Vendetta

"Jammer, get on the radio double-time and get us some support: the Hig flank is about to fold!"

The lieutenant was a good man, able and willing to enter the meat grinder with us unlike the rest of the brass. A good shot too; whenever a skull burst I could chalk it up to the L.T. The man saved me during the first wave after my Intruder was downed. We held off a platoon of Helghast and reinforcements before Punisher broke through. As he carried me to the APC I heard bullets riddle his legs and back. Nothing but adrenaline kept theman from falling apart. Against all odds we both managed to make it through. At that point I was ready to die for the L.T.

But he didn't die for me. The Hig sniper hit him dead on. Bits of skull and globs of his brain drenched the rest of us. One of his ears flopped next to my boot like a pancake, the earring on it still shimmering. Something snapped and I grabbed my rifle. Against the sergeant's orders I rained bullets on the Helghast. Helmet after helmet popped off. My blood raced as I watched theirs run, dripping over the edges of the concrete blocks and steel beams serving as piss-poor cover. It took a strong hand yanking me behind cover to put the pieces of shattered sanity back together. I looked into the haggard face of the sergeant, a helmeted man with a thin moustache and soul patch. He was a good soldier but he was no Lieutenant Wong.

"Hold fire, corporal," he growled. "Killing Helghast is part of our objective but it's not gonna bring Lieutenant Wong back." He flinched as the bullets whistled into the concrete block behind me. A few ricocheted off the mangled steel beams of the warehouse overhead. From a hole in the ceiling a pair of Intruders cut through swathes of unseen Helghast with their front loaded miniguns. Some of the bullets clambered into the warehouse around us.

"Looks like we've got back up. Alright boys; get ready to flush 'em out with frags. I need three volunteer grenadiers."

I was there, shouting back for two others. Two large explosions rattled the warehouse as the cruisers overhead launched an orbital strike. The Helghast in the warehouse continued to pour the fire on as my two teammates, still rattled by the salvo, staggered towards me.

I checked my ammo. Two mags left for the M82; more than enough to put down a few goggle-eyed freaks.

Four clips for the old semi-automatic M4. It served the regulars well during the Invasion of Vekta and it would serve me well now.

Five grenades. I was ready. My teammates barely had enough time to catch their breath before I gave the rallying cry.

"Hammer 'em!"

I pulled the pin out of the first grenade and launched the Door Knocker at the Helghast lines. My comrades did the same. We ducked as the blast sent metallic shards at over a hundred miles an hour into the Helghast. Their dying screams were music to my ears.

"Again!"

We launched another volley, flushing more out of cover and tearing them to shreds. My teammates watched as I leapt over cover, rifle cocked and eye down the sight. My surroundings blurred and disappeared behind the flash of the muzzle as I took out straggling Helghast with pot shots. Easy kills or not I wanted them dead, burning in Hell in the L.T.'s place.

Fire from my left threw me behind one of the concrete pillars. Two Helghast took positions in the rafters above, one with a StA3. The LMG gunner found the other grenadiers and the remains of my platoon. He tore up concrete and men alike. Several guys shouted for a medic as I peered down the sight. I aimed at the Hig's upper chest and fired a three round burst. The bullets hit just above his clavicle, into the breathing mask, and dead center at the top of his forehead. He dropped like a sack of bricks. His gun fired a few more rounds when it hit the concrete. The LMG's support gunner turned his rifle on me but a few shots from the platoon put him down. More Helghast raced across the rafters, throwing curses and grenades at us. One of my grenadiers got a hold of an M327. There was no use in letting it go to waste.

"Hey! Gimme that Thumper!"

Against my wishes, he held on tight to the weapon. "No way! You'll get shot to shit before you get a chance to hit anything." He ducked as bullets skimmed over his cover. "You just stick to suppressing and I'll knock on the Hig's door!" His eyes went wide as I pointed the rifle at him.

"Either you give me that thing or the Higs get an easy kill!"

"You wouldn't-"

The grenade detonated the steel crate, throwing him back. The weapon rolled out into the open.

"Shit!"

He retrieved his rifle, charred and speckled with metal frags as it was, and threw himself over and behind a fallen concrete pillar as the Helghast shot up his last position. I heard the unmistakable firehouse sound of the "Stova" pissing bad news on the rest of my men. We were here too long; if I gave the Helghast anymore time then there was no way we'd be able to move. I looked from the rafters to the Thumper and back again. I waited until the LMG gunner reloaded. Emptying my mind of everything but the basics, I threw myself out of cover. Bullets sliced the air above and around me, slamming into the cement beneath and the rafters above. My grip on the Thumper tightened as an enemy grenade landed at my feet. Not bothering to throw it back, I took cover behind the same concrete pillar as my ally. I heard the ping of the shards as they punched into the railing and rafters of the warehouse. Too close.

