Chapter 46. Carnage.
As CJ launched his suit out of the back of the Pup, Tiff banked sharply to bring us around and find a landing zone. It wasn’t long, and we landed about a half mile away on the rear side of the base.
I could hear weapons firing and see explosions as I approached and lept over the rear wall, landing on the roof of the troop house.
CJ had about 15 Lacertine troops surrounding him, with several more on the ground dead around him. He quickly reached back and grabbed two of the mines in each hand, then spun quickly, throwing them around him in all directions. He wouldn’t make it easy for the Lacertines to get to him.
“Andy, stay back! Let this happen!” he shouted as the Lacertines advanced several of them in full-on sprints.
As they ran, two of them tripped the landmines, causing explosions of shrapnel that hit several more. CJ Spun to his left shouldering his rifle and began firing.
The lacertines were caught off guard. They must have bet on us waiting instead of taking the chance to attack them head-on. This was good for us so far.
By my count, about 20 Lacertine troops lay dead, and six more were now engaging CJ who was doing his best action-hero impression.
I crouched atop the troop house, gun raised, ready to start taking them out. Tiff crouched behind me as well, waiting for my command.
“CJ is about finished, everyone; ETA?” I asked.
“I’m clearing the third tower now,” Matty said, “Moderat resistance, but so far, nothing I can’t handle.”
“We are pinned down by that turret! We can’t move until Matty takes it out!” Loren said, “We are continuing to lay down suppressing fire but we can’t get closer until that thing is gone!”
“Gimme two minutes guys, I’m almost to the top,” Matty responded.
“Umm, Cap?” Jax said, “You have movement, the rest of those lacertine troops are coming from the troop house. You and Tiff need to hold off until the rest of us get there before you engage.”
I turned and looked at Tiff. We both knew that waiting wasn’t an option. We had them on their heels, and the longer we waited, the more likely they were to recover and fortify their position.
“We can’t wait Jax. As soon as Matty clears that tower, I need the rest of you here as quickly as you can. Kaj, You ready to make your entrance?” I asked.
“Yes, Captain, I am ready to assist you and bring honor to our crew. Give me the command, and my scythe will become the wind,” he said.
I looked back down into the courtyard. CJ had two Lacertines on his back and was down to one knee, struggling to get them off as two more were pumping rounds into his torso.
“Alright, Andy, that’s all I’ve got! The rest is up to you guys. When I trip these last land mines, it should set off the vacuum tube, so use the opportunity to pick off as many as you can,” CJ said.
With that, CJ reached around his back with both hands and pressed the trigger mechanism for the land mines on his back.
WHOOSH!
The wind from the explosion swept past Tiff and me as gore and Lacertine body parts rained from the sky. The explosion was powerful and took out the six Lacertine troops on and around CJ. There was only one problem: the vacuum tube didn’t detonate.
I looked around frantically for the tube that was approximately the size of a bank teller tube. The kind you would use at a drive-through bank that uses pneumatic tubes to transfer things from the customer to the teller.
“There!” Tiff yelled, “It’s in the corner near the front wall; it didn’t detonate.”
“Tiff, I need you to secure the tube; I’ll draw their attention,” I said.
“Third tower clear, Cap. I’ll provide firing support from the tower,” Matty said.
“We are en route, Captain, ETA 60 seconds!” Loren said.
“Get here fast guys. Kaj, wait for my signal, okay?”
“Understood, Captain!” he replied.
I jumped down from the troop house and tossed two grenades into the structure. I could hear Lacertines yelling and scrambling as they tried to avoid the explosives. Some did, but several didn’t. As the dust settled, I jumped to the side and took cover behind a transport truck that had been blown to bits when CJ detonated the mines.
I propped my rifle and waited for the Lacertines to leave the troop house. I didn’t have to wait long. Within seconds, the remaining 15 troops ran out of the troop house.
I started firing; I didn’t count on the five heavily armored Lacertines carrying large turrets to be the first to exit.
Before I ducked behind the vehicle, I got to identify one of them.
Lacertine Heavy Infantry
Level 14 – Armored Gunny
“Holy shit! These guys are big!” I said, “I need everyone here now! There are five giant Lacertines with body armor and some kind of Gatling gun turrets.”
