DANTE
“Losing more vessels, sir,” said a human, turning to look at me with wide eyes. “Nearly all of Alpha has been killed, and Bravo is at half-strength.”
“The building is holding, sir,” said someone else. “It must have fire-resistant walls. Our forces can’t burn it down.”
I smiled coldly. Well, St. George. You’re putting up as big a fight as I thought you would. How long can you hold out? I wonder. Very well. If the rats won’t be burned out, we’ll go in after them.
“Send in flight Charlie,” I ordered, “and have them concentrate all physical efforts into getting into that bunker. I don’t care what it takes.” I narrowed my eyes at the stubborn building on the screen and clenched a fist. “Tear it down!”
GARRET
This was endless.
I watched yet another wave come in, this one even bigger than the last, dragons descending from the air in a swarm. Our forces were dwindling. The machine gunners were all dead, and I hadn’t heard a sniper report in a long time. And yet, the dragons kept coming, a relentless, never-ending hoard. Maybe Talon did have an infinite supply of them, and they would continue to attack until they had slaughtered every last soldier in the chapterhouse.
“They’ve stopped trying to burn down the armory at least,” one of the men growled beside me. “What the hell are they doing now?”
I didn’t answer, watching as the new swarm of dragons dropped from the air, rushed the armory walls and began tearing at them viciously. Inside, soldiers stuck their guns through the windows and fired on their attackers, but there were too many dragons and too few places to fire from. Bricks began crumbling and falling away as the clones’ relentless assault continued.
But they were on the ground now. A massive group of them, all in one spot. I looked at my team, saw the same realization in their eyes and nodded. It was time; we would never get a better shot.
Raising the RPG to my shoulder, I carefully aimed the rocket through the window, at the cluster of writhing, squirming wings and tails. Beside me, the others did the same—five lethal high-powered grenades, going right into the heart of the enemy forces.
“Ready,” I muttered, curling my finger around the trigger. “Aim.” I paused for a heartbeat, for that moment when my body was perfectly, absolutely still, then released the breath I was holding. “Fire!”
With a deafening, piercing hiss, five rocket powered grenades streaked from the windows of the building, flying into the mob of dragons below. Five massive explosions followed as the grenades erupted into roaring balls of smoke and fire, turning everything white for a split second. Dragons were flung in all directions, shrieking, tumbling through the air and crashing lifelessly to the ground. The smoke cleared, leaving a large section of scorched, blasted earth that was now covered in blown-apart dragons, some twitching weakly but far too wounded to stay alive.
The men beside me let out wild cheers and howls of triumph. I imagined the same was happening inside the armory, but there was no time to celebrate. The surprise attack had decimated the dragon numbers, killing half of them in one lethal blast, but there were still more out there, clawing at the armory, slowly pushing their way in. If they managed to get inside, we could lose the battle.
“Let’s go!” I snapped to the team, and grabbed my M-4 from where it lay beneath the window. “Before they have a chance to regroup.” When they did recover, we would likely be killed, but this was our job. This was our part in the battle: hit hard and fast, and kill as many as we could before we died.
Sprinting down the stairs, we charged into the chaos, into the heat and screams and smoke, and opened fire.
DANTE
A huge explosion rocked the screen, turning it white for a moment.
“Shit!” cried one of the humans as the rest of them gasped in horror. “Sir, we’ve got multiple wings down. Bravo one, two, three, seven, ten. Charlie two, six, seven, eight, ten. Delta four, five—”
“Excellent.” They stopped and stared at me, stunned. As I expected. That was their ace in the hole. I knew they were holding something back. I smiled grimly. Victory was close. Just one final push.
“Send in the rest,” I ordered. “All wings, attack. Take that base down, now.”
GARRET
I’d been told that there is a point in every soldier’s life when he knows he’s going to die.
You expect it, of course. In every battle, every ambush or enemy engagement. You’re aware that this could be it. This could be the one that ends your life.
But there’s a difference between being aware that you could die and knowing, beyond a doubt, when the situation is hopeless.
New dragons dropped from the sky in a dark mass. More swooped toward me and my team, jets of fire erupting from their mouths. I dove aside, feeling the heat blast through my armor as I rolled to a knee and fired on the dragon streaking by. It shrieked and crashed through a window, shattering glass and leaving jagged shards behind.
One of my men screamed. I whirled to see a dragon swoop in from behind, grab the soldier by the armor and carry him off. He kicked and flailed for a moment before pointing the muzzle of his gun back at his captor and opening fire. The dragon jerked in the air, shuddering, then plummeted forty feet to the ground. Both bodies struck the earth with a hollow thump and didn’t get up again.
“Scorpion!” Martin’s voice crackled in my ear. “The hostiles are about to break through the walls. What’s your status? Did the strike not work?”
“Yes, sir, it did!” I raised my weapon and fired as two dragons came swooping in, then quickly ducked as one barely missed me. I felt the tips of its claws scrape my helmet as it soared past. “But there are reinforcements. We’re trying to get to the armory now.”
“God, how many of these things are there?” An explosion sounded somewhere close, and Martin cursed. “All right, get to the east wall, Scorpion. The bastards are nearly through.”
“On our way.”
I motioned to the rest my team, of which only two were left, and we headed to the east wall. Dragons streaked through the air or bounded at us from the ground, weaving through flames, rubble and smoke. I reacted on instinct, firing at any dragon that got close while trying to stay out of range of its claws and breath. One of my teammates got caught in a line of dragonfire and reeled away, blazing like a torch.
The eastern side of the armory was crawling with dragons, tearing at the walls or digging at the roof. I fired into the swarming mass, taking several down, before a section of the hoard broke away and rushed me with piercing shrieks.