Cottontail Chapter 6 (Patreon)

At about this time tomorrow, Ashlyn will be in the process of landing in NZ. AAAAAAAAAAAA. Also I don't wanna jinx it but this chapter actually flowed from brain to screen pretty easily. Hopefully it continues to do so!

We ran into one more model 4 before we made it back to the homestead, but this time we were ready and with Gyre’s help, I shot it dead with a single burst. Feeling confident, we trekked up to the edge of the main property and hunkered down into firing positions.

Say what you will about video games, but for us, they definitely taught a certain amount of tactical awareness. I had my two new friends spread out a few metres to either side of me on the slight rise we were using to get a good line on the antithesis. It was enough space that we could easily support each other, but we also weren’t going to get tangled up trying to reload or whatever.

The antithesis were still busy moving the meat sacks and dead cows into their strange worm carrier models, not a care in the world for what we were up to. That was all about to change.

Raising my rifle, I took aim at the nearest model three and waited until my friends indicated they were ready. We fired. It wasn’t neat or simultaneous or anything, but most of the bullets hit their marks within a few seconds of each other. Pretty good for a scrawny tech and two truckers, if I did say so myself.

The moment the gunshots rang out, the homestead erupted into chaos. Model threes surged out of nooks that I swear hadn’t existed a moment before.

“Fuck!” Chazza swore, and I couldn’t find any fault with the sentiment.

“Gyre, if the boys ask for ammo, don’t bother asking for confirmation from me. If I can afford it while keeping enough for stabilising meds, summon the ammo,” I said, tripping over my words in an attempt to get them out while I sighted on the next ravenous alien.

My first shots on it missed, and I gritted my teeth in frustration. I was not used to shooting under pressure like this. My next burst went right down the gullet of the silent antithesis monster, shattering something important before it exited its back. The body fell forward, then flipped up into the air as its momentum continued to push it forward long after it was dead.

The display of necro-acrobatics was cut off when another model 3 leapt over the body rather than weaving under or around it. Oh no you don’t. I held the trigger longer than was probably necessary, unzipping its stomach with a brutal extended burst of gunfire.

I put a third plant-dog down in a much more controlled manner, and I felt a sense of satisfaction and grim purpose when I shifted my aim yet again. I could do this. I could really do this whole badass alien slaughter thing.

Valu screamed, his voice going higher than I’d ever thought a man’s voice could go. Oh crud! A model three had wrapped its jaws around his throat, and muscles were tensing readying to shake him until his neck broke.

“Knife!” I shouted, opening my hand palm up. My aim was not good enough to risk shooting the thing off him.

New Purchase: Serrofix Standard Bayonet.
Points reduced to... 72

A mean looking dagger as long as my forearm dropped instantly and unceremoniously into my hand, and I lunged at the life and death struggle taking place. Valu was bleeding badly from his neck, but he was conscious and using his hands to keep the alien from completely crushing his neck with its jaw.

With a high-pitched grunt of effort, I drove my blade into the side of the model 3’s head and ripped it downwards as hard as I could. Something ripped, and the triple hinged jaw of the monster fell sideways and released all its pressure. It wasn’t dead yet, though, and it still had claws.

Valu’s blood was everywhere, and Chazza was working his rifle overtime to give us the time to recover. Strangely, though, I didn’t find myself feeling any sort of terror at the deteriorating situation. I was… calm? It was almost like I’d entered a state of like, battle zen or something.

Which is why I moved with an efficiency that I’d never applied to my job. With a twist of my wrist, I moved my knife that was still buried deep in the jaw of the alien up until the point was in the roof of its mouth.

Releasing the handle, I brought both of my hands up and linked my fingers together, then rammed down with all my strength. A sickening, wet crunch could be heard over the wider carnage of the skirmish, and the monster went limp.

Target Eliminated!
Reward... 10 Points.

“Bandage,” I said, again relying on Gyre to both understand I was talking to him, and that I was asking him to summon something using my points.

