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My eyes are wide open, sweat constantly dripping from my brow and nose while bile dripped from my open mouth. My helmet lay abandoned in the mud, I spit at it spitefully, spattering the small, singular-eye covering visor with the remains of my lunch. The small red square seems to glare defiantly at me through the pounding rain, the sound of heaven's torrent clearly audible even over the steady jaw-rattling explosions and the deafening gunfire commingled with the screams of the fallen and falling.

I look to my left, a family forced from their homes is hunkered down by me; a man in his late thirties-early forties, his wife who looked to be older and much more miserable, and their two daughters; one only seven years old while the other looked closer to my own age. They all bear the same look of resigned helplessness, the look of sheep. It makes my blood boil and my pulse quicken. I turn the other way and come face-to-face with the woman I consider to be my sister and teacher, regardless of her being twelve years my senior.

Her eyes tell me all I need to know, no words pass between us; instead she kisses my forehead and gives me a little shake before sitting back. She stares blankly up at our meager covering from the rain; a damaged hardwood sign that had been knocked loose and toppled forwards so it lay flat, then I looked to the rest of my squad. There are five of us in total, but when our drop ships had left the island and ferried us here we had been twenty-strong. Now the others were either dead or simply gone to Goddess knows where.

Sitting a few feet away was my second-in-command in rank only. I can never remember his name, I have no reason to. I call him Scar in homage to the series of scars over his mouth and eyes that had come in addition to the actions that granted him a field promotion and forced me to make him my second-in-command, but though I had to regard him as such, I didn't have to treat him like it.

On either side of him, huddled together and clinging to Scar like baby koalas, were two of his little fan club. One was a redheaded girl with bright blue eyes, her nose crinkles and her face turns up every time she looks at me, as though she hated seeing anyone other than her precious Scar in charge. The other girl is a sandy blonde, her hair tied in a ponytail that spilled from beneath her helmet, her almond brown eyes glazed over and her hand steadily moving, softly stroking the crotch of Scar's pants.

I turn back to my true S.i.C. and shake my head in disgust. She laughs softly; it's been a long time since either of us had laughed. Our only sources of amusement these past few weeks seem to come from Scar (or noodle-head as she had started calling him) and the different ways we could blow things up, because hey; why not?

She opens her mouth to say something but I never learn what it is. Before the first word even leaves her lips, the alleyway at the end of the road we're crouched on erupted into gunfire and a group of marines in black tactical armor stormed into view. There are ten of them; two wield light machine guns with SMAW rocket launchers strapped across their back. We all move, forming a protective firewall in front of the family as we aimed our weapons at the two assault-style marines, regardless that they weren't aiming remotely close to us. I have no intention of firing at comrades or sticking around to face their targets, instead I make a series of rapid gestures and our group backs up slowly, using the heavy rain and gunfire to mask our retreat as the mother shields her youngest, the father shielding the eldest with his body as we reach the end of the street.

We reach the end of our street easily enough, the girls are ushered around the corner first, followed by Scar whom I watch furtively, then my S.i.C, the finally me. But not before I witnessed the upper half of a marine careen against a wall, the pulpy smack almost completely hidden by a crash of thunder, but almost isn't enough.

I watch two dark figures lunge at the final soldier, I hear him as he screams in agony, his gun is still going off even as he's dragged down, a bullet ricochets off the wall and explodes the stones where my head had been just a few seconds ago. I duck instinctively, pebbles clatter down my back as my rifle sweeps a path, and my ears strain to hear any pursuers over the rain.

Satisfied we aren't being followed, I look at the men and women whose lives now rest in my hands, and then I turn west. Our salvation lies in that direction in the form of a Crawler class drop ship nestled in a small abandoned outpost formerly occupied by whatever military relic in charge.

I tell them we only have about four miles to go between us and our ticket out, but they seem skeptical at best, mutinous and desperate at worst. Scar immediately tries to step up and take over but was silenced by a rifle butt in the stomach. One of the girls shouts at her attacker; Rei, my S.i.C.

