Benjamin Carmine
08-14-2008, 10:44 PM
Okay, this is the revised version. I went through it and fixed the spelling mistakes, cut down of parts of sentences that were useless and confusing, and fixed a few plot holes. I need constructive criticism here, so please be hard. I want to make it as perfect as possible, so just tell me exactly what i need to improve on ect. Thanks guys =]
Harland Gedrik squeezed his eyes shut at the sounds of gunfire that resonated all around him. The sound was all encompassing, even through the reduced audio receptors built into his standard issue, light blue, C.O.G. helmet. He was absolutely petrified of what was going on around him, the brutality of combat taking him utterly by surprise.
When he was younger, Harland had used to play the age old game of soldiers, shooting imaginary guns at other children, pretending to destroy the enemy.
That little game was nothing like the real thing.
Not even close.
Pushing his back against the ragged cement wall behind him, Harland hugged his Lancer Assault Rifle to his chest, having not even fired a round yet at the enemy, fear overcoming his ability to fight.
The snarling bursts of Lancer fire and ragged coughs of Locust Hammerbursts suddenly tapered off, each side coming to an unconscious agreement to cease fire and regain their bearings.
Slowly, Harland eased open his eyes. The inside of the helmet assaulted his senses, the holographic HUD's many images dominating the display before his eyes. He was overwhelmed for a few seconds before he noticed an audio icon flashing urgently in the top left of the HUD.
Harland jabbed his chin to hit one of the activiation runes located in front of him and suddenly the inside of the helmet was assaulted by noise again.
Only this time it was a human voice, not one of the guttural grunts of the Locust Horde.
"Private!" bellowed the voice of Corporal Kendal Hayes "Are you ****ing kidding me?!"
Harland didn‘t respond, unable to find his voice.
“Private, you could have gotten us killed!” bellowed Hayes “Where was your supporting fire?! We were almost overrun on your side of perimeter!”
Harland mumbled an apology to Hayes, more to get the loud mouthed corporal to stop yelling at him than he actually listening to the order.
This just angered the corporal further.
"You will answer every question and order I address you with Sir, Yes Sir! Or I will shoot you myself! You get me?"
"Sir, Yes Sir!" Harland said, loud enough to almost qualify as a shout.
Abruptly, the audio link rune changed into a different one, the new one signifying an open channel to the squad.
Corporal Hayes addressed the whole squad on the open channel "Bronski, Johnson, take up position about 5 meters back behind me. Defendel, Hancock, move your position down the line to your left and take advantage of that burned out hulk!"
Harland tracked Privates Defendel and Hancock run towards the designated piece of cover.
The, looking to his left, Harland saw the armor clad form of Corporal Hayes.
"Gedrik, you're with me, I can‘t trust you by yourself" Hayes added then broke the link.
As Hayes broadcasted that last command, his helmeted head turned towards Harland, the helmets reflective eyes flashing blue from the glint. He beckoned Harland over towards him with a gloved hand.
Before Harland could move, Hancock yelled "Here they come!", his cry quickly followed by the sharp crack of his Longshot Sniper Rifle.
Hayes beckoned faster, urging Harland on.
“Move Private!”
Getting up so that he was squatting on his haunches, Harland began roadie running towards the crouched form of Corporal Hayes.
Head tucked to his chest, shoulders hunched, Lancer cradled to his chest, his feet kicking up dust, Harland had no time for thought as the bullets began whizzing by his head.
They say a bullet will make a hissing sound if it is close.
Harland heard more hisses than he thought possible, all so close.
He slide into cover, his back throwing up dust as it slammed into the concrete patch, little flakes of paint drifting down lazily into the gray dust.
Overriding his manual settings, Corporal Hayes' voice blared "Fire or die private!"
It didn't take much more than that.
Harland began to blind fire over cover towards the general vicinity of the advancing Locust.
"You dumbass! That **** don’t work! You need to snap shoot them!"
Harland gripped his rifle and quickly poked up, exposing only his head and a shoulder as he let rip a burst from his rifle.
It bucked and snarled in his grip.
Just as quickly as he had duck up, he slid back into cover.
Moving a few feet to his left, he ducked up again and repeated his earlier action. To pop up in one place more than once would essentially be giving an enemy sniper a perfect shot.
And those Drone snipers didn’t miss.
The squad fired in bursts at the advancing, scaly enemies, blowing fist sized chunks out of leather armor and fleshy hide.
