I stood at the front entrance of the facility as the crew advanced to my position. With my back pressed against the wall and my sidearm at the ready, we assembled. Me and Tiff on one side of the door, Matty and Claire on the other side. Jax was still holding position away from the facility, ready to engage any stragglers or cover our egress if things went south. Red was injured but had taken a health stim and was almost fully recovered. He was staying with the turret to lay down cover fire as well.

  “Go on my mark,” I said as I held up three fingers to the team. 3,2, GO!”

  I turned and kicked the door in as I rushed through, followed closely by the team. There was a straight hallway with two alternating doors on each side and a single stairwell at the end. The room was dark, with only one light source attached to the wall near the stairwell. The building smelled of sulfur and trash, and what looked like several rucksacks lined the hallway.

  “Tiff, you and I will clear the rooms on the right. Jax, you and Claire clear the left. Claire, can you cast your shield ability on us all?” I asked.

  Claire raised her arms as a green glow began emanating from us all. “Done. Remember, it won’t help if you take heavy close-range fire.”

  “Understood, but anything helps,” I said with a nod.

  On the far end of the building, near the stairwell, we could see light streaming down through the roof where CJ landed. I could hear the sounds of fighting from that direction, but there was no weapon fire as of yet.

  “CJ, you good in there?” I asked.

  “Y-yeah, just finishing off one that I surprised. These fuckers are strong, so be careful,” he grunted as he struggled with the Rerek.

  By my count, there were at least 6 Rerek unaccounted for. Jax and Red had taken out three, and CJ was currently engaged with the fourth.

  “Everyone hold position,” I said as I raised my fist to signal everyone to hold position.

  “Scratch one runner,” Jax said over the comms, “He was trying to leave the party early; of course, he found it hard to continue without his head.”

  “Copy that; where did he exit?” I asked.

  “He was the last one on the roof. Jumped off and was hoofing it away from the facility.”

  “Matty, Claire, secure your rooms. Tiff, let’s get it done,” I said to the team.

  Tiff and I approached the first door on our side. I looked at Tiff and nodded as I spun and kicked the door in. I cleared the left side, then spun to the right as a single Rerek soldier opened fire on me. I had just enough time to get a look at him before I dove for cover.

  Rerek Warrior – Level 9

  As I hit the ground, I raised my sidearm and fired four shots in rapid succession. The rounds made contact but served to do little more than piss the Rerek off. Four wounds bled thick black blood as he stood to his full height and slammed his rifle against his chest before discarding the weapon and pulling an aged black sword from its sheath.

  “Weak, pathetic human. You face Baldrimore of the Rerek, and you die here by my blade,” the creature growled.

  I quickly stood up and dismissed my sidearm, “Tiff, clear the next room,” as I waved her away to check the next room.

  This room was not big enough for three people to engage in a brawl, especially with a sword involved.

  “Got it,” she said as she spun and advanced to the next room.

  I could hear sounds of fighting from across the hall; Matty and Claire must have found more Rerek on the other side. I had to trust that they could handle it. I had my own hands full right now. I summoned my daggers and dismissed my sidearm, I flicked the point of the daggers in the Rerek’s direction, “Well, I don’t have all day.” The Rerek bellowed in anger as he centered his stance and rushed me. He was fast and obviously strong, and I knew I had to be careful.

  Have you ever watched professional wrestling? I mean, we all have at one point or another. There was an old wrestler named Goldberg. His signature move was the spear. He would basically rush his opponent and hit them full force, placing his shoulder and head into their stomach, lifting them off the ground before slamming them back down—sort of like a perfect football tackle. Well, that is what my new friend Baldrimore decided to do to me. The move caught me completely off guard. The Rerek’s speed was more than I expected as he lifted me completely off my feet and through the exterior wall of the building. We landed outside with a crash of debris and dust. He then proceeded to mount me, and placing his giant free hand on my throat, he began to squeeze.

  “Holy Shit! Cap, are you okay?” Jax asked after seeing the Rerek tackle me through the wall. “Cap, I don’t have visual; there is too much dust. I repeat, are you okay?!”

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  I couldn’t reply, as Baldrimore was currently doing a good job of choking me to death, even through my armor. My health bar was plummeting as he continued to squeeze.

  “Maybe you aren’t worthy to die by my blade after all, so I will squeeze the life from you like the insignificant bug you are,” Baldrimore said as he redoubled his effort and squeezed my throat with renewed vigor. As he spoke, drool dripped from his mouth, his lips curling into a demented smile. He was enjoying this; he took pleasure in the kill. I swung my arms wildly, trying to use my daggers to pierce any part of the giant demonic psychopath. In response, he placed his knees on my arms at the elbow to hold me down. He was in complete control of the situation.

  “Tiff, Cap is in trouble!” Jax shouted, “Does anyone have eyes on the captain?!”

  "We’re all busy here, Jax; we don’t have eyes on him,” Tiff responded with a grunt.

  My health was getting dangerously low at this point. My vision was getting blurry around the edges, and warning lights were flashing all over my interface. I felt myself start to drift away.