I was grateful for her intervention, even if I had to put a gun to Red's head to make her stand down. I apologize to the family, explain things as best I can, and proceed to outline our plan of action in regards to our survival. I finish with no interruptions, but that's when we notice something out of place: the little girl-Lily- is missing.

Her other, Emily, has to be subdued. She's bound and gagged, her wrists tied in front of her as we usher her on and tears fall steadily out of her eyes, silent sobs wracking her body. The older sister cries silently, arms clutched under her chest as tears and rain streaked through the grin that caked her face, letting her soft olive skin show through as the dust in the air kept fighting to resettle on our faces. We moved at a slow but steady jog, keeping under cover as much as possible. Wet clothes meant more weight, more weight meant more noise, more noise meant more attention, more attention means less chance of survival, and that's simply not acceptable.

We made it far, farther than I even thought we would before we were detected. We were stuck in a four-way intersection, a pile-up blocks the eastern route and two buildings had collapsed under a bombardment by the abandoned tank in the building, blocking the northern route. The tank's turret had been torn away by a powerful explosion and the treads ripped apart by something none of us wanted to meet, but as luck would have it, things just don't work out that way.

We began moving down our only open path when Rei suddenly stopped walking and hissed my name over the rain, our dirt and grime camouflage had been washed away and now our bodies stood completely exposed. I turned back to her and she raised a hand for silent. She pointed at a spot next to the tank, jut under the remains of the turret and what was there made everyone freeze up.

Crouched down and glaring at Rei was a creature we-meaning our guys in charge- had yet to come up with an official name or even a species for. People had taken to calling the S-walkers or Shades, short for Shadow Walkers. It was a rather fitting number since these things seem to only show up in the darkness, crawling out the shadows to slaughter anyone and everyone in sight.

Scar immediately raised up his gun but I swatted it down, grabbing the barrel and pointing at the destroyed buildings. Crawling out of the rubble with angry, growling hisses was a swarm of Shades. We have to be over a nest, it's the only reason that so many of these creatures would be here at once, but though we have a reason we don't have a solution. We move together, slowly being herded down the street, none of us wanting to open fire except Scar, and of course if he did his lapdogs would as well and we'd all die here more than likely.

We kept our bodies-and guns- between the Shades and the small family. We found ourselves backed up against a wall ad formed a defensive half-circle with weapons ready. Rei slung her rifle over her back in favor of twin full-auto pistols, I put my carbine on full-auto, as Scar lay down and flicked out his LMG's bipod while his dogs each gave the father a pistol before readying their respective weapons: an RPD and a G3

I watched the largest of the nestling Shades rear up and roar, the roar is soon joined by others before the ground starts shaking violently and another Shade bursts from the ground with a roar. This one is the largest by far, easily outweighing and over-shadowing the other Shades as it advanced on us. It let out a body shaking roar, and I'm not sure what clicks in my head but I roar back and soon the others join me.

He stops roaring and so do we. My throat is sore and scratchy as I glare burning defiance up at the beast, fingering the trigger of my gun softly, and waiting on one of them to make a move. We stand there, barely breathing and waiting for that decisive moment, that pin drop hat will spell life or death for us all.

I begin to softly squeeze the trigger, I hear the gentle click as the weapon prepares to spit death. But before I can fire, something unprecedented happens: they start backing up and leaving. Wave after wave vanishes back into the nest until there are eight of us and ten of them standing in stark quiet.

The silence is deafening, I seeps into every pore and facet of our bodies. Hands shook, and then faces twisted with disbelief as I ordered weapons lowered. Scar obviously wanted to try and take a shot at the big one but it was easily rectified. We're now in uncharted territory: a non-hostile encounter with Shades.

They moved forwards before the largest let out a guttural bark and the others stopped, backing up slightly with submissive sounding grounds before the big one- who I discovered was a female upon closer examination- made her way to a point between us and them. I unslung my carbine and gave it to Rei with a silent nod, her eyes betraying the terror hidden behind her stoic expression. I released my weapon, and strode right up to the nest queen.

