Chapter 15
Psalms 28:8
The lord is their strength , and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
The ground disappeared, there was an odd feeling of weightlessness and a disjointed buzzing tearing through my body. Then my feet hit the ground and slowly the darkness pulled back to reveal a wooded area and a clearing. The temperature change was extreme and I could see my breath steaming out hanging in a cloud of vapor. The sky was still as dark as a moon filled night, but the air was different, it hummed and crackled like the moment before a lightning strike. I was shivering and there were clumps of snow on the ground. The Dark Pope was there with the nuke and his army of undead and damned. We were here, in Yellowstone National park at the caldera. I recognised the area from hours of pouring over the satellite images, trying to figure out The Dark Pope’s plans. Maybe the American Manus Patris contingent would be nearby? He was going to trigger the eruption now and probably teleport out of here before everything blew up. His army of the damned was on one side of a clearing. What was left of Manus Patris from the attack, and The Order was on the other. The Dark Pope had a puzzled look on his face as he raised one hand and pointed at us, triggering his side to charge into the fray. They were screaming and ready to rend the flesh of his enemies. The Were's and undead hyenas were the quickest and got across the clearing first. We took whatever little cover was available in the trees and engaged the charging hoard as quickly as possible. I couldn't figure out why The Dark Pope didn't just leave us there, but I had a feeling that wasn't his doing. In the vision or dream I had, I was told that God would lend a hand. Hopefully that would continue? I had my pistol in hand and charged. The next thing I knew I was bouncing. It was like I would take a step towards an enemy and the next step I was just there. That was new, and I was shocked, almost running headlong into the first werewolf. I shot him in the heart then throat, finally putting the muzzle under its chin and removing the top of his head. I couldn't check the charge in time, so I just kept shooting till the final shot was a contact under its chin. I looked down and performed a press check, making sure the contact shot didn't cause a malfunction. The next step had me in front of another enemy, then another. It was almost telepathic, nothing like this had ever happened before. I had read through the entire archives at one point or another, when I was first told about possible blessings. I poured over reports and tried to figure out the likelihood of the different blessings. It was completely random and some members got more than one. Still, this was… Bizarre to say the least. We were still horribly outnumbered, and the undead and damned were much stronger than the remaining Manus Patris soldiers. I noticed the shoggoth and The Dark Pope were no longer there, and figured they must have gone off to set the bomb.
Pausing momentarily to get my bearing, I saw the pitched battle was boiling over. Simon had waded into a hoard of more than a dozen undead hyenas and was hacking at them to bits with his bastard sword, he was a MASTER with that blade. He seemed to dance between the jaws and charging abominations. The sword parted rotten flesh and bones as easily as a sickle through wheat. I remembered when I made that one, trying a new design. Thomas and I worked with the silver inlay and the sigils along the hilt. It was very similar to the push dagger he had later made for me, with the unbinding ruins in a scroll free spinning in the blade, but all in a sword. Thomas and Philip were both leading what was left of Manus Patris, and were spreading out at the rear making sure none of us got flanked. I didn't see Reginald or Angiola at the moment, they must have set up an overwatch somewhere, hopefully getting into an area where the trees wouldn't be an issue. The Manus Patris soldiers were shooting bursts from cover as Philip and Thomas took on anything that the bullets wouldn't take care of. Knowing we would have vamps Thomas had brought his bow as well, quiver filled with ash wood shaft arrows and blessed silver arrowheads. Looks like we all got some more help in the transit here, the last time I saw his bow and quiver, it was in one of the hummers. Thomas would shoot an arrow into the Vamps heart from a distance, paralyzing it as Philip would run up and take the heads off with his Khopesh, an Egyptian curved sword, also not with him at the compound. One vamp was pinned to a pine tree, an arrow impaling him through the heart and holding him paralyzed to the tree. I watched as Philip charged and took the head off embedding the blade through all but a quarter of the way through the tree. The tree, mostly severed, ended up falling over and pinning part of a zombie hoard. Gotta love the extra strength afforded to The Order!
The ground began to tremble and I was lifted off the ground and slammed through a tree. After landing and getting to one knee I realized the beast had charged, hit and tossed me twenty plus feet before impact. I slowly got up and jerked my shoulder back into place, it had dislocated when I hit a large tree, shaking a clump of snow from the branches to fall all around me. Wow, the necromancers working with The Dark Pope are REALLY powerful. I was looking at the decapitated body of a rhinoceros, with the body of a silverback gorilla, cut off around the abdomen, attached where the head should be. The abomination was held together with horridly large stitches of road almost the diameter of my pinky. It was a demented flesh golem with a body shape similar to a centaur, but twisted and stitched together from nightmares. The mighty beast beat his chest and charged me, leaning over and grabbing a chunk of tree on his way. I had only a few moments to react, thankfully my pistol was still holstered. I drew and began to shoot as quickly as possible, aiming for the front legs of the rhino body with the first few shots hoping to cripple or slow the beast. By the time I transitioned to his head, the beast had swung the tree chunk and clubbed me with it. Seeing the blow coming I managed to jump a bit and take the hit between my ribs and hip, avoiding any ribs going into my lungs or shattering my hip. The ceramic side plate shattered on impact but better than shattering my hip in the middle of battle. The bones would heal but this thing could stomp me to paste then go on to terrorize someone without the ability to heal. The blow would have ruptured some internal organs if I had been normal, but any damage would likely heal by the time I stood up. I could tell from the crack, the large branch had been on the ground for some time and had rotted, saving me considerable damage. I landed in a heap but was able to keep ahold of my pistol. I quickly holstered my 2011 when I saw the gor-rhino throw what was left of the chunk of tree at me in a fit of rage after seeing that I wasn't dead. Thankfully I was able to roll and dodge it. Mid-roll I saw a rifle by one of the dead Manus Patris soldiers and snatched it up. Raising the gun, I aimed and did a mag dump at the monstrosity while running towards the nearest cover. The .308 rounds were tearing gory chunks of rotten meat off the chest and body but he just wasn’t slowing at all. I paused behind a thick tree, taking momentary cover. I had lost my LMT when I was first attacked by the creature. Thankfully The Manus Patris soldiers all had a standard load out that ran on .308 Pmag’s. All except the sniper teams of course, so I still had a few reloads on my chest rig. I quickly reloaded and broke cover, trying to ‘break down’ the Gor-Rhino aiming for the kneecaps again and again in a desperate attempt to cripple it. The beast faltered and I hit the left leg at least 10 times, turning the thick bones to pulp. Slowing slightly when I saw it stumble, I switched and aimed for its right knee, methodically hammering rounds into it as I headed laterally towards a large rock outcropping. Once I had ample cover and enough arming distance, I pulled the second trigger and launched a 40mm grenade into the gorilla chest before taking cover. There was a loud explosion followed by a tearing sound and meat hitting the ground wetly all around. I looked around the cover and saw the gorilla half had taken the round in the middle of his chest. His head and arms were laying on the ground slightly smoking, and its chest completely gone. The rhinoceros half was split at its front legs and was nothing but steaming rotted meat and chunks of broken bone. Like some demented hotdog left in a microwave for too long. The hind legs stumps were twitching slightly, as the rot puddled onto the snow.
