Chapter 26: A Hero’s Death

Date: November 11, 3007
Time: 14:00
Location: El Nath Region

The body was gone now, followed by the eerie silence that filled the black cavern once more. Small waves lapped over the edge of the slab of stone, the dying wakes of the final fight. Cold, freezing water touched her hand, enveloping it for a few seconds like the devil’s icy grip, then retreated back into the dark sea. Caleio let her hand hang limply by her side as she stared up at the infinite blackness above her. It was just like the night sky, only darker with a hint of death.

The chattering of the rest of the platoon was distant and muted. Her rifle lay across her chest, cold to the touch from the lack of action. Her right hand lay behind her head, acting like a pillow for her silvery hair. Caleio’s midnight blue eyes turned from the ceiling of the cavern to the horizon to her left. The black horizon stretched endlessly, shadowing the many horrors of hell awaiting them.

Suddenly, a cry rang out in the darkness. Caleio sat bolt upright, her fingers tightening around the curved black trigger of her S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle automatically. Mark was standing up, pointing at something in the distance and hollering excitedly. Caleio realized he was wearing a tri-plasma tank. Where the hell did he get that? But the answer came to her right when she thought it. And when she turned to look at Zanna, her conclusion was confirmed, for she was standing holding a sub-machine gun, her back bereft of her usual plasma tanks. Caleio’s attention returned to the object of Mark’s enthusiasm.

Then she saw it, the jagged piece of rock protruding out of the sea like a black beacon. No waves lapped over the surface of the rock, emphasizing the uncomfortable silence of the environment. As the platoon drew nearer to towards land however, Mark’s shouts of joy turned to shakes of terror, for what waited for them was the last thing they expected to see.

They were infinite, their numbers too great to count. The Minor Zombies’ moans and shrieks reached their ears through the musty air of the cave. This is getting ridiculous, Caleio thought, cocking her rifle.

All of a sudden, something landed in the water a few feet next to the raft. Caleio watched it sink down into the depths, but instantly pulled her face away as it bubbled back to the surface. The bomb exploded under the water like a depth charge, and threw a thousand gallons of the salty sea up into the air with a terrific force. The wave washed over the slab of rock, soaking the entire platoon.

And then all hell broke loose. Somehow, the Zombies knew they were coming, and had prepared themselves for the fight of the century. Judging by the numerous explosions in the water around them, they had packed enough heat to send the entire Ossyrian Continent into orbit.

Felix’s yells came as a muffled order, “Over the sides! Over the sides!” Caleio automatically rolled over the left side of the raft and into the water. Another explosion rocked the sea; she could feel its tremendous force hit her through the water. Caleio’s head broke the surface, her silver hair clinging to her wet skin. She broke into a breaststroke kick with her legs, aiming her S-16 in front of her. Suddenly, the chatter of automatic weapons rang out from the shore; the Minor Zombies had weapons of their own. What in the name of…

Bullets splashed down all around Caleio like raindrops. Her feet had touched the bottom of the shallow water now, and she was wading up quickly to get behind cover. Diving to the side, another explosive bomb hurled above her. As she pressed her back behind a rock jutting out of the water, the bomb landed on their raft and exploded in a fiery inferno. Indistinguishable cries and shouts penetrated the air on both sides in the fortissimo of Satan’s symphony.

Checking her actions, Caleio sprang around her rock and opened fire. She could see them up on top of a cliff, handling shiny black machine guns clumsily in their green and rotting hands. She ran forwards towards the base of the cliff where they could not reach her. She was dodging bullets like the rain.

Without warning, one of the black bombs landed right beside her. Before she could jump out of the way, it exploded in a vociferous bang, sending Caleio hurling sideways into a rock. Her head hit the black-sanded beach; something sickly was oozing down her forehead, something red and warm.

Caleio could not hear right. The explosion had deafened her, and her world swirled to a snail’s pace. She trudged forwards, numb to the bullets raining down upon her. Through the darkness, she caught brief glimpses of other members of her platoon. Felix was running up towards the cliff with Aaru and Annikabelle following close behind. Another explosion lit the grotto temporarily, and Caleio saw Zanna and Repty behind a rock, reloading their weapons. A stream of plasma flames suddenly lit up the entire face of the cliff. A maniacal laugh echoed into Caleio’s ears as Mark forced his inferno up towards the top of the cliff like a fireman hosing the top of a building. He was a fire-man indeed.

