Bad Company

     Corporal Callahan rubbed his palms gently against the body of his lasgun as he walked his post. Its smooth feel was reassuring in his hands. If there was one watch he hated to stand, it was this one, just before dawn. The night was already fading into the "false dawn" but the sun wouldn't be properly up for at least another half hour yet. The light and shadow played tricks on a mans eyes, made him see things that weren't there .. and this blasted mist didn't help things either. Callahan snorted .. there could be anything out there, 20 feet from him, and he wouldn't see it. He'd be glad to get off this misable mudball ..what was its name ..oh yeah, Sheehee. As he paced along , his eyes tracking slowly through the grey tendrils of mist , Callahan wished the damn sun would rise and burn the mist off. This planet was bad enough without his overactive imagination being given any more leeway.
     Callahan tried to breathe shallowly through his mouth, to keep the almost everpresent sickly sweet smell of decay from his nostrils. This whole continent was a charnel house. As if being called in to deal with a tendril of one of those Hive Fleets wasn't enough, no sooner had the combined Marine and Imperial Guard force driven that off that an Ork Waaaargh arrived. Callahan kicked a stone from his path, muttering "I should have listened to my mother ..go into architecture she said, but no, I had to join up .. travel, excitement, camradarie ". He snorted in disgust. The last 18 months had given him *those* all right .. as well as pain, intermitant terror and countless aliens trying to shoot, hit or eat him.
     Callahan spun, bring his lasgun to bear on the mist .. what was that ..something had alerted his combat honed senses, something his consious mind hadn't yet responded to. His eyes darted left and right ..still nothing .. he strained his hearing, and *thought* he could faintly make out the sound of footsteps. The mist made it difficult to tell ..the sounds were muffled and never seemed to come from the direction they should.
     The mist swirled and parted ahead of him, and there no more than a dozen feet away stood another Imperial Guardsman, moving slowly towards him, head bowed. From the way he moved he looked to be exhausted, maybe wounded. Callahan cleched his jaw to activate his helmet comlink, and was rewarded with a hiss of static . "Typical" he grunted, bringing his gun to bear on the approaching figure. It didn't look like no Ork trick, but you couldn't be too carefull. From out of the mist behind the first Guardsman stumbled several more .. 3, 5, 6, it must be a full patrol coming in. Callahan took in their battered and bedragled appearance, noting the tears and dried bloodstains on their uniforms. Yes, it looked like they'd been through the grinder all right.
     The lead Guardsman was only a few feet away now, and showed no sign he'd even noticed Callahan yet. "Hold it right there buddy" he barked. "Sign and counter, you know the drill". The figure looked towards Callahan, who started backwards, nearly dropping his gun. The skin was pale and bloated, and the mans entire face was just ..gone. Looking at the others quickly he saw similarly grevious wounds. There was no way these men should be walking around. Callahan felt his breath grow faster and deeper, his heart starting to pound. The charnel reek was overwhelming. He felt his eyes drawn to one figure in particular, a gaping hole in the mans torso covered only by a few flapping and charred strips of cloth.
     With a low moan the shambling figures moved towards him, their pale and ragged arms outstretching. Callahan jumped back, triggering his lasgun on instinct. The bolt of incandesent light struck the closest one in the chest, dropping it to the ground, smoke rising in a thin grey column. Callahan bared his teeth in a feral grin, spinning to open fire on the next. Whatever these things were they could die. His shot struck the second in the head, blasting it apart in a spray of grey tissue and hair and bone fragments. The body took one more step before dropping straight down with a thud. "We're under attack " he roared, unwilling to turn from this battle.
     Callahan staggered and dropped as a grip like iron enclosed his left ankle. Looking down he saw the first one he'd shot pulling itself upright and towards him, before lowering its bloody mask of a face and sinking long teeth into his calf. Callahan screamed in pain and surprise as it tore a chunk from the meat of his leg, kicking at it, trying to break its hold. Belatedly he remembered his gun, and tried to see where he'd dropped it. By then the rest of the figures he'd seen had surrounded him and dropped to their knees around him. Blow after blow rained down on him, and his last view before the darkness took him was the ring of bloody faces closing around him.
- - - - - -
     Commisar Hurken bolted upright at the first snap of laserfire. Rolling from his cot he grabed his powersword and bolt pistol in one fluid motion and sprinted from his tent. From the mist somewhere on the west side of the camp came several shots and a shouted alarm call followed by a scream that was rapidly cut off. Alerted by the noise the Guards were tumbling from their beds and grabbing whatever weapons were to hand. From the other flanks of the camp came the sound of las fire and screams, then silence.