Harland had dropped a dark shapeto it's knees and was about to finish it off when suddenly a small object flew down into the cover nearest Hayes.
"Grenade!" He yelled and dived away from the foot long Bolo grenade.
The resulting explosion threw Harland back about 3 meters, shrapnel shooting past him and gray dust billowing up.
Through his dazed mind Harland heard "They're charging us!" Hancock and Hayes yelling at the same time.
There was a grunt of pain to Harland's left as one of his squad mates was hit.
"Defendel's down!" cried Hancock.
It wasn't a few seconds after uttering those words that Hancock let out an agonized, gurgling scream somewhere to Harland’s left.
It was abruptly cut off.
Harland began to panic, unable to see anything. His helmet’s visual display must have been damaged in the explosion. Quickly, he popped the seals on his gorget, little hissing sounds emitting with each opening. Then Harland tore his helmet from his head and flung it to the ground.
It was like a slap in the face. The smell of cordite, the sting of the cold breeze, and the sounds of battle threatened to overload his senses.
Then Harland saw his first Locust up close.
There was three Locust rushing Harland and Hayes, each one a giant, scaly man killer. Each was clad in rough, coarse trousers and shirts, covered with leather straps and armor festooning their body seemingly at random. Their features were pinched, animal intelligence gleaming in each pair of beady yellow eyes. Each held either a Hammerburst rifle or Lancer, each spitting bullets at the COG.
The three large beasts vaulted over cover into where Hayes and Harland were standing
One of the drones slipped on the rubble and tumbled forward, crashing around onto the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Hayes and Harland sprayed the Drone with combined Lancer fire and the downed beast writhed in agony, as blood leaked from many holes that were appearing in it’s body.
Harland’s Lancer clicked empty and stuttered out of empty. He didn’t have time to think, the Locust were upon them.
One Drone went for Hayes, one for Harland.
The one that went for Harland raised his rifle, a Lancer, most likely stolen from a dead COG soldier, and triggered his chainsaw bayonet.
The Bayonet coughed and burst to life, the metal teeth of the chainsaw beginning to cycle hungrily. It made whirring sounds as the Drone advanced at a run towards Harland.
Harland panicked and almost didn't have time to trigger his own chainsaw bayonet in time. He ducked drunkenly from a horizontal slice, aimed at ripping off Harland's head.
The Drone and Harland's chainsaw bayonets met together as they both brought them down in a vertical sledgehammer like swing. The chainsaws met and locked together, teeth whining in complaint, sparks bursting from the whirring parts.
The Drones strength was unbelievable and Harland could feel his smaller human frame being slowly pushed back, step by step.
The locked chainsaws inched closer to Harland’s face.
Harland briefly felt his life flash before his eyes as the locked bayonets were about an inch from his face.
Harland panicked and dropped to one knee, which undoubtedly saved his life.
The Locust Drone wasn't expecting the move and tumbled forward, off balance, to land face first on the ground, it's Lancer flying from it's grip hand to rest in the dust, the chainsaw bayonet shutting down unhappily.
Picking himself up, Harland spotted the Drone rising from it's knees to it's feet, hissing in annoyance or pain.
Harland revved his chainsaw and crossed the few feet in a matter of seconds.
Bringing his chainsaw down in a vicious arc, the chainsaw bayonet bit into the meat of the Drone’s right shoulder.
The teeth of the bayonet roared happily as they tore out chunks of bloody flesh, advancing at an alarming rate through bone, cartilage, flesh, connective tissue, and muscle with ease. The Drone roared in a cry of pain that was easily translatable in every language.
Adding everyone ounce of strength towards pushing the bayonet downwards, Harland was almost surprised to find the chainsaw bayonet rip through the last part of the Drones body. He accidentally almost decapitated his own leg in the downwards stroke and had to jab the ignition button off to avoid a nasty, self-inflicted wound.
Looking down at his handiwork, Harland saw that he had ripped through the body in a rough diagonal cut from right shoulder down to the left half of the pelvis. It was only then that he saw the amount of mutilation that he had inflicted upon the body of the enemy.
Intestines and other vital organs either lay shredded or oozing out of the deep rent in the stomach cavity. Bone jutted from the chest, gleaming white covered in splashes of blood.
Everything, including himself, was covered in a dark reddish-black ichor.
