SeismicRupture
05-14-2006, 10:13 PM
Diggs, along with six other men and one woman, trudged along in the snow, as it turned to slush beneath their feet. He tried to keep his eyes on the horizon, as snow blindness was not fun, and polarized glasses did not protect you completely from it. He, along with the other seven soldiers in his unit lugged a Barret M107 behind him. These powerful 50 cal sniper rifles were helpful in what he needed to do. He watched the two soldiers in front of him reach the top of the icy ridge, and disappear as they slid down the other side.
A soft voice crackled in his ear from his comm-link as he prepared to slide down the ridge after them, 'Are we there yet, mommy?' Diggs could tell that the whiny voice was from Redburs. A few crackly laughs escaped his comm-link as he slid down the ridge, into more snow...the snow and ice went on forever. He was never going to escape this damned continent alive.
Another voice crackled in his ear, 'Over this ridge, according to the sattelites.' Another ridge. About the thousandth one today. Diggs' M107 was beginning to feel alot heavier than it had been an hour ago...two hours ago...five hours ago....
'God, if I never see another damned snowflake in my life, it will be too soon.' his comm-link crackled. Agreeing whole-heartedly with this statement, Diggs pressed a button through his heavy woolen cap to activate his mic, and said, in a would-be cheerful voice, 'Hear, hear!'
More crackled laughs followed them, though they were more nervous laughs than anything else. Diggs new this was because they were so close to their target. Diggs had done this twice before, but he still wanted to keep his mind off what he was going to be doing in probably a few minutes.
He reached up and pushed the mic button again and said, 'Hey, Tremstin, you still alive?' Tremstin, the only woman on the team replied viciously, 'Just because I don't spend my free time crushing beer cans against my head doesn't mean I am any less capable then you, Greg.' Diggs looked back at Nancy Tremstin. She had just landed from a slide down the previous ridge, and resumed trudging along, dragging her Barret behind her. Noticing that Diggs was looking back at her, she made a rude hand gesture towards him. More nervous laughter followed from the other men who had seen.
A heavy wind appeared and blew a gale of snow from the ground, dusting the team with it. Diggs looked forward again and found that the person in the lead had reached the top of the ridge. 'That you Stanston?' his comm-link crackled. 'What about me?' came Stanston's reply. 'That you, at the top of the ridge?' inquired the first voice. 'Yeh that's me.' said Stanston indifferently. Redburs crackled through again, 'He down there?' The person in front of Diggs had now reached the top of the ridge. He turned around and gave the rest of the team a disappointed shake of his head, at the lack of Stanston's reply.
Diggs was now halfway up the ridge. He was now three-quarters of the way there. He was nearly there.... He reached the top of the snow ridge and looked on the other side. It was like a crater, surrounded on all sides by snow ridges. On the inside of the crater, the ridges went down at least a hundred feet before reaching the bottom. The outside of the crater, there was only twenty feet from the top of the ridge to the bottom. The floor of the crater was ice, as if something was constantly melting the snow, and it keeps refreezing.
'Odd habitat for a supposed fire-breather, huh?' Redburs had just pulled up beside Diggs on the top of the ridge. Before he knew it, all eight of them were on top of the ridge looking down. A strong voice forced its way out of their comm-links for the first time in the last two hours. It was Captain Sighred. 'Take your positions along the ridge, and be quick. This thing could sneak up on us any minute. We want to ambush it, not the other way around.'
Diggs and the rest of the team quickly took up positions at regular intervals along the ridge. When they were all ready, the Captain took a shot into the crater, hoping to lure the creature to them.
The effect was instantaneous. A piercing cry, like something out of the movies found its way to the teams ears. Suddenly, a great black mass pulled itself out of the ridge, into the center of the crater. It unfurled itself and revealed thirty feet of...monster.
Diggs flattened himself against the ground instantly. He looked through the sight of his Barret. His teammates were already firing at the black creature, who was moving this way and that with surprising speed and agility for a creature its size. Barret fired away at the confused creature and hit every single time, but ten rounds and nine seconds later, he fumbled among himself to bet a new clip into his gun. Meanwhile, the creature seemed to have made up its mind. It roared and slashed its way across the crater and toward one of the figures that was Diggs' teammate. This may not have been a problem, as the soldier was one-hundred feet up, but that was until it unfolded two massive, black, leathery wings. It soared up to the soldier.
