“Direct hit on the Fourteen,” Sergeant Sanchez shouted from his position perched on the APC.

  “Good. I can’t imagine what would have happened if that thing hit our lines before the armor arrived,” Commander Anderson grumbled. He could barely think with the massive migraine that had been developing over the last hour, probably due to the fact that his heavy machine gun and artillery teams had been firing nonstop since they arrived. It’s not like he could ask them to stop or walk away from the front; their job was just too important for that.

  Montreal was under siege, and for the last few hours his little PMC, the Black Lions, had been holding this section of the perimeter against the Antithesis. He’d been told the samurai were building a wall so massive that it could repel the entire horde. It would only take a couple of days to complete, but they needed everyone to buy them time for it to finish.

  When his team had been assigned this position, he’d been told this was a relatively safe zone and they wouldn’t even need samurai backup.

  The little strategic display table, which showed a map of the surrounding area, pinged as another blob of red dots representing an Antithesis swarm entered sensor range.

  “Safe zone my ass,” he muttered. “Sanchez, new horde to the northwest. Identify the heaviest models, and direct the artillery.”

  “Yes, sir!” the man yelled, his reply barely audible over the surrounding gunfire.

  Anderson rubbed his temple and pulled up the latest status reports from the field teams. After three hours of constant fighting, his team was not only starting to feel fatigued but run low on ammunition. This wasn’t what he’d been promised.

  “Taylor, any word on our reinforcements? I thought we were supposed to receive armor support an hour ago!” he yelled to his second in command.

  “I’m trying to get verification, but I’m getting the runaround! The group that was supposed to support us had to be rerouted to a breach, and every time someone else becomes available, they immediately have to be redirected to deal with an emergency,” the woman screamed over the gunfire.

  “Well, we need something. Neither our men nor ammo can hold out much longer!”

  As if made manifest by his words, the artillery group behind them went silent. A runner came sprinting out of the fortified position, heading right for where they were standing.

  “What’s happening, soldier? I thought we still had enough ammo for at least another half an hour.” Anderson snapped.

  “Sir! The last two pallets of ammunition have been damaged! We don’t know if it happened in transit or if they were sabotaged. If we fire it, there’s a good chance we’ll damage the artillery,” the young man reported.

  “Fuck! We just detected another swarm entering the area. The machine guns won’t be able to hold against that many weeds!” Anderson shouted. “Taylor, give me the radio!”

  The woman quickly lugged the combat comm unit over and passed him the receiver. She fiddled with the controls for a couple seconds before giving him the thumbs-up.

  “This is Commander Ellis Anderson of the Black Lions at defensive position seventy-eight,” he yelled into the radio. “Due to the repeated delays in receiving reinforcements, our artillery position has run dry. We will not be able to hold without immediate backup! Please respond.”

  The radio sputtered, going silent for several seconds before a surprisingly clear signal. “Message received and understood. Reinforcements inbound, standby for bear support, comrade.”

  Anderson pulled the receiver away from his head and looked at it for a second. “Do you mean air support?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “No.”

  The sky burst open, floodlights sweeping the area as a massive airship emerged from the city. As it passed over their position, the turret on the front of the ship fired with a massive boom. The rounds smashed into the oncoming swarms, throwing smaller models into the air and forcing the street to buckle with the force. The Antithesis just continued to charge forward, unbothered by the losses.

  The damage was helpful, but it wasn’t going to be enough.

  “All troops to the line! I need every man, woman, and child ready to fight, or we might get overwhelmed here!” Anderson screamed over the gunfire. Everyone rushed forward, taking up positions along the sandbag and barbed wire barrier.

  They only had seconds to set up before the first Antithesis burst out of the nearby rubble and rushed the line. The HMGs instantly opened up, mercilessly cutting down the front runners. At first it seemed like they’d hold, but then the main horde exploded out of cover and flooded into the open. It quickly became apparent that the HMGs wouldn’t be able to keep up, and even with the infantry helping, they couldn’t kill the Antithesis fast enough. The aliens were slowly gaining ground, a meter at a time.

