Shatter

This was almost the worst part. Riding in the back of an armored truck, with the rough terrain and the unforgiving suspension seemingly working together to be as uncomfortable as possible. Worse than that, though, were the thoughts of an idle mind and the knowledge of what lay ahead. The back of the truck had two bench seats running down the length of the interior, and Sarah found herself in the seat closest to the driver. Her long brown hair was tucked into a bun beneath her helmet, and her blue eyes were visible over the green bandana she wore over her mouth. With the declining situation along the front and a mandatory draft, some regulations had relaxed and Sarah felt comfortable wearing a green hoodie beneath her bulletproof combat vest. She also wore the thick, durable boots of a combat infantry soldier and pants colored with the standard-issue forest camouflage that most of her unit was wearing. Her gear felt heavy, and rudely shoved her out of a comfortable position in her seat. She sat holding her rifle upright between her legs, with her helmet unstrapped on her head. Standing in front of her, both hands clutching the support struts of the truck's ceiling, was the new commander. An actual member of the original US Army, and from what Sarah had heard, one of the few remaining survivors. He was a large, imposing man with a thick brown beard and various unit and service tattoos visible on the exposed skin of his arms.

"Where are we going?" Sarah thought she might as well ask, and as the commander turned to respond she read the name on his gear, Delco.

"About thirty miles west of whatever is left of Little Rock, Arkansas. The expanse, same as always," he responded, only briefly looking at her, then quickly turned his gaze back to the front of the truck and through a small gap in the armor covering the passenger area. "Check your gear, private," he said, with his attention clearly fixed on whatever he could see of the path ahead. Sarah pulled her rifle to her lap, an M4 with a red-dot sight and vertical grip. It looked the same as it did the last seven times she had checked it on this trip. She moved her hands over her combat vest, feeling several magazines through the thick fabric. Satisfied, she turned to the soldier next to her. "Where are you from?" she asked, mostly out of boredom. The soldier was as encumbered as Sarah, but also wore a shoulder pack, likely containing explosives.

"Does it matter? It's two-hundred feet below the expanse and about 1,000 miles from the edge," the soldier responded.

"It matters because I don't want to give up anything to those bastards," Sarah told him, as the soldier turned to her with a small grin on his face.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Sloane, Sarah Sloane."

"I'm Vecchio," he responded. Sarah was about to reply, when Delco's voice interrupted their conversation and she felt the truck come to a stop.

"Eyes front! Word from the top is that something special is happening this time, so stay alert and don't give these assholes another inch. Fire support is standing by. Move out!" he shouted, as he moved towards the rear of the truck, and with a grunt he loosened the hatch and flung it open. Daylight flooded the dimly lit interior of the truck, and Sarah moved towards the edge of her seat as the soldiers in front of her stood up and ran out of the truck. She watched as her companions ran out of the truck one by one and that much closer to their fate, and as Vecchio stood she followed suit. As she made it to the ramp of the truck, she saw it. The expanse. At least two-hundred feet tall, and glistening in the sunlight. It stretched far into the horizon as far as she could see, towards the North as well the South. Its face along the edge was bustling with activity, as whatever controlled it added new material and extended it further into the North American continent. It already stretched from the eastern seaboard into the American heartland, and from the Canadian tundra in the North to the Gulf of Mexico in the South. Reflective, pyramidal shapes of a metallic material appeared, and were quickly joined with identical shapes in a geometrical pattern. The expanse marched forward at least a mile a day, every day, and had continued this pace from the beginning. Cities, homes, and people lay buried beneath it. She could see the very tops of distant skyscrapers, and wondered what it would be like for anyone trapped inside, as the expanse surrounded them. The real danger wasn't the expanse itself, however.

"Form up! Artillery incoming!" Delco barked, as Sarah followed Vecchio into one of the craters created by earlier bombardments--desperately trying to slow the inevitable advance. To her left and right, her comrades ran to whatever cover they could find in the battered field, and a few took shelter behind a stone wall facing the expanse. Others took shelter behind a few abandoned vehicles along a road that led directly into the expanse.

"Here we go," Vecchio said, as he clicked off his rifle's safety and arranged several grenades in front of him. Sarah positioned herself on her stomach, shoving scorched earth away from the top of the of crater to give herself room to move her rifle. She turned, and saw more than a dozen other trucks pulling up to the edge, with more soldiers spilling out and rushing to find cover before the bombardment began. In front of her lay roughly two hundred yards of what looked like a fallowed crop laying between her and the expanse, and as she turned to her left and right she saw hundreds of helmets, and an equal measure of rifle muzzles pointed at the expanse. Aside from the occasional order being yelled, she heard nothing. Nothing except the rapid, excited pace of her own breathing.

Then, she heard the whine of artillery shells as they fell towards the expanse. She looked at her rifle, and clicked off its safety. She felt her breathing speed up, and tried to relax herself as she looked through her sights towards the top of the expanse-moving her gaze along the edge. Then, the ground shook as the shells hit their targets, and Sarah saw the fireballs erupt over the edge of the expanse, as far as she could see all along the edge. Suddenly, entire sections of the massive structure began to collapse in on themselves, shattering into thousands of pieces in a cacophony of noise resembling the sound of breaking glass but almost as loud as the artillery barrage. Thick orange paste squirted out of each pyramid as it was ripped from those around it. She turned her eyes, as the falling pieces reflected the sunlight into her face. As she looked back, the wall was already repairing itself. Undamaged fallen pieces were moving back to their original positions, and the surrounding areas were beginning to reappear at a furious pace. The inexorable advance continued.

