"People tended to never surrender even at the darkest times."
*****
I had to forcibly wrap something around my ribs. My legs were working fine. My upper body was screaming for help and I needed medical attention. I fell on a small patch of mud, mud-filled with larvae wastes. The patch of mud broke my fall, and I was knocked out for a day. When I woke up I was hurting all over. My stomach was gurgling and my throat was dry. I forced myself up and hurried to the place where I was now.
It has been three days since I had fallen here. I recalled the days where I awoke and here I was in this chasm of alien shit. I was awake now and I do not intend to daydream about what had happened. The pain on my rib kept me teetered to the current reality. Val Sol wasn't a nest. It was a hive that was ready to explode. I found it weird in the first place how can such little nest destroy the sister-cities.
The structure was the shape of a pine cone with black and green spots. The elongated substance was stretched around this structure that looked like melted cheese strings. Around the rocky ceiling were putrid-looking hatched eggs. The explosion seems to have driven away the spawns around here. All I had in me was a rifle for protection a few spare mags, and a bullet I kept around my pocket. If there's a chance that I am trapped. I'll be putting that bullet inside my head.
I needed to move so I had to walk past this rocky and jagged area. It was slimy since it was a hive filled with monsters. I don't know what's happening but there was something that has been keeping the aliens from reaching me. I continue up this narrow path with pointy rocks barring my way. I had kept my posture low and my back on a wall. The smell of what I fell into awhile ago kept the aliens from approaching me. Can I even call them aliens, knowing, that they had adapted into this world?
All the same to me. They are hostile and I will kill them for it. Not now, however, since I was lost in their world and I had only a few rounds for my rifle. I was hundreds of feet underground and if it wasn't for the air pockets I would be breathing even slower. My rib was not doing fine despite the wrappings. I had lost my frame and my exoskeleton. I was functioning due to adrenaline and stubbornness alone. My willpower was my crutch and I simply did not want to die.
The smell of this place was a combination of alien feces and the wild fungus and ferns growing around. The ground was wet with the excrete from the main hive. Not far from where I was skulking was the shadows of the spawns.
I took cover behind a rock, leaned to the right, and saw humanoid-looking aliens leading spawns to a different part of this underground cave system. My rib ached so I choose to stay in the spot. When a minute passed I stood my ground, stayed in the dark, and examined the place. I had no explosives in me, but I can see that there were parts of the ceiling that are close to falling if given a push. The aliens seem to have glued these parts with these gelatinous substances. These substances were harmful and getting in contact is plain bad. Not that it matters when I am covered in alien feces.
I had to climb the ceiling and with my rib aching. I don't know if I could. But I just had to do it. I need to scale the wall and somehow do something about the situation. I started climbing the wall. The trick was to grab hold high, stay close to the wall and use my legs to push up to the next holds. If my elbows stick out then I'm probably not close enough to the wall, my upper body hangs out too much because of my rib so I intend to avoid that.
If possible I keep my arms straight when not doing a move, which saves me energy and allows proper blood flow to my hands. If I bend my arms and flex my biceps, my arms will get tired in a minute or two. So I just do some dead-hangs with my arms to get used to this. And I made sure my butt doesn't hang out from the wall while climbing. I need to climb with my legs and not with my hands. The hands are used for keeping me on the wall while my legs push me upwards.
When I reach the top of the wall. I can barely stand. I inhaled and exhaled loudly while keeping my thoughts collected. I moved my body while trying to scoop any ounce of strength. I turned my attention to the gelatinous substances and examined it. I can probably tear through the substance with my rifle. The problem was that I am inside a hive and any loud noises mean suicide. Not to mention that if this part collapses then I would have to brace for the collapse and then grab on to some of the holds. Adding to that corundum is that if what I am doing would work.
I checked my rifle, cocked it, and aimed at the parts where the sticky substance was attached. I emptied my mag, slung the rifle around my back, and started sprinting to brace, my rib ached, and my breathing stopped short for a second. I had to take a leap, fasten my finger around a crack and watched as that part completely broke, and just smashed on the pine cone-like structure. The structure fell sidewards and smashed against the ceiling. I was dead hanging and the pain around my rib was getting worse. I had to climb down and land on my feet, and take a prone position. Enemies were coming from every direction.
*****
There were countless spawns underneath. All of them had this enraged tone. Hundreds upon hundreds of legs marching around made me sick. I lay on my back and held my rib. Time had changed drastically in this world. I don't remember any of this happening and the only thing I could do was to keep moving forward.
I made my way through the wall and slowly traversed horizontally. I somehow managed to get passed that place. The surroundings were tighter and the air more polluted. I had no way down so I had to take a cat leap to the next hold. I straightened my arms, looked down, and did a descent into another platform, my rib still aching at the same time. I fell and barely caught another hold. I pushed up using my legs, turned my attention back to the alien horde.
The alien horde had the same size as the one that we fought in Marl. That was another timeline but this was a size that not even the Ranger Regiment stationed in the sister-cities could willingly destroy. Not to mention that there were hundreds of thousands of them here.
I had no way of destroying them. That part was just lucky and the only thing that I could do was get out of this place. Going down that place would leave me stranded between a horde of aliens. I had to horizontally traverse the walls while trying to keep the pain on my rib. When I did another leap from another hold. I had realized that I was running out of energy. I was so drained with all of the climbing and leaping. My stomach was twisting and my head was just in agony.
