Battle Earth IX (5 page)

"Goddamn it!" he muttered to himself.

As the creature landed, he took aim at its head, firing a three-shot burst, but two were deflected from the sloped and pointed faceplate while the third seemed to embed but not go through. He let his rifle drop to his side, drew out his Assegai, and rushed at the alien; his shield held forward and tilted back to try and deflect energy. He felt a pulse strike it and saw the light particles burst past either side of his shield. A second later he barrelled into the Mech soldier, and it felt good to be the one dealing out some punishment.

The impact was enough to knock the Mech back a few paces, but it quickly got its footing and ground to a halt. Taylor could feel the mass of the creature because he would have been able to throw a normal Mech over with such a ferocious charge. He hooked a thrust around the edge of his Assegai and felt it meet the creature’s armour, though he could not see where.

Without warning, a thunderous strike smashed into his shield. Taylor felt it break in the centre, and he heard a crunch and felt his left arm go numb; the numbness and tingling sensation was immediately followed by pain surging up through his arm, and he felt it droop. His arm was broken, for sure, but he could not pause to check it. He looked back, and the Mech was swinging its weapon like a huge club at his head. He ducked under the strike and drove his Assegai up into its torso, stabbing again and again until the Mech began to slump.

The creature was collapsing down towards him, and he spun around just in time to avoid being crushed beneath its corpse. He immediately cupped his injured arm with the other and retreated back against a wall. He saw Jafar snap one of the Mech's arms, the armour plating tearing apart, and he drove an Assegai through the open plate.

The air was thick with the smell of sweat, blood, and scorched flesh. It was what Taylor hated worst about war, the acrid smell and taste of it. Parker rushed to his side, and he could see the concern in her face.

"You all right?"

He nodded.

"No really, Mitch, don't bullshit me!"

"I'm fine. Left arm is fucked, but I'm fine."

She looked down at the joint of his Reitech suit. It was snapped at the elbow and barely held together. It was clear to both of them it had been all that had stopped his arm being snapped in two. She ran her hand over his arm to feel for the injury and stopped as he winced.

Gunfire raged all around, and Mitch was glad to see his people were fighting as hard as ever. His attention was drawn to Sergeant Lang who was in the thick of the action and proving himself a worthy member of the unit.

"We gotta get you out of here, Mitch," said Parker.

He grunted in disapproval, still keeping a firm grip on his Assegai and with plenty of fight left in him.

"You're no good to us like this. Come on, follow me," she stated, looking around for an opening to get him out.

"Medic!" she screamed.

The roof shook every few moments, and Taylor's hand crept nearer to the rifle lying on the table beside his bed.

"Leave it!" Parker shouted.

He leant back and sat upright on the bed he had been waiting on.

"My arm's fucked, not my body," he snapped back.

A pulse hit the roof and burst through, striking two of the beds occupied by wounded soldiers. Taylor leapt for cover as it landed, and fragments of the pulse burst across the room. They punched through the divider the other side of him, and he reached for his helmet with his good arm.

"I need two seconds with a doc, and I'll be back in action. Find me one!" he ordered.

Parker nodded in agreement and rushed off in search of one. They both knew he needed to be in the fight, and a few seconds later she reappeared, hauling a doctor by the collar of his coat while he protested.

"Please, there are people who need my help," he whimpered.

She shoved him towards Taylor and let go.

"Get the Colonel back in this fight, or these patients may not live long enough for any of your work to matter."

The doctor looked back and began to hesitate but was interrupted by Taylor's rather unsubtle cough to get his attention. The man looked around to see the Colonel sitting before him; the expression on Mitch's face instantly silenced him.

"All right, what do you need?"

"Fix my arm, Doc."

He looked at it for a minute and put pressure down in different areas. It wasn't a case of finding where his arm was wounded, but which part was the most damaged. Another explosion hit the roof of the building and sent a cloud of dust into the air.

"Haven't got all day, Doc. Get it done."

"I can fix it now, but it will be weak for several days at least, maybe a few weeks."

Taylor nodded in agreement.

The doctor pulled out a syringe and injected into his arm.

"We need to get all this off. I need the arm bare."

