Battle Earth IV

Chapter 2

Taylor awoke with a blistering headache and looked across to see an empty bed. They worked hard every day to help restore some normality to the region, but it felt like a never-ending job. It was only broken up by an ever more tiring series of parties and intoxication. He sighed as he crawled out of bed and sat up. A cold breeze swept in from where the door was ajar. The snow of winter had already begun to set even in the busy streets. All of Eli’s gear was gone, including her Reitech suit.

“Ah shit,” he muttered.

He pulled on his gear and stepped out into the daylight. Most of the Company were sat under a dining shelter enjoying their breakfast.

“Hey, Major!” shouted Silva.

The Sergeant beckoned for Mitch to join him. Taylor strode over and could see that Jones, Chandra and Yorath all sat together. A seat was left empty with a full plate of food placed next to it.

“Much appreciated,” shouted Taylor as he took his seat among them.

“We’re heading out in thirty minutes,” replied Chandra.

“Thought we had work to finish up here?”

“We did, but Command wants to clear the path west. Those who survived and fled want their homes back, and we’ve got refugee camps backed up hundreds of miles. The locals are taking here, and we’re moving forward to Reims ahead of schedule.”

“Great, quicker the better.”

“It shouldn’t be long now. A few more weeks work, and the rebuilding should be able to get started.”

“What then?” he asked.

“We’re soldiers. We’ll find a new battle to fight.”

“You think they’ll send us to the Moon?”

“Fucking ‘ey!” yelled Silva.

“How can they not?” replied Chandra. “We have a hostile army waiting on our doorstep.”

If only they could return to whatever hole they came from, thought Taylor.

“You don’t seem convinced, Major? I’d have thought you of all people would want to see this through?” asked Chandra.

He nodded, but she could see he was not at all happy.

“What is it?”

He looked up at her as he chewed a mouthful of food and thought.

“I want to see an end to the war, certainly. I’d just like to see it without losing anymore friends.”

The table went silent. It was the one subject all thought about and avoided discussing. Taylor looked up at their faces, realising that he wasn’t being the officer they needed him to be. He felt shallow and selfish for having broken the mood.

“Ahh, don’t listen to me. My head’s spinning, and I didn’t really sleep. I’m rambling.”

“It’s in all of our thoughts, but look at them,” Chandra said as she pointed to the rest of the troops enjoying their meal and larking about. “They need what morale they have. Thinking what might become of us serves nobody any good.”

“I know,” he replied.

He already regretted voicing his bleak emotions so publically. He rubbed his weary eyes and looked up with a smile.

“I just need a coffee and all will be well,” he replied.

The post war conditions had led to stagnation and a time of uncertainty. They were rebuilding while the enemy still loomed over them. They finished up as the trucks arrived to take them onwards. Chandra looked to Silva.

“Sergeant, get them loaded up.”

He nodded in acknowledgement as he leaped to his feet, bellowing his orders that echoed around the area for all to hear. Chandra got to her feet and followed Taylor so she may talk to him alone.

“You okay?” she asked.

He turned and smiled but winced as it hurt his bruised face.

“Just a rough night, is all.”

“I can’t tell whether it’s peace you want or more war,” she replied.

“Either would be better than this, just to know where we stood.”

She nodded in agreement as they strode to the lead vehicle. Taylor approached to see that Eli stood there, ushering the troops aboard. She smiled at seeing him, and it was a welcome sight after the grim manner he’d previously been in. They climbed aboard and were on the move within minutes. It was a tedious journey to get out of the town as the drivers fought through the traffic and chaos, but they soon hit the open road. They were once again travelling in open country that showed no sign of the war that had passed it by. Farmhouses were deserted, and the trails of tracked vehicles through many of the fields were the only sign of the recent conflict. The snow was already beginning to cover over such sights.

“What’s our job in Reims?” asked Taylor.

“Same as usual. We are to clear all roads and repair where necessary.”

“Engineers work,” he replied.

“Sure, but there are too few of them to work alone, and these Reitech suits surely make light work of the job. Plenty of civilians have already managed to get back, but many of the access roads are still a mess. We’ll be working to the west and the road to Paris. Even the name of the city conjured up a wealth of images they all wanted to forget.

It was noon when they finally arrived in the city. Few soldiers were to be seen amongst the ruins. Many of the allied armies had quickly returned to their native lands after the enemy’s retreat. Much of the city lay in ruins, and few had managed to get anywhere near the centre. A single policeman ushered their vehicles down a rubble-strewn road until they could go no further.

