Bloodshed

As Private Dubois collapsed on the ground, dead, some of the Imperials finally came to terms with what was happening. The sensors on their armors informed them that they were hardly hallucinating. This beast was real, and it just killed one of them. If the rest of them wanted to live, they had to bring it down as soon as possible.

"Mother of god…" Corporal Huo whispered before desperately raising his rifle at the monstrosity. Even as he pulled the trigger, he was screaming into the radio mounted inside his armor. "Take it down! Concentrate fire on that thing!"

As the recoil of the Defender rifle pushed against the armored plating of the Guardian, the Corporal's mind was spinning faster than he himself might have realized. They were a squad of 12. Now they were down to 8. Due to the nature of this mission, they didn't bring along any of the cumbersome heavy weapons from the outpost's armory. All they had were rifles and shrapnel grenades. They were enough for the local wildlife, but against this…thing, he hoped it looked tougher than it was, but judging by the thick shell he saw on the beast they likely wouldn't be able to kill it.

In that case, their only chance was to distract it, make it to the Blackbucks, and then…wait, what?

The Corporal's plan of escaping failed before it could even start as more and more beasts suddenly lept out of thin air. They were smaller than the first beast. Much smaller. But there were so many of them! They were hounds with sharp teeth and dagger-like claws. Their eyes radiated yellow light as they pounced on the confused Imperial troopers.

To his left, over a dozen zerglings pounced on three soldiers in the squad with such speed that none of the soldiers had the time to raise their rifles. The teeth and claws of the zerglings tore right through the Guardian power armors the soldiers were wearing. As soon as the structure of the power armor was breached, the soldiers were doomed. Even if the zerglings chewing on them wouldn't kill them, the toxic gas all around them would.

To his right, a beast, larger than the hounds but smaller than the three-meter-tall monster that killed Private Dubois, appeared right beside a pair of troopers who were aiming their rifles in the other direction. Corporal Huo opened his mouth and tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. The beast had locked onto one of the troopers and attacked. Coincidentally the victim the beast had chosen was the unfortunate trooper who was shot by Private Ren before the private could be finished off. The suit of Imperial standard-issued Guardian-class power armor that protected that trooper from two handgun rounds couldn't keep its wearer safe this time. That quickly became obvious as the armor was torn through like it was made of paper. As the armor was sliced through, the man inside soon suffered the same fate. If military-grade alloy wasn't resilient enough, then what chance did flesh and bone stand?

Under the corporal's horrified gaze, the beast cut the trooper in half with a single slice of its claws.

The other trooper in the pair snapped around to face the beast that materialized out of nowhere and slew his friend. To his credit, he was calm enough to aim his rifle at the beast and pull the trigger. Bullet after bullet hit the beast as it tried to close the distance with the trooper, but the man was wisely backing off while never lifting his finger off the trigger of the rifle.

For a second, the rifleman was winning. The beast was hurt. Green blood poured out of the wounds caused by the Defender rifle bullets. Just as the beast was about to be finished off by the vengeful trooper, it suddenly vanished into thin air. Just like when it first showed up, it was gone without a trace.

Almost at the same time, a few steps away, the two troopers standing next to Private Dubois screamed and collapsed. One of them was too close to the Zerg queen. As soon as the queen appeared, the man tried to put some distance between himself and the monster, but his legs were shaking so badly that he couldn't move for a second. He regained his senses just in time for the queen's talons to brutally disembowel him. The man next to him broke and ran in horror, only to be shot in the back by another acidic spine.

The entire slaughter went down within seconds. Seconds. Seconds were all it took for most of the corporal's squad to end up dead, killed in different yet equally horrific ways.

As man after man fell around him in the blink of an eye, the corporal screamed at himself to move. To raise his rifle and fire as many rounds as he could before suffering a similar fate as his men. Or maybe to reach into his ammo box, pull out a grenade, and hope it could give him a quick death while taking down as many of these monsters as possible.

Yet as he heard the screams of his men on the radio as they were torn apart, the corporal couldn't move. He was paralyzed. By fear. It was a feeling that he recognized but had grown strange to. When was the last time he froze like this? Like he was a fresh recruit who stepped onto the battlefield for the first time?

Three of the hounds slowly surrounded him, cutting off any chance of escape. They seemed strangely organized compared to most predators local to certain worlds. The bloodshed and slaughter happening all around didn't distract them one bit. They had a job to do, and it was to keep an eye on him. Nothing else concerned them.

Corporal Huo felt shivers down his spine as he examined the beasts who were way too close for his comfort. If he was 500 meters away from these hounds and he had an Eradicator-class machine gun or a sniper rifle, he might be willing to fight. But here? With a single rifle in his hand and three hounds just steps away from him? That wasn't fighting. That was using his armor as the sharpening stone for their claws. That was committing suicide.

Plus, even if he could somehow kill all three of these hounds, it would be too late.

Not far from him, the Imperial trooper who almost killed one of the beasts quickly realized he was the only one who put up any effective resistance. When a quick scan of the environment told him he was the only one left alive and somewhat free, the rifleman let out a loud curse and made a run for it. He wasn't even going for the MSVs. Nope. He was running back toward the trees. Even being stranded in the deadly forest was better than being cut in half or torn to shreds by these beasts.