I stop a few paces away, taking a slow calming breath as I looked up at her and stare blankly into her eyes. I blink slightly, finding myself to be more than a little surprised to see not just bright green eyes, but bright green eyes containing unprecedented intelligence. Slowly she lowered herself down to my level, coiling her long serpentine torso around my body in a five foot radius as I finally got a good look into the face of death.

Her torso easily measured thirty feet long, maybe more, extended as a long blackish-tan serpentine tail ending in what appeared to be four curved blade-like claws. She stares into my dark brown eyes her face is scarred and is mostly flat except for her long dog like muzzle. It's almost laughable, and it would be if her muzzle wasn't filled with teeth as long as my forearm. She licks her lips, two black snake-like tongues dart out before she leans close to my face.

I can smell her breath, it's reminiscent of open plains and the wheat grass that grew wildly until 'that' day: the day that the Shades came. Her arms are longer than I am tall, her hands are larger enough that two of them could close around my body entirely, and each of her forearms; for she has four, sports a bicep larger than my head. Her body seems completely coated in scales except for her face, her underbelly-likely as tough as leather- and the lower parts of her arms; from elbow to finger/claw tip.

She had no pupils, no irises, just that startling forest green color. She places her nose against my face, my head is the only visible skin on my body and my hair is matter down by the rain so I have to constantly and rapidly blink to keep rainwater out of my eyes.

She's trying to breathe in my scent, she's like a dog, but the rainwater has washed it away for the most part, and she has to bite into my armor and remove part of it to get at my side and take it in. I flinch, her fangs have grazed my hips, but I don't make a sound and instead make a show of trying to get her scent as well.

She pulls back about a foot; her face screams an undeniable curiosity, like a child with a new toy or game. She slides closer again before doing something I will forever wonder if it's really happened: She licks me.

Her tongues slide from my chin, over my lips and nose, against both eyes which I've shut, and against my hairline before she looks into my eyes again. I don't know what level of insanity took hold of me right then, because I licked back. I have to stand on my toes to reach her forehead. When I finish I step backwards and try to get rid of the thoughts that 1. I just licked something that can kill me with a flick of her tails. 2. It was an enjoyable moment. Or 3. She tasted good, and doing that felt right.

My surprise is mirrored in her expression five-fold, we stare unblinkingly at one another for what feels like an eternity before she gives me a nudge with her long muzzle, stumbling me back towards my own people. I turn as she uncoils and slithers back to the Shades, I turn to her in time to see her pulling her gaze from me and delving under the asphalt where an explosion had weakened the rock and caused dirt to be exposed, the same place she had come up from.

No words are exchanged as I take my weapon back from Rei, it seems everyone has been shocked into silence. I can feel their wide-eyed stares on me as I start walking again, but I can't shake the feeling that other eyes are tracking us, a forest green pair in particular.

We walk in silence, but my 'meeting' with the nest queen has a very noticeable effect in regards to both my group, and theirs. The dogs have moved closer to me, Rei's eyes constantly dart to my face, my exposed hip, back to my face, then forwards again before repeating the cycle. Scar is scowling nonstop, rubbing his gunstock and even going so far as to fall back amongst the family and start trying to spread rumors and plant seeds of doubt amongst the regarding me, survival, and where my loyalties lie.

Also affected and influenced by my meeting are the Shades. As far as we can tell, they live in pack-like tribes or colonies, almost like ants in a way, and colonies have a habit of trying to wipe each other out, again; like ants. I remember long ago while in the mess hall I had made a joking demonstration to a new recruit fresh out the Grinder, our boot camp. I told to think of the world like a gigantic ant farm, add in twenty-one different species/colonies, let them be for a long while, then shake it and stir it so that the different species start suddenly coming into contact with one another, and one species is hated by all the others to the point that they will momentarily top fighting one another to kill that species before resuming their own battle. Then I told him to imagine; we're that hated species.

I didn't know how right I had been that day.