"Hey, Sloane, I'm from Miami," Vecchio said, and Sarah realized he wasn't even watching the expanse.

"Yeah? I'll meet you there when this is over, Vecchio," Sarah replied, and tried to hide her fear but wasn't sure if it worked. Vecchio just laughed and turned his attention to the edge of the the expanse, peering through the scope of his rifle.

She heard it before he did. The chittering sound of the roaches—the name given to their conquerors by a decimated, but not defeated, humanity. Her rifle instinctively raised to her head, as she focused her attention into her sights. Vecchio swore under his breath, and lowered himself in the crater. Then, the glistening, reflective surface of the expanse was darkened by an uncountable number of black creatures, moving in one enormous wave. Their sharp appendages digging into the surface as they threw themselves over the edge and down towards the ground the expanse would soon claim. Resembling chimpanzees in their movement, the roaches had six appendages and the scales of a fish covering their thin bodies. Four of their limbs propelled them forward, while the largest two hung over their shoulders with large talons. Talons they threw in every direction, as they thundered towards the thin line of infantry spread out before them. Their faces reminded Sarah of the beasts discovered in the deepest depths of Earth's oceans—evil, grisly, and terrifying. Their chittering became almost deafening as they climbed over each other, desperate to be the first to reach the small force sent out to meet them. Suddenly, her comrades opened fire. Sarah could see the bright flash of rifles all along the line in both directions, as tracer fire flew into the approaching abyss. The steady crackle of machine-gun fire was deafening, as if in a competition with the chittering of the roaches. She watched as dozens of roaches fell, only to be climbed over and forgotten by those around them. They were approaching her crater.

Taking aim, she fired at one of them. As she pulled the trigger, her rifle violently threw her arm back towards her shoulder as it fired round after round. The creature let out a loud groan as it crumpled to the ground, and Sarah moved her rifle towards a second roach and pulled the trigger. One after another, they fell. She could see Vecchio out of the corner of her eye, quickly shooting and switching targets. He was swearing loudly as he fired, cursing the enemy as he methodically dropped his targets. The roaches were endless, merciless, and they were quickly approaching.

Then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Sarah saw the thick tracers of heavy machine guns flying directly over her head and into the horde. Dozens of them fell, but it only seemed to annoy them. Those remaining sped up, their resolve only hardened. Sarah turned around, and saw something she could not identify.

Definitely man-made, it was a massive cylindrical craft on tank treads with an enormous drill-shaped attachment on its front. It was turned so that its side was exposed, and the flashes of powerful .50 caliber machine guns almost blinded Sarah and she turned back towards her comrade.

"Hey, what the fuck is that?" Sarah yelled to Vecchio, pointing to the craft, but he did not avert his attention. She turned back towards the horde, and was alarmed at how quickly they had advanced. She spun her rifle back towards them but it was clear they would soon be upon them. Vecchio stood up, and started walking backwards towards the middle of crater, still facing the roaches and firing into the approaching cloud. Sarah grabbed his shoulder, and pulled his ear towards her face

"It's time to go! There's too many!" she yelled as Vecchio replaced his magazine and immediately focused his rifle on another roach.

"You go, I'll cover you and follow you." He responded, never looking away from his scope.

"Let's head for that!" she shouted, pointing towards the vehicle behind them, which had now spun around-its drill had begun spinning and was quickly speeding up. All the while, machine-guns roared from every surface. This was a machine of death. As Sarah climbed over the edge of the crater, she was shoved to the ground. She spun herself onto her back, and saw the talons of a roach high above her, as the creature shook with excitement.

"Vecchio!" she shouted, but did not hear a response. As the talons flew down upon her, she instinctively held her rifle out in front of her, and she could feel the heat from its barrel through her glove as one of the talons slammed into it, which staggered the roach. Perhaps out of frustration, the roach grabbed her arm with one of its thin hands and violently struck her in the ribs with another, she winced in pain as she grabbed her dagger from her vest and shoved it into the roach's chest-the scales protected the beast, and her knife did not hit its mark. The roach pulled itself back to try again, as Sarah realized she was surrounded. Suddenly, an explosion thundered out of the crater, knocking roaches to the ground all around her. Her rifle was also rudely thrown from her side, as the roach on top of her fell onto her, with orange blood seeping out between its scales. Confused, Sarah turned to the crater-Vecchio was gone. She shoved the roach away, pulled her pistol from her hip, and rolled over to her side as a wounded roach steadied itself and turned its rage towards Sarah. She aimed her pistol and fired three shots at the creature, hitting it twice. It fell, screeching, then lay still. This was far more than their usual response. She looked for her rifle, and did not see it.

"Private! Get your ass over here!" Sarah turned towards the voice which sounded like it came over a loudspeaker, and saw that the strange craft had now closed the distance-its guns still firing, as if to hold back the flood of death that was clearly determined to annihilate all signs of humanity before them.

