chance.
All this flashed before Coleman in a second, but only one question seared into his mind.
Where is David? Where is my son?
Coleman desperately searched the faces and shapes of the fleeing people. No children . Had the children already reached the evacuation center, or were they cut off and trapped somewhere, forgotten in the panic and unable to compete against the hordes of terrified adults?
Vanessa won’t let that happen. She’s got him. She loves our boy more than life itself. She’d already have him in the evacuation center.
But what if she didn’t or couldn’t? What if she was trapped herself, unable to reach him? Coleman imagined David terrified and alone somewhere, or perhaps fighting for his life this very second. Where would he be?
Coleman realized he was panicking, freezing up, completely forgetting his training and everything he was meant to do. But it was his boy….
Someone roughly grabbed his shoulder. Corporal Forest was one step ahead of Coleman’s thoughts. He jerked his head at the evacuation tunnel and yelled over the screaming, ‘David’s either in there or trying to get in there right. We need to clear him a path right now! We need to help!’
Coleman sucked it up and looked over his shoulder. You want to help your boy, then start helping right here.
Third Unit had snapped their weapons into firing position. They had stopped behind him in an arrowhead formation, as equally at a loss as himself. No military maneuver existed to deal with this situation, but the Marines couldn’t help by gaping from the sidelines.
Coleman had to trust in the professionalism of his team.
Let’s just fight them.
‘Choose your targets,’ he barked. ‘Let’s give these people some room to move, Marines!’
Third Unit reacted instantly. King, Marlin and Gill attacked left. Tremaine, Fisher and London attacked right.
Coleman and Forest ran straight into the middle of the mayhem.
Forest was already firing, snapping his rifle left and right and using his precise trigger-control to hurt every hostile in his firing arc.
All around, Coleman heard CMAR-17 assault rifles start discharging. Third Unit were finding whatever means they could to attack the creatures without injuring civilians.
On Coleman’s left, a creature dragged a man like a fallen horseman caught in the stirrups. Blood soaked his trouser leg where the creature gripped him. He desperately scrabbled for purchase on the smooth enamel floor.
Coleman saw a clean shot and took it.
He snapped off three fast rounds squarely into the creature’s head. The creature stumbled sideways, then recovered and charged straight towards the gunfire.
Diving aside, rolling on his shoulder, Coleman avoided the charge and came up shooting. His bullets tore into the creature at point-blank range. Behind the nest of tentacles pumped a fat, pale, wasp-like body. The body throbbed like a giant human heart. Sappy white fluid spewed from its wounds as Coleman churned bullets into the collapsing mess.
The creature stopped moving with a quarter of its body torn to shreds.
‘Target their abdomens!’ Coleman radioed as he knelt beside the wounded man. ‘The body is vulnerable!’
The man bellowed as Coleman wrenched the tentacle from his calf. Three-inch long thorns lined the creature’s limb. The man stumbled away towards the evac tunnel despite the deep raking wounds covering his leg.
Coleman checked his CMAR-17 magazine. He had used nearly half a magazine to take down just one creature.
Part of a frantic radio message burst over his headset: ‘- I repeat, we have
All this flashed before Coleman in a second, but only one question seared into his mind.
Where is David? Where is my son?
Coleman desperately searched the faces and shapes of the fleeing people. No children . Had the children already reached the evacuation center, or were they cut off and trapped somewhere, forgotten in the panic and unable to compete against the hordes of terrified adults?
Vanessa won’t let that happen. She’s got him. She loves our boy more than life itself. She’d already have him in the evacuation center.
But what if she didn’t or couldn’t? What if she was trapped herself, unable to reach him? Coleman imagined David terrified and alone somewhere, or perhaps fighting for his life this very second. Where would he be?
Coleman realized he was panicking, freezing up, completely forgetting his training and everything he was meant to do. But it was his boy….
Someone roughly grabbed his shoulder. Corporal Forest was one step ahead of Coleman’s thoughts. He jerked his head at the evacuation tunnel and yelled over the screaming, ‘David’s either in there or trying to get in there right. We need to clear him a path right now! We need to help!’
Coleman sucked it up and looked over his shoulder. You want to help your boy, then start helping right here.
Third Unit had snapped their weapons into firing position. They had stopped behind him in an arrowhead formation, as equally at a loss as himself. No military maneuver existed to deal with this situation, but the Marines couldn’t help by gaping from the sidelines.
Coleman had to trust in the professionalism of his team.
Let’s just fight them.
‘Choose your targets,’ he barked. ‘Let’s give these people some room to move, Marines!’
Third Unit reacted instantly. King, Marlin and Gill attacked left. Tremaine, Fisher and London attacked right.
Coleman and Forest ran straight into the middle of the mayhem.
Forest was already firing, snapping his rifle left and right and using his precise trigger-control to hurt every hostile in his firing arc.
All around, Coleman heard CMAR-17 assault rifles start discharging. Third Unit were finding whatever means they could to attack the creatures without injuring civilians.
On Coleman’s left, a creature dragged a man like a fallen horseman caught in the stirrups. Blood soaked his trouser leg where the creature gripped him. He desperately scrabbled for purchase on the smooth enamel floor.
Coleman saw a clean shot and took it.
He snapped off three fast rounds squarely into the creature’s head. The creature stumbled sideways, then recovered and charged straight towards the gunfire.
Diving aside, rolling on his shoulder, Coleman avoided the charge and came up shooting. His bullets tore into the creature at point-blank range. Behind the nest of tentacles pumped a fat, pale, wasp-like body. The body throbbed like a giant human heart. Sappy white fluid spewed from its wounds as Coleman churned bullets into the collapsing mess.
The creature stopped moving with a quarter of its body torn to shreds.
‘Target their abdomens!’ Coleman radioed as he knelt beside the wounded man. ‘The body is vulnerable!’
The man bellowed as Coleman wrenched the tentacle from his calf. Three-inch long thorns lined the creature’s limb. The man stumbled away towards the evac tunnel despite the deep raking wounds covering his leg.
Coleman checked his CMAR-17 magazine. He had used nearly half a magazine to take down just one creature.
Part of a frantic radio message burst over his headset: ‘- I repeat, we have
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