Armored chapter 4

Screams were drowned out by the thunderous sound of every knight unloading round after round into the charging monstrosities. The smell of burning gunpowder stung my nose and my eyes teared up as smoke began to drift about blocking my sight in patches. My ears rang from the sound of the gunfire and sound become almost muted.

I guessed about ten of the core beasts were taken down in the first few seconds of the barrage laid down by the knights, but the core beasts were quick to respond. Those beasts still munching on human corpses quickly abandoned their gruesome meals and charged with the rest of their compatriots.

The outer two smart turrets on that side of the camp were knocked over quickly. They flopped and spun around on the ground as their tracking systems tried to understand what had happened and aim at the targets. The turrets become dangerous to friend and foe alike as they randomly let loose short staccato bursts of fire in seemingly random directions as they spun about upside down.

The core beasts ignored the now helpless turrets and continued their charge, losing a few more of the pack as they did.

As the beasts drew close the knights retreated step by step while continuing to fire in long drawn out sprays of ammunition. A few knights threw cantaloupe sized objects into the pack of charging beasts which quickly blew up and seemed to splash liquid fire over half a dozen of the enraged core beasts.

The core beasts that were showered in the liquid fire screeched and rolled in the dirt in an attempt to extinguish themselves. The fire was tenacious though and no amount of thrashing could put it out. Still, the rest of the pack rushed forward.

I and the other scavenger watched the scene in horror and tried our best to keep the knights between us and the rage-filled beasts. The problem with that was the knights were retreating from the beasts and one unlucky scavenger was pinned underfoot of one of the knights.

He screamed as his legs were turned to pulp beneath the massive foot. The knight didn't even take notice and as the knight took a further half step back the upper half of the screaming scavenger was ground into the dirt. I could swear I heard a nasty and sickening pop as the scavengers head burst open and spilled brain matter everywhere.

I noticed the danger and made sure to keep out from underfoot of any of the metal giants. My hands shook as I held my sword in a death grip. My ears were still ringing and my eyes still stung but I made sure to listen and look for every detail in the chaos.

As the dozen or so beasts who survived the initial charge made contact with and began fighting in close quarters with the knights I noticed that the two smart turrets on the opposite side of the camp had begun firing. I looked behind us and my stomach did flips in my belly.

More beastly shapes had materialized from the dark on that side of the camp and began charging. While not quite as numerous as the first group it wouldn't matter with the knights totally distracted.

I screamed "behind us!! We are surrounded!!" And dove into the middle of the group of knights who had now formed a circle around the noble. I was forced to dodge multiple sets of massive metal legs in the process.

The knights seemed to have noticed my warning and the few knights not cutting or shooting beasts down tried their best to turn and shoot down as many beasts as they could. It wasn't enough to stop the charge. Nowhere close to enough.

By the time the two rear placed smart turrets were knocked down and the beasts had charged onto the fray only seven or eight in total had been killed.

The battle then devolved into total chaos. I watched in horror as a knight was pounced on by three beasts. They jumped five meters in the air and landed on his chest and back. They tore at the plates around the armor's neck. Metal shards were wrapped out and steel was bent and cut.

When a hole large enough for a man to stick his torso through was opened one of the beasts stuck it's head in and tore a screaming knight out. The edges of the gaping hole were not soft or rounded. They bit into and tore into the man's flesh much the same as the beast teeth.

The knight was tossed into the dirt as his armor rocked stiffly and fell onto it's back. The beasts that were perched on the armor's chest and shoulder section leapt off the falling armor and landed on and around the knight to begin feasting on the still screaming man.

I tore my gaze away from the sight and did everything in my power to concentrate on staying as close as I could to the noble without being trampled. The knights had prioritized his safety above all else it seemed and I decided that next to him was safest.

Multiple other knights were ridden down by the beasts in the following minute and the formation began to crumble. As all seemed to be lost a sound like the buzz of a million bees began and quickly drowned out every other sound. Light began pouring out of the center of our group of knights.

I turned around to see the noble in his armor begin to stride forward in a calm and composed manner with what seemed to be a bar of burning light in one hand. Or more like a sword. The intensity of the light was such that I could hardly make out the shape of it.

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As he strode he passed multiple knights and the beasts took notice of him. They roared in challenge before six of their number jumped into the air and struck towards the noble.

What happened next was a blur. The sword of light slashed out and after images blended together in the darkness of night. When the light show was over five of the beasts were nothing more than chunks of smoldering flesh quivering on the ground.

The sixth beast's midsection was gripped in the left hand of the nobles armor as it scratched at the forearm and fingers of the knight ineffectually. The noble had caught the beast before I had even seen it and now slowly and maliciously squeezed the beast to death.

The beast's roars turned from rage-filled to pain filled and finally turned into a high pitched screech before suddenly cutting out as the beast burst at the seams. Blood and guts poured out of the armor's hand and the mutilated remains of the beast were casually tossed aside.

