Diamond Wings

Chapter 8 Damn Bugs

   "Their shells are harder than a turd on a cold day. But nuth'n some explosives up the ass won't take care of. Your welcome by the way," he says, before taking another drag from his victory cigar.
   Sarena lets go a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you, we owe you our lives."
   "Dont mention it, I'll take any chance I can get to squash one of those bastard bugs."
   Glik starts to groan as he comes to.
   "Glik! Are you ok? Take it easy," Sarena says, worried.
   "Uh, what happened? Why am I wet?" he gasps in his confusion, starting to panic. "Oh no! Are we in it's belly? Did it swallow us whole?"
   "Ha, ha, ha, no it didn't eat you, but you are covered in shit." Their savior laughs.
   "Well, covered in it, is better than being it," Glik reasons. "Who's that?" he asks, turning to Sarena.
   "Name's Sergeant Max Rainer, and I just saved your asses," he introduces himself, leaning in for a better look.    
   "Better question is, who the hell are you two, and what the hell are you doin' out here?"
   "We're not from around here, and we're lost," Sarena explains, as her and Glik help each other limp back up to their feet.
   "And the night is dark, tell me sumth'n I don't know," he declares, pulling on his cigar, trying to get a better look at the strange pair.
   "I'm Glik, and this is Sarena. I guess you could say we fell from the sky."
   "Well it definitely looks more like you got shit out from the sky than just fell, but nice to meet you two. Any enemy of a bug's, is a friend of mine, even a strange lookin' couple like yourselves. I was in the neighborhood and saw your laser light show, figured I'd buy a ticket. Saw somebody in my seat though." He laughs, puffing away.
   "Well if you two are done lollygaggin around, we best be gettin' a move on."
   The beat up pair, wiping off guts and goo, trying to stretch and brush off their pain and bruises.
   "I'm sure I'm not the only thing to see your little display, or catch my grand finale for that matter. This place'll be crawlin' with em' soon. Come on, you'll have plenty of time to walk it off on the way," he promises, jumping off the rock and onto the ground.
   "On the way to what?" Sarena asks, still dripping and sore.
   "Home," he says, looking back and smiling, before turning to start his march.
   The wet and battered duo look at each other, shrugging their shoulders.
   "Wait up," they both say before struggling to get down and slide off the rock. They try to quickly hobble and limp after him, wincing in pain.
   Sarena tries to stretch her wings, giving them a flutter in an attempt to clean and dry them. Small wet bits fly all around, like a dog shaking dry.
   "Wo! Say it don't spray it sister," Max says, as he throws an arm up trying to avoid the gory shower. "Damn, at least give a warning next time," he asks, shaking off the bloody rain.
   "Sorry about that," she offers, ringing out her gross hair. "How far is your home?"
   "Pretty far, but hopefully we can get there by sun up, if you two can get the lead out."
   "Sorry, that thing beat us up pretty bad," she says, hanging her head.
   "Don't sweat it. I've never taken one of those out by myself. You two did good holding the front line while I came up the rear, literally." He laughs.
   "What were you doing out here all by yourself, so far from your home?" Glik asks.
   "We lost communication with one of our outposts, our last outpost for that matter. Me n' delta squad were dispatched for recon and rescue. We knew the odds were slim, but it was our last outpost. We spotted survivors when we got close, knew it was a trap, but had to try. Sure enough those damn bugs lured us in and ambushed us. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that made it out alive." His face turning down with failure, regret and guilt.
   "Sorry Sarge," Glik offers his condolences. "Well, your not the only one going back to your home, you saved our lives."
   "Great, I couldn't save any of my brothers or sisters in arms, but I managed to save a bird lady and a green bobblehead. I'm sure I'll be hailed as a hero," he says, sarcastically and disgruntled, starting to march faster and more aggressively in his anger.
   Sarena and Glik look at each other, offended and slightly confused.
   "What's a bobblehead?" they whisper to each other.
   They both shrug it off, both willing to let the sore subject go, both understanding grief and loss. They try to hurry behind him and keep pace, still struggling with their injuries, as they hold their heads low from his sad and hurtful words.
