by Dirk Patton
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon, Four Section
Corporal Harris had been in command of his section for only a few weeks, and like his men had little real combat experience. He had re-positioned his section quickly when the order came through, which meant makeshift defences at best, and his troops weren’t sited as well as he would have liked.
“Aries One Four, this is Aries One,” he heard Lieutenant Miles through his radio earpiece. “How are you holding up back there, Harris?”
“Aries One, this is Aries One Four,” he said. “Not good, ma’am, not good at all. I have dead ground all over the place, if you have anything spare, I could use it.”
A scream brought Harris’s attention back to the battle… a small group of aliens, thirty or so, had made their way through a pile of fallen concrete everyone had assumed was solid and impassable. The aliens had found a way, however, and burst clear of the pile only twenty metres from the section’s left flank.
The men on that flank turned quickly to deal with them, concentrating their fire on the small group as they left their positions and backed away. The last of the aliens fell only a few metres from the withdrawing troops, but the men were now out of position and left a huge hole in the defensive line. Aliens poured through that gap, unchecked and spreading out as they charged across the rubble at full speed.
* * *
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon HQ
Barnes was tapped into the drone feeds, his eyes closed briefly as he watched the battle unfold. He cursed as the men in Four Section abandoned their position, knowing a breakthrough was imminent.
“Williams, this is Barnes,” he said sharply. “Four Section is about to go under… anything you can do to help?”
“By the time I turn the guns around, it’ll be too late,” Williams replied. “And the mortars are out.”
“Shit!” Barnes said, getting the same sinking feeling he had over a year ago when he’d lost almost everything. “I’m going myself, I’ll see if I can buy some time.”
Barnes raced back to the rear of the platoon position, passing terrified men who looked ready to break. They saw him running and started to climb out of their pits to join him, thinking he was withdrawing, and he had to shout them back into their positions.
He crested the slight rise at the top of the position and looked down at the swarm pouring towards the gaps in Four Section. There were more aliens than his rifle had rounds, but he opened fire in long bursts, hoping to cut down enough to give Four Section the few minutes they’d need to regroup.
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon, Four Section
Harris watched the men on his left go under, finally standing their ground and firing at the swarming aliens until slashing claws and ripping teeth tore them open. Body parts and entrails flew in every direction, covering the remaining troopers in blood and carnage. Most of them didn’t even notice, but he saw one man drop his rifle in horror to look at the blood on his hands, only to be torn to pieces by the same creature that had killed the man next to him.
The aliens didn’t stop. There were two other soldiers with Harris in their makeshift trench, and they turned their fire on those that had broken through. They were close enough for grenades now, and the two men poured on fire while Harris threw grenade after grenade, blasting alien bodies to pieces and sending concrete shrapnel everywhere. The alien advance finally slowed, but it didn’t stop completely.
Screams were coming from everywhere. Harris’ two forward positions had fallen. All that remained were pulpy messes.
“Aries One, this is Aries One Four,” he said into his microphone as he reloaded. “The aliens have broken through Four Section… I say again, aliens have broken through.”
He raised his rifle to fire and looked right into the eyes of an alien barrelling towards him. Another dozen were right behind it, and he froze, too terrified to even pull the trigger.
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon HQ,
Miles was patched into Piper’s drone feed, watching the aliens close in. She heard Harris’s cry but could do nothing about it, and cringed as aliens tore their way through Harris and the two men in his pit, wishing that Piper hadn’t chosen that moment to zoom the high-definition camera in.
“Aries One, Hunter One, this is Command,” Piper said urgently over their combined command net. “Hold tight, the cavalry’s on its way!”
“Command, this is Hunter One,” Barnes replied. “You dug up support?”
“Roger, Hunter One,” Piper said. “No troops available, but we’re diverting tactical assets your way.”
‘Tactical assets’ generally meant artillery, missiles or rockets, which were great against large swarms of aliens but sometimes lacked the accuracy needed for close in support work. Worse, their exploding warheads generated secondary shrapnel from the fallen concrete, which tended to multiply the danger zone of any blast.
“How much do we have?” Barnes asked.
“And how long until it gets here?” Miles added.
“I’d say a few minutes, no more,” Piper replied, “and you have pretty much everything spare from any sector in range.”
Barnes whistled aloud… that was a lot of firepower. Whoever was calling the shots on this one wasn’t taking any chances against an attack this big.
“All right, Piper,” Barnes said. “We might be able to hold out. Give us a thirty-second warning before impact, if you can.”
“Will do,” Piper said. “You and Williams stay safe.” There was the briefest of pauses. “You too, ma’am.”
Barnes felt Piper drop off the net.
“You going to let your people know, ma’am?” he asked. “It might give them some hope if they know they only have to do this for a few minutes more.”
“Good idea, Sergeant,” she said, and turned away to pass on the news.
Through the video feed, she could see Barnes standing atop a mound of rubble and single-handedly trying to stem the breakthrough at Four Section. It was a heroic effort, firing his battle rifle in short controlled bursts that splashed aliens apart every time he pulled the trigger. It wasn’t going to be enough though, and she could see the other sections were about to be overrun as well.