Dropping to his knees, Harland began to heave and gasp, vomiting up his breakfast into the gray dust.
Once he stopped retching, he raised his head to look for Hayes.
When the Locust had charged him, nothing had been on his mind but saving his ass; he totally forgot Hayes.
Hayes was laughing, his hearty chuckle augmented by his helmets audio receptors. He had the Drone in which had rushed him splayed out on the ground, spread eagle, whimpering in paint from a few bullet holes dotting it’s chest.
Hayes abruptly looked up at the inquisitive Harland and Harland could almost imagine the deadly grin splitting Hayes face.
Hayes stood astride the Drones chest and lifted his right foot high to about chest height.
Then he quickly brought it own, heel first, and curb stomped the downed Locust. The head cracked under the momentum on the foot, the steel laced boot utterly wrecking the cranial cavity and making a disgusting popping sound.
Hayes picked up his Lancer and scanned the area as Harland began vomiting on the ground again.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Harland got back into cover, retrieving his Lancer and unsuccessfully attempting to clean the gristle off his chainsaw bayonet.
Hayes suddenly put his right hand to his helmet, which usually meant a communication was currently being beamed to the wearer.
Hayes nodded once and slammed a clenched fist onto his outstretched knee twice in rapid succession.
He opened up the external link and said "We're being extracted! Get your **** and move to the EZ!"
Harland couldn't have had heard something more sweet than that. Picking himself up, he roadie ran in a zigzag motion back towards a building in the distance, Bronski and Johnson to his left and right with Hays bringing up the rear, lagging behind due to a large package, newly strapped across his back.
Taking up defensive positions, Hayes tucked two C.O.G. Tags into one of the pouches that festooned his belt. Hancock and Defendel. And in one of those pouches was Antone and Bende. Both had been killed earlier. But they had accomplished their mission. That's what counts Chairman Prescott had said.
Bull**** is what Harland thought.
But Harland got to go back to base to get a shower, hot meal, and a cot. What more can you ask? he thought.
A low drone began to become louder as it neared. A black speck became a fly, and that fly became a bird, and that bird became larger and larger until the recognizable shape of a King Raven Helicopter was clearer.
The downwash from the rotating propellers shot the dust up and turned it around the huddling soldiers.
Harland raised a hand to ward off the dust and it wasn't until long that the Raven was only a few feet off the ground.
Everyone piled into the Raven, steel boots clanging on the metal grillwork of the helicopter. Once everyone was on and the package secure, the Raven shot upwards and began to dip and dodge, moving in evasive maneuvers to escape any nemacyst floating around to hit C.O.G. traffic.
As the Raven flew farther away from the urban center, the ground began to shake noticeably. Dust began to rise and buildings began to shake. The Raven was still low enough in altitude for Harland to see rubble tumble into the streets as buildings topple. Cracks began to inch along the streets, lanes, and thorough ways. These cracks began to widen in length and width until they were enormous. Suddenly, there was a massive explosion, one that rivaled ten hammer of dawn strikes, that shook the city.
The city shook like a thing possessed and suddenly collapsed in on itself. A giant sinkhole appeared in the ground, kilometers wide. The remainder of the buildings and structures toppled into the great abyss. A giant dust cloud rose upwards and as it began to obstruct Harland’s view of the death of the city below, he saw thousands of Locust erupt from the sinkhole, swarming out of the giant depression in the earth.
Then the swarm was cut off from visibility.
Harland was shocked into silence, his jaw working soundlessly.
A gloved hand clutched his shoulder and Harland, in spite of being safe, jumped.
It was just Hayes.
His helmet was off, his black hair cropped close to his skull was covered in gray dust, blending in with his gray eyes. But his eyes had a dead look, a look that seemed to stare past Harland. Some call it the thousand yard stare.
"Now you know Harland, now you know why we had to get what we came to get."
"So this operation was to make a covert pick up before...that..happened?" Harland inquired, finally finding his voice.
"Yes" Hayes said simply.
Harland gazed back down at the dust that obstructed his vision and then back at Hayes.
"Sir..so what was it exactly that we picked up?" Harland ventured slowly.
"The one thing that is going to turn the war in our favor, or that's what I’m told." Hayes replied.
"That's kind of a cryptic answer...sir" Harland said.
"Okay..." Hayes clenched his eyes shut "if you must know, it's a container of cryo frozen Drone eggs."
