Day 295, Year 986, 41st Millennium
Upper Hive
Front Line
Gunfire continued to echo intermittently.
Eric remained seated, watching the other soldiers take their positions at the defensive line. Fortunately, no one noticed his presence. He clutched his Lass Pistol tightly, a mixture of anxiety and fear in his hand.
Although Eric had experience killing and shooting, that was only against a small number of enemies down below. Now he faced a fully armed enemy with exceptional tactical skills and a high level of danger.
If he wanted to increase his chances of survival, he had to stick with others, cooperate with them as much as possible.
But the soldiers around here were all former thugs—rude, disrespectful, and terrifying.
_It's not that I don't want to approach them... having friends and allies is good, but these guys seem too untrustworthy,_ Eric thought to himself, unaware that his hands were already sweating.
At this moment, Eric stopped thinking. He couldn't stay like this any longer. He had to be brave enough to do something... like brave enough to adapt to that society, and the only thing that mattered was that they would accept Eric... Eric slowly looked around to make sure everything was alright. The area was almost completely empty, filled only with the rubble of collapsed buildings. There were corpses of mutants and numerous PDF soldiers.
The current defensive line, now without an enemy, was being repaired by these conscripted soldiers. They were repairing the defenses and cover with whatever materials they could find, including scrap metal and large pieces of concrete. Some were chatting and joking crudely with their friends, while others were eating and drinking. Some were even openly using painkillers in front of everyone else... the last one being truly appalling. Tank drivers were hastily repairing or reloading their tanks at the defensive line.
Nearby, several wounded soldiers were resting after treatment or waiting for medical attention. They had a variety of injuries, from gunshot wounds to knife wounds, stab wounds, or even limb loss. When Eric noticed, the nurses weren't actually treating them... Eric was stunned and speechless... these field nurses were injecting the wounded with a potent drug.
Eric took a deep breath, *cough*, and then coughed as the cement dust filled his nostrils. He wiped his nose. He knew these people were terrifying, rude, and untrustworthy, but he couldn't refuse to talk to anyone and pretend he was alone and they didn't exist. He knew he had to rely on himself in this situation, in this brutal future where nothing seemed logical since the zombies appeared.
But he also had to cooperate with others.
Eric pursed his lips before slowly pushing himself up and cautiously walking, half-crouching, towards the group of soldiers on the defensive line about 50 meters away. He avoided looking at the corpses or anything that might have been human remains, some decaying on the ground, others freshly severed...
The sight of distorted, mutilated human bodies and internal organs ripped open from the abdomen by horrific attacks filled him with fear... and nausea. It was a gruesome and deeply disturbing image.
As he walked, Eric felt a pair of eyes watching him. _Right now, she was acting like a female soldier on her first battlefield, terrified...which was true._ Some eyes simply looked without curiosity, some glanced past, some looked analytically...and some looked with desire. Eric tried not to be afraid or indifferent to what was happening... He didn't even know whether he should be wary of the enemy or those close to him.
Why? If he had woken up here still a man, life would have been so much easier... Why did he have to wake up in the body of a beautiful, delicate woman?
Suddenly, another surviving officer appeared, looking very ill-tempered. The officer glared at Eric before shouting loudly:
"What are you waiting for, soldier? Hurry and help the others before they come again... If you delay any longer, I'll be the one to shoot you!!!" Eric flinched in surprise, quickly straightened up, and replied,
"Understood!!!" Eric answered with a firm voice, before quickly running towards an area near the building. There, a defensive barrier was constructed from steel plates and scrap metal, with a heavy machine gun resembling an American M-2 Browning mounted, and another M1919A3. About three or four soldiers were stationed there, chatting normally despite their position.
When the four soldiers realized someone was approaching, they turned towards Eric. Some looked on with amusement, others with curiosity, until one man spoke up.
