Overrun (22 page)

"Here they come," Sky
Angel said softly.

Beneath his feet directly below
the platform, two large battle doors that guarded the facility's only entrance
swung slowly and forcefully out into the night. They had only opened halfway
when the revving sounds of engines broke through the stillness and disturbed
the solemnity of the shadows thrown by the faraway flames.

"Team’s away," the
signal from the dome defense port tried again to break weakly through.
"We've gunned and launched them all."

Sky Angel glanced down at the
large armored trucks that broke from the dome's side and streaked out into the
night to meet the sudden threat that approached.

Each of the Bigfoot land assault
vehicles was completely loaded with rockets and high caliber weaponry. They
were also heavily covered by thick-plated shields and weapon-deterrent armor.
Tiny cabs housing the two-man pilot crews bounced roughly atop giant tires
measuring more than five feet across.

The Bigfoot assault team
lumbered easily along the jagged roughness of the terrain while additional
rockets and shields raised themselves from the armor covering their sides and
fronts.

Alongside his nervous men, Sky
Angel pressed his glasses closer to his face and watched them go.

"Check tracking equipment
and ready short-range rockets," a voice from his transmitter addressed the
Bigfoot crews.

The large land assault vehicles
sped towards the J.G.U. fleet that now seemed to even more hurriedly approach.

"Estimate force intercept
at about twenty miles out from the facility," Sky Angel reported softly
into the transmitter.

"We see 'em," Dome
Leader returned.

The rapid fire of machine
cannons filled the once still air surrounding the perimeter of Dome 26. Dirt
and scraps of metal exploded in small clumps amidst both land forces as they
raced to meet each other head-on.

"Foot Four, Five and Six, I
need steady blanket fire dead ahead," the leader of the land force sounded
from the transmitter. "Right at them. Concentrate initial shots on
frontmost vehicles. Spread and divide their formations. Clear them out some and
don't let any of them regroup enough to mount their own attack. We have to take
it all from them right here!"

Rockets detached themselves from
the sides of the Bigfoot vehicles before the order had even been completely
given. Propelled by long bright fiery tails streaking through the dark night,
they nearly completely obliterated the initial wave of charging jeeps and
trucks. A few larger tanks were left damaged and immobile on either side.

A cheer went up from the men
manning the observation post. Sky Angel continued to look straight ahead and
didn’t share in the applause.

The battle being waged on the
ground outside the dome was now close enough he did not need his extended range
glasses to monitor its progress. Even from his spot high above, he was
beginning to be able to feel the warmth emitting from the flames of the fight.

The sound of flying rockets and
exploding ammunition pounded against his ears.

The Bigfoot assault crashed
head-on into the advancing J.G.U. forces. In an instant, many of the vehicles
racing from both sides crumpled and exploded into nothingness.

The second wave from both fleets
swerved to avoid the fiery pileup and the many destroyed and burning dead from
the initial run. Rockets whistled through the air as both forces split their
assault formations apart. More J.G.U. and Bigfoot units exploded under weapons
fire. Additional vehicles from both sides were crushed beneath the falling
wreckage.

"Spread out, Foot
Team," Foot Leader's voice came through the transmitter still calm and
controlled. "The fight's too close. We're going to have to end everything
right here."

"Less than ten miles
away," Sky Angel reported into his communication link. “That’s ten miles.
Distance closing.”

Ahead of him, like Boston in the
distance, the countryside was consumed by a blazing fire.

After slicing through and
reaching the rearmost end of the J.G.U. land force, the survivors of the
initial Bigfoot assault whipped their vehicles around and streaked back towards
the dome.

When they again reached the
front and positioned themselves between the coming onslaught and the dome, the
crews pulled their vehicles back together as a group and assembled into a
single straight attack line.

From where he watched from the
platform, Sky Angel could hear the arming devices on their side rockets begin
to prime.

The J.G.U. land troops increased
their speed, pulled their vehicles closer together and continued their charge
towards the Bigfoot force.

