He propped himself up—the effort alone drained him—and quickly assessed his condition.,Dozens of electromagnetic pulse rifles blazed with flashes, their dull booms sending hundreds of steel nails hurtling into the smoke. Immediately, a chorus of horrifying screams, mingled with the sickening sounds of mangled limbs and torn flesh, filled the air. A dense fog of blood and viscera, thick enough to choke on, spread with a frenzied pace.,A sergeant, easily taller and broader than him, gritted his teeth in silence beside him. He continued firing his rifle with one hand, the other gripping the power axe at his hip. He was the tallest and strongest man in the squad. Without a powered exoskeleton, he towered over even the armored Sergeant Major and that insufferable lieutenant.。