Spots: Kitty to the Rescue

A Web Serial by M.C.A. Hogarth

70. Avalanches Start Slowly.	72. Sourcing the Push.

71. Kitty to the Rescue

Team Kitty in the Warren, running.

Scythe, staring at HUD. "What a cluster****." Switching to squad channel, marking a position. "We've got their rear. Form up, standard."

"Check, Sarge."

Their boots ring on the metal floor. Scythe has point, Claws and Spots behind him. Fang is in center; Hairball and Whiskers are rear-guard. They turn a corner... into chaos.

Claws and Spots surge forward and close in front of Scythe. Claws puts up the shield wall; Spots attacks through it. They shear through three crabs, another three, four. As they advance, Claws uses his free hand to shoot the fallen crabs in the head.

[ Squad ] Fang : ****! Leave some for me!

[ Squad ] Claws : Shoot over our heads, you got room.

[ Squad ] Scythe : Nice work. Switching to company channel. "Lieutenant, we're forty meters from your position and closing."

[ Company ] Avril : Glad to have you, Sergeant.

[ Squad ] Scythe : Keep an eye on the walls.

Spots and Claws hack; the rest of them "shoot over their heads." The crabs turn on them, but the shield spans the corridor, scintillating blue when the squad fires through it.

[ Squad ] Claws : Got two more minutes on this.

[ Squad ] Spots : Check. Scythe?

[ Squad ] Scythe : I like them not being able to touch us. Can I do it?

[ Squad ] Spots : The Violinist installed your new shield. Come forward, Claws will show you.

They stop advancing so Claws can show Scythe the setting; the crabs scrabble at the shield-wall during the trade-off. Scythe takes Claws's place and they continue their push. Claws falls back to join the others.

[ Squad ] Fang : More ****ing target practice—King! Two shots and it's down, shattered at thorax and head.

[ Squad ] Spots : Another star, Fang. Pause for lunge. We're going to have to start running them... Back-stroke through another crab. ...down your thighs...!

[ Squad ] Whiskers : Laughing. Sexy.

[ Squad ] Fang : You know it, motherf—brother.

[ Squad ] Scythe : This thing's flashing.

[ Squad ] Spots : That's the two-minute warning.

[ Squad ] Scythe : That's it? Five minutes of this?

[ Squad ] Spots : It's five minutes of invulnerability. Don't complain.

[ Squad ] Claws : —we got dead.

They've found crab corpses they're not responsible for shooting. The corpses are piled in a rough line all the way to the next turn in the corridor.

[ Squad ] Scythe : ****!

[ Squad ] Hairball : Boss?

[ Squad ] Scythe : They're not shooting them right.

All the bodies are "dead," but most of them have been shot through the abdomen... not the head.

[ Squad ] Scythe : Spots, Claws, take care of it. Rest of you, with me.

The squad splits up. Spots and Claws pick through the dead, delivering the head-shots.

Claws, on the buddy-to-buddy channel, while keeping an eye on the HUD: "Hope it's not too bad around the corner."

Spots. "If it is, we'll know soon enough."

70. Avalanches Start Slowly.	72. Sourcing the Push.