When Ben jumped out from his cover, he was gratified to see that the beasts were looking up and away, clearly on the watch for any sign of aerial assault. It was one of the first times Ben had ever been glad that the Americans (he still thought of them as Americans) existed. They’d dropped so many tons of explosives on his country and countrymen that more than once he’d wished that they would simply vanish from the face of the planet.

And they were still dropping bombs on his country, but now he was grateful. It was mind-boggling, but that was perhaps the world he lived in and the world his children, and theirs, would have to grow and thrive in.

As he charged, the roar of gunfire magnified around him and he saw others jump up and empty their own weapons into the enemy, giving him the cover he needed as he ran.

Faint cries of “Ayo Gorkhali” and “Jai Bajrang Bali” reached his ear, along with other rejoinders that had once been the calls to strike fear and horror into his heart. Now, though, they buoyed him as he ran. Ahead of him, an unspeakable horror, behind him old enemies now turned allies, offering what protection they could.

Perhaps this is best, he thought fatalistically as he charged across the field. I am too old and set in my ways for a world as changed as my sons will live to see.

The idea that there may not be a tomorrow for his children didn’t enter his mind as he tossed the explosive sphere and palmed the second one, pulling the pin on it before wrenching his rifle up one-handed and opening fire as he ran.

Another cry filled the air, this time a British voice screaming about God and country as the heavy assault weapon hammered the drones, the explosion of the first grenade blowing the leg off one and collapsing another. The heavy rounds of his rifle perforated the hard shell of a third as the beasts finally reacted to his charge. The snap and sizzle of the beast’s weapons charred the air, filling his nostrils with ozone as the beam that could slice through tanks caught Ben just above the knee and took his right leg almost in its entirety.

He hit the ground in a sprawl, rolling to a stop just feet away from the drone that had taken his leg. He smiled up at it as he threw the second grenade, bouncing it off a drone thirty feet away, then threw himself toward his chosen target as he drew a detonator from his belt and jammed his thumb down on the button.

“Allahu Akbar,” he said just before the explosion tore him to shreds right along with the beast he had charged.

It collapsed on him, leaving only two remaining, as a rain of automatic fire tore through them and ended the battle.