It Slithers

Sergeant Rhalos felt the slithering mass of the xenos in front of him trying to wrap itself around his boarding shield. The screeching sound of the creature’s spines piercing the shield echoed through the tight corridor. Rhalos gripped his power sword tightly, the handle slippery with the blood of the xenos he had already slain. He thrust once more, the creature too close to dodge, his sword embedding itself in what he guessed to be the xenos’ abdomen. The creature reeled back, taking the sword back as it keeled over.

Rhalos braced his now empty hand against the shield, as a new xenos charged into it and forced him back. He tried to reach for his bolt pistol, but even slightly shifting his hand caused the xenos to nearly topple him. He felt the ground shaking around him, a pounding like the whole corridor was going to collapse.

“Die you xenos scum!” roared Rhalos as he pulled his shield back, pulling the xenos in close and grabbing hold of out of one of its spines. As the creature’s spines pierced his armour, Rhalos raised his shield and smashed it repeatedly into the creature with sickening squelching sounds. He pulled out his bolt pistol and fired several shots into the central mass of the creature.

It fell forward, causing him to stumble to the floor. The pounding of the corridor reached a fever pitch, and Rhalos heard a battlecry behind him.

“Ground them beneath our boots, my sons!” bellowed Araphel, leading his elite Pallas terminators straight for the thin line of Breachers. Rhalos pushed the corpse off of him and threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the charge as the reinforcements slammed into the xenos. Rhalos took a second to catch his breath, noticing that a spine had lodged itself in his lung and left thigh.

An apothecary appeared in front of him, “Can you stand?” Rhalos grunted, not allowing himself to need to be carried, and pushed himself to his feet. The apothecary nodded, using his Narthecium to seal the wounds on his leg and chest. Knowing not to expect any thanks, the apothecary moved off to tend to the rest of the squad. Rhalos made his way back down the corridor, examining the corpses of the xenos to reclaim his power sword. [[Category:I]]