"You're a crazy bitch! You know that, don't you?" He zipped his lip the second he caught my eye.

"Watch it or the next grenade that comes out of this thing will hit you where the sun don't shine, you got me?" I checked the chambers of the canister. Six grenades sat snug inside, waiting to be fired.

"I read you," my buddy gulped. "Now blast those Higs back to wherever the hell Higs come from."

He fired his weapon, giving me cover as I peeked over the edge and pulled the trigger. The recoil was a bit more brutal than a shotgun's. The grenade landed in the rafters where the Helghast started to run. The blast knocked a few on their faces. I didn't give them time to recover; as my comrade picked two off my second grenade tore the limbs from the third and sent the fourth and fifth off the catwalk. One of the bodies landed on a stack of cardboard boxes, spilling the stack of plastic fuel drums inside. The barrels thumped as I rushed out from cover, my teammate close behind. The Helghast took new positions on the factory floor and continued their dominance of my platoon.

Our boots clanged on the steel steps of the staircase as we cleared what was once the foreman's office. The PA system had a few wires torn lose. An idea started brewing.

"Sergeant Picard, Jammer here. I've got a way to slow down those Higs. Tell everyone to cover their ears."

"We've got no time for another one of your tricks, Jammer," barked the sergeant. "Lieutenant Wong may have thought you were some sort of prodigy, but I won't-"

"Just fucking do it, sergeant!"

I clicked off the headset and went to work on the radio wires. A stream of bullets biting into the ceiling of the foreman's office almost made me lose focus. The ripping zipper sound of a minigun from one of the Intruders rained bullet jackets down on the Helghast, catching the attention of the LMG gunner and a few others. They aimed their weapons skyward.

"Man, they're ripping into that Intruder," voiced my fire buddy. I tossed him the Thumper and told him to keep them at bay. The hollow drum sound of the launcher filled my ears as it spat its last few grenades at the enemy. As the clamor of battle continued, I tied copper wires to an old 9-volt I carried around with me. Ignoring the tiny bites of electricity on my fingers, I flipped the switch on the radio. The sound of the thumper came through over the loudspeakers. Perfect. I snatched the microphone, a relic of the past, and ordered my teammate to cover his ears.

"What? Not another one of your harebrained schemes. Can you at least listen to a little feedback once in a while?!"

"Not a problem."

I dropped the microphone in front of the speaker. The ear-splitting tone resounded throughout the factory, sending friend and foe to their knees. Working against the pain, I aimed my rifle at the reeling Helghast and fired. I was a beast and there was no stopping me from ripping the Higs a new one. Several of them dropped before the strong among them fired back. I kicked the microphone away from the speaker, giving one last jarring bit of feedback before silence overcame the warehouse. By then my antics had caught the attention of the others in my platoon and they tore into the still-dazed Helghast. Black uniforms dropped as grey ones pushed out of cover to secure the warehouse. It would have been easier with Wong, but I know he'd be proud of me regardless.

The surviving grenadier clutched his head. "Christ alive, next time warn me when you're about to pull something like that."

I gave the boy a smug look as I helped him up. "You don't need to worry about your ears; I get the feeling you don't use them anyway." He snorted in disgust as we left the foreman's office. I flashed the sergeant a confident smile and placed my hands on my hips in anticipation of the accolades he'd rain down on me.

"Alright, you did okay corporal. Just don't let me catch you pulling the same crap under my command again."

"Gotcha, sergeant." I winked at him, feeling the rumbling under my feet. Those of my unit who weren't on their butts held on to the walls as the warehouse quaked. Thrown off my feet, the helmet broke my fall and cracked in the process.

"Jammer, you okay?" The sergeant ran over but another tremor ended up throwing him on top of me. Before I could kick him off, I was blinded by the electricity crackling across the sky. I checked to make sure my ears weren't bleeding. The sound of a thousand explosions tapered off as the startled shouts of ISA and Helghast flooded into the warehouse from the gaping hole in the ceiling.

The sergeant crawled to his feet without bothering to help me up. He clicked his headset.

