Heavy Carnage

by Eric S. Brown

  A dozen of the beasts were pounding on the fallen mech with boulders and logs; some of them prying away with fingers of steal. Trying desperately to get to the tender morsel within.

  Inside Lady Luck, Gayle was working frantically to get her machine to recover. “Robert, you’ve got to get them off me. I can’t do anything with the extra weight.”

  Swiveling, Robert let out a ragged breath and took careful aim. Using very short controlled burst of his 30mm cannon, one by one, he was able to clear the hairy infestation off his Lieutenant.

  Checking his sensors and camera’s Robert new time was running out. In the time it had taken to pick off the Sasquatch on Lady Luck, Heavy Carnage had been surrounded. “Gayle, get moving! That’s an order!”

  Desperation in her voice, Gayle replied, “Yes, sir!”

  Slowly the Lady Luck lumbered to its feet. Gayle toggled a set of switches to lock the damaged leg in place. The mech would have to limp along on the limb like it was a peg leg, but it would work. She made a few more adjustments and started the mech towards the ravine, dragging its wounded appendage along like an injured animal. Even though Lady Luck’s speed was greatly reduced, it didn’t stop Gayle from inflicting her share of pain to the oncoming mass of hairy foes.

  To her ten o’clock, she could see Heavy Carnage ripping and tearing at the group of monstrosities attempting to bring the heavy mech down. Driving Lady Luck at an angle, she crossed in front of Heavy Carnage and let loose with an anti-infantry pod. The cylinder popped high in the air out of Lady’s left shoulder, spinning as it went. At the apex of its flight the canister broke open and dumped its payload.

  Hundreds of bomblets scattered all around the two mechs. Some of the small barbed balls even caught in the fur of the creatures clawing at Heavy Carnage. The innocuous looking barbed balls spread out over a hundred-foot radius. The rain of metal didn’t even draw the first look from the enemy that was intent on killing the humans. With the ring of anti-personnel bomblets deployed, Gayle pushed forward to continue clear.

  Keying her comm, Gayle said, “I dropped a little surprise for the group harassing you sir. Better hold on to something.”

  The shrapnel from the anti-personnel mines couldn’t hurt the mech’s armor, but the combined detonation could jar an occupant a bit.

  “Affirmative. Glad to see you up and moving. Keep heading to the ravine.” Robert closed the channel and braced.

  Aboard Lady Luck, Gayle removed the safety cover on the detonating switch and said, “Adios!”

  Flipping the switch with a very satisfied smile, she braced for the shock wave. On the ground, the hundreds of mines went of within milliseconds of each other, high explosives inside each one-inch sphere driving the microfilament shrapnel in all directions. The filaments cut through hair, flesh, and internal organs. The ones unlucky enough to have one or more of the barbed mines attached to their bodies exploded into a mist of red spray, chunks of meat, and bone. Those that didn’t have one attached were riddled with holes from the deadly filaments. Most died instantly as pieces of the deadly payload passed trough a heart or brain, others only had minutes left for this world as major arteries began to pump out their life’s blood in pulsing sprays.

  Those that weren’t dead or dying were so wounded that they would not be able to continue fight. Possibly recovering later or succumbing to their injuries later. Whatever the case may be, the area around Heavy Carnage was now clear and Robert didn’t waste any time falling in line with Lady Luck making a push for the deep ravine. Looking behind, Robert was shaken to see the mass of beast swarming at them from the tree lines and hill below, several still hitting the hidden mines laid earlier by Gayle. He watched in amazement as one of the creatures would step on a mine and have a leg or both blown completely off only to have the spot filled by two more of the monstrous hominoids.

  “Gayle, are your jump assist rockets still working?” Robert crossed his fingers. He knew that with a damaged leg, the jump assist was the only way she would clear the upcoming obstacle.

  Checking her damage control panel, Gayle was mildly surprised that the system was in the green. “The systems good. But I’m not sure how well I’m going to be able to stick the landing with this bum leg.”

  “We’ll worry about that when we’re on the other side.” Robert mentally crossed his fingers before adding, “Push your speed to maximum and deploy two more antipersonnel pods behind us. Set the dispersion to fan out and have the payload trigger for proximity.”

