by JR Handley
Pak was gone and replaced by a reaper, hell-bent on one last kill. The end of his SA-71 glowed bright blue as he activated his assault cutters. The rotating, glowing blue monofilament needles spun while Pak stumbled forward, walking through his own intestines and gore. The Hardit he approached cowered at the sight of this seemingly immortal Marine.
The Hardit squealed as Pak fell onto him. Each of the spinning teeth cut into its flesh, spraying blood and bodily tissue into a mist. The cloud of red hung in the air and mixed with the hot, thick smoke, which seemed to hold it in place, marking where the battle had played out. Slumped forward onto his dead enemy, Pak rolled to his side.
Sashala ran to Pak, dropped down beside him, and grabbed his gloved hand.
“Pak?” she whispered.
Sashala, he is dead, said Jade. Rejoice, knowing his death was a good one, all things considered, and he died rather quickly once he hit the ground. There is no time to mourn. Take his AI to honor him, and let’s move.
Sashala did what Jade said, though the tears wouldn’t stop flowing as she moved. She stripped Pak’s AI and placed it in the same compartment as Vanderman’s. Leaning forward, she solemnly touched her helmet to Pak’s and wished him a safe journey into the arms of the ancestors.
“Not bad, for a modern,” she said. “Not bad at all.”
Her farewell was cut short by the ringing of multiple carbines in the trenches below. The drenting monkeys were rallying, hoping to retake their fortification from her. Moderately safe from the incoming fire behind the barricade, Sashala took an extra moment to grab as much of Pak’s munitions as she could, and then she covered him with a tarp from her native kit. Jade rushed her along with an update.
Sashala, there are more Hardits coming than you can possibly deal with. You need to seal the sally port entrance behind you and prevent them from chasing you down into the city.
After giving one final touch to Pak’s tarp-covered chest, Sashala limped for the sally port entrance. The polycrete ramp sloped downward, and the tunnel was wide enough to allow a vehicle to drive through. This was one of the many entrances into Beta City. Like most White Knight cities, it existed entirely underground. Knowing that the militia would be on her at any second, she placed every explosive she had where Jade indicated, praying her AI understood the architecture.
Sashala felt confident as Jade started the countdown. The polycrete walls of the tunnel were already damaged from the kinetic strike, and she believed this extra explosive oomph would finish the work. Sashala, in her weakened and tired state, didn’t consider the pressure wave that would result from such a blast. When Jade triggered the detonation, Sashala, despite being around a bend down the tunnel, was thrown onto her butt as air pushed past her. The entire tunnel shook, and bits of polycrete and dust drifted down from overhead.
After getting back to her feet, Sashala came around the bend and viewed the cave-in. Everything was in different shades of green, since Jade had transitioned the helmet reticle to night-vision.
Success! Jade chimed in her ear. Time to get moving, Marine. You’re going to start glowing due to the radiation if we don’t get you to a shielded space for icing.
Sashala managed a small smile at the idea of glowing, although she was already starting to feel nauseated. She couldn’t be sure if that was due to the extreme number of injuries and amount of drugs in her system, or if, like Pak, she was starting to succumb to radiation sickness. She sat down and began patching the holes in her armor. A different voice in her ears stopped her mid-patch. The communication was full of static, but she could make out a few words.
—uinshrike. I say again, Phase Guinshrike. This is Human Legion— The comms cut off for a moment, then re-established. —is your current location? I say again, where—
Sashala laughed for a moment; then she began weeping. Dock had survived, somehow, and he had returned for them. Unfortunately, she had gotten Pak killed and trapped herself inside a radioactive city. Clearing her voice, she queried Jade.
“I don’t suppose there is any way for me to contact them back, is there?”
I have been trying to contact them back since the message first came in, said Jade. I’ve had no success, and now the frequency is dead. Even if I could make it through, we are now trapped in the very place those Legion Marines were fleeing. Sashala, I’m so sorry.
