Heavy Carnage

by Eric S. Brown

  Bigfoot War: Heavy Carnage

  By: Eric S. Brown and Jeffrey R. Jake

  Bigfoot War: Heavy Carnage

  Copyright © 2013

  Eric S. Brown and Jeffrey R. Jake

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or photographs contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author or artist.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Art By: Gary McCluskey

  Robert watched the ammo counter ticking down as the tribarrels mounted on the giant mech’s arms spun. One Sasquatch took a burst of dead on. Its form jerked and spasmed as its chest became a mass of mangled meat. Another burst reduced the head of Sasquatch to pulp that filled the air in an explosion of blood, bone fragments, and brain matter. The clearing Heavy Carnage stood in was littered with dozens of dead Sasquatch but the beasts just kept coming. Heavy Carnage towered over their advancing numbers, standing fifteen feet tall. The beasts were all between eight and eleven feet tall but Heavy Carnage made them look frail in comparison. The metal its armor gleamed in the sunlight. Robert also kept an eye on the suit’s heat gauge. Overheating and shutting down might prove a fatal mistake. He doubted the beasts could tear their way through the suit to get at him but he’d learned not to underestimate the creatures. Heavy Carnage was being pushed to its limits but there was no choice. Robert had to hold the beasts here and buy time for Gayle and Steven to get their own suits online. The mechs were their only hope of survival now that they were alone. No one in the Earth Republic had believed the Sasquatch were present in such numbers on Lancaster’s World or that the beasts would be able to take the battalion sent to exterminate them off guard.

  The battalion was supposed to set up a base of operations on Lancaster’s World from which to launch a full scale war with the Sasquatch. They’d came packing the most advanced and heavy armament available to Earth Republic infantry and had been led by Drake, the hero of the Earth Occupation, himself. Drake had nearly singlehandedly saved the core of the Republic from being held by the Coalition. His rep was that of a cold blooded killer who would do whatever it took to get a job done. There wasn’t a trooper alive who didn’t either respect or fear him. Drake was as hardcore as they came and the best of the best; yet even he had suffered defeat on this cursed planet and been forced to bug out.

  The planned offensive by the Republic had quickly become a massacre. The beasts had outflanked the battalion and came in from all sides. Chaos erupted in the lines as the unit broke apart; the already thin lines dissolving under the onslaught. As much as Drake and the squad leaders had tried to hold things together and present a unified defense, the battalion became nothing more than various squads, alone and on the run, fighting for their lives. Robert only knew Drake was alive because he’d had Heavy Carnage powered up and online as Drake’s dropship left orbit. He’d intercepted its transmissions with the fleet in orbit. The messed up atmospheric distortions of the planet kept him from being able to make contact with Drake and the ionized particles prevented the dropship from being able to receive his desperate calls for help. Most Republic tech on Lancaster’s World didn’t function properly or if it did, lost power very quickly as if the planet itself was some sort of energy vampire, preying upon it. Even larger dropships, despite their thick armor and redundant systems weren’t immune. What saved machines like Heavy Carnage were their mainly analog systems and old school fission reactors instead of the fusion drives and energy cells that powered most other Republic tech.

  The mechs hadn’t been part of the initial deployment plan on Lancaster’s World. They were cumbersome and far from well suited to this particular theater of battle. Three of them had been stored aboard the dropship that Robert and his squad had come in on. They were sealed up and powered down, gathering dust in the cargo hold. Thanks to that logistical screw up, the mechs were there to save their lives. Theirs was the only dropship that was unable to lift after the initial touchdown. What had happened to cause the system failure that left it stranded had been as much of a mystery to its pilot as to Robert and his squad. That inexplicable bit of random luck had saved their lives as much as having the mechs on board had. They’d stayed with the ship rather than advancing into the endless forests with Drake and the others so that when the Sasquatch sprung their trap, they were well away from the engagement. As they listened the screams of their dying comrades, Robert knew they had to do something and the mechs…the mechs were there.