I rub my chin, my face feels sticky where I got licked but my senses seem to have been picked up somehow. Can see farther and clearer, I can hear Shades scurrying and hurrying around in the buildings surrounding us, the rain masks the scent of everything except the garbage, the scent of the putrid refuse is stronger than ever. I pause at one point to turn a damp cloth into a bandana that I fit over my nose and mouth.

I held up a hand and we all stopped, weapons raised up at an unseen foe. We can all hear a group of creatures scuttling closer, they sound like beetles but bigger and I make a gesture to have everyone adopt defensive positions.

There is silence but for the pounding rain for a long time, but just before I make the signal to regroup, a pained screech rips through the air before one of the Shades that had been following us is slammed into a wall at the end of the alley. Before it can recover it's set upon by four larger, bulkier shades very much reminiscent of beetles, slamming hammer-like appendages down against the smaller snake woman.

I immediately use the laser sight to paint the beetles before opening fire, rushing forwards with the dogs at my sides ironically. Scar did his job, but nowhere near as well as Rei; she has taken the hammers off of one of the beetles before we cut it and his companions down.

We watch as their bodies disintegrate into the red powder that is blown or washed away in the storm: the true reason we haven't managed to study any Shades in depth before now, not for lack of trying. I kneel by the injured snake, she's young...probably younger than me, and her face is bleeding. The blood is dripping from her face, turning to that same red dust before it can even reach the ground. I untied my bandana and turn it into a tourniquet, bandaging the cut over her left shoulder as Rei used another two strips of fabric and two broken boards to form a splint for an obviously broken arm.

I could practically feel the skepticism from the others at giving medical attention to a Shade, but it was easy to ignore when I considered everything else that had happened tonight.

I stare silently into her big blue eyes. She looks at me curiously with her head tilted as if to ask why I was helping one of her kind instead of cutting her down like the others. I smiled a bit before turning and standing, making a regroup and move out gesture which was followed rather halfheartedly.

I glanced over my shoulder at a scuffling noise and smile as I catch a fleeting glimpse of the Shade disappearing over the wall, her tail the only thing I saw as I smile, stifling a soft laugh as I make a 'keep quiet' gesture to which everyone nodded their agreement before we got on the move once more.

Rei stayed closer to the group's back with the redhead, though likely not of her own choice, and I was stuck doing my absolute best to ignore the steady passes Blondie was making at me. At one point her hand dipped towards my crotch, I heard a rifle being cocked and glanced back to see a dark Rei clicking her safety on and off, on and off. It definitely cheered me up, and not just because it made Blondie retreat a few yards.

We met two more Shade parties on our way to the outpost, both of them being full of the beetle-like hammerfists. After we eliminated the second group I knew my suspicions were right; that multiple Shade packs had nestled in the city and turned it into a battleground for their turf war. By the look of things, the snakes were losing pretty badly.

It took longer than we wanted, mainly due to three detours we took in order to keep from being detected by groups of Beetles too large to fight against, but we made it to the base and the shuttle off this hellhole came into view almost immediately as we passed through the wrought-iron gates. But even as I take a step onto the loading ramp of the shuttle, I know I'll have to come back here, to find that snake queen. Images of her face, of the desperation in her eyes, plagued my mind before a scream split through the rain-soaked air.

We spin around and all bring weapons to bear, pushing the family further into the shuttle rather ungracefully. Under the crack and flash of lightning we saw a more than surprising sight: The youngest daughter of our escorts, Lily, was running down the street all out being pursued by a group of Beetles.

I didn't even have to bark an order for them to fire, guns were already going off before my mouth opened, mine included, and Rei's rifle was spitting death faster than I've ever seen before. Shade after Shade was dropped by the one woman salvo as the rest of us rushed to the gates, kneeling or leaning two to a side as we open fire, aiming-or at least trying to- for their unarmored parts. This was definitely no small feat considering not only their speed, but how armor-like their carapaces were and how much of their scuttling bodies they covered. It takes me half a clip on average to stop one of the ugly bastards and make him disintegrate, but none of us let up, not even as the child steps, skids, and crashes to the ground in a pool of water. I gave a hold position command as I sprinted forwards, carbine spitting molten death, hissing through the cold deluge as I closed the distance between me and her.

