Below, the battlefield churns with chaos. Screams, gunfire, the thunder of ballista turrets. But through it all, I hear his voice.
"SHIELD WALL, CASTRO KILL IT!"
I smile, just a little. Mark is down below, coordinating the defence with his squadron. His voice crackles through the radio, calm and commanding.
"Vir, SSE big horn, do you see it?"
"Roger", I reply. I steady my to the target. Big horn, small eyes, 20ft build, minotaur body structure, thick hide, bull-like characteristics, 400 m. I wait for the right timing. It charges towards the wall like a battering ram.
I wait.
350.
250.
200.
150.
It opens its mouth to roar, announcing its presence, but I fire first. My bullet enters its mouth and severs its spine.
It drops dead and slides face first in the mud.
"Nice shot Vir!"
He's changed since the Fall—more serious, more focused—but when he looks at me, it's still the same smile. The one that melted my heart on our first date.
As a sniper and a mage my bullets are devastatingly powerful. Each bullet is specially crafted by my skill by utilising my mana.
This makes each bullet far more effective than regular ordinance. The speed, durability and sheer penetrative capabilities of each bullet make .338 round look like a wet willy.
This is remarkably effective against the dark creatures that attack us, however, there is a problem as well.
"Vir, the tides easing off, come down and replenish your mana", ordered Mark over the two ways.
"Roger that".
Slinging my sniper over my shoulder as I am technically still on call, I scurry down the ladder. The battle is on going but without many unknown variables my services are not needed right now.
I head to the mess hall to get a feed before the rest of the soldiers finish up and do the same. On my way I pass a group of researchers directing a large retrieval operation of a type 1 deer creature.
The creature's corpse covers the greater portion of a modified trailer, about 4 meters long and 2 wides. It has harrowing wounds. Its entire left side has been blown to pieces, resulting in its guts being held inside by a tarp wrapped tightly around it. Its antlers were also broken off during its death so a young private is carrying them separately. The antlers alone are as large as the boy.
The body is being taken by the researchers for studying purposes. Alongside the arrival of all the dark creatures on the fall, local fauna and flora in some areas mutated rapidly. It is mainly believed that the change was due to 'dark mana' as its been dubbed. Although the existence of dark mana is essentially a myth as no one has been able to confirm its existence and survive.
A type 1 deer creature is a mutated deer and they are rarely seen in this area, so the scientists are feeling excited.
After the discovery of mana, all the surviving academics, engineers, scientists, etc, had a field day with developing new machinery. Now we have updated tech that incorporates mana to its operation, and we have ballista's, guns, specialised grenades, vehicles… the lot. Although manufacturing these whilst under siege in a forgotten castle has proven difficult for us.
Not having access to a sufficient and stable electrical resource has caused a significant number of issues. Its to the point that the researchers are almost entirely writing on pen and paper but even that is in low supply. I wish they would hurry up and develop a mana battery or some way to turn mana into electricity. We have a few individuals capable of producing lightning already, but they aren't able to modulate the output well so most tech explodes when they touch it.
The whole things a mess.
Arriving at the mess hall I take one of the few open tables to enjoy my serving of rationed slop. It's package food mixed with random plants and crap that could be scavenged. The dark creatures aren't edible due to a high concentration of poison in there bodies. It would be great if the researchers could figure out how to neutralise the poison too but alas, without proper equipment that would be near impossible.
After a few bites of slop, Mark comes and joins me at my table.
Confused, I look at him to say "how come you're here early?"
"I asked Castro to handle the clean up for me, I wanted to see you".
That was an unusual statement from him. Rarely does he ever leave his post early and the only times he has before it's been to get injured treated immediately.
Mark could tell I was dubious of him as he continued, "there's been talk. The commander has been considering the logistics of ditching Brund Morrows and making a break for Wesker. It's closer to the other settlements and the situation is more stable overall. They have stronger mages too. Apparently, the location isn't officially military sanctioned but is working in close conjunction with the military. The leader is apparently quite powerful as well.
