2288: The Skotadian Experiment Read online

  Sanchez hesitated before she’d manned the plasma gun. As she was looking up at the gun she noticed a plasma shot came over. If she didn’t hesitated she would have been killed herself. Her marksmanship was not as good as Kaminski, but nevertheless it got the job done. Sanchez started to feel the internal struggle between emotions and duty. Everything was becoming surreal to her. It was like she was in some type of a dream. No, a nightmare. Shooting away at those Fiends and seeing them shoot back. Feeling the lifeless body of Kaminski hitting her legs when the APC went over a bump in the road. She knew that without Kaminski neither her nor Hoffneisten would make it back.

  “Thank god! We’ve finally made it!” Hoffneisten cried out.

  “Keep them off of me by any means necessary!” Sanchez ordered Hoffneisten. She then grabbed the explosives and ran to the base of the Dominator while Hoffneisten manned the plasma gun.

  Sanchez knew what to do because she learned it from her husband. Although she told her superiors what she learned, nobody was able to put it into practice. New tactics had to been thought up, no one ever got that close to one to try it, and of course nobody was really certain if it would work. For some unknown reason at regular intervals a vent would open up roughly three feet from the ground and let out some type of nanoprobes. Twenty seconds later those same nanoprobes would return. If there were blockage in the vent those nanoprobes would “push” it deeper into the Dominator. It is not known what would happen to the blockage.

  “Shit.” Sanchez said when she noticed that the nanoprobes was entering the Dominator. She had no idea on how long it would take for them to leave. She then heard a noise deep within the Dominator which cause her to look up. She then noticed that Caparzo shot it near the Dominator’s right side. It look like he’d hit one of the Dominator’s weapons. She then noticed that the nanoprobes were leaving the Dominator telling her its true weakness.

  “Got ya.” Sanchez said as she noticed the nanoprobes were leaving. After the rest of the nanoprobes left she immediately placed the explosive in the vent. She then calculated how long it would take the nanoprobes to “push” the explosive up inside the beast. After she set the timer on the explosive, she waited for the nanoprobes to return.

  “Come on, come on, come on.” Sanchez said as the nanoprobes returned. She was waiting for them to detect the blockage so that she could activate the explosive.

  “Ma’am.” Hoffneisten cried out weakly.

  “What?” Sanchez responded. She then turned to look when he didn’t respond and noticed that he was coughing up blood.

  In that brief moment of time when Sanchez noticed that Hoffneisten was dying from his wounds and the nanoprobes finally detected the blockage, she realized that there was no way for her to be able to get inside the APC, turn it around and head back in enough time. Nor was there anyway for her to reset the timer. The explosive was well on its way up inside the Dominator. When she saw Hoffneisten she felt the tug on the explosives and she automatically pushed the button.

  “Go! Get out of here, ma’am!” Hoffneisten yelled at Sanchez. He then started to shoot at any of the Fiends that he saw.

  Sanchez turned and ran for her dear life. Within several seconds she heard the Fiends overrun Hoffneisten and then she heard the first of several explosions coming from the Dominator. She then took her rifle and started to shoot any Fiends that got in her way. A couple of times she heard Caparzo shoot at some Fiends that were near her. With her seeing their lifeless bodies flying past her. He didn’t know where she was, but on two occasions he came close in killing her. Through shear luck and will she made it back.

  When Sanchez made it back she had to run up the hill since there were some Fiends chasing her. Those Fiends were quickly killed by the Dragon Clones who were stationed in gun turrets. When Sanchez got up the hill to where Caparzo was, she immediately dropped to her knees out of exhaustion. Caparzo, who was standing by Sanchez, offered her his half canteen of water. He did it out of a sign of respect at what she’d done. She acknowledged it, took the canteen, drank from it and gave it back to him. She then took her canteen, which was full of water, and poured it over her head. Caparzo then helped her up and walked back to the plasma cannon.

  Hundreds of Fiends were trying to overrun Blue Team’s position. Caparzo kept on firing at them until a robotic tank destroyed his plasma cannon. Caparzo was alright, but he was thrown back. The robotic tank kept on firing until one of the Dragon Clones in the gun turrets was able to destroy it. Sanchez, Caparzo and Van Hoven held their ground constantly firing at all of those Fiends that kept on coming. And then it happened. The gun turret on their right, that was at the bottom of the hill, was finally overrun and all five Dragon Clones were killed.

