OK... a bit late with this one, and I am still not quite happy with the ending few paragraphs (I don't really think that it fits as well as the rest)... but I think, on the whole this is a vast improvement in many areas. Changed the story up a little bit and vastly extended it.
The document's stats say that I have worked on it for about 7 hours and produced just shy of 3900 words (basically doubling the initial piece) .
This was done in three or four sessions... not a bad effort.
Don't worry, there will be less nasty pieces in the future.
THE NECRONS TEAR FORTH
The farmer brushed a
bead of sweat from his chin, the sun beating down warmly in the late
afternoon. From the back of his horse, he surveyed the vast plains
from the hill that bordered the east of the property. The corn
stalks gleamed back and waved gently in the light southerly breeze.
Lowering the brim of his hat, he turned west towards the habitation
facilities of the farmer's hamlet and a gentle heel to the ribs of
the horse set it off at a canter. In the distance, slightly to the
south, he could see the towering spires of the hive city. These
spires could easily have hosted a city in their own right, being well
over a kilometre wide at the base and several kilometres tall at
their peak, and there were many such constructions. Far larger
than the natural hills in the surrounding areas,
he mused, and many farms like this to support them, despite
all of the reclamation and recycling facilities.
The sun had reached a point where it was being obscured by these
enormous structures and, a few minutes later, the farmer had ridden
in to the ever darkening shadows. The breeze started to kick up as
dim moonlight from the crescent in the sky stared down upon the
scene, the traveler's now minutes away from the village.
Bright
flashes erupted everywhere. The horse bucked and cast the farmer on
to the cold dirt. More deafening cracks from all around drowned out
the horse's whinnies and the farmer's shouts of pain. The horse
bolted through the fields as the farmer tried to turn over. A sharp
jolt through his right arm forced him to stop and take stock of the
situation. Through the ringing in his ears he could hear the sound of
a horse crying out. My horse?
He couldn't tell, for there were more and more horse whines and
neighs. He slowly rose to his feet, though swaying unsteadily. He
reached for the nearest stalk for balance, his head throbbing and
vision not clear. Something trickled down his head. Blood.
The sounds in his ears were receding, only to make the cacophony
nearby more clear. Shouts from the other farmers in the town centre
were interspersed with shotgun blasts and pained screams. A pounding
footstep behind him made him turn. Too quick for his injured head as
his vision blurred again and he stumbled. He looked up and, even
through imperfect sight, the dim moon was bright enough to light up
the brooding figure. Its shadow stood a full head and shoulders above
him and there was clear malevolent intent in the stooping of its
shoulders and dim glow in its eyes. The farmer turned to run but fell
again as a large blade sliced through his spine. The lower half of
his body now useless, he tried dragging his body towards the village
despite the shooting pains in his arm. In his final moments, he noted
with some clarity that the town was becoming less loud, less gun
shots, less screaming – and then the pain was gone forever.
***
The
shelter was packed and chaotic. Entire cities-within-buildings had
been moved to the lower levels, over-crowding the vast labyrinthine
halls of the hive city's structures. The massive number of people
oozed sweat that made the air heavy, humid and uncomfortably warm.
The lights from above and the sides did little to help, and even gave
an eerie sense of dim fog as the air conditioning units clearly
struggled to get adequate air flow to the people they were supplying.
Over the incessant concerned chatter, the constant thud-thud-thud of
shelling could be heard. Some might have even felt it, had it not
been for the sheer number of people moving at once.
Brian tried
moving through the milling crowd, though he was more subject to the
constantly altering current of people like a butterfly in a strong
changing wind. He managed to catch small insights of conversation at
every change and stop in crowd movement.
“I
heard that the Northern Continent's Hive was hit first. It must have
been the ruinous powers trying to -”
A shift in crowd
direction.
“-ern Continent was hit first. Nobody seems to know
anything about the central lands either. I don't think that anyone
will either.”
“Why not?”
