Chapter Four – Big Cat Attack

Chapter Four – Big Cat Attack

“A “milk run” was an action that was deemed simple to undertake. The expression coming from the routes taken by milk-deliveries in the past.

Now, with Milk™️ being such a luxury commodity, the expression has faded to irrelevance.”

–Oxford Online Dictionary, Premium Definitions, 2039

***

“Hey, there’s the wall!” Crackshot said. He pointed ahead of him with his free hand, then refocused on plugging alien heads with his bolt-action.

I fired the last few rounds in my gun into the crowd ahead of us, then stood a little taller while reloading. He was right, over the sea of aliens was a wall. It was some three or so metres tall, made of naked cement with iron girders at the back, and with plenty of holes blown through it. Some sections had collapsed inwards, probably kicked in by the aliens currently pouring into the city.

“Nice! Alright, let’s push these fucks all the way back to the wall, then we can plug it up!” I shouted over all the noise.

We were the ones making that noise, mostly. Model threes and the other lower-tier models were usually pretty silent. No roaring or screaming. The only noise they made was when they charged around and even that was their weird feet thumping the ground.

Right now, the entire eastern front of our operation was squeezing in, following the edge of the outer walls of Saint-Jérome. The city was more or less oval-shaped, so we were just now reaching the end of it.

Highway 117 came swooping down ahead, into a line of toll booths at ground level. We were going to have to block those out too, but for now, what was important was plugging the gap in the wall.

I glanced over my shoulder real quick while fitting a new magazine into my Laser Pointer. Knight was hanging back a bit. She had an assault rifle in hand, given to her by one of the soldiers forming a barricade behind us.

Sure, she wanted to kill things with her sword more than anything, but there was a point where that wasn’t as realistic. With half the fifth battalion gathering up in one big line, supported by armoured cars and all, the amount of criss-crossing fire into the horde was way too high for one girl to be standing in their way.

So, Knight was given a gun and was plinking away at the carpet of aliens.

I finished reloading and turned my attention back to the front. This area was mostly occupied by apartment blocks. Not the megabuildings I was used to back home, but something similar in design ethos. They were big all-white squares, maybe five stories tall, with a recessed entrance on the ground level. It was gonna be a bitch and a half checking each one for any alien that snuck off, but that would be a problem for later.

I fired a few bursts into the aliens ahead and grinned as those I hit flopped bonelessly a dozen metres away. We were concentrating enough fire on them now that there was no way they’d be making it in, at least, as long as ammo held up and they didn’t pull anything funny.

“Myalis, garrots,” I said as I extended a hand to the side.

Here you go.

A grenade landed in my hand and I casually flicked its spoon off before tossing it as far ahead as I could. It burst into action near an intersection ahead, sending sliced bits of alien flying every which way.

I called for a few more and tossed them out over the heads of the aliens out here. It created a few spots where the horde was shredded apart. The best bit was that with the aliens pushing themselves forwards, they were being pressed into the field of those grenades without time to move around them.

I laughed as I opened fire again. The front of the hoard was thinning out. Soon, we’d be able to move up another block, and then it was one more until we hit the killzone between the wall and the city.

A click in my ear and a flash on my augs alerted me to an incoming message, this one over the command channel. “Stray Cat here,” I said as I clicked into it.

“Ma’am,” said Lieutenant Colonel Juno. “I’m with Lieutenant Colonel Britannica, of the Twenty-Second armoured. He’s broken through the outside of the city and is ready to spread out to either side.”

I frowned, then put it together in my head. The armoured division had gone ahead way at the start of the fight, they had Tankette with them, and a fuckload of normal tanks. They were supposed to reach the end of the city and plug it up for us. “Right, I’m surprised you haven’t covered the other side of the wall already,” I said as I tossed an empty mag aside and called up another.

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“Hrmm,” a new voice said. My augs labelled it as the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Britannica. “We met more resistance than we expected. We’re ready to play the anvil to your hammer.”