The Thin Red Line

Qiem frowned as the strange thunder roars grew louder in the city, wondering what was creating that strange clamor. He unceremoniously shoved the limp body of a woman he once had pursued before gaining the favor of his Mistress onto the group of Converts after using her.

The once lofty noble lady gave out a scream before she disappeared under a mound of naked bodies as they fought to mate with her. Qiem gave a satisfied smile at the scene before he picked up his discarded robes and placed them on.

He strolled to the opened windows that overlooked a once perfectly manicured lawn, now heavily trampled over by hundreds of Converts. He watched the ongoings of the Converts who based on their deepest desires, loot and pillage the Estate, while others murdered and raped the servants.

Hearing constant rumble in the skies, he finally could not keep his curiosity in check and he gestured to his followers who brought a carriage over for his use. "Come, let us find out what is making all that noise!"

After entering the city, he made his way towards one of the tallest buildings in the city, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of two monsters flying without wings in the skies like some kind of giant insect.

He noted the streams of fire coming out from its flanks and rear killing hundreds of his Mistress's Converts. He frowned before he turned to his followers and said. "Bring that thing down! It is killing our Converts!"

His followers bowed and headed deeper into the city, preparing to hunt down the flying bugs. He watched from his vantage point from the ruined Trader's Guild, seeing the noisy giant flying bugs circling the city and raining thin red beams of deadly fire that reaped the Converts like grain.

He wondered what kind of insects were they and how did the Empire ever tame such a deadly insect. His followers tried their best to bring one of the insects down. He saw them on the roofs throwing spell after spell but the deadly red beam swept over the rooftops and his followers disappeared into pink mists.

Finally, their valiant effort paid off as one of the flying insects appeared to start smoking and it dived low and fast, chased by several spells. Qiem watched in fascination as it's back shell peeled off with a puff of oily black smoke and the giant insect spun round and round before disappeared from sight as it appeared to crash.

"Go! Bring me that creature to me!" Qiem smiled, knowing his Mistress will award him greatly if he managed to bring such a strange creature to her.

-----

Norshelm, Five Blocks away from Crash Site

Tyrier leaned out from the corner of the building and did a quick check of the street on his blind spot. He gave a wave and his men sprint off from behind him to the opposite side of the street. Once they reached the other side, he patted Wolf's hand holding his shoulder to signal him and they both ran.

Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and Wolf found himself head over heels before landing on the hard street with a yell of pain. He laid stunned on the floor as he felt his body numb from the effects of the lightning spell.

He heard his squad return fire with their suppressed rifles and Tyrier's face loomed up before him. "You good?"

He coughed and tried to nod but the tingling numbing sensation kept him down. Tyrier grabbed his harness and started to drag him to cover as it started to rain rocks. "Fark..."

Finding his arms working again, Wolf raised his rifle and fired at the rushing group of crazies, dropping them as they rushed forward with sticks and rocks. The rate of fire picked up as the rest of Claymore One focus fired at the crowd and minutes later, the whole street was filled with dead and wounded bodies.

"Go!" Tyrier ordered without sparing a second glance at the scene. He could hear the heavy thumping of the 50 cals of the convoy still going strong from a few streets away. They quickly slipped into a side alley and continued their way towards the crash site.

-----

Norshelm, Outer City, Residental District, Crash Site

Drake took up a prone position inside the wreckage of the Griffin that overlooked the north side of the small fountain square while Kont covered the east side. They managed to salvage a single MG - 1 with several hundred rounds of ammunition which Drake and linked them up into a single belt.

The first crazy that entered the fountain square that had five entrances in, earned him a bullet in the head fired by Drake's rifle. His customized suppressed M2 with a long engagement scope easily tagged the next crazy that swiftly followed behind.

He snapped his rifle left and right as more and more crazies entered into his line of sight but luckily the crazed people seemed confused as they looked around, unsure of what was killing their people silently.

Kont seeing the numbers starting to pile up, fired his unsuppressed rifle which earned the attention of the crowd. His M2 carbine knocking down one after another crazed people as they tried to swarm his position.

Drake's rifle ran dry and he switched over to the MG - 1, laying down heavy fire at the rushing crowd, which to his surprise, the crazed appeared to retreat after taking heavy losses. The crazies returned again after a moment of respite but this time, they were armed with weapons. Swords, knives, bows, sticks and even rocks were held by the crazies and they attempted a second attack.

-----

Norshelm, Eight Blocks away from Crash Site

"Man the fifty! Man the fifty!!" Mills yelled as the gun stopped firing. He turned back and saw the gunner slumped down on the back with half his face still smoking and torn off by a spell. "Fuck!"

He climbed to the rear and pushed the body aside before he popped his head out of the turret. Almost instantly a missile of arcane energy shrieked past his head, making him duck instinctively. "Fuck this!"

