Rubble of Nyx Tower

  Perelli snapped back into control of his body in a sudden jolt that gave him whiplash. Persephone's head rolled across the ground in front of him. There was no blood, the flaming sword having cauterized the neck and severely burned the rest of the corpse. It was slowly decaying into ash. Checkmate's presence faded from his body. His entire body, every muscle, went limp. He fought to remain standing but his muscles refused commands. His body was shutting down and going into shock.

  He heard one last word from the angel, whispered into his ear.

  "Rest."

  His vision faded into black.

  LAX Beachhead

  The sights of an HR-15 came into focus as Reinstead shouldered the weapon after slapping home a new magazine. It was salvaged from a fallen Rifle. He had no idea now many rounds were left in it. He stood atop a disabled Shogun. The MBT had both tracks knocked out, but its cannon and coaxial machineguns were still firing.

  A line of terrors lay before him, advancing inexorably. Ammunition dwindling, he thought this was his last stand. Around him, his soldiers were fighting desperately. Their position was an anchor for an entire section of the line. The expansive concrete flattop of I-405 lay before them. It was a no man's land of blackened vehicle carcasses and shell holes. Mud and sand had been pushed in from the sea by the vorrkoth's landfall bringing the tide with it. Seawater was filling the lower areas of the battlefield.

  Light shined down from the sky as orbital lasers from x-ray rounds impacted the beach. The vorrkoths, one at LAX and one at Manhattan Beach were disintegrated beneath pillars of blinding nuclear light. With them went most of their supply staging area. The paint on the side of the Hornet bubbled and blackened from its proximity to the superheated beam. Geiger counters growled menacingly as they briefly peaked. Atomic excitement in the atmosphere increased above background levels. Immediately sealing all armor, vehicles and taking CBRN precautions would have prudent, but it didn't matter. There was no time with an army of raging beasts in front of him.

  Despite the raging wall of guns, the tentacles and the horrors spawned from them charged their line with no regard for their lives. Low on ammo, fatigued, choking on smoke and now mildly irradiated, Reinstead was prepared for this to be his last stand.

  Something thundered overhead at low altitude. It was a jet coming in on an attack run. At first, he thought it might have been a mad Screecher pilot, but the silhouette was different. He took his eye off the enemy for half a second to analyze the aircraft as it pitched up on one wingtip and turned sharply. When it leveled out, it dropped a series of fin-retarded bombs. He recognized the wide-winged profile of a Su-25 Frogfoot. The aircraft had an unusually short airframe, indicating it was the navalized variant of the sturdy attack platform.

  It was followed by a line of attack helicopters that swept the area with 20mm nose cannons and rockets, creating a barrier of explosions that provided relief to the over-stretched Vanguard line. A series went up from the troops all along the front as the enemy melted under fire. They were still attacking, but their numbers were greatly thinned.

  A single UH-60 with a large red roundel on the side flew in after them and landed in a clearing behind the line. Reinstead jumped from the tank and ran to meet whomever had just landed. A team of six was disembarking from the helo. He recognized the deep jungle green camouflage of the JSDF on the highest ranking officer, but the other individuals were in PLA-N Blue, American MARPAT, Russian EMR and Australian desert.

  "Who are you?!" Reinstead shouted at them over the whine of the helicopter as it took to the skies again.

  "Command element!" The Japanese Colonel said to him. He gestured behind him to the team as they unloaded radios. "Representatives from each major contingent. US Command is integrated with ROK. Where is Ground-Commander Reinstead?" He seemed unsure. He'd probably never even seen real combat before.

  "You are looking at him." Reinstead answered. "Glad to see you."

  Reinstead put out a call to gather what was left of his command team.

  He turned back to the assembled relief force. "What have you got?"

  The Colonel launched into a long list of assets being brought to the table. The order of battle was staggering.

  At the center was the U.S.–Japanese main effort to be landed at Long Beach. The carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was providing primary air superiority and ground strike. The amphibious assault ship USS America and the transport dock USS San Antonio were carrying the bulk of the first-wave Marines—armor, LCACs, and rotary lift. Two U.S. destroyers, a cruiser, and a forward submarine screen protected the formation. They were supported by a dedicated oiler and supply ship. Roughly 2,200 U.S. Marines embarked with armor, ACVs, F-35Bs, and MV-22s.

  The force was augmented by Japan’s JS Izumo with elements of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade of eight hundred troops with heavy-lift helicopters. Two destroyers extended their missile barrage coverage.

  To the north, a secondary shock axis of combined Russian and Chinese makeup. Admiral Kuznetsov and Liaoning operated as a dual-carrier group. China’s Hainan and supporting landing ships carried roughly 2,500 PLA Marines and 1,200 Russian Naval Infantry, backed by a Slava-class cruiser and destroyers with heavy missile batteries.

  To the west, was a reserve and exploitation force aboard ROKS Dokdo and HMAS Canberra, carrying approximately 1,700 ROK and Australian troops with mechanized landing craft and airborne infantry.

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  “That's not a relief force, Colonel. That's an invasion force.” Reinstead told him.

  The Colonel was stoic. "Our orders are clear. We are not evacuating you. We are taking the city back. What is your situation?"

  "Low ammo, low fuel. We're split between here and Long Beach. If you can fill the center gap, my forces can stabilize both flanks. Our northern front is in retreat. Once that land brigade gets here, they should be able to turn them around and thrust straight into downtown. We have a sky-carrier crash landed in the middle of downtown. There are also friendlies trapped behind enemy lines."

  "is that, ah, 'thing' still coming here?" The Japanese Colonel asked nervously.

  "To be determined, but as far as we can tell, no. The enemy was not successful in summoning it directly to Earth. But plenty of these monsters got through and they're overrunning all sectors. We're looking at a hard fought campaign if you want to retake the city."

