Doom 3™: Worlds on Fire

6

THE INNER CITY OF TEREKSTAN

WITHOUT WARNING, KANE’S SQUAD FOUND THEMSELVESright on the tail of a line of Terekstan regulars, flanking some nasty Russian tanks. The tanks were relics, nothing more than turrets with wheels, but still capable of kicking out rapid-fire explosive rounds without jamming.

The gunfire covered Kane’s advance, coming right behind them. The Terekstan soldiers were too busy watching their tanks turn buildings into rubble, and apparently Russia hadn’t given them any live satellite feeds. Maybe they didn’t think it necessary. And judging from the building-leveling blasts, Kane imagined that they weren’t too concerned about rebuilding any infrastructure.

“Chadbourne, what do you see?”

“Nothing yet, Lieutenant. Just signs of the firefight ahead.”

Then another voice. One of the trapped marines. “Th-they got us surrounded. We’re just about out of RPGs. They’re pounding us.”

Kane saw a few of the Terekstan soldiers ahead turn their heads, now suddenly aware that someone snaked behind them.

“Shit,” he called out. “Everyone ready.”

And just like that, the Terekstan soldiers who had been pouring all of their firepower into the buildings began to aim at Kane’s men.

“Deploy and fire at will!” Kane shouted.

The sides of the troop carriers opened, and his men streamed out, hugging the building walls.

The area immediately transformed into a massive firefight, a spidery net of tracer fire and laser targeting, making the crater-pocked boulevard look like a carnival setting. Or maybe a street from hell.

The Terekstan regulars in the rear—easy targets—began to fall.Good. When you’re this outnumbered, you have to start whittling them down fast.

“Lieutenant, we have a problem,” reported Chadbourne.

“Which one?”

“They’ve moved to the side streets and taken position. We—” He hesitated. Kane could hear the sound of guns firing, then larger explosions. God, maybe this was an error. What’s the expression? Good after bad?What if this rescue turns out to be a mass slaughter of two companies?

“Chadbourne, maybe you need to pull back.”

No response. Then—“No, Lieutenant. We’ve taken position.” A laugh. “One thing for sure. We got plenty of targets.”If there’s anyone I want coming to rescue me, it’s Chadbourne.

Then the trapped marine’s voice again, the one that had totally lost it before. “Lieutenant—if you can hear me—how long till you’re here?”

“Are you the officer in charge?”

“The captain, he’s dead. I just put on his headset.”

“Good work. Your marines in defensive position?”

“Yes—but more than half gone.”

Cuts our number down even more…“We’re real close. What’s your name?”

“PFC Richards.”

“Richards, you’re doing great. Real good. Just keep the pressure on at your end. Once we see your position, once we—” A loud explosion near Kane’s vehicle—he felt it lurch as the driver drew closer to a building. “Once we see your position, we’ll send up some flares. That will be your signal to punch out and join us.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Meantime—just keep firing.”

Give them, what, five minutes?Kane wondered. He turned back to the driver. “Do your best to keep those goddamn tanks busy. Got it?” His two gunners nodded. Both looked a little jittery…

And then Kane jumped out of the vehicle to join his men on the street.This must have been what Custer felt like.

The Terekstan tanks, either bought, borrowed, or stolen from the Russians, finally had time to position themselves and seal off the end of the street. At the same time, snipers had taken position in the buildings at the corners.

They could pin us down here forever,Kane knew.Or worse, one of the other enemy lines moving down a parallel street could turn around and box us in at the other end. Game over.

He turned to one of the lead soldiers. “Okay, Jackson—we got to get into those buildings and take out the snipers. Take the right building—” The head of the man standing beside Jackson exploded, spraying Kane and Jackson with blood and bone. “Better get moving, Jackson,” Kane said without missing a beat.

And the soldier took off.

A quick glance to see that the rest of his men were still in place. Good. Nobody backing away a few meters after that grisly display—everyone standing their ground.

He caught the eye of another grunt and pointed at the building to the right that Jackson had just entered. “You, too. Go!”

More explosions—and talking was useless. But Kane did some quick jabs in the air, telling another group of marines to start moving, signaling that they were to follow him. The rest kept up the street-level firefight. While armored support kept trading blasts with the tanks, the two groups entered the nearby buildings.

