• Sergeant Kileona Lagon was the oddest Marine on the Nemacyst. He was a large muscular man that could easily have had gone into football for any of the major planet teams. He was six foot four and was the width of two average men. He had black hair that was tied back in a pony tail. He had black eyes that had a ring of gold around the pupil that seemed to glow because of the contrast. His entire torso, right arm, and right leg was covered in tribal tattoos from his homeland. His left eye had a snake biting it's tail around it. He had a large earing in his right ear, it was a large metal ring that had a gold and crimson feather from a flame eagle and a white tusk from the mini rhino, both were native predetors to his homeworld.
    Kileona was from the small tribal planet of Larstr, a water covered planet with islands sprinkled around it. Kileaon was from the smallest island, Kalchic, which was home too the Hunter Tribe. The tribe itself was very advance, yet stuck to the peaceful diplomacy with other races and had a hunting based economy. The people from the island were very athletic and hunted creatures that were much more outlandish and aggressive than anything on the other human controlled planets. The Hunter Tribe introduced a new religion, this one was called Larzoratta by the natives of Kalchic, but was translated into the Hunter's Prayer by the diplomats, the Kalchic people worshipped a goddess called the Huntress Moon Spirit and constantly thanked her for nature and animals that were hunted.
    Kileona had kept his faith when he joined the Human Space Corps. and was often given odd glances for his chants in his native tongue. He also excelled at military life and soon gained oppertunities to take special training. He went through commando, sniper, explosives, and ship defence training after boot camp and was transferred to the command ship of the 4862th attack group, The Nemacyst. For eight years Kileona was a infantyman during countless attacks on planets and many ship battles.
    Two days ago there was an attack on a small plainland planet that resulted in an infection on the fleet. The smaller ships all were dead now and signs of the infection was showing up on the Nemacyst. This infection was caused by basketball-sized bug-like creatures that would bite a host and then die, but create a "zombie."

    There was a scratching noise on the heavy metal door that was followed by fustrated shrieks. Kileona had his heavy chest plate and shoulder pads on, but didn't have time for leg gear besides his faded fatigues. His heavy revolver was holstered by his side and a large assualt rifle was resting in his giant arms as he watched the door, muttering a prayer for the poor men who were now mindless monters. There were at least thirty other soldiers standing in the armory with him, all were armed and had some armor on. A claw broke through the door and was followed by the loud cracks of weapons being fired into the door. There were screams and the arm slid out, but was replaced by more arms and the door started to be ripped apart. Kileoana frowned and emptied the rest of his clip into the hole, reloaded, and kicked over a table to barricade the doorway. He was late, as the door broke down and the infected swarmed in. They were grotesque pale drooling people with white eyes and the stench of rotting flesh. A few of the soldiers screamed as they were piled on and shredded by the cold hands. The room exploded into the sound of full-auto fire and screams. The soldiers backed towards the hallway that led to the engine room. Captain William Harp had ordered all troops to stall the infected long enough for the hangar ships to be preped for escape procedures, the distress signal to be sent out, and the self destruct to be set. Any other human would say heck with that and run off to steal away on a fighter ship or something, but these men were trained to follow orders and they would stall even if they all died.
    The blast door shut and locked, sealing the dying and infected. Kileona looked around and noticed that ten died in the armory and frowned.
    "We should create barricades in the hall..."
    "Agreed, stack the supply boxes here and set up explosives on those high pressure pipes. I want them to have sensor detonators." A dark skinned officer with his pistol out pointed around as he issued orders. Kileona followed the orders and set his remaining explosives up on the pipes.
    The door slid shut and there was the screams of the infected running out of the armory, the crashing of boxes and the loud roar of explosives creating a giant oven in the hall. The infected's claws shot through the door and the same proccess of the slowl retreat to the door started over again, ten more dead.
    "Only ten of us left Lagon." A green recruit with red hair and freckles squeeked at Kileona who now noticed he was the highest rank here. He muttered another prayer and reloaded.
    "We have two more rooms to go through before we reach the hangar, and about ten minutes until the ship goes boom. We'll make this hall a death trap, I want any ammo boxes we have left stacked up and a time bomb on each set for two minutes then we barricade ourselves in the briefing room. Once they get through we get out and seal them off again. Next, survivors will skip the hall and set up whatever defenses they can in the pilot's quarters and get out as soon as the infected get in, then death trap the hall and head to the hangar to get out of here." Kileona felt that the plan was good and watched it go into effect. The death trap was set up and they ran to the briefing room and pushed the heavy metal table against the door and stacked chairs on it. There was screaming then an explosion. The eerie quiet was discomforting Kileona's men and he hated it for that, but soon the screams were back followed by the door falling and everyone sealing off the room. The pilot's quarters was filled with beds, footlockers, and heavy suit closets that were stacked by the door and used as cover. There was screaming and soon the room started to echo with gunfire. The red-head was next to Kileona and yelled as he fired into the face of an infected. Kileona tapped the re-head and they sealed off the room, five left. Anything that could kill the infected was thrown around the hall and Kileona changed the plan. He and the last five stacked empty boxes as a barricade to hide behind and buy the pilots a few more seconds. The infected ran into the hall and set off the bombs. The surviving soldiers fired on the next wave until they were down to side arms and whatever was close to hand. Kileona felt that tey were out of time and ran into the hangar with the last three. The door sealed shut and Kileona gave the red-head a pat on the shoulder, red-head was pale from shell shock and looked a bit dazed, he would snap out of it when they left the Nemacyst.
    "Looks like it was not your day, friend." He checked his watch and estimated they had three minutes until the ship exploded.
    "Well we made it and not a minute too soon." Kileona turned to see the empty hangar. Ships sat in neat rows, but blood was splattered on the walls and floor. Bodies were like rag dolls across the floor. A large transport ship had a fiery glow in the windows and there was the strong smell of burning flesh. The captain's body was at Kileona's feet with a pistol in hand and a hole in his forehead.
    "They were hit before we arrived..." Kileona bit his lip and looked around for some ship that was fueled and safe. Right by the field door was their escape ship, a small squad ship that was used for intership movement. It was untouched and still smelled of the military grade fuel. Kileona half dragged the other two to the ship and opened the door. The infected were still trying to pry open the door and Kileona stepped into the ship.
    "Come on gu-" There was a scream then gurgling from behind him and Kileona turned to see the red-head just finish biting out the short asian soldier's throat. Red-head looked up at Kileona and let out a ear-piercing scream as he lunged forward.
    A local merchant ship was on it's usual route when there was a giant flash of light. The captain radioed the Space Corps. and flew into the blast zone. Bodies floated by as the crew watched horrified at what was a horrible accident or something. There was a bang as a large man that looked like he was from the planet of Larstr, hit the cockpit window. The man had blood splatered on the front of him and bite marks in his neck. His black eyes with a gold ring around the pupils blinked as he looked in the eys of the captian and died.