//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: A Twisted Change 
// by Mocha Star 
//------------------------------//

            The heavy thumping sound of the helicopter filled her ears as she hopped out, the air pressed against her petite body but she didn’t let the strain show as she gripped the rifle in her hands and ran ahead several paced, taking a knee and looking down the sights of her weapon.  
                 
A few seconds later she was patted on the shoulder and stood up and watched as four armored soldiers ran by her.  She joined them and took a center position as the helicopter took off and angled away.
                 
“Sierra Mike Delta, this is Bravo Team, checking in.  Operation Galloping wind is going active; over.”
 
                “Fucking hell, Tali.  What the hell are you going on about?”
                 
“Foxtrot Uniform, Big Popo,” Tali’s voice crackled through the headset as Grimm waved his squad ahead.
                 
“Okay, mission is simple; get to the school, get the people out.  Then we get to the exfil site and get clear.”
                 
“Don’t you mean the McDonald’s on 32nd Avenue?  Can I get a happy meal, large size?”
                 
                Several sighs coalesced through their comms.
 
                “Radio silence is in effect,” Grimm mumbled.
 
                “Copy,” Tali said with a firmness as even she took a professional attitude.
 
                With a motion she waved her left hand in the air and pointed down the road ahead.  With a quiet shuffle her group of five went ahead, weapons ready and each scanning their own sectors as they moved to a nearby building and stacked up.
 
                Grimm smiled as he did the same, taking his team on their own path to the school. 
 
With a final thumbs up, Tali patted her teammate on the shoulder and vanished around the corner.
                
Grimm followed his point man around the corner, his rifle held tightly and his finger off the trigger, he turned the corner.  He smiled internally; the street was clear.  A small metropolis in its own right, the city had been infested by an unknown and classified insect colony.
 
                It wasn’t his job to ask, but he felt the bugs weren’t of the earth.  They had seven legs, a soft teal flesh over their exoskeletons, and three black eyes that all moved independently.  Of the four he’d killed already in the evacuations he’d gotten more of a sense that they were intelligent, and not just some bugs, as it were.
 
                He glanced out of the corner of his eye and instinctively held a fist high, stopping in place he lowered his fist to his rifle and scanned for movement. 
 
A human peeked from a window and hid again.  Patting his point man and pointing they detoured and made their way to the small house.  They took guard while he ran up the steps and knocked on the door, ‘shave and a haircut, two bits’.
 
The door creaked open and a young woman peeked out. “Please, help me-“

“Are you alone?” Grimm asked.
                
“N-no, well, yeah.  M-my mom, she’s…” she sniffled as she opened the door.  The stench of death wafted from the house.
                
“Ma’am, we need to go.  Come with us, please.”
 
        “I-I don’t know,” the woman replied quietly.

        “We’re going to… the Mcdonald’s on 32nd avenue, meet us there or stay here,” he said as he turned and walked down the steps.  The door creaked closed as he rejoined his team, returning to their tactical movements.  

        The sound of weapons fire stole their attention.

        



        Tali moved ahead with her team for several blocks before they came across a dead body.  A human man, middle aged, and all was left of him was part of his torso and head.

        She made a motion with her hands before the team knelt down and waited.  She took a deep breath and tapped the man in front of her.  They began slowly moving, looking intently down the sights of their rifles, scanning the street and buildings as they crossed.

        A quiet hiss got their attention from above as an insectoid fell next to the from a ladder spaced between buildings’ roofs.

        “Open fire,” Tali shouted taking aim and firing blindly at the creature as it scurried toward them.  

        Three more jumped from windows of nearby buildings, surrounding them and shrugging off the bullets as they approached.

        “Fucking, fuck, fuck, shit!  We’re not penetrating them,” one of the men said as he fired.

        “That’s what you say to your girlfriend, not to these bastards!  Aim for the eyes,” she shouted landing a round into one of the attacking, felling it to the street.  “Holy shit, a bullet to the eye goes through their brains, duh!  Make ‘em count,” she shouted as she took a step towards the next she was aiming at.

        A minute later the insectoids were dead and the team was replacing their magazine clips.

        “Corporal, let’s get.  Ain’t gonna wait fur us, don’t wait fur ‘em.”

        “Copy that.  Team, line up and move out.”
        
        “End radio silence.  Bravo team, copy?  OPFOR status, out?” Grimm asked.

        “OPFOR is down, two blocks to school and thirty rounds chambered all around.  See you there, out,” Tali replied as she moved with her team across the street and down the block.

        



        “Copy that, out.  Team Alpha, four blocks to go.  Moveout.”

        “HUA.”

        



        Tali arrived at the school first.  The yard was littered with garbage, several dumpsters and cans had been brought and dumped; the insectoids having a strong distaste for garbage was a good defense, if you could find enough.  

        Modern recycling and waste management systems would process nearly all waste created by humans, so most, if any waste and garbage was sparse to begin with.

        “These guys’re smart, good thing they’re in a school.  Let’s get in there and secure the entrance before Alpha shows up,” Tali said as she took point and led them through the school yard.

        “Jesus, look at this place?  I went to school here when I was a kid…”

        “And what?  That was fifteen years ago, doofus.”

