The Trench Lines Part Two
'Holy Shit!' shouted Gilmore.
The huge hand swung around the corner and narrowly missed Gilmore's left eye by a few inches; he lost his balance and toppled over backwards and land on the cold hard wood that made the trench floorboards.
Gilmore lifted his left arm and pointed it at the body which stalked around the dark corner, shit, where did the gun go he thought. He pulled his hand back and he twisted his head around to search the trench line, finding it lying on its side by the northern sidewall. He scuttled backwards using his hands and feet like a crap while his horrified gaze never left the hunter as it revealed itself slowly.
His back had a sudden pain when he felt himself back up against the wall next to the stray rifle, and grabbing it he pulled on the trigger. A single shot was fired which missed the target and embedded harmlessly into the trench wall beside it.
'Shit, I forgot to turn the auto-fire on,' he choked.
He pulled the gun up to his chest quickly while his nervous hands searched the gun for the switch, he knew it was around the by the loading mechanism on the right side of the gun but it was too dark to see. Eventually he heard a small clicking noise that sounded the guns firing change. He levelled his weapon again and fired a short controlled burst at the predator.
The shot echoed down the trench and reverberated back again, he could see whether he had missed or hit home. He sat up and wrenched himself to his feet where he took small steps backwards. He heard another scream; it was the unnatural scream again but this time it was right in front of him. He placed his hands over his ears and the echo vibrated his eardrums.
Once the scream ended he grabbed his gun in both hands and fired more rounds into the creature to make sure he hit it, the soil splattered all over the place and pieces of the walls where chipped away. Soon the trench became filled with a hazy dust that was hard for his vision to penetrate. He coughed.
There was a silence that followed, a slow and dragging silence that could drive a man crazy. Gilmore stood up, barely balanced on his quaking knees, and oblivious to the sounds of gunfire and screams coming from all over the trenches. All he could hear at the present moment, which seemed to last an eternity, was his own heavy heart beat banging against his chest as if it was a smaller version of the chest buster he had witnessed long ago. It felt horrible.
'Shoot it, shoot the fucking thing!' screamed a man from behind Gilmore.
Gilmore craned his neck to see his warden officer pointing a small side arm towards the end of the trench, watching as him let off at least six rounds. He wondered when the officer had arrived to find him standing still, and mostly afraid of the oncoming terror he couldn't see.
He looking down and he saw his rifle placed firmly in his hands, he forgot he was holding it, a strange thing to happen in the middle of a combat zone, he thought. The wall beside him suddenly exploded, mud spewed over Gilmore and blinded him. He screamed and ran around the trench with his hands over his eyes. Shit, he was in trouble. Someone grabbed him and shoved him to his left where he collided with a wooden trench post, sending him brawling on the floor almost instantly.
A gun fired over him, he opened his eyes and he could see two men practically hoping over each other to get out of the way. An energy surge much like the one that came around the corner of the trenched screamed past and caught one of them in the kneecap. His leg instantly departed from his body and it continued to fly across the trench line while the main body crumpled to the floor in agony and screams.
What was happening to him? Gilmore couldn't react, he couldn't move, his joints had frozen and he found any attempt to get up was useless. He didn't know what it was, maybe shell shock, but he had been trained to overcome that particular fear.
Gilmore lay sprawled out over the wooden floorboards, his back ached and his limbs throbbed. He heard that metallic walking noise again, it was heading his way. Suddenly as Gilmore moved his head a giant metal foot dropped down beside his face, he looked up to see the predator. Its helmet was large and it looked both directions, the it looked at Gilmore. Even though it was wearing a helmet, Gilmore could still feel its eyes penetrating his soul, he shuddered. He didn't know whether to scream or to start crying, maybe both but he could hear nothing coming from his open, dry mouth.
The predator slowly crouched down and placed his huge hand on Gilmore's head, he pulled Gilmore up to his feet and held him up, without the support Gilmore would have fell straight back down. It was about two feet bigger than him and he was a good 5 foot 9. Its eyes lit up with a red alarm type light and it continued to look straight into the eye of Gilmore.