Reginald
Reginald, Angiola and the two Marine scout snipers had set up an overwatch position on a slight ridge overlooking the clearing where the battle was taking place. Reginald didn't have his drone assets here, but with the tree coverage, they wouldn't be much help anyway. Besides, he was rather busy calling targets, wind and distance to his sniper to run any drones at the moment. Angiola was on her THOR 408 cheytac and hammered rounds into the hoards of the damned. There was just enough illumination from whatever effect The Dark Pope had cast for them to get positive target identification. Anything not human shaped got nailed. The walking dead were easily identified by the shambling, and the Vamps… Well not much a copper and silver bullet would do to them. Angiola had a Windigo in her sights, the beast trying to flank a squad of MP soldiers shooting from cover. The crosshairs danced slightly in a slow natural circle as she exhaled. 750 meters, no breeze at her position and the grass by the target wasn’t waving. She gave it a slight lead as the Wendigo stalked up on its prey, oblivious to the death that would hit it momentarily. On her natural respiratory pause, she squeezed the trigger with slow and steady pressure until the sear broke, sending the 375 grain solid copper with a silver core projectile into the back of its head. The antlers spun off to the sides as the head of the monstrosity violently came apart. She had burned through more mags since they set up at Yellowstone, than she would in a normal week of training. The scout snipers had set up as well, the spotters calling out targets and wind calls constantly. Just like Reginald was doing for Angiola. Her rifle, each shot absolutely silent, only punctuated by brass softly hitting the ground next to her. The scout snipers rifle set off a steady even and flat bark, taking a life with each round. They were mostly trying to keep the Manus Patris covered as The Order members could heal and survive wounds that would kill or maim anyone else. Comms were still working so they were able to communicate with the rest of the teams, and try to help coordinate the rest of the squads. Reginald couldn't help but feel his chest swelling with pride as he watched Angiola nail a charging Werewolf through the eye at 900 meters. Head shots on a fast moving target under battlefield conditions, she had far exceeded his teachings and wildest expectations. He knew in his heart she was finally ready.
Tobias
I took a step towards Simon, and was again, instantly at his side. He checked his downswing in the nick of time as his blade was zipping through the air heading for my nose. Bits of blood from the sword hit me on the face as he stopped the blade in an instant, the blade almost hummed as it stopped right before my eyes. “Tobias, how... I don't understand”. Simon asked me, puzzled. “I don't have a clue, this just started to happen. I just seem to pop up where I'm needed I guess. I take a step towards an enemy and the next step I'm within range. The dream said he would help”. I answered looking towards the heavens as I finished. “Reginald and Angiola took what was left of the overwatch team and set up to the rear of us, they have been keeping the damned off our backs. Have you seen where the bomb went?” I shook my head in the negative to answer Simon's question, “I think The Dark Pope and the shoggoth went to set it up to blow. Do you have any thermite or WP?” Simon knew what I was getting at. He smiled as he pulled a claymore bag off his vest. “I knew we would be facing a shoggoth after the hijack and the jail break, I made this special for the tarry abomination”. He handed me the bag and opened it up. “It's powdered magnesium with blessed silver powder. There’s a white phosphorus grenade as an ignition source. The entire thing should stick if you can toss it onto the bag of eyeballs and evil”. We both smiled ear to ear before a bullet whizzed between our heads, smashing into the head of an odd humanoid creature with large ears and overly long limbs, that had almost snuck up on us. “Overwatch has your back, love you” Said Angiola over the open comm. I shook my head, “Love you too, keep your head in the game”. I replied into the comm. Looking down and studying the creature in puzzlement I asked Simon “*What* is that?” It was a rarity for me to run into something new, especially after all these years in the field. “I believe that is an Asanbosam, a vampiric creature from Africa… I haven't heard of one of those in many many years”. Simon answered me, rolling it over slightly with his boot. I shook my head in amazement, there is always something new to learn in this job. Even after hundreds of years. “I'm going after the bomb. Rally the remaining Manus Patris here, we have got to end this now”. I told Simon before taking a step in that direction and disappearing.