Humanity Endures

Part 6 - The Cesspit | Chapter 8

With aliens forming all around them, Velan and the Kalithiharians knew what to do, and wasted little time in doing it. Dispatching textcomms to the rest of the force, a retreat to the complex before them was ordered: the enforcers and the marines in the vanguard were instructed to break through the rapidly growing alien force in front of the human formation, while the rest of the human army was simply instructed to stay alive, follow those in front of them, and hope for the best. It was less than ideal; it was even, arguably, less than terrible; but it was all the desperate humans had.

As alien 'riflers,' springing up from the shallow abyss with barely-solid weaponry, unleashed a dense tide of golden death on the stubborn human force, the mortal trill of their alien weaponry became the last sound hundreds of the beleaguered humans heard — that, and the agonizing screams of their dying comrades. Biofluid threatened to crash onto the human force in murderous waves that surged in front of the aliens' mighty charges, and the humans were time and time again forced to beat back the ocean of death with explosives and sheer desperation. The enforcers, marines, and highly-skilled officers making up the vanguard had little trouble smashing — at times, literally — through what half-formed aliens had appeared to try and block their advance, but there were always more of the beasts, and even the mightiest soldier can be overwhelmed. Though the rear of the human army was weaker than the elites in the vanguard by far, this did not make its successful attempts at resistance any less heroic; despite their injuries and, at times, lack of experience, those in the rear of the formation fought those attacking aliens with such stubbornness and such ferocity that those ahead of them seemed almost guaranteed to reach safety in spite of the hopeless odds. Countless aliens were slaughtered and returned to the Stygian abyss that had spawned them; human heroism proved the clear counter to alien savagery, as the endless, monstrous sea crashed ineffectually against a rock of lead, fire, and steel. Ralthina and Falmenec, knee-deep in alien biofluid and fighting side-by-side, cut down dozens of alien sprinters, all while half-formed alien fiends were slain by the handful by the determined defenders supporting the two. The rear-guard had bought the rest of the humans valuable time with their blood and fury — for an untrained scientist, and a capitalist clad in only basic armor worn over a business uniform, the two officers there fought especially well.

The center of the human force, though it was also the center of the aliens' deadly attention, was dealing back almost as much of the death as it was receiving. With nothing of note blocking the path between them and the military garrison structure, they were able to follow their more-elite brethren towards the untainted shores of the garrison complex with relative impunity. Beyond these shores were roughly a half-kilometer of scorched field, and beyond that was the base of the pyramidal structure itself; atop this, the focal point of the humans' hopes extended beyond into the swirling, blighted heavens. Velan, Iselviah, Dentor, Yelazar, and every human with a gun fought as hard as they could, and sent the newly-formed aliens back to the ground with surprising effectiveness, but no matter how many beasts they slew, there were always more. Heroism may have worked for the humans initially, but no bravery could surmount such overwhelming odds, and such monstrous foes; against this, only blood would suffice.

The gore-covered human vanguard, with moderate effort, reached solid, uncorrupted ground seconds later — this ground being the elevated metal foundation of the entire complex, just a few meters beyond which was an unscalable wall — and the center of the human force began to arrive shortly after that. However, this fleeting victory was underscored by a terrible truth: the rear of the human formation, where the majority of the army's essential equipment was located, was still trapped in the tainted ocean, was nearly encircled by alien forces, and was not faring nearly as well as the rest of the human army. Just over a thousand people were cornered there, and Velan wasn't willing to abandon so many so quickly; once the capable center of the human formation had reached and begun to entrench themselves on the "shore" between the sea of alien biofluid and the edge of the Space Elevator compound, Velan, rallying the human vanguard, had it charge back into the seething mass of monstrosities.