'Get it off of Tremstin!' roared the Captain's voice in his ear. Diggs tried desperatly, firing one round after another until his second clip was empty, but it was no use. The thirty-foot creature collided with the barely six-foot Tremstin. She was instantly shredded. Diggs watched horrified, as pieces of her body, silhouetted against the now red snow, flew up ten feet in the air, in every direction, and fell back to the ground. An arm landed not five feet away from Diggs, staining the snow under it red. Diggs cried out in fury.
He quickly found another clip, but this one was special. It was armor piercing and explosive. This one he stole from the armory, in case he needed it. These bullets were forbidden during dragon hunting, as it would damage the specimen. But Diggs did not care. Right now, all he wanted to do was cause that dragon as much pain as he possibly could.
The dragon was in the air, and was flying back toward the crater. Diggs waited till it was near him, then fired all ten bullets as close to the jugular vein as possible. This was not hard to miss, as for dragons, their main arteries and veins were roughly the size of flagpoles. The bullets exploded, one by one, and the dragon let out a muffled shriek, spraying magma-red blood all over the crater, and crashed in the middle of it.
The dragon wobbled around a bit, before collapsing on the ground. It let several pitiful moans. Diggs realized suddenly, despite his anger at it for killing Nancy, the dragon was not to blame. They, the humans, forced it to live in this damned wasteland of a continent in their early years, along with the rest of the dragons. Then, thousands of years later, the humans come back to finish the job, killing every last one for their 'research.' Maybe these dragons were really peaceful, and not killing savages, as everyone thought. Diggs thought that the least he could do to make up for his race's savagery was to comfort the last dragon in its last moments.
Despite the protests of his team, Diggs slid down the ridge, into the crater, and ran to the dragon's side. He realized that the dragon was covered in heavy black armor, rather than scales, which explained the reason that their Barret M107's did next to nothing to it. Its eyes were acid green, and seemed to be watering. Diggs ran to its head. The acid green eyes bore a black slit for a pupil, which looked wisely upon Diggs. The water in its eyes became a single tear, and began to run down its cheek. As it went, the tear seemed to crystallize, into an acid green sphere that matched the dragon's eye.
Diggs ran up to it and caught it in his hands.
A soft voice crackled in his ear from his comm-link as he prepared to slide down the ridge after them, 'Are we there yet, mommy?' Diggs could tell that the whiny voice was from Redburs. A few crackly laughs escaped his comm-link as he slid down the ridge, into more snow...the snow and ice went on forever. He was never going to escape this damned continent alive.
Another voice crackled in his ear, 'Over this ridge, according to the sattelites.' Another ridge. About the thousandth one today. Diggs' M107 was beginning to feel alot heavier than it had been an hour ago...two hours ago...five hours ago....
'God, if I never see another damned snowflake in my life, it will be too soon.' his comm-link crackled. Agreeing whole-heartedly with this statement, Diggs pressed a button through his heavy woolen cap to activate his mic, and said, in a would-be cheerful voice, 'Hear, hear!'
More crackled laughs followed them, though they were more nervous laughs than anything else. Diggs new this was because they were so close to their target. Diggs had done this twice before, but he still wanted to keep his mind off what he was going to be doing in probably a few minutes.
He reached up and pushed the mic button again and said, 'Hey, Tremstin, you still alive?' Tremstin, the only woman on the team replied viciously, 'Just because I don't spend my free time crushing beer cans against my head doesn't mean I am any less capable then you, Greg.' Diggs looked back at Nancy Tremstin. She had just landed from a slide down the previous ridge, and resumed trudging along, dragging her Barret behind her. Noticing that Diggs was looking back at her, she made a rude hand gesture towards him. More nervous laughter followed from the other men who had seen.
A heavy wind appeared and blew a gale of snow from the ground, dusting the team with it. Diggs looked forward again and found that the person in the lead had reached the top of the ridge. 'That you Stanston?' his comm-link crackled. 'What about me?' came Stanston's reply. 'That you, at the top of the ridge?' inquired the first voice. 'Yeh that's me.' said Stanston indifferently. Redburs crackled through again, 'He down there?' The person in front of Diggs had now reached the top of the ridge. He turned around and gave the rest of the team a disappointed shake of his head, at the lack of Stanston's reply.
