• Last Man Standing

    17th Prio'erdr'ies. 3rd month. Pli sc'ri D'e*reci'es ( Plane Of The Glowing Sun And Revolving Sword ). A pleasant middle level apartment square. The premium bar and meeting place Sl'i C'r'o Ri ( Sun Of The Star Belt ). Its large and glowing sign a item of cordite and il'i'nmi'us.
    The corfortabley affluenced residents would go about their lives secure in the knowledge that the guards and security would keep them safe from the invaders or most enemies. Other wise they knew, there was always a place to go if it was no longer safe.

    7th Oc'ri 8th month. 17th hour, morning.

    The sign hung bleaky off 3 axels. It still flickered and bleaped ocassionally.
    Someone should really take it down, or shoot it to none bleeping bits of cordrite and il'i'nmi'us.
    But that would attract......the Un'fr*igi.
    There was no place to go.......No place was safe.......

    "31, Call in. Answer soldier"
    "Here sir 31 I"
    That is good Zki you know radio silence complete is bad.
    Sir!

    Sniper team Pi Lio. 7th squad of Pei squadren. Afrli'ed Pei Scgi Or'gi battleship.
    There were once 6 of the finest snipers circling the square in the once fine apartments.
    Still fine apartments. Good building pays in the long run.

    Now after 3 weeks, the claw marks and 4 shattered windows attested to the fate of the other 4.
    Good snipers, who Yadow knew in varying degrees.

    7th Ocr'i. 27 hour, setting sun.
    The ho'ri (howlers) started their wretched song. They never stopped till the sun set , then the worse foes came out.
    But sniper team Pi Lio had bigger foes in their sights.
    It loomed from the shadows of apartment 1'3. A shattered hull to shelter the i'g'n*e'ri( undead being).
    It was a wretched terrible thing.
    A 25ft tall skeletel being, with a ruined skull head and 6 eyes, last one to the right blown out by sniper 23.
    Unfortunately he had not penetrated it's brain with his last but one shot. His last shot hit its back to minimal effect.
    He died at its massive rotting claw as it swept through his nest making it's stinking cave even bigger..
    His lay on the ground for terrible minutes as the creature stamped around the square in a wretched , strangely sad victory dance.
    Then they teleported him to safety. He was lucky to just have the horror of that death in his memories.
    The others were not so.
    Snipers 14, 91, 013, 93, died in far worse ways.
    They were absorbed into its terrible being. It swept them from their nests and shattered their bones, their last shots aimed to the last one in perfect style.
    It now had many gaping, stinking tears in its face. But at the cost of 4 fine snipers and many perfect shots that would have killed it.
    The I'tec'ki*ci markers they bore shone in its flesh.

    Briefing to Pi Lio.
    Investigate the Icha'i*at'uos ( Ic'Krio for short ) project and terminate once examined.
    A larger version of the Alph'ias Gri, the leader of the horrific undead, uncountable, footsoldiers of the Icha'i*at'uos. The Gri.
    Details.
    Higher internal heating and necri'panthrofpi (decay)rate.
    Shorter life span.
    Sibkjicate that the absorbsion of living tissue is a plan to create a larger berserker rank soldier.
    Lowere intelligence and less control makes it unsuitable field commander.
    Has less chance of telepathic troop control than a Hi'grbi ( Hybrid)


    The Gri.
    Many beings died to create their filthy undead hordes. And so fast.

    They had tried but failed to send a full report back. Half had gone thorugh. They were alone. The terminate was their only way out.

    A question they asked. The leaders in the HQ. Why test the Un'rfri'go technolodgy of absorbsion of living tissue into the I'c'ho.
    On a lowly life form like the Gri? Was it not as stable as thought. Too precious to test on the higher Ich'kro.

    Personally, Yadow, did not care at this point. Sitting 2 and a half weeks in a fine but ruined apartment with a back wall that the Icrkos ( techicians ) assured him was proofed gainst this and other foes despite it's cracks, but still made him nervous. Staring down the sites of his rifle Crlo'ri trying to catch the sunbeam shot that would end this thing once and for all.

    A line flashed through his mind. They thought the flaw would lie in the the Un'fr*igi skull. At the back of it's head before the main proccessor plate. A ruby that shone bright red on the right.
    He sighted out half seriously on the nasty beast as it made rounds, blindly half striking the front of the buildings. It could not shake their hides. He was sure of that. The wall, no, their fronts of their hides, yes.
    He could feel the ground and elsewhere shake as it stamped round.
    He saw it. It flashed temptingly in half set suns and risng moons. He analysed. 70 percent close but his shot would hit the metal frame not the jewel 1/2 percent. Shame.

