Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

three of them; of course, I'd come last, yet again. I could only hope that the others had made it out the way in time.

With a grimace and newfound determination, I flipped the switch, causing the red light to blink on and off.

"Everyone clear!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and we were on the move, sprinting sideways, Arlathan and me, right. Torris and Garrakson; left.

I covered my ears and threw myself to the ground as the world turned into a blaze of light.

We were the first through the smoking roughly two-metre wide breach, using the large chunks of burnt, black debris as cover from the withering gunfire raining from the building above.

"Making the breach was just the frigging start, wasn't it?" I snarled over the cacophony, trying to shake away the ringing in my ears.

Garrakson laughed heartily as he crouched behind the blackened remains of a heavy stubber, seeming utterly unfazed, "this your first siege, kid?"

I nodded nervously.

Garrakson laughed. "Then you're doing remarkably well! This would be my what? Twentieth? Maybe, not sure! I remember my first well, though! Shamed to say I pissed my pants! But that one was a frig ton larger than this one! That's for sure!"

I clenched my jaw and looked at Torris. Garrakson sounded a little too enthusiastic for my liking; it was disconcerting to see the usually more stoic ex-guardsman so...happy.

Torris just pursed his thick lips and shrugged.

Garrakson was on his feet, Autocannon chattering deafeningly, spraying the fire wildly across the mansion. The Adamantium walls held easily against the barrage, but the flak boards against the windows, not so much.

Arlathan was the first to join, firing his shotgun over the edge of his bit of debris.

I watched the walls with Torris, hoping like all hell that the cover fire from the buildings around was enough to pin down the enemy survivors still up there.

I'd hoped for too much, as then I saw a darkened figure appear overhead, gun raised.

I didn't hesitate, my shotgun kicked so violently I almost fell on my arse, and the figure's chest exploded in a shower of gore and, with a cry, abruptly dropped out of sight.

It was then that finally, the rest of the force moved through the breach, pushing past me as they advanced, shooting their differentiating assortment of weapons sporadically at the building.

They met very little resistance as they stormed into the courtyard, Garrakson's Autocannon pinning the defenders indefinitely.

"How are we going to get inside?" yelled Torris.

"The building's wall isn't as thick as the surrounding one!" I yelled. "I could try to cut a hole through with my powersword!"

"Or we could try that!" bellowed Garrakson with a laugh as he pointed out the others were just climbing through the windows.

"Or that!" I said with a shrug and wondered why a supposed fortress had windows situated so close to the ground.

This was too easy, way too easy.

 

Chapter 21

 I was wrong; Garrakson's Autocannon hadn't pinned them; they'd just fallen back. The four-metre wide corridor was ablaze with the blinding blaze and the defining sound of shooting. Dozens of Edracian's mooks had laid in wait behind sandbag walls for our advancing forces. 

Not just that but further down were two Heavy stubber emplacements, laying down a constant barrage that should've left us completely and utterly pinned. But like lightning, I dashed through It all, weaving side to side with speed and agility I'd no idea I was capable of and fell upon five of Edracian's mercs as they cowered behind one of the sandbag walls.

Two were dead before they realised I was there; the first I decapitated, the activated edge of my powersword cutting through his neck with ease, the second I impaled, kicked him off the blade and smashing into his comrade behind him. The fourth took a swing at me with the butt of his rifle, but he seemed to move in slow motion, and I effortlessly weaved underneath it, then cut his torso in two with a backhanded blow. The fifth tried to raise his rifle to shoot me, but before I could even blink, my body moved, and I was abruptly behind him, and he was cleaved in twain. The third, I hauled to his feet, just in time to use as a human shield as his comrades further down the corridor tried to shoot me. His body was torn to pieces in a few seconds by the concentrated fire, but it mattered little as I was safe behind the sandbags well before that.

Arlathan, Torris, Arlathan and Garrakson used this opportunity to advance, joining up with me. Arlathan and Torris fired their shotguns from the hip as they ran.

"What the bloody hell was that?" demanded Torris over the din.

"What?" I asked.

"You, just running forward through that hell without telling us anything!" he roared. "You suicidal or something?"

I shrugged; I wasn't suicidal; I just knew deep down that I could make it, that my newfound speed and agility would get me through it all.

Torris sighed, shook his head and blasted over the wall. "Good work, I guess; just tell us next time, kid. It'd be appreciated, thanks!"

I cut my reply short as I saw more figures emerged from around the corner we'd came from, ten metres down the corridor, their weapons raised. Before any thought, I was moving, power sword activated.

"Attelus stand down!" came a yell over my vox link. "We're on your side!"

I stopped. "Olinthre!" I spat the name then dived for cover as they opened fire.

Twelve more guns joined in with Torris and Arlathan's as the mercs advanced past me.

