The access tunnel ended at a half open blast door. A small metal
cabinet lay across the doorway, jamming the door. Grunting, I put my
shoulder to the bulkhead and slowly pried it open. The loud grating alerted
some creature through a second blast door. I readied my shotgun, but the
door remained closed.
"Waiting for me, eh?" I said aloud with a smile, "Perhaps you're
not so stupid after all. Party time."
My hand slapped the access panel, sending the door shooting upwards.
I sprang back quickly, firing a blast as the door rose. A soldier took the
shot at the knees, severing both legs as he crumpled to the ground. Others
moved in for the kill.
I pulled back further into the room, blowing the head off the first
one I felled. I would have to remember that pain means little to these
zombies. A low gutteral growl boomed beneath the soldiers grunts. God
knew what the hell that belonged to, it was certainly not human, at least
not anymore.
The troops swarmed in from both sides, guns at the ready. I layed
down a surpressing fire, moving back and forth to keep them from getting a
good bead on me. I put down ten of them, taking only one serious hit across
the temple. I wiped the blood away from my eye; that growling was getting
closer. I would need to see what I was shooting at.
There it was, a pink horror from the edge of my imagination. It
shambled towards me, impossibly fast. Two powerful arms lifted me off the
ground, sending me crashing into the far wall. It charged forward, howling,
ignoring the shotgun blast to it's torso. The creature's huge slavering jaw
snapped down onto my left arm, a flailing claw throwing the shotgun to one
side. Adrenalin and pain-killers kicked in at the same time.
Blood poured from the beast's mouth. My blood. I felt and heard
a loud crunch as it's jaw locked down, snapping bone. I howled in pain and
anger, blood pouring into my eye, colouring the world a blurry red. My
fist slammed into it's soft pink flesh, and for once it stopped it's
unearthly growling. The adrenalin kicked into overdrive, there was no
stopping me. The world turned red ...
My vision cleared and I watched as I withdrew my hand from the
small crater I smashed into this creature's ... this demon's head. The
thing had slumped to the ground, but its jaw remained locked around my
wounded arm. I pulled out my pistol and blew off the demon's lower jaw.
Grunting, I pulled out the creature's teeth that were still embedded in my
arm.
The arm looked terrible; the fact that I couldn't move it told me it
was a lot worse. The demon's teeth easily punctured through the light-weight
armour that I wore, and could have easily sheered off my whole arm. Luckily
the carbon-titanium steel frame that held the armour plates in place proved
tougher. Unfortunately, the torn metal that was once that very armour now
ripped into my entire forearm, from elbow to wrist. I was losing a lot of
blood.
I quickly threw off the armour plating, realizing then that I had
broken all the knuckles in my right hand. Examining a plate, I found that
the creature had two sets of teeth, a fact my gunfire had obscured. I
also noticed, wiping away some of the blood, that the armour's frame was
heavily dented. Given time, I think that the demon would have even broken
through that. Christ.
Titanium alone would have been the perfect metal to use for combat
armour, if it had not been so heavy. Various attempts were made to lighten
the metal, and an alloy called titanium steel was developed. Basically
it was a titanium and zinc alloy, with a few other metals thrown in. The
resulting metal proved to be too maleable. It was hard to break or puncture,
but it was too easily bent out of shape to be of much use in combat. They
then doped up the alloy with strings of carbon atoms. The new alloy, carbon-
titanium steel, was much lighter than it's predecessors, and actually proved
to be much stronger than it's titanium ancestor. Though lighter, it still
made a suit of armour unwieldly. So the military used the new alloy to form
a frame, an exoskeleton of sorts, upon which lighter armour plates could be
mounted. This proved to be a better idea in the long run, as this allowed
for one to just replace the damaged plates, rather than the whole suit of
armour.
I sprayed my arm with a coagulant, and bandaged the wound as best as
I could. I used what cloth I could find to bind my head wound and to wrap
up my impaired hand. I was in sorry shape, and not much in the mood for a
long extended fight. Guess I wouldn't have much choice in the matter.
