Soul at War (16 page)

With
ammo short I allowed a couple of ARC troopers to get too close,
then cut them down with the last of my magazine. Two behind me
provided covering fire whilst I ran out into the fire storm of a
deserted square and began cutting away at their webbing. As I
removed the last one, I cut away part of the fabric and the dead
soldier's body was revealed. His skin was rotten and blue, sores
and scabs gathered on the surface as if he'd been dead for hours.
One of my team was yelling something at me, but for a moment I was
fixed on this man's body until finally I was yanked back into
cover.

"What
the hell were you doing?" The trooper asked, ripping a mag from the
stolen gear.

"I..." I
mumbled, but a hail of fire tore into the wall and we were forced
backwards to another street. As we rushed into the next building, I
couldn't get the image out of my head until ARC men poured in after
us. They'd managed to find another way onto the street, skirting
the chaos and managing to sneak up on us. All of a sudden we found
ourselves in close quarters and knives were quickly
drawn.

Four men
behind me surged forwards, stabbing and slicing into their ranks. A
rifle fired and in the closeness it was deafening. I lunged at one,
planting the knife between his ribs and drew my pistol, putting a
round in his skull. The knife came free as he fell and I shot
another, swiping the next with a wide arc. He ducked and swung the
butt of his weapon through the air but I jumped back away from it,
putting two rounds into his chest. The room stunk of blood and
death but still they came at us. One of mine took a blade in his
stomach and he screamed, his killer going down straight after him
with my knife in his neck. I shot one, took another down with a
round in his kneecap. Then, when there was a big enough gap the
remaining three troopers made for the door as I emptied the pistol
into the enemy. In the confusion that followed I dived out into the
alley that ran behind the building and into cover just as they came
charging after us. There were ten more of my team waiting there and
not one of the ARC soldiers made it any further than the step
before being gunned down. A grenade was thrown in after them and we
retreated to the next street - the spire of the church now within
spitting range.

At the
corner of a residential road we met another squad coming the other
way and it was lucky that they didn't shoot us on sight. It was
Walker's squad, around eleven men retreating from the western wall
back to the church and when they saw us they didn't stop, they just
started waving us back to the last street.

"RUN YOU
IDIOTS!" He shouted as the hulking mass of an ARC tank turned the
corner, it's cannon pointing straight at us. We were able to dive
into the foyer of a flat block just as it fired, the shell roaring
past us and landing three buildings down. It detonated and took out
the east wall of our cover, bringing the roof down around us. One
man from Walker's team was impaled on a falling beam, two others
were crushed under the stone as we stumbled out through the back
door, our ears numb from the blast.

Running
blindly with dust stinging my eyes, I leapt over a fallen lamppost
and threw myself behind a rubbish skip, coughing my guts up. The
graveyard of the church was on the other side of a five-foot
wrought iron fence and Walker was on the other side urging his team
over it two at a time. The tank rumbled along the street and sent
vibrations through the ground. It was probably looking for the best
way to follow us, as most of the roads weren't wide enough for it
to get down - thank-fully. I ordered three troopers to spread out
along the alley, looking for any ARC foot soldiers. After a few
tense minutes of listening to the sounds of war being waged across
the city, Walker whistled for us to follow. The three on watch went
first, leaving me to cover them. Just as the last one was over the
top, gunfire showered the skip and I was forced down behind
it.

"Goddamnit, Shap - come on!" Walker yelled, but I waved him
away towards the church. Reluctantly he nodded, leading the troops
between the gravestones and into the darkness.

I stood.
I fired from the shoulder, shattering the skull of the closest
trooper. I advanced. I fired three rounds into the next one and two
into the one behind him. Rounds flew past me. I knelt and fired
again. Another one fell. The magazine dropped from the rifle and I
slammed another into its place. Two rounds to my left. Three to the
right. I moved ahead, striding into the fray as they came from one
of the levelled buildings. The gun spoke and they collapsed. I was
aware of a pain in my leg, but I stood firm and killed two more
outright. When the trigger clicked in silence, I stood and waited
for death.

But it
didn't come. As I looked around at the destruction, I saw that
there was no one left standing. I wasn't shocked. I wasn't proud. I
wasn't anything at that point. It was only the growing rumble
coming from the ground that broke me out of the trance. I looked
down the street and saw the tank turning on its massive tracks with
a horde of foot soldiers following behind it.

As the
first .50 calibre rounds stuttered down the road towards me, I ran.
I ran like the devil himself was behind the tillers of that
behemoth and I leapt up at the fence, grabbing the railings and
hurling myself over the top. I landed badly but continued across
the graves where Walker was stood at the huge wooden doors, waving
me in. Once inside I collapsed behind the sandbags with a chest
that felt as if it was about to explode.

CHAPTER 15

The tank
and its entourage had stopped on the other side of the fence and I
watched it through one of the windows. The troops had taken up
positions around it, obviously waiting for the order to proceed and
Walker believed that they would secure the city before moving in
for the kill.

"They
still wonder if there is something waiting for them in here and
it'll make them wary to rush in. I guess within another hour or so
they'll make a move," he said as he paced up and down the aisle
between the pews. The cellar door was still open at this point.
Green was on guard there, ready to jump down and close it if we
were breached. After half an hour there was still no sign of Tekoa,
Brand or Wulfgar and the Lieutenant's last communication had been
to tell Walker to retreat to the Church. ARC forces were quickly
surrounding the perimeter of the graveyard and only the southern
part was still open. A number of volunteers waited at the back,
covering the ground between them.

"How
long before we give up?" Walker asked, indicating Green.

