After replying to the sergeant's orders, Claude runs straight towards the barricade and takes cover behind a tall pile of sandbags, all stacked neatly on top of each other. He first rests his rifle on the curved top of the sandbags and then aims down the sight of his M4 carbine.
The demonic wave currently charging at them featured familiar faces, such as the 7-foot-tall blue demon he fought first back at his house, as well as the little green goblins it roamed around with.
They appear to be all adorned in some kind of thin metallic armor while wielding classic antique weaponry like maces, spears, and swords. They traveled in tight formations, with the larger blue demon in the front holding a giant wooden shield, while the little green goblins stood behind it. They moved in tight formations, trying to endure the relentless barrage of bullets being thrown at them.
Upon noticing that one of the blue giants wasn't covering their face with their shield, Claude quickly aimed his rifle to point at its head. After sliding his thumb to move the fire selector to "single shot," Claude tightens his hold on his grip before squeezing the metal trigger.
Click. BANG!
The gun fires, propelling a 5.56 caliber lead bullet out of the barrel, leaving the area with a sonic boom. It lands right in the eye of the blue demon, blowing its brains to bits. As its body stops moving, it falls on its back, crushing the little green demons standing behind it.
"Hey! Tall rookie with the brown hair! What are you doing?" one of the soldiers wielding a M249 Machine gun questions him.
"What?" Claude yells back as loudly as he can through the constant gunshots.
"Sorry, I couldn't hear you! Say that again!" Claude asked, pointing to his ear.
"Why are you firing so slowly? "That thing is not a sniper! It's an assault rifle!" the man yells even louder, just enough for Claude to make what he said.
"The demons are wearing armor! I don't know if my gun can penetrate it!" Claude responds. The soldier facepalms in response, before yelling back.
"It's a 5.56! It's more than enough to break through!" The machine gunner claims.
"Here, watch me!" he adds as he finishes loading his gun.
The soldier aims down his sights, targeting a random column that was getting uncomfortably close to the defensive line. With the pull of his trigger, his gun started rapidly firing dozens upon dozens of lead bullets into the incoming wave of the demon.
RATATATATATATAT!!!
Claude's jaw dropped open in awe as the bullets tore through the shield and armor with ease, turning the demon into Swiss cheese. Once the blue giant fell, the green goblins tried to flee the scene, only to get mowed down by the machine gunner.
"Your gun has automatic fire! Just aim in their general direction, and then open fire!" he claims.
"The demons are traveling too closely together. You can kill more with like that!" he continues, handing Claude a few pieces of advice in the midst of battle.
"But what if I run out of bullets!?!" Claude inquires.
"Then just grab some more! There are a lot in that crate over there!" the experienced machine gunner answers while pointing to a wooden crate near Claude. He extends his head, and sees that there was a couple dozen magazines inside the box, just waiting for someone to use them.
"Oh, I didn't see that! Thank you!" Claude extends his gratitude, before turning his sights back on the charging demons.
Claude decides to heed the advice of his experienced comrade and switches the select fire of the gun to automatic. He then grips the handgrip of his gun more tightly before aiming down at a column of demons and squeezing the trigger.
The gun starts spewing bullets out its barrel every second, tearing through their shields and armor and ripping through the demon's flesh. Once the column clears, Claude moves onto a different column and fires again.
As Claude saw dozens of demons continue to fall to the ground and breed, his heart started pumping more adrenaline into his blood. A wave of pleasure hits his brain like a freight truck, making him smile as he cuts down the demons by the dozen.
RATATATATATATATATATAT-Click-Click-Click!
The gun suddenly stops firing, cutting his rampage short. He pulls the charging handle to see the magazine had run out of bullets, meaning he needed to change it. Claude quickly ejects the empty mag, letting it fall to the ground as he picks up a fresh one from his plate carrier.
