A howling siren began to shriek, jolting Staff Sergeant Timothy Johnson awake. As abrupt and jarring as the alarm was, it cut off almost immediately leaving an equally disorienting silence. He looked around a little bleary-eyed to get his bearings.

"Rise and shine rookie," one of the men around him said as several laughed.

"Can it. Drop in 3 minutes. Everyone do your final prep". The harsh voice of Lt Pierce snapped Tim into full awareness.

Tim was wearing head-to-toe power armor and was strapped into a drop rig, hovering over a large door in a room illuminated in red. A dull hum and rush of wind could be heard and cradled in the crook of his powered arms was a rifle. There were seven others strapped into similar rigs in the drop bay. The eight of them lined up in two neat rows of four.

Lt Pierce spoke up again "Gibbons, Ferretti, Masters, you're on point with me. Walker, Riggs, Johnson and Sisko, watch our six and support as needed."

"Aye sir" came the reply from everyone.

Suddenly the red lights turned out leaving them in blackness. After three seconds the door below them slowly began to open. Clouds rolled in carrying low ambient light and Tim took a firm grip on his rifle. He was incredibly nervous but determined not to show it.

"You ready rookie?" Came a voice from beside him and Tim looked over to see Riggs looking back at him. He gave the big man a single nod and to his surprise, Riggs returned it with respect showing in his eyes.

During training, Tim had been picked on and hazed constantly. But he had been determined. Tim wanted to be in the Armored Core and he would endure what he had to achieve that. From that look in Riggs's eyes, it almost seemed like the hazing and belittling was just there to scare off the weaker willed.

"Pythons go go go." Lt Pierce said.

One by one each of the men pulled their release and dropped free of the transport. Tim counted to three after Riggs dropped and pulled his own release. He was the seventh and as he fell from the plane he looked up and briefly caught Lt Pierce's look of approval before he was swallowed up by the freezing rain clouds.

His stomach shot up into his chest but he ignored it. Effectively blind, he used his HUD readouts to keep his bearings and oriented himself according to the positions of the others. Lightning arced past him and for a moment all he could see was after images but his vision recovered quickly. Then he was out of the cloud and below him was the target.

He looked out of the glass on his faceplate. The passing wind caused trails of water to flow upward or hover in place. Looking past the rain he could make out the shape of the small town in the darkness and the yet darker patch that was the park they would be landing in. Below him, he saw a brief burst of light, followed by a second. A succession continued until there were six dots of light, then an alarm on his suit chimed and Tim engaged his retros.

He felt his stomach slam back into place. A light above him caused him to look up and he saw Lt Pierce's retros. Looking back down he was almost shocked at the speed the ground was rushing up to greet him. But just when he was sure there was a problem the retros kicked it up a notch and slowed him further. He landed with a thud, the legs of the power armor taking the bulk of the impact.

The other six men who had landed first were already arrayed in a circle around the landing site protectively facing outward. Tim joined them, dropping to one knee, bringing his rifle to his shoulder, pointing it outward and scanning the darkness for any signs of danger. Moments later he heard the impact as Lt Pierce landed.

Tim's radio kicked on and he heard "Walker, sit-rep?"

"All quiet sir" Walker replied

"Sisko, you got anything?" Lt Pierce asked

"No sir. I don't sense anything hostile."

Tim looked over at Sisko who immediately looked at him. The dark-skinned man's eyes were all white with no pupils or irises and Tim could never tell if he was ever actually looking at him when they had talked in the past. Sisko grinned and laughed to himself.

Tim resumed his outward-facing position, thinking to himself, who am I to attempt to understand Psi-core elite warrior training? Sisko was probably the most badass warrior in the unit. When the two had sparred briefly in hand to hand, it wasn't even a contest. Sisko knew where Tim's attacks were coming from and was always in an advantageous position to counter.

"Form up on me, we're moving." Lt Pierce's voice snapped Tim from his thoughts. Tim stood and back peddled to the center, grouping up with Walker, Riggs and Sisko. The four of them followed the Lieutenant's group, rotating around each other slowly so there was always someone facing all four directions.

They left the quiet park and passed down an alley coming out into an intersection. The buildings were old and falling apart. Trash and debris littered the streets. Tim looked into the windows of the buildings across from them, the night vision of his HUD allowing him to clearly see the condition these places had been left in.

