what guns and ammunition you can carry, and head south to the second line of defense."
No one complained about the advice Chuck gave, and did as he had suggested. It was now getting dark, and Chuck made his way back with the remains of his platoon to join a platoon further back. There, he defended the position for a few more hours as further attacks came, making heavy use of a new M27's night vision, as his own gun had been lost in the fray, but just before 8:00 PM fire ceased. The day had ended with Rio Verde firmly controlled by United States troops. The demons were always unrelenting, so the fact that they had stopped could only mean one thing - that every last Demon, Imp, and Greater demon in a 200 kilometer radius was dead. When it became Chuck's turn to cycle off frontline and get some shut eye, he wearily trudged back, his bruises still aching, took off his helmet, and slept on a knapsack by a rock.