Anthony DeCosmo - Disintegration

– The convoy arrived mid morning. Stonewall brought a heap of firepower in the fifty-caliber machine guns atop Humvees as well as fifteen armed fighters: a mixture of professional soldiers and post-apocalyptic draftees outfitted in an eclectic collection of uniforms but all with sturdy boots and gloves.

First, they created hard points on the fringe of campus to control access to the area. After, Trevor flew Washburn to the countryside in search of farm supply centers. Ames (the older brunette with fiery eyes) and the young man named ‘Bird’ went off to find an 18-wheeler. Bird assured he knew how to get one started without a key. No one asked.

Trevor and Danny prepared a simple plan: blast the gateway to smithereens with an ammonium nitrate bomb delivered in a truck. To get that close they would need to distract the gateway’s guardians, a job for which Nina seemed well suited. Stonewall would command a reserve force while Trevor and Dante coordinated from a rooftop.

By nightfall, they gathered all the supplies and prepared for an assault in the morning. However, night brought a heavy snowstorm. After much consideration and consultation, Trevor decided to go ahead with the attack.

Before dawn-while the snow raged-Trevor parted ways with Nina and the other five members of "Alpha" team. They drove south in Humvees off campus, then west, then back onto campus on the far side of the target area. There they waited in Palisades dormitory, practically in the shadow of the gateway separated only by a patch of brush and woodland.

Dawn shined on a cold day. Nearly a foot of fresh, powdery snow had fallen and more continued to drift to Earth.

Danny Washburn and Bird piled into the cab of a ROADWAY rig while a support team followed their truck in a Cadillac Escalade. Trevor moved to a good observation point on the roof of Cleveland Hall with Dante and Tyr at his side. The remaining K9s provided security on the flanks of the assault. Stonewall and his relief force of eight men with snowmobiles waited in reserve underneath Trevor’s observation point, using the Winnebago as their command post.

At 10 a.m. on December 17 ^ th, the first known human counter attack on a dimensional gateway began.

– "Alpha team, go," Trevor radioed.

Nina, Ames, and Casey moved, on foot, through the wooded area to Parking Lot X.

Despite the falling snow, the gateway continued to dispatch bright pulses into the low gray clouds, delivering more miseries to a planet already besieged by chaos.

The air around the abomination felt charged with unearthly electricity. The gateway’s sound added to its eerie ambiance; a constant hum, as if a child pounded a cord on an out-of-tune piano. The creatures inside the sphere wiggled and squirmed behind the opaque ball that hid their true features but conjured an image of maggot-infested meat.

Nina struggled with the sight and sounds of the gateway as some natural instinct urged her to retreat. She shook her head fast in an effort to subdue that instinct. A flutter of snow tumbled from her knit cap.

With new determination, she waved her arm forward. Alpha team engaged the two bloated, massive balls of vileness standing guard outside the hideous monument…

…Trevor watched as muzzle flashes announced the commencement of stage one. He worked the transmitter on his radio.

"Bravo team…punch it!"…

…Bird grinned as he drove the tractor-trailer. Washburn shared the cab and wore a headset radio. He spoke into the microphone, "Roger that. We’re a go."

The rig started its attack run, passing Hunter Hall. The piled snow grabbed at its 18-wheels causing starts, stops, and slips but they moved forward nonetheless.

"Yeah baby!" Bird hollered. "Here comes the friggin’ mailman with a special god damn delivery for all you mothers!"

Washburn howled, "Wooohooo!"

The truck gained speed as it entered Lot X. The massive gateway stood at the far end.

Washburn gazed at the hideous structure, the sight of which sapped his enthusiasm for the mission. He radioed, "This is bravo. We’re making our run…"

…The two big balls of puss guarding the gateway rolled toward Nina’s assault team as fire from M4 carbines hit against their thick hides, causing no harm. The creatures wobbled over the powdery snow with their eyes searching and mouths working mindlessly as they fell for the ruse and pursued. Ames lobbed a hand grenade that exploded in a splash of dirty snow but barely slowed the creatures.

"C’mon, fall back," Nina ordered according to plan.

The monstrosities followed the humans into the wooded area…

…Trevor watched from his position as the demon balls chased Nina, the sight of which filled his belly with unease despite being a part of the plan.

"Here comes the truck," Dante pointed.

With its chase car following behind, the 18-wheeler rumbled toward its goal with a hearty pull on the horn that carried across campus…

… Nina, Ames, and Casey led the rolling balls of puss to the open ground between the wooded area and Pallisades Hall and straight at two 50 caliber machine guns atop idling Humvees, one of which operated by Rhodes.

As the monsters rolled into the kill zone, the heavy caliber weapons spat rounds at a furious pace. The fiends hissed. Vapors shot from holes punched through their sick bodies as the creatures disintegrated into chunks creating a horrid smell of rot.

The machine gun fire ceased, leaving both monsters broken into smaller pieces. More specifically, each ball had been broken into four equal pieces.

Nina stopped wiping snow from her pants and said aloud, "How is that possible?"

Those eight balls of puss vibrated and stirred. Their edges smoothed; eyes and tendrils poked forth, grinning mouths worked open. Eight rolling balls of disgusting monstrosity bore down on Alpha team.

"Open fire!" Nina bolted for the flamethrower as the machine guns blazed again.

Ames pulled another grenade. Before she could throw it, two of the creatures grasped her with tentacles and greedily pulled in opposite directions. Her mouth strained to scream but could not find any voice. Casey charged in with his M16 blasting. At close range, the bullets did damage but not enough to stop them from…from pulling her in two.

Each monster-ball enveloped a half of her body and gulped it down with multiple mouths. Casey bid a hasty retreat…

…The gateway-its guards distracted-loomed above the ROADWAY trailer as Bird hit the brakes. The truck jackknifed and skidded to a stop. As it did, the gate shuttered and vibrated. A howling noise-an alarm-erupted from its core. The flashes of lightning it so often sent into the air flashed at its base.

Something began to come through…something very big…

…Trevor and Dante watched in horror. A massive image formed in front of the Gateway next to the explosive-laden truck. A vague disturbance in the air grew into a more distinct outline as falling snow swirled and fled from the burgeoning form.

It became a shadow. A building-sized shadow…

…Washburn and Bird jumped from the cab of the truck and gaped in awe at the massive hulk fading into existence.

Washburn heard Trevor over the headset: "Get out of there, Danny!"

The former ATF agent grabbed Bird by the collar and hauled him to the waiting Escalade. In moments, a massive explosion would engulf the area.

Glowing red eyes materialized ten stories in the air behind a veil of blustery, falling snow; glowing red eyes conjured from some hellish inferno of the universe…

…The rollers approached the Humvees; the fifty-caliber shots served merely as an annoyance.

Nina lunged forward with the flamethrower, sending a stream of fire into two of the creatures. That fire turned snow into water almost instantaneously but the monsters did not stop.