How many times do I have to tell you?

CHECK YOUR GODDESS DAMNED CORNERS!!!

-Husker PMC Group Squad Leader, 2056

I could barely follow what Pyri was even talking about, my head was spinning so bad.

“Bwuh?”

Of all the things to incapacitate you, it’s not watching where you’re going.

I heard the VED roar again.

Spark please, you WILL be overrun if you don’t get up soon.

Opening my eyes was damn near a mistake, my vision was spinning even more than my head. My head was clear enough however to let me be a little bit of a shit.

“Jus five mor mins?”

If I could do so I would thump you on the head, but the VED is too busy saving your rear end.

I giggled while prying myself off the hard ground, “I’m trying! Just make the world stop spinning and I’ll be dandy!”

“And before you ask, I’ll stop putting off the pills now.”

Thank you, they will also help you recover from having your head rung like a bell.

I moved towards a small alcove I could make out in the pit I fell down and pulled my helmet up just high enough to rest on my forehead and fumbled the pill bottle for a few nerve-wracking seconds before getting the thing open and finally knocking back a pill.

My world went from blurry swirls to the perspective of being at the bottom of a fifty foot pit, there weren’t any roots or anything biological sticking out of the walls, just rocks and dirt.

In front of me there was a cave entrance with numerous dead antithesis near it.

“I thought the entrance was further ahead?”

You were most likely moving towards a larger entrance. In a way, you’re lucky. If you passed by this entrance completely, you would be easily flanked at all times.

I pulled my helmet back down and searched the ground for my rifle, “Why did the fall hit me so hard?” Finding it, I rushed over and swept it back up, “I thought this armor protected against blunt force?”

You also fell down a fifty-seven foot deep pit, hitting your head on the rocks multiple times. Class I tech won’t fully stop your head from vibrating around like it got stuck in a paint mixer. It will make sure you come out the other end alive though.

A sound from above drew my attention, “Hits to the head can still hurt me, got it.”

I’m glad you have learned such a vital lesson at the very young age of twenty.

“Hah. Hah.” I frowned, “I don’t know if entering here will stop the flanks regardless.” Speaking of the devil, the noise I was hearing resolved into a Three poking its head out over the pit. A shot from my rifle had left it smoldering up there.

“Can you give me a static emplacement to guard my back?”

I indeed can! The Defense Enemy Neutralizer Guard is an electrical energy weapon battery designed to be placed at cave entrances to defend the interior and/or exterior. It will be able to handle any early Model with ease, and will provide an uplink node to help make sure your connection signals remain healthy within the hive’s cave system.

“Go ahead and grab it,” I said as I began walking through the cave entrance. “Having my back semi-secure would be nice for a bit.”

New Purchase! D.E.N. Guard 1250 Points Reduced To: 2887

A machine the same size as a lawn mower appeared behind me, it had four legs, multiple anodes covering every angle, and a big black emitter tower on top that pointed up at the top of the pit.

I turned from the new emplacement to the tunnel completely cloaked in shadows, “Let’s get this whole damned thing over with.”

With a flick on a switch my vision lit up with the sight of a few rocks moving themselves forward on the floor, I didn’t even look closely at the animated rocks before firing into the squad of obvious Nines.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“The Den Guard won’t have trouble with stealth will it?

No, I pulled from multiple catalogues to ensure it would be able to handle the Five variants, it being able to track Nines is a happy accident.

I stepped over the dead Nines on the ground, “I refuse to believe that was accidental.”

You should trust me more often.

“Because you’re always right even when you’re teasing me?”

Exactly.

I rolled my eyes, “Pyri, how much of you being a shit is in response to me being one?”

Yes.

As I snickered, I started going down an incline. The tunnel itself was fairly uniform, the walls were very obviously carved out, and the floors were laden with fine soil stamped down. It was juuuust big enough to let a Six through, but nothing larger.

My new height thankfully meant I didn’t have to crouch down and destroy my back.

The tunnel soon evened back out, and I was now starting to get nervous. I hadn’t seen anything whatsoever, the emplacement was making kills, but nothing had even so much as even sneezed in my direction.

Coming to a stop, I looked behind me and found nothing.

“Pyri it’s too quiet, is it possible this tunnel was being excavated when I fell?”