Kane led his men upstairs, crossing places where the steps ended at a giant hole, a chunk of staircase to nowhere suspended in the air like something from a nightmare. Outside he could hear the whistling of the gunfire, the exploding shells.

He had minutes, if that. The goal was to get to the roof and head down to face those corner buildings, because those snipers had to go.

They reached the top landing, and Kane spotted two men—not in Terekstan uniforms—racing toward him. Without aiming, he fired his weapon, the two men collapsing in front of him.

They were probably guerrillas or civilian conscripts sent to stop his squad, meaning someone had figured out what they were up to. No matter. There was no Plan B. It was this, or obliteration.

At the end of the top floor hallway he came to a wide metal door blocking the way to the roof. “Blow it,” he ordered to the soldier behind him, who wasted no time in attaching a small thermal charge. Kane and the others turned away and backed up a few steps.

In seconds, the dark hallway was filled with glowing light, then pungent bluish smoke. And even before the smoke cleared, Kane led his squad forward. He just hoped Jackson was moving as quickly. The man used to play football.Hope he still has his legs.

On the other hand, they could have run into some bad luck and already be lying dead in the other building.

While Kane moved forward, he spoke to his vehicles below. “Okay, start moving—”

“But, Lieutenant—”

“I saidmove. As fast as you can.” Then: “Chadbourne? Where are you?”

“Almost there, Lieutenant. Christ, they have a lot of men on the ground, and in those buildings—and man, so many of those T-90 Tigers.”

“Just keep the pressure on. We’ll be at the target zone in two minutes.”If we make it…

Kane bolted forward, knowing that his men would hustle to move at his speed. He raised his weapon to hip level, and then pulled out his plasma gun. Hopefully every grunt behind him was doing the same.

Grenades dangled off every spare place on his belt and shoulder straps. With protective vests that could absorb some direct hits, they were about as good shape for causing maximum damage as a modern foot soldier could be.

He spied a line of figures at the other end of the roof; more Terekstan regulars spinning around from their sniping positions.

Kane wasted no time, using his two weapons to shoot a spray of firepower out, and—a brief pause—he made a big open T with his arms, indicating that all the men with him should go to either side of him. And he closed that T, his weapons again facing front, firing blast after blast.

All his men needed to see, to hear, was their lieutenant out front, firing full out. And of course, then everyone knew what to do.

Kane wheeled behind a brick chimney that had been blasted into a jagged stump. Not much cover, but it was something.

More enemies kept pouring out of a staircase ahead like some military clown car from the circus. The soldiers Kane was attempting to rescue had only minutes before they’d be completely surrounded and wiped out.

Kane unclipped two grenades. He hit the autotimer in each—a preset five seconds—and tossed them.

He counted in his head as he saw the first soldiers look at the rolling explosives.

Five. Four.

The lead enemy soldiers split to the side, and Kane saw fire from behind him take them out. Nice work…

Three. Two.

Another group of new arrivals emerged onto the far roof. They looked down at the explosives. Only a fatal second to decide what to do.

One.

Except a second wasn’t nearly enough time. Like a perfect golf shot, the two grenades had rolled right next to the opening.

Zero.

The roof opening erupted into a fiery blast and sent a great belch of gray smoke into the night sky.

Kane looked back to the men behind him. All it took was a tilt of his head, and they started forward again, running now toward the still smoking end of the building.

He gestured at three of them, then shouted, “Stay here. Lay down some cover for us.” He looked at the smoky stairwell. “The rest of you—let’s hope there are still some stairs left.”

With the snipers gone, Kane’s armored vehicles had also been able to move forward, now protected from above, facing only the forces in front. Which was plenty.

Kane found a recessed doorway and ducked into it. “Chadbourne—you almost here?”

“Got your back, Lieutenant.”

Then Kane could see Chadbourne leading his group, firing, hugging the buildings, making damn good progress.

Except that there was this side street. More of a lane, a narrow cobblestoned path that curved away from the open plaza.I must have missed it on the map, Kane thought. Just a squiggle. But now filled with a line of soldiers, with a perfect opportunity to surprise Chadbourne’s group.

The marines giving his guys cover on top wouldn’t see them at all—the buildings shielded them.

Kane turned back to his squad. “See them? We have to take those bastards out now.”

Which meant that they’d have to move forward, ignoring their main target, the ring of Terekstan soldiers tightening their grip around the trapped marines.Not a good situation, Kane thought.But either way, it will all be over in minutes…