     "Form up, defensive positions" yelled Hurken, "Find out what we're dealing with here". The squads of Guardsmen sprinted to whatever cover was available, ducking behind rocks, logs, supply crates and drums. Hurken strode along their lines, radiating a calm presence to the men. "Hold your fire" he said, "Let's see what we have here."
     From out of the mist ahead several figures could be seen , moving slowly forward towards the waiting Guard lines. Hurken glanced around at the bare score of men huddled in whatever cover could be found, wondering why those thrice damned reinforcements hadn't shown yesterday as they were supposed to. The figures were closer now, taking form from out of the mist. Hurkens eyes widened at what was coming towards them. Ragged Imperial Guardsmen shuffled along next to battered Orks, here and there loomed the figure of a power armoured Marine , the armour breached in a dozen places. A pack of Tyrinid creatures lurched towards them, bodies torn, bones showing through limbs that held by only a few fragments of sinew.
     Hurken swallowed hard as he heard several of the men in front of him mutter prayers to the Emperor or whimper in fear. These were walking corpses .. how in the name of the Blessed Emperor could these things be? Years of training overcame his fear and he leveled his bolt pistol at the closest figure. "Fire" he roared, snapping off several shots into the advancing ..things. The Guardsmen, nerves already keyed up, volleyed lasfire into the shambling ranks, dropping several of the things to the ground, staggering others. As they watched, most of the fallen ones slowly pulled themselves to their feet and lurched forward again.
     To Hurkens right the staccato stutter of the heavy bolter filled the air, its shells punching creature after creature to the ground in a welter of flying body parts. He smiled grimly, knwing that at least one flank would be held. Bring his pistol up he fired round after round into the oncoming horde, till his hammer clicked on empty. Snarling he drew a fresh clip and quickly reloaded.
     By now the things were on top of the Guard lines, the men firing desparately to try and halt them. As Hurken watched he saw Guardsman Krantz disappear beneath the failing limbs of several of the Tyranids, his scream trailing off into a bubbling noise, and Sgt Dollan have his neck snapped under the gauntlets of what was once a Blood Angel. Young Lt. Bailey swung his chainsword in wide arcs, trying to drive the things back, decapatating two before a third plunged the razor edged bones from a severed wrist into his throat. The remaining Guards were pulling back towards the centre of the camp, firing wildly. Hurken heard a muffled crump from out of the mist and something streaked past his face to explode on top of the heavy bolter. The two Guards and their weapon vanished in a glowing ball of plasma , incinerated before they even knew what hit them.
     Hurken spun as something large and heavy clubbed his shoulder, dropping heavily to the blood soaked ground. Rolling over he looked up into a face born of a nightmare, bone , sinew and scale . The reptilian beast opened its mouth, needle-sharp teeth filling Hurkens vision. "By the Emperor, NO" be screamed, triggering his bolt pistol right into the things chest. His shot tore right through, smashing out through its back, showering the Commisar in its foul, slick intestines. His gorge rising, Hurken realised he could see right through the creature, that his shot hadn't even hurt it. Pain exploded in the side of his head as its long scaled limbs clubbed him again and again. Pulling him roughly upright in its huge arms the creature .. Zoat he realised .. smashed him to the ground again, then clamped its wicked teeth down on his shoulder. Agony lanced through Hurken , as he looked up and saw what was left of his arm disappear into its mouth. The head came down again and Hurkens world vanished into darkness.
- - - - - - -
     "The area is secure Sir" Scout Sgt Caladorn reported. "There are signs of heavy combat, though the forces are ..unusual. We show traces of human, Ork, Tyrinid , Eldar and one other that we cannot identify." Marine Captain Legarius nodded at the report. This was the third such incident in as many weeks. Something was very wrong on this planet. Some group had struck at the lightly defended outposts, slaughtered the defenders, then made off with everything .. weapons, equipment, food, those he could understand, but the bodies of the fallen? Not even the Orks did that. The few remains that were left behind were little more than scattered parts .. an arm here, a foot there, and various chunks of flesh that had once been men. "Carry on Sergeant" he said, his gaze taking in the field around him. Legarius had the feeling he'd see this again.
End.

Bad Company

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