Taylor and Chandra leapt out from the trucks to survey the scene and gasped at the sight before them.

“Shit, this isn’t going to be a quick job,” shouted Taylor.

Two tower blocks had collapsed into the road in front them, and the rubble more than ten storeys high.

“We’re gonna need help, lots of it,” replied Chandra.

The policeman strode up beside them and patted them on the back.

“Good to have you here.”

Chandra turned to him.

“We’re happy to help, but we can’t do it alone. We’ve got engineers and a few vehicles on their way to assist, but more than anything, we need manpower.”

“What do you suggest I do?” he replied.

“The people returning from the east, they want their homes back, do they not?”

The man nodded.

“Then I suggest you send them our way to lend a hand. We need the roads cleared and access and communication links restored.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Not good enough. I want all physically able men and women between sixteen and sixty that arrive at this city to report immediately to work detail here,” growled Chandra.

The policeman looked uncomfortable and shied away, but she paced forward and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.

“Look, this work has to get done. I don’t want to be here anymore than the rest of my troops. This isn’t my country. We’ve fought and bled over these lands so that these people could return. Show some God damn back bone and get them to lend a hand.”

The man looked past the Major to the rest of the troops who stood beside the trucks silently watching him. He could see the distain in their faces.

“You will get no pity from us. We have been here from the day this war started and are still working. Get to it!” she shouted.

The officer turned and stepped slowly away towards the crossroads where they had first met him. Chandra looked at Taylor with an expression of utter shock and astonishment.

“You’d think we were an occupying army by the welcome we’re getting here.”

“These people are broken. We know we have homes to go back to, what do they have? They’ve been blasted back to the stone age,” replied Taylor.

Chandra sighed. “Still no excuse for slacking and bloody rudeness after all we have done for them.”

Taylor stepped up close and whispered in her ear.

“Take it easy on these people. They may not have had to fight on the frontline, but they’ve lost everything.”

“Not their lives,” she snapped.

“Plenty have. We still have no idea how many millions died in these lands.”

She took a deep breath as she calmed herself and took in his words of wisdom.

“When did you become the cool headed prophet?”

“When the fighting stopped. These people aren’t soldiers. They aren’t under your command, and they have lost all but their lives. We need their help, but the last thing they need is abuse.”

She smiled. “How you have come on, Major, so where has the marine gone that would have kicked their arses into action?”

She stepped past Taylor and patted him on the shoulder as a thank you for putting things back into perspective. The Company still stood silently awaiting her command. They looked miserable and tired, despite the fact that work had not yet started.

“This is one of the main roads to Paris. We fought and bled over that city once and have given everything we had to get it back! This wreckage stands as much as a barrier to us as an enemy army. Would you stand here and let it tower over us in defiance? Leaving this country to ruin is to accept defeat. Every street we clear, and every town that is re-inhabited, is a victory over our enemy!”

She could hear footsteps grow nearer and turned to see a dozen men and women stroll up to her, throwing down their luggage at the side of the road. They looked up at the huge job before them and stood proud and ready. She nodded in gratitude and turned back to the troops.

“This barrier mocks us all and all the friends we have lost, let’s tear it down!”

A few cheers rang out, but they were far from enthusiastic as they stepped up to the rubble and began their work. The Reitech suits provided an immense boost in strength and stamina for such labour, but it was still gruelling and mind numbing work. The troops slogged for hours, long after the civilians had lain down to rest. Finally, as the sun began to lower in the sky and cast long shadows, and the temperatures began to plummet, Chandra called them all to a halt.

She and Taylor peered around to see the results of their work. They had cut a noticeable path to the west, but the mound of rubble appeared to have altered little.

“We need some heavy gear in here, diggers and trucks. All this crap has to go somewhere,” stated Taylor.

“I am promised that the engineers are on their way, and that we will have everything we need.”

They took up refuge in the nearby empty buildings for the night, alongside the growing number of civilians who were arriving to assist them. There was no alcohol that night. No parties and brawls. They were all growing tired of such activities and appreciated a quiet night of rest.

In the morning, Taylor and Chandra climbed to the top of one of the nearest intact buildings, along with several others of the Company who chose to join them. It was a vantage point no one had seen since the war had ended. There were few aerial craft available to them and just as few tall structures still standing and stable to get a viewpoint.

“My God, can this even be called a city any longer?” asked Eli.

“Makes you wonder if they’d be better off leaving this place be and build afresh.”

“No, we rebuild, like humanity always has done after such times,” replied Chandra.

She looked out past the vast debris they had been clearing and sighed as she squinted to see where it ended.

