1 Suicide Mission

In a muddy marsh, lying back down, with everything but his face exposed, Arron Wreath, a military squad captain, looked up at a starry sky, wondering why he was still alive.

It hadn't been long since he was drafted into the war effort but he'd grown through the ranks quickly due to the lack of capable soldiers. Calling it a war was an understatement despite how gruesome war is. What the current military was trying to do was prevent the apocalypse.

In the year 1995 extraterrestrials, who bore an uncanny resemblance to insects, dropped down in massive pods that in of themselves were technological marvels. However these insect-like aliens were extremely hostile towards humans and would actively seek to kill them on site. Not only that, but these aliens also spread a virus that—for lack of a better word—can only be called a zombie virus.

It wasn't long before the world was swarmed with monsters varying from mutated aliens, to zombified animals. Within the span of a month, forty percent of the world was overrun by this extraterrestrial threat.

However, the rest of the world did not go down so easily. The remaining countries banded together to form one faction and as a result medical and weapons technologies advanced considerably in a short period of time

Arron slowly removed himself from the muddy sludge. Around him he could see a lush jungle with a massive rock wall right behind him. Next he looked beside him and saw his broken down mechanized chassis. With one arm missing and half of it sinking into the mud, Arron's mech was inoperable at the moment. He could see the many locations where the mech had been damaged. "I guess you're down for the count" Arron said absentmindedly as he stared at the mech.

Before he was brought into the war, Arron worked as the head designer for a weapons manufacturing company and knew these mechs like the back of his hand. Four months into the start of the invasion of Earth, The Coalition as it would be called, completed the first prototype of a "mechanized soldier". The basic idea was to get boots on the ground in places that had already been taken over by aliens while making it so that each soldier was equipped for a variety of situations. The truth of the matter was that attempting to traverse somewhere that had already been taken over by aliens was a blind trip into the unknown. Countless numbers of soldiers were lost to the elements on expeditions. They were officially called mechs but they were more like an advanced suit of armor. The average mech stood at about 3 meters and was controlled with the soldiers mind being connected to the mech. Each basic mech was equipped with a high performance rail gun, a projection shield, an energy pistol, usually with a high fire rate, and a rather obtuse claymore that utilized high heat produced in the internals of the mech to be effective.

Arron stood up and made his way over to his mech. Though it was badly damaged he couldn't leave it lying in the mud, after all if he had any hope of living, fixing up this mech would be the only way. He knew that he couldn't hope to contest the swarms of mutated lifeforms that could be found lurking in every corner of this dense jungle. He also knew that there wouldn't be a rescue team sent out for him even if he used the distress beacon each captain was provided with. His whole squad had been wiped out and only he was left. The truth of the matter was that humanity was losing.

Arron and his squad's expedition, as well as those from numerous other squads, were a last ditch effort from the military to try and reclaim some of the land they had steadily been losing. Arron knew that they simply couldn't spare the resources to save a single soldier and that in actuality, they would be overrun soon. Humanity only held dominion over 5 percent of the earth, a far cry from the 60 percent that they'd held at the start of the official war. Arron recalled the situation of the military right before his departure.

"Captain Wreath '', a rather large man called out as he approached Arron.

"Yes Major Balliol '', Arron replied promptly. Looking at the major, Arron could notice he bore a somewhat solemn look.

"Your 48th as well as 7 other squads have been assigned to scout and, if possible, clear out the southern cliffs.", The Major said in a stern tone.

"The southern cliffs sir?", Arron responded slightly startled. It was commonly known that the southern cliffs had been taken over almost 5 years ago. To say they were beyond reclaimable was an understatement. Wherever the aliens went, they left mutated animals and plants in their wake. A few scouting reports from 2 years back already state how volatile the southern cliffs were.

"Yes, the southern cliffs.", Major Balliol repeated, " This is order from higher up so i'm afraid I can't do anything about.", The major said softly showing how he truly felt about.