"I risked my live for ****ing EGGS!" Harland yelled, fatigue suddenly gone in a burst of uncharacteristic rage.
"Do you know what we can do with those eggs?" Hayes patiently said, his face a set mask of neutrality.
Harland was about to reply with something insubordinate and found he couldn't find the words. His mind began to wrap around the possibilities that they could do with the eggs.
"We could...breed Locust...to fight Locust" Harland stammered in horror "But thats horrible!"
"Order's are Order's Gedrik" the Corporal whispered "You don't question them, you follow them".
"Sir! That could cause an epidemic! Anything can happen. We have to destroy them!" Harland yelled.
Over the din of the Raven, Harland hear the activation sounds of Lancers. Harland slowly turned his head back towards his squad mates and found their rifles aimed straight at him, unwaveringly.
"Guys! What are you doing!? We have to kill them!" Harland pleaded.
He turned back to Hayes and found himself staring down the barrel of his snub pistol.
"What..?" Harland stuttered.
“Gedrik, this could mean winning the war and destroying the very thing that kills our people every day. Our numbers dwindle with each passing day and our resources are used up by a race intent on wiping us from the planet.” Corporal Hayes explained calmly.
“You’re ****ing crazy! It won’t work!” Harland exclaimed, fear saturating his words.
“Last chance Harland,” Hayes used Harlands first name, attempting to calm him “Are you with us or not?”
Harland gazed up at the barrel of the snub pistol inches from his face and his eyes swung to his Lancer a few scant feet to his left.
Making his decision, Harland dove to his left towards the Lancer.
Corporal Hayes’s Snub pistol barked once, the sound resonating through the cramped quarters of the Raven.
Harland's head snapped back, his features disfigured by the high caliber round which had entered his head underneath the nose, breaking the top row of teeth, and traveled upwards to exit the top back portion of his head.
Blood spread outwards in a pink mist, covering Bronski and Johnson, the two nearest soldiers. They lowered their rifles and begun to wipe the blood from their armor in disgust.
Harland was dead before he hit the grillwork.
Hayes stepped over his prone body and grabbed his C.O.G. Tag and pulled it from it's place from around Harland's neck. Then Hayes unceremoniously rolled the dead body of Private Harland Gedrik out of the open side of the King Raven.
"Damn shame..." Hayes said out loud.
His squad mates all nodded sagely.
The King Raven continued on.
Harland Gedrik squeezed his eyes shut at the sounds of gunfire that resonated all around him. The sound was all encompassing, even through the reduced audio receptors built into his standard issue, light blue, C.O.G. helmet. He was absolutely petrified of what was going on around him, the brutality of combat taking him utterly by surprise.
When he was younger, Harland had used to play the age old game of soldiers, shooting imaginary guns at other children, pretending to destroy the enemy.
That little game was nothing like the real thing.
Not even close.
Pushing his back against the ragged cement wall behind him, Harland hugged his Lancer Assault Rifle to his chest, having not even fired a round yet at the enemy, fear overcoming his ability to fight.
The snarling bursts of Lancer fire and ragged coughs of Locust Hammerbursts suddenly tapered off, each side coming to an unconscious agreement to cease fire and regain their bearings.
Slowly, Harland eased open his eyes. The inside of the helmet assaulted his senses, the holographic HUD's many images dominating the display before his eyes. He was overwhelmed for a few seconds before he noticed an audio icon flashing urgently in the top left of the HUD.
Harland jabbed his chin to hit one of the activiation runes located in front of him and suddenly the inside of the helmet was assaulted by noise again.
Only this time it was a human voice, not one of the guttural grunts of the Locust Horde.
"Private!" bellowed the voice of Corporal Kendal Hayes "Are you ****ing kidding me?!"
Harland didn‘t respond, unable to find his voice.
“Private, you could have gotten us killed!” bellowed Hayes “Where was your supporting fire?! We were almost overrun on your side of perimeter!”
Harland mumbled an apology to Hayes, more to get the loud mouthed corporal to stop yelling at him than he actually listening to the order.
This just angered the corporal further.
"You will answer every question and order I address you with Sir, Yes Sir! Or I will shoot you myself! You get me?"
"Sir, Yes Sir!" Harland said, loud enough to almost qualify as a shout.
Abruptly, the audio link rune changed into a different one, the new one signifying an open channel to the squad.
