War In The City, Fear Of John Arrises

John rallied up the soldiers and counted that he had eight officers to work with. He began to utter orders to them. 

"Okay. So, we need at least four of you guys to volunteer and help us. We are going to attempt to get radio's back up, to get an aircraft in. But we can't do it alone. I know this is the only thing saving us from detection, but it'll only last so long. The rest of the soldiers will stay in defensive positions. We can supply weapons and ammo."

He looked at everyone to see who all would volunteer, and to his surprise, four of the people stepped forward, as if they had full trust in him. John nodded in acceptance to them and continued. 

"Ok. Thank you guys, I am honored for this. I do not guarantee survival, but I will do everything I can to try."

***

As the soldiers were being suited and loaded up with weapons, Sean looked over to John and muttered to him. 

"You know once out there, things are going to get fucked. Hopefully, these soldiers are of any fucking help."

John glared back at him, with a blackened expression and replied.

"I know, I agree. Hopefully these guys have some tricks under their sleeves, we're going to need it."

Once everybody was loaded up, they all exited through the glass doorways. Before leaving the building, Sean was shouting back to everybody to get back into hiding until they returned. The radars inside their helmets quit being deranged, on their HUD's, the instant they stepped through the threshold. John transmitted back to the officer that stayed behind. 

"Okay. We're on our way. Where the fuck is this device?"

The captain advised back. 

"Look to the west side. It's the large tower in the center of the city, atop the large glass skyscraper. Get there and shut it off. Try not to use even your short-wave radios back to us as best as possible, for the creatures might pick up on them and use it to find our location."

John was rushing around the tipped cars, benches, and the other obstacles that were in the line and radioed back.

"Acknowledged, we'll radio when we're close to being back, I'm out." 

They dashed through all the obstructions throughout the streets. Newspapers and dust were being blown across the pavement and yards.

Suddenly things became difficult for them, as they ran into a pile of rubble that was blocking the path to continue on forward. They scouted around to see if there was another way to the tower, but to no avail. They all realized that they had to get through. Sean hollered to John. 

"John instead of doing the obvious of crawling over. We could just blow this shit out of our way. A few grenades or even a thing of C4 would do the job." 

John looked over to him and then shot his attention back at the rubble. While contemplating Sean's idea. He concluded and yelled back to him. 

"Ok C4 this bitch then. Sean you're up."

Sean ran over to the debris, placed a stick of C4 that he pulled out from a pouch located underneath his armor plates on his thigh, wired up a wireless detonator and sprinted back. Everyone took cover behind some tipped and rolled over cars that were around. They detonated the charge, sending chunks of rocks in all directions, and smoke rose from the blast site. They peered over from their covers and seen that the explosion had worked. 

"Move out, it's not much further." John ordered everybody. 

Everyone crawled aside from behind their cover, and followed behind John up ahead, and jostled over the rubble of rock.

The tower was in plain view, above a massive glass construction that was only feet from them. Chunks had been shattered away.  Leaving an unsteady looking structure behind. 

"Keep your eyes peeled," Greag shouted. 

They sauntered up to the building and moved in through to the main lobby. Inspecting their surroundings and seeing nothing but damaged filing cabinets, desks, bookshelves and chairs spread all over the area. 

One soldier had spotted stairs in the back of the room, that appeared to be their way up. John stepped over to them and looked up the continuous spiral and then ordered everybody to start a descent up them. One by one, they trudged up the strenuous incline, watching their corners and checking the rooms as they passed by them. Up and up the endless stairs. The sound of their boots stomping upon the concrete surfaces, and the heavy breathing coming from everybody as they shuffled up. The clanking of the metal from the guns and armor as it was being moved around.

They arrived at a metal door at the top of the staircase. Sean was at the point of the pack with his gun trained forward. He propped against the exit handle and pushed onto it. Attempting to free the door slowly and quietly. The gate still squeaked as it swung. Now with the door open wide, they could see the tower straight ahead of them. They moved in close to it, inspected the vicinity and the object, and looked around for a control panel. 