"Until
the last possible minute. When they make a move out there, we'll
seal the hatch," I replied. Around us maybe two dozen men manned
the windows and most were on their last few rounds. Between us, if
every shot killed, we'd take another hundred at the most. But
before we could do that, the tanks would level the building in
seconds. "I'll guess nothing got out on the radio," I
said.

"Well
it's still broadcasting upstairs. It runs a looped message, but if
they're jamming it it's useless anyway," Walker said, finally
sitting down in one of the pews. His face was caked in black dust
and blood trickled down from his scalp where something had hit him
hard. "How's the leg?" He asked. I looked down. The bullet had
passed straight through the fleshy bit of my thigh and I'd tied a
strip of curtain at the top, but the blood was still seeping
through the two bandages I'd put on.

"I'll
live," he laughed.

"That's
not saying much."

"It
comes to us all, sooner or later," I reflected. "We can't avoid it
forever."

"I must
admit, I could think of better ways to go."

"Well
I'll grant you that." I looked out of the window again. Nothing had
changed. The driver of the tank had climbed up out of the hatch and
was taking in some air. It hadn't been the devil driving after all.
"A good shot for Brand, if she was here," I said. The driver wiped
his brow, took up some binos and looked around. Then there was a
'pop' and the binos exploded in his hands, along with most of his
head.

The
troops scattered and began firing wildly at the church and I got
down behind the sandbags just as the glass smashed and fell down
around me. Cries came from the back of the church and shots were
fired from our side. Walker raced down to see what was happening
and was almost bowled over by Tekoa as he charged through the door,
Brand following with sixteen other volunteers in tow.

"Take up
positions - prepare to repel!" Ordered the Lieutenant as he strode
in calmly. Everybody saw him and you could feel the morale
rekindled inside them as they hurried to the windows.

"Wulfgar? The Sarge?" Walker asked. Burns shook his
head.

"They
were last seen when the armour rolled in through the gate. We
haven't heard from them since."

"How bad
is it?"

"The
city fell quickly. Over eighteen tanks came in before we retreated,
there were more outside waiting to get in. We fought them at every
street, but in the end we just ran. We were hideously outnumbered."
The roof shook and bits of plaster began to fall. "The
digi-com?"

"Nothing, but it's still broadcasting." There was a terrific
thud, followed by a lot of dust and falling brickwork as the spire
came crashing down on the north side of the church. It landed
inches away from the enemy lines leaving a gaping hole in the roof
that let the moonlight in. "Well it was broadcasting. Thank-fully
nobody was up there."

"Stand
to," shouted Burns as he drew his pistol. "No man dies without my
permission."

*

The ARC
troops were sent in first. They wanted prisoners. From every
available window, shots rang out and killed scores of the enemy.
With the last few shells in my shotgun I took down six, wounding a
seventh before withdrawing from the window. Taking up my pistol and
knife, I waited by the doors with Burns.

"I
suggest we seal the hatch, sir," I said to Burns. "We'll be no use
fighting down there."

"I'd
already thought about it," he replied. "But they want captives and
even if they don't find them, they'll torture it out of one of the
volunteers."

"Damned
if we do, damned if we don't."

"Green
has his orders," he said. It took a while to realise what he meant.
I turned, saw Green still at the hatch, but this time he was above
it and in his hand was the last grenade, his finger looped through
the pin.

Any
morsel of morale left in me evaporated there and then.

"Better
dead than captured by these... these monsters!" mumbled
Burns.

Back
behind the skip I'd been in control of my life and my death, I'd
faced it head on. But now, trapped in this place I realised that I
was seconds from death, my own mortality was staring me down and I
wanted to weep. I wanted to break down like a child but I couldn't.
I just didn't have time.

My grip
on my feeble weapons tightened and the air got harder and harder to
breathe until I nearly fainted. Then I felt something inside, a
cold spot emanating from my heart and spreading to my hands, my
feet, and my head. All the worries and fears began to ebb away and
all at once I felt... at peace.

"Can you
feel that?" Burns said but his voice was crystal clear now - like
starlight cutting through darkness.

"It's a
miracle!” shouted someone from behind.

“You
could say that...” said Burns. We grinned at each other and relaxed
our weapons.

*

The
Avalon fired its entire array of orbital lasers at once, their
target - the city of Dothon. Under instruction from Sergeant Bill
Phillips, the entire site was strategically blasted down to bare
soil until no structure, vehicle or man was left standing. Except
one, that is. Surrounded by a smouldering ring of burning earth,
the church stood alone and untouched by the expertly aimed arsenal.
Two kilometres away, a clean-up team led by Private Hagan Wulfgar
closed in on the remains of the old frontier city and destroyed the
reserve forces encamped in the forest.

Three
days later, the survivors of the battle of Sidon were evacuated to
the Avalon and the planet was abandoned. ARC forces had set up a
heavily defended base at the southern continent and any plans to
recapture Sidon would involve a large-scale invasion force, one
that wouldn't be considered for quite some time.

EPILOGUE

In the
debriefing we watched as the city was reduced to ashes over and
over again. The nose-mounted cameras had captured every detail and
as we explained the events that had transpired after planet-fall an
operator annotated the images to provide a working time line. After
eight hours the whole re-enactment was played out in full and
stored for future study, no doubt by some students at Earth's War
colleges. The history buffs would pull it to pieces. Hell, most of
it defied belief even now and some of the officers gave us
questioning looks. The funny thing was, such desperate battles
often brought out untapped resources in people, gave them skills to
do things you only saw in movies. Heroes were often said to be
forged in the grittiest conflicts and I'd seen a great number of
them born in the hell of Sidon.