Jack.
“South
side. Two spots on the wall. Your partner spots. You shoot.”
“He
can’t,” Jack stated simply with a firm set to his jaw.
“Ah,”
the officer closed his eyes while he nodded again. “In that case form up with
the rest of them on the west side. Make them pay.”
“I’ve
already started,” Jack muttered and turned to the west wall. He picked up his
pace when he got near the barricade and hastily scaled the ladder. He knew they
would open fire soon and he didn’t want to miss any time shooting at what had
killed Scott.
There
was an open space on the wall near the ladder and he knelt down behind it.
There were two crates spilling with bullets and four spare rifles for him to
share with the soldier to his right. He couldn’t help but mockingly laugh at
how hopeful the planning of the operation must have been to think they would
last long enough to go through it all. The rifle he picked was like the one he
had lost on the buggy, and it was already loaded and scoped.
This
side of the base faced a different direction than the way he had returned. He
looked out over the wall and saw a similar sized group that he had attracted
bearing down on the base, only a short distance from firing range. He knew that
a team like his had gone out to similarly placed pounders spaced outwards from
this wall of the base. The only difference was that there was no smoldering
wreckage of a buggy for him to see on this side.
“Prepare
to fire in five, four, three,” a voice came through Jack’s helmet. He turned
briefly to the soldier to his right and saw him reacting to the same orders.
The line of marines were all readying their rifles in unison around the base.
“Two.”
Jack
rested his arms on the top of the barricade and comfortably shouldered the
rifle. For now, he knew, he was in no danger and had to take advantage of that
to thin out as many as he could.
“One.”
He
knew they would find some way inside but not yet. He lightly brushed the
rifle’s trigger with his right index finger. Not yet.
“Fire!”
Bullets
spewed out with a unifying clatter and rattle. The sound was loud and chaotic,
but Jack was so focused that he barely noticed it. With the scope he had
already scored two kills—the first with the closest Dross directly in front of
him, and the second with the one that had tripped over the first corpse and
took three shots to the head.
Around
the wall other soldiers were having similar results. A line of corpses was soon
clearly visible on the battlefield, as if to mark exactly where the first
creatures had been when the fighting began. On Jack’s side, the Dross were
initially slowed by the unexpected obstacle of carcasses that appeared in front
of them. He took advantage and swiftly shifted targets to each new alien that
halted.
He
burned through two magazines before the attackers adapted and began leaping
over the line. Each alien learned from the one in front of it and followed the
lead, and the encroaching masses pushed closer to the wall. Jack was able to
score a few kills by tracking the trajectory of the leaping aliens but it was too
difficult to do quickly enough. They were moving too fast for them to establish
a second wall of corpses.
The
first Dross jumped into the wall and bounced harmlessly off of it, as if they
expected to be able to knock it down. Jack leaned over the wall and aimed his
rifle downwards to them and let the bullets indiscriminately pour from the
barrel. With so many targets so close he knew better than to waste time aiming
and was rewarded with fountains of green blood pelting against the gray wall.
New aliens slammed into the barricade coated in the blood of their dead allies.
The
ground between the wall and the first line of corpses was soon unable to be
seen through the dead aliens and blood. Jack was having a hard time telling the
difference between those that were alive and dead with the way that their
tentacle tails kept lashing about after they had
“South
side. Two spots on the wall. Your partner spots. You shoot.”
“He
can’t,” Jack stated simply with a firm set to his jaw.
“Ah,”
the officer closed his eyes while he nodded again. “In that case form up with
the rest of them on the west side. Make them pay.”
“I’ve
already started,” Jack muttered and turned to the west wall. He picked up his
pace when he got near the barricade and hastily scaled the ladder. He knew they
would open fire soon and he didn’t want to miss any time shooting at what had
killed Scott.
There
was an open space on the wall near the ladder and he knelt down behind it.
There were two crates spilling with bullets and four spare rifles for him to
share with the soldier to his right. He couldn’t help but mockingly laugh at
how hopeful the planning of the operation must have been to think they would
last long enough to go through it all. The rifle he picked was like the one he
had lost on the buggy, and it was already loaded and scoped.
This
side of the base faced a different direction than the way he had returned. He
looked out over the wall and saw a similar sized group that he had attracted
bearing down on the base, only a short distance from firing range. He knew that
a team like his had gone out to similarly placed pounders spaced outwards from
this wall of the base. The only difference was that there was no smoldering
wreckage of a buggy for him to see on this side.
“Prepare
to fire in five, four, three,” a voice came through Jack’s helmet. He turned
briefly to the soldier to his right and saw him reacting to the same orders.
The line of marines were all readying their rifles in unison around the base.
“Two.”
Jack
rested his arms on the top of the barricade and comfortably shouldered the
rifle. For now, he knew, he was in no danger and had to take advantage of that
to thin out as many as he could.
“One.”
He
knew they would find some way inside but not yet. He lightly brushed the
rifle’s trigger with his right index finger. Not yet.
“Fire!”
Bullets
spewed out with a unifying clatter and rattle. The sound was loud and chaotic,
but Jack was so focused that he barely noticed it. With the scope he had
already scored two kills—the first with the closest Dross directly in front of
him, and the second with the one that had tripped over the first corpse and
took three shots to the head.
Around
the wall other soldiers were having similar results. A line of corpses was soon
clearly visible on the battlefield, as if to mark exactly where the first
creatures had been when the fighting began. On Jack’s side, the Dross were
initially slowed by the unexpected obstacle of carcasses that appeared in front
of them. He took advantage and swiftly shifted targets to each new alien that
halted.
He
burned through two magazines before the attackers adapted and began leaping
over the line. Each alien learned from the one in front of it and followed the
lead, and the encroaching masses pushed closer to the wall. Jack was able to
score a few kills by tracking the trajectory of the leaping aliens but it was too
difficult to do quickly enough. They were moving too fast for them to establish
a second wall of corpses.
The
first Dross jumped into the wall and bounced harmlessly off of it, as if they
expected to be able to knock it down. Jack leaned over the wall and aimed his
rifle downwards to them and let the bullets indiscriminately pour from the
barrel. With so many targets so close he knew better than to waste time aiming
and was rewarded with fountains of green blood pelting against the gray wall.
New aliens slammed into the barricade coated in the blood of their dead allies.
The
ground between the wall and the first line of corpses was soon unable to be
seen through the dead aliens and blood. Jack was having a hard time telling the
difference between those that were alive and dead with the way that their
tentacle tails kept lashing about after they had
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