It stumbled, and finally, its front right leg gave way in a spray of brown-red fluid, and sickeningly it caught itself on the ragged stump near the shoulder and continued to bleat loudly. The tenor of the scream shifted, and it grew hoarse and throaty, and again Shepard felt the sound rock his core.
The Reapers had always been expected to be a terrible foe. And now they had finally met an enemy that could contend with them; they were evolving new horrors, worse than what Shepard thought he knew of their time in the Prothean cycle.
He pulled the trigger on his rifle again, and out of sheer luck, his bullet, out of dozens directed at the FT, caught just the right angle of intercept on the creatures' flailing head. The bullet punched a ragged hole through its' eye, the only unarmoured part of the head, with the rest crusted in scale-like armour.
The creature fell silent and dropped face-first into the ground, but no reprieve followed. Two more FT's emerged from the dusty cloud that obscured their vision beyond thirty metres.
One of them glowed blue and promptly sailed toward the Praetorian position.
Shepard glanced right and saw Samara swathed in biotic energy. Jack glowed a moment later, and a twisted rusty girder lifted off the ground from just ahead of their defensive line and zipped forward. The incoming FT and the girder met with a loud renting squelch and a hollow cry, and the rusted beam tore through its chest and emerged out its side in the moments of being airborne before it impacted the ground.
Jack stumbled and caught her weight on her knees from the effort of lifting and hurling the girder, and Samara stepped in front of her while trying to push her down, simultaneously firing an SMG single-handed in the direction of the other FT.
Shepard, Garrus and Thane fired too, but before the combined fire could take this one down as well, the dust stirred and then broke.
"DASHERS!"
Rounds started whizzing overhead and ricocheted off surfaces around them. A dozen metres away behind another torn up vehicle, a Ranger who could have been Human, Asari, or Batarian grunted and pitched forward, clutching at their neck.
"CANNIBALS!"
Another cry sounded in almost the same instant.
Shepard tapped his omni-tool while firing downrange and yelled while taking the knees out from under the group of ten or more Cannibals that were charging. He ignored the Dashers for someone less distracted than himself.
"This is Shepard on the eastern line. We have enemies pushing in numbers! We NEED-"
SHHZZZZZZ-SHHZZZZZZZ-SHHZZZZZZ
A red energy beam carved past Shepard from overhead, and two Oculus drones zipped above. He quickly looked down his N7 armour in surprise to find himself in one piece at the close call. The heat of the weapon had washed over him with such intensity that he could have sworn- His eyes widened, and he looked sharply to his right.
"Sh-Shep-aaard."
"THANE!"
The Drell was ruined. Shepard shook his head and dropped behind their now smoking pile of cover to assist Garrus in treating the grievously injured Drell. The Turian looked like he hadn't been quite as lucky as Shepard, but he wasn't quite as unlucky as Thane.
Garrus's left side smoked as he jammed painkillers into a thin seal on the Drells neck with his right hand.
Shepard scanned Thane. There was nothing he could do. He didn't know what to do. Despite the rasping breaths that showed lifes' desperate attempt to remain, Thane, his friend, was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Five:: Blood For Dirt ::
Start from the beginning
