Pray For War

Battleground

When hope is gone and all you want is the truth I'm With You
You carry on when they say it's no use.

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I paired with Sarge as we charged down the corridor and fired at the creature. For two people who were about to shoot each other we worked together well. I suppose we shared a common discomfort about the infection and needed it gone more than each other. If there is one thing I learnt as a marine it was how to cope with malicious assholes. When it all came down every gruelling training session and instinct kicked in like a reflex.

We passed through multiple corridors after the creature but it seemed to have vanished. John and Duke stayed close behind me with Sam. We ran through the Nanowall while firing at the creature that was carrying Pinky. It took so much to not put down Sarge there and then but at the moment we were a team. I didn't know the Kid well but he was a good soldier and when the time came I would try my best to avenge him.

"On you, Sin" Sarge knelt and peered around the corner as I jogged past and shined my light into the corridor opposite him.

"Clear" I stated and we continued to chase after the creature. I could hear Duke and Reaper not too far behind me. I was running on adrenaline and fear at the moment, it kept my thoughts away from what I'd seen in this place and screamed at me to focus. I shined my light down the corridor but the creature had vanished once again. I looked to Sarge and he motioned for me to stop. I knelt with my weapon aimed and watched the corridor with keen eyes.

John and Duke covered the back as we waited for any sign of the creature. I started to move until Sarge pulled me back.

"Listen," He said. I could hear the dragging of feet and snarls echoing in the corridor.

"What the f-" I widened my eyes as my light caught a faction of half mutated workers stumbling toward us in the dark.

"Shit!" I cursed and fell back to the previous safe point.

We fired endlessly into the swarm but they came in waves. Ever heard of cut off the head of the snake and three more shall take its place? This was exactly like that.

"Withdraw!" Sarge yelled and ran to the last point we'd deemed as safe.

I sprinted back and continued to fire at the mutants but they just kept coming back.

Sarge and I made cover fire as Duke and Reaper retreated to the next point.

"Move!" I yelled to Sarge and we jogged back to the next point while Sam opened the nanowall.

"Magazine!" Reaper yelled as he popped out his clip and put in another mag.

"Withdraw behind the nanowall!" Sarge ordered and I moved back while firing.

"Move!" I called to Sarge, He looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I stayed in my position. I was fine with being the last one to go through the nanowall.

"Sin?"

"Go!" I hissed with fury and snapped my head back toward the approaching infected workers.

He nodded and moved back toward the Nanowall.

"Sin, move!" I heard Reaper call but I continued to fire into the mob of mutants in my kneeling position.

Everyone but me was behind the wall at the moment. My heart raced with adrenaline as I fired into the mob, everywhere I looked there was more to kill. My eyes widened with disbelief when the ones I'd put down started to twitch with life once again.

"Fuck" I cursed as my gun clicked empty.

"Sinister, move!" Duke called and I retreated back. I could feel the creatures breathing and hear their snarls while I ran.

I dove through the wall to allow the others to shoot and rolled to the side. I gasped as a hand wrapped around my leg and ripped the gravity out from underneath me. My rifle slid out of my grasp as I slammed chest first into the grate flooring.

"Shit" I hissed. I turned over and kicked at the infected worker's hand but it's grip around my ankle only tightened. Shit! It was pulling me through the nanowall. My fingers gripped tightly onto the metal grate while the worker tried to drag me through the wall.

"Valkyrie!" John exclaimed and gripped on to the back of my vest, reaching his arm around my right side as I began to slip. I grunted in pain as I became part of a human tug of war rope and reached down for my eagle while still holding onto the grate with one hand. My fingers fumbled with the latch on my holster but I managed to flick it and pull out my eagle. I shot two bullets into the half mutated worker's skull before it let go and fell motionlessly onto the floor with its skull almost shattered in two.

John pulled me away from the wall with inhuman force, colliding my shoulder into his chest with a soft grunt. He stumbled to his knee with a hand still firmly gripped onto my waist. Shit. I breathed, turning my head as his rifle raised next to my ear. I shielded my hearing with my Eagle in hand, curling into his leg. He turned his body, enough to silence his rifle in the slightest. He fired an onslaught of bullets, keeping those infected mutants at bay behind the door.

"Fuck" I groaned to myself. My rifle was caught in the crossfire. So I fired my Eagle at the creature who threw himself at the door. I could see the drool in his yellowed teeth that snapped hard at us.

"Valkyrie?" John asked with worry buried deep within his stoicism and I tilted my head upwards to meet him.

"I'm good. I'm good" I affirmed and tried to move but his arm was still constricted around my Kevlar

"Valkyrie, did it get you?" He spoke firmly, glancing over my body from head to toe.

"I'm faster than that", I stated with a smirk as he instantly removed his arm from my waist. The nanowall shuddered under the weight of the mutants that threw themselves at it.
"Good" John spoke distractedly. I groaned as he heartily patted the shoulder of my vest. It was all he said before joining back into the firefight. His boot kicked me my rifle and I reached for it, Placing my eagle back into place. I quickly joined the line we'd formed beside Reaper and started to fire.

"Magazine!" I called and threw my old mag to the ground.

Sarge hit the controls for the nanowall and they broke under the force of his fist.

The wall began to close but still twitched. It was weakening under the force of the mutants throwing themselves at it.

"Fuck!" Duke snapped as the wall destabilised and twitched uncontrollably.

"The wall's not closing," Reaper yelled but we continued to fire into the wall. Parts of the nanowall were closed but others remained open and allowed the infected to poke their limbs through it.

Sam's screams caused me to turn to her, I looked down to the source of her terror and saw Duke being dragged through the vent floor by a creature.

"Duke!" I yelled and dove for his hands. Blood poured from his mouth and the serrated edges of the vent cut into his body with every movement. I gripped onto his hands and pulled against the creature that forced him downward.

"Let me go baby girl," Duke said weakly as he was violently dragged from my grip and through the vent. I gasped as his blood splattered on my face.

"No!" I screamed and almost slipped down the vent.

"Sin!" Sam yelled and pulled me away from the vent by the back of my vest. Brother like sister I suppose.

I looked over to the wall just as a creature reached through an open section and grabbed Sarge by the ankle. I was too far away to reach him, even if I had the opportunity to save him I'm not sure I would have taken it.

"I'm not supposed to die." Sarge cried before being dragged through the wall.

"It's not going to hold" I stated and glanced to Reaper as he grunted.

"Let's move" He ordered and we retreated into the corridors. I held onto Sam's arm just in case she fell behind. I heard the nanowall shatter behind us and the sound of approaching mutants looking for human flesh to chew on.

Keep moving.