I slid into a kneeling position just above Lily, her hands clasped over her ears in an effort to drown out the sounds of my gun. My finger only left the trigger when I ejected a clip and rammed a new one home. Rei's rifle is powerful and loud, impossible to disguise and things that loud have a tendency to echo. And booming echoes have a tendency of waking things up, and very rarely will those things be friendly.

More and more beetles are crawling out of the woodwork, literally. Our gunshots mixed with the engines powering up on the shuttle and the screeches of roars of our beetle Buddies to create a concerto of death and destruction.

I got Lily up onto my shoulders and started backing away. A quick check onto my hips told me I've only got four more clips, not counting the one being emptied right now. I could only guess that the others weren't close behind. I was getting ready to cut and run when the ground started shaking and sent me crashing down to the concrete. I rolled over and shielded Lily's body with my own as the ground exploded upwards and rocks rained down around us, sending more rocks and dirt flying around as I rolled us three separate times to keep from being crushed under the stones. Once the smoke finally cleared, I found myself wondering if it'd be easier to stick my rifle in my mouth and just pull the trigger.

Of course it would, but that's not an option, not right now anyway. Towering above us in all his insectoid glory-if you could call it that- was the biggest, ugliest, most ferocious looking bug I'd ever seen in my life. And I'd stared a mother Camel Spider in the eyes, something I never plan to do again, not that I have to worry about, most spiders were gone off the face of the planet by now. The pincers looked like they could-and had-torn through plated steel, its shell was bright red which was an odd contrast to the rest of the brown yellow or black shells that other beetles sported. While most of the beetles had four hammer-like appendages and two regular beetle-y legs, this one had six hammer claws, then above those it had four more claws that looked more like serrated garden shears, and six legs below that that were reminiscent of the claws used in crane games. It tilted its head up and let out a loud high screech that made us all cover our ears or risk going deaf.

The rest of the beetles didn't move towards us, but more of them did crawl out the buildings around us to join them. When it finally stopped screeching and we could uncover our ears, the beetles still didn't make a move towards us even as I sheparded Lily back onto my back, telling her to hold on tight as I slid a full clip home and slipped a canister into the underslung grenade launcher barrel; a 40mm High Explosive grenade round as I try to inch backwards towards salvation.

I didn't even make it three yards backwards before the Big Daddy Beetle noticed me, and let out a loud rapid clicking noise that made my stomach roll. The beetles started rushing at us with that same clicking noise but it was easily drowned out by the sounds of our guns going off, Rei's rifle and my grenades focused on the Big Daddy, who I started simply calling Big Bubba, king of the Beetle-Shades and Asshole after his heart, literally.

I had just fired my second-to-last grenade at Big Bubba's legs in an effort to cripple him as I scrambled backwards in an effort to cripple him, but all that got me was nearly being crushed under his massive hammerclaw as he buckled. I was lucky though, my dive made it so he only hit his own people, crushing them into the shattered concrete. That's when I heard the voice. It came like a loud hiss, carrying the word human on the wind. My head whipped to the left just in time to see a building explode as a massive, four armed, reptilian figure fly through the rubble and slam into Big Bubba, driving him headfirst against the ground.

Neither me nor the beetles had any time to react before a swarm of the Snake-Shades flung themselves from the buildings and shadows and even out of the ground to attack the beetles; clawing, biting, pummeling, and some of the larger ones even began constricting the Beetles, typically succeeding in crushing their opponents before the Beetles finally retaliated, regaining their composure and collecting together, actually driving back many of the snakes as the Nest Queen and Big Bubba thrashed about and fought furiously.

I took a few steps forwards, but immediately found myself being lifted up as two snakes rushed at me before promptly dropping me on my ass at the gate, Lily scrambling away and rushing into the arms of her awaiting family who welcomed her with open arms and teary eyes. I looked up into the eyes of the Shades and realized that they never expected to win this battle; they're here because they were supposed to get me and the others out.

