They had been pinned down for 6 hours, taking heavy fire from the
enemy artillery. Since the left flank fell two days ago their position
had been shaky. Now it was lethal.
The cultists had pushed hard in this sector and it was up to the 27th Platoon’s 4th
Infantry Squad to push back. They had lost their fire support, they’d
lost their armoured support and their command squad had been reduced to
one man. Out of the three platoons positioned to cover this compound,
only 11 men remained.
With a chorus of praise to their vile gods, the cultists broke from the tree line and charged the open ground toward the 4th‘s
trench. Levelling their laspistols and firing countless shots the
cultists ran headlong into the minefield ahead. Though at least one
fifth of their number were liquidated by the plasma mines, they carried
on heedless. Sense and logic suppressed by the burning desire to fulfil
their god’s demands. The guardsmen must fall.
As the Sergeant bellowed orders to retreat the first of the
chaos followers fell upon them. With a deft slash of his chainsword the
Sergeant sliced the fiend in two. Falling back through the network of
trenches the guardsmen provided covering fire for each other, hoping to
make it to the battle bunker at the rear of their lines before it was
too late.
They rounded a corner into the temporary infirmary to be
confronted by the most terrifying sight. They stood agog as the
recumbent form of their dying Primaris Psyker twisted and contorted
into a horrific Khornate demon. The last of the guards blundered into
the infirmary before the others could come to their senses and issue a
warning.
The Bloodletter rose to it’s feet, snarling horrifically,
running it’s claw along the length of it’s enormous sword. The cultists
shambled in behind the guardsmen, blocking off all hope of escape and
survival.
With a silent prayer to the Emperor, the Sergeant stepped
forward from his men, issuing the unspoken challenge to the beast. The
demon reared back its head, howled with unrestrained blood lust and
charged the brave guardsmen. As the creature’s blade arced down the
Sergeant raised his chainsword in an attempt to parry the blow. The
demonic weapon sliced straight through the sword and the Sergeant with
fearsome ease. Before the two halves of the stricken Sergeants body had
even hit the ground the Bloodletter had eviscerated two more and the
cultists pressed forward, pushing the doomed guardsmen as an offering.
In a matter of moments the 4th were no more than
body parts and the cultists, now led by the demonic swordsman, swept on
having obliterated the first line of resistance.