  A Sasquatch maneuvered through Heavy Carnage’s of fire. Its muscular legs coiled under it as it flung itself at the mech. Clinging to Heavy Carnage’s front, too close in to be targeted by the mech’s guns. The beast smashed its fist into the mech’s chest over and over in a fit of primal rage. Heavy Carnage rocked under the force of its blows but the lone beast was nowhere near strong enough to topple the mech. Metal dented as bones shattered beneath flesh as thick matted brown hair and blood stained the mech’s upper torso. Robert could feel the impacts inside Heavy Carnage and that fact worried him greatly.

  “Heavy Carnage to Hammer and Lady Luck, are you operational?” he shouted over the mech’s comlink.

  Steven’s voice answered him, “This is Hammer, Lady Luck still powering up.”

  “Don’t mean to rush you guys but I am getting overrun here!” Robert yelled. Another of the beasts had reached Heavy Carnage and latched on it. The beast kept its feet on the ground instead of leaping on him as the first had. It used all its strength to push against Heavy Carnage and try to knock the heavy machine off balance.

  These things learn fast, Robert thought as Heavy Carnage’s twin tribarrels continued to fire into the ranks of beasts that continued to emerge from the woods. His ammo was down to thirty five percent capacity and there was no sign that the beasts were running out of bodies to throw against him. Robert knew he had to break and run before it was too late. One of Heavy Carnage’s thick metal arms swept downward to backhand the beast attempting to shake it from its feet. The Sasquatch’s skull caved inward, the impact sending its pulped body flying on passed where the mech stood. Robert brought that arm back up, re-engaging its tribarrels on full auto as he shut off the other arm’s weapon. Heavy Carnage’s left hand seized the beast clinging to its chest, rending flesh and crushing bone, taking hold of the beast he threw it into the advancing ranks of its brethren.

  With the beast off of Heavy Carnage, Robert spun the mech on its heels and attempted to put some distance between the oncoming hoard and himself. The unit’s massive legs quickly propelling it away from danger; churning up rock and dirt as it bounded away. Pulling up the rear cameras, he was grateful to see that he was outdistancing his attackers. The beasts were slowly falling behind as he worked the controls, pressing the mech to its top speed of fifty miles per hour. Heavy Carnage plowed through the trees of Lancaster’s World, snapping limbs and sometimes overturning whole trunks as it charged onward.Hammer and Lady Luck’s position was about two klicks to the south. He mentally crossed his fingers that his friends would be ready by the time he reached their location. Sure, they could make a stand and hope that the combined firepower of the three machines might be enough to break the beasts and drive them off but it wasn’t a gamble he was willing to take. Their ammo was limited and there was no point in using it all up in their first engagement with the beasts. Even if they did manage to drive the beasts away for now, the things would be back. This was their planet after all and their numbers seemed to be endless.
Heavy Carnage’s heat levels were running dangerously high but there was nothing he could do about that now. If he stopped, the beasts would just swarm him again.

  “Hammer, I am inbound to your location. ETA…” He checked his map, “less than a minute. I hope you guys are ready because I’m sure as heck not! Heavy Carnage is nearing her shutdown point.”

  After a slight pause, Gayle replied, “System initialization is complete. We’re ready to go sir.”

  “And don’t call me sir!” Robert growled, closing the link, a glimmer of hope rising in his spirit.

  The dropship came into view through the trees. It rested in the center of another clearing with Hammer standing outside it. Heavy Carnage’s sensors told Robert that Steven had Hammer’s shoulder mounted missile launchers primed and already searching for targets as Gayle piloted Lady Luck down the dropship’s ramp. The ramp shook from the weight of the massive mech as Lady Luck picked up her speed and moved to get clear of it. As soon as she was on the ground, the ramp began to retract automatically and seal the dropship’s only entrance.

  “Hold your fire!” Robert shouted at Steven over the comm. “We need to get out of here!”