I stood agape at the sight. The casual and masterful way the armor completed the task. The graceful way it moved around the battle. It was like a dancer and a butcher. Beauty and brutality mixed together.

The battle quickly shifted in favor of humanity with the addition of the noble and his old world armor. The beasts were quickly being cut down in most part because of the noble. No beast that came within four meters of the noble could survive more than a second.

I did my best to avoid any beasts that now ran around randomly here and there and the feet of the knights as they rushed about helping each other to finish off the last few stragglers of this pack of beasts.

I shuffled and moved about dodging legs before I collided with the remains of one of the downed armor. Taking shelter by the armor's shoulder section I put my back to it and raised my sword. I waited.

Nothing came for me. No beasts took notice of me. With the armor blocking the knight's feet I found myself in a little pocket of peace within the battle. My shaking hands and my panicky breathes began to calm. I watched the battle.

The noble truly changed the flow of battle like I never thought a single armor could. Before long less than a dozen core beasts were alive and they began to flee.

The Knights chased those they could down. They seemed to be enraged and enjoyed inflicting pain on the core beasts. I could understand their rage.

I could see the downed figures of three armor lying in the dirt scattered about not counting the one I was currently leaning against and saw multiple other still moving armor scarred with extensive damage.

It was a costly victory. I felt sick at the loss of four knights. I didn't care about the well being of the knights at all. It was the loss of safety the armors provided. The group was now weaker. And the weak die in the forest.

As I cursed our luck and our losses I surveyed the battlefield further. Human bodies lay strewn about. Mostly scavengers. However, close by I did notice a single mangled corpse that did not seem to be dressed like any scavenger I had seen. I deduced it must be a knight.

Curiosity got the better of me and I looked around to make sure the coast was clear of any more beasts before approaching the body.

The man's chest was completely mutilated. Most of his belly was torn out to the point his spine could be seen through the mess. His ribs were cracked open and his lungs were only half complete within his chest cavity.

The sight nearly made me vomit. I turned my eyes towards the man's face and instantly regretted the action. His face was frozen in a look of such abject terror my soul seemed to freeze. My eyes were glued to the dead man's lifeless eyes.

I stood for multiple moments locking gaze with the dead man before the loud sound of an armor stepping close and walking by me broke me from the dreadfully awful gaze.

I looked up and watched the armored knights pass before shaking my head and preparing to leave. I took one last look at the dead man's face and began to walk away.

I froze. The man's corpse came into my mind again. I thought about his face. I thought about his head. I wasn't feeling sad or sick. I wasn't disgusted or haunted. I remembered one more detail of the corpse that nearly went completely unnoticed.

The man had a device attached to the side of his head. Attached to his ear! A RADIO! I felt a shudder of excitement.

I quickly went back to the corpse and crouched down. I turned his head to the side and saw the object. It was round on one end and long on the other coming to a tapered end. It was maybe 3 inches long and seemed hooked on the man's ear. I unhooked the device and held it to my ear.

I could hear voices!!

"God dammit!! This is such a mess!! Miles is dead and so is Davie, Mike, and Ben. This job is going to be the fucking death of us! Boss, why did you take this damn job? I know the pay is spectacular but this noble is driving is straight towards one of the most dangerous areas around. We need at least three times our number for this job! This area isn't even mapped!"

The sound of a complaining knight filled my ear. The knight speaking seemed desperate and scared with anger to match.

Another more mature and calm voice broke in over the channel.

"I know James. There was nothing I could do. That noble is one of the MacArthur family. If we didn't take this job and offended him we might all die in our sleep. When a MacArthur says jump you don't say no. You don't even ask how high. You jump and hope to God you break orbit."

This voice seemed to be the leader of the knights. Then another almost voice followed after the words of the leader.

"James we got no control over this. Boss isn't trying to get us killed. You know that. The MacArthur family is too powerful to deny. Let's just do the job and hope for the best. Let's round up the rats and see what the damage is. Gather up. James you and Heather handle the rats. Marcus and Simon check on the supplies. Jacob, check out the auto turrets. I think they are fine. They just got knocked over. The rest of us are to reestablish defense lines and reform."

The bosses voice followed up on the words of who seemed to be a vice leader of some sort.

"Do it"

A chorus of affirmatives and yes sirs were barked onto the channel and the knights all jumped to different tasks.

A loud booming voice cut out into the night from the speakers of one knight.

"Scavengers gather up. Report in and don't fucking wander about. Anyone who doesn't fall in and report in the next two minutes is getting left behind when we move!"

I quickly stashed my new stolen gadget in my inner chest pocket and joined the group of scavengers filtering over to the knight who called out.

The radio device in my pocket felt heavy even though it really didn't weigh much. It was a good feeling. It was a source of information and information was key to survival.

I was no longer blind. I was no longer groping about in the dark. I would figure out what the hell was going on. If I was to survive this nightmare the key to my survival would be this little piece of metal and plastic.

I smiled for the first time in a week. I had a little bit of control over my own life back. It felt good. DAMN GOOD.