Turn 8: Corporal Rhodes

[Cartwright]

Hayek turned and stared at Drabowski. Who the hell was this guy. A second ago he had been in the fetal position scared for his life and now he was acting like they were his subordinates. He shook his head. The Corps had churned out a real good one. He only hoped this man did not get them all killed.

Lieutenant Sharpton turned and motioned for the Marines to move forward. Second squad had not had time to move out when the young private had returned to normalcy. It was strange that a pill took its effect that quickly. Didn't it need time to injest into his system? Whatever. He had first squad on point and second squad watching the rear. The command team in the center of the two groups. Each squad member was spaced out three meters and the squad's were spaced out from eachother five meters. This would ensure no more than one person died at a time.

Rhodes moved into the middle alongside the lieutenant and gunnery sergeant. It was probably a good idea if he did. He was a high priority target for the enemy and if one stray bullet were to impact his detonator pack, they would all be dead. The lieutenant, wondering how the situation was going for Hoot, flipped through his radio channels until he reached a private channel with the PFC.

"Hoot, I need a SITREP. Over." The lieutenant said.

He would await the response from the young Marine. As the grouped move forward, they entered a large room. At the very center was a lift that would descend to the lower level, where they needed to be. The illumination was dim here and the lieutenant sensed an ambush awaiting them. Whether here or below, he did not know and dreaded finding out.

"Stay frosty. I don't like this." Sharpton said to the platoon.

The Marines moved slowly and cautiously toward the lift. The lieutenant positioned second squad to stay back at the entrance to cover first squad. Hayek was approaching the lift alongside first squad. Suddenly, a Vampire popped up from cover and fired his assault rifle. The Marines took cover instantly, weapons fire emitted from all around the room. The Vampires had successfully ambushed first squad. They were pinned between a circular row of boxes and crates.

"Second squad, open fire! Pick your targets wisely!" The lieutenant shouted and the Marines opened fire. Rounds impacted and richoeted off the walls.

A battle had ensued. Now, who would win?

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[Private]

Drabowski felt the fear coming back, but he shook it off. Not now, he thought to himself. Drabowski thought about calling out on open com, but it was not a great idea. Vampires might have radios. Vampires with radios. Drabowski popped up, only to draw more fire. He popped back down.

[Dire Wolf]

Hoot fought the urge to make a smart ass comment "Looks fine up-" He stopped for a second, a clap of thunder could be heard over the fire fight. "Suck on that you asshole!..... We are good up here sir, over" Hoot said as he turned and looked at Cortez. "Yo Cortez, the living assholes are on to us, we had better move." He keyed his comm on "Sir, we are changing positions, over."

As Hoot picked up his rifle, he saw another blood sucker haulin' ass his way. He brought his USP .40 up and quickly pulled the trigger. The 180 grain, 10mm wide lead slug rocketed at the running blood sucker at just over 1000 feet per second. This would ruin anyone's day. The slug hit the beast in the knee, shredding apart it's knee cap, the vampire tripped and rolled in the snow. It had a mixed reaction to this surprising tun of events; one was anger, the human denied him of his man flesh, and the other was fear, the human would now finish him off.

"Yeah, I bet that hurt" Hoot said as he casually walked up to the writhing bloodsucker. He got just out of arm's length and aimed at the petrified creature's face. The vampire moved faster than Hoot anticipated, he saw everything in slow motion, like he was in the matrix, the cheap bastard rolled over and was going for his foot. It sank it's fangs deep into Hoot's boot, rather it attempted too, even a vampire cant bite through steel toe combat boots.

Hoot laughed and said "Ain't it a bitch?" right before he pulled the trigger. A grotesque mixture of brains, blood, and skull flew behind the monster. It's head snapped back, and it fell to the ground. "Now, about moving to another spot" Hoot casually said to Cortez

[Private]

"This is Drabowski, this is Delta-Romeo-Alpha-Bravo-Oscar-Whiskey-Sierra-Kilo-India. We are pinned. Hurry up and find a better location. OVER!" Drabowski said in the radio. He popped up firing, hitting at least three vampires. However, he was up too long. He felt the bullet hit his side, puncturing the body armor. He felt his blood seep out. He collapsed to the deck. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. Blood was coming out of his mouth. He realized what happened.
The bullet had punctured his left lung, and the lung was trying to take in air that way. It couldn't. He knew that he would die, but heck, why not bring out all of those blood suckers at once, allowing the marines to pick them off.