"Sir!" she yelled, as she spun herself to her feet and started running towards the craft. As she ran, she turned towards the battle before her and saw carnage. Her comrades were being overrun on either side as far as she could see. Either fate or luck had brought this strange machine to the front behind her position, but the others were on their own and there was nothing she could do.

As she reached the craft, she noticed shell casings littering the ground all around her and felt her boots pressing them into the soil with every step. Soon, all of this would be below the expanse. The crackle of machine gun fire was deafening, and she could barely hear her own voice as she pounded on the side of the vehicle, yelling to be let inside. Soon, a thin metal door unfolded and a dim blue light filled her face as she pulled herself inside the craft's dark interior. An arm appeared next to her head and closed the door with a single motion.

"Strap yourself in, air support will be here soon to fry these fuckers," said a voice from the darkness, as the arm pointed towards a rack of seats along the wall of the craft.

"What is this thing?" Sarah asked, somewhat annoyed that she couldn't see whoever she was speaking too. Then, the blue lights brightened somewhat and the cramped interior of the craft became slightly more visible. Cylindrical in shape, the interior was made up of two small rooms. The first was smaller, with a seat facing forwards towards an array of controls and what looked like the colorful, computerized screens of a large aircraft cockpit. Small windows lined the circumference of the wall in the front of the compartment, and through them the drill was visible as it slowly spun clockwise. The rear compartment held two racks of seats on either wall, and Sarah recognized several .50 caliber machine gun ports as well. Pipes, valves, and gauges were interspersed seemingly haphazardly along the walls, floor, and ceiling. Before her, with an arm over the driver's seat, was a man dressed in olive-drab fatigues with a bulky helmet Sarah thought looked like an Air Force helmet. With his other hand, he raised the visor to reveal green eyes looking at her beneath thick, bushy eyebrows.

"This is our last hope," he said, then continued as he turned towards the controls, "I'm Abraham, by the way." He sat down as Sarah moved towards the cockpit.

"I'm Sarah, thanks for the support, Abraham," she replied, as she grabbed the back of his seat with one hand and continued, "but what are you talking about?" Then, the roaches were upon them. She could hear them bashing their talons into the side of the craft, scraping against the metal and searching for any weakness to exploit. Through the cockpit windows she saw them climbing over each other for a better position. Abraham did not seem concerned.

"Watch this," he said, as he pulled a lever which brought the drill to life. It spun with a loud roar as it violently pulled roaches apart, throwing their bodies dozens of feet from the craft. The mob continued unimpeded, throwing themselves into their fate. A sea of black, as more still came over the top of the expanse. He increased throttle to one of the treads, spinning the entire craft around in a massive circle-with the drill destroying everything in its path. The sounds of crunching scales, frustrated chittering, and the mechanical noise of the massive craft made Sarah consider covering her ears.

"Why are there so many this time?" Sarah asked as she grabbed a pipe on the ceiling, bracing herself against the vibrations of the drill.

"Well, maybe they know what this is, or maybe they just don't like me," Abraham replied, with a slight chuckle. Sarah sat down against a console attached to the wall.

"So this is just a big drill for killing roaches? Wouldn't flamethrowers would be better at that?" Sarah questioned, and Abraham turned his head to face her.

"No, this is for the expanse. We're going in," he said, then turned back to the controls before him and continued, "they detected areas where the expanse is hollow, where something gives off a lot of heat-the Russians threw a hydrogen bomb at one and brought down a chunk of the expanse 200 miles wide in Siberia. The area will be irradiated for generations, but the expanse didn't grow back for days. That showed us that whatever is in there controls the expanse somehow," he said.

"Is there a hot spot near here?" Sarah asked, as she watched the roaches through the narrow windows-a few brave ones were trying to attack the drill.

"About thirty miles that way," he said, pointing towards the expanse. He then put his hand to his helmet and mumbled something Sarah could not hear. "You better strap in," Abraham said, as he pointed to a jump seat near the cockpit. Sarah walked over, unfolded the chair from the wall, sat down and strapped herself in. Then, a bright light filled the windows of the cockpit as Abraham lowered his visor and Sarah instinctively turned her face and raised her hand to her eyes. The ground shook, as the roar of dozens of incendiary explosives thundered across the battlefield. The craft rocked violently as Sarah could hear the chittering outside rise in intensity, as if panicked, before diminishing to a faint whisper. She looked back to the cockpit, and through the windows she could see the charred remains of dozens of roaches littering the ground as small fires still burned randomly, pockmarking the battered field.

"Jesus christ, I almost feel bad for them," Abraham spoke as he pressed on the pedals beneath his feet, bringing the engine to life as the craft rumbled towards the expanse. "Hey, get on the .50 in the ceiling and keep them off me," he told Sarah.