"Hey!!! Hello, madam... I'm glad you survived, I thought you were dead." The man said, his voice sounding familiar, causing Eric to frown. These were the guys from the group who had been making lewd remarks about him... Why this? Eric thought to himself, his eyes clearly showing unease.
"Thanks for your concern," he replied softly, trying to project an air of strength, but simultaneously tightening his grip on his bayonet. Suddenly, the three men looked at one of them before speaking:
"Stop it, Ivan... I know what you're thinking," one of the men reprimanded his friend. Ivan merely flinched slightly before speaking in a tone as if he had done nothing wrong.
"I wasn't thinking anything, friend... You're the one imagining things, Kvas," Ivan said, raising an eyebrow and looking away, before pointing a finger at the man named Kvas, who had spoken to Eric in a polite tone, trying not to make his friend look good in front of him.
"Am I imagining things? Stop being such a womanizer, man," kvas said with a weary tone, before bending down to pick up a belt of ammunition, which Eric suspected might be .50 BMG rounds, and placing it near the heavy machine gun.
"Womanizer? They call him a handsome man, the kind everyone wants," Ivan said proudly, pulling down his mask to reveal a face that...to Eric considered quite good-looking, and with a very flirtatious demeanor...and surprisingly annoying.
"You two stop it..." A man with a mustache tried to stop them, but both turned and spoke to him in a similar vein, something like:
"Enough, Nicholas, don't interfere now," Ivan said, taking off his hat and adjusting his hair. Eric sighed and pursed his lips at the man's pretentious behavior.
"At least I know what I should and shouldn't meddle in...and I'm mature and educated enough...Don't get involved," kvas said, warning Nicholas and raising his hands. He shrugged before lightly patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Stop acting like that in front of her," Nicholas tried to warn the two. The three of them then argued over trivial matters for several minutes. Eric felt a little relieved that they didn't seem too threatening, but he didn't fully trust them either.
He knew that seemingly harmless people could be the most dangerous… Iven in his time before coming here, there were many horrifying and unexpected things. Yet, this place seemed so peaceful, with laws and progress. What about a place like this? Just then, a man approached him and pulled something out of his field bag.
Eric was terrified that the man would pull out something dangerous, and he reached for his waist, ready to draw his pistol and shoot. But what the man pulled out was:
A fake flower.
"I thought you might like it, even though it's not real," the man said in a soft, warm voice. If it weren't for the fact that this man was the one who told the other three to share it equally, Eric would have been terrified. Eric hesitated for a moment before reaching out to accept it, thinking there was no harm in taking it.
"Thank you," Eric replied in a slightly soft voice, and the man seemed to blush at his tone.
However, when the others heard him speak and turned to see the man standing before them, blushing and fidgeting, their faces immediately showed displeasure.
"That's unfair," kvas said with a hint of displeasure.
"Wait a minute, those are my flowers! And the owner of the flowers should be over there!" Ivan said angrily, seeing his belongings stolen.
"Grab Brody and punish him," Nicholas said, and then the three of them dragged Brody aside to perform a (deep dark fantasy) training session in front of Eric, involving various wrestling moves and German suplexes. They weren't intending to cripple or seriously injure Brody; it was just a lesson.
"Okay..." Eric whispered to himself. These people were stranger than he thought. Suddenly, something occurred to him. Right now, the deliveries have almost no equipment or weapons for self-defense... not even supplies have been provided. And he has to do it again, doesn't he? Eric looked left and right before his eyes fell upon a pile of dead soldiers.
A pile of bodies lay not far away, each Friday seemingly containing fresh corpses. Some appeared to have been shot, others hit by artillery, some by explosives, and some looked like they'd been cut by a sharp object. Even the armor was torn like paper, suggesting something incredibly sharp had been used, or perhaps the armor itself was simply too fragile. Some bodies were so mutilated he didn't even want to look at them.