ZZZZZIPPP!
I didn’t hear the shot and barely heard the round zip over my head from Matty’s tower. I peeked around the front of the charred vehicle to see the first Armored Gunny standing entirely still. Then, a stream of blood shot from the front of his head above his right eye; his knees buckled and he crumbled to the ground.
“Don’t expect that to happen again. It has a 24-hour cooldown. It’s an ability I picked up at level 10 called Killshot. I can pierce pretty much any standard armor as long as I have time to focus and a clear line of sight.” Matty said.
“Thanks, Matty; now we need to pull something out of our asses to take down the last four,” I responded.
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“I think we need to be a little bit worried about the 12 troops behind them as well,” Tiff said.
She had recovered the vacuum tube and reached my position behind the burned-out truck.
“Should we use the Vacuum tube on them?!” I asked.
“If either of us stick our heads out from behind this vehicle, we are likely not going to have a head after that,” she said as she stuck up her rifle firing blindly at the general location of the Lacertine troops.
“Captain, can you make a hole for the Rover in that front wall?” Red asked.
“I have two grenades left. I can try.” I said.
“Do it now!” Red said.
I grabbed the two grenades from my waist and threw them at the front wall which was on my left side. The grenades rolled to the edge of the wall and exploded creating approximately a 20-foot hole in the wall.
The Armored Gunny’s all turned at once as the grenades exploded. They raised their arms to shield themselves from debris. The 12 Lacertine troops behind them had taken up positions behind broken pieces of wall or other debris for cover and were now starting to open fire on our position.
“We're in a bind here, guys; we could use a little backup!” I said.
Just then the Rover came blasting through the hole in the wall and slammed into all 4 of the armored Gunny’s. Two of them were dragged underneath the rover and weren’t moving; one slid off the side after absorbing the hit. The fourth one was now pinned between the grill of the Rover and the right-side exterior wall.
Red tilted the rover’s turret down as the Gunny raised his hands to ward off the impending fire. Red pulled the trigger and rounds poured into the Gunny. When Red finally stopped firing the upper body of the Gunny was just a bloody stump.
Tiff sprang into action as she jumped up and slid across the truck's hood. She ran over to the Rover and pumped several rounds into the heads of the two Armored Gunnys under the Rover.
“Better safe than sorry!” she yelled as she turned and looked at me over her shoulder.
Before she could turn her head back, the rest of the troops aimed their weapons at her, red, Loren, and Claire. They had no cover and were exposed.
I jumped over the truck and landed between them and the Lacertine troops, quickly activating Pulsar Blast. The energy beams shot from my hands, hitting four Lacertine troops, ripping the weapons from their hands and blasting them back. As the beams fizzled out, I sank to one knee, anchored in place for 10 seconds.
There were still eight Lacertine troops on their feet, preparing to fire on me.
“Kaj, Now!” I said.
Like a comet, Kaj exploded from the sky. He landed right in the middle of the lacertine troops, his scythe a blur as he cut and spun, killing three troops in seconds.
The other five opened fire on him as he beat his massive wings and exploded back into the air.
“Kaj, Help the others. Get them to cover!” I said.
“Jax is here, we are coming to the courtyard now Cap!” Matty said.
“Careful there are five of them left; we can’t afford to get sloppy now team,” I said, “We have them outnumbered so let’s take up position and ensure they don’t have an opportunity to fire any clean shots at us.”
Attention Participants,
Please be advised that a Council representative has entered the dungeon. This representative represents no faction and is operating in an independent capacity at the behest of the Council.
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked Tiff who looked as bewildered as everyone else.
“I’ve never heard of this before. Whoever they are they must be carrying some weight if they could override dungeon protocols.” Tiff said.
I looked up and saw something glowing in the sky directly above us. It seemed to be getting closer and moving at incredible speed.
The Lacertine troops across from us were looking up as well, it was obvious that this was unexpected and unprecedented.
As the object got closer, I realized it wasn’t changing trajectory. It was going to land directly on us.
“Everyone get together and get to cover! Get as close to the exterior wall as possible!” I yelled.
We all ran toward the complex's outer wall, looking for anything to hide behind. The Lacertine troops had the same idea, as they were also scrambling for cover.