Taylor tried to unclip his body armour, but the pain was too much, and he gritted his teeth as he felt the shock through his body.

"Here, I'll get it," said Parker.

He didn't like being helpless, but he had no choice. She stripped the Reitech armour and suit from his upper body and pulled his shirt off. The doctor stopped in surprise at his body. It looked as if it was cut from steel. Years of training and war had shaped him into what looked like a professional ring fighter, but his skin was covered in bruising and old scars. The doctor could not help but stare.

"I ain't pretty, but I ain't a model either," Taylor stated.

Parker smiled.

"Lie down please," replied the doctor, snapping out of his daze, "I’ll need to get my equipment.”"

He did as asked by the doctor. Parker loomed over him and took his good hand in his.

"How do you do it?" she whispered.

"Do what?"

"Keep surviving?"

He had no answer for her. The doctor rushed back into the room, clearly trying to get it over with as quickly as possible so he could move on to other patients. He carried a device for resetting and repairing limbs and joints that Taylor had seen more than a few times, though he was still none the wiser as to how the wondrous machine worked. It was slipped over his arm and clamped in place at either end. It made him wince a little; the doctor was far from gentle at his rushed pace.

A screen lit up on the device showing an x-ray of his arm, and within a minute the doctor had programmed it ready. Lights lit up in the machine as it began to operate, and the man finally looked up to Taylor.

"In about five minutes time it will power down, and you will be finished here. Now please, Colonel, I must leave you and attend to others."

"All right, Doc, and thanks."

He scurried off. Taylor looked down at the machine and felt several needle like implements pierce his skin. A few seconds later he lost feeling in the arm, which at least deadened the pain, but it also dulled the rest of his senses and made him a little drowsy. He did his best to hide it from Parker, but she noticed. She opened her mouth to speak, but Taylor interrupted.

"Don't. I know what you're going to say, but there's no time for it."

She looked puzzled.

"I was just gonna say, we made it again."

Taylor smiled, but they heard another few eruptions outside the building that shook the ceiling.

"We aren't out of the fire quite yet."

Gunfire erupted a few metres outside the room, and Eli turned quickly, raising her rifle.

"Go to it!" Taylor said quietly.

She looked back and hesitated, but the determined look he responded with made her turn and do as ordered. Parker rushed through one of the hospital corridors that were littered with both wounded and dead. A few held rifles where they lay, but no one other than herself looked ready for a real fight.

"Shit," she muttered.

She edged forward more cautiously and felt her hands instinctively grip tighter around her rifle. Too tightly in fact, which made her swear at herself for not keeping calm and remembering her training. A wall collapsed in a few metres ahead. A soldier flew through it and hit the wall the other side of the corridor. She moved to go to his aid but stopped as more of the wall was smashed through, and a Mech rushed into view.

Before the creature could turn and face her head on, Parker's rifle was firing. She got off five shots as it snapped around, but the damage she had inflicted made it fire wildly. Pulses ripped through the corridor amongst the wounded. Parker shifted to the opposite wall and kept up the fire. Ten shots had penetrated the creature’s armour by the time she got within striking distance, and it dropped to its knees so that its head was in line with hers.

Eli did not hesitate or take any chances. Her rifle fired again, and a burst of shots ripped into the faceplate of the Mech; it slumped dead to the floor. She looked over to the soldier who had been thrown into the corridor and knelt down to feel his pulse, but he was gone. She shook her head and looked back down the corridor. Only two of the troops lining the sides were still alive, and they looked terrified.

Parker wanted to go back to them but knew she had a responsibility to go. She stepped over the body of her victim and continued on as the lights began flickering above. Gunfire still raged in the distance, but she could hear nothing of an enemy presence nearby, so much so it made her suspicious.

She took a bend into another ward and found dozens of wounded being attended to. She carried on through, heading for the main entrance of the facility. As she grew nearer, she found a wounded Ranger from their unit. He was sitting up against a doorway, with his rifle at the ready but clearly unable to stand. She could see corporal stripes on his uniform and recognised him as one of their own but not his name. He turned and acknowledged her as she approached.

"You all right?" she asked sympathetically, kneeling down at the far side of the door.

"Still breathing," he replied.