She switched off the video feed and picked up her rifle. She was going to die, so might as well take as many of the bastards with her as she could.
* * *
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon, Heavy Weapons Section
Off to his right, Williams saw the breakthrough in Three Section developing seconds before anyone else, so he pulled his over-and-under from its tripod mount and raced in that direction.
He braced himself and started firing as he moved, grenades spitting out to blow holes in the enemy advance. It wasn’t enough. Three Section disappeared under a massive wave of aliens that only slowed because the lead creatures stopped to rip the humans into chunks of flesh and bone.
Those behind swarmed past them and up the slope towards the Heavy Weapons Section. His grenades gone, he opened fire with the lower machine gun barrel…without the heavy tripod to support it, the brutal recoil pounded into him, and he screamed in pain and anger as he fired. He cut down the ones at the front of the swarm, but others came, a wide line that he was never going to stop.
He charged into them, still firing, drawing the creatures towards him. Aliens died all around him, then the machine guns from the Heavy Weapons section opened up, adding to his fire. For a moment he was clear of aliens, but then they swarmed up the hill towards the men on the guns and they turned their fire to protect themselves. The swarm surged forward again, and Williams disappeared under it, still firing and kicking as alien claws and fangs tore his cybernetic body apart.
* * *
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon, Four Section
“Hunter One, Aries One, this is Command,” Piper said urgently. “Thirty second warning – incoming fire, get under cover!”
“Roger that, Piper,” Barnes said. “Might be a
little late, but better than nothing.”
“All units, this is Aries One,” Miles said over the global net. “Incoming fire support in thirty seconds… hold out!”
Three Section and Four Section were both gone, with aliens swarming up the hill. Barnes was isolated where he was, so withdrew slowly towards the Platoon HQ position. He expected to find Lieutenant Miles inside, taking cover from the incoming artillery, but she was out with her HQ team, firing at the aliens as they scurried up the hill towards them.
Barnes could see the incoming fire streaming towards them from all directions, an impressive sight under other circumstances.
“INCOMING!” he shouted. Miles looked at him and then at the sky, then ordered her men back into the bunker.
Barnes scooped her up as he raced past and bundled her into the bunker, ignoring her protests. It didn’t have a door so he blocked the entrance with his armoured body and braced for impact.
Thirty-two warheads detonated on and around the platoon position, ripping the landscape to pieces, along with anything not under cover. The shockwave threw Barnes into the bunker, nearly crushing the troops he was trying to protect, and then everything was silent.
* * *
Sector Twelve, City North, 1st Platoon
Barnes and Miles stood atop the position, watching the relief force sift through the rubble looking for survivors. There weren’t many, and those were horribly injured and would require serious medical attention.
Miraculously, Corporal Harris had survived, the only man from Four Section to make it – he had lost both arms and had punctures to a few major organs. Other men had similar injuries, some from the aliens, some from the artillery fire, and stretcher parties were carrying them to waiting ambulances for evac and treatment.
Barnes watched them go. Sector Twelve was about to get their first batch of cyborgs, and he hoped they’d do as well as his own men had.
“I’m sorry about your friends,” Miles said, thinking much the same thoughts. “We wouldn’t have made it without them.”
Barnes nodded. “Most likely not, no,” he said quietly. “They died well. That’s what they would have wanted.”
Piper had located Gibbs’s body in the subway. A small swarm had emerged from the southern exit and had been dealt with by an infantry force in Sector Eleven, and Piper had sent in some drones to check for more. His body was surrounded by dead aliens, which was fitting.
Miles looked at Barnes, then reached out to tap his chest with her knuckles. She seemed surprised when it made nothing but a soft thud.
“Expecting a metallic sound?” Barnes asked. Miles nodded, suddenly looking sheepish. “Don’t worry, everyone does.”
“Do you miss it?” Miles asked. “Being fully human I mean.”
“Some days I do,” Barnes said. “But I’d be lying if I said I’d give it all up.”
“Really?”
“By rights I should be dead, and if I wasn’t dead, I’d be an invalid somewhere unable to fight, just waiting for the aliens to finally catch up and finish what they started. These implants, this armour,” Barnes said, “gives me a second chance, like I’ve come back from the dead.”
“Must be hard.”
“A small sacrifice for the greater good,” Barnes said, nodding towards the survivors of 1st Platoon. “Knowing I helped here today makes up for a lot of it.”
“I’m heading to Sector Command,” Miles said. “I don’t suppose I can convince you and Piper to transfer over to this sector. You know I could use you both.”
Barnes laughed and shook his head. “We’re Sector Eleven people, we’ve spilt too much blood to be moving.”
“Thought you’d say that,” Miles said, “but thought I’d ask all the same.”
Barnes drew himself up to his full height and threw a salute to the young Lieutenant, taking her by surprise. She returned it with a puzzled look.