Eric quietly slipped away, trying not to attract the attention of the four men, before heading towards the pile of bodies. It was worse than he'd imagined… the stench of blood permeated the air, along with a strange, foul smell. Eric tried to ignore it, even though he was already feeling nauseous. He searched each corpse for anything interesting or useful, even removing their pants to sift through the mess.
He found several items, but none were useful. Luckily, he managed to find a couple of sticks of corpse starch. But why were there so many painkiller sticks in the mouths of the corpses? And some had visible needle marks on their arms. Okay, these must have been heavy users of these drugs.
It seemed he had found a usable arm guard—a metal upper arm brace. Eric awkwardly removed it, put it on his arm, and tightened it around his guest. He admitted, however, that the armor was surprisingly lightweight, likely reflecting its low durability.
_"Am I really at the point where I have to scour corpses for tools and food?"_
Eric thought to himself as he turned the man's body over. He then reached into the blood-soaked pants pockets, searching for anything valuable or usable. There was nothing, and the act of rummaging through someone else's pants was even more repulsive than looking at a corpse.
When he reached into the other pocket, Eric felt something.
Eric quickly withdrew his hand from the corpse, trying to compose himself, shocked and disgusted by what he had touched.
"Disgusting," Eric muttered to himself, before finding a corpse with clean clothes to wipe his hands on. Then, he stood up and walked to the other side of the pile of corpses, pulling out another body. Whether it was luck or misfortune, he found what appeared to be a chainsaw hybrid, about 90 centimeters long, with the engine positioned between the blade and the hilt. It lay beneath the corpse, covered in blood, with chunks of flesh clinging to its teeth.
It would be a perfect melee weapon. Judging by the handle, it was clearly a one-handed chainsaw, and perhaps light enough for single-handed use. The problem was, he wasn't skilled in close combat, nor was he adept with swords or similar weapons. However, having a melee weapon was better than nothing. It seemed capable of inflicting considerable damage.
Curious, Eric picked it up, disregarding the blood and smell. He gripped the hilt with his right hand, turning it over and over, slashing at it to familiarize himself with it. It was surprisingly well-balanced and lightweight, as if made for him.
From now on, this sword-like chainsaw would be his self-defense weapon, and for now, it needed to be cleaned. Eric spotted a corpse with relatively little blood, seemingly killed by an explosion. He casually walked over, tore off a piece of his shirt, and happily used it to wipe down the chainsaw.
From his perspective, the weapon's design was quite cool. Considering its sword-like appearance but actually being a chainsaw, what else could he call it?
"Chain sword," he thought, a fitting and stylish name.
While Eric was wiping down his new weapon, a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder. A shiver ran down his spine, and he jumped in fear and shock.
Driven by fear and an automatic reaction, Eric spun around, swinging the unactivated chain sword to attack whoever had grabbed his shoulder. The moment he turned, he saw who it was.
Ivan, startled, was struck squarely on the shoulder by the chain sword, but his shoulder armor protected him. He cried out in pain from the impact, taking several steps back as the situation became increasingly tense.
"Stop! It was a misunderstanding," Ivan tried to explain, but Eric frowned even harder. A misunderstanding? No, this guy seemed incredibly flirtatious, and Eric suspected he might actually be trying to molest him. The fact that he claimed it was a misunderstanding, as if unaware of Ivan's deception, infuriated Eric.
Meanwhile, Quas and Nicholas were laughing at the situation.
"A misunderstanding?..." Eric said in a low, clear voice that betrayed his anger. His right hand touched a button on the chain sword's hilt. A small engine started up, and when he pressed the throttle, the small blade accelerated rapidly, creating a familiar sound.
Screech!!!
The blade spun rapidly, sending dirt flying onto his clothes before slowing down. Eric was instantly furious. His light blue uniform, which was initially only stained with blood near his hands, was now covered in blood on his pants and left sleeve. How was he going to explain this if someone saw it and misunderstood?!