  “Oh shit! One of the gun turrets is lost!” Van Hoven yelled out. She then killed all of the Fiends that came from it.

  “I’m out!” Sanchez yelled out. A robotic Johnny-on-the-spot then came over to drop off all of it’s ammo. When it turned and headed back to the lab complex for more ammo, it was destroyed.

  “Too bad we don’t have those robotic JOTS on our side.” Caparzo said out loud.

  “Ask Omori for them. She created them.” Sanchez responded when she was able to.

  “Goddamn it! Not again!” Van Hoven cried out, out of anger and frustration when she saw the other gun turret was overrun. The gun turret was on their lower left side and halfway up the hill. Sanchez and Caparzo killed each of the Fiends that came from the turret. Five more Dragon Clones were killed and that part of the hill was now defended by what was left of Blue Team.

  “Try your best to hold them off. We’re coming down.” A Dragon Clone said through the radio to Blue Team. There were seventeen Dragon Clones in the lab complex who was providing sniper fire for Blue Team. The building took several hits earlier from a robotic tank as it tried to kill those Dragon Clones. Only two of the Dragon Clones were killed.

  Blue Team came within an ace of being overrun when those fifteen Dragon Clones finally got to their position. The Dragon Clones ran to the weakest spot in the line of defense to hold off repeated attempts by the Fiends to get a foothold on top of the hill. Three times the Fiends got to the top and three times they were thrown back. But on the fourth attempt they finally made it and started to fight the Dragon Clones in hand-to-hand combat.

  “Take up secondary defensive positions! We’re fixing to be overrun!” Sanchez ordered Caparzo and Van Hoven when she saw the Dragon Clones fight the Fiends. Although their new defensive position allowed them to be in a much stronger position to deal with a “hole” in their defenses, it gave the hill below their position to the Fiends.

  “Grenade!” Van Hoven yelled out. One of the Fiends threw it blindly over the wall and the grenade landed near the three of them. Van Hoven threw herself on the grenade before it went off. Neither Sanchez nor Caparzo had any reaction to the death of Van Hoven. They were too busy killing the Fiends that were coming over the wall. The Fiends then stopped trying to come over the wall in favor of the hole in the defenses.

  “Last group!” One of the Dragon Clones yelled out. At that time there were only three Dragon Clones left. Eight Fiends were trying to come through the hole. When the last Dragon Clone was killed there was only three Fiends left.

  “Shit!” Caparzo said out loud when he pointed his rifle at a Fiend and he’d heard a click from his rifle. While he was reloading Sanchez shot and killed one Fiend and was shot by another. Caparzo then shot and killed the Fiend who shot Sanchez while the last one shot him. Sanchez then shot and killed the last one.

  “Hey ma’am . . . how ‘bout a blow job before I die?” Caparzo asked her with his dying breath.

  “Asshole to the end.” Sanchez responded and then she’d died. Caparzo laughed and died himself.

  “Holy shit! Lieutenant Sanchez and Caparzo is down!” Coté responded when she saw both of them die. Coté, Nakada and Martinez was in a gun turret on top of the hill. It was the only one on top of the hill as well as the only one wit
h a sniper tower.

  “What’s their status?” Nakada asked her. He was too busy shooting to notice what had happened.

  “Dead. Both of them are dead sir. We’re all that’s left of Blue Team[31].” Coté responded.

  During the assault Martinez snipe at the Fiends in the field. When they started to come up the hill he tried to snipe as many as he could. When Martinez could no longer see the Fiends he went back to sniping at any Fiends that he could see in the field until he ran out of ammo for his sniper rifle. Not once did Martinez lose his cool while he was sniping at them. Not even when shots came very close to him. His coolness under fire is most likely what saved their lives. The three of them stayed there until the day activities were over. In the meantime they had to hear the fate of both White and Red Team.

