Sergeant George Pov

We had been positioned here just in case the Night made a probe against the line. This was a full-on assault, runners and signals had come into the HQ like a fireball, each one more devastating than the last. Breakthroughs, entire sections of the line had gone dark, and there were not enough of the church's inquisitors or the shielding council's magi to stomp out every fire. So, me and my boys had our orders.

Gunners Nest 13A in Section 32, a runner had come in, they needed reinforcements, or they would fall. A full gunner's nest down would leave a hole in the line and so the 13th Guard were deployed to retake it, and we of the 7th Night Suppression Squad were the spear head. I was at the head, Corporal Johanson and Private Pierre were behind me. The gunner’s nest was still firing, we could hear it ahead, and that meant we might not all die tonight. Even if we were a squad meant to handle the things that go bump in the night, no human is going to survive being the first into a horde.

For a moment, the sound of the machine gun stuttered, and my heart plummeted before it resumed. We were almost there, I had line of sight to the gunner's nest and there I saw it, a vampire, choking a bloodstained soldier out. That was a mistake, it should have broken through, or gone to silence the gun. The thought flashed through my head as my rifle came up, there was no clear shot yet. I watched the soldier grab something near his chest, the vampire looked down smirking as he drew a bulky pistol. Its hand was coming up, he would never get a shot off. I watched him get the pistol just out of the holster. And then a boom more akin to a cannon than a gun went off. He hadn’t bothered to try and get a lethal blow, or even a good angle to fire from. The gun flew from his hand, thrown by a bad grip and the massive recoil.

The vampire screamed, and I fired as it flung the man away from itself in pain. My men opened fire behind me, and a volley of lead slammed into the falling monster. There was a hole in its center mass big enough I could see through. He got the spine! I gritted my teeth. My feet had not stopped moving since we dismounted at the start of the trenches. I put on a burst of speed, and my bayonet slammed into the chest of the falling vampire, it slid along the bones and upward into the soft tissue of the monster's throat. Johanson slammed his bayonet into its right shoulder, Pierre its left. More men joined behind us, I stomped on my gun, driving it deeper. And the monster screamed, thrashing, its own pained convulsions tearing its throat out as it lunged upwards trying to bite me. Its left arm broke free, throwing Pierre and another soldier away, its mangled hand, torn apart ripping itself free of a bayonet reached for me.

I was lifted into the air as it tried to bite me, and then slammed back down again as more soldiers dogpiled us, several throwing themselves bodily onto its left arm. More grabbing onto us doing everything they could to keep it pinned. I grabbed my revolver and opened fire into its head. The first two rounds deflected off its skull, the third bounced back into my own leg, the pain bloomed, and I ignored it, the 4th shot missed due to its thrashing, but the 5th went in through an eye, the monster convulsed and stilled. The 6th went in through the other eye.

For a moment the air was still, it couldn’t have taken more than a minute since we had reached here. But it felt like forever, I could feel wetness running down my leg. And then I snapped to, the gun was silent.

“Someone check on the wounded! Secure the area! Skippy and Bagel your on corpse watch! DO NOT LET THIS THING GET BACK UP, MOVE IT SOLDIERS!” I roared out and the dogpile of men and bayonets dispersed.

I glanced down at the corpse as I stepped off and grimaced as I saw the hole that had severed its spine, already partially healed. Much longer and it would have possibly healed and with its legs to brace…it could have thrown us off. A look around showed men dragging Pierre and someone I didn’t recognize over to the side, tending to them alongside the bloodstained soldier who had been in its grip when I first arrived. They were signaling for medics so at least they appeared to have survived.

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I walked into the gunner's nest, doing my best not to limp. I could have it treated later after confirming the state of the men inside. I stepped into the nest, and grimaced. It was splattered with even more blood and…pieces, than outside. My eyes adjusted, and I looked for the men who had kept the gun running. I inhaled sharply. There were usually three guns in this nest, only one had been firing, but that was enough to keep the horde from recklessly charging in sensing weakness. The left gun was rammed through its gunner's chest. The right looked to have been torn in half, twisted metal all that remained. Only the center one remained. But the gunner...

I quickly stepped over to the gun and peered out through the gunner's slit. Nothing was coming across the way, I glanced back at the gunner. He was not one of the assigned gunners, the arm band marking him as an ammo runner. Meant to bring rounds, food, water and fuel to those on the line. Today he had held the line, I inspected the gun, and then reached down, carefully, as gently as I could, I wrenched out the two fingers he had jammed into the trigger guard. They were clearly broken, unable to fit, but one finger wouldn’t have been enough.

I reached over and closed his eyes, still staring out across the field. The guns could not be allowed to go silent. That was the law by which the line was held. I grabbed the rifle sticking from his back and tried to pull it out, but it was buried too deep. I grimaced and stepped back, glancing across the field outside the bunker once more. It was still, whatever beasts had survived the gun having crawled away already. I turned back to the soldier and searched for his tags, checking them so I would know his name before leaving them for the clean-up crew.

I spoke to him, I had to say something, even if he would never hear me in life. I hope he heard them in death. “You have held the line soldier; may you find peace”.

I turned around and strode out, already yelling for men to bring something to saw the rifle apart and men to man the gun. Bagel was standing on the vampire's corpse while Skippy held the head and the entrenching tool, he had used to sever it. At least that would make sure it stayed dead. I looked up at the moon above. The line held for now, but the gun could not be allowed to fall silent, and the Night…was just beginning.

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The 13th Guard reinforced all along the line, and my squad fell back after they had fully entrenched themselves, though the process took till nearly dawn. Pierre lived, though even with the church's healing he would be out of commission for a few weeks due to injuries from the toss. The soldier who was with him was one of the 13th Guard who had charged with us. Germaine Brewer, named as such after the saint, did not survive, the vampire's blow had shattered his hip bones, and he bled out before reaching the hospitals in the back of the line. The bloodstained soldier who had taken the vampire's spine nearly did not survive. Only the intervention of an Inquisitor at the hospital had gotten him the treatment necessary for him to recover from the injuries he had sustained.

The gun he had used was nonstandard issue, but apparently it has some special historic meaning. Not that the church will tell anything to a mere sergeant, but it was a big enough deal the church's healers almost denied healing to someone critical in the slaying of a vampire due to its presence. And then the Inquisitor publicly tore the hospital head a new asshole for it. First time I’ve ever respected an Inquisitor for something other than sticking metal into a monster.

This is relevant, because as of yesterday Private William Cooper has been assigned to my squad and we have received orders to report to Heiligarde. The trip will take a week and give the squad time to get to know our new recruit. Surprisingly he will be the only one joining us this time, for perhaps the first time since our squad's creation we have survived an encounter with night creatures with less than 50% casualties. Here is hoping our next mission is even close to this successful.

On our way to Heiligarde, I will be stopping to personally deliver the personal effects of Tucker Smith. The ammo runner who held Nest 13A. I did not know him personally, but he was stationed at the section of the line that the vampires broke through initially. There were no survivors. The other suppression squads will be coordinating with the inquisitors and magi to hunt down all the forces that broke through, but since we have been called away from the line and will be passing through his hometown, I volunteered to ensure that his death letter and effects make it home.

May the heavens have mercy on his soul, and may I someday prove as stalwart a man as he was when the time comes.

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