Gilmore closed his eyes and bit his teeth together as raised its right hand into the air, and clenching its fist a pair of unspoilt silver blades flicked out. They shimmered as it raised them higher and the light from the flashes made them sparkle green.
The predator swung its arm down in an arch and the blades shot straight into Gilmore's upper body, blood splashed over Gilmore's and the things face, but it seemed to enjoy it more. Gilmore coughed and blood seeped out of his stuttering mouth when the thing let him drop. He landed on his feet and feel backwards against the wall, and after a few seconds of leaning he slowly started to slide down the wall until he was stretched out on the trench floor.
Gilmore blinked, his arms where cradled over his fatal wound and his legs where numb. However, for some reason he still didn't feel like dying. Instead he just sat there watching the thing admire his scull, still alive and operational. So this is what it is like to be wounded, he thought, after realising he had never really suffered any sort of wound before in his life. His gaze left the predator and it trailed off to his side where he watched the blood stream pour from his chest and onto the trench floor. It split up into three new streams as it followed the rough texture of the wood, filling cracks and splashing over the edges and mixing with the brown churned up mud.
It grabbed Gilmore by the arm and pulled him up to his feet. Gilmore's legs where quaking, trembling so hard he couldn't balance himself. The thing tightened its grip; it brought Gilmore up to eye level with it. Gilmore could see its eyes glinting through the visor eye slits. He screamed and swung his body around hoping to break free. It just stood there, unmoved or unbalanced by the struggle; it just held him firmly without any effort.
The thing looked at Gilmore and it slowly crushed Gilmore's arm with its hand. He screamed. It jerked its arm sideways and two sharp wrist blades flicked out, they glinted with cold harsh and unknown metal.
It pressed its hand into Gilmore's chest wound and it started to press harder and harder. Gilmore gritted his teeth and screamed as loud as was possible by any human being alive. Gilmore collapsed in the things grip, he fainted and a cold laugh echoed down the trenches when the predator saw this. It looked at Gilmore, out cold in his hands, he was going to kill him but, he was unarmed, he had also tried to attack it before, so he had the right to another trophy. It shook Gilmore, the only success being Gilmore's head rolling around and his body flopping around. What the hell it thought, he is unconscious and unarmed, it wasn't a fair kill. He knew that Gilmore would probably die of his chest wound; it surprised him that he wasn't already dead.
He opened his hand and Gilmore crashed to the floor, and the body sprawled out over the wooden floorboards. It looked up over the rim of the trench. He could see the shape of another one of its kind, it de-cloaked and dropped into the trench, just as well he hadn't of killed the human, that was his master and he wouldn't approve the killing of an unconscious and unarmed human.
The two predators looked at each other, a few seconds past before they both set off down the trench line towards the next drone gun. Sounds of weapons firing and screams of men echoed louder and louder in the air no. It was still only 2am and it was pitch black, save for the few green flashes that illuminated the trench every so often. The drone gunfire was becoming less and less, they must have found a way of dealing with the guns without taking too many casualties.
'Holy shit, there's David,' said a voice not far down the trench.
'Looks like he's hurt pretty bad, get the medic,' replied another strange voice.
Two soldiers came down the trench fast; they crept along watching every movement that went on along the trench.
'What the fuck is going on?'
At the other end of the trench another soldier came running around the corner, in his arms he held another wounded soldier, his arm was slashed and there was a long trail of blood left behind as he continued up the trench.
'Hey, you guys, what the hell is happening…all I see is dead officers and commanders lying about the place with missing heads or missing limbs,' he shouted.
'I know,' started the other, 'I don't know what on earth is going on, I hardly see any dead or wounded grunts, just officers or any body with an important rank,'
'Do you think they're trying to route us by killing the leaders?'
'I don't know, but whatever it is I'm glad I don't have a rank,'
The two soldiers picked up Gilmore by the arms.
'He is still alive, take him back with the others,' said one of them.
The soldier with the wounded person in his arms stepped past them and continued down the trench first and he was followed closely by the other two carrying Gilmore. They eventually came to a large fork in the trench, a long and wide trench branched off to the left while another long but thin trench bent away to the right.