  “But we can take them!” Steven seemed stunned by his order.

  “No! I said, hold your fire!” Robert repeated his order. “There’s no point! We need to get moving!”

  “What about the dropship?” Gayle asked, joining them on the linked comm circuit.

  “It’ll be fine,” Robert said. “Those things are after us, not the ship.”

  “That’s a pretty big chance to take sir,” Gayle argued.

  “Let me worry about that!” Robert kept Heavy Carnage moving at its max. speed. The mech thundered passed Lady Luck and Hammer even as they turned to move after it.

  “This plan of yours really sucks sir,” Steven complained.

  “Do you even have a plan?” Gayle asked as Lady Luck pulled ahead of Hammer, leaving Steven in the rear of the group’s on the fly formation.

  “Shut up and move!” Robert snapped then killed the comm link completely.

  ****

  Three hours later, the trio of mechs had long outrun their pursuers. Heavy Carnage had managed to hold on and not shutdown solely due to Robert powering down every system he could other than the motors of its legs. Even so, the mech had suffered heat damage to several systems. He had silenced the internal alarms that continued to try to warn him of the parts of the mech that were going to need some serious work as soon as he got the chance to attend to them. Each mech carried a field repair kit and several replacement parts for the more key systems. He hoped they would be enough to get Heavy Carnage back fully online and battle ready.

  Heavy Carnage’s pace slowed as Robert worked its controls, bringing it to a stop. Lady Luck and Hammer stopped as well. The comm. system in Heavy Carnage was among those that had suffered damage from it being pushed so hard beyond its protocol established safety margins. Its sensors were no longer fully functional either but they were at least able to allow Robert to see that the immediate area surrounding the three mechs was clear of the beasts. He popped the pilot compartment, opening up Heavy Carnage’s chest. The cooler air of the twilight breeze washed over his sweat drenched body, making him shiver. The helmet he wore had a less powerful comm. unit of its own built into it. He tapped it, turning it on. “Steven, stay inside Hammer. Keep its sensors active and scanning for any of those things that might be coming our way. Gayle, I need you to power down Lady Luck and give me a hand.”

  Lady Luck’s chest split open like a breaking ribcage as servo-motors whined. Gayle climbed out of the mech and joined Robert on the ground.

  The heat escaping Heavy Carnage’s opened interior looked like smoke in the cooler air as it drifted upwards.

  “You really did a number on her didn’t you?” Gayle teased him.

  Robert laughed, “If you guys hadn’t taken so much time getting your suits online, I wouldn’t have had to.”

  Gayle thumped the section of Lady Luck’s leg where the mech’s field repair kit was stored. It slid open and she grabbed the kit, heading over to where Robert was already climbing up to lean into Heavy Carnage’s exposed chest area.

  “So we’re really it huh?” Gayle asked.

  Robert glanced over his shoulder at her, motioning for her to toss her kit up to him. “Yeah, we are. As far as I know anyway. Everyone else is either dead or on their way back to Earth by now.”

  Gayle stared up at him. “Do you think they even realize we’re still down here?”

  “You know as much as I do,” Robert said, digging into the kit for a tool to pry out a fried circuit board with.

  “Sir!” Gayle shouted.

  Robert stopped his work and turned sideways where he clung to Heavy Carnage’s front section. “Look, odds are even if they do, they don’t care okay? Most likely, Drake’s written us off as K.I.A. Besides, no one in their right mind would try to mount a rescue mission to save three grunts after the kind of losses the Republic just took here.”

  Gayle looked furious but kept her mouth shut.

  “Trust me, I feel exactly like you do,” Robert told her, returning to his work, “But we all knew the risks when we signed up for this drop. Being expendable is part of the job.”

  “We got movement to the north,” Steven’s voice boomed through Hammer’s external speakers.

  “Dang it!” Robert thumped a fist against the metal of Heavy Carnage’s torso. “Use the comm. you idiot! Are you just trying to draw them to us?”