  “Roger that!” Gayle replied. She made the adjustment to the settings and let the two canisters fly.

  With a rapid thump, thump the pods shot up in the air and dispersed their deadly cargo in a fanning arch behind the retreating mechs. The oncoming agglomeration of Sasquatch didn’t even slow down as they hit the line of mines. Body parts and internal organs flew everywhere, and still they kept coming. Roberts heart raced as he realized that stopping the beast was going to take a miracle. The slight fear that was creeping into his spine caused him to push Heavy Carnage to its maximum speed.

  “Gayle, we gotta move! Move! Move! Move!”

  Grimacing at the shrill voice in her headset, she replied, “Roger that.”

  Both mechs churned up soil as the massive legs propelled the heavy machines to their maximum speeds. Behind them, the group of blood thirsty beast had plowed through the make shift minefields. Screaming high-pitched wails of anger as they pursued their targets. Approaching the ailing twosome from three sides, excitement built in the Sasquatch as they sensed that they had their prey cornered.

  Heavy Carnage would reach the precipice first. He contacted Lady Luck, “I’ll go first and give you cover fire when I get to the other side.” He didn’t wait for a response and closed his comm so he could concentrate on the upcoming task.

  With the ledge looming before him, Roger pushed the mech as hard as it would go. Alarms began to sound as the heat from the weapons and engine began to overpower the cooling systems. His heads up display began to flash warnings as the sensors detected the gorge ahead and an audible voice intoned, “Warning! Extreme terrain ahead! Warning! Extreme terrain ahead!” Reaching across to the warning panel Roger disengaged the alarms. With all of his distractions gone, he watched his HUD intently. 80 meters…. 60 meters…. 20…. meters…. Red lights in the cockpit started to flash as a last ditch effort to warn the pilot of the impending doom.

  As the HUD showed Heavy Carnage passing the five meter mark, Robert crouched the huge machine and pushed off with both legs, firing the jump assist rockets at the same moment. Flames and jet wash streamed from the various jump assist thrusters helping to propel Heavy Carnage across the gap. Robert made sure the assistive rockets gave a full burn. As the mech reached the apogee of its jump, he could see that he was going to in fact clear the chasm. However, a new set of alarms kicked off to let him know that he was in for a rough landing. In his exuberance to clear the distance, he didn’t consider the need for the rockets to slow his decent. This was going to be rough.

  Cursing under his breath, Robert tightened his grip on the controls in preparation for his unwanted ride. Checking the jump assist one last time, his fears were affirmed. They were spent and would require more time than he had to be ready again. With only seconds left, he thought to himself, This is going to suck.

  With way more speed than its pilot wanted, Heavy Carnage impacted the other side. The shock absorbing systems of both legs straining under the 50 ton impact. In an effort to spread out the damage, Robert rolled his controls. Heavy Carnage responded instantly by rolling to the side and in an unheard of maneuver, shoulder rolled. The five point harness dug into Robert as tons of machine absorbed the impact. Unable to keep a hold of the controls the mech did a half pin wheel before cratering to a stop.

  A very stunned Robert was vaguely aware of someone speaking to him.

  “Are you alright? Do you read me?”

  As his head began to clear he remembered where he was. Checking his status, he
was grateful to see that Heavy Carnage hadn’t lost any major systems in the impact. Pulling on the controls and activating his comm, Robert rolled Heavy Carnage to its feet.

  “I’m okay Gayle. The landings a bit rough so brace yourself.”

  Turning to face Lady Luck, he gasped. The hoard was gaining on her and it was a very large group. His targeting system was still rebooting after the impact so he took aim on manual and started flinging 30mm slugs of destruction into the pursuing group. The tribarrels whirred and spit their deadly song. Robert marveled at the tenacity of these creatures. Dozens fell victim to his weapons, yet they still came and never waivered in their determination.