"Five miles away," Sky
Angel said more nervously keeping his eye on the small assembled vehicle firing
line. “That’s five miles. Five miles and closing quickly.”

"Hold…" Foot Leader
instructed his stopped force. “Hold positions just a few seconds more.”

His words were followed by a
thick line of smoke that had detached itself from the front assault vehicles of
the J.G.U.

"Let em’ go!" Foot
Leader said smartly into his transmitter. “All weapons fire!”

Hundreds of rockets detached
from the Bigfoot land units as if in one single movement and rushed toward the
J.G.U. assault.

The J.G.U.-launched projectile
trailing black and red smoke wove untouched through the onslaught directly into
the center of the Bigfoot formation.

It smashed through the cockpit
of the center unit and obliterated it into dust. Shrapnel from the blast ripped
the next closest two apart into nothingness. Other units were thrown over on
their sides and into the air. Still others were drenched instantly in thick
flames.

A quarter mile away, the
hundreds of fired Bigfoot rockets ripped effortlessly into the coming brigade
and decreased its heavy numbers in one blinding flash. Fire, smoke and scorched
earth fell across what was left of the battlefield outside the dome.

"Goddamn," Sky Angel
swore quietly.

"Anyone still around, full
retreat!" Foot Leader’s voice yelled from the transmitter. The few Bigfoot
assault vehicles still visible through the smoke quickly reversed their course
away from the blazing chaos in front of them.

"Full retreat," Foot
Leader said more evenly. "Bring it back fellas. Get back inside now."

Thick black smoke and ruined
earth rained from and covered the sky. The surviving crews of the Bigfoot team
turned their vehicles slowly back. Raging flames ripped across the vehicle
wreckage.

Satisfied momentarily that the
onslaught had been contained, Sky Angel turned and headed down the platform
towards the elevator.

"Sir," one of the
sentries grabbed and held him near his elbow before he could completely go. Sky
Angel followed the sentry’s gaze past his outstretched arm.

Sky Angel raised his extended
range glasses back up to his face. It was then he saw them. From the fire and
smoke, the enemy jeeps and tanks continued to come.

"Somebody's not doing their
job down there!" Sky Angel screamed into the transmitter.

"Holy shit! Are you guys
seeing this back there?" Foot Leader's voice crackled nervously back.

"We see it, Foot Leader.
Where the fuck are they coming from?!" Dome Leader's voice came through
from the command center.

"I don't know how, but
they're still coming!"

"Way too close, Foot
Leader!" Sky Angel shrieked into his comm. "Intercept in sixty
seconds! Bigfoot Leader, turn your team around!"

"I know, I know! Foot Team,
on my mark, I want you guys to turn around and launch every goddamn thing you
got. When you're done, I want you use hand weaponry and throw goddamn rocks if
you have to. Target the center of their formation. Take care of stragglers with
cannon fire!"

"Dome Defense, launch
everything you've got done there!" Sky Angel yelled again into his
transmitter. "Send every last man out there! They're almost here, goddamn
it!"

"Everything’s out, sir.
Pilots are priming the few we've got left…," his transmission then faded
away.

"Dome Command, we have to
make an emergency evac! Sky Angel screamed. "Now! This is way too close.
Start sending people out the other way."

"It's too late. We should
have done that already!" Dome Leader's voice chopped back at him.
"They never should have made it this close. Or even known we were
here."

"Four more miles,"
someone reported solemnly along the platform’s rail.

Sky Angel dropped his glasses
and held the outer rails until his knuckles turned white. Directly below, the
few remaining Bigfoot units slammed on their brakes and spun around in the sand
to defend one final time against the advance.

"Two miles," another
voice said. "They're only two miles away."

A different sentry pulled at Sky
Angel's arm.

"What is it?" Sky
Angel asked watching the J.G.U. cover the short distance between them and the
Bigfoot units. The heat of the air and the fiery warmth the wind carried from
the explosions of battle brought a blanket of sweat pouring down his neck and
face.

"What are those?" the
sentry asked his mouth agape and fear widening his eyes.

