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the ship, through the chainlink, Allan could see an immense figure in black walking slowly towards the comms tower. Someone inside was firing. The figure was holding someone.
    Allan rose to his feet and began sprinting. He bounded out the ship and down the ramp, then barreled across the wasteland towards the fence. The dark-armored figure held whoever it was holding high over its head, then threw it directly into the comms tower, towards the source of the gunfire. There was the sound of shattering glass.
    “ Don't fucking move !” Allan screamed as he shoved through the gate.
    The figure stopped and turned to face him slowly. The gunfire fell away.
    “Kill him!” That was Bell. “He fucking killed Corporal Mitchell!”
    Allan stopped, momentarily frozen, as he finally caught full sight of the figure. The suited figure easily reached eight feet in height and its bulky frame seemed immense. It looked like it could bench press a warehouse.
    The moment that seemed to stretch out to encompass more than a mere few seconds finally passed as gunfire erupted again. A spray of bullets smashed into the figure's broad chest and did nothing but richochet off, the dead bullets burying themselves in the ground and walls of the surrounding buildings. The dark-clad figure turned, walked over to the window it had thrown the body through and reached up. Gripping the ledge, it hauled itself easily and quickly up into the room at the base of the tower. Allan snapped out of his stupor once more.
    Was he really more fucked up than he thought he was? Allan wondered how he could let himself keep getting frozen like this. One of his crew was already likely dead and now the rest of them were in serious danger. More gunfire and now screaming came from inside the comms tower. As Allan ran around to the entrance, he spied movement overhead: Carter. No time for him now. Allan moved towards the open door, up a few stairs, and then grunted as someone smashed into him. He fell back, flat on his ass.
    “ Get out of the way !” It was Lucy and she sounded blind with terror.
    Allan heard a thick, wet snap and a muffled scream, then nothing. He scrambled to his feet and ran into the room, gun at ready. Bell was being held aloft by the armored figure. It suspended him, gripping him by the neck, with one arm, holding him up as easily as if he were weightless. Allan aimed for the head, specifically for the faceplate.
    “Drop him!” he snapped, more out of habit than anything else.
    The helmet turned towards him. Allan gaped as he realized that his plan to take this juggernaut down was utterly going to fail. When faced with someone wearing power armor, he either took him down with armor-piercers, which he didn't have, or, more generally, shot them through the glass visor set over their face.
    This helmet had no such visor. In fact, as far as Allan could tell, there was no way for whoever was inside to see out.
    The giant figure began walking towards him, dropping Bell with a heavy thud. Allan squeezed the trigger, flipping the switch to full auto almost without thinking about it. He aimed directly for the featureless, black helmet, his finger glued to the trigger. The rifle rattled as it spat a barrage of lead directly into the flat metal armor. Every single bullet pinged off, several of them ricocheting back into Allan's own armor.
    His gun emptied of ammo and a loud, repetitive click, click, click filled the dead air of the ruined comms tower as the killer approached relentlessly. Allan couldn't stop staring up at that the immense figure, the featureless black helmet. It seemed to fill his vision. As it came within reaching distant, the figure's fist shot out and smashed directly into Allan's chestplate. He heard something crack as he was picked up and thrown back out of the room.
    Allan grunted as he landed on his back a second time, the breath driven from his lungs. He stared up into the open doorway, which was filled with the immense frame of the killer.