My First Ever Fan Fic!

[Pumpkinhead]

I can't believe it. Only a few hours since being posted at my new base and I'm already being sent out on a recon mission. This is the way of all things though since the war had begun. No time for formalities; just dive in and hope for the best. As tame as reconnaissance may sound, it is far from being so. That fact is, the enemy could attack at any time. This war has become a free-for-all. Not like the wars of old, governed, however loosely, by various rules and conventions. Not that I'm inexperienced in such things. Hell, I've had more experience than the rest of my comrades here in the troop hold.

 

As I look around at their faces, I can see their inner doubts, fears, and anxieties, despite their best efforts to hide it. Most of them have probably only seen one or two battles since arriving from the academy, if that! Their inexperience could prove fatal on the battlefield, but in the mind of those in charge, they're expendable; expendable for the greater cause... winning this war...

 

My train of thought is cut short by an alarm klaxon. It's the sound of an imminent interception. We're being attacked! From our harnessed seats in the troop hold, all we can do is hope and pray that the pilot has enough skill to take the enemy out. Despite being a recon mission, our craft is far from being unarmed. I can hear firing, but not coming from us... the enemy must be chasing.

 

In the midst of all the craft's evasive manoeuvres, the flashing alarm lights, and the muffled fire, panic has well and truly set in, and is justified as the wall opposite bursts outwards in a deafening explosion, the screams of my comrades, unfortunate enough to be seated against that very wall, heard fading away as they plummet to their doom. Another explosion rocks the craft and we start our inescapable decent to the earth below. Holding on for my life, I feel the effects of our free-fall on my stomach until...

 

I awaken slowly to an immense pain in my right thigh. As reality swirls together around me I realise that my seat had come free in the crash and I lay with a beam of metal laying across my leg. I gather enough strength to throw it off. I remove my harness and try to stand. To my surprise, my leg is unbroken, although I wouldn't doubt how close it had come. I look around the hold. I appear to be the only survivor. I check vital signs. It is confirmed. I think of calling for help, but the communications equipment is sure to be destroyed. Scanning the hold again, I spot a rifle. Taking it up quickly I step outside.

 

The air is cool as the sun has yet to reach this part of the globe today. I cautiously encircle the wreckage, surveying the damage. The craft is a complete write-off. The trail of destruction behind the craft details the trauma of the landing. I stare, dazed and confused, as the sun begins to rise over the horizon. I feel almost at peace as the hot plasma strikes my back...

 

I fall to the ground in pain, almost unaware that my head had landed upon a rock in doing so. I wipe my head as I roll over to face my assailant. A humanoid form steps up to my feet. I can't quite make them out as my vision is blurred from the trauma to my head. I lift up my hand to look at the orange blood upon it. I feel my consciousness slipping away as the form at my feet says, "See you in hell, Muton"