THE FIRST WAVE PART TWO
As we ran westward through the forest, the wave of Seals were nipping at our heels. The punctuated popping and whiz of bullets flying past us was disconcerting, but Miller and I ran and weaved between the trees as best we could. I only hoped that the flare had gotten someones attention and reinforcements were on the way.
I really wished we had one of those flashbangs at this point; it would at least give us some breathing room and distance. I didn’t dare look over my shoulder, just moving as quickly forward as possible seemed the best option.
Our breathing was heavy, and I felt my limbs threaten to give out under the strain of sustained running. It was hard to tell how long it had been, each second stretching on for what felt like forever. But suddenly the trees began to thin, giving way to the open ground that had become so familiar in this place. This mean’t that very shortly we would be in the open, and I doubted that we would survive very long in that case.
I spotted a small outcropping maybe 100 feet in front of us, and at this point I came to the conclusion we would have to fight.
“Miller!” I yelled, my breath coming out in ragged gasps. “Outcropping! Get behind it, we’re going to have to fight!”
I saw Miller nod, and her pace picked up. How did she have anything left in those short legs? I pushed myself, keeping pace with her.
We both hopped behind the outcropping, shots ringing all around us. I counted my lucky stars that these ‘badasses’ were horrible at aiming, but they were likely just spraying bullets our way and didn’t have a chance to aim. This would quickly change, and I prayed that these NPC’s didn’t have any tricks we didn’t know about.
I quickly pulled out my M-4, and instead of poking my head up and aiming blind fired over the outcropping until my clip was empty, quickly reloading. Being able to use both hands again was a blessing.
Miller followed suit, unloading her clip, and we took turns alternating blind firing. We were up shits creek with no paddle.
Suddenly a small, green lump of metal clinked between us. I immediately recognized the grenade, picking it up and throwing it as hard as I could away from us.
As it launched through the air, maybe five seconds had passed, and the thing exploded - the reverberation and noise giving me an instant headache. I was thankful that it was far enough away that some hearing loss and a headache was all I’d probably sustain. I could tell Miller was similarly affected, but the adrenaline surging through our veins refused to let us stop.
“Any ideas Miller?!” I yelled, taking my turn to blow a clip. “I’m getting low on ammo, I have 100 rounds!”
“I have plenty, that lot of AK ammo we picked up will let me go for a bit! I’m not sure what else to do, its only a matter of time before they get to us! Maybe we try and take a few with us?!” Miller yelled, resuming our pattern.
Suddenly there was a loud noise from the direction we had come from;
PRESCOTT TO ALL TEAMS: Calvary has arrived! You guys sure know how to start a fight… theres got to be 20 enemies here, and why do they all look the same?
WATSON: Later!
Miller and I looked to one another, nodding. I took out the sniper rifle again, and using the outcroppings edge to hold the weapon, took a look over the lip.
I could make out the forms of multiple people dressed in our teams garb, it looked like they approached from the north, and had taken positions behind some outcroppings and trees on the edge of the forest there. The wave of seals had split off, around 10 or so engaging that side, but several lay on the ground - presumably victims of whatever weapon had been used.
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Shockingly, a group of four were closest to us was out in the open, maybe 50 feet or so from us, and closing fast. Its obvious that a handful had stayed back to provide cover, with this small team attempting to close on us.
I pulled the trigger of my rifle, opening a sizeable hole inside the skull of one of the closer members. The enemies didn’t flinch, picking up their pace and aiming their rifles in my direction.
Ducking as quickly as possible, I pulled out my M-4 again as bullets flew overhead. “They’re right on top of us!” I yelled, preparing to take the fight up close.
I counted slowly to three, and without hesitating, I stood and swung the gun like a club, aiming as low as possible. As I did, I took a grazing hit to my ear, a small chunk of HP peeling away, and my rifle connected with the ankle of one of the seals
I could feel it crack under the weight of the blow, but my grip on the gun slipped, it falling from my grasp. I really wish I had not given up the knife to the others, it would be really useful here. My victim fell over the lip of the outcropping, landing on me, his weight taking me to the ground.
My hands hurt from the effort of that attack, but I balled up my fists anyway, sending one into the face of my enemy. It felt like I hit a damn house, my knuckles going numb. I had to have broken something with that strike.
The seal grinned down at me, the humanity of his visage disappeared under something… malicious. It was almost like it was enjoying this. His eerily toothy grin grew, as he closed his hands around my neck.
Suffocating is… an odd feeling. If you’ve ever held your breath under water for a long time, its much like that, but with an added ‘oh my god, I can’t come up’ reeling through your head. First comes the panic, then the panic starts fading as your consciousness begins fading, slowly from the edges until blackness envelops you. It's quite nice in the end; there's no room for worry, and you just go to sleep.
Adams began reloading the heavy machine gun, having successfully taken out the vehicle stranding their enemies. They still took cover behind the conveyance, but knowing they couldn’t leave would allow the NPC’s to surround them. Reloading a special weapon was much more cumbersome than their rifles; it followed the same general rules of reloading, but he realized that there was a timer involved even if he had completed the ‘reloading action’ necessary by the system.
He watched the timer crawl, it looked like 15 seconds for this weapon, and as he did suddenly there was an explosion nearby. His head dipped down as rocks rained around him. Just because he was elevated, and well away from the front of the fight, he was far from safe. Obviously someone had lobbed a grenade in his direction. The timer neared zero, and he got ready to resume his barrage.
Several of the NPC’s lay dead on the ground below, and he found himself wondering why the NPC’s were just sort of content to stay away and continue shooting at their enemies. There was no sense of tactics, positioning, or even thinking it seemed like; they just kept unloading a hail of bullets toward their foes.
Slampa was working his way around the enemies position, trying to get a clear shot at them. Adams job was to keep them pinned along with the NPC’s until he could get properly positioned and, hopefully, end the fight.
Adams aimed, and the ‘chug, chug, chug’ of the machine gun rang out. This weapon was so much more powerful than his M-4 rifle, and it was exhilarating to fire. The damage was much higher than his M-4, with the exception he had to stay still to fire. Positioning would be very important when using this.
He continued firing down below, and still the NPC’s still refused to advance. What the hell man, this was a perfect opportunity! He grited his teeth, his ammo counter ticking down steadily. He only received enough rounds to fire this thing fully three times, after this volley he would join Slampa trying to get close to their enemies.
There was an explosion suddenly, and the vehicle flipped over on its side, exposing several of the enemy combatants. The shock on their face was evident, but he didn’t have time to wonder at that, sending all his rounds towards the exposed enemies.
YOU HAVE RECIEVED 200 XP! YOU HAVE RECIEVED 200 XP! You have eliminated two players from the Blue Team, which will be added to your player kill tally!
CONGRATS! You are now LEVEL 3.
A few other notifications popped up, but he waved them away, his breath catching in his throat. This was… the other team? That explained the fact they seemed to fight more cohesively than his sides NPC’s.
He suddenly felt the gorge in his throat, and vomited on the ground. He had killed another human. Albeit, they weren’t dead, but still… it didnt change that fact. They could feel this shit, man. He hoped they had gone quickly.
What was this about a kill tally? He didn’t have time to think about it, as suddenly there were two more things flying through the air in his direction. He pushed himself up, moving as quickly as he could.