I gathered up what ammo I could, finding some armour plates that I
put to good use. I picked up the shotgun, giving it a quick one-armed
pump. I gasped in pain as the jarring motion sent searing pain down my
right arm. I would have to sling the shotgun until I could fix my hand. I
slung the gun over my shoulder, allowing the magnetic catch to lock onto
the metal plates on my back. The spiked gloves I wore were more than just
for looks. A mild current ran through every military weapon. This current
powered a magnetic catch on the gun to allow easy storage until needed.
The gloves would interupt the circuit, demagnetizing the weapon ad allowing
it to be pulled free.
I spent a few minutes reloading clips and placing them across my
chest. The magazines had similar magnetic catches as well. I cocked the
pistol and headed out the door.
The hallway wrapped itself around a large pool of toxic waste. The
pool was once most likely a heavy water recepticle for storage of nuclear
fuel rods. The green glow given off by the liquid showed it had outlived
its usefulness. Left with two choices, I went to my left. Turning right,
the passage led to a door on the outer wall. I found a clip on the ground,
probably dropped in the midst of a gunfight. My hand hit the access panel,
the door slid open
Shouts from all sides. 'Too many.' my mind flashed as I fired into
the room. A ball of flame exploded off my shoulder, the intense heat
blistering my cheek. 'A barrel!' my mind registered, altering my aim for
me. Three explosive shells ignited the volatile mixture, sending searing hot
metal everywhere. I was thrown back out the door, death screams muted by the
closing door. I got to my feet shakily, holding my abdomen uselessly. A
metal shard pierced my side, protruding grotesquely through my lower torso
armour. My palm activated the door, and I stepped in for a second time.
Four bodies lay unmoving on the ground, one corpse still smouldering. Then
I saw it.
"Damn, now how am I supposed to get to you?" I said to myself,
looking at a silently mouthing blue face. The ledge peered into emptyness,
the sphere upon a pedastal rising from the darkness below. Guttural growls
rose from the encompassing darkness. 'Protected too, I see. Well, let's
see what happens.'
I pulled back, noticing another window revealing a powerswitch. I
raced up a short flight of stairs, finding a small staircase leading down.
My pistol flared to life, an imp flying down the stairs, blood flying in an
arc from the hole in its head. Two more appeared from either side. One fell,
but the other launched a fireball. Desperate, I dove down the stairs, firing
contiuously. Ten bullets tore through it's body, lifting it off the ground
and slamming it down lifeless. I rolled to my knees, ignoring the bruising
and the pain, firing five more bullets into a third imp. Catching my breath,
I rounded the corner and threw the switch, a door swished open overhead.
One deep breath and I was up the stairs, salvation getting closer.
Stepping over the still smouldering body, I found that a door had
indeed opened, leading upwards between the two windows. I acted quickly,
charging forward and firing as fast as I could. Three soldiers fell to the
ground, two bullets piercing through my body. An imp's aim was off, and
exploded a barrel in front of it's face. It had no face now. I continued
around the corner. I saw that a panel had descended, and I raced towards
it, hearing another demon making it's way for me. The panel began to rise
and I threw myself forward, activating the secret door behind the panel and
sending me face first down a flight of stairs.
I got to my knees before screaming in pain. Two fireballs slammed
into my chest, throwing me up the stairs. My pistol flew off into the
surrounding darkness. Only the shotgun now. It released easily, and I swung
it around just in time to place the barrel in an imp's belly. I rolled to one
side, allowing the gutless imp to fall lifeless to the spot I had just lain.
I yelled out to cover my pain, pumping the shotgun again, firing into the
darkness. I fired ten more times until I was sure nothing could live, then
slowly I crawled into the dark. I found a couple of stimpacks, but I was too
weak to use them. Only one thing could save me now. I searched the room
slowly, blood pouring from my arms and temple. The fall did not help any. I
found it hard to breath, the smell of cooked meat and burnt hair did not aid
in that endevour either. I collapsed to the ground by the pedastal, rolling
over onto my back. The switch!
I attempted to rise, but found myself too short of breath. I
couldn't get up! I tried again, but succeeded in only falling back, this
time snapping the bone in my left arm. A swath of blood splashed across
me, my broken bone piercing through what little flesh I had left in my arm. I
screamed, nearly blacking out. Grunting, I leveled the shotgun. 'No choice
now.'
Boom.