And then her world whirled back into focus. The ricochets of bullets on stone and deafening explosions met Caleio’s ears with full force. She suddenly felt a searing pain in her shoulder and screamed out in agony, adding to the cacophonous din. Those bastards… She squeezed the trigger of her rifle, sending white-hot pieces of steel up towards the top of the cliff. She could see blurry outlines of a few zombies fly backwards, and some others fall forwards. A body landed with a dull thud on the black sand as Caleio finally reached the base of the cliff. Blood spurt out of her shoulder as she slammed her weight down onto the rocks. Another corpse fell from the top, spraying back sand into her face.

The explosions continued, lighting the cavern up briefly in a sickly yellow orange glow. Then, Caleio saw a figure in the distance, running towards her. As it got closer, she realized it was Mexiufax, his guns ablaze, sprinting towards her. And then it happened, and it was Mex’s world’s turn to slow down to a crawl. A single bullet tore randomly through the air and found his chest. Caleio watched in horror as he stumbled forwards, his guns falling silent. Yet he struggled back up; though Caleio was not a Shadow, she could still feel his pain.

His machine gun roared back to life once more, A few more bodies fell down over the face of the cliff, landing in front of Caleio with a crunch of old bones. But her midnight blue eyes were fixed upon Mexiufax, struggling valiantly to continue his fight. Another bullet hit him, this time in the left shoulder. Caleio winced as he doubled back, still about a hundred feet away from the base of the cliff.

Tears started to well up in Caleio’s eyes, tears that had never formed in a long time. He was going to die, yet he continued to fight death, continued to defy his fate. Mexiufax yanked the pin out of a hand-grenade and lobbed it over his head with his right hand. A brilliant flash of golden flames lit the cavern up above and in the brief moment of light, Caleio could see a dozen Zombies fly away from the epicenter of the blast, their bodies twisting in awkward directions in midair, ending with a thud as they hit the ground and rolled over, their flesh ablaze.

The first tear trickled down her cheek, creating a wet trail down her dirt-covered face. Mexiufax was stumbling left and right as he fumbled for another grenade. Suddenly, she felt herself overwhelmed with memories of her past. And the darkness closed in, enveloping her soul.

Date: August 16, 2997
Time: 00:34
Location: Ossyrian Ocean

She was falling. Her tears left her eyelids, but flew up into the air behind her. The ragged wind tore at her body like knives as she hurled towards the ground. A distant explosion rocked the air above her; the ship was gone. Fiery bits of shrapnel rained down around her, joining her descent towards the earth. The clouds gave way under her, and she saw the black ocean below, welcoming her burial at sea. But then she felt his hand close around hers.

The man’s firm grip pulled her around, and she saw him catch hold of a curved steel plate. Straining his muscles, he forced the broken metal under the two of them so that it acted like the wings of an airplane. Caleio sniffled and looked incredulous as they somehow managed to glide softly into the ocean below.

The water was cool upon impact; she watched as the metal plating sank like a rock, their savior descending to its final resting place. The man’s feet were kicking hard to keep his body and hers above the water. Wood and metal continued to splash down around them like rain.

Suddenly, there was a piercing screech and Caleio’s head jerked up towards the night sky. A patch of cloud started to glow bright red. Then, the remains of the mighty ships burst out like meteorites shooting towards the earth. Caleio’s midnight blue eyes followed the wreckage in its descent, and watched it impact the water at a great velocity, creating a massive wave that surged out in all directions.

It bore down upon her and pushed the two of them down underwater. But Caleio did not bother to kick back up to the surface. She had lost Mal, and did not seem to have the will to live anymore. Maybe it would be better to join him in heaven than to remain here and walk the rest her life alone… Slowly, Caleio let all of the air go in her lungs, and closed her eyes, letting herself sink to the bottom of the sea.

But a hand reached down to her, pulling her back up, restoring her life. Her head broke the surface, coughing and sputtering in the water. The man had pulled her onto a large slab of wood that was floating in the water. It could only hold one person, so he was hanging on to the edge will kicking occasionally to keep himself from drowning. Caleio hated the man for prolonging her death, but did not move. She could not move. All of her muscles seemed to be strained and fatigued to the point of fracture. Caleio closed her eyes and saw Maldran one last time, then lost consciousness. Her will to live was like Maldran’s fate, stone cold dead.

The rescue boats arrived at the break of dawn, the rising sun giving them the likes of angels. They prowled the waters for other people, but in the end, found none; Caleio and the man were the sole survivors of the collision. She thought of Maldran, and his death. It was meaningless, unfit for the hero that he was, that she thought he was. Fate jeered down upon her, mocking her, hardening her heart. Caleio lied to herself, saying that it was over. She was alive, and her loved one was dead. It wasn’t over.