"Okay," She replied, and as she turned around she saw a raised platform beneath a small hatch. She lowered the hatch and raised her head into a small, protected enclosure with two massive machine guns looking out through what was clearly very thick glass. It was like a turret from one of the old bombers the Air Force had used over Germany decades before. She positioned herself inside, and spun it around. The expanse was getting closer, and in every other direction lay devastation. She could see the charred hulks of the trucks that had brought her to this place, and she could see that the roaches were still coming over the edge. She raised the guns before her, and pulled the trigger. Her hands shook as the guns recoiled with every shot, and her wrists quickly became sore from the punishment. Tracer fire slammed into the expanse as they came to life, sending roaches tumbling down towards the ground and sending shards of the expanse itself flying in every direction. She could hear chittering on every side as the roaches regrouped after the bombardment, and spun the guns around to face them as fast as the turret would allow. All around her, countless roaches rushed towards them and were closing in despite the punishment from her machine guns. Then, she heard the rumble of the drill intensify dramatically as they neared the expanse. She turned to the expanse, and fired at the roaches descending down its surface in front of the craft. The roaches scattered as she fired the guns. The expanse grew larger and larger, and then, finally, the craft made contact.

The drill slammed into the expanse and Sarah could feel herself being thrown towards the rear of the craft, as chunks of the expanse' reflective surface flew in every direction. She spun the guns around behind them, and as she began to fire her enclosure filled with darkness and she saw the rough surface of the expanse quickly passing overhead. They were inside. The roaches funneled into the opening behind them, as Sarah pounded them with both guns. Other than the opening Abraham had created, the rhythmic flashing of the machine guns was the only light in the darkness. Then, she noticed the opening was shrinking as the expanse repaired itself. They were being sealed inside. As the opening narrowed, the roaches seemed to intensify their pace as they pursued them into the expanse. Then, the last glimmer of daylight disappeared and darkness filled the tunnel. She swept the powerful guns from side to side, and fired at anything that moved as their muzzle flashes filled the tunnel with a faint yellow glow—until she could no longer see signs of life. When she was satisfied they were no longer being pursued, she climbed back into the craft and closed the hatch behind her.

"Are we going fast enough to outrun whatever is repairing the expanse? Because it's happening pretty quickly back there," Sarah asked, as she came back into the cockpit, bracing herself against the pipes and valves running along the interior-the craft shook as it clawed its way through the expanse.

"We should be okay as long as we don't hit anything tougher than the expanse itself. The route I'm following avoids most man-made structures," Abraham answered, but did not avert his gaze from the screens and gauges spread out before him. "The working theory is that the expanse is really just a bunch of self-replicating drones, which align themselves into a formation that extends the expanse outwards while also repairing any damage as they go," he paused, then continued, "but there's not much too them, and the drill just rips them apart." Sarah looked through the windows in front of her, and saw the lights of the craft illuminating the interior of the expanse as the drill tore through layer after layer of it. Sparks flew in every direction as the expanse unwillingly gave way to the powerful drill, and the orange paste that seemed to fill much of the expanse covered many of the windows in the cockpit. She remembered stories, from shortly after the beginning, when people attempted to blast their way inside of the expanse but were never heard from again. Perhaps they were crushed as the expanse closed in on them, reversing what little damage they had been able to do.

Suddenly, the right side of the craft rose sharply, knocking Sarah off balance as she fell into the opposite wall of the cockpit. She grunted as she used an instrument cluster to pull herself back onto her feet, as the craft violently crashed back to level ground.

"Oh, sorry, I think that was a car," Abraham said as he briefly looked towards Sarah, before immediately returning his gaze to the controls in front of him.

"Are we on a highway?" she asked as she took a moment to look around the machine, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"Yeah, this is I-30," he answered, then pointed to a screen to his right and continued,"this is a ground-penetrating sonar display of everything beneath the expanse-we're heading towards this." He moved his finger to a large area clearly highlighted with a different color than everything around it.

"Right, so what exactly do we do when we get there?" she asked, as she felt Abraham maneuver the vehicle sharply to the left, then back to the right.

"We have two-thousand pound bombs on either side, and we're going to attach them to whatever is in there-or worst case, just smash the drill right into it and hope for the best," Abraham said, pointing to the left and right over his shoulders.

"Do we know how many roaches to expect?" she asked, intently focused on the screen Abraham pointed to earlier.

"With what we saw at the edge, it's probably safe to assume they know where we're going," he responded, following the road around a turn by adjusting the throttle to one of the treads, watching his position on the screen. He reached to his left, and hit a switch that caused nozzles at every window to spray a thick solution -slightly clearing them of the orange paste which was beginning to cover them. The craft was making progress, rudely shoving its way through the expanse on what was once a bustling highway in a populated area.

"Are we alone in this? Or are there more of these in other areas pushing through as well?" Sarah asked, wondering if the shortages she experienced in the Army had affected this new approach.

"No, no, there are others-they threw together fifty of these things out of scrap, and this is the biggest offensive we've launched at the roaches in years," Abraham said, then continued, "we're all pushing together, and the plan is to call in air support behind us as we go—to kill whatever roaches we uncover as we bring down the expanse. The rumor is, countries around the world are watching us and will follow suit if it works." As he spoke, he peered through one of the few windows not completely covered in the orange paste of the expanse.

"Why not just send the Air Force over the expanse, and drop the bombs on the hotspots? Especially if they can see where they are without drilling?" Sarah asked, looking at their destination on the screen Abraham had shown her.

"Well, sure, but at last count there was about a million of them, so it will take a coordinated effort between ground and air units-and they also have no idea what is actually in there, so we're going in first to recon what's happening. You've stumbled into the tip of the spear," he responded.

