"You were born here, yer gonna die here." Hearst said, as he butted out his cigarette. "Might as well take some of those bastards with you." He passed a Shock-rifle and a spare magazine through the armoury window. The rifle was battered but functional, recovered from the site of a previous battle. "Hope it serves you better than the last guy."
Gavin ran back to his post. No one walks anymore. Cara's Hope was a nice place to live, once, but that was before the Aleph put a battlecruiser in orbit and began their incursion. The colonist frigate Elora was lost in the ensuing battle. They had no other ships in orbit.
The larger Aleph craft sustained critical damage, leaving it in a decaying orbit. They were still able to disembark their entire force onto DC61, including their main offensive weapon, the Red Surge.
The Surge term was coined by surviving Colonial militia when they faced the bio-mechanical menace while defending Hollister, the unofficial capitol of DC61. The Red Surge are naturally a dull metallic grey, but they quickly become crimson-stained in battle as they eviscerate their prey.
"Weren't you in Hollister when the Surge hit?" One of the kids at Gavin's post asked. The kid was at least two years younger. Skinny, dirty and doomed.
Gavin nodded. "Yeah, my parents dragged me there." He loathed DC61, everything about it, the terraforming, the mining, the colonists. All his life, Gavin wished to be somewhere else. His fate chose differently.
"Where are your parents now?"
"Dead. Same as everyone else in Hollister." He answered. He wasn't sad, not any longer. He wasn't even scared anymore, just numb and indifferent. Like Hearst said, he was born here, he would die here.
"Are we all gonna die when the Surge comes?" The kid continued.
"I dunno, maybe not everyone. Maybe they'll get the orbiter working, then some people can get off this rock." But he knew time was short and the orbiter was a long shot. "If they do get it working, you won't be getting on it though, none of us will, we're to man this post and defend it. Even Solstice didn't make the list."
At the sound of her name, the young girl looked over. She was eleven, but small for her age, her large, blue eyes, remarkable. The fear behind them, unmistakable. The Shock-rifle gripped awkwardly in her small hands. She was a conscript too. Every able-bodied man, woman and child was issued a weapon and given a post. No exceptions.
Cara's Hope was the last populated outpost on DC61, the Aleph had taken the rest. To the colonists credit, they'd lasted longer than anyone expected. Their steadfast defense from city to city had cost the Aleph dearly. Yet, the Surge was still legion. It never gets hungry, or scared, or tired. And it never stops.
"I don't want to die." She said, visibly shaking. "I want to go."
"You aren't on the list Sols, you have to stay here and fight, we all do." Gavin explained. Solstice began to weep.
"I want my Daddy."
Gavin looked at the other kid and shook his head slightly. Her father was on a scout mission the day before, they didn't return and they never would.
"I know you do." Gavin crawled over to her and put his arm around her. Unlike him, her fear was raw, like an exposed nerve. The acrid odor of urine filled his nose. "It will be okay, when they come, shoot them like you were taught. They aren't hard to kill."
"But there are so many." She sobbed.
"Yes, but not nearly as many as there were. Just target one and put two bullets in it."
"I don't think I can."
"You can. I'm right here with you, just do what I do."
"How did you make it out of Hollister?"
Gavin paused. "I ran Sols. I ran as fast as I could, while the Militia held them off."
"Can't we run?"
"There's nowhere to run to this time, we have to fight."
"Will it hurt?"
"What?"
"If they get me, will it hurt?"
From what Gavin had seen, having the Surge tear into your soft flesh was an excruciating experience. Grown men had plead for death at Hollister. They cried and wailed, it was never clean, quick or painless.
"It won't hurt. It happens too fast." He lied. "Look Sols, a sunset." If DC61 was good for anything, it was sunsets. She turned her attention to it. "I bet there will be auroras again tonight." He took the safety off. "I expect your Dad will be back by morning." He could tell by the way her ears moved that she was smiling. He pressed the trigger. She tumbled over and was still.
He turned to the kid, there eyes met and the kid nodded, Gavin raised the rifle. Sirens wailed in the distance, the Surge had come.
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