No, there is a slight air current heading inward. Be very careful, the only reason you wouldn’t be getting attacked right now is if they are laying an ambush. Remember that it is very possible that there is another Seventeen in the area.

I tightened my grip on the Trill while starting to walk forward again, “Have you seen any wires?”

No, I have found no evidence for them except for the abnormal antithesis movements.

I was about to walk around a turn in the tunnel when a sound had me coming to a stop, I focused on what I was hearing. Heavy breathing.

There was no chance of an antithesis being worn down to the point of panting down here.

‘Pyri can Sixes give commands by breathing heavily?’

Yes.

I swapped to the Trench Stormer, and checked to make sure the firing mode lever was pulled all the way back. Rather than charge the corner blind I pulled out a grenade, and set it to a timed fuse.

‘Might as well check my corners somewhat safely down here.’

I moved up to the corner, and awkwardly threw the nade past it and yanked my arm back. A shower of quills shot through where my forearm just was, embedding themselves into the walls.

I heard a low sound when suddenly a pleasant glow illuminated the cave. Alongside it was the crackling song of electricity finding homes in what I hoped were Model Fives and the Six rather than just the walls and floor of the tunnel.

Backing up to a decent safe position where my buckshot would envelop anything that came around that corner, I scattered a shell of pellets all over the floor or the corner.The glow and song eventually finished before a short ‘honk’ sounded out, and I heard the pounding of feet. Backing up even more, I readied myself and launched the pulse the second I saw the first head emerge into my sightline.

A small group of Threes were first to charge themselves directly into the trap I laid and fried themselves instantly. A few Fours tried to protect themselves by letting their tentacles take the brunt of the electricity, but judging by the way their bodies crashed into the dirt right after, I would say they died just the same.

Unfortunately for me they did soak up the last of the electricity while also blocking the pellets from the shotgun’s emitter. Sliding the lever forward, I waited til I saw the next antithesis peek the corner, and ended up decapitating the first Five to risk the turn with a slug to the head. The rest of the horde didn’t let me abuse the corner for long as they just poured around the corner like their lives depended on it.

I got off a few more slugs, before slamming the lever all the way forward and enveloping the front of the horde with electricity as the cave was peppered with needles. They didn’t punch through my armor, but a few managed to impact the jumpsuit underneath the plating.

It stung like hell more than anything, like I was getting shot by an airsoft gun.

“Pyri if a single one of those needles actually stabs me let me know instantly!”

That was the plan.

Clicking empty I tore the drum off the shotgun and for some reason I threw it into the swarm instead of just dropping it and focusing on reloading. It hit a Five in the head, and it looked at me as if I suddenly grew two heads. Then it instantly went rigid as the pellets buried inside it detonated their electrical charge into its nervous system.

Eventually, the tide of needle slinging bear plants gave way to something I honestly didn’t want to see.

That something being the Six coming around the corner while staring right at me.

I held up a hand, “C-Foam!”

The grenade plopped into my hand and was instantly flung towards the now charging Six where it exploded, instantly getting to work gluing the Six to the cave floor, stopping its charge cold. A slug to the head ended its attempt to thrash out of the foam and a follow up balloon full of peroxide had the foam melting away so I could get past.

“I should dispose of the bodies shouldn’t I?”

It would remove the biomass from play, and make this tunnel easier to move through in the event you need to retreat to this position.

“Can’t argue with that, give me the melters I need before more of these fucks show their faces.”

New Purchases! MK I Flesh Melter x2 6 Points Reduced To: 5284

The box appeared on top of the Sixes’ corpse. Snorting, I opened it up and pulled out the pair of nanite cans and dropped them one after another behind me. Peeking the corner I found a pair of Threes sniffing around that I fried with my Amp-Thrower.

No reason to waste a shell on them. Which, speaking of shells…

“Might as well restock now, no need for a table on ammunition either.”

Hold out your hand, and I’ll teleport them to you one by one. Tell me when you don’t want anymore drums.

Peeking at my gun’s ammo readout on my glasses showed it just had one shell left in the chamber, so I pulled that drum out first and replaced it, followed by another three drums squeezed a bit tight on my bandolier alongside the last power cell I had for the Trill. I pulled up the charge on that, and finding it too high to waste the energy, I just left it alone.

Not even five steps after I had finished I finally found what I was looking for.

Roots.