Infestation-Part Four

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Day Three

Wilson and Hotchkins arrived back at the colony early the following morning. Almuda’s men were still awake, watching the horizon along with Diego and Mulheeny. Evidently the two Goliath pilots had been permitted to rest, their walkers were idling outside the command center. Wilson parked his Vulture outside the barracks and walked over to Almuda.

“Anything to report?”

“No sir. Haven’t seen a thing on the horizon.” Although Almuda’s voice still sounded strong, Wilson noticed exhaustion evidence across Almuda’s face.

“Get your men some rest. You won’t do much good if you fall asleep on top of your rifles. We’ll wake you if anything appears.”

“Yes, Sir!” Almuda waved his men over and they departed for their bunks in the barracks.

“What about us!” yelled Mulheeny, who had overheard the conversation. He pointed a finger aggressively at Wilson’s faceplate. “We’ve been up a whole day!”

“After Almuda comes back you’ll be relieved,” said Wilson irritably. This was the last thing he needed after barely escaping the Zerg nesting site.

“You must be kidding, you’ll let the convicts rest first?”

“Convicts or not, they’re more professional than you’ve ever been. They aren’t even paid. Earn your salary for once and do some work around here,” Wilson shoved past Mulheeny and headed toward Hackken’s office. Mulheeny growled, but resumed his post facing the western flank of the outpost. Mulheeny always acted tough but never stood behind his words when it counted.

Wilson stormed down the metal corridor leading to Hackken’s office. The man had been a barricade to getting proper military support for months, offering flimsy excuses for why he could not secure the resources needed to safeguard the mining operation. Wilson would be damned if he let him doom them all to a Zerg assault. He slammed open Hackken’s door, causing a resounding boom as it impacted the wall.

“Are we getting support or not?” demanded Wilson. “I don’t want any more diplomatic answers. I want the truth. Are my men going to be stuck out there hoping that we can kill all the Zerg before we run out of ammunition? Or will we have Combine troops and air support? I need to know how many body bags to order in the next shipment.”

Hackken leaned back in his chair, offering a placating smile. “I’ve done all I can. I explained the situation to the Combine, but they don’t feel that a serious threat is represented by the Zerg forces that you’ve uncovered so far. They need more evidence.”

Wilson slammed his fist on Hackken’s desk, his armor creating a sizable dent in the metal surface. “There’s no more evidence that we can give until they start hammering us. Do they want to wait until we all die? I guess that might show that the Zerg held hostile intentions. You need to decide if you want your life to be ended at the claws of one of those beasts because you didn’t have the guts to demand the support we need.”

Wilson’s suit radio sputtered, interrupting his invective.

“Sergeant, this is Mulheeny. There’s a horde of creatures approaching us.”

Wilson sighed, “Define horde.”

“A lot. Some of them look bigger than the ones we’ve seen so far. The other sides of the base are clear for now, just moving on the western perimeter.”

“Roger, I’ll be right out.” Wilson changed his radio to the emergency signal band. “This is Sergeant Wilson. We are under attack by a large number of hostile alien creatures. All military personnel report to your stations, civilians report to the shelters.”

He closed off the transmission and pointed a finger at Hackken. “I suggest you decide if you want to accept the Combine’s decision within the next ten minutes. We may not have time to reevaluate it later.” He gave a final glower at the smaller man and then rushed outside, readying his rifle as he ran. The two Goliath pilots were rushing toward their vehicles alongside him, already suited up in green coveralls and breathing masks.

“Position your vehicles behind my marines to provide supporting fire,” ordered Wilson. “We’ll be setting up a defensive line in front of the command center. That way the warehouses and barracks will cordon them into a narrower line of fire.”

“Yes, Sir,” said one of the pilots with a nod. When they exited the building, the two men opened the hatches to their vehicles and leaped inside. Wilson looked around to assess the situation. He noticed the colony’s siege tank parked to the side of the commander center and cursed. Hackken had never gotten around to getting a pilot and gunner for the vehicle. It may as well have been taken apart for scrap metal for all the use it was going to do the colony now.

Putting the tank out of his mind, Wilson moved to where his six Marines were preparing a defensive position, Almuda keeping an eye on the advancing Zerg while the rest were setting up barricades and placing extra ammunition magazines within easy reach. The two goliaths stepped into position behind the improvised defensive line.

“Are they moving yet?” asked Wilson.
“Not yet, Sir,” said Almuda. “Soon though. They’re getting arranged to charge.”

Wilson zoomed in on the enemy formation with his suit’s magnifier. Sure enough, a line of the smaller creatures was forming up in front. However, behind them was a line of larger beasts that he had not seen before. They had a coiling body that supported an armored head about two meters off the ground. Two piercing eyes framed the monster’s cruel jaw ringed with sharp, white teeth. One of the creatures flexed its thickly muscled arms to bring two wicked claws into view. It seemed to be giving Wilson a sadistic smile, promising hours of torment ahead. Wilson swallowed nervously. The beast gave a bellowing roar that sent the smaller Zerg lunging hungrily forward toward the marines.