"Got a body over here," Ferretti said.

Lt Peirce knelt down next to the body. It was so small that he thought it was a child at first, but looking closer he was astonished and horrified. Most of the body was gone. Chunks were torn from it by sharp teeth that left jagged grooves in the flesh. Looking closer at the only remaining arm, he could see long sharp gouges, as if the victim had defended himself. Blood was still leaking from the corpse and so he pulled up thermal imaging, there was still some body heat. This had happened very recently, within the last hour, and he had been alive while this had happened to him.

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"OH god, I think I'm going to be sick." Masters said. He'd come to the same conclusion Pierce had. "Could you imagine going out like that?"

"Can the chatter. Sisko get up here." Pierce snapped

The Psyke made his way up to the Lieutenant's position and knelt down.

"Do you sense anything? "

Sisko closed his eyes, held his hands over the body and took in a deep breath through his nose. Flashes of teeth tearing flesh, screams of pain and fear and primal hunger shot through his mind. "Whatever did this was definitely not human. It was, it was, I don't know. It's no animal I have any familiarity with. It was utterly brutal and savage. So hungry." Sisko shook his head trying to clear away the vision.

Pierce patted the Psyke on the back and stood. "Okay, we have two problems now. One, a drug cartel and two, some kind of creature. Everyone stay on alert. This creature killed the guy less than an hour ago judging from body heat." The rain dripped down his faceplate as he spoke.

The men moved back into formation and the two groups began to slowly move deeper into the abandoned slums.

"Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut." Lt Pierce said. As they moved down the main thoroughfare of the town, evidence of violence amongst the evacuation became more prevalent. Bullet holes in the stone walls and dark stains of blood told a clear story of how difficult it was to extract the population when the radiation spikes were first detected by satellites.

For people with little to nothing in life, they were very reluctant to lose what little they had. Nearly a quarter of the population resisted the evacuation order. Gangs and cartels became militia fighting the evacuation with weapons and guile. In the end, more than five percent of the population was left behind to fend for itself. That was a year ago.

The government had watched the radiation spike increase slowly over time. Pierce's team was sent in to investigate and search for survivors.

Lt Pierce scanned every building window, every shadowed doorway and only silence and stillness greeted him.

"I don't like this, it's too quiet." Masters hissed. "There should still be people around, why is it so quiet, can't even hear birds."

"Can it" Lt Pierce said. But he was beginning to wonder the same thing, it was as if everything around them was holding its breath.

"Lieutenant, we're not alone." Sisko said, "I feel, hunger; something is stalking us, several somethings."

Lt Pierce immediately raised a closed fist to bring both groups to an immediate halt. With another gesture, he ordered everyone into a circular formation, backs together, kneeling.

Rain pattered off their armor as they waited in silence. The enhanced audio in Tim's suit did its best to cancel out the ambiance of the rain so he could listen for specific sounds. When it came, he almost missed it. There was a low splashing sound, like somebody walking slowly through a large puddle, coming from the alley to his left.

Sisko reacted at the same time pointing his weapon at the ally on the opposite side of the street. "We're surrounded." He whispered into his radio. "At least half a dozen, maybe upwards of ten."

Tim stared through the rain into the dark alley. The enhanced night vision picked up movement. He couldn't make out any details, the rain caused what little light there was to reflect oddly off of whatever was down there. But it was coming closer and he was realizing just how large it was.

Then all at once, its shape was clear and Tim locked eyes with it. There was a cunning, predatory intelligence in the reptilian eyes and he watched it study him and the others. It stood hunched at least eight feet tall. Tim could make out what looked like feathers on the elbows, knees and the crest of its head. Lips peeled back from a long angular jaw revealing many long sharp teeth and Tim could feel the low growl without hearing it. Its eyes looked at the rifle in his hands with clear recognition and every hair on the back of Tim's neck stood up.

The creature took a couple of steps back, not retreating, just getting some space and hiding in the thick rain again. Then it let out a bellowing roar and slammed one foot into the ground rapidly. Tim was confused for just a moment but as the rest of the team turned toward the alley, those on the far side of the circle standing to gain line of sight, horror passed through his mind as Sisko's warning flashed through his thoughts. This was a trap, the real attack was from behind, this guy was just baiting the men to turn their backs to the ambush. "Behind" he screamed into the radio but it was too late.