"Hey John I found a fuse box, but it looks as if it was already shut down." Greag yelled over from the opposite side of the roof. 

John jogged over to inspect the pack himself. He examined it, studying every wire and breaker switch, and thought to himself. 

"Hmm this thing is already off. It's still getting power some other way then." 

He called out to one soldier. 

"How is the thing blocking the radio signal when there is no power to it?" 

The soldier walked over, inspecting around at the different things on the tower, and then answered. 

"This makes no sense. We have no signal and our wrist tool says it's still powered, but there are no power chords or anything connecting it to the power. It must have an internal power supply." 

John without hesitation ordered. 

"Blow the fucker down then. Sean get some C4, and place it on this bitch. Shut it off permanently." 

Sean happily pulled out some C4 from the side pouch under his left leg plate and began to apply it on the surface of the tower. While this was being done, one soldier walked over to John and started to talk. 

"Do you really need to blow this up? I don't think that would be the best move, and command won't like this." 

John looked over to him with an irritation and barked at him. 

"Shut up and listen to orders." 

 The soldier backed off that instant, knowing his rank and place. 

Once Sean had completed, they all ran back down the stairs to a safe distance. Sean lifted his left arm up and pressed the command on his wrist device to detonate the explosive. The building shook and had everyone stumbling as they tried to hold their balance. The sound of the glass from below floors as it shattered. Sean walked back out on top to inspect his work, moved back down and with extreme excitement, announced.

"That fucker is down." 

With a surge, their long range radio arrived back on, going crazy and being filled with incoming messages. Command was radioing to them. 

"John. John. Sergeant John Stewart? Do you copy?"

John quickly answered. 

"Hello? This is Sergeant John Stewart. We have located the survivors and the soldiers. We require transport for roughly two dozen people." 

Command radioed back. 

"That is a negative. We have reports from the high altitude bombers that there are several of those things headed your way. Until those things."

John angrily interrupted them in mid-sentence. 

"We need the aircraft to get the civilians out now before those things get here." 

Control came back on but with a different individual's voice. 

"Son, this is the general. They're not heading for the school.... They're coming to you directly. Until they are gone, we can't risk it. So strap in." 

John was pissed off. His breathing was heavy, and he was about to yell back, but stopped and thought about it for a brief second. 

"Sir since they're coming here. We'll keep them distracted. Once the bombers confirm safety, send the aircraft to rescue the people at the school. Then have them synced to my wrist piece for bombing orders." 

The general agreed to his direction.

John took off his helmet, rubbed his face with his fingers, and began to give a speech to everyone.

 "Well you guys, looks like we're about to get hit with a shit storm, and we're on our own. So, the plan is. Well, they're coming straight here, so we'll keep the damn things distracted while the aircraft rescue everyone at the school. I know this plan kind of sucks, but so does this whole god-damn inferno of hell that was brought upon us. I don't know about you guys but I don't wanna live forever." 

Everybody stared at him, grabbed up their weapons, shot out a salute to him and all at once shouted. 

"Sir yes sir." 

Sean looked at John as they were meandering about and said. 

"You know I got your back, and when we're done with this and back at base. Beer is on you hahaha." 

John chuckled back to him in sarcasm. 

Everybody rushed down the stairway to the first floor. They all began to flip over desks and cabinets for cover. Sean pulled out his remaining C4 bricks, primed them and threw them outside to screen random areas in the proximity, and settled in to wait for the impending onslaught. Everybody took notice that it was almost sundown. With the sun just settling below the horizon. Light was creeping away, only leaving the beams to be seen. John radioed to everybody to remain quiet, to be aware of their radars, and to get their night vision set on their visors. 

With the sunlight gone, the midnight view on everybody's visors turned on, illuminating the inside of their helmets with a green hued tint. 

