The morning came very slowly for both of the marines. Neither of them got a lot of sleep. At the break of dawn they rushed out of their hiding hole and made a break for the large central spire that towered above the area. The entrance was well hidden so no-one had found their way up the tower to where some sniper rifles nestled. Taine had found the entrance and led Sam there as fast as possible.
They weren't the only ones awake. They could hear others being slaughtered by melee weapons or torn to shreds by bullets. These kinds of tournaments were fights to the death. They were a way of culling the weaker marines and proving what the best faction was.
Sam and Taine made their way up the enormous creamy-white tower. By the time they'd made it to the top they were just above the tree tops and were able to see where the simulation ended. They picked up a rifle each and began to pick off their competition one by one, but they weren't the only ones in the tower.
Bullets came from behind the marines but none managed to hit either of them. Taine rolled out of the way of the bullets and managed to get a pure-luck no-scope shot to one of the opposition's heads. The two marines got to their feet, dropped their weapons and bounded around the tower. A loud whistling sound came from the ground below and an explosion followed. A loud groaning came from the tower as it began to tip, and more explosions erupted from the tower.
Sam and Taine continued to run through the tipping tower toward a tree. The tower was falling in the direction of the forest so Sam and Taine had a clear shot to the tree. They jumped and landed on the nearest branch, and had to jump from tree to tree to avoid the crumbling tower.
They could hear screams and loud snapping as the tower slammed into the forest. They jumped onto the ground and found a small concealed cove at the other end of the simulation. They ran to a cave not far around the cove. Sam was exhausted from all of the action. Sam had asthma but he usually had his armour on when in combat, which helped stabilise his breathing. Without his armour he was just like any other person with asthma.
"Are you okay?" Taine asked, seeing that Sam was struggling.
"Yeah, yeah, I should be fine. I just need some place to rest for a while," Sam said as he sat down and put his head in between his legs. His breathing had become very raspy and it was hard for him to breath.
"I'm gonna go scout out how many of us are left. If anyone comes near here, use this to defend yourself," Taine said, passing a pistol to Sam and then walking off.
Hours passed with no sign of Taine returning. Sam's breathing had returned to normal. A twig snapped just outside the cave. 'Taine wouldn't be that careless,' Sam thought to himself as he steadied the pistol in front of him. Taine walked around the corner, carrying a heap of berries and fish. Sam immediately forgot about his weapon and remembered how hungry he was. They ate the food raw because they both knew that if they made a fire everyone would see the smoke.
"So, how many of us are left?" Sam asked, eating another handful of small red berries.
"Eleven - nine and us."
"Eleven out of thirty? Wow."
"Yeah, but seven of them have formed a pact, leaving two others."
"Do you know what faction they're from?"
"Nope."
Another twig snapped from the cove. A marine walked around the cove with his arms raised, and Sam rushed for the pistol.
"Don't, Sam," Taine said.
"I have some information for the two of you," the marine said.
"Are you with the pact of seven?"
"No, there's me and my partner left, apart from you two and the pact."
"What's this information then?"
"Your pack is still at the start. No-one grabbed it."
Taine and Sam exchanged a look of shock.
"What do you want in return?"
"We want to form our own alliance with you two. Even if there's seven of them, we still have a chance with the great Sam from S1 on our side."
"True, true. What faction are you and your mate from?"
"Space Wolves."
"Ohh, that's Lachlan's old faction."
"Gah, don't trust him Sam. He's a Space Wolf, and they sided with Chaos. Kill him now before he can betray you!" Matthew yelled, watching the screen in the Command centre.
All of S1 and S2 watched the tournament on the big viewing screen of the Command Centre. Months had passed since they had returned from the fight with the Chaos Demons. Attacks had resumed as usual but they weren't strong ones. Athena, Zeus and Poseidon stayed at the base. They were all sad at Apollo's sacrifice but they also knew that it wouldn't be any better if they didn't do anything.