        “Hey, shut it, gentlemen,” Tali scolded as they approached the doorway.

        An insectoid fell in front of them from the roof, quickly being dispatched by a startled teammate.  “Well, that happened,” he said as he was punched celebratorily in the arm.

        “Nice shot.  Let’s get inside.”

        “Wait, grab the bug,” Tali said as she walked to the door and tried the handle.  

        “Uh, corporal…”

        “Damnit, it’s locked,” she said shoving harder against the heavy storm doors.

        “Corporal,” the others started snickering.

        “Damn, it.  Fine, let’s try the other doors.  Private Klipp, check the windows as we go, we have to get inside,” she said as another teammate walked past her and pulled the door open.

        “...Great work,” she smiled warmly, “you passed the test.”

        She walked past his and once passed crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at her mistake.

        Several minutes later, after they had secured the entrance Grimm’s team arrived.  

        “Tali, looks like ya got this place in good shape.  Ya find any civvies yet?”

        “Nah, had too much fun takin’ out bugs with my team.  Let’s cut the horseshit and find these people and get the fuck outta here.”

        “HUA,” all the others said to Tali.  They grouped together into a squad and began searching hallway by hallway, room by room.

        “Found someone,” a squad member said taking a knee by a classroom door, quickly being flanked by the others.

        With a count on Grimm’s fingers from five to one, they opened the door and quickly secured the room, finding several people, a police officer, and three children about ten years of age.

        “Are there any others?” Tali asked.

        “I’m officer Brahm, there’s only us.  Are you here to help us?”

        “No shit, Sherlock.”

        “Hey,” one of the women said firmly, “kids,” she pointed to the youths.

        “Oh, what the fuck?  They hear worse fucking things in fucking school than fuck, right, ya little fucks?” Grimm said with a smirk as the woman fumed.

        “Bitch yeah,” one of the children said fist pumping.

        “Okay, maybe they need to learn usage,” Grimm said before resuming his professional facade.

        “Okay, stow it, kids,” Tali spoke up. “Officer, ya got any rounds in that pea shooter?”

        “Yeah, a few left.  Can’t get through their armor with AP rounds and I wasn’t given any.”

        “Yeah, I know that feel,” Tali mumbled, “let’s go.  We’re going to the big m on 32nd Avenue.  It’s only about a mile and change to go, then you’ll be lifted by helicopter to a safe location.”

        “‘Fore they nuke the place,” a squad member grumbled.

        “Shit,” the woman said looking out the window at the blue sky, a few wispy clouds, and a vapor trail.

        “Let’s move,” Grimm said shouldering his rifle and walking out the door of the classroom.
        
        “Yeah, let’s just go,” the woman said, “I’m Jane, a teacher here… or, I was.”
        
        “Let’s just get going,” Tali interrupted, “we have a couple hours to clear the blast zone.”

        “Okay,” one of the girls said.

        The group of people followed Tali out of the room and were given a quick lesson on hand signals as they left the halls and approached the entrance doorway.

        “Shit!  Contact ahead,” Grimm shouted as he fired a round into the group of insectoids.

        “Aim for the eyes!”

        The creatures scrambled forward, ignoring the bullets that grazed their teal flesh and either held firm or dropped to the ground, harmless.

        They scurried into the squad and, using one of their side legs, tried to grab the soldiers.  Three were grabbed and pulled, screaming and shouting, emptying their weapons into the bodies of the insectoids to no avail.

        “Shit, shit, shit.  They’re taking them!  Stop the fuckers,” Grimm shouted as he ran out of rounds and switched magazines.  The sound of weapons fire filled the corridor; ears rang and words were lost amid the cacophony of popping.  Gunpowder, spent and burnt, filled the air with it’s sweet scent.

        The squad chased the insectoids into the schoolyard, stopping as they ran out of ammunition and reloaded, the insects scurrying into a crack in the ground just past the parking lot, opposite where they’d approached from.

        “C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Tali said sternly.  She turned and began range walking away, choking back a sob.

        Without a word the other soldiers gathered the civilians and ushered them into the center of their group, making for the evacuation site.

        



        Their journey started grim and silent, even the children didn’t say anything; no questions, no comments, no thoughts on what had happened.

        “Three blocks down, seven ta go.  Stay ready,” Tali said with a heavy heart, “and aim for the eyes.  No more today.  Not a single one,” she growled with a sneer.

        Her words steeled the nerves of everyone around her until a hiss emanated from several spots around them.

        Houses seemed to explode as dozens of insectoids charged out of the windows and doors.  The soldiers growled, grabbed their M33 grenades from the chests.  “Proper grip, thumb to clip.  Twist, pull… throw.” Tali screamed finally as her grenade joined the others.

        “Duck,” a squad member shouted as he and the others jumped and huddled over the civilians.  The air vibrated and screams from the insects filled the air.  As the soldiers stood it began to rain insectoid entrails upon the group as they looked at the carnage with a sense of pride.

        Most of the insectoids were dead while the survivors escaped, one crawling away, missing half its body.

        “Save your rounds, let’s hurry,” Tali said as she turned ahead again.

