_ _ _3rd Person Pov_ _ _
The ground was shaking, as tanks, heavy artillery and lines of armed infantry moved frantically from place to place while setting up what defensible fortifications they could. Sand bags were stacked up, anti-air guns were frantically moved into position, ditches and several gun emplacements were dug out, non combat vehicles were even being used to create makeshift barricades.
Above the heads of the men and women on the ground were various aircraft like attack choppers and troop transports, there weren't many of them mind you but every little bit counted. Some of these aircraft had landed to reserve fuel for what was to come, all the while the military were using satellites and drones to scout the coming horde
There were thousands of people here, however everyone knew it wouldn't be enough, everyone knew this was just an attempt to stall for time. The creature's heading their way outnumbered them probably around ten to one, maybe more to be honest. They had all been gathered here from nearby military bases or outposts, there were even some police officers from nearby towns and villages that had been conscripted into this mess.
In the end however, they had all just been placed in the predicted path of the swarm of mutants and ordered to hold the lines for as long as possible. More reinforcements were on the way mind you, unfortunately though, no one actually believed or expected them to get here before the fighting started.
They had set up in the most defensible position they could, on a cliff side overlooking a long stretch of open field where the creatures were predicted to pass through. The high elevation would hopefully stop the ground mutants from reaching them but it wouldn't really do all that much to stop the main issue they were facing, the flyers. Thankfully they had been given several dozen anti-air guns but considering the numbers that they would be up against...well, no one was really all that optimistic to say the least.
Anyway, soon reports began coming in confirming that the horde was approaching and would soon come into view. At that the command was given for all personnel to get to their positions, a fact that quickly caused everyone to get moving. The aircraft on the ground took off as the artillery began to open fire, with the help given from the drones and satellites they started launching their explosive shells at something far be on the horizon.
Minutes passed with all that could be heard being the booming of artillery fire, the soldiers could only sit and wait as reports came in that the bombardment was having minimal effect. Time stretched on for what felt like an eternity until it happened, they came into view.
The first thing anyone noticed was a steadily increasing number of black dots filling the horizon, dots that quickly turned into a massive, constantly shifting black cloud. It wasn't any ordinary cloud however, oh no, it was a cloud that was made up of thousands upon thousands of giant nightmarish wasps.
As the cloud grew closer the soldiers began to hear a sound that sent shivers down their spines, a sound that would make any entomophobe collapse in terror. It was a chorus, a horrible twisted song of sorts, a mixture of buzzing and what sounded like the clicking of mandibles that could be heard for miles around. It had started as a low hum at first but rapidly grew to near deafening levels as the cloud of insectoid bodies approached at alarming speed.
The wasps weren't alone either, dozens of mutant birds and bats flew along with them, each more savage looking than the last. And all the while the massive silhouette, the one hidden within the swarm of writhing bodies, advanced forward without pause.
As for the creatures on the ground, well, they were far harder to see considering the terrain but they did slowly come into view over time, moving over the landscape like a ravenous tide with only one goal in mind. Some of them had been injured or killed by the artillery fire that still rained down on top of them, although those that had only been injured by the shelling still continued to advance despite their wounds. Funnily enough however, the artillery fire was actually killing more of the flyers than anything else, after all there were so many wasps that the shells were colliding with the giant insects in question before they could reach those on the ground.
For a moment the air seemed to stand still as the army of horrifying creatures steadily approached but finally, when they were in range, the order was given for everyone to open fire on the horde with everything they had. Tanks boomed to life, machine guns flared, anti air fire lit up the sky and the ground erupted as some of the creatures stepped on hidden landmines.
The main target of course were the flyers, they were by far the biggest threat in the end, this was mainly because of their sheer numbers but also because of their speed and how they could ignore what little terrain advantage the soldiers had currently. Bullets flew through the air tearing through their transparent wings as well as their exoskeletons, some of the giant mutated bats and birds were hit as well mind you but their much larger size made it easier for them to shrug off the damage.
Hundreds of wasps were being torn from the sky by antiairfire, the mutants' bullet ridden bodies falling from above in droves. The choppers and other aircraft fired missiles and whatever else they could into the swarm while making sure to keep their distance, after all the aircraft would most definitely be torn apart if they got too close to the swarm in question.
As the soldiers continued to fire they watched as the swarm bent and twisted in the air, almost like a flock of panicking birds in a way, in fact it almost seemed as if they were pulling back somewhat. For a moment the soldiers on the ground were filled with the slightest amount of hope, a belief that they might just survive this, that even if the horde couldn't be wiped out in its entirety, it at the very least could be scared off. Unfortunately for them however, reality was often cruel and unforgiving.