“Hold fire till they reach the barracks!” commanded Wilson. The swarm was already halfway there. Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty, twenty, ten. “FIRE!”

The marines opened up with their Gauss rifles, spraying a fearsome barrage across the rampaging Zerg. A few of the leading beasts collapsed to the ground, but their pursuing brethren continued to approach. The Marine’s rounds just weren’t penetrating the carapaces well enough.

“Fire at will, Goliaths!” radioed Wilson to his support.

The fearsome autocannons let loose with a roar. The heavy rounds sliced right through the small Zerg creatures, leaving puddles of gore in their wake. Wilson’s squad focused on cleaning up the stragglers that the goliaths missed, using aimed bursts to conserve ammunition.

One beast that evaded fire lunged clear over the metal barricade they had erected to pounce on Diego. Its claws went right through Diego’s combat suit, leaving spatters of blood as they withdrew. Wilson snapped off a burst into the creature’s head, knocking it off Diego. He rushed over and put two more bursts into its body to make sure that it was dead.

“Diego!” yelled Wilson, slapping a fresh magazine into his rifle. “How bad you hit?”

“I’ll manage, Sergeant,” coughed Diego wetly, standing up precariously. “Not much else I can do.”

Wilson had no time to spare for Diego as another wave of Zerg charged over the corpses of the first. The Goliaths were firing shorter bursts, leaving far more creatures for the infantry to take down. Several reached the barricade, jabbing their claws and fangs into it to try and bring it down. Mulheeny swung his rifle like a club to try and knock them back. One of the Zerg crawled over the wall and swung a claw into his armor’s right shoulder joint, slicing cleanly through. Mulheeny fell to the ground beside his arm, screaming in agony.

Corporal Almuda moved forward to fill the gap, shooting precisely through the skulls of the nearest Zerg. Following his example, the rest of the Marines focused on hitting the creatures in the head, the one area that they seemed to mind getting hit. As the wave began to evaporate, Wilson ducked behind the barricade and reloaded his rifle. One magazine left. He stood up and nearly dropped his rifle in shock.
Six of the larger creatures were arrayed in a line facing the marines. Apparently they had used the smaller ones as a distraction to get themselves in position. The carapace plates near their shoulders split open to expose several large pouches on their body. Their fangs were bared in a fierce smile, relishing the fear they spread.

“Get down!” yelled Wilson, diving behind the cover of the barricade.

The massed impact of dozens of projectiles rang off the metal plate shielding Wilson. Diego, slowed by his injury, fell down heavily beside him, his faceplate and upper armor covered in long spines that had burst right through. Cursing, Wilson looked up and down the line to see who was left standing. One of Almuda’s men lay on the ground, another victim of the fearsome projectiles. Mulheeny was no longer moving. Great, down to four men.

“Up, fire back!” yelled Wilson, moving up to a crouch to fire his rifle. The remaining Marines joined him, hammering the line of Zerg with ammunition. It didn’t have much effect; most of the rounds deflected harmlessly off the creature’s thick shells. One of the creatures collapsed when it was hit by a stream of autocannon fire, but it seemed that the Goliath’s fire was ebbing. Wilson glanced back quickly to see why. A Goliath had fallen on its side, flames jetting out of the cockpit. One of its fuel lines must have been hit. Their position was looking better every minute.

Another volley of spikes filled the air, forcing Wilson to duck. He heard a grunt to his left and saw Almuda’s other marine collapse. Wilson reloaded his weapon with his last magazine. If he was going to die here, he wasn’t going to do it cowering behind a piece of scrap metal. Heart racing, he prepared to charge the Zerg. Maybe at a closer range his rifle could penetrate their carapace, taking one of them down with him.

A deafening blast sent Wilson reeling to the ground in shock. He shakily rose to his feet and turned toward the Zerg’s position. A massive crater filled with gore was all that was left. Wilson looked around in puzzlement, Hotchkins and Almuda rising beside him.

“I thought you could use the reinforcements,” said Administrator Hackken smugly over Wilson’s radio.

Wilson gazed up and saw several green Combine dropships setting down outside the colony, discharging Marines, Goliaths, and other equipment. One of them had set down a Siege Tank, one of the new models that could reconfigure into an artillery piece on the field. The powerful round had taken out all the remaining Zerg in one blast.

“I appreciate the help, Hackken,” said Wilson. “We were about to be finished off.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Sergeant.”

“I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”

Wilson sighed, looking about at the devastation the Zerg attack had wrought. Only Hotchkins and Almuda remained of his command. Maybe the Combine would give him some reinforcements once they had finished driving the Zerg off the planet.

“I’m glad that’s over, Sergeant,” said Hotchkins.

“The battle is over,” said Wilson. “The war has just begun.”


In retrospect that last line is really cheesy. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed the story.