Chapter 46

Rod's POV

Alright, just gotta get to the hellion. Not too far now. I thought, sprinting across the open field. But before I could reach the vehicle, I felt a sharp pain on my back. I tried to yell out, but nothing came. I could no longer control my legs or any other part of my body. It was as if something was in a dream. I tried moving, but nothing was happening. My body just stood there, starring at the ground. What's happening to me!

"I…I serve," a distorted voice said. Wait… did I just say that? That wasn't me was it? "For the swarm."

Gaaah! Holy crap that was me! Whatever was taking control, turned my body toward Derk, who was yelling from behind. I fired my gun in his direction, desperately trying to take control. Derk! Watchout! I tried to scream.

I could hear Derk swear as he ducked behind a tree. My corrupted body, reloaded the gun, and continued blasting into the trunk. I had no idea if Derk had a plan, but if he didn't he'd better figure it out fast, cause there wasn't much left of his cover.

My zombified body began dragging itself closer to the tree, yelling gibberish. Pain pierced my side, as bullets sprayed passed by. Derk ran out from cover, and launched himself toward me. My gun clicked, stopping me from firing back.

Before my controller could react, Derk had barreled into me, knocking me off my feet. He kicked my gun away and brought his foot down onto my chest.

"Stay down!" he yelled, blasting some shots in the distance. I tried to call out, but some unseen force held my tongue. My corrupted body fought frantically to escape, but that only made Derk push harder. He swung down with the butt of his gun across my head, sending me into a daze.

The ghost continued firing out of view at some creature. "Die already, monster!" he yelled, blasting away.

It wasn't much longer until I suddenly felt a release of pressure. It was like coming up from underwater and taking a deep breath. Everything was okay. I had regained control of my body.

"Huuuuuh!" I let in a deep breath. "What happened." I said, sitting up.

"Get up Rod! We're still in the middle of a battlefield!" Derk roared, grabbing my arm and thrusting me off the ground. "Get moving over to that siege tank!"

I did as I was told, sprinting toward the vehicle. But before we could reach it, a loud blast ruptured the air and the tank blew up into pieces. A shockwave nudged me backward as Derk came to my side.

"Don't stop Rod! Keep going!" the ghost yelled, taking lead.

"But the tank is gone!" I shouted back, following him.

"That doesn't matter, you never just stop in the middle of nowhere!" he yelled, glancing back. "Okay now, follow me. We're going to go back up those SCVs near the cliff."

I nodded and took off toward the chasm. Holy cow! So much running. I thought, taking cover behind a missile turret. Large flying creatures soared through the air. I watched as a cluster of them, dove in on a group of workers.

"Oh crap!" Derk yelled, charging toward them. "We were supposed to be there to protect them! Come on!"

As I was about to run after him, a heavy force crashed into my side. It sent me rolling across the ground. A zergling hung over my body, gnashing its teeth. I reached up and grasped its horns, keeping it from ripping my face off.

It snarled and growled, thrusting its head about. I tried as hard as I could to keep its teeth out of my neck, while reaching for my gun. I glanced to my right, seeing Derk continue toward the SCVs ignoring me.

"What are you doing Derk! HELP ME!" I shouted, while being clawed down the sides.

"It's just a zergling, throw him off! I gotta get to the SCVs," he shouted back, leaving earshot. I looked back at the zergling and began panicking. It made a face, as if it was scoffing me. Adrenaline hit me like a tidal wave and I knocked my head into the monsters nose, sending it flinching back.

Taking the opportunity, I kicked hard into his shoulders and rolled out of the way. The zergling spat and lunged forward. I dodged out of the way and picked up my rifle. Again the monster hurled itself forward in another attempt to finish me. But it was too slow. I fired my gun, sending bullets through its skull. The dead carcass landed in a heap to the side.

I glanced to my left and saw Derk in the distance yelling orders to the workers. I let out a sigh and made my way over to them.

"Rod I need you to escort these three SCV's forty meters that way," Derk said, the moment I arrived. "They'll set up a turret there and continue on every ten meters from that."

"Hey wait, I thought we were supposed to stick together?" I asked suddenly scared for my life. What if we get attacked by a group of mutalisks? I can't take them all!

"That's an order Rod, get to it. We need to get up our defenses or we'll be overwhelmed," the ghost said, pointing in the direction of my destination.

I groaned and headed off, signaling to the SCVs. Okay, I can do this. Just shoot any zerg that comes close. Simple. I aimed my rifle around as we jogged across the grassy plain.

"Okay guys… uh… do your thing," I said, searching the skies. As if they had been waiting for my order, they began building. I turned left and right, paranoid. I saw fighting going on in every direction, but none were close enough to shoot.

A loud shriek ruptured the air from behind. I spun around, gun ready. A small group of three mutalisks flung themselves down from the sky. Aw crap. I turned and blasted my rifle in their general direction, hopefully hitting one or two.

A large glaive wurm nailed me in the chest, sending me onto the ground. The collision knocked the wind out of me. I gasped for breath, lifting myself off the floor. I heard an explosion to the right, followed by a scream coming from an SCV. My heart skipped a beat. I quickly picked up my weapon and fired at the flyers once again.

I yelled in frustration, seeing the mutalisks barely taking damage. I was like a fly to a cow. Barely a nuisance.

"Shoot those bats outta the air!" I heard someone yell. I looked to the right to see a squad of five marines marching to my aid. Without hesitation, they blasted their firearms into the skies. Within seconds, all three mutalisks hit the ground.