“You did well, ma’am,” Barnes said, “if you don’t mind me saying so. You might have a bit to learn about trusting your superiors as much as you do, but you did well.”
Miles smiled. “Thank you, Sergeant, you did pretty well yourself,” she said. “Once we get the sector set up again, you and Piper should come over, maybe we can work on some better coordination protocols.”
“Piper can’t leave sector command, ma’am.”
“No-one’s indispensable, Sergeant,” Miles said with a grin.
“I mean literally,” Barnes said, a touch of sadness in his voice. “She was caught up in the same attack I was and got mauled worse.” He hesitated, the words tasting bitter as he explained. “She’s just a brain in a box now, tied directly into the command and control grid.”
Miles looked at him, horrified, then reached out and put a hand on his chest. After a moment she turned away and Barnes watched as she went to look after her people, then he turned away himself and made his way slowly back to Sector Eleven and his barracks.
* * *
Sector Eleven, Alpha Company barracks
The barracks was dark and still, with only the slow flicker of lights to show the building wasn’t as empty and deserted as the shattered buildings around it. Until recently it had housed three soldiers, now it just had the one.
The Crust
Justin Bell
“It’s the end of the world, Sergeant Graves. Does it really matter how your hair looks?”
Peter Graves looked over towards Doctor McCally, his hand halfway paused through his shock of brown hair. The beating blades of the Blackhawk slammed air down upon his head, battling his fingers for supremacy over the fall and design of his carefully manicured locks.
“I thought you military boys had strict guidelines on that sort of thing?” The scientist’s thick, Australian accent put a twist on the last word of the sentence.
“We’re not traditional military, Doc,” the sergeant replied.
“No, apparently we’re a glorified taxi cab for a snotty scientist,” Greer barked from the pilot’s seat.
The doctor chuckled. “Fair play, Ms Greer. Fair play!”
The broad belly of the Blackhawk AH-1 drifted as it cut through the evening sky, moving like a black shadow among indigo curtains.
“So, you really think this is the end of the world?” Graves asked, turning towards the scientist. His hand navigated from his hair to the week-long growth of stubble along the firm contours of his broad chin.
“Tough to say,” she replied, “though typically when my American counterparts call me over from halfway across the world, I tend to think the worst.”
“You a geologist, then?” Graves asked.
“Biologist,” McCally replied.
“Did you say biologist?” Yarvis moved the M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon from his lap so he could lean in further. “The hell do they need a biologist for? Last I heard it was tectonic plates throwing that geyser outta whack.”
McCally forced a broad smile across her smooth features. “I guess we’ll all find out together, won’t we, darling?”
Graves looked out the open door of the Blackhawk at the mountains retreating in the distance. When he’d woken this morning, he’d been preparing his team for a training operation in the Rocky Mountains, not expecting a call from his least favorite contact in the CIA. One benefit of running his own off-the-books outfit was that those clueless spooks couldn't boss them around, yet here they were, being bossed around by a clueless spook. At least the money was good.
The team was small tonight, with only him, Greer, and four others. They hadn’t expected to get diverted to prevent the supposed end of the world. One of the largest geysers west of the Mississippi was throwing off all sorts of weird shit, and the federal pukes needed a quick escort for the good doctor. As Greer had said, being a glorified taxi driver wasn’t in their job description, but when the CIA threw a couple zeroes on the end of the contract, they felt a little more obligated.
“So what happens if this thing blows?” Graves asked.
McCally shrugged.
“I haven’t seen the analysis yet, but if it’s anything like the Yellowstone protocols we could be talking about enough debris to block out the sun for a few decades. Plunge the planet into its next ice age. All sorts of fun stuff.”
“And what the hell are a bunch of soldiers for hire with automatic weapons supposed to do to stop that?”
“Maybe you should give your CIA friend a call and ask him.”
“Tried. He’s not answering.”
“Surprise, surprise.”
“Sarge, I’ve got visual!” shouted Greer from the pilot’s seat. “Night vision’s shot! Infrared is going off the charts. Whatever is up with that geyser down there, it’s smoking all instruments.”
“Can you put us down N-O-E?”
“Bringing us in, nap-of-the-Earth, on your order, Sarge.”
“Warrant Officer, you outrank me!”
“Not in this outfit I don’t.”
The Blackhawk’s propellers slowed to a successive thump thump thump as the dark aircraft eased its way down from the sky towards the uneven ground below.
Sergeant Graves turned towards the cargo hold and the four other men seated inside. “Yarvis, get that SAW ready! Quezar and Brady, M4 Carbines with suppressors and scopes! Grab those NVR’s!”
“I thought night vision was toasted?” asked Luis Quezar, even as he swept the automatic rifle up in two hands.
“Grab ‘em anyway, kid!”
“Brayshaw, make sure you’ve got the tactical shotgun. I want something with a punch, just in case.”
“In case of what?” Brayshaw asked. “The geyser gets pissed and throws rocks at us?”
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Graves barked. “Treat this like a hostile engagement, do you understand me?”