'I just came form that way,' spoke the first person with his hand pointed in the direction of the left right trench, 'and I'll be fucked if I'm going that way again,'
The leader of the group stepped up to each trench and tried to listen for noises coming from each direction. From the right trench there was utter silence, except for the remote controlled firing noises of a few drone guns. Down the left trench there were sounds of people screaming and shouting to each other.
'I say we take the left trench,' he started, 'there are more survivors down there, we would stand a better chance in a group,'
The others nodded, and following after the leader they carried Gilmore and the other wounded soldier with them.
'Why are we carrying this piece of shit,' said one of the soldiers, referring to Gilmore, 'he is dead already, there is no point in taking him anywhere,'
'If there are any medics still alive then there might be a chance to save Gilmore, if not, we leave him ok,'
The soldier nodded. He lifted Gilmore up to his shoulder and tried to rest the head on his shoulder, but it was a difficult position in such a confined space. The leader stepped over the broken piece of floorboard and continued down the left trench. The others struggled to follow him; this trench was pretty damaged and torn in pieces that they found almost impossible to find a way past. At one part of the trench there was a large metal canister laying right across the trench, it was probably a part of one of the vehicles above the trench. The solution to this was they had to climb up the trench wall and hoist the wounded soldiers with them, and sure enough they found two large vehicles shattered together. They slowly walked around and then they climbed back down the trench wall on the other side of the canister.
Soon they came to a small watch station where there was a radio standing on top of a scorched table, there where also numerous pieces of paper scattered about the place and with them there was a dead commander lying in two parts over the trench.
'Its Gordy, the damn bastard was trying to use the radio when he was fried,' said the leader while pointing to the voice control switch that was connected to the radio by a long and twisty wire.
'So what now, I can't hear any more voices, maybe they are gone?' said the solider carrying the wounded man.
'Me either, maybe they made it over the trench and escaped in one of the trucks?' he replied.
'But where would they go? This place is a rock,'
'Before our trench station was attacked I heard that a few of the officers where taking their men to a small outpost not far from the Eastern trench dugout. The only problem now is that the trench lines are so badly screwed up and the night seems to be getting darker and darker, that I can't tell where we are. The floodlights are out and all we have is the green light coming from the temple,'
'What is that green light anyway?' said the second soldier.
'Dunno, It might be a warning beacon saying they've escaped? It might be blasts from our artillery shells hitting it? Whatever it is I'm uncertain,'
'Who the fuck cares,' said the last soldier butting in, 'I'm sure as hell not going to investigate it so why are we talking about it, lets just concentrate on getting our arses to safety before we get fried like Gordy here,'
The other soldier hastily agreed and they moved up the trench line to the next watch station, they had decided to check each of the officer stations on the way in case there was any surviving officer to explain the escape routes and out posts not far from the trench.
'I think that the outpost is only a few miles away but I wouldn't dare chance it by going over the top in this atmosphere, we would probably never be seen again.' Said the leader.
'Maybe there is a path running along to it, like a hidden passage, underground tunnel, something like that,' replied one of the soldiers behind him.
'Maybe,' he started, 'maybe if we find an officer we could find a way out of this shit hole and we could probably take one of the crawlers and make a break for it and he could lead us to the outpost,'
The trench ran smoothly on for a while, it branched off in a few directions but they took the route which lead furthest away from the temple and the noises of dying men. It continued to lead down, as if it where going into the ground, the trench walls became higher as well and there was more structure carved into the walls, like it was becoming more technological as they went along.
'Where the hell are we,' said one of the soldiers.
'Beats me,' replied another.
'Shit, do you think we got lost somewhere back there?'
'Might have, but I doubt it, this trench should bypass all the officer quarters, but so far I've seen nothing, have you?'
'I thought I saw a dug out but it was just a shell hole,'
'Do you think we should go back?' said the soldier next to the leader.
'I think we should carry on, this place looks heavily protected, maybe there might be survivors?' he replied after inspection of the steel plated walls.
The leader stepped forward and he pressed his flash light on, and he scanned it over the faces of his followers and then down the metal trench line. There was another green flash, the skies lit up and so did the trench. A scream echoed down the trench to meet them as they continued down. They paused, but nothing else was heard.