Suddenly they heard a buzzing noise coming from outside. The ground started to vibrate and was followed by a high-pitched cry flooding the built-in microphones on each person's helmet. Everyone's radars were going haywire, displaying red blips all around them from outside. John softly and quietly radioed to everyone. 

"Oh shit you guys. I don't know about yours, but my radar is saying there everywhere." 

The general from command came up on the radio to John. 

"Ok, according to the bombers they're hundreds of creatures outside your building. We're sending in the crafts now, strap in son." 

As if the creatures heard the transmission, the blips started to conglomerate in front of the building. John shouted out to everyone. 

"They know we're here. Get those fucking weapons ready! I'm calling for a bombing.... Sean set off those charges now for a smoke trail." 

Sean frivolously pressed the screen on his arm piece. Every charge went off simultaneously, the ground shook from the blast. The shock wave knocked everyone onto their asses. 

"Thank god for these fucking noise deadening speakers inside these helmets, hahaha that would've been loud." 

Greag jokingly said as he was getting back on his feet and getting his positioning back. Their radars showed that there was only a minimal decline in blips from the explosions. In a haste, the blips started to move in on them. The ground was shaking from the rollers burrowing underneath the surface. John shouted out Loud over the drilling noise. 

"Fire as soon as you see those bastards. Send those fuckers back to hell."

 Just as he finished speaking, the first creature appeared within their view, and then another and another. The Floods came in a full force charge, accompanied by the bug looking things. Everyone actively began to open fire upon them. Bullets flew at the bug things and were bouncing off from the rollers. The creatures were still charging in unaffected, as the bullets seemed to have no effect on them.

John ran over to assist and started to shoot at the incoming creatures, one of his slugs had hit a bug in the head and blew a hole through its skull. Gaseous light was escaping into the air from the hole. After he commenced shooting, one after another began to collapse. The soldiers looked over at John in disbelief. 

"How is this one man taking these things down so easily when we can't even seem to drop a single one?" One soldier was questioning himself. 

Greag now started to drop a few of the creatures followed by Sean dropping some. The guerrillas still oblivious of how this was possible, when they couldn't seem to even drop a single creature. John looked to the officers and directed them to focus on the incoming rollers. 

A Roller snuck up past everyone and charged in through the building. It rushed over to one of the unaware men and smashed into him. It stopped and stomped down upon the soldier while he was down, crushing him beneath its massive feet. John spotted this and dashed to the roller. While he clutched and yanked out his machete. He jumped around the creature's side and forced the blade into its neck. It began to stumble around, so John twisted the blade as he urged it in deeper. Until the great behemoth dropped. He removed his blade out from the neck and holstered it. 

John took his giant.45 caliber pistol, as a roller was charging in from the side toward Greag, and pulled the trigger at it. BABOOM BABOOM BABOOM. Three shots were fired from his hand cannon type handgun, with the last one managing to hit the creature in the eye. Blowing a massive hole through its skull. Its blood and brain matter splattered behind it. The creature dropped hard, the ground shook from its landing. Greag, taking notice of this, jumped. 

Command suddenly came up on the radio to John, as he was shooting at more of the creatures that were coming in. 

"John the last person has been loaded up and is being transported out."

John called out to Greag and Sean over the gunfire, and the growling and howling of the creatures. 

"Command just told me they got everyone. I'm calling for the airstrike. Be ready." 

He glanced down at his wrist piece and set up the direct to the high altitude bomber. He hollered out to everybody to prepare themselves and pressed the order to drop. Within seconds, the sounds of whistling polluted the air. BOOM BOOM BOOM. One bomb after another exploded outside the frame. The hut shook from the immense shock waves. The structure was collapsing. John glanced over to shout to Greag and....

***

Several hours later John awoke. With the rays of early sunlight shining through the cracks of the crumbled walls. The warmth rained down onto his face. He took notice that he had been buried under some rubble and seen a crack in the visor of his helmet. In a frenzy he tossed the debris off from him to free himself and looked around. His eyes moved back and forth until he spotted everyone. Seeing that they were all fine and already up. 

