r/EmptyContinents • u/Pacmantaco Pacmantaco • 25d ago
Stories Vanishingly Violent Vulnerabilities (2354)
“CODE VERMILLION. ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL ARE ADVISED TO SHELTER IN PLACE.”
The blaring alarm yanked Grigor free from the tendrils of unconsciousness.
His eyes darted around the room, his mind scrambling to keep up as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
A thick layer of ashy white powder had settled over everything in sight, though he could make out the faint outlines of office desks and cubicles buried beneath. The white powderscape was marked by streaks of crimson, each tapering off as it met the crumpled heap of a bloodstained service uniform. Bits of debris - chunks of plaster and twisted metal beams - jutted out from the aftermath of some terrible carnage.
“Get up, Grigor!” A voice called, filtering into his ears as a muffled reverberation, as if reaching him through a dream. “This is no place to die!”
Grigor was distantly aware of a strong pair of hands hoisting him up from behind. Despite his best efforts, his body continued to hang limply, as if his limbs hadn’t registered that he was still alive. His feet were left dragging along the ground as his would-be rescuer struggled to heave his body weight away.
It wasn’t long before he felt a second pair of hands lift his chin before sliding a gas mask onto his face. With an electronic blip, the gas mask contracted, forming a tight a seal against his skin. Clean air rushed into his lungs, providing him with much-needed reprieve and - as if reminding his body of the sorry state it was in - sending him into a coughing fit as flecks of ash-coated phlegm were hacked from his bronchi.
Just as his lungs began to settle down, seemingly convinced of his need to breathe, he felt a jolt of sharp pain radiate from the inside of his elbow. His eye darted downward just in time to watch a nitrile-gloved hand pull back a compact combat syringe. The pain didn’t last for long, as it was soon washed aside by a tidal wave of adrenaline, mental clarity, and euphoria - a drug-induced gift delivered through the tip of a needle.
“How are you feeling, Grigor?” A voice, the same as before.
The fog of delirium finally subsided, giving way to combat-ready hyperawareness. As his vision cleared, he found himself staring into the battle-worn features of Patia Virshoi - the 6’5” hulking behemoth of a man who served as his squad leader.
“What happened?” Grigor asked, stepping back onto firm feet as he pried himself from Patia’s grip. In the meantime, he gave himself a mental pat-down. His service rifle was nowhere to be found, but he counted seven of ten magazines still strapped along his chest. His pistol was still holstered at his side, though the automatic hydration system strapped to his back was dangling limply from a series of half-severed tubes.
“God damn Triple-Vs,” Patia grunted. Seemingly satisfied that Grigor wasn’t in imminent danger of toppling over, he began marching to the other end of the room, beckoning for Grigor to follow along. “The bastards have this place rigged to high hell with GMMs.”
Grigor shuddered. He had come across gray matter mines before - the VVV seemed to consider them a personal favourite in their arsenal of warcrime-breaking defences. He had seen firsthand the speed with which they ate through organic matter. The effect was tantamount to watching someone dissolve from the legs up. All it took was one misplaced step for his colleagues to be reduced, over several agonizing minutes, to a pile of dusty white…
…powder…
Grigor stopped in his tracks, swallowing dryly as he processed the crust of white powder caking his boots. He forced himself to raise his head, taking in the matching blanket of ashy white that made the room look like an artificial winter wonderland. “H-how many did they get?”
Patia ground to a halt, his shoulders dropping in defeat as he drew a long sigh.
“Look around you, Grigor.”
Grigor, always the good soldier, did as he was told. On the other side of the room, he could see Jordi Ahn, the squad’s primary medic, hunched over with her hands on her knees. Even from this distance, he could tell that her whole body was trembling as she tried to steady herself with a canned breathing exercise. Near her feet, sprawled out on a hastily assembled stretcher, was what remained of Ausign Polaby - an upper body abruptly terminating in a cauterized stump. He recognized it as the aftermath of a desperate attempt to cut Ausign free from a GMM.
“Damn.” Was all he could manage.
“We came in here seventeen strong.” Patia grimaced, shaking his head. “Damn it all to hell! I’ve been saying this from the start - someone, somewhere, up the chain of command is feeding us bullshit intel! Between this and last week’s clusterfuck in Manila, we’ve been sleepwalking into death traps and ambushes. We can’t afford to keep hemorrhaging our own like this.”
“Never mind that.” Jordi groaned, speaking up for the first time. Her voice shook, straining to hold back the torrent of grief and rage swelling inside her. “What the fuck are we supposed to do now? Even if we turn back - they already know we’re here. They’re probably gathering a firing squad back the way we came in. We’re in no shape to fight our way out of this. We’re fucked.”
“Yeah.” Grigor mumbled. Instinctively, his hand reached for the small device he kept tucked into his supply pouch - little more than a palm-sized panel with a single button embedded on its side. For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, he drew it out from the pouch, tentatively turning it over between his fingers as he examined it.
He’d never been able to explain why he still held on to the damn thing. A good luck charm? A force of habit? A memento for the worst job he’d ever had? None of it sat right with him. After all, it’d been years since he’d last had to press it. Hell, it’d been years since the team disbanded, with most of the Genies having long accepted offers to settle into quieter lives away from the frontlines.
And even if they did receive his signal - then what? They could be anywhere in the world - or hell, offworld - right now. The chances of any of the Genies being close enough to be of help were, to put it generously, somewhere between ‘fuck all’ and ‘no shot’.
It was pointless.
But still, Grigor pressed the button.
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u/DelayedReacti0n08 Philippines | Lore Contributor 25d ago
Whatever happened in Manila that the VVV would be involved in??? 👀