  This can’t be how it ends… I thought.

  I tried to use a health stim and saw the infuriating message blink as I tried repeatedly to use a stim in vain.

  Verbal command required for use of skill – Health stim.

  Randi…fucking Randi. I was going to be choked to death all because I hurt the feelings of a fragile, egotistical AI. If I could breathe or speak, I would curse that asshole; unfortunately, I could do neither. My vision started to go black as I had a sudden realization. The land mines! I jerked as I remembered the mines in my inventory. The mines were saucer-shaped with a trigger mechanism on top. The description read Inferior Land Mine. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but at the moment I didn’t have another option available. I mentally dismissed my daggers and pulled one of the mines from my inventory into my right hand.

  This is gonna hurt… I thought.

  I twisted my right hand and jerked it with all my strength, slamming the mine into the bottom of Baldrimore’s forearm, triggering its firing mechanism. The explosion was bigger than I would have guessed. I rolled over onto my knees as my head rang, and my vision alternated between blacking out and blurry. My health bar was blinking red and showed less than five percent of my health remaining. The Rerek, Baldrimore, lay on the ground several feet away from me, screaming.

  The mine had taken my right arm off below the elbow and blown away a section of my armor on my right side, exposing bloody flesh down to the ribs. Baldrimore had placed his knee on my arm at the elbow to keep me from stabbing him with my dagger. It was a solid tactic if he wanted to incapacitate me. Of course, he could have just killed me quickly, but his desire to savor the moment caused him to drag it out. I tried to use a health stim but again got the infuriating message.

  Verbal command required for use of skill – Health stim.

  As much as I hated it, I tried to say the command Randi had forced me to use. Unfortunately, I had no voice. My attempt at saying the verbal command phrase resulted in a painful, raspy whisper. Baldrimore was strong as fuck, and it seemed he had damaged my vocal cords to the point that I couldn’t speak. The Rerek had fared worse than me, though. His entire left leg was gone, now just a black, bloody stump. His left side was a charred, mangled mess of gore and bone. As I looked down at him, he still tried to reach for his sword, lying on the ground a few feet from him. He kept fighting; even though he was dead, for sure, he kept fighting.

  I stood there watching him for a few seconds. My head was spinning, and my body was broken. Still, I watched in a daze. I wondered what drove a creature to hate so much. Even as he lay dying, he wanted to kill. I looked down at my right arm and willed it to reform. Then I summoned my daggers again as I limped slowly toward the Rerek. I could hear muffled sounds in the background, I could hear radio chatter. Someone was desperately trying to get someone else’s attention. None of that mattered right now, and I couldn’t focus enough to make it out anyhow.

  I still couldn’t summon a health stim, but I remembered my daggers had a health drain ability. I wasn’t sure how much health this Rerek had left, but I knew what I had to do. I approached the Rerek and mounted him just as he had mounted me earlier. I dismissed my helmet; I wanted him to see me and look in my eyes while I did this. As I sat there on top of the mangled warrior, a wave of emotion crashed into me. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this for myself or my world, yet here I was. I hated the Rerek for forcing me into this. I hated the Lacertines for seeding Earth with the orbs. I hated the Council for allowing genocide to go unpunished. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked down at Baldrimore. He struggled as much as he could, growling and gnashing his teeth. He struggled some; freeing his right arm, he reached up toward my face with his clawed hand. It wasn’t enough I simply pushed it away and punched him once in the face. I took a deep, stuttered breath, filled with all the emotion and pain that I had buried deep inside. I raised my left hand and stabbed down…

  +2 HP

  The message flashed on my interface as my health bar ticked up to 7. The tears flowed freely now as I dropped the dagger in my right hand and grasped my remaining dagger with both hands, numbly stabbing again.

  +2 HP

  Again….

  +2 HP

  I screamed as I began furiously stabbing down repeatedly. Baldrimore screamed and gurgled black blood as I continued to stab.

  +2 HP

  +2 HP

  +2 HP

  I closed my eyes and let the daggers fall over and over again as the emotion overcame me. After what seemed like hours, I looked down. Baldrimore lay lifeless beneath me. There were cuts and stabs covering his mutilated corpse as his lifeless eyes looked up at me. I slumped over; my health bar read 87% and was green again. A notification popped up on my interface and I immediately closed it. I knew it was the kill notification and I was more than aware that I had killed the Rerek. My ribs and the skin covering them had healed, but I had a new wound, and it wouldn’t heal so easily. A hand reached out and rested on my shoulder. “Andrew, it’s okay now. We have the key; we can go back to base camp.” Tiff’s voice was soft, and I could hear the pity as she spoke. The crew had finished the assault and had all watched what had just happened. They had watched their captain break.

  I rolled over onto my back and just lay in the red dirt for a moment. The sky was dark and full of stars. I could see ships moving in orbit, little more than blinking lights.

  The crew all came and sat down beside me, sharing my pain and supporting me when I needed them most. Nobody spoke; nobody needed to.