FLUID MECHANICS CANNOT HOLD A MAN DOWN RAAAAAAAAA
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(Lasky Pov)
"RUN KEEP GOING!" I shouted as plasma mortars rained behind us. I stayed in front of both Chyler and Michael, seeing as I was the fastest of the three of us.
"GO GO GO!" Michael yelled as the three of us sprinted in a pack heading for one of the few buildings that might be out of range enough that we would be able to survive a bit longer. Chyler said nothing but based on the deep breaths I could hear behind me, she was still barely managing to keep up.
Getting to the door I immediately jammed my finger onto the open button. But nothing happened, the door remained tightly shut.
"Shit! The power's out!" I said rapidly pressing the button hoping for the door to miraculously open but to no avail.
"Move out of the way!" Michael shoved me to the side as he grabbed and twisted the button before pulling it out of the wall. The button came out with wires attached to it, keeping it from disconnecting fully.
Sully quickly got to work splicing wires or something, "The back up generator should be active. All I need to do is tie in a line that has enough current running through it," he said in a hurried voice as his fingers moved dexterously, all the while he held a knife, stripping wires.
I dreaded it but I turned around to see Chyler staring out into the distance. In the darkness I couldn't see anything at first, but as a glowing plasma globule passed overhead in the distance I saw them.
Tens of aliens creeping out from ruins, buildings, hills: every hole that they could crawl out of. It was like moving a fridge only to find a nest of cockroaches behind it. They moved slowly, marching as if they were performing in a military parade.
Strangely enough though they were in range, they didn't fire, only deciding to stalk forward. That only served to unnerve me more.
"Got it!" Sully finally shouted as I heard the pneumatic door open.
"Get inside!" I urged as I pushed Michael through the door with one hand. With the other I forced Chyler in front of me, making me last through the doorway.
I turned around the moment I was inside and raised my MA5C shooting the controls. The door slammed shut the moment the sound of my rifle firing turned into clicks from the trigger.
I glanced down seeing the blue ammo indicator reading 0, I was completely out of ammo, "Damn it" I clicked my tongue as I threw my rifle to the ground. With the power out there was no way I could get a refill, and it wasn't like I had the time to do so.
I turned and ran in the direction that Sully and Chyler went in. Before long I caught up and retook my place at the front of the pair. Our feet clicked against the floor as we avoided trash and the few obstacles littering the hallway. We ran like rats looking for the center of the maze, but this time the cheese was the extra walls built up around us.
By the time we had made it to our old barracks room we had nearly collapsed. I was bent over wheezing while Chyler made a high pitched whine as she leaned against a wall with one hand ravenously sucking in air.
Bleugh
I heard the clear sound of someone throwing up, and turned to see Sully on all fours to my right. Below his face was a small puddle of a viscous mixture of clear bile, and orange mush from an MRE. He fell over to his side rolling onto his back, the shoulder of his uniform dipped into the puddle, but it didn't seem to bother him at this point.
"How long till *pant* they get-" Sully began to speak, swallowing air just before Chyler cut him off.
"Don't *pant* you *pant* fucking dare jinx us Sully," I heard Chyler speak intermittently through breaths. She was glaring at him from the corner of her eye.
Michael half-chuckled that ended with a streak of coughing, "My bad Chyler. Forgot we were in a movie for a moment,"
'A shitty one,' I couldn't help but comment to myself.
"Sitrep on ammo?" I decided to ask, now that we had a brief moment of reprieve. At the rate this was going, our barracks is where we would be having our Alamo.
"I have a mag, and fifteen," Chyler said now taking small gasps while crouched still bracing against the wall.
I looked to see Michael's answer only to see him frantically looking around before-
"No-no-no. Oh God mother fucking damn it!"
BANG
He reached back and smashed his hand against a metal locker, "Fuck I am sorry guys but I dropped it outside while we were running," he said throwing his arm over his face to hide from shame.
Neither Chyler or I said anything. Truth is we were screwed and all of us knew it-what I didn't know was if they realized I might have led them from one death trap to another. After all, the aliens didn't have to break in, all they had to do was move their tanks up and shell us again, and this time I doubt we would be able to get away.
But unlike Sully I didn't have the courage to say that aloud.
*CRASH*
The three of us looked up toward the door way as we heard the sound of something falling over down the hall way.
"Heh heh heh," I turned back around seeing Michael genuinely laughing with a real smile, "This day just gets better and better," he shook his head before rolling to his right and pushing himself up to his feet.
"Go! Get in my room," I ushered my remaining teammates toward the only place I knew that was safe-ish.