I nod. It's easy to understand since that was my squad's mission in the first place. With squad and the family in tow we board the ship. Scar, our only remaining pilot in our squad, looks over his shoulder to make sure everyone's on board, and as the engines warm up to their optimal capacity, I watch the queen being lifted off the ground, her spiked tail thrashing futilely against the armored carapace before she was slammed down into a large, now collapsed pile of rubble, building.

The wail of pain she lets out makes my blood run cold and my muscles lock up. I turned to see Rei staring at me sadly, she knows what my plan is, there's no talk between us as she steps forwards, eyes teary, and kisses my forehead gently. She placed two blades in my hands before strapping the holsters onto my thighs, then she took my hands, folding them together as she begins whispering a prayer to protect her mijo: her boy. A tear trickles from my already wet face at the misery in her features before I kiss her hand and turn to leave. Lily's screaming for me to come back, the other daughter sobs into her knees as the parents try to comfort their children to no avail. The dogs try to come along but I forbid it under threat of death, so instead they give me five clips of ammunition that can be used with my rifle, and one C4 charge synced to the detonator they also give me. There are ten pounds of the explosive, more than enough to do what I'm thinking of doing.

I turned and quickly strode to the gates, gripping a bar tightly before I shouldered my rifle and pull back the slide. If I stayed any longer I wouldn't be able to leave, I'd be back on that ship. So, painful and with bloodstained cheeks and bloodshot eyes, I started running.

I could feel the adrenaline in my veins, sharpening my focus to pinpoint lethality, every pull of the trigger killed one or more of the beetles between me and my objective. At one point I used a beetle as a step-ladder, clearing three others before a bullet whizzed past, having cut down all three at one as they stood in a line. I blinked before I lifted my head to see Rei knelt by the shuttle's doorway and squeezing the trigger again. The bullet hissed past my ear close enough to feel the air parting as another head exploded behind me. I smiled before I remembered where I was and what I was doing. I spun around, sprinting and running all out towards Big Bubba while killing anyone who got in my way, saving Snakes in the process no doubt.

It wasn't easy, but I made it through the battlefield, finding myself scrambling up and over, around and under rubble in an effort to avoid being detected by Bubba...I failed miserably. The big bug started towards me, taking a single step before it brought down one of its hammerclaws. He missed by all of four feet and sent me crashing down into a crater dug by the Queen's thrashing tail. I scrambled up to my feet and dove into a small tunnel created by falling debris, making it in just in time to avoid another crushing blow, causing the furrow to get a crater. The rubble starts shaking again and it's easy to tell it's getting ready to cave in so I started moving quick, crawling on hands and knees until I forced a large rock out the way and popped into the rainy surface just before the tunnel collapsed and nearly crushed me. Lucky for me the only thing that happened was that my leg was caught and pinned by a rock for a moment, but it was easily remedied as I kicked the rock off using my other leg.

I stand and find myself face to face with the queen, blood trickling from her eyes and mouth, none of it disintegrated. I didn't say anything to her, I simply touched her cheek and nodded before I turned again to stare up at Big Bubba. I can hear that little voice some people call common sense screaming at me to run, to just abandon the queen and save your own hide. I mentally shoot him in the head before I aim up and shoot Big Bubba in a different head, one right between his legs. I'm guessing he actually had one because he roared in agony and tried to crush me, only to have the queen sweep his legs from beneath him using her tail.

He went down hard and she came up, wrapping tightly around his torso and crushing his hammerclaw arms in, grappling with the other four arms as I sprinted along the ground, priming the C4 as I heard the sound of the shuttle lifting off. I looked over my shoulder and stopped, watching the door get jammed partway up, I could still see Rei as she tried to make it reopen while the dogs tried to close it. Unfortunately, my pause was all it took for things to go from bad to worse. The queen's grip loosened on Bubba and he wasted no time in breaking it completely, throwing her into a building before grabbing hold of a large chunk of granite and throwing it.