“We could be months clearing this,” spat Taylor.

“Not once we’ve got the gear we need,” she replied. “I want you to take a look ahead wherever this road continues. We’re getting more help all the time, and we’ll soon be stepping on each other’s toes. See if you can find a way through. If we can get teams to the other side and perhaps air lift a few vehicles over there, with the right help, we could halve the time this’ll take.”

Taylor turned back to Eli.

“Sergeant, I want you and three volunteers ready to move in ten.”

She acknowledged and quickly rushed off to assemble the others down at the ground. He turned back to Chandra as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“And be careful. We’ve got unstable structures, maybe unexploded ordnance, as well as the potential for remaining enemy forces, looters and all sorts. Don’t forget Amiens.”

He sighed as he thought back to the betrayal that still remained as a bitter experience that caused a bitter hatred of the civilian population; it would not soon be forgotten.

“I’ve got it, we’ll find a way through. How long till you can get that air support?”

“I’m still working on it, but by the end of the day or morning at the latest.”

“Great, nice of them to rush.”

“This isn’t a unique scene. Most of the French towns and cities that were fought over are reduced to rubble. We’ll be slogging through them for months.”

She went silent as they both looked out once more at the desolate and apocalyptic looking landscape.

“Enough, we have work to do. Remember to keep in radio contact.”

Taylor smiled.

“Yeah, nice to have that back. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have personal radios.”

“Our equipment developers must find a way to get around that jamming for when this war continues. For now, let’s just be thankful to have it all back.”

They turned and left the rooftop, taking just a last glance at the shocking sight as they trooped down towards the mountain of work which lay before them. Chandra was pleased to see that the rest of the Company and the civilians who had joined them had already begun work. They were running rubble out of the area in the troop transports that had taken them there.

“Count yourself lucky, Major. You go exploring while we slave on.”

Taylor smiled, and she couldn’t have been more accurate. He was aching to get ahead onto something more interesting. The fact that what waited for them the other side was the same work was something he tried to ignore and forget. He turned to see that Parker was waiting with three marines at a side alley that was still in tact.

“Alright, let’s get moving.”

He paced forwards to lead them and looked back just once to see Chandra step forward and get stuck in with the manual labour they had been reduced to.

“You know where this leads, Sergeant?” he asked.

“I’ve got maps of the area, but they are only part of the puzzle. This should be a good start for us.”

“We could just use our boosters and go across the rooftops,” shouted Williams.

Taylor nodded and sighed at the same time.

“It’s appealing certainly, but if only we can make it, that doesn’t help.”

“If we just had some damn birds in the air, we could sort this problem in no time,” replied Clark.

Taylor stopped and turned back to them with a stern face.

“We’re using old tech and tactics, I get it. Look around you. Maybe last year we had access to whatever we wanted and needed, but that just ain’t the case anymore. It’s not exactly glamorous work, but at least nobody is shooting at us. Now, can we carry on with a little less bitching?”

A large aircraft burst across the sky, sending vibrations through the ground. For a moment they all flinched. They had become accustomed to expecting anything above them to be enemy craft. They relaxed as they saw a friendly transport plane rush over the city at remarkably low altitude. Taylor relaxed and righted himself. As he began to speak, Lam leapt forward and pushed him aside, and the others scattered. A chunk of concrete almost the size of a car crashed down between them.

Taylor pushed Lam off him and looked around with a panic to see if Parker was okay. They had all scattered with just a metre or two between them, and a crushing and immediate death. He patted Lam on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” he snarled.

“Bloody flyboys!” yelled Parker.

Taylor tapped his intercom. “Chandra, this is Taylor, over.”

“Already on it, Major. We have a few light injuries here, but everyone is okay. What is your status, over?”

“Near miss, but we’re all okay, over.”

“Time for someone to get a grilling. Good luck, over and out.”

Taylor turned back to the other four marines who looked distinctly unimpressed.

“Fucking idiots,” snapped Lam.

“As if it wasn’t enough that we had an advanced alien race trying to make us extinct, our own bloody people are trying to kill us,” replied Taylor.

“I’m sure they were on an urgent mission to bring General Schulz his afternoon snack,” Parker grinned.

“Alright, let’s get moving.”

They wandered for hours through side streets and derelict buildings, trying to find a safe route through, and marking their waypoints as they went.

“Can’t we just use the city ring road?” asked Lam.

“No, it’s bumper to bumper with abandoned cars, and a hell of a way to have to walk it. The civilians who fled in a panic clogged the roads solid and had to leave on foot. First thing we have to do is establish a straight route through towards Paris.”

