Revelations of a Grey Coat Hunter

15

     In a brief moment of introspection, Monty took the time to appreciate running water. Running water cured a variety of sins. It washed away dirt, grime, and unspeakable bits down the sewage drainpipe. It also, oddly enough, cleared the air. Moving water meant moving air, which meant no dangerous build-up of methane gas. That didn't do much to help the smell, making him glad for his mask. But at least there was far less worry about an accidental explosion following the discharge of a weapon. Weapons were certainly being discharged now.

     While there was no way of knowing what was behind the redacted areas of their briefing, the non-redacted areas had spoken of a single Artifact. Clearly, this information was less than accurate. Half a dozen shrieking, slobbering, bug-eyed things thrashed in the tunnel. They were pale, elongated, and thin in the appearance of their bodies. But the long, thin arms ended in wicked filthy claws. They shrieked, revealing mouths of sharp canines. Their oddly elongated bodies seemed to be covered with a tough layer of hide. The bullets were doing damage, with green and milky ooze dripping from multiple wounds on the things. But while the Artifacts were certainly slowed, they were in no way stopping in their efforts to reach Monty and Conrad. The only good thing about them was that they were far smaller than the description in their briefing. Granted, that meant many more of them could fit into the tunnel, but it was marginally better than fighting giant monsters.

     Conrad's face was set in a determined grimace. He'd just emptied his weapon while Monty reloaded. Now he ducked back behind Monty to reload himself, bringing their fighting retreat back a little farther while Monty took his turn unloading on the things. "I'm getting low," Conrad announced, his voice amplified by their communicators.

     "Yeah, same," Monty reported. "It's going to get real interesting real soon unless these fuckers start dropping sometime." As he spoke, he kept firing, aiming for the large, luminescent eyes. He nailed one, resulting in another ear-splitting shriek. "How far are we from that big area?"

     "About thirty feet."

     "Alright, let's fall back to there," Monty decided. "If I'm going to go head-to-head with these ugly mothers, I'm doing it in a place I've got room to fight in. Two more rounds, switch and fall back. Ready... Switch!"

     He ducked further down, scraping along the left wall to get past Conrad, who hugged the right and opened fire. Then they both started rushing down the tunnel, Conrad covering their retreat. Monty reloaded as he went, noting that his weapon grew uncomfortably hot. That was from the extended use, Monty decided, not anything he was doing by mistake. Yes, things were bad, but they were far from beaten. He still felt strong and in control, albeit more than a little grossed out by the Artifacts and rattled by the unexpected numbers. He would not wash out and die here, not here, in this dark, stinking sewer on his first field mission and bring his mentor down with him. He still had some tricks up his sleeve.

     "Switch!" Conrad called, far too soon for Monty's liking. He hugged the left wall and opened fire, feeling Conrad slip past on his right to reload and continue their trek through the darkness. Monty kept up their fighting retreat and was startled when his back encountered Conrad's, the Hunter not letting him move any farther.

     "We're at the junction," the Hunter reported. His voice, amplified by the telepathic communicators to be understood over the noise, was helpfully calm despite the chaos. "There's a step here."

     "Thanks." Moving as he was, Monty's primary focus was on the Artifacts while going backward. Monty had no doubt that he would have tripped and fallen over that final step had he been alone. If Conrad hadn't been here, he'd likely have gone down. That would be a red mark on his scorecard, for sure. Monty flushed and blasted another Artifact before stepping down, jogging to join Conrad in the middle of the junction.