With a deafening, piercing hiss, five rocket powered grenades streaked from the windows of the building, flying into the mob of dragons below. Five massive explosions followed as the grenades erupted into roaring balls of smoke and fire, turning everything white for a split second. Dragons were flung in all directions, shrieking, tumbling through the air and crashing lifelessly to the ground. The smoke cleared, leaving a large section of scorched, blasted earth that was now covered in blown-apart dragons, some twitching weakly but far too wounded to stay alive.

The men beside me let out wild cheers and howls of triumph. I imagined the same was happening inside the armory, but there was no time to celebrate. The surprise attack had decimated the dragon numbers, killing half of them in one lethal blast, but there were still more out there, clawing at the armory, slowly pushing their way in. If they managed to get inside, we could lose the battle.

“Let’s go!” I snapped to the team, and grabbed my M-4 from where it lay beneath the window. “Before they have a chance to regroup.” When they did recover, we would likely be killed, but this was our job. This was our part in the battle: hit hard and fast, and kill as many as we could before we died.

Sprinting down the stairs, we charged into the chaos, into the heat and screams and smoke, and opened fire.

Chapter 47: DANTE

DANTE

A huge explosion rocked the screen, turning it white for a moment.

“Shit!” cried one of the humans as the rest of them gasped in horror. “Sir, we’ve got multiple wings down. Bravo one, two, three, seven, ten. Charlie two, six, seven, eight, ten. Delta four, five—”

“Excellent.” They stopped and stared at me, stunned. As I expected. That was their ace in the hole. I knew they were holding something back. I smiled grimly. Victory was close. Just one final push.

“Send in the rest,” I ordered. “All wings, attack. Take that base down, now.”

Chapter 48: GARRET

GARRET

I’d been told that there is a point in every soldier’s life when he knows he’s going to die.

You expect it, of course. In every battle, every ambush or enemy engagement. You’re aware that this could be it. This could be the one that ends your life.

But there’s a difference between being aware that you could die and knowing, beyond a doubt, when the situation is hopeless.

New dragons dropped from the sky in a dark mass. More swooped toward me and my team, jets of fire erupting from their mouths. I dove aside, feeling the heat blast through my armor as I rolled to a knee and fired on the dragon streaking by. It shrieked and crashed through a window, shattering glass and leaving jagged shards behind.