Sure enough, they exited the back and right into a sandstorm blowing out of the portal in the intersection. Malachi pulled his dust-mask up and lowered his goggles, then hefted his spear and checked his rifle. The first APC had already unloaded. Both were parked in the center of the street. Corporal Booth and his squad were holding the right side of the phalanx that was assembling around him. Malachi headed to the left.
The sand was coming fast, though it was magic sand so when it landed it faded after a few seconds in faint sparks. Still, he could feel the grit of it against his skin, and in the darkening evening, it shrouded the intersection. Only the glimmer of the street lamps through the storm oriented them. Through the sand, Malachi could just make out the eerie yellow glow of the portal.
Malachi’s earpiece crackled to life. “All infantry, deploy to block this street. We’ve got lizardfolk necromancers again. With skeletons, so hold rifle fire. No mounts spotted yet, but be ready for rapid formation adjustment. The tank is maneuvering to block the other street. No hostages in this area.” The two APCs were parked in the middle of the street
Over the roar of the hot wind coming from the portal, Malachi heard barking and yipping noises, pitched like a husky had gotten ahold of a helium balloon. There was also a rattling sound.
Emerging from the sandstorm, he saw a swarm line of skeletons coming down the street. None of them were the skeletons of the humanoid lizards, but they were all some type of reptile. They ranged in size from about as big as a corgi to as big as a Komodo dragon. Dark energy crackled along the bones.
The machine guns on the top of the APCs roared to life. Bullets weren’t particularly effective against the undead, but the only real way to kill them besides killing the necromancer was to pulverize the bones, and 50 cal bullets could do that. Brass tinkled down over the asphalt as the reptile skeletons charged.
The shield infantry stuck down thick tower shields into the ground in a line across the street on both sides of the APCs and braced, while the spears took their place next to their shield-partner. The tactic had branched from historical phalanxes because the shields often needed to ward away beasts a hell of a lot stronger than anything ancient armies had needed to face. Shield walls still got ripped to pieces all the time, but less often now. His partner was Juan, who was as solidly built as his shield. Malachi’s palms were sweating as a leading skeleton bore down on him. The teeth on it were all at least an inch long and there were too damn many of them. With both hands he jabbed the spear into the skeleton. The tip slid off the bone, but the broad wings of the spear caught on the rest of the skeleton, wedging it in place.
“Hold!” someone cried.
Yeah no shit, Malachi thought.
There was the clatter of bone on steel as the skeletons tried to swarm past them, but the line held. The undead were nasty and resilient, but not particularly strong. The phalanx would hold them in place while other combat roles aimed to take out the casters animating them.
The reptile skeleton’s jaw snapped at him, but the gap between the shields was too small for it to fit. A snake skeleton managed to squeeze between a gap in the shields, but Malachi kicked it in the face with his steel-toed boot and shattered its fangs. Then he stomped down on it, breaking several vertebrae. He wrestled with his spear to keep the reptile at bay. The little skeleton army was piling up against the wall, too close for Nicole or the other gunner to hit them.
Then there was an ear-shattering BOOM! followed by an equally loud explosion.
The tank had gotten into position.
The dark energies surrounding several of the skeletons dissipated, the bones clattering to the ground
“Yeah, get some!” William shouted.
Through the continuing sandstorm, it was impossible to make out what was going on near the portal, but there was another detonation.
Malachi’s earpiece crackled again. “Package was intercepted. Several lizard mages. Watch your fire, squads 24 and 25 are pulling up to your north in one minute. Cover them.”
“Alpha squad, grenades!” Corporal Booth called from the APC. Everyone who was designated as ‘alpha’ pulled pins and lobbed their grenades towards the portal. Malachi tucked his chin down so that if shrapnel made it past the shields it would hit him in the helmet, not the face.
More earsplitting explosions rocked them as the grenades detonated. He could feel the pressure waves of them. Several more skeletons de-animated, but the lizard stuck on Malachi’s spear was still thrashing and trying to break in. He pulled back and rammed his spear forward again, using the wings more as a bludgeon to crack its skull apart. The reptile bones snapped at him, then tried to bite down on the spear. Malachi was stronger. He yanked it back and this time the blade didn’t slip—it cracked through the lizard’s skull. Dark energies sparked off it, but it still wasn’t dead. Redead. De-animated.
More skeletons were pushing forward.
“Teams 24 and 25 are in position,” the comms guy said over radio. Malachi had forgotten his name too. Then, “We have incoming raiders from behind. Humanoid lizards. Epsilon squad, about face. Rifles out.”
