been killed. He focused solely on the attacks at the bottom of the wall. “Three second warning!” The words rang out in his helmet and they registered for Jack at the last moment. He turned his head away from the wall and ducked behind cover. He saw the soldier to his right grab a grenade from the crate, as did every second soldier that Jack could see along the wall. He took the precious seconds of a break that he had to reload his rifle and breathe normally. No aliens had broken into the base. Not yet. The explosions rocked through the wall followed by an almost hushing hiss of soil pattering on the aliens, the bodies, and the marines. The vibration from the grenades was soft through the wall, but was followed by a much stronger one that shook through Jack’s entire body. He looked toward the central tower and saw the pounder raising into the air after having struck the ground. Jack didn’t think it was possible that every alien nearby wasn’t already attacking them, but when he raised his head over the wall he saw new tunnels spewing fresh Dross out in response to the gigantic pounder. He shouldered his rifle once more and leaned over the wall. The grenades granted only a momentary reprieve; bodies were burning, and black stains likes ash joined the green blood at the bottom section of the wall. The aliens still attacked. The latest wave used the bodies to their advantage. They clambered on top of them and then sprung up on the wall as high as they could. Most fell back down without anything gained but occasionally one would stick its claws into the wall to try to climb it. The sound of their claws scratching down the metal was close to a whine and joined with the howls of the Dross in their attack. Jack considered the possibility that they might eventually do enough damage to carve into the wall and scale it. He slammed the scope of his rifle back inside the gun and used the standard sights, prioritizing each of the aliens that vaulted up the wall. Each kill sent one of them limply back down to the ground and sometimes crushing another below it. He watched down the gun as the alien heads ascended closer to him, ruptured open from his barrage of bullets, and sailed back down. “Second round! Three seconds!” Jack didn’t wait to duck this time and shoved his hand into the first ammunition crate. He was shocked that he had to fish around to find the final few magazines and kicked the empty container away after he had them placed next to his feet. He popped open the next one and eyeballed the grenades. There were more of them in this box. This time the detonations felt like nothing in comparison to the ongoing shock waves from the pounder tower. He waited a few more seconds for the smoke to disperse before he resumed his position over the wall. Some of the corpses had been blasted away but enough remained that the newest waves still jumped up at them, snapping their jaws together at the peak of their jump. Jack reloaded two more times before he took his eyes off the bottom of the wall to see if more Dross were still emerging. The moving army in the distance looked no different than when they first started, as if they had made no dent in their numbers at all. The aliens still looked like one titanic organism spread out over the ground instead of thousands of separate entities. He could hardly believe it. “Third round! Three—Shit! Breach! South side! Breach!” A chill shot from Jack’s neck all the way down his spine. He heard screams. Human screams. The creatures wailed and screeched, a little differently than usual, and Jack set his teeth together to the sound of their victory. He snatched some of the grenades from the crate next to him and dived down the barricade. He didn’t wait for orders. He didn’t have to. He knew they needed to contain it or be overrun. He found that he wasn’t alone in his thoughts of helping the south wall as others ran with him when he got onto the ground. The hole in