Flying Over the plains she could see for miles, it was invigorating, splendid. she was the Queen, the lord! The tyrant of the skies. She ruled it with an steel talon. What was this? Ants in her empire of the sky? How dare they! She called upon her army of warriors. Down they swooped to the attack, to rip and maim. Kill and die. Better to burn in pain than become a slave. She was falling, her left wing gone. She never hit the ground. They were all dying, shot down like pigeons from another age. It was the end for the Sky Empire. All would be killed, for the Cleansers had found there home. All was still.
Chapter One.
The rumbling of the carrier drowned out most of the music, but he could tell it was Irish. Here, everybody loved hard rock. It drowned out every thought, every emotion. As far as the noise, he could no longer hear the grinding and crashing of the explosions outside the walls of their little world. He wished to drown out everything in a rolling wave of sound, to never be able to hear again. Then they arrived. "Out, out, out!" shouted the Sergeant, interrupting his thoughts. "Move your carcasses!" They all knew their jobs; his was long range covering fire. He would get dropped first, along with a smoke canister. Just enough cover to be hidden, and the rest would be dropped closer to draw fire away from him. Nevertheless, he was always closer to the enemy than they were, he could see their souls. Their eyes were full of fear, full of terror. That didn’t matter though; it was either this or showing his own soul.
Green lights on; drop time. . They launched the smoke screen; it swirled everything around, making it look like a different world. He found the drop line and waited for the signal. Down he went, hitting the ground rolling, getting up and going to an outcrop which overlooked a small ledge. The tera-goggles he wore sure helped. He could see every piece of stone or pile of dirt. Laying down he scanned the expanse in front of him. The hovels in the distance were heavily camouflaged. He would never have spotted them without the tip. Money could buy everything, even life, but back to the job, politics were for the those with two faces, he laughed to himself.
Loading up his Solar rifle he waited for the battle to commence. This part he loved. The calm before the storm. Nothing stirred its wings or made a sound. He saw the signal, their leader. All it took was one shot; its wing was vaporized instantly. He lined the next target. Left eye. Lower back. Head. Right shoulder. All fatal hits, all on target. He hated fliers, too jerky. Always swooping and banking. So hard to get the head. Soon, the first wave was obliterated. He swung his scope to the town. Plenty of targets there. Aiming at the first one he realized it was a young female. He almost moved on until he noticed her claws and teeth. Her painful existence ended quickly. The next target was slightly more difficult. It was a man covered in some sort of scaly mail. The first shot reflected off his armor. Fine, he thought, your eye it is then. The creature’s brain boiled in a millisecond before oozing out of his cracked skull. Suddenly his goggles began trilling at him. Looking over his shoulder at the area indicated by his goggles, he saw them, a small family trying to escape the carnage. He scanned them; nothing offensive, just a normal family. He turned back to the battle. Now the goggles chattered. Crap. Turning back again he saw two of them running towards him. One had a long bladed arm, the other had two sets of long claws. Melee was not his forte. Pulling out his snubbed pistol he dropped the first with a new hole in his neck. The next was too fast; it was already upon him. Rolling back, he kicked up and sent the attacker flying over him. Two more shots and it was over. Shifting back to his rifle quickly, he saw the fight was also over. Time to go home.