Through the flames and burning
wreckage more vehicles appeared.

Churning across the twisted
battle wreckage, two mammoth rectangular superstructure vehicles emerged that
until now had been hidden at the rear of the battle. Large heavily armored
square block sections along their tops towered nearly as high as the dome’s
observation platforms. Their sides were also covered completely with ammunition
armor and heavy steel.

"They're beginning to pull
back," the man who had just grabbed Sky Angel's arm announced nervously.
"The smaller ones are starting to pull back. They're halting their
attack."

"Those things aren’t,"
Sky Angel answered him.

"What the hell are those
things?" Dome Leader's voice crackled in the background through the
static-filled airwaves.

One of the structures, which
looked like a small building mounted on top of mammoth steel wheels, stopped at
the front of the formation and faced the Bigfoot team.

While everyone watched with
breaths frozen and constricted within their throats, a large panel dropped from
its front. A barrage of cannon fire spewed forth from the blackness hidden
behind. The new onslaught of weapon rounds tore into the remaining Bigfoot team
and chewed into the bottommost structure of the dome.

Three Bigfoots were immediately
ignited into a single ferocious blaze while those remaining swerved to avoid
being swallowed by the destruction.

Only ten of the seventy-five
unit Bigfoot team remained on the battlefield. They sped and veered through the
smoldering and burning wreckage trying to survive the newest attack.

"Everyone back!"
screamed Foot Leader. "Just get away from that thing."

The remaining pilot crews of the
Bigfoot team lurched their vehicles violently around and fled toward the dome.
They were dwarfed to tiny details along the smoldering battlefield in
comparison to the giant units that chased behind.

Cannon fire ate up the dirt
around them, and flame now completely engulfed the base of the dome.

The second of the two
superstructures pulled next to the first which continued to hurl cannon fire
after the retreating dome land fleet. The second structure slowly set its
wheels in the sand and shifted its mammoth shape until its side faced the dome.

Its entire side surface area
detached in one long single armored panel and dropped heavily to the ground.
The impact created a huge crater ahead of it in the dirt. More than a hundred
large-scale rockets twisted out on fiery tails from the structure's side and
streaked out towards the dome and the fleeing Bigfoot land force.

"Oh, my God," Sky
Angel said standing tautly on the lookout platform.

More cannon fire blasted across
the battle-obliterated earth transforming two more Bigfoot units into brightly
colored explosions. A third could not avoid the wreckage and became lost itself
in their dying flames.

Even from as high as the observation
team stood, Sky Angel could hear the tortured screams of the Bigfoot engines as
their crews fought desperately to escape.

And then from the side of the
second structure, another mammoth barrage of missiles was launched.

Some tore across the ground. The
rest ripped into the side of the dome. A wall of flames reaching higher than
the topmost point of the facility ripped into the thunderous night air.

The force of the blast toppled
the entire observation team down across the hard metal grates of the deck. Sky
Angel staggered to the edge of the swaying platform. Without looking at the
pile of bodies moving at his feet, he knew two of his men were already gone.

He trained his glasses at the
fiery carnage below while the rest of the sentries struggled to stand.

Nothing was visible in the
distance. Not the old city of Boston. Not any of the surrounding countryside.
Everything was consumed by raging flames. The platform Sky Angel stood across
appeared to have been raised from the depths of Hell itself.

Sky Angel covered his face with
his arms to lessen the pain of the burning air searing through his lungs and
across his skin.

"Foot Leader, Foot
Leader!" the muffled sound of the dome commander’s transmitted voice
crackled from somewhere deep inside the facility. "Report. Somebody
report. Outer dome doors need to be sealed. Say again. Dome doors need to be
sealed. We’ll be dropping them soon. Need status report from the field."

There was no response.

"They're all gone!"
Sky Angel screamed into the hot metal of his transmitter.

"Drop the plates!"
Dome Leader's orders came in panicked shrieks. "Drop everything now!
Charge the blast cannons! Now! Charge them now!"