Date: November 11, 3007
Time: 14:30
Location: El Nath Region

Maldran’s face warped into Mexiufax’s. The ocean turned into a black underground sea, and Caleio found herself against the face of a cliff with fire all around her. In a nightmare, every choice made was a nightmare. This was her own personal nightmare. Explosions rocked the ground between the cliff and the sea and bullets whizzed in all directions. In the middle of it all, was Mexiufax, blood trailing behind him as he desperately tried to reach safety.

But Caleio knew it was over for him. Her second tear slid down her cheek and landed softly into the black sand. In the next second, it was over. She saw the black sphere-like ball land right in front of him, and in a blast of fire and black sand, he was gone.

Caleio stared incredulously at the spot where her platoon-mate was just standing. Now he was no where to be found, erased from the surface of the planet. Or in his case, from the depths of hell, for this was the devil’s land in all aspects. Another explosion rocked the blackness, shaking the cavern like an earthquake. Caleio snapped to and finally realized he was dead. He would not be coming back. Dying always seemed irrelevant to her after she lost Maldran. But now, she suddenly didn’t want to die, didn’t want to end up in hell like the so many other damned souls. She ejected an empty magazine and reloaded her rifle.

Heavy footsteps thudded across the base of the cliff towards her; Felix, along with Aaru, Annikabelle, Repty, Zanna, and Niel, stopped in front of her, panting in exhaustion. From the looks if it, they were clueless about what to do. Then, it hit her, “Where’s Mark?”

Felix looked behind him and his eyes dilated in horror, “He was right behind us a second ago!” Caleio stared off into the darkness of the cave. Flashes from the Zombies’ muzzles above continued to fire blindly out into the direction of the sea, oblivious that their targets were right beneath them. And then she heard his voice over the communicator.

“Come… ack I thi… I found a…ay out!” his dismembered voice flowed in broken segments through Caleio’s ear piece. She broke away from the platoon into a sprint back from where Felix had come from. They were playing connect the dots upon a battlefield, weaving from one impact crater to another. A spurt of flames suddenly revealed where Mark was; Caleio heard Zanna let out a shriek of terror, for Mark was already on top of the cliff, hosing Zombies down with his streams of plasma like no others’ business. Burned and charred bodies were falling off the face of the cliff like mad, tumbling over jagged rocks and ending up in splayed piles on the beach.

“What the… ell are you…aiting for? COME ON!” he roared, his voice audible through the communicator and from above on the cliff. There was a slope to the very right of the cave leading up to the top of the cliff. Quickly scrambling over razor sharp rocks and huge boulders, the platoon made their way towards the top. But Mark was already way ahead of them, creating a path of fire through the darkness.

Thoughts suddenly flew through Caleio’s head. Mark was risky, but never stupid. What he was doing now was way beyond the level of stupidity. What the hell was he trying to do? Then, his voice panted, a hint of finality in his voice, as if he had seen the face of Jesus, “Ok, this it. I’ve done it.”

Felix’s bemused voice answered back, “What do you mean, Mark?”

“My tanks are almost empty, but I can see the hole from here. You should have no problem when you guys reach my position. Thanks for everything, captain.” Caleio was beginning to feel frightened at Mark’s deathly tone.

“Mark what are you doing? Mark answer me!” Felix shouted into the communicator. The Zombies were closing in already; Caleio blasted one’s head away as she ran. There were no longer any spurts of flame in front of them. The communicator was awkwardly silent before Mark continued.

“It has been an honor serving you, Captain Shadeswalker.”

Felix’s scream of protest was muted by the explosion. A roiling fireball consumed the blackness in front of them, lighting the cavern up in a blinding yellow glow. Light flooded every nook and cranny. The screams of the Minor Zombies heralded the fireball as it climbed towards the ceiling of the cave. And then the force of the blast reached them, shaking the ground and crumbling the edge of the cliff. Mark was gone. A hero’s death.

Caleio was numb all over. Her fingers continued to squeeze the trigger of her S-16, but she did not feel them nor the kick back as the bullets shot through the air at mach-3 and impacted the skulls of the dead. She could see the crack in the wall now, surrounded by flaming wreckage of hundreds of charred bodies. Caleio emptied her clip and didn’t bother to reload; it did not matter anymore. The Zombies were retreating after the insane inferno claimed half of their numbers. Looking behind her, she could see their cold dull gelatin eyes jeering at them, stupidly trying to get past the flames.

Felix was already there, and was pulling the rest of his platoon up and into the small hole in the wall. Caleio was the last to reach it and climbed through, leaving the sea, leaving the black cavern, and leaving two friends behind. She did not deserve to walk away. There were no happy endings.