Corporal Hayes addressed the whole squad on the open channel "Bronski, Johnson, take up position about 5 meters back behind me. Defendel, Hancock, move your position down the line to your left and take advantage of that burned out hulk!"
Harland tracked Privates Defendel and Hancock run towards the designated piece of cover.
The, looking to his left, Harland saw the armor clad form of Corporal Hayes.
"Gedrik, you're with me, I can‘t trust you by yourself" Hayes added then broke the link.
As Hayes broadcasted that last command, his helmeted head turned towards Harland, the helmets reflective eyes flashing blue from the glint. He beckoned Harland over towards him with a gloved hand.
Before Harland could move, Hancock yelled "Here they come!", his cry quickly followed by the sharp crack of his Longshot Sniper Rifle.
Hayes beckoned faster, urging Harland on.
“Move Private!”
Getting up so that he was squatting on his haunches, Harland began roadie running towards the crouched form of Corporal Hayes.
Head tucked to his chest, shoulders hunched, Lancer cradled to his chest, his feet kicking up dust, Harland had no time for thought as the bullets began whizzing by his head.
They say a bullet will make a hissing sound if it is close.
Harland heard more hisses than he thought possible, all so close.
He slide into cover, his back throwing up dust as it slammed into the concrete patch, little flakes of paint drifting down lazily into the gray dust.
Overriding his manual settings, Corporal Hayes' voice blared "Fire or die private!"
It didn't take much more than that.
Harland began to blind fire over cover towards the general vicinity of the advancing Locust.
"You dumbass! That **** don’t work! You need to snap shoot them!"
Harland gripped his rifle and quickly poked up, exposing only his head and a shoulder as he let rip a burst from his rifle.
It bucked and snarled in his grip.
Just as quickly as he had duck up, he slid back into cover.
Moving a few feet to his left, he ducked up again and repeated his earlier action. To pop up in one place more than once would essentially be giving an enemy sniper a perfect shot.
And those Drone snipers didn’t miss.
The squad fired in bursts at the advancing, scaly enemies, blowing fist sized chunks out of leather armor and fleshy hide.
Harland had dropped a dark shapeto it's knees and was about to finish it off when suddenly a small object flew down into the cover nearest Hayes.
"Grenade!" He yelled and dived away from the foot long Bolo grenade.
The resulting explosion threw Harland back about 3 meters, shrapnel shooting past him and gray dust billowing up.
Through his dazed mind Harland heard "They're charging us!" Hancock and Hayes yelling at the same time.
There was a grunt of pain to Harland's left as one of his squad mates was hit.
"Defendel's down!" cried Hancock.
It wasn't a few seconds after uttering those words that Hancock let out an agonized, gurgling scream somewhere to Harland’s left.
It was abruptly cut off.
Harland began to panic, unable to see anything. His helmet’s visual display must have been damaged in the explosion. Quickly, he popped the seals on his gorget, little hissing sounds emitting with each opening. Then Harland tore his helmet from his head and flung it to the ground.
It was like a slap in the face. The smell of cordite, the sting of the cold breeze, and the sounds of battle threatened to overload his senses.
Then Harland saw his first Locust up close.
There was three Locust rushing Harland and Hayes, each one a giant, scaly man killer. Each was clad in rough, coarse trousers and shirts, covered with leather straps and armor festooning their body seemingly at random. Their features were pinched, animal intelligence gleaming in each pair of beady yellow eyes. Each held either a Hammerburst rifle or Lancer, each spitting bullets at the COG.
The three large beasts vaulted over cover into where Hayes and Harland were standing
One of the drones slipped on the rubble and tumbled forward, crashing around onto the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Hayes and Harland sprayed the Drone with combined Lancer fire and the downed beast writhed in agony, as blood leaked from many holes that were appearing in it’s body.
Harland’s Lancer clicked empty and stuttered out of empty. He didn’t have time to think, the Locust were upon them.
One Drone went for Hayes, one for Harland.
The one that went for Harland raised his rifle, a Lancer, most likely stolen from a dead COG soldier, and triggered his chainsaw bayonet.
The Bayonet coughed and burst to life, the metal teeth of the chainsaw beginning to cycle hungrily. It made whirring sounds as the Drone advanced at a run towards Harland.
Harland panicked and almost didn't have time to trigger his own chainsaw bayonet in time. He ducked drunkenly from a horizontal slice, aimed at ripping off Harland's head.
