The line didn't just bend.
It broke.
The fiend hit like a truck.
Men were thrown apart on impact, formation gone in an instant. What was once a controlled firing line turned into scattered pockets of fighting. Comms flared with overlapping voices. Orders, warnings, and curses with none of it coming through clean.
"Fall back—fall—!"
"Left side! LEFT—!"
"Watch your—!"
It all blurred together.
The smaller ones poured in behind it. Distance forgotten for close combat.
No more comfort of rifles at range.
It turned ugly, way too fast.
Soap slammed into cover that wasn't really cover, a half-broken wall barely holding together. His rifle going off twice before something hit it from the side, knocking it off aim. He switched without thinking, pistol already up, firing into a face that was way too close for comfort.
Yet even at that distance it didn't stay down.
"Bloody...!"
He stomped down hard onto its knee, boot crunching into bone making it jerk forward as the knee gave way in a completely opposite direction than normal, before putting another round through its skull.
To his right, one of Fisher's men drove a knife into a throat, ripping it free just as another rushed him. With no time to reset, he took it head-on, shoulder checking it back before putting two rounds into its chest.
It only staggered for a moment before it regained itself and lunging for him.
"STAY THE FUCK OFF ME!"
He screamed as the mutant almost grabbed the Marine, luck for him a shot rang out and the thing's head snapped back, collapsing. Fisher stood just behind him, Five-seveN steady, already moving to the next target.
"Stay tight!" Fisher barked. "Don't let them swarm you!"
But staying tight wasn't an option anymore.
Because the fiend was still moving.
It carved through them. It wasn't clean or even precise by any means but it still did its job.
Price emptied half a mag into its upper chest as it turned toward a pair of marines trying to drag a wounded man back.
"Move! MOVE!"
One of them hesitated.
Just for a second. Yet that was all it needed.
The fiend closed the distance in two heavy steps.
The marine turned, rifle up, firing point blank into its face. Rounds sparked, tore flesh, chipped bone.
For a moment, however brief, it slowed leading the marine to have a little hope.
Yet hope won't save him.
The fiend's hand shot out.
It caught him by the chest.
Lifted him clean off the ground.
"Shit!"
The marine struggled, boots kicking, hands clawing at the thing's arm. His rifle clattered to the ground as he tried to pry himself free.
"IT'S NOT—GOING—DO—"
The words cut off.
Pressure.
Armor bent inward with a metallic groan.
Then a wet, crushing crack.
Blood pushed past the seams.
The fiend held him there a second longer.
Then split him open with the axe.
Not fast or clean, it was almost like he wanted him to feel every second of it.
____
The body dropped in pieces.
No one had time to react.
Because it was already moving again.
"Focus fire!" Price shouted, voice cutting through the chaos. "Bring it down!"
They tried.
God, they tried.
Rounds hammered into it from every angle. Head, chest, shoulders. It didn't matter. It staggered once, maybe twice, but it never stopped.
If anything, it got faster.
"These guns don't do shit!" Roach yelled.
"We need something heavier!" someone else shouted.
Fisher keyed his comms, eyes locked on the fiend as it tore through another cluster.
"Demo, where the hell are you?!"
A burst of static, before a voice sounded.
"Trying to get a line!" Haggard's voice came through, strained but sharp. "You're all in the damn way!"
Of course they were.
The fiend was in the middle of them.
Killing them. Soap saw it turn. Saw where it was going, and that was all he needed.
"Ah, hell…"
He stepped out.
Raised his weapon.
"HEY!"
Rounds snapped into its head, its chest, anything he could hit.
It locked onto him instantly.
Good.
"Yeah, come on then!"
It charged.
Even with seeing it before Soap was slightly shocked about how fast something like that could move. Still even with the shock he got back into focus fast.
Soap backed up, firing, boots scraping against broken concrete. The thing closed the distance faster than it should've been able to, axe dragging for a split second before lifting.
Over the comms voices came through.
"Backblast almost clear—!"
"Not yet!" Price snapped. "Hold it!"
Soap kept firing.
Click.
Empty.
"Of course…"
He didn't reload, didn't have time anyway.
The fiend was already there.
The axe came up.
Soap dropped hard, rolling just as it came down.
The impact cracked the ground, a shockwave of dust and debris blasting outward.
It turned, faster than it should've, dragging the weapon free.
Soap barely got his sidearm up before his comms blared.
"NOW!"
A roar tore through the street as the AT4 fired.
The rocket streaked past broken walls and scattered bodies in a straight, unforgiving line.
And hit center mass.
The explosion swallowed the fiend.
Fire bloomed outward, chains snapping, armor plates ripping free as the blast tore into it. The force threw nearby bodies aside, concrete shattering under the pressure. Dust scattering, forming a smoke screen.
For a moment there was nothing, only smoke and flames. With falling debris finally hitting the ground after some time.
Then through the smoke a leg pushed forward.
From where the group was at it looked broken and blackened.
The smoke cleared more, leaving the aftermath for all to see.
Half its chest gone, armor peeled open, something black and wrong exposed beneath. One arm hung useless, barely attached. The skull… shattered, but not gone.
It was still moving. Inching ever more so closely to the group.
After a few more seconds it let out a sound of what can be described as hateful or something akin to resentment.
Then its leg gave out.
It stumbled.
Took one more step.
Before collapsing.
Hard enough to shake the ground.
And didn't get back up.
____
For a few seconds no one moved.
Then the smaller ones came again. Like whatever happened didn't faze them at all.
"Finish them!" Price snapped.
Gunfire returned. Heads snapping back as accuracy returned.
With the biggest threat out of the way confidence and focus returned in strides.
One by one they dropped.
This time they stayed down.
Silence didn't come all at once. But for every shot released the quieter it got.
Shot by shot. Body by body.
Until finally nothing was left.
Just breathing, and leftover crackles of fire remained.
And the faint clink of rifle chambers running empty.
"Clear…" someone muttered.
No one answered.
Soap turned first, already moving, destination already mapped out.
And that was Guss.
He was where he'd been dropped.
On his side.
Blood pooled beneath him, dark and thick. There was way too much for comfort.
Soap slowed as he got close before kneeling down.
"Rover."
No response.
For a second he thought he was already gone.
Then a small twitch followed
Barely there as if on his last dying breaths.
Soap leaned in.
"Hey… hey, stay with me."
Guss's head shifted slightly.
Only enough to get a last glance at who was holding him.
One eye cracked open. Clouded and struggling to stay open.
He looked at Soap.
Recognition flickered.
His mouth moved.
Tried to say something.
Nothing came out.
Just a wet, broken breath.
Soap swallowed.
"Don't try. Save your words for later."
Guss ignored him and tried again, producing a sound this time.
It was low and gravelly.
Then his chest hitched.
Once.
Twice.
And stopped.
Soap stayed there a second longer.
Before slowly pulling back.
Not saying anything.
Behind him, the others regrouped.
Fewer now.
A lot fewer.
Smoke drifted through the street, mixing with dust and the smell of burned flesh. The fiend's body lay in the middle of it all, twisted, broken, still faintly smoldering.
No one went near it yet.
Price stepped up beside Soap, eyes on the corpse.
For once he didn't have an order ready.
Just a long look.
After a few minutes of silence. Price finally let out a sigh before saying. "Let's get moving. I get a feeling this might only be the beginning of something far worse".
____
____
Well that's it for this chapter. Sorry for the late chapter I have been absolutely swamped with work. I may have a hard time uploading tomorrow since I have a 12 hr shift waiting for me... Fun.
Real Story begins next chapter!
Anyway if you enjoyed then leave some powerstones why don't ya. Or a comment perhaps?