The creature turned its fiery gaze down in time to read the words "Trick or Treat" scrawled across the grenade's casing before it ripped him and his comrades into so many flaming fragments.
Jonas' blaster barrel glowed red as he fired into the horde. His laughter never ceased as he dodged a bayonet lunge and slammed his own upward before tearing it free and running on. He screamed and stumbled as a searing bolt caught him behind the knee, nearly amputating the limb. All around him the air hummed with super heated plasma. The defender's fire grew sporadic as more were cut down. A scream cut off to Jonas' right. He turned in time to see a gunner slump over his weapon.
It wasn't far.
Jonas growled curses as he dragged himself through rubble and bodies toward the unmanned weapon. After several near misses burned across his back, Jonas rolled into the machinegun nest. He pulled his fallen comrade from atop the weapon and smiled. Rather than the obsolete slug throwers, this was one of the few plasma repeaters that had been allotted to the Militia.
The weapon emitted a high pitched whine as whitehot bolts hissed from its muzzle. The Jack's line began to crumple beneath therenewed assault. Flaming forms rushed to and fro amid the line. As Jonas pouredfire into them, he heard increased chatter as more machineguns opened fire,followed by ruby bolts from Militia blasters flashing into the alien line.Reinforcements, that one word cut through Jonas' frantic mind. The ground shookas several fighters screamed across The Square; their assault cannons pulpedthe Jacks' bodies. Where once there had been a cohesive line, only smokingcraters remained.
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Jacks
Science FictionWhen the alien life forms, called Jacks among the general populace, invaded the world of Phalanx it fell to ordinary people, like Jonas, to hold back the tide and buy time for the planet's women and children to be ferried off-world. What will claim...