"Maybe they'll build a statue of you one day, Abraham," Sarah said, as she turned back towards the larger room behind them. Abraham chuckled quietly at the thought, as Sarah walked out of the cockpit, bracing herself against a large pipe above her as the massive machine rumbled through the expanse. She walked towards one of the racks along the walls, and sat down. She pulled her bandana down from her face and moved her hand along her vest to a pocket along her ribs, and pulled out the meal ration she had been issued that morning-vegetarian chili.

"Hey Abraham, do you want some chili?" she yelled towards the cockpit, trying to be heard over the cacophony of the engine, the drill, and the crumbling of the expanse in front of them.

"What? No, check under the bench, there should be food-actual food," he shouted back.

She moved her legs apart, and reached down below the rack where she felt a large case, and pulled it out. Opening it, she saw granola and oranges, and pulled out an orange. She pulled her combat knife from her vest and started peeling it-carefully, as she was rocked back and forth by the movement of the drill. It had been a long time since she tasted fresh citrus, as the crops in the south had been covered by the expanse for years. When she was finished, she put her knife back in her vest and pushed the crate back below where she was sitting. As she got up and started walking towards Abraham, he looked over his shoulder towards her. "When we get to this thing—if everything goes to shit, can you handle the guns in the back? I can fire some of the front facing ones from here but nothing behind me. I used a hell of a lot of ammo saving your ass earlier but the belts lead to a reserve below the floor so we should be good on that." He said, and Sarah thought he sounded slightly worried.

"Yeah, that was impressive by the way, especially by yourself. Why did they send you out alone in this anyway?" she asked, as she made it back to the cockpit and looked towards the screen he had shown her earlier-they were almost there.

"I trained with a copilot, but they pulled him to the front somewhere in Ohio, last I heard," Abraham said, then pointed at the screen and continued, "best I can tell we're two minutes away."

"Okay, let's do this," Sarah said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll get on the guns up top again." She turned around, and made her way back towards the platform, opened the hatch, and raised her head back into the enclosure. It was pitch black inside, but she could occasionally see the rough edges of the tunnel above her through the glass-the drill was ripping the expanse apart.

"Thirty seconds to go," Abraham shouted from the cockpit, as Sarah positioned her hands on the guns and turned them towards the front of the craft. She could see a faint light reflecting through the expanse all around them. It was growing brighter.

Then, Sarah could see a crack of sunlight between the ceiling of the tunnel and the drill. She watched as more and more of the craft broke free and into the chamber-they had reached their destination. As her turret emerged from the tunnel, her face was flooded with light and she couldn't help but turn her face, after being in the dark interior of the craft for so long. She squinted her eyes and looked down the sights of the machine guns, rotating them slowly. All around them, she saw roaches covering the ground of the chamber. They had apparently not noticed them, as it looked like they were resting and did not seem alarmed. They looked different, though, and were clearly significantly smaller than the other roaches Sarah had seen, and many did not even have visible talons. The chamber itself was at least two or three hundred feet across, circular in shape, and the expanse towered above it in a dome at least a hundred feet into the air. At its peak, the expanse was thin enough to let in enough sunlight to clearly illuminate the entire chamber. Suddenly, Abraham brought the craft to a screeching halt—so violently that Sarah was thrown into the guns of the turret, but luckily, her helmet took the brunt of the blow.

"Abraham, is something wrong?" she yelled into the cockpit, as she repositioned herself in the turret. "Should I open fire? They're just sitting there," she asked.

"Sarah, eleven o'clock, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Abraham yelled back, and Sarah could tell from his voice he felt uneasy about something. She turned the turret towards the front of the drill, and saw it. A thin, slender, creature at least seventy feet tall. It had the general figure of a human, but it was covered in the same scales as the roaches, and its body seemed too thin to support its height. Its head had large eyes, and the sockets that supported them were sunk deep into its head. It had what looked like a mouth, that sat open as it took deep breaths-its thin chest moving slightly as it did so.

Its limbs moved slowly, as fingers several feet long curled over and were pressed into the controls of some type of large panel in the center of the chamber. The panel was attached to a massive cube, with screens displaying strange shapes and figures. Next to the panel, Sarah recognized a large pile of the pyramidal shapes that make up the expanse-but they appeared different, almost hollow, and did not seem as reflective as the ones she was used to seeing. Then, the creature stretched out its long arm, grasped one of the pyramids with its hand—its fingers slowly curling around it. It lifted it towards its face, and held it there while it arched its back and seemed to be coughing something up. Then, the orange paste that filled the expanse and now covering their craft slowly oozed out of its mouth and into the pyramid in a long, thin stream. Then, still holding it with one hand, it reached down to the controls and with a press of a switch the pyramid rose into the air, as if under its own power, and approached the wall of the chamber. When it reached the wall, the pyramids around it slightly moved position to create an opening for it. The creature then grabbed another pyramid from the pile, and began the process again.

"Uh, yeah, I think I am, Abraham," Sarah said, unsure of what to make of it.

"I'm talking to command—some of the other units encountered these as well. They don't have a name for them yet, but they think these fuckers are controlling the expanse with those consoles. He's the target, and he goes down at all costs, copy?" he yelled from the cockpit, and Sarah could hear several muffled voices crackling over a radio as he spoke.

