Chapter 6 - 6 (1/2)

Finally, another element won out. Pride. I was Kian Willow, the son of a prestigious General of the Army. My brother was a Special Operations Squad Leader, and I'll be damned if I didn't fight... The bravado was fake as hell, but... I had to do something, and it worked. I had gotten myself to calm down enough and I took a single deep breath.

And I stepped back into the window and aimed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The first shot went high and disappeared, but I wasn't used to ACOGs so it was acceptable. The next shot ruptured the head of the first goblin was attempting to sneak through by crawling. Blood geyser'ed as it cut through the top of its skull. The third shot only kicked up the dirt by it. I got their attention though. I ducked behind the hull as another wave of arrows clattered against the helicopter.

I waited for a second, nothing else came, and I shot back up. This time, I managed to place two shots into the second goblin as it tried to crawl back to the safety of its nearby rock. With the goblin's side to me, the first shot skimmed the top of its head, but it seemed to only be a flesh wound as it continued its frantic crawl. The second shot landed center of its small neck and the goblin stopped. The third round kicked up the grass just behind it. The goblin began to thrash wildly, the rest of its small group deserted them in a mad sprint - only to turn into glittering crimson mists as the HMG turned on them.

This time, I saw the attack before it came. A group of archers forty to fifty feet further from the group I just attacked. They were already drawing their bows and taking aim, but I dropped five rounds into their direction before I dropped down again. The whole length of the attack no more than twenty seconds.

Click-Cl-Clic-Cl-Cl-Click

There were fewer arrows this time. I jumped up to throw down more freedom, but a dull mechanical click responded to my trigger pull. I dropped down and brought the rifle up to my face.

”F.u.c.k!” I screamed. The bolt was locked back, the breech open, and no round insight. I heard the clatter of arrows again and a few even managed to get through the window this time. ”Sorry!” I muttered as I pulled the dead marine next to me onto his back. His carrier was drenched with fresh blood, and the strong whiff of it smacked me like I owed it money.

I gagged and cringed. Another wave of arrows clattered above me, their aim becoming better with each volley.

I pulled out all the magazines in his carrier, but he only had three forty round magazines full. The four were empty and one was bloodied to all hell. So I left those on the floor. I ejected the spent magazine and, purely on moonlight and luck, managed to load a fresh one in. I turned the rifle on its right side, felt the side up for the bolt-release and pressed it down. The bolt flew forward and the rifle jerked slightly. The feeling was euphoric, in an ”I'm not going to die yet” kind of way.

Another wave of arrows clattered against the hull, but they were almost too loud as the HMG fire stopped. I looked down the interior and saw them reloading it. I took this chance to pop back up and... A horde of red eyes began to close the distance between us as a sea of green began to encircle us...

« † »

”F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k!” One of the marines cried out as a goblin managed to jump on him without hitting the roof of the Osprey. He fell down, and the disappearance of his suppressive fire allowed a few more to slip into the bird. Three... Then when we failed to kill one of the intruders, that one took down another marine. More began to slip in until only three of us were left standing. Somehow, I managed to keep calm. I didn't feel... Scared. I kept the rifle on semi-auto and just pulled when I had a good shot.

All I could do was keep my rifle trained on the window. The monsters swarmed us. We could hear them on the roof, jumping. Laughing. Even over the sound of gunshots. There was just so many. We managed to save one of the two marines that went down. But he was horribly wounded. His throat had been nicked when he fought off two of the little shits. The first one that went down... His head had been stabbed into a horrific caved bowl of brains and blood.

Another goblin appeared in the gunner's window.