    Sharp piercing shots faster than sunlight pierced the air as 13 Leader hit the the Un'fr*igi in its eroded and softened face. A success! They had penetrated the bone layer and taken out half its left front eye. Would not be long now.

    Yadow hoped so.

    21st Oc'ri. 12th hour, sunsrise.
    31, call in.
    I 13 Leader.
    I 31.
    Yadow was surprised his leader would talk to a lower rank like him. The mighty, number one sniper in the Conglaivce and second only to Commander J'io.
    During their conversation he remebered the matches thay had had onboard skyship. Last Man Standing. A fight with the squads, and in squad, as to who could last till the end and all but one were down.
    Yadow had a talent for LMS. He was always the winner.Better than 13 Leader, Kc'i*eal K'jgin. 13 Leader was second.
    He shuddered.
    Something wrong, 31?
    Nothing 13 Leader.
    Good because in this, we have each other. We need to be a team in this above other times.
    I 13 Leader.
    Call me K'Jgin.
    Sir.
    Kci, we will win this.
    I know Sir.

    22nd Oc'ri. 13th hour, Mid morning.
    A Ico drone flew off course and nearly hit the Un'fr*igi. Nearly. I loomed drunkenly out and struck the drone away not soon enough to avoid the explosion. It dealt massive damage, destroying its chestplate 70 percent and smashing it's back plate on the left superficially.
    It destroyed half it's face.
    Not enough.
    They furiously shot precisely into it's gaping face.
    Till it uncharictaristically hid in it's hole.
    They did not push it. They had lost 4 snipers that way, by being over confident. A sad definition of over confident when pressing your advantantage is defined so.

    But it gave them a plan. The would lure a Ico drone to do their work for them.

    22nd Oc'ri 17th hour, Mid afternoon.

    Yadow looked at his hide. It was too large and expansive for his taste. Who could live with this much unnessesery stuff.
    He was a nomad. All he needed was his stuff and his rifle and he was set. He was perfect for being a sniper.

    The wall rattled.......
    He uncharictaristically spun round and tensely looked a the wall. Nothing, no breaking down, nothing.......
    But he swore he heard a Li'Pi (Leaper) and Ri'o (Roller) swarm.......
    He could hear Ic'krio, he knew it.

    He calmed himself. He was safe. If there were Ic'krio about, he was safe. The only Ic'krio he needed to worry about was the Un'fr*igi.

    His thoughts wandered to the merchants who had left this apartment. Were they safe?
    He knew they were not. But the mind can only take so much and it blocked out the massacre that had followed the escape from Pli sc'ri D'e*reci'es.
    They left their records. No merchant leaves their records. They had died in the massacre. The Fra'g R'Flor ( Burning Day Of Blood) had been legendery.
    None had escaped, some dying in the apartments in the flash raid that had occurred. Not this one, just. They died outside. The blood hit the doorframe instead.
    The child's toys broke his heart. He had not got the heart to move them, even touch them.

    23rd Oc'ri 13th Hour, Pre dawn.

    They set the Inducers in there hides and had the array set up in a hour and a half.
    They armoured their fronts of their hides as much as a sniper can.
    They neeeded two people to run them.
    25th Oc'ri they would catch the dawn patrol of Ico's and the Un'fr*igi was atoms.

    24rd Oc'ri. 11th hour, mid day.

    A victory. A battle had occured at the other side of the walls. It had shaken the the Un'fr*igi from it's getting stinkier hole. It blindly tore out, looking worse than ever.
    For a being that absorbed living tissue, it was rotting fast. Maybe the I'r'*ie*s'qu'ial {decay more whilst living 70 to 40} was the flaw also.
    13 Leader and 31 unloaded many rounds into the the Un'fr*igi, into its brain, their shots perfect.
    A combination of shots hit the right side of its face and body. It lurched down.
    13 Leader dropped his sniper rifle to his side and aimed his cannon.
    The 3 per cent unhinged left arm of the Un'fr*igi swung sound in a lucky shot it's more functioning mind had failed to strike. The rotting claw struck through the weakened door and hit 13 Leader just as his precisely aimed cannon fired slightly off target. In one moment the rocket struck a millimetre too far right and the claw disconnected mid forearm as 13 Leader was swept throught the broken window of his hide and he faced death as he was absorbed by the Un'fr*igi.

    31 hid as wreckage rained down on his hide and the Un'fr*igi staggered away into it's hole like nothing happened.
    It had had 70 percent of it's face blown away and only 3 eyes left, two on the far right and 1 in the middle in the left and it's left arm was hanging by a half a arm but it still lived.
    So close to death, yet so far.
    And still deadly.
    One millimetre more accurate and it would have been dead.


    25th Oc'ri. Mid early night.