“It’s not your fault, Jade. It’s mine. This was my call, and now I must deal with it. These underground cities are all pretty much the same, from what I understand. Use the maps we have from Detroit City and point me toward a cryolab or some other place to freeze.”
Winding down the helical ramp, the dim interior was broken only by the glowing red emergency lights. Dust and dirt hung in the air, and more portions of the walls were crumbling from the kinetic strikes she’d witnessed earlier. Sashala heard the Beta City AI repeating an emergency alert.
Attention to orders, attention to orders. All Marines are hereby ordered to evacuate Beta City. A Class 1 Quarantine has been placed due to the risk from excess radiation and structural damage. Report to your chain of command immediately for further orders. Attention to…
The message droned on, forcing Sashala to order Jade to tune it out, as she paused against one of the ramp’s support pillars to catch her breath. The tickling feeling in her throat grew until she began coughing lightly. Once she’d caught her breath again, she jogged as fast as her battered body would let her. Jade highlighted routes in her helmet reticle as she moved.
Occasionally the lights flickered on, forcing Jade to constantly adjust the visor. Any other mission would’ve resulted in Sashala complaining about the migraines she would get from the chaotic visor enhancement conversions. Today, it was just about surviving.
Jade flashed a dull red arrow pointing left, which indicated a sharp turn ahead. The moment Sashala cleared the blind corner, she stumbled into a disoriented Hardit. The jarring collision, paired with her growing fatigue, knocked her carbine from her hands. She felt the retention lanyard pull the SA-71 to her back and lock it in place. The clicking noise it created caused her hands to go instinctively to her knives.
She smoothly pulled one of her blades out of the sheath on her injured right thigh and brought it upward in an arcing motion until it carved into the Hardit’s stomach. The other hand plunged the knife deep into the monkey’s ribs. Its hands and tail, which were clutching her throat in a vice grip and lifting her from the ground, increased the pressure in response.
Sashala knew she couldn’t stop while the frakker was cutting off her air. Both of her hands began brutally gashing into the Hardit’s sides with her blades. She knew where the vital organs were, and she stabbed at their locations. Slowly, as a dark tunnel consumed her vision, the Hardit relaxed and slumped forward.
She fell with the Hardit and gulped for air. Her throat burned from the constriction, and this brought on a coughing fit. Her lips were warm and wet by the time she caught her breath again. After her vision cleared and she could breathe, Sashala used her assault thrusters to get out from beneath the furry, dead weight.
Sashala tried to rip the blade out of her vanquished foe. It was stuck. She realized the combat knife had lodged itself in one of the Hardit’s ribs. Not wanting to waste time, she pulled her carbine from her back and kicked the bastard for stealing her stuff.
Scanning the corridor beyond, Sashala could see many Hardit bodies scattered along the floor.
They died from radiation, Sashala, said Jade. The gamma bomb seems to have been very effective against their species.
“Radiation is pretty effective against most species,” said Sashala. “How are my current levels?”
Jade stated her levels were elevated beyond the safe parameter, but the use of medical nanites and prolonged rest might still save her life. While Jade continued blabbing about how everything could still work out, three Hardits rounded the corner of the long passageway and charged at Sashala.
Sashala brought her SA-71 up to her eyes and
fired three sabots, crumbling the incoming Hardits and stopping their charge. Walking forward with her carbine sights resting under her eyes, Sashala waited for more to come. When none did, she fired another sabot into each of the fallen Hardits and then reloaded.
“That was too easy,” said Sashala. The words made her go into another coughing spell. This time, the force of the hacking made it feel like the muscles in her stomach might break her own back.
Jade responded. You’re complaining about easy kills? Your body is dying due to radiation, and you have sustained multiple injuries. Take the small victories and move.
Not wanting to argue with the logic of her AI, Sashala increased her pace as she moved down a longer passageway that forked in two directions. The red arrow Jade provided in her helmet reticle showed that she should go left. Then it flipped and said she should go right.
“Jade, do you know where you’re going?”
Yes. This route will be more expeditious.
