A wave of euphoria passes over the entire reservoir gathering that has such a force that Sindaris is temporarily blinded. He has to fight to stop himself blacking out and the only thing he can think of doing is letting his face hang limp since it’s what he imagines the others are doing.
Their minds begin to quieten again and as they do, the prickling sensation returns to Sindaris’ ears. He resists the urge to shake his head to clear his eyes.
The mist spiral has dissipated completely leaving an entirely white human shaped figure that looks as if it is comprised solely of light itself. The figure soon begins to dim and when Sindaris’ vision clears up he finds himself looking at the face of the controlling entity.
His wife.
Sindaris experiences shock on such a scale that he doesn’t react. Everything in him goes quiet, he can’t feel his body or even the soft warm buzz of the infection coursing through his being. His wife looks just as she did on their wedding day. Sindaris’ numb shock dissolves the mental walls that defend him, no longer blocking the thousands of infected minds sharing the ecstasy of purpose.
Before Sindaris even feels anything is wrong, he’s already lost half his identity to the invading share-mind. A barely audible whimper escapes his mouth as he makes a fruitless attempt to grip the fraying strings of his mind, grasping at anything that will keep his identity from vanishing like a single drop of water into a thundering river.
It happens too fast, there is simply nothing left to keep him fighting. Sindaris is only a primeval version of himself looking into the eyes of his wife. He feels himself beginning to smile. The euphoria carries such weight that within a second he doesn’t even want to do anything else but stand there. His binary pupils dilate. He now doesn’t even remember his name.
After another moment, he doesn’t remember who he’s looking at but she makes him happy. He can feel the other minds’ eyes slithering around in his head bringing him in, accepting him. Making him part of something special.
He is home.
Unaware of the assembly of infected right below the surface at his position, Rennin Farrow banks Dead Star in a ring around a brutal ground fight. He’s made three passes, but still cannot see a viable landing site. Assisting Corporal Verge’s remnant seems increasingly unlikely since he is sure that as soon as he sets down the ship will be swarmed upon.
Verge’s unit has abandoned their initial position at a four-way intersection, retreating into one of the nearby buildings. Rennin can see flashes from gunfire from the windows. One soldier peers out and up, seeing Dead Star. He points up. Since nothing is coming through on the radio, Rennin figures that means they’re heading to the roof.
The streets are teeming with contaminants, moving in a vile torrent, invading the building in any way possible. Upon reaching the rooftop there are five of Verge’s unit remaining. One of them is limping from what appears to be a grievous leg wound.
Carmine opens fire from Dead Star’s side cannon to stem the tide of contaminants on the street. Rennin turns to Del. “Get your Sunbreaker out and give them a hand, I’m taking us in.”
Sabre draws his attention away from the fight. “We have to do this quickly.”
A soldier runs to the edge of the building holding a rocket launcher. An RPG is unloaded into the street, killing a cluster of the crazed locals. The soldier then drops the empty rocket launcher and the group takes up a position training their rifles on the door, awaiting the first rush of contaminants.
“Only one of this bucket’s cannons will be able to face the fight as I come in. Carmine will have to keep sustained fire on the ground,” says Rennin.
Caufmann looks at Mia. “You and Del will assist Carmine with sniper fire.”
“Rennin, keep the gunship’s left side facing the main attack. Drej, once we’re low enough, we’ll jump out and protect the survivors,” Antares says.
Without warning, the access to the roof explodes with contaminants like ants escaping a flooded hive. The survivors of Verge’s contingent are taken completely by surprise by the sheer numbers of raging infected. Two more of Verge’s team are killed within seconds.
Rennin drops Dead Star down and their rescue begins. The first shot comes from Del’s Sunbreaker and a contaminant is blown clean in half as the thunderclap rings inside the gunship.
Carmine fires a volley of rounds across the charging horde, causing some to stumble and others to scatter. Mia fires at the ones leading the charge trying to make them fall to slow the growing mass behind.
Rennin lowers the gunship further and the two androids leap out with swords in hand. Drej hits the ground first, cracking the stone surface whereas Antares drops and rolls more gracefully, then the two are up and running side by side.
Drej’s sword seems to glow silver as he begins to exert himself. Antares’ blade’s etchings light up green, as do the veins on her bare arms. The two of them charge at a crowd of attackers that now number in the dozens. The first contaminant is decapitated by Drej’s bone-blade and their rear guard struggle is underway.
Rennin sets Dead Star as close as he can to Verge’s last stand. Carmine tries to aid the androids as much as he can from his vantage point.
Del snap fires two shots almost as fast as the light beams themselves and both shots result in definite kills. Mia is crippling every target she can, aiming for every knee in sight.
The three remaining ground survivors are now only two, Corporal Verge and one gunner. Rennin doesn’t need to make any movement to signal them, they abandon their positions and run towards the gunship.
Antares and Drej get overrun by a sea of them; they could make it to the roof access to bottleneck them in time. The gunner is run down by a group of contaminants. Verge shoots the slashing, biting locals off the overwhelmed comrade. The corporal gets under the arm of the wounded soldier and hauls him towards Dead Star.
Rennin patches his headset through to the speaker on the outside of the gunship, “Let’s move it, Arca!”
Drej and Antares are swamped by contaminants now, fighting back to back. A gap opens up in their defence and a contaminant thrusts its forearm spike towards Drej’s side but a Sunbreaker round blares through its torso, taking its top section apart.
The two androids make a break for Dead Star. Antares is stabbed in the thigh by a diving contaminant, her sub zero blood freezing the creature’s limb. With a fierce downward hit, she breaks its frozen arm straight off. The thing screeches in pain and a bullet shot into its mouth kills it instantly. Antares rips the curious spike from her leg and doesn’t even flinch.
Drej turns to the onrush of contaminants and outstretches his hands. Focussing his raw core power, a blast of red energy streams outwards, incinerating a pack of them on the spot. He then boards Dead Star. Verge has slung in and secured the badly bleeding gunner.
The fully loaded Dead Star lifts off the ground, away from the massing swarms of screaming contaminants.
Antares removes her armour plate and rips her pant leg open, revealing her impaled limb. It hisses cold steam, fogging up the cabin and forcing the humans to cover their mouths to avoid inhaling the dangerous vapour. She jabs herself with a small syringe and the steaming wound sparks before sealing over.
Verge’s gunner bleeds out while Mia is desperately trying to tend his horrific lacerations. The corporal’s shoulders sag.
“Fifty men,” the corporal bursts out, ripping off the encumbering helmet to reveal long blonde hair plaited to her scalp. She locks her icy grey eyes on Sabre when she sees his lieutenant stripes. “We called for reinforcements yesterday! Where the fuck was our support? One platoon holding the Blackhaven Red Zone?”
“There aren’t any,” says Sabre simply.