HOME | DD

Description
Robert was not sure what to make of what he heard. First he heard whirrs and clanks. Was he near a forge? Perhaps an advanced craftsman's camp? Though the warbling tones he had heard every now and then were strange. He decided to lean into the large-tussock, and try to peer through.
What he saw... was hideous. Hideous in a sensible way. He saw things of part-man, part machine! And they... seemed to be arguing. Not good. He stayed quiet, trying to blend as best he could into the dark grey surroundings. Not exactly easy with a light blue - if intensely grubby - white-crossed uniform, but he managed.
They seemed to be arguing. He couldn't catch any of the words, though. From the brief training on basic unit tactics, he figured that the two taller crimson ones were VIPs. By his guess, the one pacing and ranting about something or another was probably a officer. The many others were clustered around, muttering amongst themselves.

Then, action. He saw and heard the officer say something about dust storms, and all of them snapping into action. Then, frantic warbling yells from several of the troops... which he saw as being part machine?
Robert held back rising bile. It was one thing to hear of 'augments', but to see it in reality was another thing entirely.

Then, he got his first hint as to what was happening; a massive crawling mutant horde was making its way towards their position. Robert's hands shook - he hated mutants.
Then two... mechanized... things made their way up through the undergrowth. They were quadruped, and almost entirely mechanical.
He tore his eyes away from the almost ugly constructions to the source of the growing noise. Through the other clumps of large-tussock he could see moving figures out on the more open ground.
The machine men gathered themselves in a roughly circular formation, facing the ends of the clearing. Behind the cover, Robert shook his head - they were completely open to attacks from within the brush.

~~~

The first moment of the battle had Robert's hands itching to grab his rifle, lay down on his belly and take a stable shot. The mutants moved quickly, but the machine men moved quicker. The first few that came in from the northern path were mowed down quickly by repeating fire.
Repeating fire! It was unheard of, except for heavy weapons and Heavy Stubbers! Ludicurous!

The second wave was handled by the other side of the machine-man cluster. Through the cover...
Robert blinked and rubbed his eyes. Lasers! Those machine men actually had laser weapons! But he hadn't seen the bulky powerpacks or the large Magnifiers that he knew Laser guns to have. How strange.
Regardless, the machine-men clearly knew what they were doing. The mutants - for the most part, black-skinned and hairless, with many, many jutting teeth out from their maws - seemed to be easy to kill, or at least by these Machine-men. The masses of weapons that the crimson-armoured VIPs brought out were quite surprising, too. Robert paused... was that a sword he spied?
When the large machine-man in question hit a mutant with it, Robert shook his head, still watching the fight, and let out a sigh. Things were certainly queer here.
The two four-legged machines didn't bring any slack. What he vaguely recognised as cannons thundered off, turning sections of the ground and the mutant horde incoming into fine powder. It splashed up like the naval artillery he had seen, before all this!
The battle continued for a small while. Then abruptly the remains of the mutants were still, not even one rising up again. The machine-men seemed to relax, if only to reload and re-prime their weaponry.

Then... something rustled behind him. He rolled over onto his back, only to hear a guttural roar and a large mass of grey and black leap at him. He barely got his rifle up in time as it leapt at him, and with his middle handguard in the thing's throat, he desperately fended it off, breathing in the putrid aroma of its mouth.
Robert gave a monumental grunt, pushing to the right with his strong right arm and getting his rifle out of the thing's maw. It was a lucky thing that clocking it in the side of its head with the butt of his rifle was a side-effect of that.
He wiped the saliva off his handle with a disgusted grimace, and rapidly sprung to his feet, leaning forward and into the mutant and with his leg firmly raised, as if he were kicking open a door. His attack scored right in its temple, and the thing slumped to the side, dazed.
Realizing it wouldn't be dazed forever, Robert turned tail and ran. Straight out and into the northern end of the clearing, where the corpses of a bunch of mutants still lay. This was evident to the fleeing Infantryman, because he was caught around his knee and the world whirled as he fell flat on his face over the corpse of a particularly bulky mutant.

Robert wasn't unconscious. But the buzzing in his skull told him that he may have had a concussion. He had enough strength and sense to roll over, anyway, and get back to his feet, raising his rifle at the mutant that tore through the bushes in pursuit of him.
He had the shot, he had his rifle. At this range, he couldn't miss.
The familiar deafening CRACK of his gun's retort as well as the jarring force that kicked back into his shoulder accompanied the burst of light coming out the end of his barrel. As the muzzle flash dissipated, he saw the mutant's head start spurting blood through a large hole in its head.
It was still twitching. Robert's woozy hands affixed the bayonet in a heartbeat, and in a flash he had crossed the distance, impaling the beast on his rifle's blade. The tough steel tore into the thing's throat, stabbing through and upward into its brain.
The mutant gave a single twitch before its strength faded and its corpse dropped to the ground, sliding off the bayonet of the Infantryman.

As it stopped moving, a stacatto of shouts and clicks of gun-hammers being pulled reached his ears. He turned, and when he saw the machine-men levelling their guns at him he raised his hands into the air, dropping his rifle.

Description
Robert was not sure what to make of what he heard. First he heard whirrs and clanks. Was he near a forge? Perhaps an advanced craftsman's camp? Though the warbling tones he had heard every now and then were strange. He decided to lean into the large-tussock, and try to peer through.
What he saw... was hideous. Hideous in a sensible way. He saw things of part-man, part machine! And they... seemed to be arguing. Not good. He stayed quiet, trying to blend as best he could into the dark grey surroundings. Not exactly easy with a light blue - if intensely grubby - white-crossed uniform, but he managed.
They seemed to be arguing. He couldn't catch any of the words, though. From the brief training on basic unit tactics, he figured that the two taller crimson ones were VIPs. By his guess, the one pacing and ranting about something or another was probably a officer. The many others were clustered around, muttering amongst themselves.

Then, action. He saw and heard the officer say something about dust storms, and all of them snapping into action. Then, frantic warbling yells from several of the troops... which he saw as being part machine?
Robert held back rising bile. It was one thing to hear of 'augments', but to see it in reality was another thing entirely.

Then, he got his first hint as to what was happening; a massive crawling mutant horde was making its way towards their position. Robert's hands shook - he hated mutants.
Then two... mechanized... things made their way up through the undergrowth. They were quadruped, and almost entirely mechanical.
He tore his eyes away from the almost ugly constructions to the source of the growing noise. Through the other clumps of large-tussock he could see moving figures out on the more open ground.
The machine men gathered themselves in a roughly circular formation, facing the ends of the clearing. Behind the cover, Robert shook his head - they were completely open to attacks from within the brush.