My eyes were wide, I realized what he planned to do far too late to do anything, not that I could have anyway. The granite projectile sailed through the air and slammed into the shuttle, shearing away one of the rockets, the wing, and part of the hull. I watched two figures get ripped from the ship due to the missile, and I couldn't stop watching, not even as the shuttle changed directions and hurled itself in a flaming spiraling torrent of scrap and flesh into Big Bubba's face.

I drop to my knees, my mouth is slack, my eyes unblinking, and my body unmoving as the craft erupts into a screaming ball of fire, the concussive wave enough to put me flat on my back as Big Bubba, face having been the point of impact, staggers then topples backwards with a deafening screech. His impact shakes the Earth, his squeal of pain awakens me, and his life taunts me.

I held the charge as though it's the most precious thing in the world as I scrambled to my feet and ran. I don't think I've ever moved so fast or so agilely as then, darting over and around rocks at a blurry speed until I ran up a destroyed support beam and used to leap up onto Bubba's stomach.

I realized that even his stomach was covered in chitinous armor as I ran along it. Through the fire and flame came a roar: the roar of Bubba still alive. I didn't slow up, I refused to weaken now, and I refused to let this bastard leave this place alive. I ducked under a sweep claw, scrambling on all fours until I got my balance back. I have to lunge to avoid his next swipe, and this time as I get on my feet, to avoid his attack I rush into it and grab hold of his pincers.

I saw the queen lying limply amidst the rubble, she squirmed and I could tell she was still alive. I managed to land on Bubba's mandible just in time for him to tilt his head up and roar. I plummeted down along the mandible's length and landed squarely on his face, clinging to a series of plated ridges on his lower face. It was easy enough to use those ridges like a ladder, what made it difficult was that he thrashed and struggled the entire time. I had a target, I knew what I was going to do and where I needed to be, but the problem was making it there as Bubba rose back up onto his feet and I grabbed onto his lower eyelid, pulling myself up and grinning when a pupil swiveled down to meet me. I gave no farewells, n one-liners, just a roar of rage and desperation as I drew back and shoved the C4, which upon earlier examination had revealed that it had been the target of plenty of tampering, hopefully just giving it a bigger explosion, into his eye-socket.

He let out a screech that left me deaf as his violent reaction sent me plummeting towards the ground in an arc. But before I could say hi to the floor with my face, two large hands wrapped around me, encapsulating me before another jarring impact hit and I was thrown free to land ungracefully atop the neck of the queen, which made it easy to tell that she had dove to catch me, and by the thrashing of Bubba he had hit her in midair and sent us crashing to the floor.

I panted raggedly, looking at her for a moment as Bubba clawed at his eyes, trying to reach whatever was causing him that much pain, I turned and looked up at him as I pulled the detonator out and primed it. I counted down slowly from 3...2...1...'click.' At first, nothing, but then Bubba froze and le tout a truly head-splitting wail before it was replaced by a massive explosion that slammed me down hard against the Queen.

His body slumped slowly as though it were trying to cling to a faint semblance of life with not just his head, but a massive chunk of his chest cavity missing. He finally collapsed with a resounding 'whooooomph!' the shockwave of which again knocked me down, and for the first time since this started, I'm aware that the fighting's stopped and all that's left is the sound of rain pounding against the ground and our bodies. I turned slowly, the Queen raises herself up and cradles me in her hand for a moment before she set me down on her shoulder. The deluge is coming to an end, and as the clouds break the sunlight illuminates drove upon drove of slaughtered beetles, the snakes still very much alive and roaring. But they weren't roaring for victory...nor survival...nor even their queen...they roared for me...I realized then, with the end of the bodily disintegrations, that things were different, that I was different, and as the sunlight illuminates a new future and two snakes retrieve the only remnants of the explosion; Rei's rifle-now almost completely destroyed and mangled beyond repair- and the burnt teddy bear of Lily, the young girl who'd never even had a chance to celebrate her eighth birthday, I looked out upon the snakes and my queen...my people, my army...my Shades. As I looked on them, I only could say one thing, for there was only one thing to say.

"Hail to the King."