Boooommmmm!!!!
A man-sized bolt of darkness exploded next to us in the trench. The blast wave struck and flung me through the air into the wall at the back of the defensive structure. I got knocked out instantly.
Regaining my consciousness, a disconcerting whistle in my ears distracted me from the situation at hand. I glanced around confusedly before recovering my thought process. Still in battle. Had to get up, now!
I rolled to my knees, intent to push myself up, but everything was moving.
Our chance of survival was minimal if the firing line remained cut. I pushed myself further. Staggering, I used the picked up rifle as a crutch. My commanding officer would have had my head for its incorrect use, but that was unimportant at the moment. The firing lane needed to be manned, otherwise we would fall.
I checked on my mates while advancing. They behaved worse than me. The black magic had hit practically on top of us and had blasted our entire group through the air.
Farther down, I recognized our group-leader yelling at my teammates before yanking one from his lying position. I reached the front wall and peered over the edge. A picture right out of a nightmare greeted me.
Clad in hideous black spiky armor, carrying shields and swords, an undefined mass of dark forms sprinted in our direction. They shrouded themselves in shadows, empowering the feeling of doom that tried to invade our consciousness. Above the enemy, black clouds accompanied them, not letting any sunrays come near this army of death. They advanced in their own world of darkness. Everywhere they went the darkness followed. My teammates were severely impacted, I could feel their fear. I observed them indifferently. My eyes devoid of emotion. One legion was not enough to break us.
“There! Between the inky clouds! Enemy Spell fire!”
“Brace for impact!!”
I ducked, having had to deal with this situation countless times before. I calmly waited until the black bolts of energy flew over my location. My eyes followed their path, calculating the impact position. They would come down close but not too close. One had to pay attention. These things were flying catastrophes. Their destructive potential matched one of our compact artillery units.
BAAAAAMMMM,BAAAAAMMM, BAAAAMMMMM!!!
I got thrown to the side, landing on the filthy floor. The bolts of darkness had hit a little further down. I stood up and spit the dirt out of my mouth.
Good, now came the real challenge. There, In front of the legion, moving faster than they had any right to, were beings much darker and more evil than their foot-soldiers. Clad in black shadows, they appeared to be the grim-reaper himself. Two meter long war-scythes in their hands, they flew in our direction.
Everyone that observed these creatures of hell for a longer amount of time felt their confidence wane. How could anyone hope to content against such a foe? I glanced to my right, seeing Matt had moved closer to my position. The nearer they came, the whiter he got. Then his psyche broke. Drained of all his power, his rifle tipped to the side.
Not waiting any longer, I hit him deftly on the head, breaking the spell. Mat was not the only one who had succumbed to their aura. I quickly calculated the plans of my superiors. They probably planned to use the big guns. It should be enough to rouse my companions from their nightmare. No further actions required.
My prediction came true. With loud thunder, the artilleries on the hill behind us shook as they fired their mighty salvos. Accompanied by a beautiful whistling sound, the dark projectiles flew through the sky, passing the reapers and coming down on top of the main army. Half a second later they had reached their target.
Booom Boom Boooooomm!!!!
A staccato of loud explosions blasted through the area. Countless gorgeous mushrooms made of red and orange destroyed everything in their vicinity, wiping out thousands instantly. The explosion awoke my comrades from their awful dream, effectively recovering our firing lane. Chief immediately gave the command to fire at the incoming reapers.
“Fire!”
I tightened my finger around the trigger and let my weapon rip free. Multiple bullets hit the monster closest to me, but it shook them off easily. It only slowed it down, keeping it in place. That was enough. We had fulfilled our purpose. Accompanied by a loud bang, its right arm vanished, followed by the left side of its billowing skirt, where a leg used to be. Screeching in rage, the reaper tried to move forward, but another bullet ripped through its head and killed it instantly.
Further down, one of the MG nests laid into another reaper with full gusto.
That was close. Special-force snipers and MG nests were essential to protect us from these beasts. They would have ripped us apart otherwise.
Now came our part. It was our duty to contend against their main army. My weapon reloaded, I prepared myself for the next round.
Their once full battle line had deteriorated. Our big guns had decimated them, obliterating over half of their troops. The rest appeared like they had walked out of a meat grinder.
“Fire!”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Following the order, our battle line fired in unison. You had to give them credit. We killed many of them, yet they did not falter, advancing in our direction without pause.
They wouldn’t make it. We had won.
Simultaneously to my thought, a last spell suddenly emerged out of the darkness above us. I acted instantly, tackling Matt to the side into a little alcove. The magic came down with remarkable precision. Landing exactly in our trench. Our “fortress” suddenly turned into a cooking pot. The spell flooded the entire section with deadly energies. It functioned as a funnel, guiding the black death everywhere, effectively shutting down our entire part of the lane.
Luckily, I had been quick. Most of the spell went by our location flushing straight down the trench. We had been standing right next to the impact position. Had we still been in our original spot, we both would have been dead by now. I forced myself up, ignoring the pain in my back. That had to wait. There were more important things to content with. Half-way up, Matt’s hand approached me. Protected by my body, he was in a better condition than me. He grabbed my arm and lifted me up.
“Thank you mate, that was close. You saved my life! I never saw it coming.” His eyes peered deeply into mine. I could still see the shock in them.