He swung the .50 cal gun towards the direction where the spell had came from, backtracking the source of the spell from the white trail of smoke and he spotted a robed figure with his hands glowing half hidden on a rooftop.

He gave the rooftop a good dose of lead, keeping his fire on the rooftop as the Jeep rolled past before he was satisfied that that asshole was dead. He turned and faced the gun forward, firing at the crowd who threw rocks and fired crossbows at him when the Jeep turning to the left jammed the brakes as the street before them was barricaded with burning junk.

"Shit!" Mills cursed as he saw their way was blocked. Suddenly several spells slammed into the side of the Jeep, causing it to flip over to its side from the force. Training instinctively took over and Mills hurdled down in the turret, gripping the safety bars just as the Jeep hit the sidewalk.

"Goddamnit!" Mills grumbled as the rest of the convoy deployed its escorts and suppressed the crazies. "Hey man, you okay in there?"

"Shit my pants, Sarge!" The driver yelled back. "I think my balls had shrunk!"

"You never even had a pair anyway so it's fine!" Mills joked back as he crawled out from the turret.

"You! Grab a chain and a winch!" He yelled at the Em Rap driver. "Hook the winch and pull the Jeep back up!"

The driver of the Em Rap nodded and ran off to grab the tools and equipment while Mills observed yelled for the medic to check on the gunner.

"He's gone, Sarge," The medic of the convoy came up to him. "We got two critically wounded and several others with various degrees of injuries."

"Sarge, I don't think we can keep up at this rate!" The medic said. "At this rate, we will run out of bodies before bullets!"

"Shit is it that bad with the other cars?" Mills asked as he watched the crew of the Em Rap right his Jeep.

"Yes," The medic said. "Other than the drivers, everyone has some injuries."

"Got it," Mills nodded and went up to his driver who was checking the Jeep. "Can it still run?"

"Yes, Sarge," The driver replied. "But the side door is totaled. You can stick your head through the armor!"

"Fuck this..." Mills cursed as another spell knocked one of the men down, his chest plate smoking from the impact. He went from car to car and asked. "How many still can fight?"

From the reports, each vehicle barely had one man without any injury, even the drivers swapped out with the gunners to man the guns. "How the fuck are we gonna fight against the whole goddamn city with barely a platoon? Goddammit!"

"Mount up!" Mills ordered. "We are fucking sitting ducks here!"

"Try to find another way to the crash site!"

-----

Peter fired his shotgun at the back of a crazy as he ran past him. Greg the Goblin was holding the other side of the building, happily cursing the crazies and dealing death with his saw off shotgun.

He could hear the heavy gunfire coming from outside the collapsed building intensifying as time passed and he wondered if help will come in time.

Drake kept up his gun with the MG till it jammed and he switched over to his M2, firing single shots at any crazies that crossed a line made out of bodies and blood. They had already piled up quite the number of kills, yet the crazies had no signs of stopping. They made probing attacks like some kind of wild animal tactics and even appeared to be flanking them from the sounds of the shotguns behind.

Drake fired at another crazy who rushed forward with some kind of molotov cocktail, which set off a small fire on the square when Kont suddenly appeared. "I'm out!"

Kont grabbed the MG - 1 and started to clear the jam while Drake provided cover fire. Once the jam was fixed, Kont carried the MG - 1 out and the remaining ammo and returned to his previous spot and engaged with the crazies again.

Drake kept up his fire, aiming those that posed the most threat to their position, like the robed mages or those with crossbows or even molotov cocktails. He ignored those armed with melee weapons and focus on the ranged attackers, leaving the melee attackers to Kont.

Suddenly he realized the machine gun fire had ceased for some time and he leaned out to check on Kont, only to see him laid flat on his face with his helmet smoking and caved in. Drake ran out from his cover to check on Kont and found no pulse.

He gave a tired sigh and fired at a couple of crazies that crept up too close. He grabbed Kont's sidearm and ammo before he ran back into the collapsed building where Peter and Greg were sheltering in.

"Hey," Drake called out and he dropped Kont's sidearm on Peter's side. "You watch yourself. It's just me left at the front. Good luck!"

Peter watched Drake return back to the front and he felt all hope was gone. "Greg!"

"Yea Boss pilot?" Greg came over.

"Take this," Peter handed him the sidearm. "You try to find a way out of here."

"What?" Greg frowned. "You wan me to leave Boss Pilot behind?"

"No point everyone dies here!" Peter said. "I can't move and you are small enough to squeeze through the sidewall. Go find a safe place to hide and link up with the rest when they come!"

"NO way!" Greg yelled. "I Greg the Great no give up on Boss Pilot! God Machine die! Boss pilot die! Greg die too!"

"GREG KILL CRAZIES!"