Tod: - INCOMING FIRE!

Stan: - OHH SHIIT! 

BOOOM! BOOM-BOOM!

Three consecutive blasts shook the steel floor behind the buggy. Thousands of steel fragments flew in the air. Most of them ending up in the bodies of the closely following zergs shredding them apart and injuring them through the grim process. There were a bunch of otherworldly animalistic screeches and growls coming from the damaged creatures behind the smoke, but the zergs didn't falter for long. They simply split apart their forces and ran around the impacted place where the temperature was so high that the reinforced steel melted into lava that was luckily contained inside the freshly blasted crater on the floor. 

Susan: - What's wrong with these idiots? If we were just a few seconds late, they would have killed us all! 

Stan: - No no no! Anybody can say that except you, so shut the fuck up miss aim my rockets at my ship for fun! 

Susan: - What? That was entirely different! You had Mady on the ship. She could sense the danger and warn you! 

Stan: - Is that your reasoning? So what if she was not on the bridge, to tell us?!

Susan: - ... oh.

Stan: - Exactly!

Tod: - Guys, we are almost there! Su, come down and get a grip, cause it's gonna be rough!

The floor before them was completely covered in dead or mostly dead zerg bodies. The platform walls rose around the depository leaving a small opening in the middle of it, where a ramp was created to easily access the high ground. 

Stan: - I hope that your buggy can run over a ton of dead zerg without an issue, otherwise, we are fucked. 

Tod looked towards Stan funnily as a reaction. 

Stan: - What? 

Tod: - Well, you just have to jump out and push it a bit if we're stuck in the blood, and gore. 

Stan with a deadpan look. - Not. On. Your. Life. 

Tod: - Pff... 

Stan looks up to Susan, who still didn't sit down, obviously too focused on firing at the zergs. - Hejj! Sit the fuck down!  

Susan: - They are too close, if I don't shoot them, they will reach us! 

Tod: - Well, it is your neck on the line if we turn over!

Stan: - Hers and mine too, if she dies while I live Mady will gut me, and I don't plan to die yet! Stan reaches towards Susan's belt, grabs it with one hand, and pulls it downwards forcefully. 

Susan in a surprised voice. - W-what the heck are you doing! Don't pull down my damn pants! Hey! Stop it! 

Stan: - Then put your ass down here already! 

Susan: - OKAY! Fine just let go of my belt! ~She grudgingly climbs down and sits in the third and last seat of the car. - Happy now?

Stan: - No, but I will if we live through the next few minutes. 

Tod: - Okay! Now show me what you can do baby! Get a grip, guys!

The interior of the car started to shake violently as they reached the part where the bodies started to pile up extensively.

Stan: - We are losing speed! 

Tod: - Well, the road conditions are not entirely ideal. 

Stan: - Can't you drive faster?

Tod: - I can, but I thought that we wanted to reach the place preferably in one piece. 

Stan: - Well, that would not happen if the zergs ate us first!

Tod: - It won't happen either if we crash the car or get stuck in a crater! 

A sudden tremor shook the whole car; Tod frantically tried to get back his control on the unbalanced vehicle; with great effort, he succeeded, and the car stopped drifting. 

Stan: - What the fuck was that? 

Tod: - I have no idea, but the car suddenly started to pull towards the left side. 

Stan: - Can you still drive it? 

Tod: - No problem, but it's gonna be even harder with this oversteering... 

Stan: - You can do it, man, you must!

Susan: In an uncharacteristically shaky voice - E-ej, boys... I, I think-

Stan: - Not now Su, we have to focus on the road! Now turn to the left and to the right after that dead roach... ~Squishing sounds.~ Or, just go over it. 

Susan: - I think, that there is a - 

Stan: - No, not now - SCREAAACH! 

Stan looked backwards reflexively. His eyes immediately met with zergling's frenzied eyes, that were looking downwards, into the car through the shooters opening in the roof. The damn thing had a nasty grin on his face as if it was enjoying the ride, it was over salivating and big pieces of its drool fell into Susan's lap completely freezing her with fear and disgust.

The thing was about to push its head into the car with the intention to bite off Susan's head. In the meantime, Stan slowly pulled out his old 50-caliber Magnum that he got as a gift from an old friend and aimed it steadily at the beast's head. He pulled the trigger.

Because the creature was too focused on Susan's frozen body, it couldn't realize what was coming. The bullet flew into its right eye socket. The pressure created by the bullet was so high, that the creature's brain burst through its eyes, nose, and mouth in the form of a fine bloody mist. Even after the hit, the armor on its head was still perfectly intact, the only thing that changed was the fountain of blood coming out of its orifices.  Although the creature died its body was still clinging to the vehicle and its head was limply dangling in front of Susan, sloshing and splashing blood all over the car, and obviously her.

She looked at the thing with a solemn expression. Then she looked towards Stan with a pale and somewhat greenish face. She nodded weakly, then turned left and started to vomit without a word. Sten gave a short nod, too, then turned back to the road.

Tod: - Everything cool? 

Stan: - Yeah, now do you see that crater, after you go around it, we can head to the ramp. Now turn left good, go straight to the ramp. I don't see anything that could block our way from here. 

Tod: - Sure. 

A few seconds later the buggy reached the ramp and started to climb over it. There was an already damaged wall of supply depots on the top. One was already pulled into the ground, letting them drive over it. And a few seconds later the wall was already reclosed behind them. They drove for a while, to be at a reasonable distance from the gate, and only when they left behind the third row of bunkers did they stop the car finally. The moment the engine stopped, a heavy silence fell on the passengers. In the background, the battle continued with reignited fervor, as if nothing had happened, and if we looked at things from a greater perspective, we would have to agree. Nothing really changed in the overall, dire situation. None the less, the three terran friends, who just had a violent brush with death would most likely disagree with that statement. 

Tod: - Well, that was fun. ~ Silence. - I will check out the car. ~Tod tried to open the door on the driver's side, but it was somewhat stuck. - Damn, it's stuck. ~He hit the door angrily with his mechanical arm trying to force it open. To his surprise the whole door broke off from the hit and fell to the ground with a sudden crack. Tod was looking at the door with clear shock in his eyes. 

Awkward silence.

Stan: - Pffu... 

Susan: - ... 

Tod: - ... 

Awkward silence.

Stan: - ha.. haha... 

Susan: - hehe.. hehehehe...

Tod: - Fuck my life...

Stan and Susan: - hahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!! ~They were laughing as if there was no tomorrow... 

Tod: - Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, fuckers, this time you will also help with the repairs! 

Stan: - hahahaa... obviously and this time we will place more armor on this shit! 

Susan: - Oh yeah, then I will choose the color! 

Tod: - Whatever... 

Susan: - Yes!

__________

About half an hour later. The battle was over at the depot, and the zerg wave was driven away or killed by the terrans. The gate was heavily damaged throughout the battle and was broken in more than one place. Thanks to the ultralisk the first row of bunkers and defend systems were overrun, and destroyed. The terran squads suffered medium-level casualties, yet the threat was far from over. It was obvious that the terran ship was infested by zerg presence. They had created a hivemind somewhere on the ship and were about to replenish their numbers. This time there may be more than one ultralisk to face. The situation was dire, but the goal was clear. They had to destroy the hivemind on the ship before the zerg could replenish their numbers. To achieve this, most of the local terran forces will be needed.