  White Team was in the best most fortified position of any team, even though they did not have any gun turrets to protect them. They had no reaction nor any comments when they saw Hoffneisten drive by in the APC. They kind of figured what they were going to do. Before Hoffneisten got near to the Dominator, Hayes had to radio to them that it was not safe for them to return back the way in which they went. Most of the army of Fiends attempted to come up that pathway. They first tried to come up with a robotic tank, but one of the Dragon Clone defenders destroyed it. After that three of those tanks started to open fire repeatedly until they too were destroyed. At the same time that those robotic tanks were firing at the defenders the army of Fiends came in full force. It didn’t took them long to break through the first line of defenses.

  “Here they come!” Mendoza yelled out to everyone.

  “Let ‘em have it!” Hayes hollered back. With that everyone started to open fire.

  The army of Fiends came in a never ending wave of shear terror. No matter how many were killed it never seemed like it was enough to stop them. No army could endure the losses that they were without quitting. And yet they kept on coming. It was unsettling to see that many. Each one armed and each one determined to kill.

  The army of Fiends then came at them with APCs, a couple of tanks, and ground forces. The tanks along with some of those ground forces tried to kill the defenders with anti-vehicle weapons. They also did it to allow the main assault forces to get to monorail station. If the army of Fiends could hold their ground where the monorail station is, they would have a major foothold in their assault to retake the lab complex. Once they acquire the ground it is only a matter of time before the parking garage falls, and once that happens, there will be no stopping them.

  The gunner of the first APC that made it in got off a shot before he was killed. The shot almost killed Weng, it hit a glass window to his right and sprayed him with broken glass. Weng was okay, but before he could react he was shot right above his right knee. As he came up he was shot in the throat but at an angle that only grazed him. He then threw a grenade with his left hand and before he could retract his hand he was shot in the wrist. As he turned to look at his left wrist (and crying out in pain) he was shot through his right temple and died immediately. His lifeless body then fell over the railing.

  Over the next few minutes the Fiends attempted to gain a tactical foothold near a blind spot in the weakened defenses. Eventually they were able to gain that foothold at great loss on their part. They didn’t care about their losses. Why should they? But the toll of the repeated assaults started to have an immediate effect upon the defenders. They could easily hold their ground against the infantry, but not the vehicles. It was just a matter of time. And then it happened.

  A group of Fiends risked their lives so that one of them who was wearing a suicide vest, could get near the monorail station. The defenders tried in vane to stop him as he headed to the lower level of the monorail station. The explosion ripped open a large hole in the monorail station rendering it useless as a means of defense, but it also brought the railing down.

  “Go on! Get out here! I’ll provide you with cover fire!” Hayes, who was standing on the part of the railing that did not collapse, ordered Bryce and Lucarelli. Hayes was trapped in the monorail station and had no way to get down safely.

  Seeing the opportunity that presented itself the Fiends immediately rushed the defenders and headed towards the monorail station. Hayes was able to hold them off for quite some time. He had to scream several times at Bryce and Lucarelli to leave him. Both of them took up a defensive position behind a wrecked APC trying to give Hayes enough time to escape. They finally left him when they saw a APC coming, but by then it was too late. Both of them turned to run and before a Dragon Clone was able to destroy the APC, Lucarelli was shot dead. Bryce himself was shot in the back and was trying to crawl to the defenders position. Not wanting anybody to try to rescue him and get killed themselves, Bryce kept quiet.

  “Get back! I think . . . that I can make it!” Bryce yelled at a couple of Dragon Clones who was coming to his rescue. They made it to his position, took up a defensive position and was able to carry him away when the Fiends started to go after Hayes. But it didn’t matter. A large group of Fiends when they saw the three of them, rushed their position and killed them. That group was then killed by the defenders. Bryce may be dead, but it stopped that group of Fiends from either going after Hayes or taking up a strong defensive position.

  “We need to rescue the lieutenant. He’s all alone over there.” Behlmer mentioned to everyone when there was lull in the fighting.

  “If we do then we’re dead. I mean . . . you saw what happen to Bryce and Lucarelli.” Cole responded.

  “If it wasn’t for him we would be dead anyway.” Robinson mentioned.

  “Rather you go or not, we’re going.” A Dragon Clone mentioned to them.

  “What?! Why?!” Cole asked him.