They continued on through the blown windows of a shop front and into another alleyway. They reached a mound of bricks that had collapsed in from a small explosion. Mitch lifted his Mappad and studied it carefully.

“Access here could open up the route we need. It may be worth clearing.”

He noticed a roof access ladder that was still intact just a few metres back.

“Make a start on it. I’ll head to the roof and see what the situation is up ahead, make sure it’s worth our time.”

He strode over and placed his hands on the bars of the ladder.

“You know you could jump it,” muttered Eli.

“True, but call me old fashioned, I like to do some of the work myself.”

He began to climb the ladder and felt less than his body weight as the suit propelled him quickly to the roof. As he neared the top, he felt one of the rusted metal steps buckle under the weight of him and all his gear. He took a firm grasp with his hands on the rungs and hoisted himself up without incident. Mitch looked down from the roof to see he had climbed eight storeys while the others had only just begun to start working.

The cool icy wind hit his face from the exposed rooftop. Many of the structures around the building were at least partially still standing, but he could see several collapsed skyscrapers dotted across the city. He looked down again to the rubble blocking their path. He nodded as he realised that they could clear the way with an hour’s labour.

Morbid curiosity overcame the Major, and he turned and strolled across the rooftop, looking out across the rest of the devastation. Just as he reached the centre of the roof, he felt the floor under his feet shake. Before he could respond, it gave way beneath him. Taylor collapsed through a gaping hole that he had created and quickly crashed into the next floor down. The weight and bulk of his body and equipment made him to smash through the floor.

Black ash and dust filled his throat and chest as he continued to descend through floor after floor. The entire internals of the structure had been destroyed by fire. The weak floors were providing just enough cushioning to slow his fall but enough to hurt like hell.

Finally, after he broke through the fourth floor, he landed hard on a solid surface, and the wind was taken out of him. His back plate took the worst of the impact, but it jolted his body. His ass went numb from the landing, and his helmet lashed against the ground, stunning him for a moment. He shook his head to clear the dust, but it only served to clog his windpipe further as a soot cloud arose around him.

As he regained his composure, he could hear the faint sounds of his comrades shouting and calling for him. He tapped his intercom, but it did nothing. The impact had destroyed it. He reached for his rifle that had been slung on his back, only to realise it was long gone. He looked up through the breach he had created and saw the smashed weapon hung by its broken sling on the sixth floor.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Taylor sat up and tried to wipe his eyes with his hands, but they were just as dirty as his face. His gear was so coated in the black soot that he blended in with almost perfect camouflage to the ruined structure. He looked around at his surroundings, but there was little to see but more debris and black walls in what used to be an office compound.

A faint mechanical sound rang out to his other side, and Taylor snapped his head around just in time to see the wall cave in just ten metres away. His heart stopped as he recognised the towering height of what was coming through the breach when part of the floor above collapsed between them. A single Mech was visible through the falling dust.

“Shit,” he whispered.

Taylor rolled over several times to his side until he came up against a desk that hid him from the creature’s view.

Where the fuck did that come from?

He reached down for the pistol he always carried, but it was nowhere to be found; another item lost during his fall. His eyes grew wide at the realisation that he was in real trouble.

Looking down, he could see that all he had on him was a single frag grenade and his Assegai. He took a deep breath and held it as he listened intently all round him. The creature stepped slowly around and had clearly not discovered his position yet. He peered out over the top of a workstation just enough to get a glance of what he faced. The creature was almost as filthy as him. Its armour had been damaged through fighting, but not enough to impede its ability.

He could still hear the cries of his comrades outside, and he prayed they would stop. Just as he thought it, they did. Please no, he thought. He hoped they were onto the situation rather than silenced by any of the creature’s allies. He could hear the steps of the huge creature growing nearer and knew he was running out of time and space. He slowly crawled along the table edge until he could turn a corner and be out of sight. Taylor could hear that he had turned the bend just a few seconds before he would have been found.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, realising he had no choice but to take on the beast in close combat. They were too close for the grenade to be used without a serious risk of hurting himself. The explosion would be more than capable of tearing through most of the room. His sweaty hand reached for the hilt of his Assegai, and he slowly drew it from its sheath.

The heavy steps of the creature stomped closer; almost in tune with his heart that was now calm. He had accepted what he must do, and the fear was draining away. His back was against an office divider, and he was down on one knee. His head was turned awaiting the sight of the beast. The barrel of its huge weapon came around the corner first, and he knew it was his opportunity to strike.