"Can't they wait till we get more supplies and repair our damaged armor.", Arron said a little angrily. Prior to this they had been on the eastern front trying to hold off alien forces from attacking the numerous fortifications and outpost's there. After returning to Eastern headquarters they had many damaged mechs and were low on munitions. They awaited more supplies and a team of engineers before they moved out again, but before they came, the Major arrived.

We don't have enough time." the Major stated flatly, and then after a long pause he spoke again. "Look..." He said softly, "The higher ups estimate that the way things are going right now, We'll be completely overrun in a year's time". Arron's eyes suddenly widened hearing this information. It was widely known that the situation was only getting worse but to think that in only one years time humanity could be wiped out was quite the scary thought.

"I understand," Arron said slowly knowing full well what this mission could lead to.

"Good," the Major said approvingly. "Get your men ready, you move out in 4 hours time." Arron simply nodded as the Major turned and left. Arron then made his way down the main metal hallway to the mech hanger where the rest of his men were. As Arron entered the main hangar, a large metal storage space for each squad's mechs as well as their supplies, he noticed how scattered his men were. Some were looking at their mechs, seeing where they were broken. Others were playing cards. And some were just lying on metal crates, staring up at the ceiling.

"Ahem!" Arron Arron said loudly. Immediately the men's heads perked up. "We been assigned a mission from the major to run reconnaissance and possibly secure the Southern cliffs." After hearing the last words the men's faces suddenly went dark. They all knew that the Southern isles were a death trap and that going out there in any capacity would be suicide. They'd heard stories about how hostile it was to human life with an overgrown environment, poisonous air, frequent storms, and worst of all, the mutated plants, animals, and aliens.

" Are you sure the major said the Southern Cliffs," A small voice piped up. The one saying this was a kid by the name Hugo Wheeler and he was relatively new to the squadron but had accustomed himself nicely after a couple of precarious missions.

" I have to agree with the kid on this one," A heavy voice said from over by the mechs. "Trying to retake the Southern cliffs is a desperate move. There's no way we'd be sent on such a dangerous mission." The one who said this was a rather large man named Tom Brennan who acted as a second in command to Arron.

"Well these are the orders we received," Arron said sternly, "Now get ready, we depart in 4 hours." Grumbles could be heard from the men as they slowly got up and gathered their things. 'Of course they're not going to like it but the situation is too desperate,' thought Arron. He knew that in a year's time they would be gone from the face of the earth if they didn't manage to take back some of the lost land, and to do that they first needed to try.

...

"So Captain Wreath here's what's gonna happen," The Dropship pilot said through the intercom system. "When I bring this hunk of junk close enough to the ground, I'll give the signal and you and your men are gonna jump out." The whole squad had equipped their individual mechs and were standing by waiting for the signal from the pilot. Arron stole a glance at each of his men and could tell they were tense. They'd been through many harrowing missions together up to this point but deep down in every soldier's mind there, they knew that this might be their last. Arron turned his head back towards the open door and stared down at the lush jungle like clearing coming up, preparing his legs to jump.

"NOW!" The pilot's voice shouted through the speaker. Immediately the soldiers of squad 48 began jumping off the aircraft down into the clearing below at a height of about 3.5 meters . Arron watched as all his soldiers dropped down until all of them had gone he turned and jumped out himself. He landed with a heavy thud onto the squishy grass but his mech had absorbed most of the shock from the drop.

"Is everyone all right," Arron shouted to the rest of his squadron. After receiving confirmation he nodded his head. "Ok then, let's get moving," Arron shouted again. The men picked themselves and began making their way towards the tree line. They arranged themself in a formation that covered all of their blindspots covering both their sides and behind them. At the head of the pack was Tom with a bigger than average projection shield. It was his job to protect his squad mates from frontal attacks and thus his mech was built for defense with heavy armor and few offensive capabilities.