Now that was interesting. "Wasn't Wesker an ordinary town that became overrun?"
"It was. The leader cleared it and accepted refuges. Or so the gossip goes".
Mark clearly didn't believe the rumours but there was hope in his eyes as well. That is another precious resource around here.
"Then we should start preparing. We have bribes and favours to cash in. We should get a few extra rations and a thicker blanket. If possible, bandages and disinfectant too. We should get in now whilst fewer people are aware of the rumours. Regardless of if they are true or not, once people know, it'll become more difficult to trade."
Mark nodded as I spoke. Over the past seven months since the fall, we've travelled long distances with many different people. In a world where currency collapsed, favours and trades quickly became the norm. We don't know if everyone who owes us is still alive, or even where most of them ended up, but even one favour repaid can be the difference between life and death.
"If people know we are going to travel then they'll want the right items for themselves. I'll speak to Donzie and Ryan today. They owe us rations."
"Donzie's dead", I interrupted, "he died yesterday. I'll talk to Macey about requisitioning anything from him. Though she'll skim off the top no doubt."
Nodding along Mark offered one more thing which had me smiling like an idiot.
"We both have the night off, don't we?" he said whilst flashing that evil smug smirk of his.
"We do. How rare", I purred, shamelessly inviting him into my bed for the night.
*****
Another day another tide of monstrosities as thick and endless as the ocean. I barely need to aim at all the land a shot. With this many targets, priority shooting is impossible. I can't even tell one monster from another.
I sit atop the ramparts firing my specially designed cal46" rifle. I call her Cal. She's a beauty that was made for me with my special proclivities in mind. That is, I develop my own bullets from mana.
This ability awoke when I was operating a mounted machine gun. It was a particularly harrowing siege, and the creatures had climbed up to right beneath my muzzle. It was a do or die moment when my ammo ran out, but I kept firing. The faces of the guys next to me were hilarious. At least they were until I ran out of mana and suffered mana exhaustion. I was unconscious for three days.
My ability even has a name. I don't know how I know this but it's like this:
[Job Class: Sniper]
[Death is sudden. Death is silent. Death is intended.]
[Abilities: Hellfire]
[Hellfire: you craft bullets from mana. If your bullet is true, you recover mana. Your hubris will make or break you.]
And that's it.
No one understands what causes this, but every mage has something similar. It's like it goes directly into your head. The only thing we know is that it happens at the same time they learn to control mana.
Today's siege is the most harrowing one so far. Over the past few weeks, the tide of monsters has been escalating slowly. But now we are suddenly completely overrun. Talks of abandoning Brund Morrows have gone from rumours to actuality. Not because of the chance at a better life in Wesker but because if we stay, we will die.
Mark and I have managed to get most of the supplies we wanted from cashing in favours. We have a surplus of rations, two extra blankets and a clean wrap of cloth for bandaging. This is on top of the regular limited issued supplies which consist of nothing more than a backpack of varying quality and a spare set of clothes.
Food and water will be distributed throughout the journey, and we will be traveling as a convoy of cars and foot soldiers. We aren't as prepared as we would have liked to be but when the three burst alarm that announced emergency evacuation was armed, no one complained.
The monsters had all but descended into the castle grounds. At this point it's a mad dash for the convoy which will have to break through the tide.
"VIR GET ON THE CENTRE CARS TURRET!" screamed Mark as I basically jumped from my crow's nest. He didn't have to tell me twice. Mark kept his unit close to me when the fight began because he knew I'd be left to fend for myself if shit hit the fan.
Landing sloppily with a thud I scrambled up and dashed through Mark's teams' formation. The monsters have breached the castle and encircling us faster than we can get together.
Pressing through Mark's team I make a break for the centre car as they follow behind me. Forcing my way through panicked soldiers I head for the turret, but one soldier who'd lost an arm grabbed my ankle, pleading for help. I tripped and fell but before Mark or the team could do a thing I whipped Cal around and shot the injured soldier in the face.