The undying solider

Mac sits up against a rock in a small ditch he dug with his body as he was thrown. He held his side as his wound quickly healed, "god damn son of a bitch" he said his voice coming through his helmet. He stands and flips of the monster in front of him, "you know as long as I've been fighting you guys you never cease to amaze me on how much damage you can do". The thing grawled and sneered at him hunched over like a gorilla with the face of a bat. The thing moved around as Mac fully healed and looked towards it. The thing charges at him, he was fast and ready but the thing is still faster, knocking him to the ground again and clawing at his helmet and body as he held it back with one arm and grab for the knife he has dropped. The moment his hand grabs the knife the creature tried harder to get at him almost like it knew what was going to happen. The knife glowed red and buzzed in Mac's gloved hand as he stabbed the creature in the neck, purple blood shot out from the wound coating Mac's helmet and body. He panted as he throw the creature off him and got to his feet. "Damnit I hate those things" he matters to himself checking his body, he has cuts all over, a chunk of flesh missing from his arm and a gash on his side. He stumbles over to a rock and sits down. As he's healing a light flashes over him from a ship landing about 20 feet away. The ship is grey and blue with dirt and claw marks as well has scorch marks from countless battles. Volt hops out of the cockpit walking over to Mac. "You look like shit" he says he's face pretty expressionless as usual. Volt was armored head to toe and had many compartments on him for gadgets and other things as well as his interchangeable hand parts on his belt. His armor was dark purple and gold, his helmet was a circular golden metal with a few prongs on the top. Volts face was just 3 firey golden lines of energy that only occasionally moved and showed emotion currently they stayed still, his voice is what portrayed his emotion. Mac's armor was a dark green with a helmet that was almost black but with a yellowish gold window for him to see out of. He wore worn down armored boots and reinforced pants. The only thing showing any sort of military statues on him was a golden snake eating its tail that was engraved into the side of his helmet.

Mac looked at Volt finally responded "and you look like you've barley been in a fight all day" he says getting to his feet. "At least I'm not the one with a chunk taken out of my arm" Volt retorts. Mac waves him off as they get in the ship, "we both know I'll get fine in a minute". "Yeah but it's fun pointing out beat up you get" Volt says taking a seat him the cockpit and taking off.

About 10 minutes later they land at a small base on the top of a mountain. A squad of men were sitting on rocks being patched up by a medic. "He looks new" Mac says as he and Volt depart the ship "just flew in this morning" Volt confirms. The medic seeing them quickly rushes over. "You're hurt" the medic says leading Mac to a rock to sit. "I'm fine I'll heal, go help the others" Mac says pulling away and standing as the medic tries wrapping bandages around his arm. "You're in charge of the men and how military work is done, but when medic things are concerned, I outrank you" the medic says command taking over his voice. Mac turns around and glares a little, "no you don't" he says turning his head and gesturing to the snake in his helmet. The medics face went white even through the helmet Mac could tell. "Oh, uh .....yes of course..... sorry sir" the medic stammers awkwardly, Mac stops him before he could leave "it's alright, thank you for wanting to help" Mac says extending his hand "I'm Mac, the I.S in charge here". The medic gently shakes his hand "George, newest medic of the galactic health foundation and assigned to the 28th division". Mac nods "go patch of the other men while Volt and I strategize", George nods and leaves. "That was nice" Volt says walking over "kids new, probably didn't notice" Mac says shruging. "Got the map?" He asks. Volt nods tapping a button on his arm, as he does his ship shoots a projectile right in front of them. Sharp prongs shoot out the bottom and a screen appears on top the projects a geo map of the area. "You still have this thing, you can't-" "Jerry" Volt interrupts. "What?" Max asks. "His name is Jerry" Volt says proudly "after what a hundred years now you name this thing?" Mac asks annoyed before rolling his eyes "do you want the map or not?" Volt asks crossing his arms. Mac holds up his hand "yeah yeah fine whatever just get on with it". Volt points a dot on the map "there's a cave here, Oversite says if could be a nest". Mac nods "alright, let's go". "Uh what about them?" Volt asks gesturing to the 20 person squad all being checked on by George. "They stay" Mac says. He and Volt start walking out of the base when one of the men calls out, "sir, wait! Where are you going?" A solider known as Wolf limps over, his head, stomach and left leg all bandaged, the white gauze getting stained with his blood as he moves "go back to the others, please I'll make sure the unit in protected while I'm gone" Mac assures him. Wolf opens his mouth to protest but closes it again before nodding "yes sir".