Taylor leapt up and thrust his Assegai forwards. The creature tried to turn its hulking weapon around, but the Assegai punctured into the main body of the cannon. The alien responded by striking him to the chest with a forceful push, launching him two metres back and onto the top of a desk.

He looked up just in time to see the cannon being trained on him. The creature pulled the trigger, but the weapon did nothing. He smiled in relief; his strike had disabled the fearful thing. The angry creature threw it down and rushed towards him. The hulking beast was twice his bulk, and like a rhino bearing down on him. He rolled off the table just in time as it crushed it before him.

Taylor ducked under a swing from the creature and thrust up against the clumsy Mech into its rib area. It spasmed in pain as the Assegai was forced in all the way to its hilt. He tore it out as thick blue blood spewed out from the punctured armour. He could see the energy fade in the beast, and it dropped down on one leg. He spun the Assegai around, and took it in both hands above his head with the dripping tip pointing to the ground.

The beast tried with all its energy to reach for him, but he thrust down into its faceplate with all his force. The cutting torch style tip needed little pressure to penetrate the thick armour, but it made Taylor feel better to release his anger. The beast went immediately limp and slumped backwards. He wrenched the Assegai from the corpse, and thick blood clung to the entire length of the blade.

“Fucking disgusting,” he exclaimed as he spat on the body of his vanquished foe. He stood and peered at the lifeless hulk with some satisfaction. Weeks of slogging labour had made him forget how much he enjoyed killing. A thunderous drone rang out from an adjoining room, and he turned just in time to see the thin wall smashed through by three armed aliens. They trained their weapons on him before he had a moment to react. He stood tall and stared them down, for he did not want to die cowered down in a hole.

“Alien scum,” he spat.

A massive explosion erupted before him and at the feet of the creatures, and the Mechs collapsed through a vast hole. Dust and debris showered Taylor. He turned away as the smoke once again filled his lungs. He looked in surprise at the breach as gunfire erupted in the floor below. Automatic weapon fire from his comrades tore the creatures apart.

The Major paced forward and looked down through the gaping hole, just in time to see the last rounds puncture the aliens’ armour and render them lifeless. He watched as Eli stepped up and laid a boot on a beast’s body before firing a final round through its faceplate. She looked up and smiled as she made out the dusty silhouette of Taylor.

“Thought we’d lost you there for a minute!”

“Outstanding,” he replied.

Taylor leapt through the breach and used just a fraction of boost to soften his landing.

“Let’s get the hell out of this shithole.”

“I figure we’ve blown our way in this far, we might as well use this to work round that blocked alley.”

“Lead the way, Sergeant,” he replied.

Ten minutes later they were huddled behind a solid foundation wall.

“Fire in the hole!” Parker shouted.

She lifted an arming device and punched down the trigger. A small explosion rang out, and they turned to see that a two metre wide hole had been punched through the outer wall and out into an open shopping street.

“We’re in business,” said Taylor.

They strode out into the daylight. At the far end of the road, they could see the rubble pile blocking the main street that Chandra was trying to clear.

“Alright, we’ve done it. Send the route back to Major Chandra. How long do you figure it’ll take to walk the distance?” he asked.

“I figure about twenty-five minutes, now we’ve got a clear route.”

Parker stopped and looked at Taylor and the state he was in. The thick black soot and dust clung to every part of his body and equipment. She suddenly burst into laughter at the sight of him. He looked down at the mess, thought back to the near death experience, and could do nothing but laugh as well.

“You lot saved my ass back there. Another second, and I was a goner.”

“Nothing you haven’t done for us, Major,” replied Lam.

“We were wrong to think this was over. The enemy didn’t surrender, and they didn’t sign any treaty. We’ve been walking around as if they were gone for good,” mused Eli.

Taylor lifted up his hands, looking at the congealed blue blood staining them and running down the metal forearm bars of his exoskeleton. He had lost the stomach for war so quickly, but in just one small action, he was reminded of the bloodlust they had all built in the war.

“Guess we need to find you a weapon, Sir,” said Clark.

The Major looked down at his hands once again and suddenly felt naked at the realisation that he was without a gun.

“Reiter won’t be happy you lost his toys,” joked Parker.

“We came way too close today. We’re trying to rebuild this country before we’ve even finished fighting.”

He lifted his hand to activate his comms unit, and then remembered it had been destroyed on impact.

“Get Chandra back on the line. It’s time we took this seriously and got some troops up ahead of the work. I want these lands purged of the infection of these Krycenaean bastards!”