I nodded.
“We have to get back into position, the surviving Darkons will arrive any second now.”
Back standing, I took in the status of our corps. Some lay unmoving on the ground, scorched half black, others moaned on the ground. Only a few stood. I calculated our battle strength. The result was sobering.
We wouldn’t be able to hold them off before they reached the trench. Too many deaths. I needed to get the others into fighting condition ASAP.
“Get up! The Darkons will be upon us any seconds now! If you want to survive, get the fuck up!”
Chief was one of the first to catch himself, immediately supporting my shout. “You heard Andrew! Get up, now! If you want to live, stand up!”
Then the Darkons were there. The people further down had tried to provide cover, but it hadn’t been enough. Switching to the shotgun armament on my rifle, I unloaded it into the first enemy that tried to jump into the trench, riddling his crotch with bullets. As I had thought, their armor didn’t protect well from below. I pushed the falling body backward, letting it come to lay exactly where the next Darkon came down. The other Darkon couldn’t stop in the air and fell with its full weight on the first one, denting its chest plate completely. Hopefully that would give me one or two seconds.
Ducking, I evaded a swing from another, letting Matt finish them off.
“Back to the ammunition depot, we need a choke point!” We would be cut down in seconds if we stayed here. I led Matt backwards into the little encampment built into the side of the trench. It would literally box us in in one room. No retreat possible, but it prevented them from further jumping on us from above.
We crashed through the door and simultaneously turned back. The next incoming Darkon got his chest obliterated by two shotgun shots. A gruesome endurance game began. Were we going to last or would they overwhelm us before our mates cleared the trench?
The good thing about barricading oneself in an ammunition depot was that one never lacked ammunition.
Sadly, that didn’t help if the weapon jammed.
“Fuck! My weapon’s blocked!” Matt yelled.
I knew that I couldn’t hold the line alone. Instantly, I made the decision. My strategic mind and training allowed me to function much better in such situations than Matt ever could. I threw my weapon to him, “Catch!” and rolled forward, picking up a war axe that laid next to our dead enemies.
Matt caught the weapon out of the air and fluently caved in the next Darkon’s chest. It gave me some breathing space. Coming up, I buried my new weapon in another Darkon. My brain and body activities operated at over 150%. We quickly found a working rhythm. I distracted and bound the enemy, adding wounds where possible while Matt killed as much as he could.
It was a miracle that we survived until now. Their ordinary Soldiers possessed much more power and speed than a battle-hardened human. We only prevailed because of our impeccable teamwork, my calculated precise movement and luck.
At the last moment I ducked, letting the sword crash into the wall next to me, breaking a seizable piece off of it. We couldn’t hold much longer. I felt my concentration wane. My body wasn’t made to uphold this sort of strain and focus.
Then the unavoidable happened. A bloody pool had formed around the door. One of my feet came down at an angle and slipped on the wet ground. Matt, still occupied with another Darkon, couldn’t help me. I was alone. The enemy stood above me, lifting his weapon for the finishing blow. In this position it didn’t matter what I did, he would break through my defense with his superior strength. Still, my mind furiously worked on possible solutions.
One last gamble-
BOOMMM!! The Darkon’s chest opened outward, splattering me with entrails and blood. It fell forward and buried me half under it. Pushing with all my strength, I rolled the Darkon off of me, coming head to head with chief. He had fought his way in from outside.
“Ha, Andrew! I knew you wouldn’t die so easily! You look even uglier than usual! But fear not, that won’t let you shirk your duty! We need to clean up, get up!”
he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.
Walking out, we came face to face with the rest of our unit. What was left of it. Over half of them laid charred on the ground further down the trench. They patted our backs as we made our way outside. Yet I could hear some of them whispering when they thought I couldn’t hear them.
“He is unkillable. Damn. Bathed in blood from top to bottom, but still not dead. Have you seen his eyes, completely emotionless. That’s the Hunter program for you. I heard he was top of his class, hadn’t he become unstable and killed someone of his unit he would now be with the special-forces. Without this god-damn war, he would never have been allowed into the corps again. I am still not sure if that was a good Idea. I mean, look at him. There were no emotions in his eyes, like he came from a walk. I bet he wouldn’t feel anything if we had been the ones in front of him.”
Not reacting to the chatter, I grabbed the nearest corpse, carrying it to a pre-defined corpse gathering spot. the support unit would come and get it in due time. It was always the same. Because of the high frequency of the attacks our units had to be replenished often with new people. Most of the old ones had died, leaving me with Mat and chief.
As the adrenaline disappeared all the aches in my body resurfaced. Overworked muscles pulsed in pain, accompanied by a towering headache. It made me feel even worse. I had forced myself to keep up with my enemy. But that was not all. My back, having been exposed to the deathly energies, screamed every time I moved. I needed a medic.
Matt saw me stagger. He grabbed my shoulder to stop my impending fall. He worked quickly. My arm was draped over his shoulder and his hand moved around my back. He checked my wounds and got big eyes.
“Chief! Andrew needs a medic, now!”
Mat overreacted, I knew my body; it looked worse than it was. Still, I let him guide me towards the med station.
Not long later I lay on my stomach on a bed. They had me pumped full with painkillers, healing supplements and had smeared a cooling gel over my whole back.