Argus ran. His breath came in ragged rasps. His side ached. His head pulsed, each step a muffled thump. But he ran.
The wounds he had taken during their last mission would have felled a dozen lesser men. His Astartes physiology let him prevail. His body was doing its best to heal. His primary heart was already beating again, relieving the pressure off the secondary organ which had taken over after his chest had been pierced. All of his wounds had scabbed almost instantly, and they were now far enough healed that there was no chance of them reopening due to his movements. But he still needed rest; rest that was denied to him. He did his best to give his body every chance to heal. He tried to shut down his conscious mind, concentrating only on running. One step, after the other, then the next, and then the next.
Like any other Scout, Argus had been the subject of countless hours of ruthless training... but nothing compared to this. He had never been this tired in his life. Once again, unbidden thoughts skirted the edge of mind. Too tired to resist, he gave in to the urge to review and analyse the mission.
---
It had seemed so simple an action. The infiltration of the rebel compound was swiftly and efficiently executed. Security was not lax - at least not to human standards - but it did not, indeed, it could not prevent the approach of Space Marine Scouts. Alpha Squad had eliminated the sentries and placed the demolition charges. They held out against waves and waves of rebel militia emerging from the underground complex, making sure that the explosion was not prevented. When it came, the communications tower went down in a shower of pulverized ferrocrete, rock and dirt, stunning the human rebels and allowing the Scouts to retreat.
They were not unscathed. Many had sustained serious wounds, and Oberon had been knocked unconscious. Those who had suffered lesser wounds had carried their brother and his equipment. Argus and the other wounded ran on their own two feet. All they had to do was to reach the primary extraction point.
They had stopped atop the otherwise unremarkable hill and activated their long range communication device to signal Sergeant Danicus. They had no chance to speak. The Veteran Sergeant's instruction was transmitted in an urgent, almost worried kind of voice.
'-khhh- immediately to extraction point Theta. I repeat, proceed -khhhh- to -khhhh- point Theta.'
That was it.
It meant that the situation had gone all wrong, and that the Sergeant was unable to extract them from any nearby location. Extraction point Theta was deep in the wooded landscape, far away from the communications tower or any other known human facility.
It took only a split second for Argus to go over the possible scenarios, and give the necessary orders. The Scouts had holstered their weapons, propped up their comrades, and ran on.
---
They had been running for well over 6 hours. Oberon had recovered some time ago, and had continued on his own feet. Argus allowed them 5 minutes of rest every 4 hours. They could not afford more, even though they needed it.
Argus realized that he had drifted deep into his tactical analysis when he was suddenly jolted awake from his reverie. He had missed the hand signal to stop given by Karn. Boreas, who had been runing next to him, had grabbed him by the arm. It took all of his self-control not to fall on his face. He skidded to a stop, and went down on one knee. His training took over, supressing any remains of fatigue and pain. He scanned his surroundings, and signalled to Karn.
*Situation?*
*Contact, southwest* - came the short answer.
Argus followed the pointing finger with his gaze, almost distinguishing a hulking shape moving through the woods. Boreas tapped his shoulder. Argus turned. On the left flank of the party, Gortez was also signalling.
*Contact, east*
Argus gave the signal to ready weapons. All around him, the Scouts took cover and unholstered their gear, checking sights and ammo. The checks were, of course, superfluous - they had double checked everything before stowing away their weapons - but by this point, they had become second nature.
Alpha Squad hunkered down. Argus closed his eyes, willing his enhanced eyes to adjust to the twilit forest. There was noise as the creatures - whatever they were, out of sight - crashed through the underbrush. They seemed to be moving away. Argus exhaled, and stood up - looking straight into a brutish face across the clearing. The creature looked surprized, about to cry out. Without thinking, Argus raised his bolt pistol and shot it in the head.
The shot rang out, and the silence that followed was deafening.
Of course, it lasted but a second, as the creatures all around shouted their inhuman warcry as one.
'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!'
No comments:
Post a Comment