  “Sorry sir,” Steven answered, this time through the earpiece of Robert’s helmet.

  “Are they headed this way?” Robert asked.

  “Not yet but there’s sure a lot of them.”

  “You think it’s the same pack or another one?” Gayle asked, looking nervous to be outside of her mech in the open with the beasts close by.

  “Does it matter?” Robert tossed her repair kit back to her. “I think I’ve got Heavy Carnage fixed enough to at least not be utterly useless in a fight so we better get suited up and moving before those things realize we’re here.”

  ****

  Night fell over the forest as the three mechs started moving again. Robert kept their pace to a crawl but there was just no way to keep the large machines from making too much noise as they trudged along. The forest was too dense for fifteen foot tall battle mechs to navigate it without breaking tree limbs as they went. They were running on infra red now as the darkness of the night was too thick to see anything otherwise.

  Fuel for the mechs wasn’t a concern. Each suit could run for two years before its power supply gave out. Their human pilots though were a whole other matter. None of them had slept since the initial battle that shattered the Earth Republic’s forces. All three of them were pumped full of stems. and beginning to show the effects from it. Robert knew he was snappy and not thinking as clearly as he should be if he wanted to keep himself and the others alive.

  Instead of just heading off into the endless forest of Lancaster’s World with no real destination, the mechs’ course was one that would eventually bring them full circle back to the dropship. Robert had hoped that would make there before night fall but the beasts trailing them kept forcing them to diverge from their intended route and it took time to get back on track afterward.

  His plan had been to lead the beasts away from the ship, luring them off on a wild chase, before circling back around to it. If the beasts believed they had abandoned the dropship, they could hold up there long enough to get some food, rest, and make the needed repairs to Heavy Carnage. The Sasquatch were smart but they could be tricked like anyone else and he very much doubted they would leave a pack to guard the ship in case of his squad’s return.

  “ETA to dropship,” he asked Steven. Hammer had the best sensors of the three mechs. It was an artillery unit, designed for long range combat against other mechs or armored vehicles.

  “An hour, give or take,” Steven answered, the man’s e
xhaustion clear in his voice.

  “Understood,” Robert called up a display of the nearby area from Heavy Carnage’s own sensors. Their range was nowhere near that of Hammer’s but they served well enough for what he was looking for. The pack of beasts that remained on their trail was about a mile and half behind them. The beasts weren’t catching up though the mechs were moving at a crawl, trying to limit the noise they made. Why are they holding back? Robert wondered. An average Sasquatch could top forty miles an hour for short distances. His tired mind knew it didn’t make sense but he couldn’t figure the puzzle out.

  “We’re going to have to do something about the beasts following us,” Gayle said over the comm. as if reading his mind. “They’ll just follow us all the way home if we don’t.”

  Robert nodded inside of Heavy Carnage. She was right. All their effort would be wasted if they didn’t. But what could they do? If they came about and engaged the beasts, the battle would surely draw more of the things into the area. None of them carried anything more than the standard issue pistol stored inside the mechs themselves in terms of weapons. They’d left their infantry gear aboard ship when they had rolled out. The pistols lacked the firepower to stop a beast short of a lucky shot that penetrated its brain or another vital organ…and in most cases, the dying beast continued to attack until it bled out if the shot didn’t kill it outright. No, getting out of the mechs to deal with the problem they were faced with was not an option.

  “Steven, can Hammer get a solid target lock on the pack behind us?”

  “Yes sir,” Steven said, clearly excited by the order he must think was coming.

  A volley from Hammer’s shoulder launchers would clear the things out, no question. It also wouldn’t drag them into the sort of extended battle they were so desperately trying to avoid. The downside of such a tactic though would be that it would still expose their position to any other of the things nearby. The flash and noise of the missiles being launched, Robert could only hope, would be dwarfed by the explosion at their impact point. With luck, any other beasts would be drawn to it, not them, believing that the mechs were making a stand at the target location.