"Thank god everyone is okay." 

John shouted to everybody with delight. 

He inspected the devastation that was created. He could see that the nearby buildings were ablaze on fire and crumbling apart outside. Dead creatures were spread out and scattered throughout the rubble. 

"Looks like we got them." He said to everybody. 

 As they were all helping each other up and attempting to rejoice. Sean turned around to discover three tall thin black creatures that stood at least eight foot tall, with wide smiles stretched across their faces, and their whole bodies were surrounded by what appeared to be a gas. Making it difficult to determine the details of the creature, other than the bright glowing green eyes. Sean yelled out to everybody as he grabbed for his gun. 

"Fuck there's more you guys." 

They all rushed to grab their weapons and began to shoot at the humanoids. The animals moved as quickly as lightning as they dodged the bullets flung at them. Everyone ran out of ammo quickly, and as they were reloading. The creatures stared at each other with smiles; opened their mouths when they looked back to them, which was followed by a high-pitched noise and rushed in for them. Everyone loaded, began shooting again, as the things went fast in towards them. 

"Fuck I can barely see these things move, they're so fast." Greag started shouting. 

As he finished talking one creature scooped up one soldier. Stopped behind everyone while the other incoming creatures distracted them. A haunting sound of the screams from the man, as it gripped and ripped his skull clean from his shoulders. 

Another swooped in past and took a hold of John. It reached for his head with its free hand, only for John to react and pull out his machete. He stabbed the black blade through the creature's chin from below. Its bluish blood drained down over his hand. The animal stumbled around and finally dropped to the ground, releasing John in the mix. The gas that surrounded the creature dissipated into thin air. 

One of the other creatures took notice of this and stared at John and then shot its glance over to Sean. As Sean was distracted, shooting at the other. It took advantage of this and moved in fast to him, like somehow teleporting to him. It grabbed a hold of Sean, and as it went to reach its free hand out to Sean's head, John in the blink of an eye flew over, jumped up in the air with a lunging fashion, took a hold of the creature's arm, and tossed it around his body across the floor. Before it could recover, he rushed over and delivered a swift blow with his machete through the top of its skull. Watching as its face turned lifeless, before finally pulling the blade out and finishing it by cutting its head off. He pulled the blade back, and flung it at the final creature across the room, sticking the knife into its side.

John walked over to the last creature as it was still convulsing. The gas was slowly disappearing from around the creature's body. As it gazed up at him with its bright glowing blue eyes. John could see the wrinkles throughout its black leathery feline skin, and its face was showing pain. He pulled the blade out from its side. Bluish colored blood spewed out from the wound. He flipped the small sword object and jammed the blade into its skull and yanked the blade out. THUD. The sound of the creature's head as it smacked onto the ground. The bluish gore leaked from the wounds to form a puddle beneath it. 

John looked up and gazed around to see that everyone's eyes were fixed on him, with consternation struck in their faces. The officer took off his helmet as he glared at John in amazement and disbelief and stated. 

"What the fuck are you?" 

John noticed that everyone was ogling at him with more than just shock. 

"What. Wait, what do you mean?" 

Another soldier stepped up and answered back. 

"He said what the fuck are you." 

Greag spoke up himself. "Holy fuck John. I don't know what to say. I've noticed this before with the last few battles, but now I'm wondering myself." 

John looked at everybody, the glare from the sun had turned on the auto shade on his cracked visor, hiding his facial expressions. 

"What are you talking about? All of you. Someone speak up." 

John shouted with anger in his voice. Everyone backed up a bit, an expression of fear had flashed within the officers face. 

With an angry tone John bellowed once more. 

"Fine if no one wants to speak up, then keep your fucking mouths shut. Let's get out of here before more things come." 

He holstered his blade and walked away from everyone, leaving the scene. As they all still glared at him while he disappeared through the rising smoke and light, finally snapping into reality and followed behind.