"Don't force me to do this," Ivan said with a hint of trepidation, before making a motion as if preparing to draw the gun slung over his back to shoot Eric if something happened. Eric was tense too; even the slightest mistake could mean he was shot and killed. Ivan was equally tense, being very close to Eric, and might not be able to draw his gun in time, potentially leading to a horrific death. Just seeing the weapon, Eric didn't want to imagine the gruesome and gaping wounds someone would suffer.
"You're a psychopath!!!" Eric shouted. Honestly, after what happened, he was very cautious and afraid of experiencing something like that again. He wouldn't let anyone molest him, and if they did, they would face severe consequences.
"That's not it at all...listen to me..." But before Ivan could finish, Nicholas pulled him away, and Quas stepped in instead. Eric remained cautious, ready to lunge at any moment.
"I'm sorry, sir, but my friend is just like that...I understand you might not be comfortable with his words and behavior...Now, just calm down. We saw you needed a weapon, so we had Ivan call you." Kvas tried to explain and persuade him. Hearing this, Eric frowned, his suspicions growing stronger.
_Or was he lulling him into a false sense of security before acting?_
"Put the gun down!!...And besides, why didn't you just shout for me?" Eric ordered, feeling increasingly uneasy being around these guys.
"Okay...this isn't our fault. It's entirely Ivan's." Kvas raised his hands, disarmed himself, and threw his weapon to the ground. Ivan was immediately displeased.
"I didn't think she'd be this shy and fierce!!" Ivan said, crossing his arms in displeasure, but immediately dropped them when he saw Eric glaring at him. Quas and Nicholas, seeing Ivan's fear of Eric, burst into laughter. Meanwhile, Brody, who was lying on the ground, slowly got up and went to his machine gun position, ignoring them completely.
"Do you think this is funny?" Eric said in a low, menacing voice. It wasn't funny at all for anyone to encounter something like this. Both Ivan and Eric fell silent.
"OK... she's as fierce as your mother, isn't she? Hahaha," Brody joked casually before falling silent, as no one found it funny. Just then, a lieutenant approached, having heard the commotion.
"What's all the fighting about, soldiers? Do you want me to help handle it?" The lieutenant said in a terrifying voice, causing everyone to fall silent and turn to look. Eric quickly found a way to cover his chain sword before trying to figure out how to handle the situation in front of a higher-ranking officer, as he hadn't received any training in discipline.
"There was just a small matter, Lieutenant," kvas replied casually, as if everything that had just happened had never occurred. Eric was instantly furious and spoke up to assure him that nothing was true.
"No, Lieutenant... that soldier, Ivan, tried to molest me," Eric said, pointing at Ivan. He sighed, hoping Ivan would receive some kind of punishment that would satisfy him. The Lieutenant glared at Ivan with a terrifying, murderous look. Ivan's face turned pale.
"I just saw her trying to find a weapon on the corpse. We already had weapons. I called her over and told her she had a weapon. I only grabbed her shoulder, and then she started yelling," Ivan tried to explain, trying to avoid punishment, his face showing extreme fear. Eric tried to imagine how terrifying the punishment must be for these people to be afraid of it.
"Just grabbing the shoulder—" Eric interrupted, trying to emphasize how touching someone without permission can make them feel threatened. But the lieutenant interrupted first.
"Stop arguing about nonsense. Go back to guarding, or I'll order your execution!" The lieutenant spoke in a loud, clear, firm, and terrifying voice. All five, including Eric, immediately responded in unison, trembling with fear.
"Understood, sir/ma'am!!!" They all replied in unison before dispersing to their positions. The other four remained at their heavy machine gun positions, while Eric, still collecting everything he had gathered from the pile of corpses, sat beside his heavy weapons position, wiping his chain sword and watching the other four with suspicion.
He was now fully alert and ready to pounce on the four if they did anything bad or threatened him. He would use this chain sword...
_Eric, don't think like that. You're just stressed. Don't even think about doing anything evil._
Eric reminded himself. Just the day before, he hadn't had thoughts like this, or even close to it. What was wrong with him? He'd only just entered the battlefield, and he was already acting like this.