The Drone and Harland's chainsaw bayonets met together as they both brought them down in a vertical sledgehammer like swing. The chainsaws met and locked together, teeth whining in complaint, sparks bursting from the whirring parts.
The Drones strength was unbelievable and Harland could feel his smaller human frame being slowly pushed back, step by step.
The locked chainsaws inched closer to Harland’s face.
Harland briefly felt his life flash before his eyes as the locked bayonets were about an inch from his face.
Harland panicked and dropped to one knee, which undoubtedly saved his life.
The Locust Drone wasn't expecting the move and tumbled forward, off balance, to land face first on the ground, it's Lancer flying from it's grip hand to rest in the dust, the chainsaw bayonet shutting down unhappily.
Picking himself up, Harland spotted the Drone rising from it's knees to it's feet, hissing in annoyance or pain.
Harland revved his chainsaw and crossed the few feet in a matter of seconds.
Bringing his chainsaw down in a vicious arc, the chainsaw bayonet bit into the meat of the Drone’s right shoulder.
The teeth of the bayonet roared happily as they tore out chunks of bloody flesh, advancing at an alarming rate through bone, cartilage, flesh, connective tissue, and muscle with ease. The Drone roared in a cry of pain that was easily translatable in every language.
Adding everyone ounce of strength towards pushing the bayonet downwards, Harland was almost surprised to find the chainsaw bayonet rip through the last part of the Drones body. He accidentally almost decapitated his own leg in the downwards stroke and had to jab the ignition button off to avoid a nasty, self-inflicted wound.
Looking down at his handiwork, Harland saw that he had ripped through the body in a rough diagonal cut from right shoulder down to the left half of the pelvis. It was only then that he saw the amount of mutilation that he had inflicted upon the body of the enemy.
Intestines and other vital organs either lay shredded or oozing out of the deep rent in the stomach cavity. Bone jutted from the chest, gleaming white covered in splashes of blood.
Everything, including himself, was covered in a dark reddish-black ichor.
Dropping to his knees, Harland began to heave and gasp, vomiting up his breakfast into the gray dust.
Once he stopped retching, he raised his head to look for Hayes.
When the Locust had charged him, nothing had been on his mind but saving his ass; he totally forgot Hayes.
Hayes was laughing, his hearty chuckle augmented by his helmets audio receptors. He had the Drone in which had rushed him splayed out on the ground, spread eagle, whimpering in paint from a few bullet holes dotting it’s chest.
Hayes abruptly looked up at the inquisitive Harland and Harland could almost imagine the deadly grin splitting Hayes face.
Hayes stood astride the Drones chest and lifted his right foot high to about chest height.
Then he quickly brought it own, heel first, and curb stomped the downed Locust. The head cracked under the momentum on the foot, the steel laced boot utterly wrecking the cranial cavity and making a disgusting popping sound.
Hayes picked up his Lancer and scanned the area as Harland began vomiting on the ground again.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Harland got back into cover, retrieving his Lancer and unsuccessfully attempting to clean the gristle off his chainsaw bayonet.
Hayes suddenly put his right hand to his helmet, which usually meant a communication was currently being beamed to the wearer.
Hayes nodded once and slammed a clenched fist onto his outstretched knee twice in rapid succession.
He opened up the external link and said "We're being extracted! Get your **** and move to the EZ!"
Harland couldn't have had heard something more sweet than that. Picking himself up, he roadie ran in a zigzag motion back towards a building in the distance, Bronski and Johnson to his left and right with Hays bringing up the rear, lagging behind due to a large package, newly strapped across his back.
Taking up defensive positions, Hayes tucked two C.O.G. Tags into one of the pouches that festooned his belt. Hancock and Defendel. And in one of those pouches was Antone and Bende. Both had been killed earlier. But they had accomplished their mission. That's what counts Chairman Prescott had said.
Bull**** is what Harland thought.
But Harland got to go back to base to get a shower, hot meal, and a cot. What more can you ask? he thought.
A low drone began to become louder as it neared. A black speck became a fly, and that fly became a bird, and that bird became larger and larger until the recognizable shape of a King Raven Helicopter was clearer.
The downwash from the rotating propellers shot the dust up and turned it around the huddling soldiers.
Harland raised a hand to ward off the dust and it wasn't until long that the Raven was only a few feet off the ground.
