Chapter 73 - No sacrifice is to great

There was no time for me to remember what happen before I black out. Alex was right, I was a rookie by his standard so I don't have the luxury to react according to training like the older rangers. I quickly followed behind him and Monroe as we made our way towards some barrier where Sergey and Lee were laying fire upon the grounders.

As soon as we were behind them, I could see the failed attempt at an assault that the grounders decide to do when they hit our car. Seeing us, Lee nodded at Alex before he pointed with his head toward the left side of the car. For a moment, I didn't know what he wanted me to do, but thankfully the bearded ranger translated his friend's idea to us.

"Take your girlfriend and cover our left side!"

Zoe was about to ask about the right side, but before she had the chance, Alex run towards that side, under Sergey's and Lee's cover fire. Just as we reached the car, a spear missed us, landing right in front of us.

"Zoe, man the machine gun!"

She took one last look at me before she rushed inside the car not bothering to say anything, as we both knew what that would mean, while I lay on the trigger of my M4A1. Sweeping my fire back and forth across the rushing masses in their tribal armors, I couldn't help noticing, even during the heat of chaos, that those I and others shoot remained intact despite being hit by our rifles as well as Zoe's and Sergey's machine guns. Unsightly for me, as soon as one of the grounders sneaked through the fire, I could see why they weren't blown apart. If my eyes were right then all of those madmen had wire wrapped around their extremities, but unfortunately, that didn't block the blood, since, that couldn't be wrapped. It misted and turned the air pink as bodies stacked up.

Amidst the chaos, I remembered a book that I read from my father's collection. An antique book about the experience of my great great grandfather and his time in 1960, an era long dead for us, who were born in space.

What kind of control or pure loyalty must whoever was leading these lunatics have over the minds of its subjects that they would charge mindlessly to their own death? The whole wave after wave after wave assault was horrendous, gruesome, frightening, and exhilarating all at the same time. It wasn't my first time fighting this kind of tactic, but each time I felt the same, and to be honest, not even once I felt anything about what I did.

Even though I had a slight revelation that maybe I wasn't completely ok with all the killing, the grounders kept dropping as soon as they made themselves seen. Some fell victim to our guns while the grenades that only Alex and Lee had, courtesy of their rank and experience blew most of the blobs away, I hope. After all, grenades were superior defensive weapons at close range, better than machine guns at clogging up a mass infantry attack before its components grappled with you in your hole.

From time to time, chain bursts of explosions sounding like thunderstorms cast a barrier of fire and steel against the suicidal attack that seemed to go on forever.

Meanwhile, on the right side, the grounders and surprisingly some hefbis were so close that it was enough to smell their breath. Lee, left Sergey alone to reinforce Alex, and Alex threw almost a whole case at the enemies making their backpacks lighter than ever. They kept the mayhem even when some barely landed, everything happening as Alex was cursing those monsters and grounders.

"Kill them all! Come on tree fuckers, bring it on!"

Just as he was about to throw another grenade an arrow pierce his left shoulder as another one misses him completely. Not even a second later, Lee dragged him away while shouting at me.

"Leon! Take Alex away!"

As soon as I heard his shout, I was torn. There was no way I would abandon my friends over a man I barely knew, but then again, this wasn't Camp JAHA anymore and now, this man was part of the same team I was in. I involuntarily looked at Sergey briefly before I fixed my gaze on Zoe. As if she felt it, she turns and looked at me before she gave me that smile.

"Go, we'll be right behind you."

Once again I was powerless and just like the last time, I will lose my friends if I'm supposed to do. While this may be bad for everyone or maybe it will be bad only for me, I decided to do what I know the best: using myself as both the bait and the hunter.

Before anyone could react, I dashed directly towards the hefbis and grounders, surprising everyone, especially my friends who shouted after me as soon as they recovered from their shock.

I run and run, not looking back at all, and while I didn't see what was behind me, I could hear the growls and snarls. After what seemed to be an eternity I was out of the forest and the first thing building that was in front of me was going to be the place where I hide away from these things.

Thankfully, this building had a service staircase that was still in place and even though it was definitely rusty I still went up several floors before stopping at door, hoping that it would open without too much effort. By luck or maybe the way the building was built, everything looked brand new as if there hadn't been a nuclear apocalypse a few decades ago. I quickly went inside only to be greeted by a room filled with endless rows of bookshelves along both sides of a narrow passageway. Nothing looked damaged despite what one may have believed that the passing of time may do to these books.

Even though I was surprised by what I saw, I still had to hide and prepare myself for a fight, thankfully I was smart enough to take a bayonet, just in case I would have to fight against someone in CQC.

Suddenly something loud was heard in the room, as if someone was thrown into a bookshelf, bringing it down on top of it. Not knowing what may be inside the room with me, I decided to move ahead slowly, step by step, looking back every second, just in case whatever was in this room may try to sneak up on me. As I passed another row of books, I briefly heard a rustling just behind me. I already had my rifle in hand, ready to shoot, so without hesitating even a bit, I peek around the corner only to be met by a gray face that tried to do the same thing. We both look at each other for a second before I snapped out of my shock and used the butt of my rifle to hit its face. The creature fell to the ground as soon as my rifle connected with its face, forcing me to take my bayonet and finish the job. After all, there was no point using a bullet in a building when I could use a knife to quietly take out my enemy. The hefbis struggle under my knee, but it was all for nothing as my knife pierce its skull ending its life without too much pain, a quick and painless death.

I was about to get up when I heard a voice behind me as something sharp was pressed against my back. While the speech was some child between English and Trigedasleng, albeit a lot broken than I would have liked, I still managed to piece together the words.

"You didn't have to kill it…"

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