“If it started there, then the
next obvious line of movement is through the central lands. If they
have been hit then -”
The melancholy crowd shifted
again.
“-anids are vile creatures. Some are only the size of
rodents, but there are others that tower above most regular-sized
buildings. Their sole purpose is to consume and destroy -”
Though
all rumours about the current situation were different, they all had
a common thread: The world was going to hell and they were all
doomed.
Brian tried to move against the crowd, but he was floundering in the ebb and flow of people and was pushed deeper in to
the unknown regions of the bunker. Changing tack, he tried moving
towards a wall. Little by little, he managed to make it just as the
crowd flowed in to an open hall area. Through a few protrusions in
the wall, and in part thanks to the pressure of the crowd pushing
against him, he climbed a small way up, enough to view over the heads
of the crowd. From here, he could hear and see further. He
immediately spotted people spread throughout the hall who had
appeared to have clambered on to larger boxes or crates to generate a
following, a crowd within the crowd. He focussed on the loudest of
them, a bald man, withered but powerful in voice and conviction.
“The
Emperor is coming! The heretics amongst us will be punished!” It
was at this stage that Brian noticed he was being held aloft by
several larger people beneath. “You cannot hide! Your soul will be
damned for eternity when -” A deep rumble shook the cavern and the
preacher fell, along with most people. Brian, too, fell from his
vantage point. The structure shook for a whole minute, with deep
screeching from the walls and structure above. People shrieked, as a
small portion of one wall gave way above them, crushing them
mercilessly. A thunderous blast of air followed, as another minute
passed of shaking. As the rumbling slowed and the return of droning
thudding could be heard, the preacher got back up before the majority
of the crowd.
“People, see the Emperor meting out divine justice
to the unworthy! Hear the Emperor's Will being imposed against
transgressors! Their time has come for their sins against Him!
Repent!”
Brian knew he had to get out of there, fearing the
madness becoming infectious and he started back up the corridors,
back to where he had come. He wasn't even sure where he was, or where
he really should be going... as long as it was not here. Where
is here, exactly? He wondered.
We must still be in the building. Maybe underground? We've
moved down so many floors that I can't tell any more.
Another
two hours of crowd jostling and confusing direction changing passed
before he noticed the air conditions changing. Less stuffy than the
previous few hours, more... free. Open. Though the crowd was still
densely packed, it did appear to have slightly more breathing room. A
few minutes later, he had reached another open region. This one was
much larger, though, with a very high ceiling, perhaps ten storeys
high, and a wide open region of perhaps 200 metres in both
directions. Curiously, the sounds of shellings were becoming more
common and louder. Brian made his way through the herd to the nearest
wall and tried jumping to see more. Several attempts later, he could
see that this hall might have been much much larger if it weren't for
the large barricades that made up one of the walls. In fact, from
certain angles, it looked as if there were a massive set of doors on
the other side of the barriers.
Using the walls as guides, he
slowly pushed through the pressing bodies to the barricades. Though
they were thick and blank concrete-like barriers, there were gaps
between the individual slabs that made up the wall. Peering through
one of these gaps, he could make out military uniforms and some
visual screens... some form of control panels. The noise from the
crowd behind his back made it impossible to make out any useful
information coming from the other side of the barrier, so he was
limited to watching. The pace was definitely frantic, fast moving
blurs flit past the gap. Somebody made pointing gestures to a vacant
control panel, and a soldier sat down, placed headphones on and
monitored actions on a -
CRUNCH
Brian
was thrown from his feet.
The world shook violently around
him.
Concrete passed his head and body.
Steel screeched near
him.
Noise stopped having any effect on his mind.
More
shaking.
Concrete and steel collapsed around him.
Darkness.
Deafened
Silence.
The
shaking subsided.
How long has passed?
Wait...
I am
still alive.
Do my arms work?
*pained
motions*
My
legs?
*pained
motions*
That's
good. What now?