"Tomal-a... you better... pick... them... off. Wa...tch... me..." Drabowski rasped to Tomala. Drabowski then jumped up and charged, with his K-BAR knife in his hand. Another bullet hit his left hand, his non-knife hand. He could feel the hand go limp. Drabowski jumped at one of the shocked Vampires and slit the Vampire's throat. It collapsed. Drabowski turned to Sharpton and saluted.
"Nice...knowing...you...sir..." Drabowski pushed out the words past the blood.
"Yo Vampires. If you want my blood, what are you waiting for?" Drabowski yelled with the last vestiges of his strength. He collapsed, falling in a place where most of the fire was coming from, as well as where most of the vampires were. He hoped that they would take the bait.
Drabowski looked up. And he didn't move. He was gone.

[bullet]

Tomala ran towards Drabowski watching Draboski's stupid John Wayne tactics. Tomala ran to Drabowski when he collapsed. Tomala knew what he had to do. Tomala had to attempt to save the kid. A Bullet had landed in a main artery. Tomala began to tried to work his magic he kept pressure on the wound and pulled out his K-BAR and tried to pull the bullet out it was no good he lost it after awhile. Drabowski went into shock and stopped moving. Tomala yelled to the L.T. '' WE NEED A DAMN MEDVAC.''

[Cartwright]

As Tomala tried to work, Drabowski's vitals flatlined on a vital readout console Corporal Godchild had set up next to the young private. Tomala began to do CPR, attempting to bring the young man back from death. After several minutes of no response, to the young medics dismay, Private Drabowski was dead. His first patient to die under his tenure. The Marines cleared out the area as quickly as possible and finally called up the lift. Lieutenant Sharpton walked over to the corpse of the private and gave his condolescenses.

"He was a good man, but it looks like this platoon wasn't cut out for him. We should move. We'll pick up the body on our way back. We've got a job to do." The lieutenant said, then turned around and allowed everyone to enter the lift.

Shadow keyed the 'down' button and the lift sprang into action. They began to descend down into the depths of the achaeological dig. The lift halted, shaking slightly at its abruptness. The doors before them separated and they walked out into the dimly lit corridor before them. The Gunny ordered everyone to activate their flashlights and then they began to move out. The lieutenant brought up area schematics and placed them on the top left corner of his HUD. He put an objective marker on the area designated as the generator rooms. They would need to get there.

"Second squad, you're on point. First squad, you and Rhodes will be on our six. Shadow, next to me. We'll watch the sides. Let's move, people!" The lieutenant said, attempting to help keep their minds off the loss of their fellow Marine by giving them something to preoccupy their minds on.

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[Mr. Death]

Another dead. Elias wasn't really surprised the soldier hadn't lived. Not even he could've saved the guy. Tomala would take it hard, he figured, but that was for him to sort out, not Elias. Shit was going from bad to worse in a matter of moments.

"Fucking vampires. . .In a fucking cave. . .With fucking guns. . ." He mumbled as he covered Shadow and the lift.

[bullet]

Tomala yelled, ''The cost of life is cheap!'' He slammed his head to a wall nearby he was really angry he couldnt save Drabowski. It was the first casualty under himself he couldnt believe it. He continued to keep banging his head into the wall.

[Dire Wolf]

Hoot peered through the thermal scope, he saw the platoon get into the elevator and decend, their signal got progressively dimmer and dimmer until they disappated. Hoot spoke into the mic, without taking his eyes off of the scope, he was watching Drabowski's thermal sig fade, he was a good Marine. "This is Sniper Team, I have now officially lost your visual on thermals, over." Hoot looked over at Cortez "Now the fun part, killing anything stupid enough to try and get into the dig"

[Mr. Death]

Elias grabbed Tomala by the shoulder and spun him around to face him.
"Look, you can't save everyone. The trick to being a medic is knowing who can live, and who can't. You have to put that shit in the past right now. You don't think I haven't lost people? Hell, I've lost more people than you know! And yet I"m still the best, why? Because I save the ones I can." Elias hit Tomala upside the head

"Don't get emotional on me right now, we don't have time for that"

[bullet]

Tomala kept a straight face and locked it up and started in caution mode once again. He began to move out along with the squad as he had to forget about Drabowski.