New Purchase: Class I Fabresthetic Bandage
Points reduced to… 80

The bandage fell into my hand still boxed, which was probably for the best considering this was a medical thing. Didn’t want to get more gross dirt and stuff into the wound than there already was.

I went to bind Valu’s wounds, but he grabbed the bandage out of my hands and made a vague shooing motion with his hands. Damn, dude was tough.

He had a point, though. Chazza was losing ground, even as the aliens began to run out of enemies. Around him was a worrying amount of spent ammo and empty mags.

Thankfully, my new smart SMG had a nice, trusty sling, so I didn’t have to dig it out of the dirt and blood on the ground. Seating the stock into my shoulder, I once more began to spit high velocity death downrange. Did it even count as death when you shot an antithesis? Were they alive in the conventional sense? I didn’t know nearly enough about humanity’s xenocidal enemy.

Gyre’s voice sounded in my head, The model 8 is getting away, 707. I suggest we slow its retreat so it fails to deliver the biomass to its hive. Hives within the interior of the Australian continent are usually starved for resources in a way that other hives in different regions are not. A shipment of that size could lead to a spike in antithesis attacks in this area.

“Okay… but it has armoured plates all over it,” I pointed out. The large caterpillar-like alien was busy following the larger trail of destruction while a small group of antithesis models I didn’t recognise clambered over it, securing final scraps of biomass.

Indeed. Like many other antithesis models within the region, they have had to make adaptations. Unlike its regular cousin, the model 8-E has armoured plates that are capable of stopping small arms fire. You do not have anything currently in your arsenal that could penetrate them. You can still shoot the small exposed areas of flesh near its belly.

Another small burst of gunfire from my SMG, and I was forced to stop and reload. As I did so, I asked, “Will that even help?”

I… am unsure.

“What’s my point count right now?” I asked, already thinking of something.

One hundred and thirty two.

If I could have actually seen him, I’d have done a double take at Gyre. “I didn’t kill that many.”

You gain points for kills made by those who are using your weapons. The difference is because of that.

“Nice!” I grinned, suddenly feeling very good about arming my new friends. “Okay, Gyre… I need a list of rifles with enough punch to go through that thing. Give me something that I can actually place my shots with too, nothing that sprays.”

My excitement caused me to pause for a moment. I was actually having fun right now, even after jumping in to save Valu. God, the dude was bleeding from his neck and I was over here getting excited about big guns.

Seeing me looking over at him, he gave me a weak but confident thumbs-up. Okay, he was probably fine for now. A little blood loss never hurt anyone…

I have been waiting for you to ask for something like this since you demonstrated your ability to hit a target when given time to place your shots, 707. I already have just the weapon lined up for you!

The "AMR-144-Goliath" is a heavy-duty anti-materiel rifle designed for taking out heavily armoured targets. It features a modular design that allows for easy customization and maintenance, as well as a high-powered liquid explosive driven light-gas (LEDLE) firing mechanism.

The Goliath supports a built-in target leading system that helps the shooter track moving targets and calculates how far ahead of a target you’ll need to fire to hit it.

To help absorb the recoil of firing such a powerful weapon, the Goliath comes equipped with an advanced recoil reduction system that uses a combination of hydraulic dampers and active counterweighting to keep the shooter on target.

As for ammunition, I can summon a variety of different rounds for different situations. I will be giving you delayed impact fuze ammunition for the model 8 you wish to kill.

Gyre sounded almost gleeful as they described the weapon, and I found myself smiling all over again. This was the most enthusiastic I’d heard the AI get since he was unceremoniously teleported into my skull.

“How much is it?” I asked, already intent on buying it. Gyre really oversold it to me.

Two hundred points… he said slowly, and I suppressed a groan. I didn’t have enough.

Yes, you are still sixty eight points short. It would be best if you continued to kill the smaller models. Quickly, though.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled the stock of my SMG into my shoulder again and looked for more attackers. Silly AI got my hopes up for nothing.