Personal Memory Log: 00371
17/09/2463.3
Lewis Lawrence, Orator,
Ministry of Remembrance, 1st Division.

The Hunter from my cabin blew through its door searching for me. Utterly silent amidst the horror and screams it rampaged through the crowd, cutting down all around it in an uncaring onslaught in its effort to reach me.

It was a black reaper of souls, claws, tearing through flesh, a featureless face turning crimson as it bathed in blood. Ever did it keep its unrelenting eye on me as I fled through the fleeing crowd. Even when I threw those around me at it in a desperate gambit to escape its mechanical focus never waned.

I threw a woman in its way, slipping as I did so, tumbling to the blood-soaked floor. Mewling, whimpering and cowering, I rolled onto my back, wailing while I saw the woman scream in pain. Her flesh was rent apart like mere paper as crimson claws tore through her.

On all fours I crawled backwards, desperate to break free of my pursuer's grasp. It stopped; an uncaring monster of a machine, it stood there for a moment staring at me. Then its right claw retracted and unfolded to allow a barrel to emerge out of its wrist.

With a subtle click it took aim, and the world slowed to an agonising grind. I slumped in my place and prepared for the end. I saw the world around me collapse in a storm of fire and blood. Now I too shall join the countless others, mercilessly slaughtered for no given reason.

A sudden flash of light blinded my eyes for a split second as the Hunter's armour buckled and its insides detonated. I looked around, my vision blurred, I reached out into the air, hoping to grasp on something helpful.

Soft, slender fingers slid into my grip I latched on and a strong arm pulled me onto my feet. My vision cleared, and I found Sarissa wielding a rifle and yelling something at me. I could only stare back at her, dazed and bewildered by her charm.

A hand slapped me across my face, breaking me out of my numb dizziness. I came to and focused again. She wore a beige armour vest over her officer's uniform. She had tied her hair up into a long ponytail.

"Lewis! You must evacuate! Now!" Sarissa yelled at me.

"What about you?" I asked her.

"I have a job to do."

Sarissa then turned to the Muse next to her.

"Alexander. Ensure that Orator Lawrence and any other VIPs you find make it to the shelter." She ordered.

He nodded and approach me. He held his rifle in his right hand and with his left he beckoned me with a wave. I turned to follow, and we both broke into a run as gunfire erupted behind us. I looked back at the place of shame I left behind.

I shocked myself with only gratitude shining in my heart. Shameless I threw my own people at the slaughterers with no regret spawning in my heart. It was a shameless act of a witless, uncaring oaf. 'No, it was survival' I tell myself. It was survival, nothing more.

I look up, seeing the bright white lights pass overhead. Next I find myself running down a long ramp into the tunnels under the base. With every step I find my peace return and the comforting solace of quiet contemplation calm my soul. Alexander leading the way, I run and I think.

Hmm, I wonder if fortune ought to be another metric of fitness.

-//-

Alexander and I kept running into the night while the battle raged on above us. My lungs stung with exhaustion as I wheezed every breath in and out of my body. My skin was slick with sweat and every ounce of my body ached to the bone.

Alexander, however, seemed to only break into a light pant. I groaned with envy, watching the superhuman outperform me. My attention breaks from him as we turn a corner and find the shelter we were after, surrounded by guards.

We ground to a halt as the doors slam shut and the entrance. Moments later the guards spot us and raised their rifles, taking aim at us. We stood there; me exhausted and terrified, Alexander, staring, ready to fight. One of them took steps towards us.

"Black!" He called out.

"Star!" Alexander yelled back.

The soldiers all lowered their weapons as the one who approached broke into a jog and I rested, wheezing and leaning on my knees. Here the room was a large concrete box, designed to survive even the most savage of bombardments. When he got near he slowed to a halt.

"I'm sorry sir, this shelter is full. You need to reach Shelter 07. It should have room for the VIP..." he turned to his right and pointed his palm at an underground corridor "... it's three hundred meters west. Go through 01-A until you reach P-1, turn right and then enter 05-A." He announced.

