Ambush!
Posted By: Mikkel Eriksen<carthagtuek@usa.com>
Date: 29 April 2001, 3:17 am
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I wrote this up in about half an hour, as an experiment. It's been a while since I've written any stories, so let me know what you all think of it.... =)
His army-knife cut the blue-greyish flesh like dough. Andrei felt the surprisingly cold and thick alien blood splatter his face and gasped. The bug collapsed on top of him....
....Andrei woke. His face was rigid, and he had trouble opening his eyes. He remembered vaguely how his platoon had been ambushed. Where was the lieutenant? Where were his companions? Darkness....
....He opened his eyes. It was still dark. Had he gone blind? No, he found that his vision was slowly improving. It must be night, he thought. Andrei could feel a heavy weight upon him. He tried pushing it aside, but it was too heavy. He couldn't feel his legs either. God, it's cold....
....The 77th recon-squad was crossing a great plain a couple hundred kliks spinward of the crashsite. Their orders were to locate a bug camp at the edge of a small creek and plant a node for an airstrike. The sun was high and everyone were in good mood. The last couple of days they had had great success with their missions. Four nodes had been planted, and four camps had been exterminated. The wind was nicely warm and light. Out of nothing, everything became white and sound disappeared. When Andrei could see and hear again, they were surrounded by the blue bipeds. He pulled the trigger on his assault-rifle and ripped open a nearby bug. It's scream was a horrible mix of whale-song and lion-roar. The aliens were in superior numbers, but the humans were of high morale. The fight lasted only 5 minutes. Andrei found that he was alone with a covvie. He lifted his rifle and emptied the clip, only to find that it was already empty. The covvie made a grating sound that made Andrei think it was laughing. It walked toward him with it's energy-sword. The sun felt uncomfortably warm and sweat kept dripping in Andrei's eyes. He took out his own knife, but it was nothing compared to a covenant energy-sword. Back in training, the standard army knives had seemed so gratuitously big, but now it felt like a toothpick. As the bug charged, Andrei feinted to the right and lashed out with his knife. He could smell smoke & burned flesh. His knees felt like jelly. Was it the adrenalin, or had he been hit? He looked down for a fraction of a second and could see a dark spot forming around a burned hole in his uniform. Andrei cursed at the bug and jumped forward. The bug must have had expected something else, because it moved too late for Andrei's dagger to hit it. Andrei smiled. The bug did a parody of a smile. Was it displaying pain or was it actually smiling? Andrei guessed, as he looked down and saw the energy sword protruding from his own body. He felt rage boiling up in him and started stabbing his tiny knife into the alien....
....Where is the radio? I'm sure I have it here somewhere, Andrei thought. The coldness was starting to get to him. And he was more hungry than he had ever been. At least, the dead alien provided some protection against the cold night air. Andrei found he could reach one of his fellow humans. He pulled the dead body closer and took his extra blanket from his backpack. As he did so, he saw the face of a close friend, and tears welled up in him. What had he dont to deserve this fate? Why did the covenant harbor such an immense hate toward the human race? Andrei got mad with himself for such self-pity. He must warn his superiors that the covenant had known where his platoon were. He found his radio after a brief search and tried. "This is private Andrei Stein, ID # 369576, sole survivor of 77th Recon, we were en route to target #5, got ambushed, I repeat, ambushed. code: Bravo Zebra Niner" He set the transmitter for repeat, and covered himself with the blanket again....
The modified drop-ship that serves as a bomber picked up the beacon of Andrei's radio early that morning. There wasn't much left of the bodies. The scavengers had been quick. They usually were.
The End.
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