   The three continue their march foward, as the darkness begins to retreat. The sun starts to peek over the horizon, shining smiles onto the three, knowing they made it through the night, and have to be getting close to sanctuary.  
   Glik, extra happy, being able to start recharging the portal gun.
   "Well at least our luck got better. We haven't seen a single bug," he observes, smiling and holding the portal gun in the beaming sunrise.
   "If you just jinxed us, I'm using you for bait," Max claims, as the other two scowl at him from behind. "Is' kinda' weird we haven't seen a one. That seems a little too lucky if you ask me," he ponders.
   They don't walk too much farther before starting to hear faint gunfire in the distance ahead. The sound startles and freezes Max only for a second, before he starts rushing and sprinting foward, his two companions chasing after him. The noise coming from over a hill up ahead, as the ground slopes upward.
   The gunfire eerily quiets and disappears, as they reach the bottom of the hill. Max charges the incline, quickly marching to the top. He slows and stops as he reaches the hill crest, lowering his gun. The other two fighting through their pain to reach the top on either side of him.
   All three taking in the shocking and terrifying site. A sea and army of various giant insects crashing into a large square stronghold, like waves on a breakwall. A cloud of flying bugs over the fortress, raining down in a deadly storm. The army flooding the sanctuary, barely a mile in front of them, and overwhelming it.
   "It's over, they did it, they won," Max declares in his devastation. "That was the last human stronghold. I thought we could of held that place forever. If only I was there . . ." he regrets, gripping his gun tight, and gritting his teeth in anger.
   "If you were there, you would have died too." Glik tries to reason with him.
   "You don't know that!" he yells, turning to scold him. "I could of made a difference! I should have never stopped to save you two!"
   "All three of us are alive right now, because you stopped to save us," Sarena says, correcting him.
   "We're from another world Max," Glik explains, starting to come clean. "And we're about to leave here for a better one. Come with us."
   "No . . . this is my world, and I will die defending it," he swears, holding up his rifle and facing the insurmountable odds.
   "Don't be a fool Sergeant, there's no point trying to protect something that's already dead. You're just going to get yourself killed." Glik tries to reason with the proud soldier.
   "I wouldn't expect either of you to understand. Now get out of here, before it's too late," he advises, staring into the sea of razor sharp fangs and deadly claws.
   "Glik, how much longer before we're charged up?" she asks, worried about the nearby horde of bugs.
   "Almost there, maybe a few minutes," he says, holding the portal gun to bask in the bright sun.
   "Well, I'll give you your few minutes, before I unleash holy hell on those damn bugs," he promises, before pulling out a flask and another cigar, as he enjoys one last drink and a smoke. He only manages a couple puffs and a couple swigs, before one of the smaller monsters on the outside of the swarm notices them.
   It peels off of the assault, and starts running towards them. Six sharp, spindly legs propel it foward, with one round body and sharp mandibles larger than it's small head. It resembles a mite and a spider, the size of a large bear. Others notice it turn to attack on another front, and join the charge.
   "Time's up! Look alive!" he yells outside the side of his mouth, still puffing away, putting away the flask and picking up his rifle.
   Sarena draws her sword and spawns a medium-sized shield, standing tall next to Max.
   "Glik! How long!" she asks again, preparing to do battle.
   "Almost there! Any minute now," he responds, setting down the larger gun in the sun, and pulling his two smaller ones, standing tall on the other side of Max.
   The Sergeant takes aim and opens fire, raining bullets down onto the charging bug. The bullets find their target as they explode into small balls of fire. The first few stop the monster dead in it's tracks, as the next few blow up in it's face, leaving it without a head, and driving it into the ground.
   The fireworks alert more of the swarm, sending more of the deadly creatures their way.
   Max takes aim on the next closest one, as Sarena raises her sword up in front of him.
   "Save your ammo, you two back me up," she declares, walking down the slope to intercept the oncoming infestation.
   Max turning to look down at Glik with a skeptical raised eyebrow. Glik looking back up at him with a confident smile.