“That’s me!” Malachi called to Juan. “Withdrawing in three… two… now!” He yanked his spear back. That would put more pressure on the shield bearers holding the line, but it wasn’t like the spears were doing much. That must be their slaver team coming from behind, he thought. Usually, one group of invaders held the portal while other groups went out to capture people or whatever they deemed valuable. He felt a surge of anger wash through him as he thought about the lizardfolk abducting people. He pushed it down for now. He needed to focus. He needed to remain calm.
Juan grunted as he leaned into his shield, which was now getting hammered a lot harder. “Get ‘em,” he called as Malachi turned, strapping his spear to his back and shouldering his rifle. He started moving back with the rest of the squad.
“Sigma squad, you have—ah shit, sorry. Wrong channel,” crackled Mason’s voice. “Sorry, sorry, I’m trying to—there it is.” His voice cut out. Malachi groaned.
“Anyone have eyes on target?” Malachi shouted out, sounding a lot calmer than he felt.
“Epsilon, sorry about that,” came the much calmer voice of the other comms guy. “Lizards approaching you from the east. At least one caster. Find cover.”
“No eyes,” one of the other infantry called. “I can’t see shit!”
Someone asked, “Any hostages?” over their channel.
“Possibly. Squad 40 is moving towards that location. None spotted with this close group.”
The sandstorm’s area was limited, and while it was easier to see when it wasn’t blowing in their faces, it was still a problem, and it was still getting dark. Malachi wished he had a pair of nightvision goggles, but those were in short supply.
He ran into a nearby nook of a building entrance. The glass windows had all been smashed to shit, and the place had been ransacked.
William ran up to join him. He peered out around the corner with him, then ducked back. “Can’t see ‘em,” he said.
“Epsilon be advised the drone has lost visual on the lizard group moving in from the east. They were close to your—hold,” his earpiece said.
Malachi squinted, peering out into the gloom. Then he saw something strange. The sand was vanishing in mid-air, just a dozen meters down the street.
“Change of information. East lizard group is retreating. They might try to circle around—”
And the place where the sand was vanishing was moving toward them—
“They’re invisible!” he shouted, then opened fire. He felt the stock bumping up against his shoulder as the CRACKCRACKCRACK! of gunfire deafened him to whatever his earpiece was saying.
There was a screech as blood erupted in the air. One lizard dropped, fading into existence as whatever magic had hidden it dissipated. The gray sparks of magic shields shone out in the sandstorm as his bullets were deflected by more veiled lizards.
“Contact, five meters moving toward us!” he called.
Suddenly, everything happened at once. Malachi let out another burst of fire from his rifle, then dropped it so it swung on its strap and reached for his spear. At the same time comms cracked on and shouted something in his ear about illusions. Meanwhile, there was more gunfire to his right, and one of his squadmates was screaming, blood gushing from a grotesque slash wound. Whatever had hit him had gone right through his steel breastplate.
A skeletal lizard the size of a Labrador scurried out of the gloom right at Malachi. He swore and missed his stab, then stumbled back, tripping over debris. He fell back with a clatter. The lizard bit down, but luckily, it aimed for his greaves and got a mouthful of steel. Malachi could still feel the pressure of the bite. “Shit!” he said, trying to scramble back and get back on his feet, but the lizard started rolling, which twisted him off balance. He heard the screeeee! of serrated bone on steel.
William was suddenly over him, shouting something as he stabbed down at the skeletal reptile. When his spear was firmly in its back, he then wound up and punted the thing with his boot in the head, splintering its jaw, which freed Malachi from the grip of its bite.
There was another scream and more gunfire. Malachi’s heart was pounding. He looked around wildly, panic starting to rise. He was good at staying calm, but only if he was in control of the situation—and this didn’t feel like he was in control.
Suddenly, he caught the distortion of sand hitting nothing again, only it was right in front of them. With a shout, he grabbed his spear and thrust it at the air in front of him. There was an explosion of gray sparks and the shimmer of a shield. William swore and leapt back. There was the screech of steel being rent as something tore a piece of his breastplate away like it was an orange peel.
While Malachi scrambled backward and to his feet, William held out his spear. Sparks flew as the lizardfolk blade cut it in half. It was solid fucking steel, and it had just been sliced through like it was a paper straw. Malachi thrust out again towards the distortion, and this time, the shield cracked. “Shoot it! Shoot it now!” he cried.