"This is Saber Squad. Sir, what the hell just happened? It sounded like... what? The entire grid is down? So the New Sun managed to… I see. Well we'll make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain. Yes sir; warehouse secure. Punisher Convoy is clear to proceed and cover the east exit out of Pyrrhus. Yes sir, can do." He called the others around him. "Listen up people; the Petrusite Grid's down which means the city's defenses are offline for the moment. The major wants us to cover Punisher's advance toward the Maelstra Barrens in anticipation of a Helghast counterattack. We're then to assist in staving off that attack."

"What about the warehouse, sir?" And the lieutenant's body; we couldn't just leave the man there.

"Change of plans, corporal. We cannot let those Higs break through and reinforce the troops already in the city." His voice became somber. "And I don't want to let Colonel Templar's sacrifice go to waste."

We lowered our eyes. Templar was the only officer every boot on the ground truly respected. We all heard the stories about Vekta and even though none of us ever met him in person we were ready to risk everything for him.

The hum of the armored vehicles outside the warehouse cut short our moment of silence.

"Ride's here. Corporal Robles," the sarge ordered, using my name for a change. "I want you, Kicenzki, and Brown to man the guns on those HAMR's. The rest of you are on me."

I didn't want to run. I didn't want to surrender Vincent's body to the Helghast.

The sergeant pulled me aside. "We'll be back for him, corporal. Now, you have your orders and the clock's ticking. Move it out." If there was one thing I learned about the sergeant it was this: never invite him to a funeral.

We'll be back for him… it was an empty promise, but I did what the L.T. would've wanted me to do and stayed with my men. I lingered by his body a bit longer, remembering the memento he brought to Helghan. I even knew the exact pocket from memory; left one on his chest. I retrieved the flattened metal cylinder and ran my fingers against the iciness of the lid. He told me once he was a wide receiver for St. Junipero Serra University back on Vekta and kept a small container of "eye black" paint from his days on the gridiron. Cuts back on glare to help you see what you need to see, he once told me. I pried the lid off the can and dipped my fingers into the mix. I drew a line under each eye and, picking up a shard of glass on the floor, examined the war paint. I guess it looked alright; would have looked better on him.I placed the container of paint and his tags in a safe place.

"Now I know you'll be with me wherever I go, lieutenant. Goodbye…Vincent." I saluted him for the last time and made for the exit.

I joined the unit outside and was greeted with the smell of diesel and rubber. Burnt steel also found its way into my nostrils as I strolled over to one of the HAMR's. The vehicle was a mix between the bulky Archer Tank and the nimble but fragile Buggy.

"You sure are one heck of an ugly baby," I whispered while taking the gunner's seat.

"You'll see just how pretty she really is, little lady," the driver chattered through my headset. "I dare say she's even prettier'en you." I rolled my eyes and pulled the hood over my head. After having a helmet on for so long, I felt a bit naked. The engines roared to life as I checked the screen in front of me. The ammo count was so high it might as well have been unlimited. The guns were in pretty good shape and I held back the urge to tinker with the weapons system. It was something the lieutenant would indulge in me. The memories made me look with yearning back to the warehouse. I'd like to say he loved me, or more realistically he greatly appreciated my talents. Whatever the reason, his memory would be hard to shake. The HAMR tried its best as it jerked forward and sped alongside the buggies and tanks. I scanned the countless balconies and punctured walls of the stories-high structures lining the street the Helghast called Bilgarsk Boulevard. Nothing crawled in this street except ISA; the convoy did an excellent job in securing a foothold in this part of the city.

A few brave Marines whistled at me. I suppressed the urge to turn the guns on them.

"Hey, you want me to run 'em over for you," the driver's voice crackled through the headset.

"When we're done with the Helghast, be my guest," I radioed back. I could care less; they were just guys being guys. It was the Helghast, who weren't even human, whom I would rather grind into a fine red powder beneath the tires of the fifteen-ton beast carrying me through the streets of their damned city. I thought one last time about Wong and how his young wife would take the news and of his little girl growing up without a father to protect her from guys like the Marines and monsters like the Helghast. I knew what it felt like to lose loved ones to the Helghast… I could still see their faces, pale and lifeless like their killers. They were the extra baggage I carried to Helghan and now the lieutenant added to the weight.

I wanted to unload the pent up misery and anguish on those responsible for it, even if I had to personally twist the neck of every living soul on this planet. It took the brutality of the Helghast and the journey to this cursed planet to awaken cravings within me I never believed were there: vengeance, hatred, fury and frenzy. The disease of the Helghast was contagious.

Before the day was done, one of us was gonna be left bleeding out on the ground.

What I didn't expect was that the other would be burning.