"You know he can't hear you, right Matthew?" Jareth said from beside him.
"It's still funny to see him try to help Sam though" Lachlan said from beside Jareth, with a bit of a laugh.
"Stop bullying him, Lachlan. Let Matthew have his fun," Cheyenne said, defending Matthew.
"So who's this Taine guy?" Matthew asked, stuffing his face with popcorn.
"He is in 'A' block, group six. He resides on Alpha Pi 2, a planet on the outskirts of our galaxy. It says here that he's a marksman who will occasionally dabble in melee combat," Doc read from his screen. He was standing at one of the consoles, partly watching the tournament and partly doing work.
"Well, I don't trust him or this other Space Wolf who is his team mate. Just kill him, Sam!"
"Calm down, Matthew. It's not like he can hear you. Just fill your gob with food and shut up," Chris said, standing over his brother. Matthew looked up at him and poked his tongue out before eating more popcorn.
Shortly after Sam and Taine had met the Space Wolf, they were walking through the forest toward a large clearing.
"You know we can't trust any of them right, Sam?"
"Oh, I know. I just wanna see their faces when we turn tides against the nine of them."
"What makes you so sure the two Space Wolves are with the others?"
"Listen."
"I can't hear anything."
"Exactly. There isn't a single sound - no-one fighting," Sam said as they neared the clearing.
Sam was the first to step into the forest opening. There was a large structure in the centre made from some kind of silver metal. It shone like a beacon in the sunlight. He slowly edged his way into the centre, seeing no sign of his pack.
A snap came from the other side of the structure. The Space Wolf they'd seen earlier stepped out of the tree line with a sniper rifle, presumably one from the tower.
"I can't believe you fell for that. Hands up," the Space Wolf said. Sam raised his hands and turned to face the Marine.
"I can't believe you came here alone."
"Oh, I didn't. The rest are all behind me. So where's your team mate? My guys are waiting for me to kill you so they can kill him."
"Well, if my plan worked then he should be right behind you right about now. Oh look, there he is," Sam said, pointing behind the Space Wolf.
"Hah, you honestly think that I'd…" Taine snapped the Marine's head and almost immediately bullet fire erupted from behind him from the other eight competitors. Taine snatched up the rifle and he and Sam ran into the forest.
2: The New Leader
S1 eagerly watched as Sam and Taine ran through the forest, taking down one opponent at a time.
"Guys, we have a mission," Doc said from behind them. He switched off the main monitor and a series of groans came from the marines, especially Matthew. "We've been monitoring Chaos Marine activity in a nearby solar system and we've come across a trading post where most of the Chaos Marine weapons and armour come from. If we can destroy it then we'll be dealing a massive blow to the Chaos Marine army," Doc explained.
"And?" Matthew asked.
"We need S1 to take it out."
"But we have no leader."
"Then pick another leader, just for this mission."
Matthew sighed and turned to face Jareth, Lachlan and Cheyenne. "Fine then, who wants to be leader?" Matthew asked. The other Marines looked
at each other without saying a word. Jareth began to raise his hand, when Cheyenne told him not to.
"Why don't you be our leader, Matthew?" Lachlan asked with approval from the other marines.
"Because I have little to no experience."
"Matthew, Sam told me something before he left for the tournament. He said that he was going to make you his second in command, which means that you have to lead this mission and every mission when Sam's away," Jareth said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"OOOHHHH CRAP!"
"Sam, move!" Taine said as he slid onto his belly, holding his rifle scope up to his eye. Sam ducked out of the way as Taine pressed the trigger and shot another opponent dead. Taine got back up and followed Sam deeper into the forest.
"How many are left, Taine?"
"I think about four."
"We can do this, can't we?"
"Yeah, maybe. But we're quickly running out of forest."
