Homeward Bound

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  • MantaManta Join Date: 2005-01-12 Member: 35056Members
    <u>Chapter XI: Reload</u>

    He jumped over a fallen chair and shouted out, "Here!"

    She turned in time to catch the machine gun as he threw it to her. As she caught it, there was a leaping cry from the opposite doorway. Tanner continued running after he threw the machine gun, using his momentum to jump up on the pool table and fire a full blast into the skulk's face as it flew towards them. Its body continued flying past him and through the open doorway behind them.

    Tanner continued his forward motion to step off of the pool table. As his feet hit the ground, a pair of skulks came out of the doorway and leapt at him. He shot one out of the air, but the other was too quick for him. It plowed into his midsection, tackling him backwards into the wall. There was a loud crack as he hit the wall and he slumped to the ground, dazed. The skulk reared up to finish him. It jumped forward to bite, but he feebly raised his shotgun, deflecting the skulk, which bit into his arm instead. He screamed in rage and pain, but was too winded to do anything about it.

    The skulk circled back to get a better angle, one that he could not block. As it crawled up the wall, a hailstorm of bullets struck it in the body and it shrieked before collapsing.

    Amy grabbed a med pack from the gurney and quickly applied it to Tanner's suit. The nanites repaired his mangled arm quickly and he sighed in relief. Amy helped him to his feet.

    At the same time, Tanner looked at the gurney full of med packs and Amy looked at his belt full of machine gun clips. He quickly gave her all of them, which she slipped into her own belt. Tanner said, "There's a Marine in the armory who needs one of these."

    Amy nodded and wheeled the gurney back out of the rec room as Tanner watched the mess hall door. When she was out of sight, he followed her and shut the rec room's door. They came to the armory, where the Marine was still lying down, unconscious.

    Tanner looked down at the Marine as Amy applied a med pack. His armor's nano-network identified him as Sergeant James Haring. They watched as Haring's status display increased in their visors. When it reached 100%, he suddenly spasmed, then sat up slowly.

    Haring removed his helmet and blinked, looking about himself slowly. His blond hair was mopped with sweat and his grey eyes were slightly misty. <i>Damn, he must have been in that locker for a long time</i>, thought Tanner. Haring suddenly seemed to snap back to reality as he got to his feet.

    Tanner stood up and walked towards the door. He turned around and slipped a cigarette from the sleeve of his armor. He had never wanted one so much as he did at that moment. He lit up as Haring sat down on a bench, recounting what had happened to Amy.

    "...then they came for me and all I could do was hide in that locker over there. I remember hearing them crawl around, then leave, and I must have passed out. Next thing I know, you two showed up."

    Amy nodded silently as he told her of how he had escaped. Haring sighed and looked around the room. He said, "So, I guess it was one of you that pulled me out and laid these mines, right?"

    Tanner said nothing. Haring shrugged and looked as if he was pondering over something for a moment. Then, he walked over to the row of lockers and punched in a code into one of them. The door swung open and he positively beamed. Amy gasped. Tanner turned around, his eyebrow raised.

    Inside the locker was a heavy machine gun and two pistols, along with a few boxes of ammo. Haring took the machine gun and a pistol, then loaded them both up. He handed the other pistol to Amy.

    Tanner spoke. "Hey, do you know the code for all of them?"

    Haring nodded and proceeded to enter in all of the lockers' codes. The three of them rummaged through the lockers, grabbing as much weaponry as they could hold. In the end, both Tanner and Amy had a light machine gun slung across their chests, along with a shotgun each. Haring had his heavy machine gun. All three of them carried one pistol.

    As Tanner turned to leave the room, Amy said, "Wait!" and kicked open another crate. It was full of mines and hand grenades. Each one of them grabbed a pack of mines and two hand grenades, except Tanner. He bit his lip and looked around the room for something. After a bit of searching, he found what he was looking for - a long, squat box, marked with a "W". He opened it and pulled out a welder. "You three can't carry any more equipment. I'll hold this one."

