4. Defending Earth-Battle

"Sergeant, is that really Captain Clark?" Private Martinez asked.  A distant roar was coming closer with each moment.  The room was vibrating in time with the thunder.  I lifted my sword slightly so it wouldn't clink against the unsteady earth.

"That would be me," he answered.  A hushed silence fell over the eight soldiers clustered around the exit.  For once, their eyes were not on the approaching threat.

"It's an honor, sir," one choked out.  The roar had consumed every other sound.  Tiny pebbles danced at their feet.  They watched as the first wave of aliens washed over their hiding spot.  I quickly counted.  The humans outnumbered the aliens almost three to one.  I didn't like those odds.

The signal was given.  We poured out from the underground honeycomb, appearing everywhere in the herd at once.  With the sudden appearance of the enemy, the herd stopped advancing.  Strange high pitched, grating screams filled the air.  Something impacted the ground behind me.  The earth heaved in response and I was thrown to the ground.  I scrambled to rise and turn.

Gracefully it rose on the back two legs.  The front was coming and I leaped before I could be thrown to my feet a second time.  Martinez stabbed with his spear.  With a clack it missed slipping between scales and bounced off.  The fibrous head began to twist.  Sun glinting off my blade, I hacked at those fibers.

As my blade passed through, it twisted its head.  Clinging my sword, I twisted to land on my feet.  Martinez was trying to stab again.  A leg kicked and raked his chest open.  The red rivers appeared in front of my eyes. He sailed away, the red leaving a trail.

Another leg had decided to try the same thing with me.  Human screams and defiant shouts had joined the symphony.  The sound of metal on scale, of weapon discharges completed the music.  Adding my own voice, I charged the alien.  It twisted its dripping tentacles and swung towards me.

I jumped and grabbed, the alien now carrying me towards its side.  Letting go, I flew and stabbed.  My sword found purchase.  The blade slid easily between two scales, momentum adding to the ease of the cut.  The scream increased in pitch as I slammed my hand against the end of the blade.  My weapon began to hum and the creature went still.  Shuddering, the ground began to come closer.  Pulling my sword, I fell and rolled.

And then there was another.  I looked and great clawed hooves were rushing towards my face.  Before I could react, a hammer batted them away.  Captain Clark swung his hammer again and the alien backed off.  Using my sword for leverage, I stood at his side.

"Not bad.  You take the right, I'll take the left?" his words were a growl.  Blood and dust were everywhere I looked.

"Let's do it," and we did.  His hammer crumpled what appeared to be a knee, although xenobiologists had long argued there weren't any bones which we recognized.  Still, it appeared to work just as well as on a creature which did have bones.  My sword pried a scale off.

The thing screamed.  A trunk wrapped itself around Clark and sent him flying.  The same leg kicked out and it was my turn.  Well, I didn't fly so much as bounce off the ground.  Looking, I saw it was advancing towards me again.  Soldiers were tossed aside like gnats as it continued to pursue me.  On my feet once again, I held my sword ready.

He appeared out of no where.  The hammer sank itself into the back of the alien's neck.  A shudder went through the beast as Captain Clark turned on his weapon.  It shuddered and fell.   Then a brief flash of light.  With nothing holding him up, Captain Clark fell.  The aliens had disappeared, teleporting to where they came from.

We collected our wounded and dead.