Helldivers: A Day in the Life

Behemoth

Bruce laid in the forest watching the subtle fluttering of blue leaves as he tried to piece together where he was and what he was doing. He assumed he was on leave somewhere. He remembered dropping on Alkeron VI... No that wasn't where he was, there is no sky on Alkeron VI. He remembered seeing the million diamonds of the cosmos while he and his squad waited for the dropship to arrive.

He felt the earth move underneath him.

He remembered being very tired but couldn't remember why. Something splattered onto his face, coming away orange as he wiped it off with his gauntlet. Gauntlet? Why was he wearing that? And why did he have his helmet on? Was he on a mission? It sounded like Candice was shouting from very far away. He smiled.

"Candice? Is that you? Why don't you come closer?"

The ground shook violently around Bruce as dirt poured over him, partly covering his body.

He saw what looked like the ripple of a bullet pass over his body.

I must be on mission, he thought. But if I am, what am I doing laying on my back in a forest? He rolled his head to the side and saw a mountain of a bug rearing up to crush him.

In that instant, the universe came back in very crisp detail. Death was staring him in the face. He pulled his legs up over his head and rolled backward to get his feet under him. He pushed hard, jumping backward as far as he could. The incredible mass of a bug came down with crushing force right where Bruce had been moments before. He aimed his shotgun at what he assumed was the bugs head and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Bruce flicked his wrist as he pushed the magazine release. The magazine flew clear and he slid a new drum mag into the breach. The bug was a good three meters high and was built like a giant armadillo. Huge interlocking plates surrounded the exterior of its body and numerous small legs carried it around with surprising speed.

Great, a fucking Behemoth.

Bruce set his feet, bringing the front sight of his shotgun in line with the bugs head. He squeezed the trigger, firing off the entire magazine in one long stream. Every one of the shells in the magazine exploded, sending pellets racing down the end barrel towards the enemy.

Each round bounced off the carapace of the bug as if he'd thrown marbles at a tank.

"Bruce! You're alive!" Candice shouted over the communicator.

"For now," He grunted while slipping another magazine into his weapon.

"Get out of there!"

"I've got to get the reFoam," Bruce shouted, diving to his left as the Behemoth charged him. The huge beast raced past where he was standing and crashed through the forest as though the trees were nothing but toothpicks.

"Forget the reFoam. I'll just call in another one." Doug said over the communicator.

"You keep doing what you're doing Doug. We'll handle this." Bruce shot back.

"It's turning around," Candice warned, "Keep its attention and I'll put a round up its ass."

What the hell else is it going to focus on? Bruce thought to himself.

He looked over to where the supply drop was. A team of three warrior drones sprouted out of the ground as a team of four flyers descended to join them. He squeezed the trigger of his shotgun, punching holes in two of the four fliers. The bottom half of their bodies dropped away leaving their top halves to die somewhere in the treetops. He heard a shot from Candice's rifle as she screamed at him to move.

He sprinted forward and slid on his back under the middle of the three warrior drones. As he did, he punched up into the soft underside of the creature. Bruce turned a fist full of its insides into outsides as he slid out from beneath it. The bug wailed in its suffering as Bruce rolled over onto his belly, rose to a kneeling position, and fired at the warrior drone to the left.

"Doug, I'm about halfway through my ammo. I'm going to need more when this is over." Bruce ordered into his helmet.

"I got ya buddy." came Doug's response.

Candice put a round through another one of the fliers, bringing the count to one warrior, one flier, and the behemoth left to deal with. Bruce yanked a stratagem from his belt and, with practiced hands, thumbed the code for a Vindicator dive bomber strike before dropping it at his feet.

Bruce saw the behemoth crash through the forest as it arced toward him. He reloaded his shotgun and fired at the remaining warrior as it turned to face him, disintegrating it from front to back. The last flier crashed lifelessly to the ground next to Bruce as the report from Candice's rifle echoed through the forest.

Bruce had watched enough of his friends die fighting behemoths to know that once a behemoth started its charge, it didn't stop until it killed its target. Nothing could slow it down. He'd seen them plow holes through concrete structures and cut shuttles in half. There was no outrunning a behemoth.

So instead of running away, he ran towards it.

Candice shouted obscenities as the red air strike alerts flashed inside his helmet. Just before the Behemoth crashed into him, Bruce jumped with all of the strength his legs could produce. He'd thought that the cardio accelerator would have helped him jump higher. And it did. He just thought it would have given him more than an extra two feet on his vertical.

The Behemoth reared up into Bruce's legs, sending him cartwheeling over its backside as an explosion of pain ripped through his thighs. He crashed to the ground like a supply drop, breath exploding out of him and vision swimming. He rolled to his belly and pushed up onto his hands and knees, struggling to breathe. The Vindicator bombers engines roared overhead and Bruce looked up just in time to watch the Behemoth disappear in a deafening explosion.

That brought a smile to his face. Bruce brought his left leg to his chest and tried to come to a kneeling position. Pain raced through his leg and across his back, but he ignored it as he looked around for the supply drop of reFoam. It sat untouched about thirty feet to his left. Bruce took a few deep breaths in an attempt to stay conscious as agony ripped through his quads. He hobbled halfway to the supply drop before he felt the ground vibrate beneath him.

You've got to be kidding me.

Bruce looked to where the Behemoth had disappeared. Through the smoke and fire, he saw the outline of the beast as it readied its charge.

It was true.

Nothing could stop a behemoth.

He brought his arms up to fire at it again, but there was nothing in his hands. His shotgun had flown from his grip when he was hit by the Behemoth. His vision swam as his fingers closed around his sidearm. He raised it in a feudal attempt at killing the beast. He wasn't going to die without trying.

Pain exploded across Bruce's chest as the Behemoth closed on him. He felt the sensation of falling before the pain took him under.