Chapter Thirty-Two - Meat Thinking

Chapter Thirty-Two - Meat Thinking

Chapter Thirty-Two - Meat Thinking

Theyre like rats. Dont corner them.

Hmm? Oh, you want to know if I mean the aliens or the samurai?Findd new stories at novelhall.com

Both.

--Mayor Laplace, 2028

***

Reloading, Grasshopper said.

Got it. I stepped up around her and shouldered my Bullcat. My railguns were smoking already, but they didnt let up the fire, picking off stray antithesis on the edges. My own fire was more of a covering spray of lead that had some of the more skittish of the aliens backing off.

B.E.E.S. buzzed around in large swarms, falling onto any antithesis that didnt look quite dead enough or piling onto the faces of the higher-ranked models to take them out of the fight for a moment.

All that racket played over the incessant drone of the resonators Id left behind. The mobile base behind us occasionally joined in with a burst of machinegun fire or a shot from its big gun that kicked up dirt and threw a few of the smaller antithesis around.

Im set, Grasshopper said.

I stepped to the side and stopped walking long enough for Grasshopper to take my place at the front and in the centre of attention. She was a better shot, and a better fighter than I was. She twirled around and nailed every bastard in sight.

Areas clear, she said. We have a few seconds.

Got it, I said.

So far our tactic, if we could call it that, was to have Grasshopper move up, kill everything, then keep moving. Id replace her at the head when she needed to reload or breathe a bit. Judging by the number of corpses we were leaving behind, the tactic was working.

Im going to set up another bee container, I said. Can you watch my back?

I will, no worries, Grasshopper said.

I nodded, then sprinted out ahead and past the latest pile of dead xenos who were all merrily melting away.

Dropping to one knee, I picked up a B.E.E.S. container just as it dropped and set it off in a quick, practised motion. A fresh swarm rose up and joined the remnants of the last.

Cat, model fours, Grasshopper warned.

I spun, taking in a trio of those creepy tentacle fucks crawling out of the woods with their long apendages reaching out towards me. God damnit, I swore as I fired into the nearest. How hadnt I heard it?

The swarm above fell on them, and I saw holes punched through them in time with Grasshoppers shooting. The three fell.

Probably an ambush, she said. They were waiting for us to reach them, but you ran out ahead. Were going to have another wave coming... yup, right there.

A dozen or so model threes shot out of the other side of the woods, shoving bushes aside and slipping through the tall grass before they sailed out towards us.

Fuck!

Language, Grasshopper gasped.

No, stealth units, above.

Model Nines, the stealthy fucks that can make themselves look different. In this case, theyre nearly indistinguishable from the branches theyre hanging off of. One of them leapt down, limbs spreading to reveal nasty claws tucked into what looked like a pile of leaves on the end of its branchy arms.

I ducked to the side as one hit the ground next to me. It spun around, long limbs reaching out to try and swipe at me.

I punted it, armoured boot digging into the little shits side and sending it flying off into some of the other aliens coming at us.

Firing forwards, I nail a couple of model threes with my next seven shots, then click on empty. Damnit, I swore as I shoved my gun away. Was my Bullcat loaded yet?

Would it be enough to stop the model sixes almost on us? Grasshopper was doing well but...

My hand reached down and wrapped around the hilt by my hip. Screw it, I was going to kill everything and it was going to be nasty.

I slid my sword out of its sheath with a whisper of steel on steel, then charged towards the massive xenos running towards us.

A swarm of B.E.E.S zipped around me, then latched onto the aliens turning to track me.

Fuck... you! I shouted as I swung.

I didnt know how to use a sword. There was all this shit about edges and proper form and all that. But I was cheating already, so I didnt see why any of that would matter.

My sword made a loud snapping noise, like a piece of glass cracking, and the blade sprang to life, hissing and spitting as it tugged at the air around it.

With a single large swing I took off the nearest model sixs forelimb. Then I grabbed the hilt with both hands, brought it up, and swung down even as I stopped my forward momentum by planting a boot down firm on the asphalt.

The model six slipped down the middle, its insides slurping into the hungry sword even as its forward momentum continued to carry its remains past me.

I shook my head to clear out some of the blood splatter on my visor, then I turned with another swing into the side of the next model six.

Smaller aliens leapt at me from the side, so I met them in mid-air blade first.

For the next dozen seconds, seconds which felt like entire minutes, I swung around me as though I had the worlds most dangerous baseball bat. Smacking and slicing through anything that got within a few metres of me.

Then it was over.

That, Grasshopper said. She was covered in antithesis remains, but looked uninjured otherwise. Is a very cool sword.

I nodded, breath coming in too heavy for me to trust my voice. I looked around, but all I saw were heaps of aliens and chopped up bodies.

Out ahead, the road continued on, the exit just a couple of hundred metres down.

***