Clearing a Home

Corbin crouched behind cover, slowly the lift continued going down with a screeching noise accompanying it.

As it went down, soldiers behind the barricades prepared their weapons. The lift was lit up by a single lightbulb hanging above, swinging around while they descended.

The distant noise of movement on dirt and the noise of cluttering can be heard as the lift descended deeper.

"Once we arrive down, make sure you eliminate the remaining hostiles. If the civilians aren't part of the defenders, leave it to me. If not, kill them all." The officer gave another order behind the barricade with the others.

The elevator came to a halt, the screen gate in front opened up, it was silent, reluctant to look above the barricade. Soldiers continued hiding under it.

A soldier peeked slightly up, in just a second of peering, a bolt slammed into his head, breaking his mask as he lay dead on the ground for the others to see.

The soldiers, in succession began blind firing, throwing their rifles up the barricade to spray indiscriminately at whoever was shooting. A few peeked out, joining in the supression.

It soon became a race of time as the hastily formed barricaded quickly shredded by the bombardment of bolts slamming into it, splintering the floor.

Varis joined in blind firing, slowly turning his rifle left and right, hearing bolts slam onto dirt or metal. Soldiers fell around them, the barricade slowly broke down while others were shot above cover, falling down dead.

"CEASE FIRE" A muffled voice of the officer yelled out, silencing the shooting. Bolts no longer flew, only a silence followed.

A round object flew above as they thought of peeking upwards, hitting the wall before rolling on the ground. A sense of fright hit Varis as he stared at the ball.

"I'm wounded anyway." A soldier leapt onto the object, burying it under his chest before another joined in. In a few seconds, a small bright light illuminated under gaps in their pile. The sound of metal ricocheting inside the elevator as shards flew through the bodies, aimed at all directions forcing the rest down. Shards soon became buried inside many of the soldiers, hitting their arms or other parts of their body, penetrating their clothing and masks. Varis shielded his body with his arms, embracing the brunt of metal

Varis groaned in pain, clenching his arm, now covered with small shards of metal, quickly beginning to bleed.

More objects flown above, slamming in a similar fashion to the ones earlier.

The group lessened as more leapt onto the objects, piling above them before falling lifeless after the bright flash beneath them.

Varis peeked out, groaning in pain. There was nobody above, only empty lit up rooms on the sides of a straight path forward.

"Advance with caution, we need more soldiers to reinforce us here."

The team sent down was nearly half of what it once was, slowly stepping out of broken crates and splintered ground, wounded with metal or bolt shots. Weapons up, aiming front, limping onward.

He struggled to aim his rifle up, feeling the shards buried into his arms.

Behind him, corpses of his fellow allies, dead. Despite this, he continued approaching forward with anyone left, approaching rooms to clear.

The elevator's doors shut, leaving the bodies of those killed earlier, sending them upwards for the ones above to see. Injured soldiers began sweeping the area, rushing in or peeking from cover.

More started falling from the raids, lessening the unit, the elevator still not down yet.

As he approached further, from the corner of two rooms in front of him, rifles peeked out, rapidly opening fire. Varis ran to a room next to him, filled with crates of varying sizes all resting on wooden pallates, red bolts darted passed the tunnel in front of him, some slamming into the corner Varis leaned next to.

He returned fire, blind firing with the strength he had left as the pain continued piercing his arms.

"Prepare for close combat, we need to take them out, the elevator is wide in front of em." The officer relayed. They began taking out their shovels, holstering their rifles on their backs, Varis took out his own shovel, now readying himself to charge forward.

"ONWARD" A loud yell signalled their assault, all at once, soldiers nearest to them rushed through together in the tunnel, bolts started flying once again but it was too late. Turning, Varis slammed his shovel down on a masked shoulder, slamming into his shoulder, killing him. As he looked back up, other hostiles were already fighting back against his comrades, fighting for their lives, desperately pushing with their rifles. Varis ran to another hostile, immediately engaging.

The shovel slammed onto the rifle as the two were locked. The increasing pain forced Varis back, weakening, in a short time, he was shot in the chest, sending him down, weakened but not yet dead, the soldier stared at him, barrel pointed at his head.

Before another bolt could be fired, a shovel cleaved through the hostile's neck, sending him to the ground, dying quickly as the rifle clattered on the ground. The soldier walked back to him, carrying a blood dripping shovel, extending his hand out to Varis.

Varis got back up, fighting the pain he's enduring, grabbing his shovel, he returned to the fight, fighting anyone remaining.

The fight soon came to a bloody end, corpses on both sides, shot or cleaved by shovels, blood soaked the nearby floor and walls next to the hostile corpses.

Varis was exhausted, grabbing his arm in pain while he regained energy.

"The second team is here, good job soldiers." The officer congratulated. Outside, he stared at the elevator, soldiers began pouring out of it, rushing to aid.

With the battle over, Varis leaned on the wall, dealing with his own wounds, reinforcements quickly moving through the tunnel to take over.

He and his fellow allies stayed put, resting or standing around.