_Damn it._
The other four continued their conversation as usual. Eric glanced at them briefly before turning back. Perhaps he had overreacted and been too paranoid.
Ivan had only touched his shoulder… but it still sent shivers down his spine.
"Hey!!! I think she needs a gun," Ivan's voice rang out. Eric tensed and quickly turned around. When he turned to Ivan, he tossed him a Lassgun. Eric caught it easily before looking at Ivan with a slight suspicion. Normally, he would have thought it was just a small act of kindness, but now he wondered if it was a ploy to lull him into a false sense of security. Ivan's demeanor was very flirtatious.
"You're not going to touch her shoulder again, are you, Ivan?" Brody teased Ivan playfully.
"Thanks," Eric replied curtly with a sigh, before turning back to examine the gun. It was in fairly good condition. He took out the batteries and magazines for the Lassgun from his pocket and tried assembling and inserting them. The energy indicator in the Lassgun's magazine lit up when he did. And it also indicated that it was still full of energy. Eric picked it up, aimed at a rock, and fired.
*Whoosh!*
A red beam of light accurately struck the rock, melting parts of it. Eric lowered his gun with satisfaction, unaware that his action had slightly unnerved the other four, who feared they too would be shot. Suddenly,
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
A barrage of gunfire erupted a few tens of meters ahead. The stench of cement dust and the vibrations from the explosions made it increasingly difficult for Eric to breathe. He hid behind a hastily constructed reinforced steel wall, his grip on his rifle tighter.
"For the Four-Armed Emperor!!!!" a shout rang out from the advancing mutants.
"Another wave is coming! Maintain your defenses! Eliminate them all! For the Emperor!!!"
"For the Emperor, every soldier in the defensive line shouted in unison!"
Eric, who hadn't shouted, swallowed hard before peeking through the firing ports he'd noticed and recoiled in shock.
A large number of mutants charged towards the defensive line. They scrambled for cover like highly trained individuals, and some even fired back rhythmically. They looked so much like humans… too much so, it sent shivers down his spine. Their eyes were empty yet strangely resolute. Their heads were bald and shiny, with patches of light and dark purple scales protruding from their foreheads like deformed bumps (like a 4th generation geenstealer).
"What the hell…" he muttered to himself, exhausted.
Bang!
Eric flinched as a bullet whizzed towards him, but it hit the cover and was deflected. He was so startled he instinctively crouched down, almost crouching.
"Ouch!!! Stay calm!" He blurted out, causing Nicholas to glance at him briefly before smiling and turning back.
Bang! Bang ... Eric quickly jumped up and aimed his gun through a gap, but there was no time to stress. One of them was running too close to the wall. Eric gritted his teeth, his hand trembling, and held his gun steady. He aimed swiftly and accurately, pulling the trigger. A red and white beam shot out, a bright red streak across the air, hitting the enemy squarely, causing them to stagger and fall to the ground. He then quickly aimed and fired at several more that managed to slip through. In his panic, Eric didn't realize how accurate he was. The geenstealers, or mutants as many soldiers knew them, fell like leaves.
Seeing three more mutants charging towards him, his fear intensified, and his movements and aiming became even faster.
Eric was unaware that while he was firing, some of the recruits were watching with a hint of amazement at his accuracy. He wasn't used to fighting armed enemies and counterattacks like this. Most of his past experiences involved defending himself from psychotic mutant bandits and zombies in the darkness of the Lower Hive, not a full-scale war like this. The lieutenant's shout rang out again. "Don't stop firing! They're looking for a way around!"
Just as Eric was about to fire at another mutant, no ruby-red beam came out. He quickly ducked, checking his gun's magazine – it was extremely low on energy.
"Why now?" Eric muttered under his breath as he removed the magazine with one hand and replaced it. The four men beside him occasionally reloaded their weapons. From a good vantage point, the ground around their feet was littered with spent brass casings of various sizes.