*time
passes*
I think
there is some light.
Through some miracle of luck, Brian was trapped in an alcove
generated by the destruction wrought by the building being damaged.
Brian's wracked body was intact enough to make meaningful motions.
The ringing in his ears was still incredible, but he thought could
make out his frantic scratching of rubble as he desperately tried to
make his way towards the opening. Unknown amounts of time passed
before he clawed his way through the to the light. He started
shouting, his voice echoing oddly off the enclosed chamber.
A muffled voice seemed to shout back.
He shouted again.
More
muffled shouts before scratching sounds.
The light hole got
bigger.
Hands reached through.
The voices, still muffled
through his hearing damage, seemed to shout encouragingly as the hole
got wide enough for uniformed arms to squeeze through. Brian reached
and made contact. Slowly, the hands pulled him free.
“Keep
an eye on him, Johnson,” somebody with chevrons on his shoulders
ordered the nearest soldier to look after Brian. He surveyed the
scene. The wreckage itself looked as if it was caused by one of the
concrete barriers having been flattened by a destroyed part of the
Hive building. Multitudes of destroyed equipment and soldier's bodies
(and partial bodies) were littering nearby. Directly opposite that,
behind the rows of makeshift control stations, he made out the large
doors... probably for the outside world. The rest of the soldiers who
managed to escape the earlier carnage were grim-faced and set doing
their various duties. Many were crowded around the remaining
surviving screens and headsets.
“Come
on, civilian, this way. We've set up an infirmary over here.”
Brian
followed but became distracted and detached from his supervising
soldier when the ground shook heavily again. No major structural
collapse happened, but the debris from the previous wreckage started
to settle and flatten out. Another major quake threw Brian towards
one of the panels. Even before the tremors stops, a heated discussion
was taking place between the panel's operator and whoever was on the
other side. On the screen, there was a scene of devastation. Half
shells of the nearest buildings smouldered. The operator of the
control panel was frantically waving his arms and shouting before
resignedly sitting down, head in the palm of a hand.
“-not
going to happen! The best I can do is get my Major to talk, but I
really.... OK, OK, I'll try.”
The operator pressed a few buttons
and said dejectedly, “Major Jackson, Major Palmer of HD 10th
outside wants to talk about -” He was cut off by the Major himself
tapping him on the shoulder.
“Put it on loudspeaker,
Woods.”
“Sir.”
A brief burst of static before the sounds
of battle came through the control panel's speakers.
“This is
Major Jackson of the ID 5th.” His voice was commanding
whilst being surprisingly calm, given the chaos around him, in stark
contrast from the panicked reply from a dirty and worn down
soldier.
“Major Palmer of the HD 10th. Sir, we beg of
you. We need to get inside! It's the only way that we'll all make it
through and provide a legitimate defence of the people!”
“You
know the protocols, Palmer. No one gets out OR in.”
“With
respect, you don't understand. My men are being systematically
eliminated! It's not a battle, it's a bloodbath!”
“And you
want us to open that up to the people in here?”
“There IS No
Escaping this!” Palmer was getting hysterical. “That last
earthquake? That was the next Hive Building being erased! Not
destroyed. The West side of the HIVE BUILDING simply DISAPPEARED and
then the rest of it COLLAPSED. Surely you can see IT on the
screens!”
“Major,” Jackson's tone became harsher and more
stern, “You will not have access to this building. If we open those
doors, whatever it is that is causing this ruckus will come in here.
Our duty is to protect the civilians, you WILL protect the civilians
by leading them away from here.”
“Sir, I will protect my men
AND the civilians as best as HHRRRAAAAAAGHHH!”
A loud crack and
blinding light on the screen caused all watching it to wince and turn
away. The soldier on the screen was no longer able to be identified
as such because there was barely enough of him left to be identified
as anything at all. The people surrounding the screen looked on in
horror as the piece of meat before them collapsed to off screen. The
loudspeakers made another loud crack before turning once again to
static. Woods pressed a few buttons and tuned a few knobs before
morosely declaring:
“The line's dead, sir.”