I vaulted over the sandbags, twisting to shoot blindly over the lip in an attempt to provide cover fire for the mercs.

The Olinthre-thing joined me while he fired bursts of his autogun.

"Good work at blowing the wall!" It yelled.

I didn't reply, just clenched my jaw and glared at It.

It shrugged and smiled. "I guess we can't always get what we want, right?"

As if by its own volition, suddenly, my hand shot out and clutched it by the throat, slamming it against the sandbags.

"You made the timers five seconds instead of ten," I growled. "I'm lucky that Garrakson looked at it, or I might be dead right now."

It smiled, grabbed my wrist and tore my hand away. "Yeah, I did; I did the same for the others as well. I don't know what happened, exactly, but I guessed you betrayed Glaitis, and I bet they did too."

I glared at It and shook my head. "I don't get it; why do you care so much? You didn't seem to care before."

"Because I've thought it over, and I think I owe her," It said. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be what I am today."

I looked It in the violet eyes. "Really? And what you are today? Did you want this? You truly wanted to be this? You owe her nothing! Nothing at all!"

I didn't wait for its reply; Its gaping wide-eyed look was enough. I vaulted over the wall and sprinted like mad, weaving through the fury and the fire to join Torris and the others.

"Emperor damn it!" snarled Garrakson as he jumped in fright at my sudden appearance. "How the frig can you move like that? You're like one of those damn Eldars!"

I clenched my jaw and said nothing.

"And Emperor damn it!" Garrakson said again. "If you'd let me use my damn Autocannon, we wouldn't be like this!"

My eyes narrowed. "We can't risk you using any more ammo, Jeurat! We don't know what we'll encounter the deeper we go! You've only got what? A hundred rounds or so left?"

"More daemons!" yelled Torris. "It'll most definitely be more daemons!"

I was up then, firing my shotgun, trying to draw a bead through the chaos on an enemy, any enemy, but just like the ambushers in the alley, they hugged their cover way too well, and I was never the best at ranged combat.

With a smug smile, I pulled out one of my four frag grenades.

Garrakson gave me a tired look. "Y'know doing that, kid. Might give 'em ideas."

I shrugged, thinking there was no point in hiding my newfound enhanced strength anymore, pulled the pin and, with a grunt, threw it. The grenade flew; it flew a good forty-five metres and landed almost in the lap of the merc manning one of the heavy stubbers. The explosion and the man's scream I could barely hear over the din of battle.

All three of my acquaintances had seen it and gaped at me with wide eyes.

"When the hell did you get that strong?" said Torris.

I shrugged. "Don't know! About the same time, I could move this fast!"

"Wait! What?" Torris was shouting as I stood and moved, lunging over another sandbag wall and, in my descent, kicking one of the three defenders in the face, throwing him flying back. His features now a bloody, ugly ruin. The second twisted with impressive speed, rifle raised to fire. Only so my sword could slice through it, then impale his face. The last threw himself back just out of range of my next slash and drew a laspistol from its holster. My instincts somehow knew the exact second he'd pull the trigger, and my body weaved, feeling the laser kiss my cheek, and I smelt it as it fried some of my hair, then I slipped in, so fast he couldn't get another, then my powersword sliced him two.

The next thing I knew, I bounded behind the sandbags before the rest could shoot me, their fire tearing into the sandbags a mere millisecond after I was in safety.

I frowned and looked at my hands, was this new ability just from my, Wraithbone bones? I'd heard from Glaitis of assassins who could move like this — highly experienced, trained and skilled far beyond normal human parameters. The elite assassins of the Officio Assassinorum were the first which came to mind.

A sigh suddenly filtered through my thoughts, making me jump in fright.

+Again I did that, Mon'keigh. I didn't just enhance your bone structure but brought you to a physical peek that would normally be almost impossible for your slow, clumsy kind ever to attain. You, with your genetic lineage, may have been able to reach it through years more of training, but I fast-forwarded you through it, saving you the time and effort.+

"Why?"

+Is that not obvious? Even for you with your simple, slow mind? That is because I need you at your best to be in proper service to me; you are lucky. I care so much. Now shut up, you have a battle to fight, oh and watch your left.+

I turned just in time to see the soldier sneaking up on me, his knife already while swinging at my skull.

I leaned back, so it sliced slightly through my nose instead, then sidestepped his stab. The range was terrible for my powersword effectively, so instead, I elbowed him in the face, it connected with a crunch, and he screamed, blood spraying from his nose like a geyser.

"Nose for a nose, you son of a bitch!" I snarled, and my front kick caused him to stumble further back, allowing Torris a clear shot, the round blowing through his torso and sent his limp corpse smashing hard against the sandbag wall.

I smiled