Mac and Volt leave. As they're heading down the mountain Mac radios Oversite. "Oversite, come in, I.S 28 Mac calling" he waits for a few seconds before a female voice responses "I.S Mac acknowledged, what's the problem?" She asks as the two walk. "Volt and I are heading to check a cave a few miles from the 28th division base, the base will now be unprotected as all my men are injured, I need you to monitor the base and or send another I.S down here" Mac tires to be strong but leaving his team always worried him. He'd been fighting for hundreds of years and seen plenty of his own men die so this time he was trying to keep them as protected as possible. As he thinks about asking again the woman's voice comes back over the radio "acknowledged, base 28 is now on our radar" Mac sighs and thanks the woman before he and Volt continue.

About 20 minutes into the walk Volt pipes up "so why didn't we take my ship? I mean I don't mind it's just we'd be there faster and now we're walking and all we can do is talk and you're not the talkative type, well not much anyway". Mac rolls his eyes "been fighting together for hundreds of years what else is there to talk about? And the ship would have made too much noise". "What's your plan after we're done?" Volt asks "head back to base and check on the men" Mac says matter of factly. "I know that, I mean once the war is over" Volt says looking at Mac now. Mac sighs "I'm a member of the U.S.I so they'll probably put me on more missions or cryo sleep I guess. I don't think they let me have a life" Mac says. Volt looks at him "if they try and pod you I'll save you". Mac smiles "sure buddy but that'll have to wait, we're here".

Volt looks up at a massive hill with a cave inside "huh, that was fast" he says grabbing his blaster hand and changing it from his regular hand. Then they both walk inside. The cave was dark, the walls looked furry almost as they shined their lights around. "Not what I expected" Volt says turning off his light and igniting his hand in fire, the fire looked digital, like pixels but it glowed with that look of real fire. Then he hurls it at the wall, it ignites one part, the furry mass falls and then screechs in pain as the same creature Mac had fought before dies. "Wait, if that's, then that means..." Volt trails off as the walls start moving and shaking as hundreds of those creatures jump off the wall and swarm the two. They fight, Mac using his knife and strength to try and block them with the other bodies as he tries to make a barrier and give them some breathing room. Volt uses his fire and blaster to try and keep them away but more and more come in from deeper in the cave. "Getting overrun here!" Volts says continuing to kill the creatures. "I noticed" Mac says ripping off one of their heads. "Think of something Volt!" Mac yells as he's slammed to the ground. "Wait, fire, that kills them quickly right?" He opens the communication between his and Mac's helmets "what do you think?" Volt asks holding onto the wall and shooting from above them. Mac growns "not .. the time....to be.... thinking!" He says getting blood all over as he kills more and more creatures. Volt pulls out a glowing blue orb from his armor. "When I throw this a freevyou and tell you to run, run!" Volt says throwing the orb then a fire ball to free Mac. "Run!" Volt yells and both he can Mac bolt for the cave entrance with the creatures chasing them. The orb rests in place and just as Volt and Mac almost make the exit, a laser strikes down on the cave and completely incinerates the entire thing. The blast knocking Volt out Mac away.

As they get up a minutes later then whole hill and cave it's just destroyed, it's gone, completely. Mac gets up as Volt walks over to him "what the hell was that?" Mac asks his body already healing from the injuries. "Orbital incineration locator" Volt says proudly. Mac's eyes widen "Holy shit, never seen one used before". Both men now covered in blood start walking back to base. As they approach they see black smoke rising, "there's nothing at base to make a fire with, plus they should have been extracted by now" Mac says starting to run. As both he and Volt get to the top the small base they had was in ruins and every single member of Mac's squad was dead. Mac looks at volt before collapsing "no"