    31 Yadow Zki set up a plan.
    He put the gruesome death of his last comrade out of his mind as far as he could. Not far, unforunately. But he must be calm.
    The armouring of hide 13 and the setting of lures and gear took a mere 2 and a half hours.
    He viewed his work. Good and in true sniper fashion, had to be done to perfection.

    In the time tween 0 hour and setting up he tried not to let his thoughts wander. But some did.
    He was the Last Man Standing. As always. But this time, he did not feel like the winnner so.
    The wall bothered him. He could hear them, less but he could.

    The sign of the best soldier is when he is under pressure.
    31 was the best.

    25th oc'ri. 13th hour, predawn.

    31 viewed the array, perched precariously between hide 13 and 31.
    He pressed the button. The lures blew and the Un'fr*igi staggered out.
    He ran quickly to hide 31.
    The Un'fr*igi loomed at his hide and he dodged the swinging right arm just as he set inducer 1.
    the arm stuck in his barbed wire trap as he ran to hide 13.
    He set inducer 2 and ducked as the Un'fr*igi tore free leaving 35 perchent of its flesh on the trap and swung at hide 13.
    He ran to the armoured hide he and 13 Leader and set up two days ago and prayed as the drones sped in.
    The sound was horrific. In the dark, listening to the horrible gargling screams and bullet rain his control slipped. He remembered the glowing I'tec'ki*ci marker of 13 Leader K'jgin embedded grotesquely in it's flesh.
    He was the Last Man Standing.
    His squad were gone or dead. Absorbed into that......thing.
    He was The Last Man Standing.
    He was the best.
    He was alone.
    The timer beeped faster as the countdown hit 7 off 31 minutes.
    He was the best. He gathered his courage and held his rifle steady.
    He knew the hides were a mess, and dangerous.
    This was his last chance.

    The timer hit 31 and he ferociously ran out, hoping and praying for the best.

    The air was a mass of shrapnel and apartments turned to dust.
    He was in the open 60 percent. Not good for a sniper.
    He heard nothing. Was it dead? Please gods of mercy be dead.
    The floor shook and he was thrown forward to the broken front of hide 13 as the wall behind started to collapse.
    He shook off the shock as the Un'fr*igi staggered to it's feet, nearly dead.
    He dodged wreckage as it destroyed the roof trying to get to it's tenacious killer.
    He analysed his surroundingings.Hide 31 was broken, his cannons are blown up, he had heard them explode in the fight.
    He saw 13 Leaders remaining cannon and grabbed the weapon.
    He staggered away as the Un'fr*igi smashed the roof in and he met his 0 moment.

    In the long moment he surveyed his foe. the greatest experiment in mass destruction and mass production the Ic'krio had made so far.
    It was a broken wreck and had but 2 eyes left, the middle right and the middle left. Its right arm was torn inward and outward and had pieces of barbed wire trap embedded in it. It's left arm dropped off as he aimed the cannon, and the rocket sped faster than sunlight, into the perfect target, and it's head was destroyed and the rocket flew out the back of it's processing plate and it crumpled to the ground in a tumultulous, rotting heap.

    He snapped out of the kill moment as the rocket hit a destabilised wall opposite and the left side of square began to break and crumple to dust.

    He hid in the semi broken armoured hide and once the sound stopped he stepped out and surveyed the ruins.
    Welcome sunlight flooded the square and he observed that his hide and yes even the wall he so disliked stood still. He stood in his hide , the only secure structure in the square and waited for more explosions.
    It was astonishingly quiet, barely a battle to hear.

    He relaxed for the first time in weeks and took out his communicater to tell of the success.......
    *****
    The wall exploded and the perfect Ic'krio forces burst in, the Cr'i*eo ( Spider Force )capturing the sniper who remained in the zone.
    High Commander Sfr'a*ian*'t'ios Fscri'scri*a'i of the Icha'i*at'uos surveyed the damage.
    Not bad, the Un'fr*igi was not as good as predicted but it was not a complete failure.
    Iquisitior Ci'e*antes Ran, called him over.
    This one is interesting.
    He held the controled and infected snipers head back. The Cr'ieo burbled with delight at it's success. Such a fine capture. It's tendrils probed deeper and removed the excess personality.
    High Commander Sfr'a*ian*'t'ios Fscri'scri*a'i probed the snipers mind.
    A mere I'O'k*'eo ( none Icha'i*at'uos ) but clever, intelligent, and the best.
    For the Elite Masses, Si?
    He picked the flesh from his beautiful fangs with his huge claw and thought.
    A light shone in his 12 yellow eyes and he said.
    No, I think this one is special. We have a candidate for the Elite Sniper Project. I think we will call him 31 for now.