The soldiers trembled as the Dark form of the smog monster approached. Its hide now shimmered with an oil slick like iridescence, making it look like the hard shell of a bug. Its wounds were healed and it has grown even larger meaning that it almost eclipsed the sun which hung low in the sky.
The commander of the defence force stood atop a tank so he could see all that was going on. The new defensive line was set up dangerously close to the city, if the monster broke through, then there would be nothing between it and 16 million civilians.
All buildings in a one mile radius had been evacuated but after it had passed through this grace area, the citizens of the city were sitting ducks. The government had leaned against a full underground evacuation, confident in the defensive line. the commander could only hope that this faith wouldn't be unfounded.
The creature glared at its opposition of tanks and men, clearly aware of what was going on, with its eyes glaring daggers into the defensive line. Yet it still crawled forward, burbling quietly as it dragged its slumped form towards the defensive mounds that were bristling with the barrels of a thousand guns, its raw conviction almost making the commander second guess the whole operation.
He pulled out his pistol and fired a shot against the back of the creature, watching as it loudly ricocheted off the iridescent coating. He put the gun back in his belt, while still glaring at the creature which was now looking him right nhe eyes with cold unfaltering malevolence.
The man pulled out his communication device and while meeting the creature's gaze, quietly ordered," fire at the eyes ".
Suddenly the landscape around him erupted in the crackle and pops of gunfire. The Smog Monster roared; guns kept firing; the commander could see cracks appearing in the creature's new coating, watching as the beast reeled back.
GRUAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The monster blasted a jet of mist from some unseen place on its underbelly. The plume of acrid smog diffused out into the air, mingling with the smoke of the explosives to form a blinding, poisonous mess.
As the cloud approached the soldiers they fumbled about to put their gas masks on, scrambling and fumbling the bulky clips of the mask. As the cloud washed over them , the soldier's skin began to feel hot and irritated, PPE was too scarce to be distributed to the whole battalion.
One man was bumped by the person next to him and dropped his mask, sending it bouncing down the fortified hill. It tumbled along the hard soil and landed in front of the smog monster.
The creature leaned towards and with its large red eyes surveyed it, bullet fire still rumbling on in the background.
The creature then stared forward into the fog that would be blinding to our eyes and noticed the soldiers all wearing similar things.
As the creature pondered, the bullets kept chipping away at its hard cerapice, fragmenting the opalescent coating on its back, making it shatter like a hard sheet of sugar, splintering and shattering in geometrical patterns.
The soldiers kept firing into the smog, aiming for the vague outline of the monster, silhouetted in the evening sun. Upon noticing that the creature had stopped, the commander ordered a cease fire. He squinted at the partially obscured creature that was lying still on the floor as if it had simply given up.
Suddenly the creature began to emit a low constant note.