Screams filled the air and Tim whipped around to see six creatures attacking. He raised his rifle but couldn't get a shot, everything was happening so fast. Any shot he took would risk hitting an ally. The creatures were climbing over Masters, Walker and Ferretti. One clamped its Jaws around Walker's upper arm and even though the teeth didn't penetrate the armor there, Tim could clearly see the metal buckle in, crushing the man's bicep.

A few of the guys got a shot or two off, but the creatures generally went straight for the weapons in an attempt to disarm them. Tim whipped back around just in time to see the one from the ally leap into the air. Time seemed to slow and the single shot he managed to fire went wide. The creature landed on Tim and drove him down into the broken asphalt. The breath left his body in a whoosh and he struggled to breathe. One of the creature's feet was on his chest, holding his rifle down. Tim watched with horror as the jaw opened impossibly wide and descended for his face.

Its teeth left gouges in Tim's faceplate. The glass of the helmet seemed to momentarily confuse it. On a second attempt, one of its teeth got hooked on the faceplate and it yanked away, taking his whole helmet with it. On his back in the power armor, Tim couldn't do anything. One arm was pinned with his rifle and he couldn't get enough leverage to use the other for anything. The creature was just too heavy and too strong.

It tossed aside his helmet and looked down at him. Tim could see victory in the creature's cunning eyes, then its jaws opened and came for his head. Before it could connect, it was suddenly gone. Sisko was above him reaching a hand down to help him up. Accepting the aid, he stood. To his right, the creature writhed on the ground scratching at its head.

"Kill it, I hit it with a Psiblast, but my rifle is trashed" Sisko held up the two pieces his rifle had been broken into.

Tim quickly raised his rifle at the grounded creature and a powerful laser blast put a fist-sized hole through the creature's head before it could recover. Tim turned, re-engaging in the fight. Two creatures each had one of Gibbon's arms and were pulling in opposite directions as he screamed in pain. The metal of the suit whined as it was stretched past its limits. Tim couldn't line up a headshot. The creatures kept whipping their head back and forth like a dog tugging on a rope so he aimed for the body of the one on the left.

He pulled the trigger and a laser blast hit it in the side. It screamed in pain and released the arm in its jaws. Turning to him, Tim was horrified that the creature looked more angry than hurt. It Crouched to pounce on him but Tim began to fire rapidly. Blast after blast slammed into the creature punching holes in it until eventually, it fell over.

Once the arm was free, the other creature whipped its head around and hurled Gibbons like a ragdoll into a nearby building, the wall crumbled down burying the soldier. Then it slammed its head into Riggs, sending him flying back. Before Tim could line up a shot it leapt through the air and landed on Riggs's back. Lt Pierce was there out of nowhere and punched it across the face. Its head snapped back and it hissed in response. Before it could act, Sisko shoulder checked it hard in the back and it stumbled forward right into another power-armored punch to the face from the Lieutenant.

Lt Pierce swung a third time and the creature was ready. It spun, slamming its broad tail into both men in a large sweeping hit and sending both Pierce and Sisko hurtling back. It turned its attention to Tim but before it could do anything it hissed and fell to the ground, scratching at its head. Sisko was on the ground, one arm was outstretched towards it and Tim didn't hesitate. A blue Laser blast put an end to the creature's life.

Tim held down a hand and helped Riggs to his feet. Sisko was checking the others on the ground as Lt Pierce and Johnson returned. The immediate threat was over, all the creatures were dead, but at a heavy price. Gibbons, Masters, Ferretti and Walker were dead, most of the hydraulics in Rigg's suit were damaged and all of them had sustained some kind of damage and/or injury.

The rain poured down hard, nearly blinding Tim in the dark without his helmet. Suddenly Sisko tensed. "All the noise attracted attention. There's nothing around us right now but I can feel more of them headed this way" he said.

"Right. Johnson, give Sisko your rifle and help me with Riggs." Tim passed over the rifle then mirrored Lt Pierce by looping one of Riggs's arms over his head. Together they lifted him up and the four remaining soldiers made it back to the drop point with great haste. Lt Pierce called for evac as they moved and the soldiers found the dropship standing by on the ground when they arrived.