by Rob Buckman
“Shit! Those things are harder to kill than cockroaches.” CC spat.
“Oh shit, here they come again.” Purplish streak tore through the air as the girls let off a barrage of rail gun round.
This time it took a lot longer to take the whole troop down as some were getting smart and hiding behind flanges and bulkheads. Not being able to 'see' who was shooting at them, they took to shooting at the source of the sound, namely the high-pitched sound of the rail guns. The firefight took half an hour before the last of them went down and Decker swore. They made it two hundred yard before the met the next group, even larger this time. The team slipped and slid through the mess on the deck, a few ending up on their butts, and dragged back to their feet by teammates. Everyone had taken hit and starting to feel the pain, and they took to hiding behind any available cover or lying on the slick deck.
“Damn it! We have to move. Once we finish taking down this bunch down, run like hell and don’t stop for anything. Go through, over or under but get pass them and keep running.”
“Bio-mech!” Kim yelled. “Against the wall,” It was good advice as the mechs came rolling down the passageway firing ahead of them. Someone upstairs was getting wise to what was happening. Using mechs made sense if you didn’t have that many warrior grunts aboard and they couldn’t ‘see’ who they were fighting. Decker automatically checked his HUD and bit down on an oath. One of the team was down in the middle of the passageway, but thankfully under the stream of energy bolts. The icon showed it was CC, and if she stayed there, the mech would run over her. Once they had it wouldn't take them long to grab whatever it was and rip her apart. Decker thrust off the bulkhead and slid across the deck on the alien puss, reaching out to grab. His hand slid across her body, then felt an arm and held on. Scrambling for purchase, he pulled her to the bulkhead and dragged her to her feet.
“Stay against the wall until the mechs go by.” He yelled.
“I’m hit.”
“What… where?”
“Took three hits before I could move. Shoulder broken and my suit is torn.” She sobbed. Decker knew she was in pain and held her against the wall as the mechs rolled past. In all there had to be a hundred of them, but they all stopped and started milling around in confusion when they ran into the bodies of the grunts on the deck. Some just spun their tracks, as they couldn’t get any traction in the bloody yellow and green mess.
“Run!” Decker yelled as he put his shoulder under CC’s and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Suddenly he felt other hand take CC from him and his HUD showed Clara and Ginny taking over carrying duties. With the confusion behind them, Decker took a few seconds to fish out and arm several contact grenades. Tossing them on the deck, he took off running after the team.
The average man in reasonable good shape can run a mile in seven to eight minutes, but that was without a thirty-pound pack, carrying a heavy rifle, ammunition and getting into a firefight every quarter mile. No matter how far they’d run, Decker knew it wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t so worried so much the initial nuclear detonation at ground zero, but the blast or shock wave that came immediately after. Normally the most damaging part of the wave could travel five miles, in here, he didn’t know. Much depended on how strong the intervening bulkheads were. Surprisingly the passageway was clear for the moment, but no so behind them. The mechs were now turned around and heading back towards him. The contact grenades took a few of them out and slowed them down for a short while, and Decker took the opportunity to take out a few more.
“Found some sort of control center, Boss.”
“Get in there – out of this passageway. It’s a straight shot for the blast wave.”
“Oh Christ!”
Decker caught up with the team as the mechs managed to sort themselves out and started rolling in his direction. His HUD told him where the girls were, but it took him a few precious seconds to find the entrance and duck inside. What happened next could only be described as a nightmare as the moment he stepped into the room, he smashed into the ceiling, and everything went dark.
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