  Aboard Lady Luck, Gayle was also forced to shut down alarms as her wounded mechs heat built up to critical levels. I just have to get across here and I can take a breather, she thought to herself. Shutting down all of the nonessential systems, and even some of the essential ones, she pushed Lady Luck for all the mech was worth. She couldn’t get as much speed as Heavy Carnage so she was concerned about her ability to clear the gap even though her mech weighed less. Approaching the edge, her HUD began a similar notification of impending terrain issues. Like her commander, she silenced the alarms so she could focus her attention on the one goal of clearing the gorge.

  At less than five meters, Gayle used Lady Luck’s one good leg to propel the mech into the air. Like Robert, she immediately kicked in the jump assist system. At the height of her jump, Gayle allowed herself to smile, she was going to make it. Settling in for the impact, she caught movement behind Heavy Carnage. Eight of the monsters were rushing out of the tree line. No, no, no! She didn’t have time to key her mic with the ground rapidly approaching. To her horror she realized that three of the creatures appeared to be intent on intercepting her. Then there wasn’t time to think because Lady Luck was landing.

  To Robert’s dismay, Gayle’s landing wasn’t nearly as nice as his own. Both of Lady Luck’s legs planted and exploded in a shower of bolts and pieces of armor as they gave up under the strain. The one good leg had been pushed too hard by the need to carry the load of the whole mech. With both legs no longer able to support the units mass, the rest of the machine smashed to the ground and carved out a valley in the soft ground as it rolled and came to rest. Smoke rolled from various cracks and seems along the length of Lady Luck.

  Inside a fire started in the overheated systems. A choking smoke began to fill the cockpit. With Lady Luck’s systems shutting down, the mechs computer made a last ditch attempt to save its pilot. Recognizing that its operator was unconscious, the mech did what it thought was best and opened the cockpit to the open air before it died completely.

  Robert, moved toward the fallen mech, still not aware of the eight deadly creatures in his vicinity. He watched as Lady Luck opened to allow Gayle free of the wreckage. Her lack of movement worried him. Was she dead? Approaching the fallen mech, he jerked in his seat as three of the monstrosities suddenly appeared and were climbing all over Lady Luck trying to get to Gayle.

  “Gayle! Get up!!” His shouts produced no response. Crap!

  Before he could bring his tribarrel to bear, they were on her. He watched, helpless as they huddled around her.

  Gayle’s eyes opened and she screamed at the three faces that stood above her. She continued to scream as the massive foot of one of the beast came down and stepped on her head abruptly silencing her under its weight. Brain matter and blood squirted over the grass as Gayle’s skull popped like an over rip melon.

  In a state of blind rage, Robert squeezed the triggers that controlled Heavy Carnage’s tribarrels. They spun, spewing streams of high velocity rounds into the beasts that had murdered Gayle. One danced backwards as its chest was reduced to a mass of pulped meat. Another was caught on its side. The beast howled as its left arm was blown away from its torso and bullets ripped their way into its ribs. Robert swept Heavy Carnage’s over the remainder of the beasts until all of them were either dead or twitching bodies on the ground that lay in pools of their own blood.

  Suddenly, he realized he was alone. He could still see dozens of the beasts across the chasm but they were unable to make the jump like the massive mechs had. Robert took the God given moment to assess his situation and compose himself. His training taking over, shutting out the pain of loss and the fear rolling in his stomach, as he tried again to initiate contact with the dropship’s systems.

  This time, the dropship responded, coming under his control. Heavy Carnage’s systems interfaced with the ship and Robert smiled as he activated the attack drones kept aboard it in emergency storage. He saw through the drones’ sensors that they had cleared the ship and were en route to his position. His fingers flew as he programed them to run interference for him, delegating them to attack any target that approached Heavy Carnage.

  The area around him remained clear as the mech lurched into motion and began to build up speed. Each over forty ton footfall struck the ground like thunder leaving behind a deep indention in the soil as Heavy Carnage ran.

  The drones came swooping in and flew in circles about the moving mech, staying several yards out from its body. Whenever one of the beasts showed itself, springing at Heavy Carnage, the drones opened fire. Their armor piercing, antipersonnel rounds rending flesh and bone in splattering displays of gore.

