Invasion Wars 1: Crimes of War by Ray O'Neil Page A

worse.
    From the left side of the hall, the guard was picked up off his feet and slammed into the corner of the door. A test subject with his left arm mutated into a massive claw held the guard’s entire head with one hand, continuously smashing it into the metal corner. His helmet started to cave in, with his skull soon following. The AX-9 flew to the right side of the room, clattering against the wall. Blood poured from the helmet’s underside, the neck giving away until one of the blows caused his body to detach.
    Seeing the gun near some flashing equipment, Emich dove for the weapon. The massive armed experiment saw the movement and tossed the ruined helmet to the side, a trail of blood forming under it as it tumbled. Grabbing the gun and rolling onto his back, Emich aimed down his body. Shooting once, the bullet tore into the test subject’s left knee, the extra weight of arm causing it to stagger and fall into a monitoring system, sparks flying on impact. Getting to his feet, Emich grabbed the baton from the guard’s sprawled out corpse and searched for extra magazines for the gun.
    Movement came from the other end of the room while he scavenged. The popping and sizzling, along with the commotion outside, masking the sound of the monitoring system being pushed aside. Glancing over his shoulder as he grabbed for the ammo pouch, Emich saw eyes glowing red in the darkness, a sharp and painful hissing escaping its bleeding mouth. Aiming the pistol, he fired once and the slide stayed open. Empty.
    The round hit the top of the rock-hard scales on its mutated arm, richleting into the ceiling. The experiment’s scream was almost like a Niflheim’s, harsh and booming. Charging forward with its arm back and ready to strike, it hobbled unsteadily, its leg ready to fall off from the wound. Rushing to change magazines, Emich added the fresh one before the spent one could hit the ground and cocked the next round into the chamber. Firing into the darkness, Emich got a shot off on its other knee by the time it reached the light of the doorway.
    Landing onto its ruined knees, it kept itself up with its giant arm, coughing up blood because of its wounds. Sprinting with the baton out, Emich jabbed the blade into its stomach and pushed it across the room, receiving no resistance. Kicking it off of the blade’s end, Emich left the experiment there and returned to the ammo pouch to pick it up on the run. Making his way out of the room, he was blinded by the sudden brightness, shielding his eyes as he ran through the large corridor. Outside was worse.
    Much worse.
    A body flew overhead, splashing Emich with a line of blood. Shaking his arm and thankful he was already shielding his face, he ran into a guard who was firing down another hallway and plowed him with his shoulder. The sound of fabric and flesh being torn into came from behind as he continued running to where his instincts took him. The flashing red lights and chaos around him made the corridor like an endless descent into pure madness. A test subject ran out of the room on all fours, Emich slashing the blade across its neck as it passed by.
    He didn’t have enough ammo to afford to waste it. Keeping his legs moving and the baton at the ready has worked so far, and he expected it to work until he could get an idea on where to go. Gunfire tracked him as he passed another side hallway, filling the walls with bullets. Sparks exploded from the ceiling, wires and cables falling as a metal panel fell to the floor. He didn’t let anything distract him from the path in front of him, he just had to keep his legs moving and avoid as much attention as possible.
    Double doors labeled “SECTOR 9” on the front waited for him at the end of the hall. Part of it was already bent enough at the middle for him to squeeze through it. As he stuck his leg into the opening, he heard an outcry from behind, recognizing a similar one from the room he woke up in. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw