20061802
4)It's Always Darkest Just Before it's Pitch Black
*Zzzzow Zzzzow* Bright blue lightning slugs whiz by my head, impacting stalkers' chests or heads as I cut others down in a semi-circle to my front. To put it kindly, a stalker is a panther with the face of a piranha and spikes coming out of just about anywhere they'd be inconvienient for an attacker. They can grip any surface, in defiance of gravity, and can jump like a kangaroo. Add skin like that of a crocodile, but thicker by far, and you've basically got a stalker. Now take all those animals and burn them alive- that's the sounds and the smells you get from the beasts.

I wield my nodachi with the ease of katana to a samurai. Yet the increased weight of the weapon, coupled with my augmented strength, allows me to cut clean through the thick hide. The longer reach and the suit targeting system gives me the edge I need to not get swarmed by dozens of the things. The wide blade flickers with light, though none is cast upon it. *Shhiiik* A head here *Shhiiik* a leg or two there. Sometimes I can cut them in half if I can get the angle right. They jump or sprint toward me, from above and left and right, uncaring that I have just cut down dozens before them. I'd assume they err in ignorance rather than bravery. Due to tunnel collapses and wrecked train cars, they could avoid the heavy defense systems around our base. And now that we are out here, they have plenty of places to surprise me from.

*Zzzow*"Why don't you shoot a little closer to me, Dahvid? They're not registering as hits to my suit yet."
I jibe him as he saves me from a heavier beating than I'm already taking. My smirk is knocked off my face as I get hit with the force of a line-backer from behind. A man would be snapped in half by the least of their attacks. With the armor, even a big stalker isn't much of a threat.

"How about you take your skirt off and start using a gun?" He says as the weight on my back is alleviated as he blasts the creature off, "Then maybe you wouldn't be getting your ass kicked."

"Oh," I say as I take out my gun, "Are you insinuating I am a girl? Last I remember, Areal beat you sensless the last time you sparred."
Chik-chik The pump action is a resistance primer, that makes each shot more powerful. I wait until two are in the air, dangerously close to me, to discharge the energy. *Bzzzewt* With a bright yellow flash, the magnetic field-charge tears through their skin and launches them away from the muzzle and away from me. *Chik-chik**Bzzzewt*

"I let her win," he says as he walks toward me, still firing. *Zow Zow*
"Is that why she had you on the ground, with you begging to be let up?"
*Zzzow**Bzzzewt* The last stalker fell as Dahvid strode up to stand next to me. I put my gun against my shoulder pointing to the sky, and face him with a smirk I know he can feel.
"That's bull, dude."
"Whatever..." I say, as I walk toward the ledge of a plateau that is the end of our perimeter. I jump down, not picking anything up on my scanners, hoping there won't be a "friendly" welcome. I laugh as he jumps down after me.