The trench was now becoming more of a metal tunnel than a trench, it started to decent into the earth as well, it had a roof over it to form the tunnel and the lights where on and pulsing. They stopped at the tunnel mouth, inside the leader found a large tunnel leading down in a straight line with a few doors to the left and right of them. He stepped through the mouth and into the tunnel, he turned his flash light off and he adjusted his eyes to the brightly lit tunnel. The others followed shortly afterwards and they too adjusted there vision to suit the bright tunnel.
'Finally some light,' said one of the soldiers.
The others agreed with grunts and nods from their heads. They slowly moved down the hallway, it was thin and still in trench format so they had to walk in single file and they had to crouch slightly to stop their heads from banging against the ceiling.
'What do you reckon this place is Ray?' whispered the soldier last in line. The leader turned around and replied.
'I'm not sure, when my officer was talking abo…HOLY SHIT!'
A ceiling vent above them collapsed and a mangled corpse fell down, rebounding off the floor as it hit it with a loud thud that echoed the length of the tunnel. Ray jumped back and collided with Jones, the soldier behind him carrying Gilmore by the legs. They both tumbled backwards and Gilmore was dropped to the floor and the Ray and Jones landed on him.
'Fuck me,' barked Ray as he held his head with his hand, 'fucking bastard, what in Gods name was that?
He stood up with the help of the others as they stepped over Gilmore to help them. After clearing his head Ray stepped forward and approached the body. It was charred and lying on its side, its legs where broken an they where lying beneath it like a rag doll and its arms where spread out like it had been crucified. The face was unrecognisable as bits of bone and skull peered through the black and brown flesh. One of its eyes still remained in its socket but the other was missing, its teeth where broke and half its face was caved in.
'Man O man,' said Jones as he followed Ray with his sleeve over his mouth, 'what the fuck happened to him?'
Ray stood stooping over the corpse for a few minutes longer, inspecting it and checking it. He tapped one of its remaining ribs with the end of his boot and he watched it as it slumped over on its other side.
The other soldiers squeezed past to get a look before they had to go on, completely forgetting about Gilmore.
'What was he doing in the vent shaft?' said one of them, 'do you think it was an alien?'
'No, these trenches are rigged with Electromagnetic Pulse alarms so if anything with a slight electro magnetic property then they would sound…and we all know that Aliens have a reasonably high electro magnetic reading?' he replied while looking at the soldier that had asked the questioned. The soldier backed off and moved away back behind them to go and get Gilmore again.
Jones moved away and went to help the other soldier. He turned and he saw Gilmore lying up against the wall, his hand was on his forehead and his eyes where moving.
'Shit, Gilmore is awake?' he said while running to him.
The others spun around and started to crowd around the dazed Gilmore. His head was rocking slightly, as if he was trying to balance it, and his arms and hands where shaking. The others moved in and looked down upon him as he gathered his surroundings.
'How many fingers do you see Gilmore?' said Jones waving three fingers back and forth in front of Gilmore's eyes, 'come on Dave, how many?'
Gilmore coughed, a small trickle of blood emerged from the corner of his mouth and it seeped down onto his coat collar. He stretched his eyes and then slowly looked at the fingers waving in front of him.
'I…I se..I see,' he said with another rough cough, 'I can see three…fingers' he gasped and he coughed again.
Jones pulled out a nearly white cloth and wiped Gilmore's mouth with it.
'Don't worry, we're going to get you some help,' he said, 'and then we will find a way out of here, ok, can you hold on that long without dying on us,' Gilmore looked at him and coughed again, the blood streamed out again.
Jones stood up, he turned his head to his left slightly and glanced at Ray who was now standing next to him with a look of grief on his face. He glanced back.
'What do we do now Ray?' he asked.
'I don't know, all I can guess is we continue down this corridor and hope it leads somewhere safe, as I said before, I know jack-shit about these trenches…only from what I've heard officers talking about. I think we had better move out soon though, being in one place too long might result in them things out there catching up to us, pick him up and lets get a move on,' replied Ray as he moved back to the corpse.
