Out of Space

Chapter 261: Unit Zero Two

The enraged snake seemed immune to the machine gun hammering away at its body. Drake stopped to catch his breath while he swung his own weapon up and to add his firepower into the mix. He noticed that the rounds that impacted the body of the snake seemed to spew out smoke instead of blood.

Could it be a creature made out of some arcane shit? Thought Drake. "I will fucking pay you back your damn gift!"

Now it was Slow's turned to be chased as he had attracted the aggro of the snake. He dodged between the rows of tents as the snake chased after him causing the snake to get entangled with some of the tents.

As he was about to reach the cover of the trees, the tree trunk sized tail of the snake suddenly whipped out and caught Slow across his hip and side, tossing him across the open area and rolling on the ground for several meters before coming to a stop.

"SLOW!" Drake yelled out and he emptied his weapon useless against the summoned snake which ignored him as it slithered over to the drowned body of Slow. "FUCK! ZERO TWO WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

The massive crab spider like shape of the MAW suddenly broke out from the edge of the clearing. Leaves and tree branches drifted down from its hulking hull and the stub nose barrel of 3" 23 gun turret burst out in flames and smoke.

The HE shell fired at point blank range took less than a split second to travel into the mid back section of the surprised snake. The shell missed despite the range as the snake unnaturally wiggled out of the way of the passing shell which blew the tree in its path into shreds.

"ALL GUNNERS FIRE!" Sath roared out inside the commander's compartment as he cursed when he saw the opening salvo of the 3" gun missing. "Shoot that bitch up!"

All four .50 caliber machine guns onboard the MAW Unit 02 opened up almost instantly and the heavy caliber rounds shredded everything around the panicking snake.

Drake took the opportunity that Zero Two was providing for him, ran towards Slow's body on the side. He grasped the back of Slow's harness and dragged Slow who weighted nearly twice his own body weight. "AHHHHH..."

Suddenly, he felt the weight lifting and he saw Slow's faithful ASAG lending a hand. Together with Asagi's help, they managed to drag Slow into the cover of the trees where Drake quickly ripped out his medical satchel.

Slow gasped weakly as blood flowed out from his nose and mouth. He couldn't understand what was happening only that he was running when suddenly he felt a sharp pain and the world seemed to turn upside down.

"Relax!" Drake pushed Slow's questing hands away. "You got hammered pretty bad, but you're an Orc, so this isn't some big deal!"

He tore open a tranq shot syringe and jabbed it into the meaty portion of Slow's inner tight. "This will help you take the pain off for a while!"

"Fuck!" Drake cursed as he watched Slow's eyes rolling back before closing as the meds kicked in. He probably has broken bones and internal injuries from that tail whip of the snake, thought Drake.

"Asagi! Come here!" He called out to the ASAG who was hovering anxiously over its sleeping companion.

The Robo golem obediently trotted over and Drake dug into its cargo that it was carry and pulled out an RPG - 1 rocket launcher and canvas bag with three pockets that held three rocket reloads for the RPG.

"Look after him!" Drake ordered the ASAG while he slung the rocket bag and RPG over his shoulders. The ASAG rocked on the stop, mimicking a nodding gesture before it scurried over to stand watch protectively over Slow.

-----

"Arghh!" Sath cursed as the whole MAW shook wildly from the body slam of the snake against the hull of their unit. "Dodge that shit! We can't take any more damage!"

Already several warning dials were beeping angrily in red on his console as they wrestled with the enraged snake. "I'm trying Sarge! This thing isn't actually very fast!"

"Do your best!" He yelled as he hunched over his gunsights and squeezed the trigger of the .50 caliber, sending bolts of red yellow darts at the fucking fast moving snake and two thirds of the shots missing.

"Stay still!" His gunners cursed as they tried to track the snake from their turrets but failing. Another loud clank and the whole MAW shook again and red alarms blared again.

"NO!" Clove the pilot yelled out in panic as his controls suddenly locked up. "We lost Number Two leg!"

"Shit!" Sath quickly gave an order. "Pull back, get us as much distance as possible against that damn thing!"

"I try!" Clove yelled back as he wrestled against his controls. "Our speed is down by 20%!"

The damaged leg of the MAW dragged against the churned up earth as the MAW tried to retreat backward from the giant snake that was a lot longer than the mech. "Come on baby! You can do this!" Clove whispered under his breath as he eased the throttle before pushing it up to full reverse.

The Snake hissed as it dodged another HE shell spewed out from the monster. It narrowed its golden eyes in anger as it noticed the monster seemed to be trying to run away. Never!

It hissed in triumphant as it knew that the monster it was fighting is weakening as it no longer moved as fast and agilely. But it still remained wary of its magic attacks. That strange mouth of it can spew deadly spells that could blow up a huge area. It must be careful not to get caught by that spell as the spells would be able to damage its shadow body in this realm.