I listen in, recognising the code names of tunnels throughout the base while Alexander looked down the tunnel the trooper pointed to.

"Understood." Alexander responded as he took off driving me to run along with him.

Together we jogged through 01-A, with concrete and white light all around us. Soon we came upon a T section with 'P-1' painted in large white letters, standing out in the dull grey. We turned right, running as they instructed us, passing the entrance to a pillbox every few meters.

Soon we found 05-A, the fighting above seemed to intensify. Detonations on the surface shook the world all around us. The lights flickered with every explosion until suddenly a massive impact smacked into us blowing us off our feet in a storm of dirt, stone and steel.

-//-

The next thing I knew was Alexander shaking me awake. His voice, muffled, my ears ringing, I opened my eyes to a world consumed in a blurry haze. In my confusion I shook my head as someone lifted me on my feet. For a moment they held me in place while I struggled to find my footing.

When I came to I saw the tunnel caved in all around us, a single flickering light illuminating our world. Now confined to a tomb of concrete no more than a few meters wide I felt despair creep up my spine. I dropped to my knees.

I noticed Alexander brushing his hand across the one flat wall still standing. I sat up against the ruins, my heart heavy, weighing me down.

"It's over." I say.

He ignores me and keeps probing the wall. Aches and pains plagued every part of my exhausted body.

"It's over. We're trapped in this place." I continue.

He glanced in my direction for a moment before returning to his work. A futile effort if you ask me. What could we do? We have neither the tools nor the time to break free from dozens of meters of earth and bunker.

I noted his gun.

"What are you going to do? Shoot your way out? This isn't some enemy on the battlefield. This is death. Slow and suffi-."

"Captain Sarissa was right about you, you know." Alexander said calmly as he found a section near the ruins he liked.

"Sarissa? What did she say?"

"She called you a sheltered little brat." He said with a smirk.

"H-hey! I earn my way!"

Agitated, I got up and pointed my finger at him.

"I could have you both reprimanded for that!"

He merely shrugged.

"If so, you would have done it already."

Confused, I lowered my hand and raised and eyebrow. Then He brushed off a specific section of the wall, took a step back and took a deep breath. Then he slammed his fist into the mark on the wall with everything he had, creating a small crater.

He did so again and again, driving deeper into the wall, stunning me with every strike. With the last punch he let out a roar of pain as his wrist broke upon impact. Then he took out his rifle and smashed against the wall with his working hand.

I took a step forward and spoke.

"Maybe I should-."

"Stay back!" He demanded.

I stood back as he got to work, rewiring the weapon and rolling the materials in it into a ball. Soon he groaned in pain as his wrist crackled and popped. Eventually, some hour later, it had healed and Alexander, flexed it and rejoiced.

With that he made his final preparations by slipping a copper rod in between the trigger and the trigger guard, pushing the trigger back. As the machine warmed up and whine, he shoved it into the hole in the wall he made and cover it up with a block of concrete.

He pushed me back as I watched smoke seep out of the hole and the mechanical whining grew ever louder. Soon after, the remains of the gun exploded, filling the room with a thick mist of ashen dust and blowing a small hole through stone and earth.

Pale, orange light shone through the newly created opening.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, bewildered.

"That? That is what happens when you fire a M108 Terran Gauss Rifle on full auto without a cooling system. Now we need to get to Shelter 07 so get moving."

In a strange reversal or roles I obeyed him. I approached the hole; it was small, barely enough to fit me into. With a push I climbed my way in it and squeezed my way through a meter of concrete before finding soft earth I could claw my way through.

The way out was painfully tight, dirty and claustrophobic. I felt every bit of my weakness as I struggled to pull myself forward and into the light. Once I broke free, I reached out, only to grasp at thin air as I fell over and slid into ice cold muddy water at the bottom of a crater.

I gasped in shock as the cold struck me to my core. A strong grip held me afloat as my muscles locked up and I went numb. Shivering and hyperventilating, I dragged myself to safety while Alexander peered over the crater's edge.