Shrugging, Sashala followed directions and wandered down the right, downward sloping passageway. Walking downhill was a nice change of pace. Sashala’s metal boots slapped the deck as she bounded forward.
The sight of a fallen, armored Marine at the turn in the passageway surprised Sashala. Shouldering her rifle and tactically moving forward, she let her assault thrusters push her along. As she closed the distance to the fallen Marine, her thrusters puttered out.
That’s it for your thrusters. Your suit’s power unit is reaching critical mass, said Jade. Unless you want to do this alone, we need to get your suit charged.
“All right, get me to the nearest charging station,” said Sashala. “I don’t have a frakking clue where I am right now, and I’m starting to feel really funny.”
Following the arrows provided by Jade like an obedient Marine, Sashala noticed her movements getting more and more clumsy. Pain also began creeping up all over her body. The bodies of dead Marines around her felt normal for some reason, but the fact that many of them were already decomposed was strange. Holding her hand in front of her face, she laughed as trails of color followed her fingers.
Jade’s voice sounded far away. Then it was impossibly loud.
Targets, straight ahead! Can you hear me? Sashala?
Looking past her fingers, Sashala saw a red arrow pointing the direction she was supposed to go. Next to the hovering arrow were two hairy Hardits crouched over a four-armed suit of combat armor.
“Hey! That’s not for you,” said Sashala as she tried to grip her SA-71 with both hands.
The two Hardits looked confused for a moment. Sashala opened fire and slowly walked toward them. The magnetic coils of her carbine launched sabot after sabot at the monkeys while she continued closing the distance and spraying the rifle back and forth.
Sashala continued walking forward and firing until she kicked the combat armor of the fallen Jotun. The Hardits were nowhere to be found. Sashala was confused and more than a little lightheaded.
“Where’d they go?” she said.
They ran away at least thirty sabots ago, Sashala. Sit down for a moment and look at the Jotun, please.
Sashala obeyed, happy for the chance to take the weight off her aching legs. Looking at the Jotun colonel the two Hardits had been messing with, she saw the crest of the 781st Tactical Regiment.
Sashala, I believe the surviving Hardits are attempting to collect command level AIs. Perhaps procuring it might be useful down the road?
It took Sashala a few moments to get her fingers to obey her brain, but eventually she managed to get the AI chip off the colonel and tossed into her leg compartment with her growing collection. Trying to stand, Sashala fell back to her butt in a flurry of pain and dizziness. Feeling like it might be better to lie down, she rolled onto her back. Her body throbbed. It was excruciating.
Sashala, your combat drugs are wearing off. You need to fight it. If you go to sleep now, you won’t wake up. There are a few close habdisks. Let’s try to get to one. They might be equipped with emergency nanites, charging stations, or even emergency cryo functions. It’s not ideal, but you’re not going to make it to a cryo lab.
Sashala groaned loudly as she pulled herself up to her feet. Cursing, she followed the arrows as they popped up in her helmet reticle. Each step was more difficult than the one before. Bruises, breaks, tears, holes, and sprains all throbbed in unison, reminding Sashala of the price she had paid up to this point and would continue to pay.
Sashala tripped forward onto a pile of broken beds, wood, rock, and other debris. It blocked most of the hallway ahead.
“Through this?” she mumbled.
Yes, sorry. You are almost to the final location. Hold on.
Already on her knees, she crawled through the pile, moving things out of her way as she burrowed through. This trip would’ve been impossible without massive power output by her armor, which was almost dead. Like her armor, she was fading fast, and she knew it.
Jade continue talking nonstop while Sashala stumbled deeper and deeper into the habdisk. Sashala knew this was her AI’s method of keeping her conscious. Regardless, Sashala was sick of hearing about how the emergency power units on the habdisks should allow her to start the emergency freeze protocols.
Reaching Level 6, Sashala felt a slight buzz of excitement. It was the first feeling, other than wanting to vomit or fall over and die, she had experienced since the combat drugs had ebbed away in her system. Splashing forward, she realized she was standing in ankle-deep water.
