Helldivers: A Day in the Life

Mines

Mines.

Fucking mines.

How hard is it to hit the drop button over the objective? Bruce wasn't a pilot, but it didn't seem that hard. He'd joined the military with hopes of going to aviation school, but all aviators needed to serve for at least two years before they were allowed to apply to the school. That meant he had at least another eighteen months of these drops before he even had the option to make it to the school.

If he made it that far.

For the time being, he needed to focus on making it to the location of the misplaced mines.

One objective. One drop at a time.

That didn't prove to be too much of an issue. The squad covered the two miles in just over twenty minutes without seeing any bugs.

Unlike the clearing made by the hurricane bomb at the SAM site, the mines were dropped in the middle of the forest. The undergrowth was minimal and a few of the trees inside the zone were fallen over. Gore splattered craters littered the area where unfortunate bugs wandered too close to a mine.

"Doug, call in the mine detector. Bruce, you cover him. I'll be up top like usual." Candice ordered over the comms. Bruce watched Doug stare at her backside as she began climbing a tree to her perch.

"Sounds good boss," Bruce responded, then cut the comm and punched Doug in the arm. "Don't let her catch you doing that. You saw what happened when we got into the Hellbay."

"Yeah but, I can't help it. You know?" Doug retorted, yanking a stratagem from his belt. He tossed the device to the ground and the squadmates scattered to make room for the drop. Unlike the Hellpods that Helldivers used to get planetside, there wasn't anything controlling a supply drop on the way down. It wasn't uncommon for supply drops to land on top of Helldivers that weren't paying attention.

Half a minute later, the supply drop slammed down on top of the stratagem and the top spiraled off to reveal the minesweeper. Doug ran up to the supply drop and hesitated.

"What's up?" Bruce asked.

"I've never used one of these before," Doug responded, his voice uneasy.

"Oh, dude it's easy," Bruce reassured him. "Pick it up and attach it to your arm." Doug did as he was told, but fumbled to attach it to his left arm. "No your right arm. Like this." Bruce pulled it from Doug's grip then snapped it into the grooves on the inside of his own right gauntlet, then grabbed the pistol grip handle. "Then from here, you pull the trigger and swipe side to side like this," Bruce began walking in a random pattern until the machine let out a sharp beep. "When you hear that sound, keep moving in that direction. You'll know you've found a mine when you hear..." Bruce's voice trailed off for a few moments until the minesweeper made a solid tone. "This. When you hear it, hit this button on top with your thumb. That will pull the mine to the surface." The device hummed for a few moments before the earth split to reveal a disk shaped mine the size of a dinner plate. "The rest is up to you," Bruce said as he unclipped the device and handed it to Doug as he knelt to defuse the mine. "I'll get this one, you get the rest of them."

When he was finished, Bruce stood and put his hand on Doug's shoulder, "Don't think too hard man. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine." Candice fired her rifle twice in quick succession.

"You two sure look cute down there. Should I look the other way for a bit?" She asked.

"We're fine. There are fifty square meters to cover down here boss. You do your job, we'll do ours." Bruce shot back at her. He heard giggling from her side of the radio and the deafening sound of her rifle barking again.

"Well if you two aren't done soon we might have issues. Get after it!"

"Where?"

"North west. Roughly 330 degrees from your position."

"Roger," Bruce responded. He looked at Doug and gave him a thumbs up. When Doug returned the gesture, Bruce dug out a stratagem and plugged in the code for a Vindicator airstrike but didn't throw it. Stratagems wouldn't activate their signal until they left a Helldivers grip. Outside of the sweep zone, Bruce found a nice hollow in the base of a tree to overwatch Doug. He put his left foot up on one of the roots while leaning back against the tree. This planet wasn't so bad. The temperature was nice and it was always nice to land on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. A gentle breeze pushed its way through the leaves above as a sharp crack cut through the forest.

Bruce smiled as he opened a private channel with Candice. "Doug hasn't used the minesweeper before. He was having some issues so I gave him the quick rundown."

Candice sighed, "Why the fuck did they activate him for this drop if he hadn't used one before?"

"Everyone has to learn eventually I guess. Also, either one of us could have made the sweep." Bruce reasoned.

"I guess. Hopefully, he doesn't blow himself up. I didn't bring any reFoam."

"Shit, I didn't either. Did Doug?"

"Let me check."

Bruce felt the earth move under his feet.

"He did," Candice switched from the private link to the squad channel, "Doug can you call down some reFoam?"

"Sure," Doug responded, his voice laced with stress. "Give me a minute."
"Now please," Candice said sternly.

Bruce felt the ground move beneath him again. "You feel that boss?"
"No. Go get that reFoam in case he blows himself up." She responded on the private link. Bruce hit the cancel button on the Vindicator stratagem and slipped it back onto his belt. He left his position and ran over to Doug as he absently tossed the reFoam stratagem off to the side.

Right in the middle of the area where the mines were located.

"Dude!" Bruce shouted. "Not there." Bruce ran up to the stratagem, grabbed it, then sidearmed it out of the area before realizing that he'd ran blindly into a minefield. Fortunately, he was able to retrace his steps and make it to safety. Unfortunately, the mixture of adrenaline, and the cardio accelerator, had caused his muscles to send the stratagem arcing over the trees to the south a few hundred meters.

Bruce sighed. The sooner he could get back up into space and into his rack the better.

Inside the objective area, Bruce saw two defused mines, and from what he could tell, it looked like Doug had the basics of minesweeping down. He was sure Doug could handle himself for the time it took him to make to the supply drop and back.

"Keep your eyes on your tacmap Doug. I'm gonna go get the reFoam." Bruce said. Doug replied with a thumbs up. Bruce followed the shooting star to where the supply drop was located.

As he approached the supply drop, Bruce saw legs sticking out of the ground surrounding the opening of the drop. The severed head of a warrior bug wandered in pained circles in the last moments of its life. It would have been funny if there wasn't a group of scout drones raising their front legs into the air, beginning their screech.

Before Bruce knew he was moving, he had closed the distance on the bugs and kicked one of them so hard, he sent it flying into a tree where it made a sickening squishing sound, sticking to the tree. He blasted the next one with his shotgun, painting the ground in its disgusting orange/brown insides. He pivoted towards the last one, almost getting a round off in time before it let out its screech.

The sound pierced his ears and rattled his brain. Every muscle in his body tensed. His skin felt like it was lit on fire. The shotgun kicked in his hands but he didn't feel it. Agony ripped through him and all he knew was pain. He forgot about the mission. Forgot about the reFoam. It felt like the sound went on for weeks.

When it was finally over, Bruce opened his eyes and realized he was on his back. He looked up at the deep green of the sky and heard the most peaceful quiet he'd ever experienced. He laid there in a daze.