Diggs was now halfway up the ridge. He was now three-quarters of the way there. He was nearly there.... He reached the top of the snow ridge and looked on the other side. It was like a crater, surrounded on all sides by snow ridges. On the inside of the crater, the ridges went down at least a hundred feet before reaching the bottom. The outside of the crater, there was only twenty feet from the top of the ridge to the bottom. The floor of the crater was ice, as if something was constantly melting the snow, and it keeps refreezing.
'Odd habitat for a supposed fire-breather, huh?' Redburs had just pulled up beside Diggs on the top of the ridge. Before he knew it, all eight of them were on top of the ridge looking down. A strong voice forced its way out of their comm-links for the first time in the last two hours. It was Captain Sighred. 'Take your positions along the ridge, and be quick. This thing could sneak up on us any minute. We want to ambush it, not the other way around.'
Diggs and the rest of the team quickly took up positions at regular intervals along the ridge. When they were all ready, the Captain took a shot into the crater, hoping to lure the creature to them.
The effect was instantaneous. A piercing cry, like something out of the movies found its way to the teams ears. Suddenly, a great black mass pulled itself out of the ridge, into the center of the crater. It unfurled itself and revealed thirty feet of...monster.
Diggs flattened himself against the ground instantly. He looked through the sight of his Barret. His teammates were already firing at the black creature, who was moving this way and that with surprising speed and agility for a creature its size. Barret fired away at the confused creature and hit every single time, but ten rounds and nine seconds later, he fumbled among himself to bet a new clip into his gun. Meanwhile, the creature seemed to have made up its mind. It roared and slashed its way across the crater and toward one of the figures that was Diggs' teammate. This may not have been a problem, as the soldier was one-hundred feet up, but that was until it unfolded two massive, black, leathery wings. It soared up to the soldier.
'Get it off of Tremstin!' roared the Captain's voice in his ear. Diggs tried desperatly, firing one round after another until his second clip was empty, but it was no use. The thirty-foot creature collided with the barely six-foot Tremstin. She was instantly shredded. Diggs watched horrified, as pieces of her body, silhouetted against the now red snow, flew up ten feet in the air, in every direction, and fell back to the ground. An arm landed not five feet away from Diggs, staining the snow under it red. Diggs cried out in fury.
He quickly found another clip, but this one was special. It was armor piercing and explosive. This one he stole from the armory, in case he needed it. These bullets were forbidden during dragon hunting, as it would damage the specimen. But Diggs did not care. Right now, all he wanted to do was cause that dragon as much pain as he possibly could.
The dragon was in the air, and was flying back toward the crater. Diggs waited till it was near him, then fired all ten bullets as close to the jugular vein as possible. This was not hard to miss, as for dragons, their main arteries and veins were roughly the size of flagpoles. The bullets exploded, one by one, and the dragon let out a muffled shriek, spraying magma-red blood all over the crater, and crashed in the middle of it.
The dragon wobbled around a bit, before collapsing on the ground. It let several pitiful moans. Diggs realized suddenly, despite his anger at it for killing Nancy, the dragon was not to blame. They, the humans, forced it to live in this damned wasteland of a continent in their early years, along with the rest of the dragons. Then, thousands of years later, the humans come back to finish the job, killing every last one for their 'research.' Maybe these dragons were really peaceful, and not killing savages, as everyone thought. Diggs thought that the least he could do to make up for his race's savagery was to comfort the last dragon in its last moments.
Despite the protests of his team, Diggs slid down the ridge, into the crater, and ran to the dragon's side. He realized that the dragon was covered in heavy black armor, rather than scales, which explained the reason that their Barret M107's did next to nothing to it. Its eyes were acid green, and seemed to be watering. Diggs ran to its head. The acid green eyes bore a black slit for a pupil, which looked wisely upon Diggs. The water in its eyes became a single tear, and began to run down its cheek. As it went, the tear seemed to crystallize, into an acid green sphere that matched the dragon's eye.
Diggs ran up to it and caught it in his hands.