SNAFU: Heroes: An Anthology of Military Horror

He began scanning the buildings opposite him, methodically covering the area at street level before working his way upward, checking every door and window, searching for movement or a shadow that was just a hair out of place, anything that might indicate the presence of the enemy lying in wait for them.

When the sound came again, louder and clearer this time, there was no mistaking where it was coming from.

The roof!

Cade looked up to find that they were no longer alone.

A strange, insectoid-looking creature stared down at them from the top of the building directly opposite his position. The demon had taken its victim’s form and twisted it into something right out of a nightmare. Additional limbs sprouted from either side of its torso, allowing it to power itself along in scorpion-like fashion and its face had morphed into a canine-like snout with rows of glistening teeth lining its jaws. Dark, coarse hair covered most of the thing’s body but left the face exposed. If it hadn’t been for the brown eyes staring at him over that gaping maw, eyes that belonged in the face of a frightened teenage boy and not the visage of some hideous monster, Cade might not have even recognized it as having once been human.

His revulsion was so complete that he had his pistol up and pointed at the creature before he even realized it and as his finger tightened on the trigger he heard his own words echoing in his head.

Use your blades first and only take a shot if you have to.

So much for that idea.

The shot rang out just as the creature scurried back from the edge of the roof and Cade wasn’t sure if he’d hit it or not.  In the next moment it was clear that he hadn’t mortally injured it, however, for the night air was suddenly filled with the same shrieking cry that they’d heard earlier as the demon summoned its brethren to the scene.

Cade didn’t waste any time trying to get in another shot but turned instead to face the others.

“Run!” he roared.

CHAPTER FIVE

The men of the Echo Team responded immediately to Cade’s command, arranging themselves into a wedge-shaped formation with Olsen on point, Duncan and Riley staggered next to each other in the middle, and Cade pulling up the rear. They headed down the street at an accelerated pace designed to get them to their destination quickly without compromising their ability to defend themselves.

Behind them, the demon continued its shrieking call.

Cade and the others had barely covered twenty yards before demons started coming out of the woodwork. The first of the creatures to respond to the cry for help stuck its head out of a shop doorway a few dozen feet in front of the oncoming team. Before it could do anything more, Olsen snapped off a shot with economical precision that blew the top of the creature’s head clean off; the body collapsed back into the open doorway as the Templars went racing by.

But that was just the first of many demons. Moments later all four men were firing repeatedly as demons came bounding out of every hiding place imaginable – from behind doors, out from under cars, off of nearby rooftops – each and every one of them intent on sinking teeth and claw into the bodies of their foes. The chatter of the MP5s in the hands of Olsen and Duncan was a near constant sound at that point, and was frequently interspersed with the boom of Riley’s combat shotgun and the crack of Cade’s pistol while around them the demons roared out their rage and hatred.

For a time the Templars’ skill with their weaponry held the demons at bay and they were able to continue moving forward, but for every one of the enemy that fell two others seemed to take its place and it wasn’t long before the demons managed to surround them, forcing the squad to a halt.

We are less than a hundred feet from the doors of the church, but it might as well  be a mile, Cade thought, for all the good it will do us.

The demons had clearly figured out where the Templars were headed, for they were concentrating more of their numbers between them and the church with every second that passed. Cade and his men kept laying down a blistering stream of fire as long as they could, but they’d been low on ammo before getting into the current firefight and it didn’t take long before their weapons ran dry.

With the exception of Cade’s pistol, all of the firearms were outfitted with shoulder slings so as each weapon came up empty the knight using it simply let it fall by his side and drew his sword. Within moments the four men were standing in a square formation with their backs to each other, their weapons flashing in the moonlight as they hacked and slashed at their foes. Blood steamed in the cold night air and soon the ground at the Templars’ feet was littered with the bodies of the dead and dying.

Still the demons came on.