Fight

“Everybody up, now!”

Onyx’s voice rocked us all awake through our headsets. The fright in his voice sent a chill down my spine, as though I was still caught in a nightmare. Through the window of the barracks I could see a blazing red flame, growing by the second. I was awake. This was real.

I hopped out of bed, in my hazard suit but not equipped with any gear. Gunshots rang out from outside the barracks. Onyx and Cobalt, two squad members assigned to guard duty for the night, were stuck in the crossfire.

“What’s going on out there?” Garnet shouted over the headset. He, along with the rest of our undermanned squad, was inside the barracks.

“We’re getting attacked!” Cobalt shouted back, out of breath. The sound of his gun firing and intermittent explosions were picked up by his microphone. “It’s too dark out here, I can’t see where they’re coming from!”

My eyes immediately went to Dawn. There was no doubt. We were being attacked by Dwellers. Once again, her kind caused this and put us all in danger. It took all my strength to not attack her on the spot. If I were on the verge of death, I was taking her down with me. No doubt about that.

Diamond came across the communication system next. “We have to get to our gear! Onyx, can you cover us long enough to get to the storage unit?”

There was no response. We could hear the continued gunfire outside, but neither Onyx nor Cobalt ever came back over the communication system.

“Well hell,” Garnet said with a sigh. “Mercury, Silver, you two go out the south side of the barracks and provide us cover. I know you kept your pistols on you. The rest of us will make a break for the storage unit. Without that storage unit we have no chance! Let’s go!”

There was no time for questions. Garnet just gave Mercury and Silver a death sentence, and he knew it. They both knew it, too. Their bravery was commendable. They were ready to put their lives on the line, just to give us a fighting chance.

The south side door flew open and both Mercury and Silver ran out guns ablazing. They fired off shots in random directions. With the door open, the sounds of the battlefield were even clearer.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

At Garnet’s command, the rest of us poured out the barracks’ north door. We ran out one by one, in no discernable pattern. If we all rushed out at once, we were nothing but a larger target to aim for.

I sprinted across the surface as gunshots rattled out, bullets whizzing past me, and hitting the ground by my feet. My vision was blurred. I saw red.

With my visor blocked, I ran with no sight. I tripped over an object on the ground and collapsed.

On the ground in a daze, I wiped my visor clear with my hand. The bloody sight on my glove horrified me. My glove was stained red, chunks of flesh and organs sitting in my palm. My stomach tensed as though I were about to hurl.

I looked towards my feet as gunshots continued to ring out and the fire in our camp spread. Amethyst’s lifeless body, blood pouring from her chest, was crumpled over my legs. She had a sizable cavity in her chest, blown to smithereens. Her eyes rolled back, she was already dead.

Amber tugged at my arm as she ran past me, helping to lift me off the ground. Still in shock, I ran by her side as she held my hand. A mere 25 meters away, we finally reached the storage unit.

Garnet and Diamond, who both made it through the onslaught, tossed each of us a set of gear, regardless of who it belonged to. My eyes scanned the storage unit. Including the new recruits, and Dawn, who joined Squad Delta following the disaster in the abandoned Cube, there were 28 of us. In the storage unit I counted just 15. Almost half of us failed to make it a mere 25 meters. Mercury and Silver were nowhere to be spotted, so I could only assume the worst.

Alongside our standard equipped pistols, the storage unit also came with extra firepower. Five high powered energy rifles were charging along the wall, ready for use.

Garnet ripped a rifle from the wall and tossed it to me. “You were a top shot in training, right kid? Now’s your chance to prove it!”

Micah, Malachite, Crystal, and Diamond were thrown the remaining rifles. With such firepower in our hands, the burden of duty fell on us to protect what remained of our squad.

“Ray, where’s Pyrite?” Amber came through on a private communication line. Dawn wasn’t present in the storage room. Was she shot? Did she even attempt to run to the storage unit? In all the commotion, she could have made a break for it. Keeping her alive was a mistake.

“She probably didn’t make it! We can’t focus on that right now, we have to stay alive!”

The ground shook as an explosion rattled the storage unit. I aimed down the sights of the rifle, equipped with a thermal scope. Even in the dead of the night I could see the heat radiating off our assailants. The heat of the flames around us messed with my vision, but not enough to throw me off. The thermal registers of fire and body heat were easily distinguishable.

The stock of the rifle kicked back against my shoulder with every shot. Each bolt of energy left the barrel with absurd exit velocity. The recoil was so intense it was hard to control. It was a different world compared to the training rifles we used.

Shot after shot I failed to hit my mark. At this point, the thermal scope, not the rifle itself, was the most valuable asset in my hands.

“Garnet! To your northwest! Two!”

Garnet quickly peeked around the rock he was sheltered behind and fired three shots from his pistol. The two bodies in my scope dropped to the ground. Targets eliminated.

“Diamond! One to your direct south!”

She didn’t need my call outs. Equipped with a rifle of her own, Diamond was a one woman wrecking machine. Each shot was fired with precision and a steady hand. One by one, our assailants were dropping like flies. We were gravely outnumbered, but with Diamond, we stood a chance. Simply put, she was brilliant. If I could act as eyes for the rest of the group, it might be enough.

A loud crack pierced the air, ringing out above the constant shower of gunfire. Time seemed to move in slow motion. Diamond’s body fell limp to the ground.

“Diamond!”

I ran from my post, firing my rifle at any target picked up by my thermal scope. I ran straight to Diamond, who was slumped over behind a barricade.

“Is Diamond out?” Amber came through on the headset.

“Micah! It’s Ray! I’m sending you my location! Diamond needs medical attention now!”

Micah was not only one of the best combatants in our squad, he was the resident doctor. We all had first response training for emergencies, but he was the only one trained to be a medical professional.

Diamond was losing a lot of blood, and fast. A sizable chunk of the side of her stomach was taken out by shrapnel. I pressed my hands against her wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

“This isn’t working!”

To make matters worse, her hazard suit was now torn, leaving her body exposed to the toxic environment.

Someone leaped over the barricade. In the dark of the night, it was impossible to make out details, but one thing was clear. They were not wearing a hazard suit. It was an enemy.

I lifted the rifle toward them. He grabbed the barrel. As we jostled for the gun, I swung my leg out, tripping him. He pulled me to the ground with him.

We wrestled for position. A loud thud rang my eardrums as he dropped his elbow into my visor. I thrusted the butt of the gun into his cheek, knocking off of me, only for a moment. Before I could get the advantage in the scuffle, he had me pinned again. He excelled in hand-to-hand combat. I was no slouch, but I was the lesser fighter, even with my adrenaline pumping.

He punched at my visor. Again. And again. The visors were built tough, but how long would it take this beating? If my visor cracked, it was game over. My breathable air would leak out, and I’d be dead in minutes.

No amount of struggling helped. I was pinned.

Suddenly, I felt weightless. The man pounding at my visor flew off me. Someone else in a hazard suit, a squadmate, tackled him to the ground. I could barely make out the red armband tied around the right arm of the hazard suit. Amber.

She kneeled over the man with her pistol pressed against his forehead. Even in the heat of the moment, I only had one thought on my mind, now that Amber was here. Amber, like me, has never killed anyone. And unlike me, she is a pure soul, one who longs for peace. Was I about to witness her take away her own innocence by taking the life of another? Dweller or not, even if they attacked us first, he was a living being. I would kill him without hesitation, but would Amber? I didn’t want to find out.

“Amber wait-”

A bright, white flash appeared in an instant. I was blinded. Bang. And in an instant, everything went dark.