Mist

Victory in Death

Soon enough, I line up behind wave one. Wave one and two are a random assortment of aliens and humans, all scared, nervous or pumped up ‘ready to paint the ground will Unity blood.’ I was given a new shotgun with a huge clip that wraps around my armor. And I was given new armor. Really bulky, ugly, hard-to-see-out-of, and heavy type armor.

It’s noon and mist is rising out of the ground. Across the river, I spot small black dots. Small puffs of smoke start to hit the base we once occupied. Members of the 1st wave simultaneously inject themselves with the Pawn drone. One of the guys in front of me jerks up and marches across the bridge as Unity fires upon them. One by one, soldiers in wave one jerk up and march. We follow them cautiously. Unity fires small mortars, and we have nothing to protect us from them, but we continue to march.

The moment we cross the river, bombs explode around us. We still keep our wave in a straight line. A small explosion hits next to me. I fall backwards, but get up and realize this armor is really strong. I continue marching adjusting my eyesight to view out the slit.

Bombs fly from either side. The anticipation has more casualties at this point. It's getting harder to walk and I can't wipe the white dirt out of my tiny visor. The black dots are so close I out figures and smell them: Unity.

The 1st wave sprints towards them, as planned. Unity also runs forward. Some aliens on my side are already faster than others, so the line is broken quickly. The 2nd wave tries to keep up. I try to follow the faster and stronger aliens. Soon, our whole army is in a mad dash to catch up to the wave ahead of them.

The first aliens we encounter are large, the size of a tank and its armored with spikes and fire is burning on the head. Oh yeah, and they’re super fast. Our 1st wave alien, which is a lanky, closes in on them. Bullets fly and of course the tank creature just body-checks the lanky weird thing in the air. The rest of our 1st wave meet their matches and a bunch of aliens are launched away.

My fellow 2nd wavers crouch down. I line up with them and set up my shotgun biopod. Enemies close in on us and shots ring out from the other second wavers, so I start shooting. I just fire. The sound hurts my ears as my body jerks back and forth with the pressure The worst happens: my gun gets jammed. My heart races as I feel around my weapon, pulling a lever on my weapon, the barrel releases some smoke, I stick my finger into the weapon, my finger heats up as I fiddle with the stray bullet to get it out of the gun.

An alien falls on me, I lay on the ground looking at a mangled mess of flesh and blood, as half the face ripped and hung off the body, its arm gone, and the abdomen is so bloody I can see a river of orange blood and chunks drop out from it. One leg is bent weirdly. It shoves its knife in my armor. It doesn’t work. The bullet falls from the shotgun, I shoot. The head completely blows apart and orange blood covers my visor. I get myself up slowly as the heavy armor restricts my movement. Nothing is visible I grab my hand and rub it on the visor, smuggling the orange blood around it. I stumble for my shotgun and I think I point it forward

I fire for as long as I can. I cannot hear or see. A message appears on my orange visor for the surviving 2nd wave to retreat behind the 3rd wave and wait for the vehicles to come, and push with the vehicles. I stand and try to figure out where I am. A hand grabs me and pulls me back to a wall. My head hits the wall shoving my face into my helmet, I just lay there and catch my breath.

The wall I'm resting on begins to rumble. Something heavy hits the ground. Someone wipes off my visor. A bunch of guys are standing in front of me with swords. I still can't hear anything. An alien with a sword looks at me, confused, and points to a window between two shields. It signals me to go in. I grunt and use all my force to stand. I grab my shotgun and run through the window.

Inside is only carnage. Unity, Service, and Vendetta bodies litter the ground. They’re tangled, bloodied, and limbless. I see the vehicles in the distance. They seem to be destroyed. A large group of Unity charges towards my location. I don’t take long to think this is not a problem that I can fix alone.

I run back to the shields. They don’t allow me to pass. I bang on the shields. A sword comes out between the shields and stabs me through the armor. I scream out in pain and thrash against the shields as bullets fly my direction. I try to jump over the shields as I slip and slide down. “Let me in.” I scream in agony. I look back at the slow unity marching forward. I know they are grinning about their near victory. I think of the best options I have. I play dead.

I go prone, pointing my shotgun at the oncoming group of Unity soldiers. They close in. I fire and fire and fire and fire. An explosion hits near me. Bodies fall onto me. Everything is blurred and faded. I lose consciousness and collapse.