  The Colonel nodded. "Understood. I am giving the greenlight for our forces to come ashore."

  He turned around and waved to his team. they all began making a long series of radio callouts.

  Whirlwind

  They were fully encircled. It seemed the whole world was coming down around them after witnessing a sky-carrier hit the skyscraper and then the giant pillars of light shine down from space on the beachhead. They had no radio contact and no idea what was going on. With dwindling numbers and equipment, the remaining troopers were fighting against impossible odds. They put themselves between the wounded and the hostages and fought in the street against waves of Black Sun abominations. Their numbers weren't enough and they knew it. This was a day of last stands, and it was their turn.

  Tora gracefully swung and stabbed with his katana, the long blade tearing into a six-headed creature. It moved like a raptor but his blade was faster. He systematically cut off all six heads without it being able to land a blow.

  Nearby, a group of liberated hostages had been separated by a monster with a human body but the head of a bull. It wielded a concrete slab and charged with intent to bludgeon them to death. The frightened and huddled mass screamed. A helmetless Kurt gallantly put himself between the creature and the civilians. He slid across the pavement and quickdrew his sidearm one handed. He fired one round with expert precision. It struck the charging beast directly between the eyes. It toppled to the ground and slid to a stop right in front of him.

  "No damn end to these things!" He exclaimed.

  Milo responded indignantly. He was dual-wielding .50 caliber pistols and letting off a round a second. All rounds struck their targets. "Ya, I'm runnin' dry! Pretty soon I'm gonna be pistol whippin' sons a' bitches!"

  Lieutenant Spier was making callouts while fighting for his own life. Desperately trying to keep their cordon as tight as possible. "Someone, anyone, this is Whirlwind Actual. We are stranded behind enemy lines. Need immediate CASEVAC. I have civilians and am behind enemy lines. I say again, I have civilians, including childre-"

  A low rumbled reverberated around buildings and reached them. It sounding like something big.

  Spier called out to Weber. "You hear that?! We have incoming. How many rockets do we have left?"

  "No anti-tank weapons left! They are kaput!" He answered.

  The vibration grew nearer. Spier looked to the direction it was coming from.

  "Wait. That's rotor vibration."

  A Foxhound gunship rounded the corner of a building and came into full view. It had six helicopters in tow. Two MH-53 heavy lift choppers and four South Korean CH-47 Chinooks.

  The Foxhound was escorting the fat helicopters. It's nose-mounted 30mm cannon swept the ground directly in front of Whirlwind, cutting down monsters like blades of grass. The craft settled into a hover directly over them. The two door gunners contributed and kept a 360 degree overwatch.

  The heavy lift helicopters were quickly vectored in by smoke signals. Amongst the confines of shattered buildings, car wrecks and various blown pipes, it required careful maneuvering for the pilots to land without fouling their propellors.

  The civilians were quickly ushered on as fast as possible. They didn't take the time to count. There simply wasn't any. The enemy was close enough that even the crews aboard the aircraft were bringing their personal weapons to bear to protect their aircraft.

  The first helicopter lifted off without issue and the next landed quickly, bouncing on its landing gear. Whirlwind shrank their perimeter accordingly. The creatures were drawn to the scene, sensing their prey was escaping. They redoubled their efforts to feast on human flesh.

  Two, three, then four helicopters were away.

  The gunship made an urgent callout. "Winchester nose gun. No more thirty mike-mike left. Haul ass Whirlwind."

  The last helicopter was for the surviving Rifles still on their feet. They ran aboard in pairs, making sure that somebody was still providing cover so that the chopper wasn't ambushed.

  Alpha squad was the last out.

  As Tora ran from cover to the waiting cargo ramp of a CH-47, something caught his eye. Underneath the suspended hood of an overturned SUV a young girl was hiding. The samurai reversed course mid-sprint, his boots skidding on the pavement.

  "What are you-?" Milo questioned, but quickly saw what he was running towards.

  "Where he going?!" The Korean crew chief yelled. "We need leave now!"

  "Wait! We can't leave anyone behind!" Milo told him.

  Tora ran, jumped and slid through obstacles to reach the girl. It was the same one that he had met on the 52nd floor. He didn't wait for her to acknowledge him. He grabbed her arm and ripped her out of her hiding spot. She tried to fight him, but he was much stronger. He carried her in his arms and ran back towards the helicopter.

  The gunship began to maneuver away. "Winchester, winchester. Can no longer provide support. We are leaving."

  The black monsters were closing in. Tora's legs pumped.

  The CH-47 was lifting off the ground. It still had the ramp open. Kurt and Milo were both shouting at him to run faster. The pilots were lifting off mercifully slow, but they couldn't maintain it. A tentacle was slithering out of the ground beneath them. If they waited any longer, it would ensnare the aircraft.

  "Jump!" Milo called out.

  Tora realized he wasn't going to make it. He thought quickly. He ran up a pile of rubble and leapt for the opening. As his feet left the ground, he threw the girl as hard as he could. He couldn't see what came next as he tumbled through the air. But what he did see was the girl hanging from the ramp, clinging to it as hands reached out to pull her in. She was safe.

  On his back, lying on the concrete, he watched the helicopter fly away and disappear.

  Monstrosities surrounded him. He rolled over onto his knees and got back onto his feet. The cruel horrors waited, like predators toying with their prey. They reveled in terror. They would not get it from the samurai.

  Tora stood defiantly. He ripped a grenade from his chest rig.

  "I am Takahashi Daiki of the Satsuma Clan."

  He ripped out the pin, but held his hand firmly on the striker handle. When he died it would fly. Only then would it detonate.

  "Servant to the Terra Vanguard."

  He raised his sword in challenge to the beasts.

  "Come forward."