"Copy that!" she said, as she turned both guns towards the creature and positioned herself behind them so she could clearly see down their sights.

As Abraham brought the machine back to life, thick smoke flew out of it behind Sarah's turret and the whine of a supercharged engine roared across the chamber. Through the sights of her guns, Sarah could see as the being slowly rose from the console it had been staring at. As it did so, it seemed even taller than she first thought. Whatever it was, they had hidden themselves from humanity all this time and she had no idea what to expect. She looked up towards its face, and saw that its eyes were following them. The creature slowly raised its arm from its side, with its hand closed into a fist. Then, it uncurled a long, bony finger towards them and opened its mouth. A chilling, haunting screech flooded the entire chamber and easily drowned out the sound of their craft's engines as it rumbled towards its fate. Without even realizing she had done it, Sarah's hands were covering her ears, but she turned back towards her guns and grabbed onto them. All around them, the roaches were coming to life. The ground itself seemed to move, as they stood and ran towards them.

As they did, Sarah noticed that beneath the roaches, lay the same pyramidal shapes that made up the expanse-the same pyramids the creature had filled with paste from within its ghostly frame. These pyramids were broken, though, and their shattered remains and some of the orange paste littered the ground where the roaches had just been resting. Were they, perhaps, actually eggs that unleashed the roaches upon the world they also now covered? Perhaps that would explain why the roaches in this chamber seemed small and underdeveloped-they were actually children. Sarah pushed those thoughts aside as she heard Abraham unleash the guns in the front of the craft upon everything in the chamber-the roaches, the being, the console, and the expanse itself. She turned towards a group of roaches and pulled both triggers, and her guns roared to life. Round after round flew out of the turret, and Sarah could see empty shell casings flying away from the turret out of the corner of her eye. She watched as her tracer fire flew into the roaches, turning the turret frequently to protect every angle of their craft as Abraham drove further into the chamber.. The ground shook, and she turned her turret to see that the creature had begun a slow but steady stride towards them. Its massive feet crushed dozens of roaches with every step, but it didn't seem to care. She felt Abraham turn towards it, and heard as he began to power up the drill. She watched as he focused the guns positioned around the drill at the being, and opened fire. As the rounds hit its slender body, it brought its arms up to its chest. Thick, black blood seeped through its fingers, and some of the orange paste fell out of it as well. It lowered its head, looked at its wounds then raised its head towards the drill, and tightened its eyes as if to focus. As they approached, it brought both hands into the air and towered above their tiny craft-it could easily have touched the top of the expanse.

"He's going to hit us!" Sarah cried out in panic, as she raised her guns as high as they would go. The servos of the turret moaned as she tried to aim high, towards its head. It brought its hands into fists, and flung both of them down towards their small craft. Sarah spun her sights towards its left arm, and squeezed the trigger, as Abraham turned the craft away and increased the throttle. She could see her tracers hitting the beast between the blinding light of the muzzle flashes, and was relieved when the creature pulled its arm away and grasped it with the long, bony fingers of its other hand. It brought its head up, and stared directly at Sarah. There was no mistaking it. He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, ignoring everything else going on in the chamber. Then, it curved its back, lowering its massive frame, and let out a low growl-its eyes still locked on Sarah. She felt a chill go down her spine as she locked eyes with it, and she began to feel incredibly vulnerable in the turret.

"Hang on to something! I'm going to ram the bastard in the legs," Abraham yelled from the cockpit. Sarah braced herself with one hand against the inside of the turret, as she held on to one of the guns with the other, and opened fire towards the creature as close to its face as she could manage-hitting it in the shoulder several times. In response, it let out a horrifying roar that seemed to even startle the roaches around it. Sarah could see black blood trails leading down both of its arms, and down its chest from multiple bullet wounds. As it moved its hands, blood flew from its bony fingers all around the chamber. Abraham turned their small craft towards the frustrated, exasperated, and bloody beast and Sarah could feel the turret shudder as he increased throttle. She felt her breathing increase as they drew closer towards it, and she watched, horrified, as the desperate creature rushed towards them. She turned her guns towards its legs as it ran towards them, and opened fire, striking both several times. The beast stumbled, but quickly found its footing and continued.

"I'll try bringing it down! keep going Abraham!" Sarah shouted down to her comrade, without looking away from her sights or ease off from her trigger for even a second. The creature and their craft were on a collision course. Sarah's powerful guns ravaged its flesh, but it didn't seem to even phase it anymore. With every stride, its wounded legs shook under the immense weight of the beast as it lurched forward, but it was determined. Perhaps it had accepted its fate, and was now only trying to bring them to whatever afterlife it believed in along with it. Soon, Sarah could see that her guns had stripped away much of the flesh from its legs and she could see what looked like bone chips flying at every impact of her rounds. Still, the beast would not fall and propelled itself towards her with whatever life remained in its battered body. Then, as the beast towered over them, it raised both hands into a massive fist high above Sarah as she lowered herself in the turret-both in an attempt to raise her guns high above the craft towards the beast, and to also lower herself back into the relative safety of the craft-and then slammed its fist into the turret with all its might. The turret shattered and glass was thrown into Sarah's face, as the force of the blow threw her down into the craft. She landed on her back, hard, and her head was flung backwards into the metallic floor. Dazed, she turned towards Abraham as she felt blood trickling down her face.