  While this was happening, the massive airship finally cleared their lines and moved out across the combat zone. As it entered the dead zone between the trenches and the Antithesis, a series of pods exploded away from the ship’s undercarriage. These boxes streaked downward, slamming into the street, and in some cases the Antithesis.

  “What the fuck are they doing?” Taylor yelled. “They’re blocking our lines of fire!”

  “Who the hell is that anyways?” Sanchez added. “Samurai?”

  “If it’s a samurai, it’s not one that I recognize,” Anderson growled. “Don’t stop firing!”

  The pods burst open, disgorging dozens of tiny plush figures in combat armor, carrying assault rifles. The teddy bears shredded the nearest aliens with extreme efficiency before forming a loose combat line. Behind them, some slightly larger plush figures, each looking like a moose, trundled out of the pods. Half of these moose brought what appeared to be the equivalent of man-portable heavy machine guns, spraying down the Antithesis line. The other half had massive cannons that blew holes directly through the Twelves and Fourteens rushing forward.

  The entire Black Lion line fell silent, staring at the odd sight in front of them.

  “Definitely samurai,” Taylor finally said.

  Several of the small bears set about grabbing small poles out of the pods, then setting them up behind the front line. Once they were done, the bears retreated as one, and as soon as they passed the poles, a laser grid erupted between them. Any Antithesis that reached this grid literally fell to pieces.

  “Which one? I’ve never heard of a samurai that fights with stuffed animals,” Sanchez muttered. “They can’t be local.”

  “It doesn't matter if they’re local. They’re buying us time,” Anderson snapped. “Taylor, get on the line and find us supplies. I don’t care where you find them. Just get them here before the samurai needs to back off.”

  The woman sprinted over to the discarded radio, snapping it up and madly pressing buttons, trying to get through to command.

  Everyone was quiet as they watched the small bears methodically rip apart the oncoming horde. It only took them a couple of minutes, and when they were done, they split up and started throwing grenades into the piles of dead aliens, dissolving the alien flesh into puddles of goo.

  When they were done, a single teddy bear separated from the group and wandered over. Unlike the others, this one was ash grey and wearing an overcoat. The bear trundled within a few feet of the trenches, then took a casual stance, arms behind his back.

  “Greetings, comrades! I’m glad we got your message and were close enough to intervene. Any injuries back there?”

  Anderson stared at the strangely eloquent bear for several seconds. “Thankfully no, you arrived before the Antithesis penetrated our lines, Mr. Bear…”

  “You can call me Spooky,” the bear interrupted.

  “Mr. Spooky,” Anderson finished.

  “Do you need anything else? The Antithesis are extremely active tonight, and my team and I are needed elsewhere,” Spooky asked.

  “We still need to obtain supplies, or we’ll be overwhelmed by the next assault,” Anderson replied.

  The bear took a thoughtful pose. “In that case I’ll leave the laser grids to help deal with the hordes and a Kodiak to punch through the higher models. That should keep you afloat until your supplies arrive.”

  “A Kodiak? Is that a type of bear?” Taylor asked. “Or some sort of joke?”

  “No, just an IFV,” the bear replied, pointing at the ship. As he did, an armored vehicle detached from the ship and swooped down, parking behind the line. “It should have the strength to punch through anything out here tonight.”

  “Thanks?” Anderson said, slightly overwhelmed by the absurd situation.

  “Anytime!” the bear declared, trudging back towards the pods. The ship had dipped lower and extended a number of cables, which the bears were busy attaching to the top of the pods. As soon as they were done, they all piled into the tiny boxes, the doors closed, and the pods were pulled back up to the ship.

  As soon as they’d settled into position, the ship drifted away, slowly moving further down the line.

  It took the strategic display beeping, alerting everyone of another oncoming wave, to shake everyone out of their stupor.

  “Did that really just happen?” Taylor asked.

  “You better believe it,” Sanchez replied.

  “Enough banter! It might have been odd, but it bought us time to reorient ourselves, and that’s what we needed. Let’s not get complacent; everyone back into position. We still have a job to do!” Anderson roared.

  Everyone burst into action, resupplying the machine guns and handing out new magazines to the frontline. Anderson wandered back to his monitor and stared at the readout. “Thanks to that samurai we survived, and now we have a story for later.”

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