Chapter 2

(Here's chapter 2. Enjoy Pablo...)

The Major was quietly watching the road. He had two small squads stationed on either side of the bridge he was on, plus a third squad up on the abandoned building next to the roadway to provide backup if they needed it. He hoped they wouldn’t, but was grimly aware that they would. They always needed it no matter how well he planned things out. His thoughts were interrupted by the comm unit squawking in his ear. He thumbed the unit on. “What have you got for me?” He asked.
“Sir, we have a single contact approaching from the south, e.t.a. in 5 minutes.”
“Is he alone?” the Major asked. The voice on the other end was silent for a moment, “Clear on all sides, sir.” The Major turned and crawled to the south side of the bridge. He grabbed his rangefinders and peered down the road through a hole in the bridge’s concrete side. Roughly three miles south of his position, a single vehicle was coming up the roadway. If he hadn’t seen one before, he would have had a hard time spotting it amid the rubble and abandoned burnt out vehicles still clogging the roads of the dead and rotting city. It was slowly picking its way down the clogged highway, which was a good thing. The Demons didn’t know he was here, and that was always good.

He remembered the first time he saw one, standing in the middle of the town square. One of the ugliest things he’d ever seen, and one of the meanest. Those who survived the initial slaughter, simply called them Demons, and the name stuck. They certainly looked like a nightmare, standing over 8 feet tall, large ugly fangs protruding from their skeletal heads, the thick armor-like dreadlocks that covered the back of the head and neck, the brownish-green mottled skin, and the deep pitch black eyes. Yes, He thought, it’s a good thing they don’t know we’re here.

He thumbed on his comm unit again, “Okay men, you know the drill, into positions, let’s keep this clean and quick.” He thumbed off his comm unit. He still didn’t trust the things. Always wary of broken lines of communication, the Major had taught his men to use the communication units sparingly, and never when the enemy was around, because you never knew who could be listening.

He heard the soft hum of the engines as the tank-like vehicle came slowly into view. It was about a mile away when it came to a stop in the middle of the road. The tank (it was officially designated as a Skeleton Light Tank but the Major didn’t know that) extended a retractable satellite dish out of the top of its small turret. The Major was fairly certain that the vehicle was scanning for any radio traffic or comm unit chatter, and hopefully his men were following orders and not using the damned things when the enemy was in sight. The antenna slowly turned, and then retracted into the turret. The tank then started off again, still going at a relatively slow pace. The Major saw that his two squads were in position, and then he crawled over to the edge of the bridge and started to arm the rocket launcher that was laying there. He hunkered down behind the concrete barrier. He couldn’t afford to take a peak now, so he just had to wait.

The tank was about 100 yards from the bridge when they attacked. Two tongues of red hot flame shot from each side of the road as the squads simultaneously fired their rockets. They hammered into the sides of the tank with a large boom. The tank shuttered to a stop. The Major had learned from his first attack on one of these tanks that while the hand held rockets his troops carried could not penetrate the tank’s armor, the treads were quite vulnerable. He had instructed his men to use this tactic, and they had used it well. The tank, while immobile, was by no means out of the fight. The Major heard the turret whir around and then heard the unmistakable sound of automatic laser fire rip into the abandoned buildings. As if on cue, the major sprang to his feet, aimed steadily at the tank that was now only 30 yards away, and fired his rocket. He had no time to see where he hit. Before the rocket had even gone 5 yards, the Major had dropped the launcher and was crawling as fast as he could towards the side of the bridge. The turret whirred around so fast that it actually riddled the bridge with laser fire before the Major’s rocket slammed into the turret. The turret kept firing, but it was apparent that the rocket had done its job and the turret couldn’t turn anymore.

The Major reached the side of the bridge and met up with one of the squads. Now that the turret was out of action, they could approach the tank and go for the kill. Grabbing his assault rifle from his second in command, he signaled to the men to advance from their positions and flank the vehicle. As he climbed out from their hidden position, he could see the squad on the other side of the road advancing as well. This was the tricky part. And this is when they usually needed the backup. The tank sat there quietly, the barrels of the turret smoking from the heat of the laser fire, the treads charred remains. The Major hoped that somehow the damned monsters had been killed by one of the rockets. His hopes were dashed with a hiss as the back of the tank opened.

Gunfire erupted almost instantaneously. The Major’s forces gave everything they had as two hulking figures leaped from the tank. Immediately the two Demons split, one going to the left and one to the right, laser fire erupting from their large rifles. The Major dove behind a small burned out hulk of a car, followed quickly by two of his men. He knew that the tank usually had a crew of three, so that meant one was probably still inside the tank calling for backup. “Do we have any more rockets?” he asked one of the men.
“Kranz has the last rocket, sir.” The Major thumbed on his comm unit, no need to keep quiet now. “Kranz, what’s your position?”
”Sir, I’m pinned down about three cars behind you.”
“Can you see into the tank?” Asked the Major.
“Not quite sir.” The Major thought for a moment, trying to play out in his head what needed to happen.
“Okay, on my order, get where you need to be to fire that last rocket into the open tank, I’ll have the men provide you cover. And Kranz, don’t miss.” The Major dialed in the open channel used by all his men.
“All right men, on my order we all converge on the tank.” He paused to glance over the car while the men gave suppressing fire from their protected hiding places. He could only see one of the Demons, crouched down behind its own cover, returning fire.
“NOW”, shouted the Major. At his order, all of the squad surged from their hiding spots, making a mad rush at the tank. The Demon stood up and started picking off the soldiers one by one, giving no heed to the large amounts of fire ricocheting off its dull black armor. “The damned thing has armor!” The Major watched in horror as the Demon systematically slaughtered his men, handling the laser rifle with amazing accuracy and speed. The Demon had killed five of the ten men who rushed him before they converged on it, piling on top of it like ants. The Demon swung his rifle like a club, crushing the skull of the man who couldn’t get out of the way. Two of the men had leapt onto the back of the monster and were trying to pry the helmet off, at least giving them a soft spot to hit. The Demon realized that this would not be a good thing, and started reaching frantically for the two men. The Major was about to join the fray when the tank exploded in a massive fireball. The Major was blinded by the white hot blast, felt himself rocket away from the explosion, then a sharp searing pain in his head and back, and then everything went black.