Samuel’s attention was focused on Bianca as she emerged from the water locked in a vicious struggle with the alien beast. The young woman had managed to get a firm grip on one of the creature’s fins with her robotic arm and was visibly crushing it to a bloody pulp even as the creature’s barbed appendages tore into her armor and the soft flesh beneath.
Samuel was a veteran of many conflicts, and despite his conscious focus on Bianca as he sprinted toward her, his unconscious mind was still aware of the greater struggle unfolding around him. Other marines fought in the churning water as more and more of the creatures burst from the water, perhaps drawn by the all of the activity.
The marine reached Bianca and the creature and flung himself into the fray with boarding knife in hand. The creature keened with an ear piercing shriek as Samuel slashed and stabbed at its surprising bulk, drawing a thick iridescent green blood that soon covered the two marines and stained the water around them. The creature abruptly ceased thrashingand sank limply into the water to drift away, either dead or dying. Samuel started dragging Bianca out of the water.
“My leg! Prybar, it did something to the servos, I can’t move it!” groaned Bianca as she tried and failed to put weight on her robotic leg, which was now locked in a bent position, making it impossible for her to even use her hips to limp forward.
Samuel flung her arm over his shoulder and did his best to drag her toward the beach. Now that they were only in waist deep water more details filtered into his awareness. More of the creatures were arriving in the cove, and the Reaper assault had stalled out thanks to the chaos on the beach and in the water.
Multiple assault craft had pulled up short, unable to reach the landing zone and were now exchanging fire with not only the hostile gun emplacement but several dozen individual shooters who had emerged from within.
There was no way he was going to be able to drag Bianca onto dry land before more of the creatures were upon them, and even then, judging from the bones strewn across the beach, the creatures were likely to follow.
“Kade, take my rifle and keep them off us,” said Samuel as he unslung his rifle and handed it to Bianca before changing his hold so that his arms were tucked under her armpits.
The disabled marine nodded her head and leaned into Samuel’s grip, allowing him to drag her through the fetid water as she did her best to aim at the creatures rushing to overtake them.
Bianca was a solid shooter, one of the better marksmen in the squad, and she laid down three round bursts as Samuel pulled her along. As Samuel worked his way towards the beach he began to suspect that this assault by the creatures must be a regular occurrence, based on the type and position of the gun emplacements.
Low tech weapons were the perfect fit for defending a kill zone being attacked by unintelligent beasts that swarmed en masse. The low tech guns could pour on the kind of meat-grinding firepower that it would take to hold off this kind of assault, where the more sophisticated weapons might find themselves overwhelmed in such a chaotic target rich environment.
The pair finally managed to reach the prow of the boat and Samuel set Bianca down before turning and drawing his sidearm. The fetid water swirled around his boots and made his footing precarious, so the marine took a knee to steady his aim and make each shot count. Samuel knew that to avoid being shot by the enemies above they had to stay where they could at least have the modest cover provided by the hull of the boat. Unfortunately, that meant they’d have to face down the amphibious hostiles up close and personal.
Bianca expended the last of Samuel’s original magazine and then switched to her sidearm as the two marines held their position.
Unlike typical predators in nature, these creatures swarmed towards the beach in a frenzy, whereas a normal predator would typically not risk life and limb for a single meal.
“They must have landed this complex on a spawning ground or something!” shouted Samuel as he fired six rounds into a creature that emerged from the water only a few meters away.
“You’d think Command would have sent in some recon elements before launching a full frontal assault,” grumbled Bianca as she holstered her empty sidearm and fumbled to get a fresh magazine into Samuel’s combat rifle.
“Everything is on the front line,” said Samuel as he reloaded his weapon and surveyed the cove. The water still churned with boats, blood, bullets, and the occasional beast, but the intensity of the fighting had decreased significantly. “We’re cheap soldiers anyway; they could sell the complex for scrap and still come out ahead.”
“Tango Platoon on me!” boomed the voice of Boss Marsters, drawing Samuel’s attention from the frothing water and back up the beach to where he saw Squad Marsters and Squad Hyst crowding around the ground level bay doors.
Other squads of marines, mostly from Epsilon, Omicron, and Sigma were beginning to form up and advance now that the fury of the aquatic swarm had all but abated. The other platoons that were unable to land effectively had drawn most of the fire from the hostile defenders, and thankfully, the superior firepower and marksmanship of the marines was turning the tide.
Samuel saw that Squad Ulanti was forming up nearby and the marine looked back to Bianca, who was already eyeing the phalanx with a look of disappointment.
“Well, Boss, you heard the man,” snarled Bianca as she handed Samuel his rifle back and swiftly drew and reloaded her sidearm. “I’ve got two pistol mags left, and I think these fish bastards have had enough for now, I’ll be fine.”
Samuel hesitated before Bianca looked away and back towards the cove, then drew his legs underneath him and launched himself into a sprint across the dozen or so meters of no man’s land between his position and the advancing Reaper phalanx.
Samuel knew it was a risk to advance without cover across the open beach, though with the marine’s still on boats in the cove laying down a tremendous amount of suppressing fire there were only a handful of hostile shooters who dared engage. Most of the defenders had either been killed or driven back inside the complex, though the few that remained continued to shoot at the exposed marines.
As Samuel ran, he could see a handful of armored marine corpses who had died in the blistering assault, and there was no telling how many had been drug down into a wet grave by the alien beasts. Errant rounds kicked up sand as one or more of the shooters above trained their guns on Samuel, and the marine cut side to side in an attempt to prevent the shooters from anticipating his next move. Ahead Samuel saw a flak board lying next to the corpse of a marine and dove for the handle. Samuel hauled up the board just in time to protect himself from several rounds. When he looked down at the fallen marine he recognized Marcus Baen. The dead marine had been brought down by several shots, and his armor was dented all over, as if he’d been brought down by sustained fire from one of the crew served weapons.
Samuel looked down at Marcus for a moment longer, feeling the sting of losing one of his marines with the acuteness that only a leader could, then he rushed to join Boss Ulanti’s phalanx. Abasi saw him approaching and moved his board aside to give Samuel space to slot in, and once he had his board locked in the formation lumbered onward.
The level of enemy fire had dwindled to the occasional burst, though all the marines kept their boards in position as they pushed on. The difficult landing combined with the attack by the aquatic creatures and the complex defenders had nearly halted the Reaper attack all together, but as more and more squads advanced the momentum began to grow once more.