I cried and wept. I muffled my sobs and wiped my tears. I laid on my back and allowed myself to be so weak. I was tired and exhausted. This was going to be my second life and yet here I was in agony. My skinned forearm was burning and my fingers were sore. I moved to the corner of the wall and listened in to the horrors not far from me. I was way down underground and my hope was little. If I had my gear I would have the chance of getting out. Still, I refuse to give up, I refuse to go gentle into that good night. I've fought too long that giving up seems like a joke to me. When you become a Ranger, even in death, you are a Ranger.
My mental state was weakened and a weak body contributed to this. I forced myself up, walked down the path, and found myself staring at this enormous cave biome filled with the spawns. Aliens habitats and the such had formed here and on the right part of the landscape were the substances that these aliens eat. In this area, I saw humanoids that had been turned to cattle. They were obese and were unresponsive. I crawled to where that place was and saw that they were people whose eyes had been deformed. They have mutated humans whose purpose was to produce the substances that the aliens eat. It was inhumane, but the aliens don't see as anything other than fertilizer or consumables. There was a theory that they were space-faring parasites that landed in this world. The needed that landed had created a habitat from to migrate. The atmosphere of this world was right for them. And they were adapting by using the inhabitants as cattle.
When I saw these human cattle I could only feel sorry for them. It has been many years and these unfortunate people had been turned into cattle for these aliens to eat. They were people who did not develop a frontal lobe. Their arms were tiny and they could only crawl using their stomachs. They aren't sentient and they had no way of knowing that they are treated like this. They are sub-humans. That's why I could only give them the mercy of death. I know that doing was going to attract the aliens to my location. However, my emotions were unstable, and I couldn't hold back. I executed the human cattle and made sure that these bastards won't cultivate the infants. The infants had the same deformed look like the grown cattle. Tiny limbs and deformed eyes with snout-like mouths. I pointed my rifle on these infants and made sure none of them lived.
I moved to one of the depositories and emptied a mag. As I expected, the aliens came running after the sound, most of them were humanoids who had become bipedal. Thankfully, they weren't the giants that need an Assaulter to fight. If I wasn't covered in their shit then I'd probably be dead. I had to sneak out of that place and sneaked through the alien structure. I followed the smell of the air and thought that I might be able to get out. But when I get into that place I realized that I was staring at an air pocket. There was fresh air coming from that pocket and scaling it was no good. I had used up most of my strength and my fingers were aching. My forearm had little tiny red-spotted bumps and I was hearing echoes. I braced myself on the wall and continued my long walk until I reach this steep rocky area with water falling. I kneeled and drink some water, and washed my forearm with the water. Mushrooms were growing on the side of these water spots. I took the mushroom and took a bite of it. I cleaned up my wounds and cleaned myself up. The alien shit coating me was doing no good for my body. I was having an allergic reaction. It was then that I noticed something walking towards me.
I recognized that humanoid-looking bastard. I was looking at a sentinel. What the fuck is a sentinel doing in this place?
No, I had to act. I don't know if I was hearing things, but explosives were sounding out. If I was hearing things rightly, then they were charged detonations. But, there was no time for that, I had no time to think at all when that sentinel pointed its bio-blaster at me.
I quickly returned fire with controlled fire. I aimed at the bio-blaster and made sure that it was disabled. Sentinels had the same body components of the bigger ones so killing this bastard means that I have to target its hearts at the same time.
I took out the bio-blaster and focused my fire on the chest. The sentinel rushed at me. Fast and precise, it used its bladed arm to cut me right in the chest. Blood gushes out. I gritted my teeth. I kicked the sentinel away and pointed the rifle back. My rifle ran out of ammo and so instead I had to go the old fashion way. I used the butt of my rifle. I guarded with my rifle, deflected, and tried to push it away. The beast smartened and its bio-blaster was regenerating. I didn't dally. I rushed in and endured the painful recoil of the beasts attack. I made sure that I was moving. I let go of my thoughts. I turned my mind into steel. All the thoughts about my injuries and hunger. It all just stopped. I was running on adrenaline and I made it count. I was able to smash through the carapace of the beast and drive my the barrel of my rifle right in the heart of the sentinel. The sentinel was able to stab me right the stomach, fortunately, I could tell that it missed the vital parts.
I didn't stop. I drew the knife I was hiding and smashed it on the heart located in its head. The sentinel was pushing its bladed arm inside my stomach. I continued smashing my knife inside that bastard's head while I pinned my legs on the barrel of the rifle that I Stabbed on its chest. I was vomiting blood and my eyes were failing me. I just stabbed that knife repeatedly. I didn't even think. I didn't even think of what this sentinel had summoned to my location. I just continued stabbing until I saw that the light on the sentinel's bug-like eyes was gone. I used my knife to cut the bladed arm and laid on my back. I placed a hand on my stomach. I was bleeding all over and I felt very tired.
I was delirious. I was going cold. My breathing was getting worse and my head was going numb. I turned my eyes to the side and saw fire and smoke. It was then that I saw a bipedal machine that stood over ten feet tall. I looked at that steely gaze of the machine. It was a familiar machine that I had seen fighting on many battlefields. Painted in black and red, the machine of the Valkyrie had arrived alongside the Rangers of the Canyon-Cities.
"We've come."
I lifted my hand and contacted them with a grin on my face..
"Good. Good Lucky, Valkyries."
It was time to die.