   The next bug meets her in it's charge, snapping with deadly jaws, as Sarena effortlessly sidesteps the attack, and takes off it's head with a clean downward slash.
   Another sidestep, returning her sword to the air in an upward swing, taking another attacking head.
   She uses her shield to punch and smash the next hungry bug in the jaws, stunning it backwards for a brief moment from the forceful bash. She then finishes it off with a foward piercing thrust into it's face, instantly stilling the skittering beast. Blood spewing from the bug as she withdraws her blade, in time to see two more leaping at her in a combined attack.
   A quick backwards bend avoids two sets of snapping mandibles, as she makes a sweeping slash, decapitating two more in one large swing, sending their headless bodies to the ground on either side of her.
   She walks over the dead bug in front of her with a couple of quick steps, launching off of the carcass, leaping foward to intercept another jumping beast. Skewering it, sending it belly up. She quickly rips her sword out, planting her feet onto it's upside down body, riding it down to the ground, as it slides foward.
   Continuing her momentum as the body grinds to a halt in the sand, she leaps foward again. Stabbing downward in air for another kill, before somersaulting over the dead bug, coming down with an overhead swing, slicing another in half, as her and the sword gracefully meet the ground.
   Pushing foward still, into a group of them now as their numbers grow thicker. She thrusts herself down and onto her knees, spinning foward with an extended blade and a protective shield. Many skittering legs fall to the spinning attack, as their bodies fall down and into the blender of death. More pile on as Max loses sight of her.
   She explodes up into a tornado, and a whirlwind of killing strikes, as she sends bugs flying, rising above the mound of dead carcasses. Her wings slowly flutter to keep her afloat, as bugs climb the pile of bodies. They leap up, biting and snapping at her, coming back down headless, as she easily dispenses more and more.
   Max slowly turns his shocked face back down to Glik, grinning back at him confidently.
   "She's good," the Sergeant admits.
   "You have no idea," Glik confirms.
   Suddenly the portal gun starts to hum, fully charged and back to life, as they both look back at it.
   "Sarena! Time to go!" Glik beckons to her. "Come on! We'll cover your retreat!" he yells, raising both of his blasters.
   She looks back at them, nonchalantly decapitating one more leaping bug without even looking, before flapping her wings, and quickly returning.
   The swarming horde chases her from the ground, now thick with countless legs and fangs.
   "OK little buddy, time to unleash hell!" Max declares, as he holds up his rifle grinning, and lets go a barrage of exploding rounds. Glik joins in, adding red blasts of deadly energy to the raining destruction.
   Sarena lands back at their sides, as Glik quickly holsters his blasters and grabs the portal gun.
   "Come with us Sarge," he asks one more time, firing the green orb behind them. It travels a few feet back, before exploding into the large, green glowing and circular door.
   Max pays no mind to the emerald glow to his back, keeping his eyes fixed on the rushing tsunami of fangs.
   "Get out of here you two, somebody's gotta' cover the retreat. And hurry up, I don't need your deaths on my shoulders too," he says, grabbing one of the grenades strapped around his torso, and launching it at the horde.
   Glik and Sarena glance at each other, disappointed by Max's stubborn decision. They look back at him as he reloads with one of the many ammo clips around his belt, and resumes firing.
   "This world isn't yours yet you damn bugs! You still gotta go through me!" he screams as the horde slowly advances closer. "Get some! Get some!"
   Sarena looks back at Glik with an angry defiant scowl, and gives him a nod. She turns back to Max, grabbing him from behind.
   "What the hell are you doin'? This ain't no time for goodbye hugs honey!" Max yells, still firing away. "Get out of here already!"
   "Not without you," she declares, ripping him back with all her strength, and throwing him into the portal.
   "I said NO you crazy bi—" His last word cut off, before disappearing through the green glow.
   "I hope you know what you're doing," Glik states, shocked by her move.
   "Me too." Sarena hopes, smiling over saving a life. "Let's go," she says, grabbing Glik's hand and moving to the portal. 
   "He's going to be so pissed." He smiles, before the portal closes behind them, replaced by the hungry horde.