William’s gun went off right in his ear, and his ears rang. The gray shield shattered, and this time, the bullets found flesh. The invisible lizard in front of them sprayed blood as it faded into view, claw-hands twitching. To his right, another soldier got slashed by an invisible enemy and blood went flying. Panicked gunfire sprayed around the street, shattering several windows above them.
There was another explosion behind them, and more gunfire echoing from another street. Malachi could no longer tell what was going on, and he didn’t like it. Whenever there’d been a raid in his games, he’d studied the mechanics, he tested all the abilities—he could account for all the factors. There were no surprises.
This was too different. He felt nausea building up.
Then it was over, as fast as it had started. The gunfire had stopped, and two of epsilon squad were putting pressure on a fallen soldier’s wound.
“Medic!” one of them called.
“You okay, man?” William asked.
Malachi looked around. Was that another hollow space in the sandstorm? “Are there any more of the invisible ones?” he asked, holding his spear out, eyes rapidly darting back and forth. Pull yourself together, he thought, but it was a lot easier to think than to do. Fear had him clutching his spear too hard.
The radio crackled back to life. “Medics en route, epsilon. Infrared is having trouble because of the storm, but we think the cloaked lizards are dead. That was their recon. The main lizard raid is heading your way with about two dozen lizards and at least a dozen hostages. Team 40 is moving to assist, but they’ve been delayed. All other squads are pinned in place by those necromancers. We’ve alerted HQ-43 but they’re still an hour out.”
Shit.
The two medics from the APCs had come out and were treating one of the men who’d been slashed. They were ignoring the other. Dead, Malachi thought, and felt the nausea rising again.
“Alright epsilon, gather up. We need to pin those raiders in place,” said a voice from behind them. Nicole, the machine gunner, had left the top hatch of the APC. She apparently had been in HQ-22 for over a year. Malachi was relieved that someone who knew their shit was now in charge. Sergeant Nguyen had probably told her. That also probably meant at least one machine gun was out of ammo.
Nicole had a sniper rifle. They moved to the end of the block. “You, go there. You, there. Jason, right? Get in that building and set up overwatch on the second floor. Newbie, join him. Other newbie, there. Alright, birds, tell HQ-40 epsilon’s got the anvil set.”
This far away from the portal, only the faintest wisps of sand were making it. Gunfire and the clash of steel echoed from behind them, but in front of them, it was eerily quiet. All the civilians in the area would have gotten a text alert to run or hide. Hopefully, they were all safe. But not the hostages. Malachi felt that rage building up in him again. He thought of Malia. You motherfuckers aren’t going to take any more slaves. Not. One. He clenched his jaw. He was posted up next to a parked car, looking down the rifle sight.
“Drone has eyes on the incoming. Three blocks away. Lots of hostages, watch your damn fire,” came the radio.
The minutes ticked by. Then there was a CRACK! as Nicole’s sniper rifle fired its first shot.
There was a screech from down the street. It was dark now, and the street lights in that area had been busted. Malachi could just make out the lizards darting around two blocks.
CRACK! Malachi saw a lizard’s head explode. He could hear the hostages’ panicked screams. He looked at Nicole. She’d looked up from her rifle, but immediately ducked back down to look through her scope. “Damn, they’re using the hostages as cover.”
Malachi swallowed. A feeling of dread welled up in him. He had no problem shooting at the lizards. But if it came to either shooting the hostages or letting the lizards through…
Suddenly, the radio blared to life again. “Package delivered! Package delivered!” came a new voice on comms. Sergeant Nguyen, Malachi thought. “The portal is closed. Repeat, the portal is closed! All units, move to surround those lizards. Do not fire. We can probably force a negotiation.”
Malachi exhaled. Demolitions had done it. They’d gotten an explosive drone through the portal and detonated it, killing whatever caster was keeping the portal open. They weren’t outnumbered anymore. And with the portal closed, the lizards would probably surrender. No one could understand the lizard language yet, but not all communication involved language.
Two tanks pulled up to their sides, and then, there was Squad 40, deploying behind the lizards. Just like that, they were surrounded.
The lizards looked around, yipping and shouting. Yeah you slaver pieces of shit, Malachi thought, hand still trembling. One of the lizards cast something, hands glowing with power. The air glowed with strange magical circles and symbols. Then, it threw down its bone-covered staff in disgust. The rest of the lizards followed.
The hostages broke free, running towards the soldiers.
Malachi breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his rifle.
It was over.
They’d won.
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