The third and final part. Sergeant Steel, John Middlebrooks and Sara McCraw enter the alien base with the purpose of killing all of the aliens and finding Francis Rhoads. I may continue with this at a later date, probably just individual stories for the characters. As usual, comments welcome.
Sergeant Steel blasted an aliens head off with his shotgun. He had taken point inside the enemy base, with Sara and John providing cover. Steel stepped over the dead body and kicked open the door he was guarding. The room was empty.
“I think we’ve killed them all sir.” John said as he followed.
“Don’t be naïve Middlebrooks, we’ve only been killing grunts so far. You can tell by the armour. We need to find that red armoured guy. Let’s go.”
Sergeant Steel walked over to the other side of the room and opened a door to reveal stairs leading downwards. They didn’t encounter much resistance on the way down. Once they had reached the bottom floor they found another door. John quietly placed plastic explosives around the edges and stood back.
The explosion knocked the door off its hinges and into the room beyond. Sergeant Steel dived in and readied his shotgun, while Sara fired her assault rifle wildly into the room. They heard several dull thuds as more aliens fell down dead.
“That was easy.” Sergeant Steel said as he stood up.
“Too easy sir?”
“No such thing as too easy Middlebrooks. But it looks like this room splits off into two. You two go right, I’ll go left.”
John and Sara opened the door on the right of the room. They found a long corridor with several more rooms along either side. Each room had a strange alien symbol on the door at about eye height. John carefully opened the first one he found.
“Looks like we’ve found their dorms.”
“Any aliens?”
“Nope, this room’s clear.”
“Then let’s keep moving.”
The two soldiers checked each room they passed, but each was empty. They eventually reached the end of the corridor. After opening the final door they entered what looked very much like a canteen. It had chairs lined up along tables and at the far end a counter replete with crockery.
“This is kinda spooky.”
“C’mon, they’ve gotta eat right?”
“No, I mean, of course. It’s just, well, this is so normal. I was expecting something a little more, well, alien. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Really? I just feel hungry. I wonder what their food’s like.” John said as he rushed off to the counter.
“Hey wait!” Sara called as she ran after him. John found what looked like a typical fridge and promptly opened it.
“What the? This stuff’s just like normal food. They’ve got mushrooms, cheese, week-old pizza and even beer. Score!” John cracked open a can of beer and took a swig.
“Are you sure you should be drinking that? It could be poisonous for all we know.”
“Please, give me some credit. This is the same brand I’ve got back at the base.”
“Why would aliens have beer?”
“Maybe because they’re not nerds like you?”
Before Sara could reply to John’s stunning repartee she heard a scratching sound. John apparently heard it too, because he placed his beer on the counter and readied his weapon. They stood in silence, each trying to locate the source of the noise. Gently, slowly, the noise got louder and more distinct. Sara cocked her head to one side, then gestured towards the back wall. They advanced quietly and raised their rifles.
Suddenly a huge chunk of the wall exploded, bowling them over as it did so. They recovered quickly and fired into the new hole. They heard the ping of bullets bouncing off metal.
An alien stepped through the hole. It was roughly twice the size of the other aliens and was covered in thicker armour. It made a roaring sound and jumped to where John was kneeling. It drew back its arm and swung at him, but John rolled out of the way just in time.
“HOLY SHIT! We are so fucking dead!” He screamed as he rolled back upright.
“Shut up and shoot! It’s got to have weak points, just fire at the gaps in the armour!” Sara screamed back as she unleashed a hail of bullets at the aliens’ joints. In response the alien crouched down before leaping forward. It caught Sara in the chest with its’ shoulder and she collapsed backwards, dropping her weapon as she did so. The alien grabbed her ankle and threw her across the canteen where she broke a table with the impact of her landing.
“I was right. We’re dead.” John said to himself as he peppered the aliens’ hulking form with bullets. He succeeded in taking a chunk out of its’ helmet.
He also succeeded in making it very, very angry. It crouched again and leapt forwards, catching John in one hand. It slammed him into the ground several times, then raised him to eye-height. John stared into it’s eyeball through the hole in its’ helmet. Every instinct he had told him to spit into it, but he resisted the urge and instead jammed a grenade in there instead. The alien howled in pain and threw across the room, then its’ head promptly exploded.
Sara clambered to her feet and staggered over to where John had landed. After checking to make sure he was still alive she slapped him across the face.
“Ouch! What was that for?” He asked, his eye barely opening.
“I told you not to drink the beer.”
Meanwhile, Sergeant Steel was working his way down his own corridor. He had found a common room, toilets and two sets of showers, but no aliens and no Francis Rhoads. He reached the end of the corridor just as empty-handed as his soldiers. He opened the door quickly and quietly.
“Welcome human leader. I have been expecting you.” The red armoured alien said. It was standing in front of a door. The room they were in was decorated with many bladed weapons, some of which Steel recognised, but most were unknown to him.
“I’m not here to talk.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Let’s say I’m here to kick ass and chew gum, and I’m all outta gum.”
“You humans seem to find solace in your humour. I have killed many of your kind, both on the battlefield and in private. Those that do not beg invariably make jokes. I find it a strange quirk which I shall be sure to extinguish once you are all slaves.”
“Shut up. I said I’m not here to talk. Where’s Rhoads?”
“Oh, you mean the human soldiers we captured? Behind this door of course. But first you will have to fight me in an honourable duel to the death. Pick any weapon in this room and I will do likewise.”
Sergeant Steel glanced around the room once more. He then shot the alien in the chest with his shotgun.
“You talk to much. Hey Rhoads, you alive in there?” Steel asked as he kicked in the final door. He found Rhoads laying in a pool of his own blood. His kneecaps had been broken.
“As far as I can tell sir.”
“You in any pain son?”
“A lot sir. Thanks for rescuing me, I didn’t think command would give you the order too.”
“They didn’t.”
“Then why’d you come?”
“I’m just following orders.” Steel said as he pulled out his pistol and shot Francis between the eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment