The Gramophone

The cold claws of terror wedged itself in Dempsey's mind. His eyes fluttered and looked around. Through his blurred vision several shapes made from bits of red and orange stood out. As his mind began to piece together, the fast rhythm of his pounding heart grew louder and louder. His deeply ingrained instincts came to the surface and his hands frantically moved around. When they landed on a cold, long, metal surface they stopped. His discarded Mauser lay several feet in front of him. Gripping the handle tightly, the marine pulled it close to his prone form. Digging his elbows into the ground, he pushed himself into a sitting position, aching muscles crying out in protest. Around him were rolling hills dotted with the occasional tree. The sun was setting, but strangely enough sat motionless on the horizon. Twisting his neck, Dempsey eyed the macabre scene he was surrounded by. A metal carriage, supported by several planks of wood, was tipped on its side. Two of the strange equines he had witnessed early were sprawled out beside. Through his mental fog, the marine could easily see they were dead. One had each of its wings ripped to the base, along with a piece of shrapnel stick out of it's skull. The other's neck was twisted almost around to its back. Grimacing slightly, Dempsey shook his head and took a deep breath. He grunted as he pushed himself up to his feet, careful to keep his finger off the small pistol's trigger. He cracked his spine loudly, instantly feeling less stiff. Once he was on his feet, he gave his surrounding another quick glance before a sudden thought jolted through his brain. He turned quickly. His magna collider was nowhere to be found. He figured the neon LMG would stand out pretty easily. His eyes fell and disappointment shot through him. He also noticed something else was missing

" Shit! where are the others? Dempsey frantically looked around, until his eyes fell upon a familiar looking piece of equipment. Limping over to them quickly, Dempsey reached down with his free hand and scooped them up. Nikolai's goggles, bloodied and worn. A large patch of thick, tall grass drew his attention. "Nikolai!" He yelled, hoping to get a response. For a few seconds nothing happened. Just as he was about to turn, a loud rustle came from the patch. Instantly Dempsey had his feet planted, eyes narrowed, and Mauser raised. The marine slowly put one foot in front of the other. Almost a minute later, he planted a foot into the grass moving it aside. With a gasp a figure shot up. Dempsey jumped back and almost fire off a round. With a sigh of relief Dempsey lowered his gun. Sitting up, trembling, the unfocused eyes of Nikolai greeted him. "You alright" Dempsey asked as he extended his hand out. The Russian grabbed it firmly and pushed himself up. He clapped Dempsey roughly on the shoulder.

"I'm good, comrade" Came Nikolai's gruff response as he rolled the soreness from his shoulders. The two were silent for the moment as they gathered their thoughts. "So, what exactly happened here?" Nikolai asked as he too scanned the chaos around around him. Small fires burned here and there and the smell of blood was thick. Further ahead, more bodies littered the landscape, shockingly enough, some of them from those insects they fought earlier. His American ally said nothing as he strode over to one of the bodies. Bending on one knee, he examined the corpse with an expert eye. It bore no bullet holes, curiously. In fact the only visible wound was a large burn covering it's face. Standing up, Dempsey tossed the Russian his goggles.

"Come on, lets fine Takeo and Richtofen, then figure out what the fuck is going on here" The American glanced at Nikolai, who only nodded and pulled out his upgraded Mp-40. Stepping past the dead changeling, the duo marched. The land sloped up into a steep hill after the first 100 feet or so. As they climbed, each of their minds raced with theories and explanations. Why did it all have to go wrong in Germany? It couldn't have been just a standard mission could it? Anger quickly began to build in both of them. Their footfalls began to take on a harder tone, nearly stomping into the dirt angrily. While Nikolai was simply frustrated, Dempsey was downright pissed. Once they reached the top, he gave a furious yell, startling Nikolai. "This is fucking bullshit!" Breathing deeply through his nostrils, the irate marine sat down hard, sighing as he did so. He slammed his fist into the ground, kicking up the brown earth. Nikolai gave him an annoyed look.

"Now is not  time to panic." Nikolai scolded with a scowl on his face. "We don't have luxury." Dempsey gave him a look that could bore through mountains, but Nikolai stood his ground. Dempsey got to his feet and stared the slightly bigger soldier down. They stood still, glaring at one another, for a good minute. Finally, the marine looked down and closed his eyes. Berating himself for having lost his cool. Nikolai's look softened slightly. "Come on Tank, things could be worse." His ally said, nothing, turned on his heel and continued down the hill. Dempsey's resolve hardened as he put the metal blinders over the corners of his mind. A narrow line of focus resumed inside him. The slope of the hill flattened out into a long treeline. Raising their weapons, the two carefully eyed the woods ahead of them, weighing their options. If they hadn't seen them out in the fields, then they had to be in here. With a goal set in stone, they stepped over the thick roots and branches and into the dark forest.

The silence inside however maddening, gave the two the perfect peace they need to maintain an iron composure. The darkness wasn't completely overwhelming, but it did make vision quite shallow. For some reason Dempsey felt incredibly on edge. Every time a leaf crunched under his boot he flinched. The soldier instincts embedded deep in his mind were screaming at him that something was about to spring on him. He wondered if the Russian beside was feeling the same unease. Seconds ticked by in his head, counting off a clock to what had to be something bad. Unknowingly, his pace had begun to speed up increasingly. Nikolai noticed and cast him a wary glance. The hand gripping the handle of the Afterburner tightened. Dempsey's unease began to peak, a bead of sweat dripped of his brow. He really wanted to find his two allies and get the fuck out this forest.

A loud crunch off to his left was the only warning he got before he was blindsided. Knocked painfully into Nikolai, who also fell, Dempsey's head struck the ground hard. He swung out a second later, catching his attacker in the jaw. Through his haze, the American kicked hard, hearing the sharp crack of rips breaking. He rolled to his right and swung himself around. With his right hand planted firmly on the moist earth, his left quickly pulled his knife out of its sheathe. His eyes widened as he viewed his assaulter. Hunched over, holding it's chest, was a odd canine creature. Looking like an offspring of a human and a dog, the creature was covered in light grey fur and stood a good head shorter than Dempsey himself. The dog's face was pulled into a snarl that stretched way too far across it's face. The marine tossed his knife into the air slightly, catching it by the blade. He reared back and tossed it. It whistled before it stuck the beast dead in the chest, causing it to howl in pain. The creature beheld the blade in his torso with horrified eyes.

Before Dempsey could rush forward, several loud clack behind him sounded off. Invisible cannons stuck the injured dog, sending a thin spray of red. With a weak groan it collapsed on it's back, the knife protruding.  Dempsey glanced back. Nikolai, feet squared, held his gun out, his eyes half lidded in a bored expression. The American strode forward and ripped the blade out with a wet "Schick". As he straightened out he heard Nikolai mutter something along the lines of: "This place is almost as weird as fourth wife." Choosing to ignore that, he pushed the blade back into it's sheathe and resumed their march, with Dempsey feeling a tiny bit less on edge.

They walked for the next hour or so, stopping only once to eat and drink before resuming their walk. The density of the tree seemed to get a bit less compact as they continued on through, they found themselves having to step over thick roots less often and squeeze between trees as well. However night seem to have finally found it's way to them. The two could barely see around them, but didn't dare stop. The forest got lively as the darkness fell. Roars and growls echoed around putting even the battle scarred warriors into a nervous panic. They gripped their weapons tight and kept their eyes forward. A growl particularly close to them stopped the soldiers dead in their tracks. Back to back, they surveyed the pitch black darkness surrounding them. After a few minutes of tense waiting, haggard gasps escaped them. Quickly catching their breaths, they kept on. Dempsey lead, nervous energy completely covering him. Nikolai followed closely, not wanting to lose his companion in the suffocating black.

In between moving quickly through the woods and stopping to watch for close threats, they made very little ground. The forest seemed endless, the darkness all encompassing. The moments when the chaos of the night were cut by terrible silence were the worst. The silence built a very eerie tranquility, bringing about a very haunting tone. To the two however, they would be alright. The horrors of the infection at northern France had turned them from regular soldiers, into almost titan like being of war. What they were not prepared for, to their immense discomfort was the role of diplomat they had taken for their species to this unknown one. They knew this and it just added to the anxious pit in their stomachs.

Their silence was split by a shrill screeched a few hundred feet ahead of them. They both flinched strongly and just about fired their guns. Giving each other a quick glance, they dashed off towards the scream. As they got closer, the sounds of crying echoed off the trees, along with several flashes of magenta light. After rushing through a particularly thick patch of trees, they burst through a clearing, weapons raised. The purple equine they had met earlier lay on the ground, head buried deep in her hooves. She was surrounded by a glowing purple shield. Said shield was being viciously attacked by a pack of wooden wolves. To say the two humans were shocked would be an understatement. This was by far, the strangest thing either of them had ever seen.

Knowing that the horse was no threat, Dempsey looked at Nikolai, who looked right back. Nikolai gave Dempsey and almost imperceptible  nod. Dempsey raised his Mauser, the steel chassis kicking as a round escaped its thin barrel. The round blasted through one of the wolves wooden head, exploding in a shower of dark green gore. The round would'v bounced off the purple shield if the mysterious horse hadn't used the last of it's strength, and passed out. The rest yelped and backpedaled away from their dead pack member before racing off towards the two humans. Glad that the animals were distracted. Dempsey popped of about three shot before they were upon him. Dempsey quickly twirled around as Nikolai unleashed a burst of machine gun fire, lighting up the dark clearing for a second. The Russian grimaced as a set of sharp wooden teeth lodged themselves in his right arm. He curled his left hand into a fist and brought it down on the beasts neck, shattering it.

Meanwhile, Dempsey was having similar issues. Having been further up then Nikolai, most of the remaining pack rushed him. His left leg was assaulted, as was his left arm. As he raised his Mauser to take of both of their heads, a third wolf rammed into him, knocking him  to the ground. His pistol fell to his side, just out of reach. Growling in agony, the marine quickly pulled his sharp blade and plunged it into the wolf currently biting through his thick leather torso clothing and into his flesh. Wiggling the green drenched blade free,, he sent a rapid slash across the eyes of the beast ripping into his left arm. When it let go and reared back it pain, Dempsey shoved the knife into the hard neck. The  third wolf, in a fit of anger, tightened it's grip and thrashed around, nearly breaking Dempsey's leg. He yelled out in agony, dropping his blade and clenching his teeth and fists.

Before the timberwolf could break his leg, it was grabbed roughly by the throat and thrown to the ground. Nikolai stomped on the beast's throat in a brutal and devastating series of blows. After severing the neck from the head, Nikolai took a few quick breaths and quickly walked over to his comrade. Dempsey groaned as his deep bite wounds burned. Nikolai got on one knee and reached into his side packs. After rummaging around a bit, he pulled a long spiral roll of gauze. Pulling a long strip of the thick wrap, he cut it with Dempsey's blade. Dempsey had to into his arm to not yell out when Nikolai lifted his leg to wrap the gauze. Quickly locking it in place, Nikolai gave Dempsey a pat on the shoulder.

"You will okay comrade?" Nikolai asked with genuine worry. Dempsey eyed his leg in the darkness, the white gauze practically glowing.

"Y-yeah, Ill be good." Dempsey said weakly, throwing his head back as the adrenaline started to wear off, letting the sting back into his skin. Nikolai must have noticed this and pulled a syringe out of his pack.

"You need rest" Nikolai lifted one of Dempsey's gloves and jabbed the needle in, making the American wince. Nikolai turned to the unconscious pony, resting a few feet from them. "I will watch over both of you. Morning should be here soon." Dempsey could feel the effects of the needle, already making him very drowsy. Before he could utter a response, he was out.

Nikolai gave his American companion one last look, before dragging him and the pony over to a nearby tree. Laying them down, Nikolai leaned against the thick trunk, his aching bones creaking as he lowered himself. A smile graced his lips. He couldn't wait to get home, but he kinda liked the adventure, and this was bound to be one hell of one.