"Abraham! He took out the turret!" she screamed, as she raised her sleeve to her face to wipe blood out of her eyes. When she pulled her arm from her face, she could see glass shards in the fabric of her hoodie as well as quite a lot of her own blood.

"Damnit! It keeps moving, I can't turn fast enough to hit it with the drill," Abraham shouted back at her, and she could tell he was beginning to get worried from his voice.

Then, she saw something out of the corner of her eye which startled her. She spun around onto her back and there, right in front of her, was one of the beast's bloody fingers. Thick blood dripped down the bony appendage on every side, and was pooling on the floor of the craft between her legs. She staggered away from it, as the finger curled furiously as if trying to grab her. The beast spun the finger around, scraping it against the broken glass of the turret, which tore deep gashes into it-undeterred, the beast continued its furious search for Sarah as she tried to stay as low as possible to avoid it. It passed close to her head, throwing black blood into her face as it missed her by only a few inches. She looked towards Abraham, careful not to raise her head from the floor.

"It's trying to fucking grab me!" Sarah yelled, as she slowly moved her hand across her chest towards her knife. There was still some orange peel stuck to it.

"Fuck! I can't move, he's holding us in place!" he shouted from the cockpit, and Sarah could hear the massive engines straining against the impressive strength of this creature. She watched the finger, as the creature violently spun it around the cabin. Right after he passed over her head, she flung her arm towards it and plunged the knife deep into it. She felt the knife hit bone, then twisted her blade as they had shown her in training. The finger immediately straightened, and flew out of the cab so quickly the knife was ripped from her hands and went with it. Sarah could hear the beast's enraged shrieking, as well as the thud of its massive arms as it pummeled the top of the vehicle perhaps out of frustration. The ceiling caved in slightly with every blow.

"You're clear," she said, as she looked through the opening which was once her turret-she could see the massive creature towering over them, it was flailing wildly as it continued to pummel their small vehicle. Then, she felt Abraham turn sharply and was thrown towards the rear of the vehicle as the machine lurched forward at full throttle. The sound of the drill was much louder with the hole in the ceiling, and Sarah could hear it roar, even with the wails of the beast. Then, she heard the horrifying sound of the drill carving into flesh and bone, and felt the entire craft vibrate violently. The creature's wailing increased in pitch as it endured the agony that had befallen it, then Sarah felt the craft lurch forward as though a great obstacle had been cleared from its path. She heard a loud, dull thud and felt a slight tremor.

"Ha! Got him!" Abraham yelled from the cockpit—he had hit true. "He's on the ground," he said as he turned towards Sarah, then continued, "get on one of the other guns back there, just open the hatch and it'll swing out. I'll come around again and can hit him with the guns up here, too."

"Roger that," Sarah replied, as she moved towards a gun port along the wall. She undid the latch, and the hatch dropped open as a powerful .50 machine gun came down from the ceiling on a rail. She grabbed the gun, and positioned it within the hatch-crouching behind, she took aim. She soon found the beast. It was lying on its side and she could see that one if its legs was completely mangled. It appeared to be trying to crawl towards the console in the middle of the room. Perhaps it would try using the expanse to protect it, by forming a wall in a futile attempt to stop them. Then, it saw her. It again stared her down, and she returned its hateful gaze with her own-through the sights of her machine gun. She aimed the rifle at its forehead, and adjusted her aim as the vehicle rumbled over the uneven ground. Its dark, empty eyes followed her every movement, and its mouth snarled in rage. She squeezed the trigger, and the machine gun burst into action-firing dozens of rounds at the fallen beast. Its head was thrown backwards as she hit her target, and the beast fell onto its back. Its body shook as it fought its fate, then lay still. It was finally dead; they had done it.

"Well done, private, now there's only about a million of those assholes left," Abraham said, as he turned their battered vehicle towards the center of the chamber and the console that brought them there in the first place.

"One at a time, Sir, and we'll have those statues in no time," Sarah replied, as she pushed the machine gun back into the ceiling and stowed it in place, then closed the hatch. She could hear Abraham laughing from the cockpit as she made her way towards him. As she passed under the gaping hole in the ceiling, she looked up and noticed that the top of the dome looked dramatically darker than it had before. She pulled her arm up from her side and looked at her watch; it wasn't even noon. She looked back to the top of the dome, and saw that the expanse was collapsing-piece by piece at first, then large chunks came crashing down towards the ground hundreds of feet below. Then, she heard the chittering she had come to fear. The roaches. They flooded in from the top of the dome, as if from a great waterfall. They hit the ground and spread out in every direction in a massive wave, and didn't seem phased by the fall at all. These were not children, and they were quickly closing in.

"Abraham! There's thousands of them!" She screamed, as she ran into the cockpit and grabbed the back of his seat.