She looked closer to make out his name, 'Vidal, anyone else here with you?"

He shook his head and pointed over to the bodies of two marines who had clearly fallen very recently. She shook her head.

This place is turning into a fucking morgue!

"You just hold on, Corporal. We'll get you out of here."

"I ain't going anywhere anytime soon," he replied, with a small smile that could not hide the pain he was feeling.

Parker got to her feet and had to keep telling herself to go forward and towards the light of the open doors ahead. A trail of bodies, both alien and human, trailed all the way to the entrance and outside. As she reached the end of the corridor, she could hear a hive of activity outside and leapt to the sidewall, ready to fire at whatever came through.

Her heart almost stopped, and the lack of oxygen as she held her breath made her feel a little dizzy. A shadow appeared at the door, and a body followed it soon after. She lifted her rifle to fire, realising just as she was about to pull the trigger that it was Jones. She nearly fell over, quickly pulled her rifle back, and took a deep breath.

"Parker, you okay?" Jones asked, seemingly not bothered at all by the gun in his face. He looked more concerned for her safety than his own.

"Where is Taylor?" he asked more sternly.

She pointed to where she had come from.

"Getting fixed up."

"Lead the way."

She did as ordered but could not go on without asking questions.

"How is it out there?"

"Rough, but we're holding fast."

"So what's the plan?"

He shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine. I don't even know who is in charge here."

They reached the wounded ranger, who was still waiting with his rifle at the ready. Jones did not even break stride but clearly recognised the man.

"You keep doing what you're doing, Corporal," he said to Vidal as he passed.

"Yes, Sir," he replied confidently.

It seemed cold and uncompassionate at first, but Parker could see the rise in Vidal's eyes, being addressed as a soldier and not a casualty. It impressed her. Her natural reaction was to ask after his wellbeing, when he clearly was able and willing to fight. They carried on past the body of the Mech she had killed and those of many more humans who had been killed by the aerial bombardments. Eli led them to Taylor's room, but as they went into it, she stopped and gasped. The bed was empty, and only the device Mitch that had been connected to his arm remained.

"Where is the Colonel?" Jones asked.

She was at a loss for words.

"Where the hell is he?"

She turned; realising Jones wasn't addressing her but merely venting his frustration.

"Captain Jones!"

They turned and rushed towards the sound of the call to a blown out window around the corner. They were two floors up, and rubble was dropping past their window from where the roof was being bombarded. Troops were still battling Mechs in the divide between them and the tall perimeter fence. It took a few seconds for either of them to spot Taylor until the messenger pointed him out. Mitch was climbing a gun tower where they could see the two crewmembers atop it lying dead, and a large hole in the three-metre wide shield of the weapon system.

"What the hell are you doing, Mitch?" Jones hollered.

They looked up to see more enemy ships roaring overhead and continuing to bombard the base, with little fire opposing them.

"He's gonna get himself killed!" screamed Parker.

Without another word, she leapt out of the window and descended as quickly as she safely could to the ground below. As she came to a stop, she saw Mitch climbing into the firing seat of the gun emplacement. She could see the remotely controlled towers were knocked out and pouring with smoke. Taylor's position was the only anti-aircraft emplacement still operational in their vicinity.

"Mitch!" she called out to him.

She tapped her communicator, calling for him once again, but there was no response. She began to run towards the tower. She could see the turret rotate and begin to target an enemy craft. It was large, spanning more than thirty metres in length and looked like a gunship transport of some kind.

The twin-barrelled guns Taylor controlled opened fire, and a missile launched a few seconds later. The enemy ship was first raked with fire, and she could see more than a dozen Mechs bailing out the side. Finally, the missile struck, and an explosion ripped through the hull. A smoke trail span out from the ship as it began to lose control and bank towards the tower. Parker watched in horror. She could already see it was heading for Taylor.

"Mitch!"

There was no chance he could hear her, but it was all she could do, and she felt helpless to save the one she loved more than any other in the world. Taylor kept his finger on the trigger, and gunfire continued to rip through the burning craft, but he could see there was nothing he could do to stop it. The wreck was soaring towards his position. He leapt out from the seat and ran to the edge of the tower with all the strength and speed he could muster.