The door to my room was still open, with an emergency light inside, just barely providing enough light to see into the hall way in front of the barracks dorm room. Once inside the three of us peaked our heads out to watch the doorway.
It was quiet, whatever made the massive crash had to have been large, maybe as big as one of those aliens. It was impossible for one of them to make no sound moving though the barracks. I sat waiting for something-anything to come around the corner, I was cloaked in anticipation.
For a moment my mind thought back to the path of events that had led us to this new predicament, 'Why had the other teams not opened fire on the fuckers in court yard?' I wanted to murder them myself, but now the detail felt…suspicious, 'Why did the aliens move past those buildings?'
They hadn't so much as glanced up at the other buildings, any soldier would be worried about ambushes while moving across the courtyard. Yet, these aliens dismissed every building but ours?
'What if… what if they already handled the other squads, and we were all that was left?' the thought made me shiver, but I was comforted that even that had holes. If they cleaned them out then there had to have been a fight, so where was the noise? Where was the gun fire? Why didn't they radio for help? No, there were too many problems.
Squeak
My breath hitched, so did Chyler and Michael's as a noise came from the doorway. I could barely see anything. Squinting focusing slowly as the image became increasingly clear, I swallowed hard almost choking on saliva until-
Squeak
My heart that had dropped out of my chest came back as I let out an audible sigh of relief. A small grey furry creature was cautiously sniffing the air in the direction of our barracks.
"Pfft, a rat?" Michael smiled in relief
PING
In a blur a blue light flashed in the place of the rat stood as the floor now had a scorch mark. Steam rose from what looked like newly melted rock and slag.
My blood froze instantly as I went pale. I heard foot steps, large thundering stomps as if a horse was trotting down the hall. The only difference being these were slow measured steps, not in a hurry, not worried about anything.
The steps moved from down the hallway inching closer to the doorway. A pit formed in my stomach as I felt sick with anxiety. This was it, this was how I would die.
Just as they reached the opening they stopped, but nothing was there. I strained my eyes but nothing was there, tears leaked out as my eyes clambered to blink.
Then… I saw it: a shimmer. The light of the floodlight seemed to move with fluidity in the doorway, as if it was being bent. It didn't match with the surroundings, I couldn't see it but something was definitely there in the darkness.
"Active camo," Chyler uttered just loud enough for us beside her to hear.
SNARL
A blue double bladed energy sword ignited glowing as the invisible monster made its way toward us. We ducked into my dorm room not daring to look back out.
Crashes and more stomps could be heard as we backed away from my rooms entrance.
Finally the sword glowed in front of me, I stood in front of Sully and Chyler. I reached out behind me forcing them to stay behind me. I had no chance against an invisible enemy with a weapon that could instantly cut me to ribbons, but maybe I could stall just long enough for the other two to make a run for it.
The morbid part of my mind spoke as the creature closed in like a predator, 'Cadmon I'm going to be seeing you sooner than you thought,'
The alien raised the energy sword high above me, "Make a run for it on my mark," I said not bothering to turn around.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
The sound of metal clanging against the floor loudly caught all of our attention. I can only assume the alien's head snapped to look to his side before he was knocked out doorway by a brown flying object.
"...was that a chair?" I gapped as I saw a olive green figure run past the doorway at inhuman speeds.
The three of us glanced at eachother as if we were all experiencing the same dream. Then in sync we craned our necks to peak back into the room.
Just past the dorm rooms I saw the green figure on top of the now visible alien. The grey armored alien struggled as the machine held it down with one hand while searching for a weapon.
It paused for a moment before picking up a splintered piece of wood. It raised the make-shift stake to what looked like a glass optic before refocusing on the alien.
Without hesitation it began to stab the alien rapidly driving the stake in and out. It was like I was watching Van Helsing hunt a vampire.
The Alien's struggles kicked up and for a moment it looked as though it might be able to escape the machine's clutches, but a moment later it lay motionless. Then the metal automaton stopped dropping the stake.
It stood up slowly and turned as if it was a statue. It had to have been almost as tall as the doorway and about as wide. It was clearly humanoid in appearance, but as it faced us and began moving I couldn't help but take a subconscious step back.
The sentinel moved with a fluidity, no movements were wasted. The ODSTs walked with purpose and with the experience of veterans, but were still human, but this thing? That's what it was, a thing, it was uncanny like looking at something that should not exist.
Finally it stood looking down at us, just a few feet away. I noticed a few small dents and scratches in the metal around the robot's torso, but before we could do anything it did something I would never have expected.
It spoke:
"You needed help?"