"Soldier! No man fights alone, where is your squad?" The man demanded, approaching me.

"I-I-I am with a couple ghosts," I said, pointing behind me. "They sent me to escort these three SCVs."

"Huh, typical ghosts. They think everyone is as good as them," he said, rolling his eyes. "Well get back with them. Me and my squad will take it from here."

I nodded and did as I was told. Heading back the direction I came, I saw Derk knocking mutalisks out left and right. As I approached, I joined in the fight.

"Aren't you supposed to be protecting those SCVs?" Derk questioned, strangely relaxed.

"A squad of marines took over that position and ordered me back here," I said ducking to avoid a claive wurm.

"Eh I guess that's okay," he said, shooting the last mutalisk down. "The rest of our squad is meeting up at our position, so we'll see them shortly."

"Okay and then what?" I asked, lowering my gauss rifle. Derk looked over at me.

"Well and then we're going to continue to push them back. We're hoping to get to the other side of the cavern. Plank is sending in small groups of Vikings to clear the skies. We'll have medivacs going back and forth dropping men on the other side."

"Okay, well it sounds like a plan," I said, moving closer to the edge. "It's a long way down isn't it?"

Derk came over and looked down the chasm. "Yeah I guess you could say that."

"Well I'm glad tha—" I started, but Derk cut me off.

"Shh…" he said, raising a hand. I stood silent for a few seconds, listening intently.

"I don't hea—"

"Shut up!" he replied, moving slowly to the left. After another couple of tense seconds, he broke the silence. "Oh creators of the Xel'Naga." Derk swore. Flipping his gun off of his back and running away from the edge. "Move Rod, run!"

Before I could take a single step forward, a loud explosion cracked the air. A menacing yowl ripped through the atmosphere. Following the scream, I was abruptly thrown forward. Landing hard on my face, my body continued to roll uncontrollably.

When I had finally came to a stop, all I could see was clouds of dust and distant screaming. Another monstrous roar, shook the earth. I crawled to my feet, covering my ears. Zerg creatures swarmed the area. The only conclusion I could come to was that, either the very ground was infected and fighting against us, or that a nidus worm had emerged from the ground.

I stumbled across the terrain, dazed. Everything was in slow motion, zerglings scurried left and right, while hydras rushed forward, firing their poisonous tendrils. I held my arms over my head and ran. I had no idea where I was going, but it wasn't anywhere near the Zerg.

I didn't even get very far, when suddenly I was tackled from the side. Something heavy held me down. I tried to swing with my arms outward, but it was no use. I could feel claws digging into my shoulders. I was unable to do anything about it. All I could do was lie there stunned. But just as I was surely going to die, bullets rang from the right, killing whatever zerg monster had me pinned.

A large man stood in front of me holding out a hand. When I didn't respond, he reached down, grabbing my shoulder and lifting me off the floor. Everything slowly began to come back into focus.

"Snap out of it Jingle. Wake up!" A familiar voice said. "There's a whole lot of Zerg here and we're going to need every man fighting."

After a couple more seconds I finally stood on my own. I shook my head and checked my surroundings. Crip stood in front of me waving his hands around my face, while the rest of my squad surrounded us, blasting in random directions. The dirt kicked up by the nidus worm, was dying down and you could finally see further than your own nose.

"Here take this and fire at anything that ain't human," Crip growled, shoving a C-14 Gauss rifle into my arms. I took the weapon and aimed it around, trying to find a target. Everything was moving so quickly I couldn't lock on to a single creature. They were moving too fast.

"Alright squad! Spread out!" I heard Leary yell. "Don't let them overwhelm us!"

"We just need to hold out unto a drop ship arrives." Another voice said, whom I didn't recognize. I moved out into the swarm, now more alert than ever. I large hydralisk jumped in front of my view. I held down the trigger, spraying bullets into the monsters face. The hydra barely flinched and lunged forward. No not this time. I am not getting trapped again.

I rolled out of the way, but unexpectedly felt nothing beneath me. I let out a shriek as I turned to grab onto something. A sudden arm reached and caught my outstretched hand. I hit hard against a wall. Glancing beneath me, I saw that I was dangling over the cliff. Looking up I saw Derk, holding onto my arm. Fear flashing across his eyes.

"Help me Derk! Pull me up!" I yelled, frantically. And to my astonishment, the ghost didn't reply. He just sat there staring at me. "Come on man! This isn't funny! We need to get back into the fight!"

"R-Rod… I need you to relax," he said gripping my arm. "Everything's going to be okay."

"What are you talking about?! Pull me up!" I shouted, panicking. There was a long silence, before he replied.

"I-I can't Rod," he stuttered, chills soared up my spine. Hearing Derk say that scared me. My breathing picked up, and my grip on Derks hands tightened. The ghost began shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

"W-What! D-Derk please! What are you doing," I screamed, tears running down my cheek. My voice cracked as I continued. "P-pull m-me up man…." I begged.

Derk shook his head, loosening his grasp. "Everything's going to be okay. J-just close your eyes. Think of something else."

I could no longer speak. I knew what he was about to do. I mouthed a "please" but no words came out.

"I-I'm so sorry."

The strong grip Derk had on my hand was released. And I fell. I fell fast. I fell hard. Derk's words rang repeatedly in my head. My entire life flashed passed my eyes… and then I hit the ground.