Eric stood up and continued firing his lassgun at the mutants. They seemed to number endlessly.
Another wave of enemies attacked. Laser beams streaked through the walls. Eric gritted his teeth, trying to focus on the closest enemy and eliminate them immediately. Suddenly, he saw something.
"Everyone, take cover! A rocket is coming this way…!" Eric shouted to the four men manning their heavy weapons. Before they could run away and crouch down on the ground, the four of them turned around in confusion, not realizing what Eric had said.
BOOM!!!!
The heavy machine gun position was violently destroyed. Eric felt the blast, and when he got up and looked back, he found that the machine gun had been destroyed. All four of them seemed to be in the same boat. Kvas was only half-bodied, Ivan had been thrown far away, and the person Eric thought was Nicholas was just a pile of rubble. Brody had disappeared somewhere.
Eric was heartbroken by what had happened. Iven though he didn't particularly like or fear these creatures, the deaths of the four were deeply distressing.
He was about to lean forward again to aim, his legs trembling with fear, barely able to support his weight. Suddenly, two or three mutants jumped into his defensive line. Eric turned his attention to them, firing his gun frantically because they were so close.
Two mutants fell instantly, but one managed to close in on Eric. Eric tried to defend himself with his gun at close range, but the mutant's hand easily deflected the knife. The mutant prepared to stab him in the stomach, but he dodged, the knife deflecting towards his chest armor instead. The blade grazed the metal without causing harm, and Eric struck it in the face, sending it staggering back slightly. He clutched its broken nose. Without hesitation, he used the butt of his gun to strike its face again, then grabbed his chain sword with his right hand, drew it, and lunged forward to slash at it.
*Screech!* *Aargh!*
The small saw blade swiftly tore at its flesh and bone, a gruesome wound stretching from its right shoulder to its left waist, almost severing its body in two. Before dying, it let out a short, agonizing cry before falling silent and its body collapsed.
Eric, now covered in blood, stood trembling. He had just killed a mutant with his new weapon, and the sight of its corpse was horrifying and disgusting.
At that moment, he peered through the viewing window, which offered some cover from the small weapons, and saw them beginning to retreat. It turned out that while he was still disoriented,
a Leman Russ tank with its six-barreled automatic cannons had arrived and unleashed its fury, forcing them to retreat. Eric felt a small sense of relief.
He glanced at the location where the heavy machine gun had been positioned, respectfully gathering the bodies of Quas, Ivan, Brody, and Nicholas to join the others. He then found a quiet corner and leaned against the wall.
Eric, now trembling and moderately frightened from what had just happened, fumbled in his pocket with his shaking, blood-stained hands, pulling out a corpse starch. He peeled it open and began to chew it. He pulled himself up, covering his arms with them, and lowered his head, trying to compose himself.
But he couldn't.
Suddenly, he remembered his painkillers.
He immediately dismissed that thought; otherwise, he might become addicted.
However, he was safe now, even if only temporarily. What he should do now was try to prepare himself for what had happened and prevent himself from worrying further and becoming more ill.
Or perhaps, maybe adopting the most revered religion here—the Emperor—would help him. From what he'd heard, the Emperor was similar to Jesus, but much more fantastical and sci-fi. But whatever, he didn't care now. Eric rummaged through his pockets before finding a pendant with the symbol of the Mechanicus...it might not be the two-headed eagle he'd seen, but it might do.
"Emperor protect," Eric murmured softly to himself.
"Hmph...what nonsense. What are you doing, Eric?" he thought to himself, realizing his actions were pointless and a waste of time. It might turn him into one of those religious fanatics. Eric picked up his gun, reloaded, and inspected his chain sword.
He found small pieces of flesh stuck between the blades, knowing it wouldn't be effective. He sat there, using whatever he could find to carefully remove the pieces from the chain sword.
And he prepared for the next battle.