    The three of them filed out of the armory and set out to find more survivors.
  • BadMouthBadMouth It ceases to be exclusive when you can have a custom member titl Join Date: 2004-05-21 Member: 28815Members
    YAY! WHOOPEE! tanner and amy finally meet, and get another marine too! they got so much ammo and guns. its ownage.

    i loved your action sequences. very stylish and detailed. i wld like to see more character development though. and i think u overpowered the med packs a bit, ot have them heal so much like that. but, that is my view. u can write what u want cause this is the fan fic forums.
  • MantaManta Join Date: 2005-01-12 Member: 35056Members
    Heh, two medpacks in-game can heal you right up unless you're dead. I just try to follow the game, with the exception of mortal wounds.
  • Catalyst1Catalyst1 Join Date: 2005-02-08 Member: 40398Members
    I know some aliens that are gonna get pwnt...

    <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    I can't wait !!
  • MantaManta Join Date: 2005-01-12 Member: 35056Members
    <u>Chapter XI: Precarious</u>

    Chuck continued walking without looking back as the doors sealed shut behind him. He came to a room with a pool of mucky water at the corner. There was a pipe partially submerged. Chuck was standing on an elevated ledge running along the walls. On the far side of the room was another door, connected to an extension of Chuck's ledge.

    The ledge was relatively narrow, but it had railings. Still, Chuck edged against the wall. <i>Better safe than sorry</i> was Chuck's motto. He had survived the TSA's earliest campaigns against the Kharaa only by being cautious and thinking of his own survival above all else, which is why he often tended to go off on his own.

    Chuck edged along the corner of the room and continued forward, towards the far door. He was so concentrated on not slipping that he didn't notice the soft "plop" behind him, followed by a couple more "plops".

    Something in the back of his mind nagged at him, though, and he turned his head to see a gorge squatting on the railing, spewing forth the contents of its stomach into a vaguely cylindrical blob. He continued moving forward, keeping his eye on the gorge. He couldn't afford to stop.

    The gorge continued its vomiting for a bit, then stopped. It started moving its mouth around, crafting the blob. Chuck realized that the gorge was making an offense chamber, a foe that he knew very well. Throwing caution to the wind, he began trotting along the ledge, trying to reach the door as soon as possible.

    Behind him, he heard a distant gurgle and knew in his mind that the offense chamber had finished. He picked up the pace in an attempt to escape the oncoming spike, preceded by a soft hiss. At the last moment, he knew he was going to be hit, when the ledge suddenly gave out beneath him.

    A large section of the ledge crumbled into pieces, falling down into the sewage far below him. They landed with a splash, spraying water upwards. As Chuck fell, he reached forward and managed to grab onto the opposite end of the ledge, where he hung, suspended in the gap.

    He turned his head around to see the gorge finish the second offense chamber and hop off of the railing, onto the ledge. It waddled towards him, chuckling as it went. Chuck knew what would happen, as he had seen it many times before. Gorges looked relatively harmless at first, but their acidic spit could burn right through the TSA's armor.

    Chuck reached for his machine gun.
  • BadMouthBadMouth It ceases to be exclusive when you can have a custom member titl Join Date: 2004-05-21 Member: 28815Members
    as usual, u left readers at a cliffhanger ending. i take it as your trademark style and i curse u for the cliffhanger ending.

    the atmosphere was gd although it wld have helped to give the area he was in a name. for example, "sewers", "piping" or "something rundown and dilapitated".

    i really wonder how chuck is gonna <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> the <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif' /><!--endemo--> from his position.
  • MantaManta Join Date: 2005-01-12 Member: 35056Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-BadMouth+Feb 12 2005, 11:38 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BadMouth @ Feb 12 2005, 11:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> as usual, u left readers at a <b>cliffhanger ending</b>. i take it as your trademark style and i curse u for the cliffhanger ending.

    the atmosphere was gd although it wld have helped to give the area he was in a name. for example, "sewers", "piping" or "something rundown and dilapitated".

    i really wonder how chuck is gonna <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> the <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif' /><!--endemo--> from his position. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    No pun intended?
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