“Water? Are we going swimming?”
It appears the kinetic strikes we observed are causing flooding throughout Beta City, said Jade. You should be okay once we seal and freeze your habdisk. I’ll divert power and essential functions, even if the outside passageways are flooded. You’ve made it!
The arrows leading Sashala about disappeared, and a door to her right lit up green in her helmet reticle. As she approached the door, Jade made it hiss open. She had made it.
Removing her helmet to prepare for the freeze, Sashala exhaled deeply as she limped inside the barracks. The door closed behind her, and for the first time since before the kinetic strikes, she thought she might make it through this ordeal.
Her momentary respite was shattered as a Hardit tail smashed her across the face. She spun like a top and slammed to the deck. From on the floor, she saw the Hardit tail was covered in metal rings with spikes embedded in them. With blood pumping from the side of her face and splashing to the polished polycrete floor, she rolled as the tail came down again like a hammer.
Still holding onto her SA-71 with her right hand, Sashala pointed the barrel upward and began pulling the trigger. The Hardit howled as sabots punched through its chest and head. When the Hardit fell, Sashala gripped her carbine with both hands and emptied the magazine into the animal.
When the sabots ran out, Sashala put her SA-71 on the deck and began coughing. Blood exploded from her mouth as she hacked. Rolling onto her hands and knees, Sashala began to weep. Her entire body was a symphony of excruciating pain, with the open wound on her head leading a crescendo.
“I’m done, Jade,” she said. Falling into the puddle of her own blood, Sashala’s body heaved up and down as she continued to retch up blood from deep inside her lungs.
Sashala, please wake up. You only need to crawl a few more feet. Can you do that for me? Just a couple more feet? After all this, you don’t just get to decide to lie down and die. No Marine left behind. That includes you, Sashala.
Slowly, Sashala pushed herself up to her hands and knees again. Blood pattered down to the polished deck while she dragged herself forward. Collapsing from exertion more than once, she continued her slow crawl.
“My face,” she croaked, barely audible.
Your facial wound isn’t life threatening, said Jade. You lost a small portion of your upper earlobe. You’ll have a scar, but that will just make your more attractive to the right Marine. Now, go into the first barracks room to your right.
; Sashala didn’t respond; she couldn’t. Her focus was on putting one hand and one knee forward, and repeating the process with the other side of her body. She slithered forward like a slug, leaving a trail of blood behind her, until Sashala’s head met the wall with a hollow thud.
This part will be hard, said Jade. You’re going to have to stand, open the red and white box on the wall, and remove the auto-injectors.
Sashala pushed herself against the wall and inched her way up the side of it. The room spun precariously as her gloved hand fumbled with the latch on the case above her. Unable to manipulate the buckle, Sashala swung the weight of her arm into the medical box like a pendulum. The front of the box flopped open, and a sealed plastic package of auto-injectors fell to the floor. Other miscellaneous tapes, creams, and implements hit the deck, too.
Sashala, those are the needles, said Jade. That set of three auto-injectors in the clear bag. Shoot them into your neck, quickly. Those are emergency medical nanites. They are the best thing for you, given your current injuries.
After fumbling with the packaging to remove the auto-injectors, Sashala injected all three into her neck like Jade instructed. With so many wounds, the pain from the injection didn’t even register. Sashala felt a swell of warmth flow through her body.
“Can you just ice me right here?”
Unfortunately, the emergency freeze protocol is inoperable in this habdisk. Fetch your helmet and carbine. We must leave this habdisk.
“Frakking hell, Jade! Now where are we going?” said Sashala.
Sitting up, she couldn’t believe how much better she was feeling. The pain was still there, and the tickle in the throat, but somehow the nanites were turning it all down a notch. Limping to where the Hardit had smashed her in the head, she picked up her helmet and carbine, cursing herself for slipping up the way she had. Jade spoke while Sashala secured her helmet, wincing as metal brushed her mangled ear.