  Robert poured on the speed channeling every bit of power left within Heavy Carnage into its legs, sensors, and weapons. As the drones began to run out of power, an effect from the strange ionized atmosphere of Lancaster’s World, and ammo, any beasts that made it through their line of defense was met by a clenched metal fist. One such beast came charging at the mech as it broke from the treeline into the clearing where the dropship waited. The mech’s hand lashed out, crushing the beast’s jaw in one powerful blow. Teeth and blood flew from the thing’s shattered face and its body spun sideways out of Heavy Carnage’s path. Robert pushed Heavy Carnage onward. A chill ran through him as the dropship came into sight. Between Heavy Carnage and the ship were at least a hundred of the Sasquatch. More of them scampered about the length of its hull, tearing and prying at the metal.

  Even if he somehow made it passed the beasts and into the ship, it would only be a matter of time before the things found a way inside. Robert felt sick, fighting against a wave of nausea that struck him unexpectedly. It could have been a side effect of running on stims for as long as he had or simply the stress he was under. He forced himself to calm down and control the sickness as the beasts around the dropship began to roar and shake their fists triumphantly in the air above their heads. Looking into their yellow eyes, Robert knew that they sensed he was theirs at last. There was nowhere left to run. Accepting his fate, Robert channeled all of Heavy Carnage’s remaining available power into its combat systems. The final drone encircling the mech emptied a payload of mini-missiles into the sasquatchs’ ranks and fell dead to lay cold on the forest floor.

  Robert raised Heavy Carnage’s twin tribarrels emptying them in prolonged spray of fire and destruction that caught the Sasquatch horde head on as it sprung towards him. Beast after beast died, toppling, to fall underfoot of those advancing behind them. As Heavy Carnage’s primary weapons ran dry, Robert switched the mech over to melee mode. The empty, tribarrel weapons were ejected from its forearms to be replaced by blades that slid outward from underneath folds in the mech’s armor.

  Heavy Carnage stood its ground. As the beasts reached it, one of its thick arms thrust forward to impale the fastest of the beasts. The blade of its right arm sliced into and through the beast’s torso. Red foam bubbled from the Sasquatch’s mouth before Robert had the mech yank the blade free, cutting the beast in half along its mid-line in the process. Then the battle began in earnest. Heavy Carnage’s arms moved as fast as Robert could force them to. Servos hummed and strained as the mech took the life of one beast after another. Panels began to short out inside the pilot compartment as Robert drove the mech on well passed its operational fail safes. He fought to keep mech�
�s arms swinging for as long as he could, praying for a miracle that never came.

  The huge mech shook as several beasts caught up to it from behind, throwing their bodies onto its rear hull. The force of their impact combined with Heavy Carnage’s constant dance of slashing at the beasts in front of it was too much. It lumbered forward, pressing into the oncoming wave of monsters it faced there, then collapsed awkwardly to land on its side with an earthshaking thud. The Sasquatch poured over it.

  Robert was jarred about inside the mech from the force of its collapse despite his safety harness. His face smashed into his forward view-screen, cracking it and leaving behind a smear of blood as he righted himself. The pounding on Heavy Carnage’s hull was so intense it jostled Robert about in the pilot compartment and made his ears feel like they were bleeding. Half blinded by the pain of smacking into the display screen, Robert shook his head trying to clear it. Entire sections of the mech were shutting down as the relentless assault on its hull continued and only seemed to grow in fury. He tried to activate Heavy Carnage’s self destruct sequence but found he couldn’t move his right arm. Looking down, he saw that a caved in piece of the compartment had impaled it, wedging it to his side. He could smell the smoke of several small fires that had erupted around him.

  Hoping the mech’s limited AI was still online.

  “Initiate self destruct on my mark,” he ordered the mech’s main computer.

  There was no reply. It had been a desperate effort and he wasn’t surprised that it had failed. Robert used his left arm to free the emergency pistol the pilot compartment contained. He flicked off its safety and raised it to press the cold metal of the barrel against his temple. “God forgive me,” he begged as the pilot compartment was ripped open and he stared up into a sea of hungry snarling faces. As hairy hands reached downward into the mech to claw at him, he squeezed the pistol’s trigger. The crack of the shot that sprayed his brain over Heavy Carnage’s dead data screens echoed inside the tight compartment.