They neared the edge of the forest when Taine saw a shadow fall upon him. He fell backwards as one of the other contestants landed in front of him. The man was larger and bulkier then both Sam and Taine combined. He looked down upon Taine as the marine tried to scramble to his feet. Sam jumped from a branch nearby and kicked the man in the face with no success. He didn't even flinch. Sam landed next to Taine and saw his rifle on the other side of the man's legs.
"Got any ideas, Taine?"
"Uhh, aren't you a higher rank than me? Doesn't that mean that you should be the one making plans?"
"I already have one," Sam said, getting to his feet and running in the opposite direction.
"That's your big plan? Running away?" Taine said, standing up and running after him.
S1 and a few lower teams landed on the jungle planet that was a trading post for the Chaos Marines. Matthew quickly got his team and the other teams in place on a hill looking over a jungle clearing where an unmistakably Chaos black structure reached high into the trees. There were multiple landing pads where trade ships could come and go whenever need be.
"So, how are we gonna do this, Matt?" Jareth said, next to him.
"Lachlan will go invisible and scout out how many guards there are and our best route in with a few of the scouts. Jareth will fly up over the trading post and take down any ships that enter its air space. Me, Cheyenne and the rest will wait for Lachlan to return."
"That's actually a pretty good plan, Matthew," Lachlan said, giving him a pat on the back before going invisible and heading down to the trading post with a few scouts behind. Jareth took off, leaving Matthew with Cheyenne.
"Oh, look. Here comes Lachlan," said Cheyenne. Surprisingly, she was the only one of the S1 Marines who could see Lachlan when he went invisible and no-one knew why.
"How many?"
"Sixteen. Well, there was sixteen until I took a few down. Now there's about seven."
"Good job, Lachie. And what about a way in?"
"The front door, if we all charge them."
"I highly recommend we don't do that, Sir," the commander of the lower teams said from behind Matthew.
"Why not?"
"Because we don't know what's waiting for us in there."
"Your name's Barker, isn't it?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Okay, Barker. I'm the acting leader of S1 and I have authority of this entire mission. If Lachlan says that we should go in guns blazing then I trust him. And you will do well to trust me."
"Yes, Sir," Barker said, unconvinced. "I want to lead it though."
"If that's what you want, Barker, then be my guest. Jareth, stay up there and take down anyone trying to leave." Jareth nodded in response to Matthew's orders.
Altogether Matthew had about thirty marines at his disposal. They slowly made their way down the slope toward the base. Marksmen took shots at anything that moved from above them.
"Barker, whenever you're ready," Matthew said as they approached the base.
Barker and ten marines walked up to the base's front door and kicked it down. Immediately bullet fire rang through Barker's ears. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and then more and more appeared all over his body. He could hear the marines behind him groaning with pain as they each got shredded by bullet fire. Barker himself became aware of the countless bullet holes that littered his body. His eyes suddenly became blinded, and he wondered why he was on the ground and why he couldn't feel anything. A black figure stood over him and looked down at him. He felt something round touch his head before he heard a bang and his world went dark.
3: Backup
Nathan didn't like killing the Space Marines but he knew that Chaos would make him one of his top lieutenants for protecting the trading post, even if the trading post was just made to lure Ultra Marines to their death. Nathan and his team, comprised of Alexis, Matt, Josh and Cassie, were stationed at the trading post as a way for Chaos to test them.
They each had there own way of killing. Nathan was an all rounder, being able to kill long, mid or short range. Alexis and Josh were masters of the gun sword, a weapon that was a rifle until the handle was tilted back and the whole thing turned into a sword. Matt and Cassie were both marksmen at heart and were picking off marines with ease. Sure, none of them liked what they were doing, but becoming a Chaos elemental was something that they all had wanted.
"C'mon guys, keep it up. There shouldn't be too many more," Nathan instructed.
"Not to sound worried, Nate, but there's a really pesky marine who's using chains to take down the constructs. We're running out of guys fast," Josh said, seeing chains erupt from the concrete ground, shattering the Chaos Marines into black shards.