  “The wrecked APCs offer us the chance to take up a new defensive position. There’s no way that they can get anymore vehicles in. You can stay, but we’re going.” The Dragon Clone responded. Four Dragon Clones who were the only ones with the anti-vehicular weapons, two Dragon Clones who had an minigun, Cole, Behlmer, Mendoza and Robinson then left to take up a defensive position at the wrecked APCs.

  While Cole and Mendoza was trying to find a way to get Hayes down, the Fiends attack with the last remaining vehicles that they had. After those vehicles were destroyed the Dragon Clones with the anti-vehicular weapons used those weapons against the Fiends until they ran out of ammo. Because some of the Fiends would run at the defenders shooting, while others stood and shoot, it didn’t take long before the defenders started to lose ground.

  “Behlmer and Robinson are dead! Get him down . . . now!” One of the Dragon Clone yelled at Cole and Mendoza. Only the two Dragon Clones with the minigun were left when Hayes was down. From the moment that they got there, to the moment that they got Hayes down, no more than three minutes passed, but it felt like an eternity to them.

  “Fall back to secondary positions!” Hayes yelled at everyone. It was clear to him that they are going to lose that area and they had no other choice but to fall back to where the wounded Dragon Clones are. He also noticed that a large force of the army of Fiends broke off and headed for the beach. He knew that they didn’t stand a chance, but they were large enough to come within a ace in wiping the rest of Task Force ZH-3C out of existence.

  The secondary defenses were nothing more than row after row of vehicles line up perpendicular to that of the two buildings. The bumper of each vehicles were touching the buildings in order to make room for any vehicles and/or ground forces that may need to go up the road. Only the most serious of the wounded Dragon Clones were in the buildings and providing sniper fire. The rest of the wounded along with thirteen other Dragon Clones were kept behind those vehicles.

  While Hayes, Cole and Mendoza was running to the secondary position, the two Dragon Clones that they were with had to turn around and deal with a group of Fiends. Two more Dragon Clones came to provide assistance to them. All four was killed in a matter of moments. When Cole was just several feet from one of
the line of defenses he too was shot and killed. During that time period, the five Dragon Clones who was still left in the parking garage made a suicidal run at the Fiends. Although all five were killed, it gave Hayes and Mendoza the chance to make it to the defenses. But before Hayes could give the order to both Cole and Mendoza to man the APC up the road, Cole was killed. Both Hayes and Mendoza then ran up the road to the APC just as that line of defense had fallen. When the two of them were several yards up the road, both were shot several times. When Hayes turned to look at Mendoza, he noticed that Mendoza was dead. As Hayes got up he was shot, he then dropped to his knees, and was shot again.

  “Charge!” One of the Dragon Clones yelled out. Five Dragon Clones and three wounded ones, then charged the Fiends. They knew what Hayes was trying to do and they were trying to assist him. What’s more they could almost smell victory. Just a little longer and . . .

  When Hayes, who was limping because of his wounds, was halfway up the road he heard the Dragon Clones being overrun. He then quickly hurried with every bit of his strength and was shot when he was only a few feet from the APC. He then rolled over on his back and noticed that he was left. All thirty of the Dragon Clones was killed and Hayes was seriously wounded. He then rolled back over and quickly tried to get inside the APC before it’s too late. Luckily for him the door was opened. But before he was able to climb inside, he was shot in his left side. He then rolled over and killed the Fiends that was near. He then climbed in the APC, manned the plasma cannon, and killed the last of the remaining Fiends. But there was one last thing that he had to do.

  “Ma’am . . . this is Hayes. I’ve managed . . . to stop . . . the army of Fiends. Everybody over here . . . is dead. Including me.” And with that, Hayes breathe his last.

  Although it was difficult for them to do it, and nobody thought that they would have done it, the large group of Fiends that decided to head to the beach managed to get over the rough terrain. When they got on the beach they encountered Red Team, Ramirez and the rest of the Dragon Clones. Trivelli and two Dragon Clones was hit by shrapnel from a grenade. They were then quickly killed when the Fiends rushed in. Ellis, Moriarty, Viper 33X, and three Dragon Clones were left on that part of the beach.