~~~

The first moment of the battle had Robert's hands itching to grab his rifle, lay down on his belly and take a stable shot. The mutants moved quickly, but the machine men moved quicker. The first few that came in from the northern path were mowed down quickly by repeating fire.
Repeating fire! It was unheard of, except for heavy weapons and Heavy Stubbers! Ludicurous!

The second wave was handled by the other side of the machine-man cluster. Through the cover...
Robert blinked and rubbed his eyes. Lasers! Those machine men actually had laser weapons! But he hadn't seen the bulky powerpacks or the large Magnifiers that he knew Laser guns to have. How strange.
Regardless, the machine-men clearly knew what they were doing. The mutants - for the most part, black-skinned and hairless, with many, many jutting teeth out from their maws - seemed to be easy to kill, or at least by these Machine-men. The masses of weapons that the crimson-armoured VIPs brought out were quite surprising, too. Robert paused... was that a sword he spied?
When the large machine-man in question hit a mutant with it, Robert shook his head, still watching the fight, and let out a sigh. Things were certainly queer here.
The two four-legged machines didn't bring any slack. What he vaguely recognised as cannons thundered off, turning sections of the ground and the mutant horde incoming into fine powder. It splashed up like the naval artillery he had seen, before all this!
The battle continued for a small while. Then abruptly the remains of the mutants were still, not even one rising up again. The machine-men seemed to relax, if only to reload and re-prime their weaponry.

Then... something rustled behind him. He rolled over onto his back, only to hear a guttural roar and a large mass of grey and black leap at him. He barely got his rifle up in time as it leapt at him, and with his middle handguard in the thing's throat, he desperately fended it off, breathing in the putrid aroma of its mouth.
Robert gave a monumental grunt, pushing to the right with his strong right arm and getting his rifle out of the thing's maw. It was a lucky thing that clocking it in the side of its head with the butt of his rifle was a side-effect of that.
He wiped the saliva off his handle with a disgusted grimace, and rapidly sprung to his feet, leaning forward and into the mutant and with his leg firmly raised, as if he were kicking open a door. His attack scored right in its temple, and the thing slumped to the side, dazed.
Realizing it wouldn't be dazed forever, Robert turned tail and ran. Straight out and into the northern end of the clearing, where the corpses of a bunch of mutants still lay. This was evident to the fleeing Infantryman, because he was caught around his knee and the world whirled as he fell flat on his face over the corpse of a particularly bulky mutant.

Robert wasn't unconscious. But the buzzing in his skull told him that he may have had a concussion. He had enough strength and sense to roll over, anyway, and get back to his feet, raising his rifle at the mutant that tore through the bushes in pursuit of him.
He had the shot, he had his rifle. At this range, he couldn't miss.
The familiar deafening CRACK of his gun's retort as well as the jarring force that kicked back into his shoulder accompanied the burst of light coming out the end of his barrel. As the muzzle flash dissipated, he saw the mutant's head start spurting blood through a large hole in its head.
It was still twitching. Robert's woozy hands affixed the bayonet in a heartbeat, and in a flash he had crossed the distance, impaling the beast on his rifle's blade. The tough steel tore into the thing's throat, stabbing through and upward into its brain.
The mutant gave a single twitch before its strength faded and its corpse dropped to the ground, sliding off the bayonet of the Infantryman.

As it stopped moving, a stacatto of shouts and clicks of gun-hammers being pulled reached his ears. He turned, and when he saw the machine-men levelling their guns at him he raised his hands into the air, dropping his rifle.