Back Water Station “Agatstan”: Inside Confederate Borders
The hot desert sun beat down upon the land like a cannon. The only means of shade was a high tree stationed to the north east of the camp, on a cliff edge. Not surprisingly, that was where the platoon was; totally ignoring the orders being shouted up to them by a commander wearing a firebat suit.
The marines laughed and continued to ignore the red corporal as he yelled threats and curse words at the slackers. They began to toss rocks and sticks at the man below and curse back at him. They laughed some more, and continued to disgrace the corporal before another marine came up the side of the cliff with a cooler. They all turned and gave a shout of approval at the man, then stood up and helped him to carry it to the tree.
“Hey Jon,” a built black marine spoke, reaching into the cooler for an ice-cold beer. “Why don’t you get off of that damn pedestal your on and have a goddamed beer with us?” He popped the top open and took a chug, letting the cool liquid spill down his hot armor. He removed it from his lips, and let out a burp that echoed throughout the whole canyon. The marines cheered and slapped him on the back.
“Ha, ha. Good one Matt! You’re the best goddamed beer chugger on this godforsaken hellhole of a planet. Heck, you could probably beat the captain if you wanted too!” Matt shook his head in agreement and reached for another cold one.
The good cheer of the soldiers lasted a few minutes before the corporal finally made his way up the cliff. Some moaned, others cursed and threw beer cans at the red suited figure. Before the figure got close, Jon stood up and saluted the figure. The other marines laughed and threw rocks at him too.
“You’re a suck up Jon.” The black marine said. His statement was followed by cheers of, “Pussy”, “Suck up”, and the occasional “kissy sound”. Jon blushed and sat down underneath the tree again. He slowly put his head in his hands and hoped to disappear.
The firebat stood in front of the marines and lifted up the visor on the helmet. The cold blue eyes stared sternly through the marines one of them shook, and “Oh shit, it’s her” lingered in the background. Some slowly began to stand up and pull off a half salute, before being shot at with the blue eyes.
The firebat removed her helmet to reveal a young woman. She was about late twenties or so, with medium blond hair, which was now dotted with black because of the dirt in her helmet. Her face was drenched with sweat, and the blond and black hair matted to her forehead. She tossed her helmet to the side and watched it roll towards the tree, kicking up dust with every bounce.
Jon quickly stood up and ran to pick up the helmet. Some marines tried to laugh, but their laughs echoed in the silence. Jon held it in his hands and sat near the woman firebat.
After a minute of dead silence, mind the occasional chuckle and name calling between the immature marines in the back. The firebat licked her dry lips and whispered something to herself. She turned to Jon and motioned him to stand up. He slowly got to his feet and walked towards her.
“Y-yes sir, ma’am?” he quietly spoke. His knees buckled and the sweat on his white, sun blasted skin began to pour more profusely than ever. He wasn’t shaking out of fear for the commander, but because she was so cute. He wasn’t even close to her age though, only twenty-one. But that seemed to slip his mind as he stared into the eyes of the corporal. She smiled at him and whispered into his ear.
As any normal young adult, the ear is a sensitive place. It excited him, and about twelve seconds later, he wished he had better marine pants on.
“Jon, you can go, I gotta teach these morons a lesson.” She slapped him on the ass and pushed him towards the camp. He didn’t walk to fast because, well, it was hard to. The only sounds he heard climbing down the cliff was the corporal screaming at the marines. By the time he was on the ground, he saw half the squad doing pushups and jumping jacks in the sun.
Without warning, the loud speaker burst with the sound of a siren, a code red siren. Jon quickly ran to the barracks a few yards away to find out what was going on. Jon tried to ask a vulture rider, but all he got was a puff of smoke in his eyes. He ran a couple of more yards to the mineral patches to ask the SCV’s, but they were no help either.
Unfortunately, his question was about to be answered. The female corporal ran up to him, followed by the panting marines. She gave him a grave look in his eye, followed by one simple word. “Run.”
She slapped her helmet on and ran to a bunker at the choke point of the camp. Two tanks rolled next to him and started to go into “siege” mode by the bunkers. The SCV’s ran into the command center, and more men started to pour out of the barracks.
Jon knelt down and fastened the helmet on his head and lowered the visor. He released the safety on his gauss rifle and ran towards the front line. The sound of siege tank fire shook the ground, sending him off his feet.
Now the ground was shaking harder than usual. Not from the siege tanks, but from thousands of feet running synchronously at top speeds. The screams he heard in the distance weren’t even human, more like a tortured animal, an army of them. They had a thirst for blood in their screams.
Jon suddenly realized what the corporal meant when she said run. He realized that no one was going to survive this battle. The whole camp was going to die, not even by humans, but by beasts. Some of which these people have never seen before.
Jon ran to the front bunker where the corporal was. He opened the door and looked into the structure. He mustered up his strength and tossed the closest man he could out of the bunker and jumped in himself. He then locked the door and positioned himself next to the corporal.
She looked at him and smiled. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek before pointing her gun out of the slit of the bunker.
“In the next life Jon. Maybe we’ll get married.” She shut the visor on her helmet and began to order the troops to fire.
Within seconds, the bunker was stripped of its metal and the people inside ripped to shreds.
The rest of the camp fell within minutes of the attack by the creatures. Nobody survived; only skin and armor of the warriors were left. Nothing was even salvageable for further use. The soldiers’ remains were burned, the incident never broadcasted.