He then carefully inserts the magazine into the mag well, only letting it go when he feels a click in place. He then pulls the charging handle. Once the gun was loaded, he looked down on his sights before firing again.
Click! RATATATATTAT!!!
As the demons continued charging, the soldiers continued firing and mowing down their ranks, the once clean asphalt road finds itself tainted with the dirty blood and carcasses of hundreds of dead demons. Literal mountains of bodies start piling up, slowing the advancing demon army down further.
Like any other intelligent animal who realizes they were outmatched, the demons eventually realized that their efforts yielded no results, crushing their morale in an instant. They start slowing their advance before turning their backs on them and retreating into the DOZ.
The experienced soldiers stopped firing the moment they saw them turn their backs on them, while the rookie DEF operators continued picking them off. They were ordered to shoot until they were ordered to stop, so that's what they did.
"Cease fire! Cease fire! The demons are retreating!" Sergeant Jake Skinner calls out to his men, ordering them to stop firing. The rookies complied, as they were told. However, no one dared to lower their guns, not until every last demon vanished from their sight.
Sergeant Jake Skinner took out a pair of binoculars and examined the retreating demons. He sees them retreating into the homes of the suburbs or getting behind them for cover. He watches them until he couldn't find anyone left, putting them down once he was done.
"The demons have retreated! You all can lower your weapons now!" he instructs.
Feeling relieved that they managed to push the demon wave back, the DEF operators and soldiers all turn their fire selectors to safe before lowering their guns. The more experienced soldiers sat down on the ground in exhaustion, thankful that the wave was finally over.
"Took you guys long enough," one of them joked.
The rookies, on the other hand, the ones who just got here, felt brimming with energy. They had only been here for about a few minutes and thus didn't feel nearly as tired as the rest.
Sergeant Jake Skinner orders his rookies to gather around him, as he has something he wants to tell them. And so, Claude, Pete, and Marco walked towards him, gathering around their leader. Although Jay was a rookie, he didn't bother walking towards them. This was a matter between the first-timers and their experienced leader.
Jake examines the faces of the recruits, scrutinizing their appearance and expressions. Their heart rate spikes, wondering if they had done something wrong. But then, the sergeant hands them a warm smile and an approving nod.
"You all did a fine job there, recruits," he states confidently.
"But the battle isn't over. Not yet," Jake claims.
"You see, those demons are going to come back. They only retreated to reorganize, to come up with a new strategy to try and break through our lines," he continues.
"We are going to have to repeal them until enough reinforcements to arrive to replace the other soldiers here.
"Once the others arrive, these soldiers will be able to infiltrate the DOZ, and start retaking the land, and once they had taken position, we can move forward and close in on the demons."
"So, until then, we are going to stay here and repel them for as long as we can," he finishes.
"What are we going to do till then, sir? Surely, we can't just wait around," Pete speaks up, asking a question.
"That's right, Private! You aren't going to wait again. In fact, I am giving you all another mission," Jake answers. But just before he tells everyone what it is, he turns to look at Jay.
"Private Jay! Get over here! This involves you too!" he yells. Private Jay growls before begrudgingly walking over. Once he had joined the circle, Sergeant Jake Skinner handed out his command.
"You all see that truck over there?" he points to an army truck parked on the sidewalk, near the local park.
"That truck holds excessive ammunition and supplies we need to survive," he states.
"Since you all are not that tired, I am going to need you all to unload those creates, and restock our ammo piles, and the soldiers. After that's done, get a food crate and distribute them to the others," he commands.
"Once you are done with this task, you may return to your post and continue guard."
"Any questions?"
"I have a question, sir," Marco speaks up.
"What if the demons come back while we are… doing what you just told us to do?"
"In that case, let the professional soldiers handle the demons and help them restock. They have enough firepower to hold them off, at least for a few minutes," Jake answers.
"Any more questions?" he speaks up. The other recruits stay silent.
"No? Alright then, go! Time is of the essence!" he states.