One of the zerglings close to the corporal let out a screech and attracted Corporal Huo's attention back to his own situation. The zergling tapped the ground with its left claw. When the corporal simply stood there, the zergling let out another threatening screech.

"Is that…" Corporal Huo paused briefly before suddenly having an absurd idea. Was this beast trying to disarm him? Just the thought of an animal telling him to lay down his weapon sounded amusing if it wasn't for the circumstances. Then again, what else could the hound mean?

When the zergling screeched again and took a step forward, the corporal decided to try his luck. After all, there was no way he could fight a way out of this. He dropped his rifle on the ground and raised his hands in the air. To his surprise, the zerglings actually backed off. One of them even pulled the rifle aside with its claws.

So…now what? As the corporal looked around, that was the only question he had in mind. His men were dead, but why did these things keep him alive? Maybe they wanted to save the best kill for last? Or maybe they just wanted to enjoy his fear? Was that it? Sadism?

That was when a familiar figure emerged from behind one of the MSVs. A figure in Guardian-class power armor. At first, Corporal Huo thought this was one of his men who somehow hid and survived the onslaught, but as he saw the figure's face through the transparent layer of her face shield, his heart sank.

"You…Athena! How did you survive…"

The corporal didn't pay much attention to Athena ever since the beasts popped up, nor did he notice her during the seconds of chaotic slaughter. He thought she was dead, just like all his men. Apparently, he couldn't be more wrong.

"Why are you doing this?" Athena's voice came from the comms. She had no intention of dragging this out. Seeing the terrified man brought no joy to her. The only reason she kept him alive was for an answer. Nothing more. "Why? Why does the squad want me dead?"

Even as she spoke, she turned and glanced at the last Imperial trooper fleeing toward the trees. A pair of zerglings were after it. More would have gone after the man based on their interpretation of Athena's command, but Athena decided two were enough and kept the rest with her.

Her brows darkened as she heard the panicked screams from the fleeing man through the public radio channel, and for a second she simply stood there. She stood there and remained silent until the fleeing rifleman let out a final scream before being hunted down and slain by the pair of zerglings.

The zerglings Athena had didn't have the speed upgrade yet, but even so, it would take more than a man on foot to outrun them.

As the pair of zerglings returned to her, Athena raised her voice again and repeated the question.

"Why? Give me a reason, corporal. You and the others almost certainly killed Ren and Michael. You tried to kill me. Why?"

"I…" Corporal Huo's mouth hung open in disbelief. What was happening here? All the things he saw pointed to one thing, but…could it be? How could that be possible? "You…you control these things! You did this!"

Athena didn't answer the man's almost crazed yells. She didn't really need to. She gave the corporal a few seconds to collect himself and was about to repeat her question a third time when the queen moved up from behind her.

"My Queen, they are members of your squad?" The queen asked, somewhat confused by the turn of events.

"Yes, but they tried to kill me. I am trying to find out why." Athena answered the queen silently.

As she did, she noticed the terrified look on the corporal's face as his eyes landed on the queen. The queen did as well, and she clicked her talons on the ground with a sense of excitement and satisfaction.

"I can make him talk, my Queen."

Athena frowned, a little uncomfortable by the sadism in the queen's voice. "Appreciate the offer, but remember, we humans can't survive in this atmosphere if our armors are damaged. The dead can offer no information."

"I can guarantee you, my Queen, that he won't die until you wish him to." The queen's armored skull tilted as she explained. "I can still transfuse at least a dozen times. My analysis of the atmosphere suggests that will be enough to keep him alive for at least one standard hour. With how fragile the human body is, I can get all the information I need from him in a fraction of that time."

"Let's make that a backup plan." Athena sighed and rejected the idea. For now. She stared at her NCO before speaking to him through the radio channel. "I did what I had to to survive. You and the others forced my hand, corporal. You were about to gun me down. What was I supposed to do? Stand there and accept my fate?"

Corporal Huo looked around. Athena was keeping him alive for information. Of course, whether he gave her the information or not wouldn't change his ultimate fate. He would be delusional if he thought Athena would let him go after he saw what he saw.

The toxic atmosphere meant he didn't have to worry about an extended interrogation session, or so he thought, but Athena could still make his end very painful. That was why, in the end, the corporal surrendered. If he was one of his comrades who was doing this for more selfless reasons, then he would endure a painful end and keep his secret. Unfortunately, his reason for participating in this plan was much more selfish.

"I will tell you everything you want to know, Athena." The corporal sighed in defeat before pulling his gaze away from the queen and back onto Athena. "I just have one question."

"What is it?"

"These…things." Corporal Huo gestured at the Zerg units. "You are not as simple as you look, are you? You have your own secrets. Despite what you pretend to be every day, you're not really an Imperial loyalist. Am I correct?"

Athena stared at the corporal for a second before giving him a gentle nod.

"Ha!" The corporal suddenly let out a loud scoff, but not at Athena. There was a sad smile on his face as he sat down on the ground. "What a damn mess all this is. Fine. I will tell you all you want to know."