Last stand

Last stand

I look out across the field, the dust and fog of the morning sitting low in the horizon, the field brown with churned mud and pot marked with craters, scars from the war that has been raging here in this stalemate of 3 long years. The air is damp and thick, each breath seems to take in the stench of the mud and the dead which we were unable to recover in the many battles we have raged against this enemy.
Our enemy, large, brutish creatures of an origin we do not know, what we do know about them, is that they are only here to destroy.
I walk down the trench, the mud squelching under my feet, I pass the battle scared and grizzled faces of the men in my company, each one tired from the endless fighting that we have been engaged in, this has been one of the few chances we have had for rest in a long while, some are sleeping, others eating the little food they can find, while some are keeping on the look out, just incase %u2018they%u2019 try to break through our lines again.
Then it happens, roars like an aircraft flying over head, their artillery, shells flying in their dozens, and when they hit the ground, the ground under us shakes as if the earth its self is moving from the shock, the shells them selves are bigger than a man, each alone capable of destroying a skyscraper with a single blast, inaccurate, crude, but effective.
The barrage lasts for what seems to be a life time, but in reality, would of only been half an hour, shells landing everywhere, men screaming as they run for whatever cover they can get to, some men don%u2019t get to cover in time, some being unlucky enough to be hit directly, one minute they are there, the next there is an explosion of dust, mud, smoke and blood, and all that remains is a crater, others are hit by the concussion effects and are either flung through the air, or hit by the shock wave, it hits them with such power that all the bones in their body instantly shatter, and they hit the ground limp, usually dead, sometimes fate takes a worse turn and they survive, only to die a short while after when their body gives up trying to hang on, if hell was on earth, then this would be as close as you could get to it%u2026
The shelling stops, I rally the remainders of my squad to me, most of them survive the barrage, but I can see in their eyes that they know that worst has not yet come; we hear a great roar from the horizon, I turn to my men and give them the order to get into positions, this line is not allowed to break, we are few and are spread thinly out along a trench line that was meant to be covered by more than 3 times our number. I bring my rifle up into a firing position, peering over the trench wall and as I do I see them, our enemy, great beast of chaos, huge creatures, each the size of a man, but build with muscle, raw muscle, massive grey beasts with deep red eyes, and claws able to penetrate the armor on a tank, running on all fours as if like some kind of a dog they come charging at us%u2026
1000 meters, the men get into position, loading their weapons and manning the mounted guns that survived the barrage%u2026
900 meters, I sweat as I try to draw bead on a target amongst this wave of grey flesh%u2026
800 meters, out the corner of my eye, I see the trail of a lone missile from our trench hit the charging creatures, the explosion killing a few, but it didn%u2019t do anything to slow them down%u2026
700 meters, I flick the safety on the side of my rifle%u2026 the rifle powers up with a failure hum, the power gage flickers into life and the ammo gage counts up, 50 rounds, a full clip%u2026
600 meters, I give the order, and the trench bursts to life, blue energy pulses stream from around me, the manned machine guns fire non stop, I fire my own weapon, it bucks under the recoil, and the blue energy pulses fly at their lines, killing them as they come, killing them by their dozens, but no matter how many we kill, there is always 2 more there, their black blood coating the ground%u2026
Closer they come, all the ammunition we poor on doesn%u2019t seem to slow them down, they hit our lines, and suddenly the fire stops and a melee breaks out, the men draw their close combat blades and start to engage the creatures, rifles burst at close range, cutting their targets apart, I draw my sword, a blade glistening with a reddish black sheen, designed to cut through most armor with relative ease.
I swing; cutting one of the beasts in half, draw my side arm and swing around and shoot another at close range, the power of the weapon taking its face off, the blackened mangled creature falls to the ground. I block another creature and run my blade through its head, it falls to the ground dead, twitching slowly, I feel a grip around my waist and claws pressing into my chest, I%u2019m lifted off the ground by another of the creatures, I%u2019m turned around to see a pair of deep red eyes looking at me, I point my side arm at its head, point black, couldn%u2019t miss at that range, I squeeze the trigger, click, nothing happens, its jammed%u2026