[Cassandra Chronicles] Battle of Umbar Valley

[StevieJr]

Umbar Valley, Cassandra

November 14, 2294

 

Perspective: Private First Class Jason Preston[KIA]

 

Gunfire and artillery shells fly over the private as he sprints through the open ground. He looks to his left, and to his right, other PDF are on either side of him, lining up as far as the eye could see, all sprinting the same direction as the scream of artillery shells and the battle cries of the other soldiers echo throughout the battlefield.

 

In front of the private, the screams of thousands arachnids. A tide, they screeched as they charged the infantry, despite the artillery shells blasting them to bits, they still came towards the infantry.

 

"Company halt!" He heard the distinct voice of his Captain scream over the radio, instantly he stopped and raised his Morita Mark one up to his shoulder. He aimed towards the first arachnid he saw... Waiting for the open fire order. The troopers around him did the same, he looked to his left, three troopers down, a man named Donald Harvey, he was the local electrician, now in full uniform. He then looked to his right, and right next to him was the star of his highschool's jumpball team.

Everyone sat there, focused, aiming downrange at the approaching Arachnid horde.

 

"Open fire!" The radio screamed into his ear. He didn't hesitate, he pulled down on his trigger and began pouring lead towards the first bug he saw.

How far were they? 500 meters? 400 meters? He couldn't tell, he just knew he needed to kill as many as possible.

 

The hail of gunfire deafended out anything else around him, a hail of morita fire never before seen by himself. Not even in the couple weeks of training he received before being sent here. It was a white noise, a blanket of lead coating any arachnid that happened to be in the way. He gunned one down, the arachnid's leg flying off and into the distance not too long after it was down, scrawling on the ground. He couldn't look too long, he had to go to the next one, he never let go of the trigger though, not until he was out of ammo.

 

He quickly stuffed his hand into his rig and pulled out another magazine. He discarded the one that was already in and slotted the new magazine in, he looked to his left and right as he reloaded, others were repeating his process. He couldn't look too long though, focus. Focus on the enemy, the threat to your homeland, the arachnid scum.

 

He chambered a round and shouldered his morita again, letting out another hailstorm of ordinance into the massive horde of arachnids.

A stack was forming. He could tell, thousands upon thousands were beginning to clamber over their dead in a desperate attempt to get to the infantry. The soldier didn't let up though, he couldn't. There was just no way he could let the bugs get close enough to him. Right?

 

The screams of the infantry are heard as they unload, men and women alike letting out hoarse battlecries as they hip-fired, shoulder-fired, doing whatever they could to get as much ammunition downrange as possible. But the bugs were getting closer, thousands of them. The trooper could feel his hands tremble as he fumbled for his next magazine, before he knew it the arachnids were upon him. One slashed for his chest, and the troopers around him began to backpedal. Still not relenting.

 

He felt only a small sting, but he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He fell to the ground, a plum of dust puffing out around him as he hit the soft sand. Once again, he looked to his left and right, he saw the electrician getting picked up, and clamped between two large jaws before being completely dismembered in two. The soldier took a deep breath as a tear ran down his cheek, he didn't know why he was crying. Was it the doom he saw happening? The death?

 

He took another deep breath, looking around once more. The arachnids were beginning to ignore him now, they simply walked on, he saw a fireteam running towards a hill, they formed a semi-circle and desperately began firing into the bug horde. The trooper watched the futile attempt as they shot down maybe four arachnids before one came up on the flank and picked the middle most trooper up, tossing them to the side into more, just to be torn apart even more, until there was nothing but blood and bone left. The others he didn't dare watch, simply looking to his right again.

 

It was another private. This one the trooper knew, it was Private Avery Brown, they were about the same age. Avery was laying similar to himself, on his back. But a talon was embedded in his chest. The trooper stared into the dead man's eyes as dust was kicked out around him and the arachnid swarm passed over him like he was nothing. Soon, he could no longer move his head at all, and he simply stared into the other man's eyes, the stare becoming just as dead as Avery's was.

[Arrow]

the urge to meme this is incredible