"Come on, come on!" Clove whispered urgently under his breath as he pulled his controls back. His display screens showed the pitch black snake slithering left to right and the side turrets were firing at the erratic movements of the snake, trying to hit it.

His forward mounted .50 calibers had run dry and he did not have the time to open the ammo hatch and manually reload the guns as he was focused on piloting the mech. Behind him, he could hear Sath yelling at the gunners inside the turret to load and fire.

The mech shook slightly as the main cannon fired and Clove saw the snake darted away to the side as the shell blew up in its path. Sath has ordered the gunner to aim at the ground instead of directly at the creature, hoping to damage it with the area of effect of the HE shell.

It seemed to work as the snake was jolted by the blast. It retreated back slightly and seemed to assess the situation before it started whipping its way over again. It moved way too fast for the mech guns to bear on it as it went from the side and suddenly coiled itself around the hull of the mech.

Clanking sounds could be heard coming from the turret as the snake tried to bite through the turret. "Shit! It's on us!" Clove yelled as his view was covered up by the body of the snake. He could only see pitch black scales that appeared to be smoking on his screens.

The side gunners yelled saying they could not depress or move their guns to fire at the snake's body wrapping around the mech. Sath cursed as his view too was blocked while the snake tried its best bite the hull.

-----

Drake panted as he followed the trail of destruction left behind by the mech and the snake. He ran past wrecked trees and shell holes before seeing the mech being wrapped by the snake into a ball while pecking away at the hull.

"What the fuck?" Drake paused as he stared at the strange sight. "Damnit!"

He quickly ran forward again, trying to get as close as possible to fire his RPG. He managed to fire a nice spot between a couple of trees and braced the rocket tube against the roots and readied the RPG to fire.

He gauged the distance to be less than 50 meters away and he fired the RPG, aiming at the lower part of the mech to prevent any over penetration into the main compartment. If he missed or due to some reason, the RPG could not damage the snake, at least the damage will be dealt on to the armored legs of the mech instead.

Fwwwoooosssh! The rocket burst out of the tube and punched against the coiled up body of the unsuspecting snake. Inky black smoke spewed out from the resulting explosion of the rocket and the snake seemed to jerk straight up as a portion of its body disappeared.

Its mouth went wide in a snarl of pain and anger and it turned its head to find who dared to damage its body, its current prey temporarily forgotten. It stopped a lone creature hidden among the trees and it loosened its body around the strange monster and was about to throw its body at the tiny existence when suddenly searing pain ripped through its body again.

-----

Creaking sounds of metal being crushed could be heard everywhere inside the mech as the crew braced themselves helpless. Suddenly a loud blast shook the whole mech again and warning sirens blared again. More lights and dials on the console turned red or yellow as the computer tallied the damages to its systems.

"Wait!" Sath cried out as he noticed his view showing cracks due to the lenses getting damaged showed the body of the snake loosening up. "It's leaving!"

"Fire when you can!" Sath quickly ordered while Clove climbed under his controls to access the ammunition hatch of his forward guns and swapped out the empty cans of .50 caliber ammunition. He slotted in fresh cans of .50 caliber and slapped the ammo belt onto the feed tray before locking up the ammo cans.

"I can move my guns!" Someone yelled and the mech shook slightly as the side gunner fired his .50 caliber at the body of the snake no longer within the blind spot of his turret.

Sath grinned and turned to the gunner in the main turret, "Fire once you got a good shot!"

The gunner in the main turret nodded and glued his eye onto the gunsights while his hands gripped the firing triggers. "ON! FIRE!"

The 3" stub gun managed to rotate and aim directly at the agitated snake and fired. The HE shells punched through the smoky scales of the snake before exploding. The force of the explosion tore the snake into halves and spewing smoking tendrils of snake matter everywhere.

"Take that bitch!" Sath and the crew cheered as they saw the flopping halves of the snake wiggling in death throes around the ground. The jaws of the snake opened and closed like a fish out of the water as it tried to move its body but couldn't.

Slowly the snake stopped its movements and its glassy eyes stared into emptiness as it laid there and to the unease of the soldiers, the bodies parts of the snake slowly evaporated into black smoke and started disappearing.

-----

Drake walked up next to the badly mangled mech and dropped the RPG down before he sat there staring at the wisps of black smoke. "What the fuck is that thing?"

The hatches of the MAW opened up and the crew spilled out of the mech and joined Drake on the ground while examining the smoking bits of the vanishing snake.

Sath stood before his mech and frowned, "I wonder how the fark are we gonna fix her up!"

Despite the battered exterior and the mangled legs, Unit Zero Two still stood proudly before its crew. Sath smiled as he patted the side of his mech, "Well, you did great! Don't worry, we will patch you back up as good as new!"