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All content created by Objurgation and used fictitiously. All characters, companies and places are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or business entities, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Terra-33
Episode 0.3
"Jared!"
His friend shouted something back but an explosion rocked the side of the building that Remi was crouching behind. What had only been the bare bones of a prefabricated temporary shelter shattered inward, the steel sheeting screeched horribly as it was ripped away from the support beams. Remi cradled his head in his arms, cowering from the falling debris. When his neck and arms stopped being pelted by various, mostly hot objects, Remi risked another glance around the corner. What was left of Jared had been thrown fifteen yards from the building. Remi looked away, not wanting to see more than the split second he already had. Rising to one knee, he thrust the barrel of his rifle out of his cover, sighting on one of the slumpers. No one knew what they were called or where they came from. The surveys of the world hadn't turned up any surface dwellings or areas that looked heavily populated by intelligent life. That didn't matter much now though, the few remaining human survivors were hard-pressed to muster any sort of coordinated defense.
He stroked the trigger twice, sending heavy brass screaming into the torso of the crouching humanoid. It shrieked and fell backwards, dropping the weird-looking grenade launcher/mortar-type weapon. They had been firing these occasionally for three days now that the humans were dug in, the bulbous tubes ejecting speeding high-explosive rounds. A slumper would amble up and crouch, bracing the weapon against its lower body and then let fly. Remi hadn't seen this one coming, trusting Jared to cover that angle. Jared had been taken by surprise though, at least that's what he assumed. The swarthy man had been sprinting back to Remi's position when he heard him yell and Remi had turned, everything slowing as he recognized the slumper's burping weapon discharge. It was squirming on the ground now, bleeding some dark fluid onto the dirt. Remi sighted down on another as it approached warily through the ruin of a transport vehicle.
The way they moved was weird and alien to Remi, almost more than their features. They were bipedal, but the lower of two knee joints was reversed and the way their torso curved made them look like an S shape with an extra curve added. They ambled more than walked or ran.
Not sure if that's the right word,
he thought, watching the slump move. It was a weird, shifting motion, their upper bodies swaying side to side with each step. It seemed that with the shape of their bodies, rapid movement should be impossible, but they were fast when they wanted to be. Remi had seen one leap across a twenty yard gap in a couple of heartbeats, slashing into a defender with its bladed armor. Their upper arms were much bulkier than their legs, not so much that it looked ungainly, but Remi was surprised by the difference. He hadn't heard them speak yet, or make any of the battle chatter common among humans, and that was off-putting too.
Remi's visor had been damaged, cracked down the middle from a face-plant onto the dirt. Without the HUD assisting, combat became a lot harder, and a lot more dangerous. The besieged humans had run out of all Sharp and Burn ammo too, falling back on standard-issue brass and lead cartridges, which Remi was glad they had brought along as a backup plan. He scanned the area, waiting as the dust and dirt particles cleared slowly. Another slumper was ambling their way, armed with the alien's version of a rifle. It didn't appear to see Remi, so he took his time, waiting until the soldier reached a solid kill range. He stroked the trigger again, the muzzle flash blazing even in the middle of the day. When his first round missed, the alien fell prone immediately, presenting a much smaller target. It must have had a HUD or targeting system of some sort, because it focusing in on Remi's position and started cracking out shots. Remi had taken cover hastily after missing his first shot, hoping that one of the girls that had posted up with him were still combat ready. He tried to get eyes on one of them, but with the imploded steel wall and pile of junk blocking his vision, he couldn't see much.
Ricochets pinged off of the wall and Remi cringed as he waited for the firing to die down. He checked his magazine, the LED-Smart display showing seven rounds left. Shifting around, he prepared to stand. As the firing stopped, Remi exploded to his feet, sighting on the last position where he had seen the slumper. It was moving slowly, reloading or fiddling with its weapon. Remi had a much better angle now and let fly, hammering all seven brass slugs at the monster. They impacted heavily, dark liquid ejecting out of burst armor. The slumpers wore a tight-fitting, nearly black armor that looked almost like an exoskeleton. It certainly worked for hand-to-hand with the blades affixed to their forearms, but these .50 caliber rifle rounds tore through it. He had witnessed people using shotguns to similar effect, the lead pellets ripping up the alien armor easily. The slumpers' sheer numbers had been the real problem, and their similar technology level when it came to armaments. Remi was just glad his armor was mostly intact because without the compensators, he would have a lot of trouble handling the recoil of even semi-auto fire on his rifle.
He tried not to think about how many of his friends were left alive. Jared had been one of the core group he had come to Terra-33 with on the drop party. He and his twin brother, Jerome, were from Remi's hometown of Portland. He had worked a few odd jobs with them after school and knew them pretty well at this point. Now they were both gone. Clara might still be alive but he hadn't seen her in an entire day. That left Ann, who was somewhere in this wreckage that used to be a building. Remi had shoved his way through the blockage and was delving deeper into the sagging structure when he saw her. A ray of sunlight from a fist-sized hole in the wall illuminated her face. It also illuminated her left shoulder, which was a mangled hunk of flesh, with no arm in sight. Remi ran to her side and fell to his knees, forgetting the thumps of gunfire and roaring explosions.
"Ann..."
Her eyes snapped open, feverish and wild. Remi gasped and cast about for something to tie the wound off with.
"Remi, ah... fuck," she sighed, the words whispering past her lips. "Where's my arm?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry." Tears burst into Remi's eyes but he kept them on hers.
"I'm done."
"No! We can make a tourniquet..." Remi trailed off as she gripped his left hand hard.
"You're a good dude, Remi. At least I got to sack up with you, befo-" she coughed.
Remi was silent, knowing she was right and not knowing what to say. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen a medic and their sickbay had been destroyed a couple days ago.
"Hey, promise me you'll live. Give those fucking slumps hell."
"I will, Ann. I..." he felt her hand slacken. "I love you."
Remi's heart was in his throat as he stared down at her lifeless eyes. He hadn't even had a chance to tell her how he felt. They had just started getting serious, after years of flirting and occasional fooling around. Ann had grown extremely close to him in the last month, the two-week voyage from Earth to Terra-33 being spent locked away in their small room. He had been with girls before, but Ann was different. Maybe because he had known her most of his life, and wanted her for most of that time. It had seemed so real, their budding relationship, and Remi couldn't believe that she was gone now, really gone. Their constructs had been killed days ago, this was real life now, and real death. He held her as he cried, oblivious to the chaotic sounds of battle.
What seemed like hours later, Remi was finally done. He looked down at her one last time, then searched her quickly for ammo, food and water. Adding her dwindling supplies to his own, Remi stood and hefted his rifle. He reloaded grimly, silent and brooding. When he stepped out of the ruined building, Remi was a new man. Reborn in blood, his only purpose was to end as many alien lives as possible before they ended his own.
---
"Remi."
He heard a girl's voice and thought it was Ann, somehow.
"Remi, wake up!" The urgent whisper brought his eyes fluttering open. "Where were you?"