"W-w-w-wha d-d-do y-you see?" I asked as I looked back, seeing the pair of other craters flanking our one that caused the cave in.

"The coast is clear. The fighting has moved on and the courtyard is empty. Hurry now, we need to get you inside. Get you warm before the cold kills you."

I nodded as I dragged myself out of the mud, my feet slipped. I would have fallen back into the water one last fatal time if it were not for Alexander's strong hand catching me before my fall. Wrapping my arm around his shoulders he walked me into the closest building.

-//-

He let go, and I slumped onto the ground, shivering and relishing the warm indoor air. He looked around, found a dead trooper on the floor and stripped him of equipment and clothes. He handed me my new clothes and urged me to put them on.

Once I had recovered, we walked ever further into the base dressed in a uniform a size or two too large for me. Gunfire rattled in the distance as we carried on. He handed me a pistol while took another M108 for himself.

Down bloodied, corpse littered halls we marched. Moving in silence while the battle raged on ahead. We closed upon Shelter 07 only to find it swarmed by traitors and under permanent lock down. The sight dashed all our dreams of reaching Shelter 07.

Alexander resorted to finding our lines and taking refuge amongst friendlies. I found little argument against it and so we began our march. Reaching the familiar centre of the base only ever finding death and destruction all around us.

Suddenly the distinct sound of gauss rifle fire -like a bottle of champagne bursting open- filled the hall. Alexander broke into a sprint and threw me into cover while a round ploughed through his arm in a mess of blood and gore.

He responded in kind a short four-round burst whizzed down range and blew apart the pair of gunmen on the other end. He only won a brief reprieve as two more took their place. Ducking and weaving, he charged the guns, keeping ahead of his enemy's aim.

I could only watch as he brought one down with a barrage of tungsten rods and slammed the butt of his rifle into another, breaking the jaw and drawing blood. All I could do is make my approach with my heart pounding in fear as the superhuman monster slaughtered his way through another five assailants.

I approached him, eyes fixed on the shadows. I reached his side only to be pushed aside by Alexander as a laser beam blasted through in between us. I came to amidst a whirlwind of gunshots and blades. The world shook as my lifesaver struck one black enemy. It toppled backwards, lightning spewing from a massive cut in its torso before its core detonated.

Hunters, one of the True Republic's greatest weapons. I took aim and a steel foot pulverised my gun under its powerful heel. I soon stared down the featureless face of yet another Hunter.

Before the robot could act several rounds riddled its hull. Even as we were swarmed by the monsters Alexander was not about to give up. He spun about in place, firing in all directions, he ducked as a blade swung horizontally at his neck and weaved as two others went after his belly.

He aimed his gun from the hip, firing, blowing away the head of two before the third drove its blade into his shoulder. He groaned as blood flowed from his wounds, thick and heavy. Slamming the barrel of his rifle into his enemy's chin he squeezed the trigger, blowing its head clean off.

"For the Coalition!" He roared as the metallic beasts swarmed him.

He bashed the forth and unleashed full might of his wrath. The man was a blur of motion, even as a steel foot pinned me to the ground he fought on. Unyielding, unrelenting, matching the Hunters in speed and grace even as they piled in onto him.

Tungsten rods ploughed into black metal bodies as Alexander railed against the storm with rifle and bayonet. A Hunter's laser beam burned through the praetorian's hip forcing him on to his knees as he reloaded.

As one the Hunters moved like in a black tide of death. They drowned out the whirlwind of combat they marched into through the sheer weight of their numbers. Alexander roared as a claw tore off his arm and a laser beam took his leg by the knee.

He went down still firing his gun taking another three. Only when a blade took his head did the valiant warrior drop dead. I whimpered, a pathetic failure in the face of grace. Oh, how I wished I could take his place, but destiny had more planned for me that day.

"Tragic is the life of a warrior. You fight with all your heart for a promise and nothing more."

-//-

Please support my work at https://www.subscribestar.com/tebramble