        “This feels like a video game,” one of the adults, who was quiet until now, said. “It’s like we’re just gonna be attacked every block and have to fight them off.”

        “Shut up, civvie.  I just lost three of my friends to these things and comparing their… loss, to a video game is just… wrong,” Tali said glancing back.

        “S-sorry.”

        “Be sorry when you’re dead, until then be quiet,” a squad member said as they passed another house.

        They were walking and watching all around them, even the trees weren’t safe from the barrel of their rifles.  Rooftops of the suburban homes were watched for any movement and the trimmed grass on the front lawns were scanned for any motion, in case they fell open to a hive tunnel.

        The stopped at a corner, the soldiers taking a knee while the civilians knelt down.  “Two blocks ta go.  Keep yer heads on a swivel, we’re leaving the residences and getting to the main streets.  When we’re within a block we run.  If you fall behind you stay behind.  I have no want to die today.”

        “Or to lose anyone else,” Tali added looking at Grimm with squinting eyes.  “I’ll be the anchor with Pax.  If they fall behind I’ll shove a rifle in the back of their heads to keep them moving.”

        A few gulps went around the eleven civilians.

        “Okay, silence now.  We’re going to move quickly then we’re going to run like bats outta hell.”

        “HUA, Grimm,” was stated in unison from the remaining soldiers.

        



        They arrived, panting at the McDonald’s parking lot and glancing around.  “Where the fuck is the copter?!”

        “Grimm, stay calm.  I bet they’re just straight up, hiding in the sky.  Pop smoke and let’s get inside, we’ve gotta wait for them to get us.”

        They kicked in the glass door and filed in, taking seats and beginning to spend their time as wisely as they could.  The soldiers checked their equipment while watching for enemies and the civilians milled around the center of the store and engaged in idle conversations among themselves.

        “Well,” Grimm asked Tali as he joined her in watching the front windows for enemy movement, “what d'ya think’s goin’ on?  They might not be the best but they’re not this late.”

        “I know,” she sighed in reply, “I just have a bad feeling about this whole mission; I just didn’t wanna bring it up.”

        “Me too,” he said looking down to her, “but I didn’t wanna scare ya.”

        She smirked and craned her neck to see him. “Yeah, I’d be more scared if you were scared,” she said leaning against him.  “What if they left us?  Grimm,” she whispered, “I don’t wanna die like this.”

        “Hey, I’ll be there to take the blast first if you want.”

        “Yeah, like I want your atoms blowing through my body?!” she whispered loudly and elbowed his armor. 

        “Side by side, then?”

        “The same way I’ve imagined,” she said softly.

        “What was that?”

        “Oh, nothing,” she said feeling a warmth in her cheeks, “just agreeing.”

        “Wait, do you smell that?”
        
        She took a step away and looked at him. “Seriously?”

        “No, I smell…  ugh,” he coughed covering his mouth and nose with his hand, “what the hell is that?”

        Several others started coughing before the all were gagging at the awful stench that filled the restaurant.  

        A series of low, steady noises came from all around them before one of the soldiers opened fire.

        “We’re surrounded!  Fucking fuck, I’m not going out like this,” another shouted pulling a grenade and throwing it through the shattered window that his friend had just opened.

        Scanning the area around Grimm and Tali gulped.  At least twenty insectoids, that they could see at the moment, were scurrying toward them.  

        They called a cease fire and gathered everyone to the center of the dining room, taking guard behind dividers and tables as best they could as the insectoids approached and stopped outside the building.  

A single antennae moved from the creatures’ heads and wiggled before retracting.  The creatures looked intently inside but didn’t move closer.  

“What’re they waiting for?” a child asked as she held close to one of the adults.

“Shh.”

“B-but, I don’t wanna d-die.”

“Shut. UP,” a male shouted startling the girl into tears.

“Okay, keep yer cool, gents and ladies.  Pick yer targets and get ready.”

The creatures looked up and did the equivalent of sitting on their rears.  

“What’re they doing?” 

“I don’t know… but we’re not getting out of here ‘til they’re gone.”

“What do we do, Sarge?”

“We can’t take ‘em all out.  We can’t run.  We sure as shit can’t hide and wait ‘em out.  Any ideas?”

Silence reigned.

Minutes passed.

The creatures didn’t move, simply seeming to stare into the sky while seated before the stench wafted over them again.

“Gah, are they taking a collective dump?”

“No, maybe they’re talking?”

“Ugh, -urp- I hope this isn’t them asking for peace,” someone stammered while gagging.

A low rumbling came from below them and, for a few minutes, they weathered the shaking before the ground collapsed beneath them, sending them into a pit; a tunnel system.

“The hive?”

“Shit…  Get ready,” Grimm said a swarm of insects ran through the tunnels, the stench following them.  With no option to fire without hitting each other, they resigned themselves to being snatched up and carried away, deeper into the depths of the hive.

They were taken into a large chamber far below the surface where the stench overwhelmed them to the point that most of them threw up.  

“What the heck,” Grimm said after he wiped his mouth, “why aren’t we dead?”  

A man's voice spoke proudly before them all before darkness took them; then in a flash of light Tali and Grimm were gone.