It was then that it happened, a loud screech filled the air, a screech that came from the silhouette in the center of the swarm. For a moment nothing happened, the wasps simply hovered there, seemingly frozen in place, at least until they shot forward. Dozens upon dozens of smaller groups split from the main swarm, they flew around the gunfire, avoiding the deadly streams of bullets with surprising precision.
Some of them were gunned down mind you, their bodies adding to the growing piles that were slowly building up on the ground beneath them but the soldiers below couldn't stop them all. More and more just kept coming, and they seemed to be learning as their kin were shot down around them. With surprising intelligence they split up and spread out, something that only served to divide the humans' gun fire even more creating an opening, an opening that the giant horrifying insects used to close the distance.
And so the insects began a vicious counterattack, some landed on the ground while others stayed up in the air where they swooped down and attacked from above. Screams quickly filled the battlefield as men and women were ripped apart by mandibles or injected with a horrific cocktail of various venomous fluids, fluids that not only paralyzed the victim in question but also caused extreme agonizing pain, hallucinations, confusion, uncontrolled vomiting, and even more gruesome afflictions like bleeding from the eyes and other orifices as well as rapid necrosis.
It, of course, wasn't just the wasps they had to deal with, the massive mutant bats and birds had also joined in as well. The two groups of larger mutants had a much easier time in their descent when compared to the smaller entities buzzing around them, mainly because of their ability to tank most of the damage they were being hit with.
The bats released high pitch sound waves that ruptured organs and burst blood vessels, they also attacked with their tooth filled maws, a fact that was problematic considering the anticoagulant in their saliva. In the end those that somehow survived getting brutally mauled by the bats in question quickly found that it was impossible to actually stop the bleeding, something that quickly led to those wounded individuals dying from blood loss.
As for the birds, well, they mainly focused on flying towards the various aircraft still hovering in the sky above. The aircraft were too slow to get out of the way and were quickly forced into a head to head dog fight with the mutants, unfortunately this was not even close to being a good thing for them. It wasn't long at all before several of the choppers were ripped from the air and sent plummeting down to the ground before exploding into fiery wreckage.
To their credit however, the soldiers continued to fight while pulling back to whatever positions they could. Even as several of their outer guns went silent, even as their fellows were practically eaten alive around them, most continued to fight, to hold the lines. Of course this was mostly because they had pretty much no possible way of escape considering they were practically surrounded at this point, however it was still impressive all the same.
They fought the creatures as best they could, using every means possible to slow them down. They used machine gunfire to rip holes into them and tossed grenades into the crowd of the creatures when possible. They blasted the larger creatures with anti tank shells, used various heavy ordinances like rocket launches or armour piercing sniper rifles. They even set off various explosive devices when their positions were overrun, killing any creatures nearby.
Things quickly escalated even further however, when the battle was momentarily silenced by what appeared to be a military transport van that was suddenly sent hurling through the air before smashing directly down on top of a group of unfortunate soldiers. The landbound mutants had finally arrived and were about to make things even harder for the tiny humans running around their feet.
Before this point the military's vehicles were doing pretty well all things considered, they were one of the main reasons the humans hadn't been completely over run by this point. Simply put, the wasps and other flyers weren't able to penetrate, or do much at all for that matter, against their hard metal frames. Unfortunately, no matter how heavily armored a tank may be, it is not going to stay intact when a snapping turtle weighing several hundred tons decides to step on it.
That didn't stop the humans from firing everything they could at the larger ground creatures in hopes of forcing them back the best that they could. Unfortunately however, their efforts were not having much of an effect, all things considered really that is, in fact when one of the artillery guns was turned slightly so that it could fire at the behemoth of a lobster things shockingly didn't go as expected. The shell that was fired from the gun in question hit the lobster dead on, slamming into the side of its central body, surprisingly though the following explosion only left small cracks along its outer carapace.
The final threads of hope the humans had was sadly broken soon after this, mostly because of a rather grim realisation. It turned out that most of the wasps they had torn from the sky with their streams of bullets hadn't actually died.
Some of them were very much dead of course but most were still alive, they were heavily wounded mind you but were still very much breathing and capable of locomotion to varying extents. They had already begun regenerating and crawling towards the human lines, with their focus elsewhere the soldiers were taken by surprise when those that they had thought were dead began attacking their outer defences.
After that, well, everything went as you would probably expect things to go when considering the circumstances. Their positions were soon overwhelmed and overrun one after the other, those that tried to hold on and stand their ground against the horde were quickly ripped apart and devoured without mercy. The last bits of video footage being broadcasted back to the command centre were chaotic, filled with frantic screaming alongside the familiar sound of panicked gun fire as soldiers were slaughtered and hunted as they tried to flee. Simply put, they had been completely annihilated.