[Cartwright]

The Marines followed second squad, as they lead them closer to their objective. The generator rooms. It would only be a matter of time before they would have the generators down and the vampires at a disadvantage. Without power, all the security systems that normally functioned would be shut down, meaning they would have to be more cautious and start patrolling the corridors.

The platoon, after several minutes of traveling down dull passageways, reached their target. The generator room. It was a massive area with four primary generators and two secondary. They would need to disable all of them simultaneously for this to work. Rhodes sprang to work, laying down demolition charges on each of the generators. The Hell Hounds covered him from several defensible positions.

"Stay frosty, Marines. We need to make sure nothing gets passed us." The lieutenant said, then spoke into his helmet microphone, "Sniper team, SITREP."

Rhodes cheered in obvious success of his mission. The charges were planted and armed. The Marines now just had to blow them. The lieutenant rounded the platoon up and ordered first squad on point, second on the rear. The Marines exited the enormous room and took cover down a corridor that extended into what appeared to be a shower room. They all looked on the door they exited from closely.

"Charges are and prepped to detonate." Rhodes said over the communications, so that both Rhino Squad and the Hell Hounds knew what was about to come next.

Rhodes pressed the red button on his detonator charge. A loud explosion could be heard resonating throughout the entire facility. The ears of the Hell Hounds range loudly. The door they had exited blew to pieces and smoke and flames billowed out of the generator room. The Hell Hounds cheered, most of all, Rhodes.

"Yeehaw! I LOVE MY JOB!"

Seconds later, the voice of Lieutenant Morris could be heard.

"Rhodes, if you kids are done playin' around, we need you back with the squad ASAP. Over."

Rhodes made his reply and turned to the lieutenant, a grin still plastered to his facial features. He had done his job here already and he did not mind leaving the Hell Hounds to go help create more mischief for the enemy.

"Well, sir, I guess that means I gotta run. Good luck, boys. See ya around!" Rhodes said, than ran off in some random direction.

The Marines now would have to find the doctor. That was their new objective. Find Doctor Nighson and than, locate the enemy leader. They had to have a leader somewhere. They just had to. They would fine him and make him pay for his atrocities. Very, very, soon. It was all a matter of time. But the question was, did they have time on their side?

As the Marines moved through more winding corridors and passageways, they were suddenly ambushed. But, this was no ordinary ambush. Each and every member of the platoon was knocked down and beaten until they fell into unconsciousness. The last one to fall into the darkness of unconsciousness was Shadow, with his high resilience to pain.

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Lieutenant Sharpton awoke slowly, his head throbbing from enormous pain. He had been beaten rather badly, even with his armor on. He peered around him and found the other platoon members awakening too. What was odd was that they were all chained to the wall in some kind of pit. The nonchalant voice of someone stirred them all awake fully. They all brought their attention to above them, where it appeared there was some sort of observation room.

"Ah... the Hell Hounds. Supposedly one of the greatest platoons in all of the Space Marine Corps. Created in 2130 by the late Second Lieutenant Rico. Too bad. Your capture was almost too easy. I would have expected better from you."

Suddenly, the door to the pit opened and the members of Rhino Squad were thrown into the room, along with Hoot and Corporal Cortez. How they had been captured, no one knew. They had been hard to capture, obviously. A bid of laughter came from the voice that boomed off the walls of the pit. The door closed suddenly and now both units were trapped. A door on the bottom of the observation room floor opened and the man who had been speaking to them was revealed as he seemed to hover to the ground.

It was Colonel Westerman. The very leader of the Marine Security detachment on Jonis V. He looked different, however. His eyes were scarlet red and had a slight glow to them. His black hair was now a purple color and his attire was of a long cape of old fashioned clothing. He was the leader of the vampires.

