Hellsky (Hunter-Killer #3)

Chapter 31 - Welcome to the War

"Covering!"

"Left, left, left."

"Watch your shooting, Medea – those are friendlies!"

"Copy, copy."

"One down."

"Copy, on your six."

The frantic chatter blazed through Ryke's earpiece as he and Fenix leapt back into the crush. Between them they dispatched a second enemy beneath a hail of blades and bullets, clearing the path to where a deadly duel played out. His eyes widened when he saw Grunn locked in combat with the enemy leader, barbed rod jammed against the long haft of his warhammer. The two hulking brutes jerked and stepped and pushed, jostling for the slightest inch.

He started to move forward, his cannon rising.

Grunn's eyes found the Hunter-Killer. The Scraegan's brow deepened to form a glare. Ryke though he saw the Beta shake his head.

Mine, the look seemed to say. It was hard to say how he knew, but he knew, that this was personal. An honest-to-Riverlords grudge between two Scraegans. Then Grunn's focus shifted back and the Scraegan lunged, his big jaws opening wide, aiming to slam down on the neck of his foe.

The enemy leader contorted his body just in time to lock jaws with Grunn. Heavy canines bit together and muscles bulged in their necks and shoulders as a fresh battle for supremacy erupted. They spun wildly for a few seconds, then broke apart, clawed feet ripping up the ground.

Grunn went low; his opponent high. The barbs of the rod gouged deep gashes in the Beta's face before sparking off his helmet plate, at the same time as Grunn's hammer smashed into the enemy Scraegan's knee.

Ryke could observe them no longer as he went piling back into the mayhem, shoulder shield slamming into the back of a Scraegan that was readying its axe to slam down on the prone form of Erin's Goliath. The warrior went stumbling; bellowed in fury.

Then a shell from Erin's shoulder cannon it it in the throat. Dark ichor exploded from the wound and at close range the force of the detonation sent it spinning before it smashed face down into the ground, wheezing the last of its life away. With Fenix beside him, he moved to block the path of another enemy as Erin scrambled back upright.

Blows clanged off his armour and more furnace cannon shots detonated intermittently in the smog-choked air. He pivoted and stepped, staying close with Fenix as they cleared an arc of space for the rest of the squad to move through.

Then he turned back.

Turned back in time to see Grunn-Rut-Rut kill the enemy leader.

Their foe was down on their knees, one leg bleeding profusely and a ruinous gash in its torso. The Beta had his mallet in raised high in both boulder-like paws, and he swung in a scything, diagonal motion down towards the head of his foe. The blow connected with a crack of such hideous volume that it made the auditory filters of the Hunter-Killer scream.

The big warrior's neck twisted hideously out of place and something snapped. Its head lolled limp, its heavy frame tottering for a few seconds before gravity took over and brought the Scraegan's corpse crashing to the badlands earth with a thud that shook his mech. Grunn raised his hammer, and let out a throat shattering below as he slammed one clawed foot on his dead foe.

Seeing their leader slain, the remaining members of the enemy pack tore themselves out of the fight, hurling themselves into the ground and twisting their powerful bodies to vanish from sight. Shells and furnace shots snapped at them as they fled, until only survivors and corpses remained above ground.