After 2 hours of walking south, the squad came across their roadblock. In front of them was a massive drop off a steep cliff. "Halt," Arron told his men, "It seems We'll have to find our way around this cliff." It was then that a large screeching sound came from the tree's opposite the cliff. Arron and the rest of his men quickly got battle ready with their weapons drawn facing the tree when all of a sudden a large theropod like creature, almost 3 times the size of human came charging directly towards Arron.

Arron, having been caught off guard, was frozen in place not having moved from his position but before he could get hit, Tom jumped in front of him, held up his shield and took the hit. Tom was sent flying backwards, nearly falling off the cliff but just missing it.

The rest of the squad, including Arron, immediately began firing at the creature which quickly succumbed to the onslaught of shots and began to fall. As the foe went down, a sudden swarm of the same creature, albeit 1 third the size, erupted out of the tree's. Arron fired his pistol as fast as he could but the creatures kept swarming as fast as he could kill them. When one the creature got close enough to Arron it pounced on him, throwing him to the ground. With the creature on top of him Arron desperately tried to keep the creatures maw away from his head. "GET OFF!," Arron shouted as he clasped the upper and lower jaws open with his armored hands. Then with all his strength, he twisted the creature's opposing jaws with such torque that the creature's neck snapped. Arron quickly shoved the corpse off of himself and got up drawing his claymore as he did so. He saw that the rest of men had been killed by the quick encounter and that left standing was only Tom and little Hugo. Arron rushed towards them as fast as he could but before he could reach them, one of the creatures took a large swing at Tom with it's claws and suddenly Tom's shield broke allowing the creature to overrun both him and Hugo as they all quickly lunged towards them.

"Agghhhhhh!" Hugo screamed as the creature jumped onto. Arron finally reached them and began slashing at the ones covering Hugo and Tom. What he saw when he'd killed the creatures and uncovered them was a gruesome sight. Both Hugo and Tom were horribly mangled with large gashes running across their mechs armor and into their flesh. Tom still appeared to be breathing but he had suffered fatal injuries. This sight shocked Arron who froze for a second, and, without warning, one of the creatures swung their claws towards him. Arron managed to react in time to save his life but a big slash was made across his shoulder. Arron, unfazed, swung his sword towards the creature with such force that the creature's head came clean off.

Looking back up, Arron found himself surrounded by over 10 more of the creatures. He brought up his sword in front of him in a defensive stance and stared the closest creature dead in the eye. Finally the creature grew brave enough and lunged towards Arron in a wild fashion. Instinctually Arron took a step back seeing this and he lost his footing as he accidently stepped over the edge of the cliff. Unable to keep from falling, Arron tumbled off the side of the cliff flailing as he fell. He hurtled down at a high speed towards the tough earthen ground. "NOT LIKE THIS!" Arron shouted out as he oriented himself mid air and, with the assistance of the mech, kicked towards the cliff face launching him towards what appeared to be a pool of mud. Now unable to straighten himself, Arron formed a ball shape with his body and slammed into the pool of mud with great force.

He immediately began to sink into the mud and his mech ejected him as a defense mechanism to protect the user. Arron, now outside him mech, covered in mud, lay in pool of earth waiting for the creatures that remained at the top of the cliff to leave

...

Arron finally dragged his mech at of mud and rested on a nearby log. "What now," He said solemnly. His whole squad had just been wiped out, He barely managed to get out alive, and now he was stuck in a jungle that was almost inhospitable. Without the mech the air wasn't even breathable in some areas. 'Thankfully I'm able to breath here,' Arron though as he noticed he was fine. It was then that somewhere in his mind, Arron came to the conclusion that he was rather fortunate. He had managed to survive the massacre and wasn't even injured. Maybe his squad had been unlucky but somehow, he managed to survive and he wasn't about to let this chance at life that had been granted to him be taken so easily.

"I guess it's settled," Arron said to himself, "I'll keep on living, even if it kills me." Arron looked down at his broken mech with a slight grimace. If he was going to survive then he'd need to get his mech working.

With that decided, he picked himself up, grabbed his mech by the legs, and began walking along the side of the cliff.