Everyone piled into the Raven, steel boots clanging on the metal grillwork of the helicopter. Once everyone was on and the package secure, the Raven shot upwards and began to dip and dodge, moving in evasive maneuvers to escape any nemacyst floating around to hit C.O.G. traffic.
As the Raven flew farther away from the urban center, the ground began to shake noticeably. Dust began to rise and buildings began to shake. The Raven was still low enough in altitude for Harland to see rubble tumble into the streets as buildings topple. Cracks began to inch along the streets, lanes, and thorough ways. These cracks began to widen in length and width until they were enormous. Suddenly, there was a massive explosion, one that rivaled ten hammer of dawn strikes, that shook the city.
The city shook like a thing possessed and suddenly collapsed in on itself. A giant sinkhole appeared in the ground, kilometers wide. The remainder of the buildings and structures toppled into the great abyss. A giant dust cloud rose upwards and as it began to obstruct Harland’s view of the death of the city below, he saw thousands of Locust erupt from the sinkhole, swarming out of the giant depression in the earth.
Then the swarm was cut off from visibility.
Harland was shocked into silence, his jaw working soundlessly.
A gloved hand clutched his shoulder and Harland, in spite of being safe, jumped.
It was just Hayes.
His helmet was off, his black hair cropped close to his skull was covered in gray dust, blending in with his gray eyes. But his eyes had a dead look, a look that seemed to stare past Harland. Some call it the thousand yard stare.
"Now you know Harland, now you know why we had to get what we came to get."
"So this operation was to make a covert pick up before...that..happened?" Harland inquired, finally finding his voice.
"Yes" Hayes said simply.
Harland gazed back down at the dust that obstructed his vision and then back at Hayes.
"Sir..so what was it exactly that we picked up?" Harland ventured slowly.
"The one thing that is going to turn the war in our favor, or that's what I’m told." Hayes replied.
"That's kind of a cryptic answer...sir" Harland said.
"Okay..." Hayes clenched his eyes shut "if you must know, it's a container of cryo frozen Drone eggs."
"I risked my live for ****ing EGGS!" Harland yelled, fatigue suddenly gone in a burst of uncharacteristic rage.
"Do you know what we can do with those eggs?" Hayes patiently said, his face a set mask of neutrality.
Harland was about to reply with something insubordinate and found he couldn't find the words. His mind began to wrap around the possibilities that they could do with the eggs.
"We could...breed Locust...to fight Locust" Harland stammered in horror "But thats horrible!"
"Order's are Order's Gedrik" the Corporal whispered "You don't question them, you follow them".
"Sir! That could cause an epidemic! Anything can happen. We have to destroy them!" Harland yelled.
Over the din of the Raven, Harland hear the activation sounds of Lancers. Harland slowly turned his head back towards his squad mates and found their rifles aimed straight at him, unwaveringly.
"Guys! What are you doing!? We have to kill them!" Harland pleaded.
He turned back to Hayes and found himself staring down the barrel of his snub pistol.
"What..?" Harland stuttered.
“Gedrik, this could mean winning the war and destroying the very thing that kills our people every day. Our numbers dwindle with each passing day and our resources are used up by a race intent on wiping us from the planet.” Corporal Hayes explained calmly.
“You’re ****ing crazy! It won’t work!” Harland exclaimed, fear saturating his words.
“Last chance Harland,” Hayes used Harlands first name, attempting to calm him “Are you with us or not?”
Harland gazed up at the barrel of the snub pistol inches from his face and his eyes swung to his Lancer a few scant feet to his left.
Making his decision, Harland dove to his left towards the Lancer.
Corporal Hayes’s Snub pistol barked once, the sound resonating through the cramped quarters of the Raven.
Harland's head snapped back, his features disfigured by the high caliber round which had entered his head underneath the nose, breaking the top row of teeth, and traveled upwards to exit the top back portion of his head.
Blood spread outwards in a pink mist, covering Bronski and Johnson, the two nearest soldiers. They lowered their rifles and begun to wipe the blood from their armor in disgust.
Harland was dead before he hit the grillwork.
Hayes stepped over his prone body and grabbed his C.O.G. Tag and pulled it from it's place from around Harland's neck. Then Hayes unceremoniously rolled the dead body of Private Harland Gedrik out of the open side of the King Raven.
"Damn shame..." Hayes said out loud.
His squad mates all nodded sagely.
The King Raven continued on.