"We'll never become Chaos Lieutenants if we fail here," Cassie said, taking down more and more marines with each shot.
"Stop being so damn negative," Matt said, throwing a grenade into the marine ranks.
The roof collapsed as a marine in an unusual armour crashed through it. It had a lion's shield, a cobra sword and eagle wings.
"Alexis, Josh, take him down," Nathan ordered. Alexis and Josh snapped their rifle handles back and watched as their weapons extended into swords. They both ran for the marine but Alexis sensed another.
"Josh, duck!" she screamed. Josh lowered his head just as another marine appeared out of nowhere and took a swipe at him.
"Lexi, you take down the invisible one. I'll take down Mister 'I can't decide which animal I want to be so I'll be more than one'," Josh said, facing the marine.
"It's a Chimera," the marine said. "And my name is Jareth - the last name you're ever gonna hear, Chaos scum," Jareth said, running toward Josh.
Sam and Taine burst out of the forest and came to a complete stop when three people faced them down with rifles and the forth came up behind them.
"You know there's only allowed to be one winner and by the looks of it you're all from different factions. Which means that even if you kill us you're still gonna have to kill each other. The way you're all bunched up gives anyone the opportunity to take you all out. What I'm saying is that if any of you want to win you'll let us go, run in different directions and then hunt each other down," Taine said with confidence.
"I say we let them go," one of them said.
"I agree."
"What? Are you two crazy? We need to kill'em."
Hell broke loose when one of them shot the big guy dead, another shot that shooter dead, and the last one ran into the forest. Sam and Taine ran back the way they came, searching each body and picking up the rifles and ammo as they went. They made their way deep into the forest and chose to climb a tree for cover.
"That was awesome, Taine. Did you know that was gonna work like that?"
"Nah, I actually kinda hoped that they'd kill you." Sam was taken back by the response.
"Really?"
"Haha, nah I'm kid-" Bullet fire echoed through the forest. "They're this way," Taine said as he checked his assault rifle before heading in the direction of the bullet fire. Sam followed soon after.
They approached the other side of the forest. From where they were in the tree tops they could see an injured contestant lying on the ground bleeding. His insides weren't insides anymore. He cradled them in his hands as he tried to comprehend what had happened. Another man was standing not far from him with a bloody knife in one hand. He licked the knife's blade, tasting his opponent's blood.
"Taine, take the shot," Sam said, seeing the man walk over to the one on the ground. "Now Taine!" Sam urged, seeing the man raise his foot over the one's head. A scream could be heard and Sam turned his head away as the man had brought his foot down on the contestant's head. A second later Taine shot the man square on the side of the head. "Why the hell did you hesitate?"
"I wanted to see how it played out, plus I didn't want the guy on the ground to suffer."
"Well, now it's over. We won."
Sam felt his world go hazy. When he opened his eyes he was back at base on a teleporter pad with Taine beside him.
"Sam, quickly! Matthew needs your help. I'm sending you down there to help," Doc said from the console in front of him.
"Umm … okay sure," Sam said, still half dazed.
Matthew ran into the trading post and fired one of his axe heads at Nathan just as he had swung his sword, threatening to slice Jareth's head off. The chain wrapped around Nathan's sword arm and halted him.
"Ahh, so here's the source of the chains that took out half of my men. Let see how well you do against me," Nathan said, wrapping the chain around his hand and yanking Matthew toward him. Nathan brought his other arm around and slammed his fist into Matthew's armoured head.
Matthew was thrown backwards. He deactivated his chain armour and activated axxon. Matthew grabbed another capsule from his belt, clicked it and watched as it sprung into a full sized battle axe. Now he had one in each hand.
"Jareth, move!" he said, throwing one of the axes toward his team mate.
"Josh, move" Alexis called from the other side of the hallway, not even looking in Josh's general direction.
Josh ducked under the Axe as it slammed into the wall.
The Chaos Saga Page 10