Brian's
jaw slackened and he moved closer to the screen.
“What was
that?”
The
Major turned around, shocked at the unrecognised voice.
“Hey,
what are you doing here?” He shouted. “This is no place for a
civilian!” Brian raised his hands defensively and started backing
away when the Major whipped out his laspistol. “What's that above
you?” The communications officer manning the panel turned around
and faced the same direction as the Major.
A translucent figure loomed above him. A three metre snake-like tail
hung down from the hovering body but, instead of a true tail ending,
it finished in a series of short blades and exposed wires. An
unnatural ribcage held up broad stooped shoulders that stretched
almost a metre in each direction. A long skull-like head peered out
of the shoulders, eyes malevolently glowing and subtle striations in
the otherwise smooth metal-like face mimicking teeth. An arm dangled
from each of the shoulders, the hands were long grasping blades. The
soldiers and Brian stared up at the semi-transparent being hovering
above them.
The
wispy body suddenly became a dull silver and opaque as the arm-length
talons swiped forward at Woods. His reaction was to push back the
chair, flailing his limbs. This saved his life, but cost him his arms
as the blades sheared through them. The Major fired, his shot true
hitting the thing's shoulders but seemingly not causing any damage.
The metallic fiend pressed its attack, wrapping its long tail against
the screaming officer. The blades cut into his torso and the electric
shocks generated from the tail sent the tortured Woods in to
convulsions. More soldiers had arrived at the scene, knocking down
tables for protection and firing their own laser weapons. The thing
flung the now unconscious Woods in to the gathering crowd and turned
translucent again. When it did, all firing lasers went from hitting
it to passing directly through.
Brian stood dumbstruck.
“What
is it?” he asked.
“Get back, civilian!” Major Jackson pushed
him towards an upended table.
Brian saw a similar translucent
figure float through a control panel behind the gathered
soldiers.
“Another one, over there!” He shouted for attention
and pointed towards another ghostly monstrosity. Some soldiers turned
just as it became opaque and started to tear through to cluster of
mortals.
“One just flew through the wall!” Another soldier
called from across the room.
“Impossible,” was the shouted
reply from Jackson.
As the soldiers turned in multiple directions
to face new attackers, the original one seized the initiative and
flew headlong into crowd, becoming corporeal at the last moment to
collide with a group. One distracted soldier had his skull completely
crumpled as the flying being's solid head rammed in to it. His
nearest partners were opened up by its outstretched arms cutting
through them. A whip-like motion of its tail caught another soldier
unawares, the electric shocks incapacitating him.
A shot struck
home and pierced the glowing eye of the original wraith. It collapsed
on to the ground with a grinding metal sound. More soldiers trained
their fire on the lifeless thing, slowly eroding its metal away.
Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers has started to subdue the other
ghosts. Though they were not being damaged, the constant barrage of
laser fire prevented them from remaining wholly physical.
“Keep
firing men!” The Major started trying to take control of the
situation. “That one is down, it's dead. Fire at the others!” He
turned towards Brian. “Go on, run away!” Brian needed no further
encouragement. He scarpered towards the ruins that had previously
trapped him and started scrambling to the top.
As he neared the
peak, he turned to face the carnage one last time. He could see
throughout the militarised area that the battle had just witness was
not unique, many other crews fought the beings that seemed like
ghosts. The dead and dying soldiers were oozing their life's blood
all over the floor as the grit and grim resolution of the surviving
soldiers shouted orders and instructions to each other. Those who
protected his life had moved around to help other squad members
and...
Wait...
was that motion? From the dead one?He
looked on in horror as the previously downed opponent got back up and
started floating again. He shouted to the fighters, but the ensuing
melee was too loud and too far away for him to be heard. He could
only watch helplessly as the fallen being recommenced its brutal
attack on the unwary.