"I hope your stay was... most enjoyable. Because it will be your last. Godchild... your bitch will be mine for eternity. Soon, I will give her the bite. Then she will become one of us. I'm sure you understand completely as to what I am refering to." The colonel said, than broke out into laughter once more.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from above. A orange figure could be seen as a blur, moving as fast as possible. Three vampires were downed instantly and then a grenade landed next to the pit door. It detonated, destroying the door. The armor of the occupants of the pit took minor shrapnel. However, the colonel, without armor, took shrapnel to his leg and stomach. He grimaced in pain, but shrugged it off as best he could.

"Get that freak!"

Before anyone could do anything, Corporal Kane hopped into the pit and took the butt of his shotgun, slamming it into the back of the colonel's cranium. He fell forward, unconscious. Kane than proceeded to release everyone. The loud screams of Doctor Nighson could be heard. She was in the pit next to them. A door lead right to it. Corporal Rhodes put a demo charge on the door and blew it. The door was disintegrated in the blast. The Marines pushed through the doorway and released the doctor.

"Thanks buddy. What took ya so long?" Rhodes said, grinning at Kane.

The man returned the grin, but did not speak. He had become about as much of a mute as Private First Class Lee. The Marines morale was uplifted now that the doctor had been saved. But their happiness soon was forgotten as the colonel hovered over them, an evil grin upon his features.

"You have saved your precious little bitch. But, you won't escape alive!" The man said, than began to speak in some unknown tongue.

No one understood what he was saying, but it did not take long for them to realise it was bad. Very, very, bad. The entire facility began to shake and rocks slammed on the ground, breaking into millions of tiny pieces. The Marines knew the entire achaeological dig would fall down around them if they do not leave soon.

They all ran through the doorway and into the pit they had come from, then as the exit door opened, they all gasped in fear. Before them was an Imp, grinning evilly at its pray. A fire ball began to form within the palm of its hand. However, its head suddenly disappeared as Kane put a shotgun round into its cranium. The Marines than ran, but could hear the voice of the colonel booming through every passageway and corridor, as they made haste towards the exit of the facility. Luckily, they were back on the first floor. It would just be a dash to the exit and they will have escaped. Hundreds of demons began teleporting in, but the Marines narrowly dodged them and kept running. They would not slow down.

"Fools! My minions will kill you all!!!" The voice of the colonel announced, giving the Marines more energy to move faster.

<Actions>

[Private]

(Guys, don't forget my body!)

[ToxicJones]

(sorry I havent been posting lately. I hope you can forgive me!)
Jones feet pounded beneath her as she ran with the squad. A demon was coming right in front of her, so she tried to take aim with her AR. The demon turned and swung its clawed hand, knocking the AR from her grip. She staggered back, and took out her pistol. The butt of her weapon collided with the demons head, making a large dent.
But just then, memories came crashing down on her. Her family, dead in the car. Her eyes stayed wide with fear as she sunk to the ground along side the dead demon. She heard shounting, but it was distant, as if she were underwater. then reality came craching back as something struck her in the back of the head. Thank god it hadn't been hard enough to knock her out. She flipped over to her back, and took a shot with the pistol that had stayed in her hands. It went straight through the demon's cheek, mabey taking some brain with it. Or so she hoped.
Everything was alarmingly loud as she pushed herself up, and then she noticed the thick wetness that was seeping through her hair. The demon must has used his claws, as her head was getting wetter by the second. That was the bad thing about head wounds, they bled alot. But she couldn't let that slow her now, so she kept running. Soon, the whole place would come down.

[Cartwright]

Mr. Death glanced over his shoulder to find Jones running as fast as she could. Consequently, that was not fast enough. He ran back and grabbed her, then helped her keep pace as they ran down the corridors. The entire facility was collapsing down upon them. As they moved, he saw her hair had become wet. It was dying red. She must have suffered a head wound. He would have to check it out later.

Suddenly, Tomala screamed in pain. The two Marines whipped around to find him become crushed by the ceiling above. They instantly turned back around. They had to keep moving or they would suffer the same fate as their comrade. Mr. Death saw Shadow pick up the corpse of Drabowski. Shadow was running as fast as humanly possible. Lieutenant Sharpton gave it his all as he ran, but suddenly was slammed into a wall by one of the Vampires. Before he could react, the wall and part of the ceiling caved on top of the two men. They were both killed instantly. The rest of the platoon scrambled to the exit of the facility. They needed to escape.