[Brains] Cat C - The Cavalry Arrives: MR-68 Razorback

The Stad · April 10, 2017

Somehow Johnston had hacked the monitoring relay to broadcast her own signal to the cruiser in orbit. And somehow the cruiser had managed to coordinate an extraction. It would take twenty-seven minutes. Sarge pointed at the horizon in the direction of the original drop zone and simply said, "too long."

The message was sent that the team would be moving out to the south, across open ground, and the evac would just have to find them. They didn't wait for a reply, as the rest of the team now saw the shambling masses reach the crest of a hill, sloping their way sickeningly towards the relay. Overhead, lightning forked menacingly as a new storm picked up.

They ran.

As they went the light fell and new shadows began to follow just outside their vision, but they were moving faster and faster, until suddenly a flash illuminated the hollow faces and gaunt figures of many somethings that were once human. Hundreds of red eyes were on the backs of the team, then around them, then among them. Still the team ran.

Then a booming behind them, but not thunder, and then light flashing in front of them, but this time from the roaring muzzle of a 40mm rail gun. None of them had ever been so happy to see the bulky mass of an MR-68 Razorback come tumbling down to land in front of them. They set down right in front of Johnston and Silva, who let loose alongside the outboard gunner, while Enrico cast aside his now-empty rifle and powered through the horde with nothing but a combat knife. Sarge was running, but the dead were catching up. One was on his back, but so was Schultz, who sent the thing flying with a well-placed blast. In a few short steps they were aboard.

The Razorback's engines roared, swinging back into launch position, and the ground fell away from their feet. Sarge glanced back at the writhing creatures shrinking slowly into the distance, then turned away with a sigh. "I need to retire."