As the object got closer, I saw that it was a vertical white sphere. It seemed to have no propulsion engines but slowed as it approached. After a few more seconds it slowed nearly to a stop before hovering a few feet off the ground.
Three tiny metal legs began to eject from the bottom of the sphere as it landed softly on the ground.
Nothing happened. No door opened, and nobody exited the craft.
We all gathered together, crouched close to the ground waiting to see what happened. The Lacertine troops held their cover and stayed as well. Kaj landed beside us.
The sphere was between us and the lacertine position so neither side had a good line of sight to fire on the other effectively.
We were safe for now.
I’m going to see if I can get a better look at that thing,” I said.
“Not a good idea, Captain,” Tiff said.
“Look Tiff It’s a Council representative, right?” I asked, “You told me that the Council values the integrity of the dungeons so how dangerous could it be? They could have just realized we were about to win this thing and sent a representative to brief us on the next reaping phase.”
“Doubtful Captain, I suggest we hold our position,” she said.
“If nothing else I may be able to get a good shot on those last five troops. Someone has to make a move here. We need to get off this moon already.”
I didn’t wait for another argument from Tiff. I slowly began making my way toward the sphere in the center of the courtyard. I got about 5 feet away and still nothing happened.
I turned to look at Tiff,” Nothing,” I said raising my hands and shrugging.
“What the He…”
Before I could finish the words something blasted out of the top of the sphere. I fell back trying to get my bearings.
The remaining Lacertine troops abandoned cover and rushed me as I tried to recover. I got to one knee, raised my rifle, and fired, taking out three with rounds to the chest. The other two were now too close to use my rifle so I dropped it and summoned my daggers.
One of the Lacertines troops ran past me and with his own dagger he sliced behind my knee between the armor plates. A sharp pain ran through my leg as my health bar ticked down. The other Lacertine speared me in the chest and took me to the ground.
We rolled twice with me ending up on top of him. I quickly took the dagger in my left hand and stabbed it into the soft spot under his right arm. With my right hand, I grabbed his throat, squeezed it, and ripped it out. He lay there kicking his legs and grasping at his neck as he suffocated and bled out.
I rolled off the troop's dying body and spun on one knee to see the other soldier rushing me from 10 yards away. As he got close, I ducked under his arms, kicked his legs out from under him, and, with my right hand on his head, slammed him to the ground. He was out cold.
I heard screaming from the crew's position and swung my head over to see the commotion. Fear and anger washed over me as I watched.
Anthragor stood in the middle of my crew as they fought in vain. His four upper arms expertly swung those jagged red blades, his lower two arms firing plasma pistols.
Everyone was down except Kaj and Tiff. They were fighting, in vain, to overcome that monster. That Monster that we had killed once already.
Anthragor swung his blade downward, catching Kaj across the chest.
Too fast, it’s happening too fast, I have to help – I thought.
I couldn’t get back in time, he had killed so many in just a few seconds. Kaj fell to the ground in a heap. As I took my first steps toward the battle.
Anthragor turned and stared at me with that eyeless head and smiled once again. Tiff leaped at him and he stuck out his lower right arm to catch her by the throat, he was still smiling.
“We meet again little monkey. I fear this time will be the last, however. It seems your friends have all decided to die, maybe you should join them!” he said with a chuckle.
He turned his head and looked at Tiff as she struggled to free herself from his grip. He took the blade in his left hand and slowly slid it into Tiff’s chest as she screamed. He turned his head toward me again.
“I want to watch you as you watch her die, Human. That is the payment I’ve come to collect and do be aware that this blade will sever the connection with her duplicate self, killing them both. Pity that such a valuable creature should die for a primate.” He said.
I reached my hand toward Tiff as she reached her hand back toward me, begging me to save her.
“Nooooo! I’ll Kill you Anthragor!” I shouted.
Whap!
A pain shot through my right shoulder as the Lacertine regained consciousness and shot at me. I swung around and materialized my sidearm, firing one round directly into his head. He dropped dead.
I turned to make my way to the waiting Anthragor and Everything froze. I couldn't move but neither was Anthragor moving, It was like time completely froze.
Words scrolled across my interface:
You have reached level 15. Prepare to select your next ability – you must commune with the creators of the gift for the selection of this ability.