"We're almost at the console, we just need to drop the bombs and get the hell out of here. I'll set the timer for three minutes and go back into the expanse before it detonates," he said, as he slammed his foot into the pedal and the craft lurched forward. Sarah ran back towards the gun ports in the back, when suddenly she felt the roaches reach them. They slammed into the already battered vehicle like waves onto a beach, and Sarah could hear their talons scraping against the outside. Then, she saw the grisly, horrifying face of a roach come down through the opening in the ceiling. It looked around the cab, and when it saw Sarah its mouth opened slowly and it let out a cackle as though it was excited. As it began to climb inside, Sarah reached for her pistol and pulled it from her side. She raised it towards the roach as it was almost completely inside, and fired four shots at it. The animal shook in pain, then fell inside the cabin in a heap.

"Use the shotgun! In a silver crate below the bench!" Abraham yelled from the cockpit, as he drove towards the console. Sarah turned to her right, and saw the crate. She dove towards it, pulled it from under the seat and threw it open. Inside was a SPAS-12 pump-action shotgun. She grabbed it, loaded it with shells, and held it towards the opening as she felt her breathing quicken dramatically and tried to calm herself. Then, a talon came through the opening, and she fired, then quickly reloaded another shell and fired again as the roach retreated. Then, she felt the vehicle come to an abrupt stop, and she quickly grabbed the bench to stop herself from falling, and very nearly dropped the shotgun.

"Sarah, get on the .50 again and cover us while I set the timer!" Abraham yelled back from the cockpit, as Sarah turned towards the hatch she had used earlier. She threw it open so violently the machine gun almost hit her in the back of the head as it came down the railings. She shoved it through the open hatch, squatted behind it, and fired into the sea of black she saw before her. She saw their snarling faces through the sights of the gun, and the flashes of the muzzle illuminated them, making the hatred in their eyes undeniably clear. She could see the console, with roaches climbing all over it as though they were bees protecting their honey.

"We don't have time, just fucking drop it!" she yelled at Abraham, as she frantically switched from target to target. Then, she heard the sound of a roach on the ceiling of the craft. She spun around, grabbed the shotgun from the floor, and turned to the opening just as the roach lowered itself into the craft behind Abraham. It raised its talons as Sarah aimed down the sights and squeezed the trigger. The blast knocked the roach into Abraham's seat, and it grunted as its body went limp.

"Jesus Christ!" he shouted, as he spun around and saw the roach. "All right, we'll only use one," he said, reaching for a lever to his right, then continued, "dropping it in 3, 2, 1, now." Sarah dropped the shotgun as she heard the bomb land on the ground with a loud thud, and quickly moved back to the machine gun, and opened fire on the roaches. She saw the bomb rolling towards the console, and felt Abraham bring the engines back to life and increase the throttle. She stowed the gun, and slammed the hatch shut. Then, she heard a roach slam into the side of the craft, and scrape its talons against the sheet-metal as it tried to gain a foothold. Sarah could hear it clamor up the side, and spun around to grab the shotgun. When she turned back around she saw the roach. It's head and one of its talons were sticking through the hole in the ceiling. But as Sarah raised the gun towards its face its entire body was ripped away at the shoulders and the head fell inside, rolling towards her feet. The cabin filled with darkness. They had entered the expanse. Sarah kicked the head away and put the shotgun down on the bench, before moving back towards Abraham.

She moved into the cockpit and strapped herself into the jump seat. Then, she heard the thundering blast of the massive bomb they had left, followed by a low rumble as the the shock wave flew outwards. Through the opening in the ceiling, and the windows of the cockpit, she could see an intense light even through the expanse. As the light faded, all around them, the expanse began to disintegrate. At first, she could hear individual pyramids breaking apart, but then soon, massive sections tumbled towards the ground and the sound of glass shattering was deafening. Soon, the bright glare of the mid-day sun began to fill their tunnel as the expanse collapsed above them. Abraham brought the vehicle to a gradual stop, as the walls of the tunnel he was creating fell away from them. Then, the ceiling of the tunnel fell onto their vehicle, and broke into individual pieces before sliding onto the ground. Sarah ran to the opening, and saw only the blue sky above them. She climbed out onto the battered roof of the vehicle, and she watched the expanse fall before her eyes. All the way to the horizon and beyond, the once impenetrable wall was crumbling as thought it were a house of cards in a strong breeze. Cars, buildings, and other signs of humanity were visible all around them-freed from the prison that had encased them for so long. They had done it. She turned and saw Abraham climbing through the opening to meet her. He pulled himself out onto the ceiling, took off his flight helmet and ran his hand through his thick black hair.

"It's working all across the front-command just confirmed it, they're losing ground faster than they can repair it. Air Force is en route to mop up whatever is left back there, too," Abraham said, looking out towards the horizon as the expanse continued to recede.

"And here I thought today would just be another routine day," Sarah said, as she took off her helmet, lowered it to her side, and wiped the sweat and dried blood from her face with her bandana.

"Well, don't get too comfortable, there's another hotspot thirty miles east of here, and we do still have the other bomb," Abraham said, pointing towards their next target, with a grin on his face.

As she looked out towards the horizon, she could see that the expanse had finally stopped receding. The thin strip of its new edge was barely visible. "Let's do it," she said.

THE END

Bio: Andrew has published a handful of articles online, but this is his first short story. He has always enjoyed writing and would like to continue writing science fiction— he has a few ideas already. In the past, he worked as a technical writer in the healthcare industry but currently works in retail. He lives near Philadelphia with his cat, Bingas.

E-mail: Andrew Flavahan

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