His
tired and sore arms helped him climb the final few metres to the peak
of the wreckage . Brian looked over towards the civilian side of the
barrier. The crowd was huge and trying to remove some of the rubble
to free the trapped beneath. Someone noticed him, pointed and started
ushering him to come down. The noise here was also quite loud, so he
couldn't make out what was being said. Instead, he shouted back,
telling the crowd to run away because their doom was coming but,
again, his voice was drowned out. He started climbing down, noticing
that his presence had gathered more attention. He was about halfway
down when a translucent face jumped through the debris and startled
him enough to make him lose his grip.
He fell, bounced off a few
jagged platforms and landed heavily. He slowly rose, numerous grazes
and scratches stinging sharply, previous injuries also singeing his
mental state. The crowd's voice changed, from industrious working to
frightened screams. He saw another floating metal creature pass
through the barrier as if it were not there. The milling crowd
shifted and started to retreat. Though pained, he ran over the last
few destroyed metal pillars to join the crowd in running.
Numerous
bright flashes and loud cracks were heard. Brian saw something
different in the crowd. New things had entered the facility,
seemingly out of nowhere. Some had appeared directly inside people,
melding flesh and metal into a hideous conglomeration. The amorphous
blobs collapsed immediately to the floor.
More cracks and
flashes. Brian briefly turned and could make out what these new
apparitions were. These were more humanoid, bipedal creations but
managed to stand a full head and shoulders above even the tallest of
people, even with their kyphotic stance. The light reflected off
their torso. Their silvery ribs housed a dull glow that mimicked
their evil eyes. The upper body was not as bulky as the wisp-like
ghosts previously encountered, but there was no doubt that they were
somewhat related. Though they had hands, they lacked proper digits
and instead had claws as long as his forearm protruding from the ends
of the upper limbs, as if each finger had been replaced with a giant
curved knife.
The crowd was starting to thin out now, a
combination of a panicked stampede and culling of the population
meaning that he was dangerously exposed. A person running ahead and
to his left was effortlessly scythed down. Several more of the
machines ran ahead and into the crowd. Brian reluctantly turned back,
knowing his fate was now sealed because he was effectively cut off
from the rest of the herd. He was still trying to find a miracle
escape when a pungent stench hit him. He looked and found the
metallic beings actually slowing down. Miracle?
No,
as the new odour was coming from fallen people. The terrifying
creations were flensing the people, disembowelling them without
remorse. Brian watched in abject horror as one of the metal beasts
eviscerated the fallen and grabbed the remains of the bloody flesh
sacks that were once human. It then wrapped the pieces of still
dripping body around itself, shreds of clothing and bone jutting off
at odd angles. The atrocious scene combined with the foetid air to
make Brian double up and vomit profusely.
One of the horrifying
creations walked towards Brian, though he only registered this as the
sound of squelching of intestines getting louder through his now
increasingly wracked dry heaving episodes and the nearby screams of
victims and soon-to-be-victims. He was too feeble to get to his feet
and so could only look up at the dripping entrails dribbling off its
exoskeleton. He wanted to wail but all he could muster was a whimper.
Multiple blades pierced his body and perforated internal organs. His
eyes widened as the blades slid through his abdomen into his chest
cavity. The cold metal arms forced Brian to his feet. Only a bloody
gurgle dribbled out of his mouth as a second set of blades impaled
him. The terror twisted its talons within him as Brian began to
crumple forward. The thing ducked and wrenched open the rib cage, the
sickening sound of bones snapping filling the air as the horrifying
eruption of blood, viscera and other internal fluids showered the
ground. It allowed what was left of the body to fall on top of
itself, adding another gruesome pelt to its skeletal form.
The
abomination had to pause for a few seconds, talons slicing openings
for its optical senses, before moving toward the other metal
creations uncompromisingly tearing through the weak fleshy mortals.
The march towards certain death was on.
