The Man-Bear-Pigs Strike Back

The Man-Bear-Pigs Strike Back is the sixth book of the Man-Bear-Pig saga, in which the monsters launch an all-out war against mankind.

Content
The Man-Bear-Pigs Strike Back

1 1. RJ Hulse, hero of the Man-Bear-Pig War, sat inside a hollowed-out fallen log, waiting. 2. The Man-Bear-Pig Chieftain was out there somewhere, searching for him. 3. He looked out through a hole in the log, and sure enough, the tall creature was there, pulling up trees and overturning logs as it pursued its prey. 4. The MBP wore an ornate headdress, and wielded a shimmering Energy Sword. 5. The lethal spade of plasma energy would cut clean through RJ's armor if he was careless. 6. "Keep looking!" the Chieftain growled to its clan. "We will find him!" 7. RJ and his team had escaped the golf course many hours ago, but the creatures had tracked them into the woods and were playing a one-sided game of cat-and-mouse with their quarry. 8. Thankfully, the Man-Bear-Pigs still hadn't found any of the escapees. 9. The monsters were determined, though, and had been relentlessly tracking them for some time. 10. The group decided to split up to make it more difficult for the MBPs to track everyone at once. 11. The Chieftain was now directly in front of RJ at the log's opening, but the creature had its back turned away from the soldier as it watched its clan search in vain for the human. 12. RJ crept up as quietly as possible towards the behemoth, and began to slip his knife out of its sheath. 13. Just as RJ came upon the Chieftain, the MBP caught the scent of human, and turned as RJ lunged. 14. RJ's knife swiped the side of the beast's face, which only served to fuel its anger. 15. The MBP brought its sword up as it prepared to counter-lunge at RJ, who had brought a large stick up to defend himself from the incoming attack. 16. As the Man-Bear-Pig made its move, RJ spun around behind the Chieftain and whacked it square in the head with the tree limb. 17. The creature turned again, disoriented now, only to have its head blown away by RJ's M4 carbine.

2 1. By this time, the members of the Chieftain's pack had made their way over to RJ's position to see what was going on. 2. They too fell under the power of the assault weapon. 3. Once everything was clear, RJ radioed in to the other team members. 4. Everyone was in one piece, but they wouldn't last much longer without reinforcements. 5. The creatures had been able to stop the first two Huey helicopters from dropping their passengers, but the coast seemed clear for now, and RJ needed more men, or at least a way to get the hell out of Dodge. 6. RJ and his First Lieutenant, Matthias, contacted High Command and asked for an aerial extraction. 7. After another tense 15 minutes, the group heard the spinning rotors of the 'copters as they neared the forest. 8. Everyone cheered as the first aircraft touched down and the soldier manning its turret cleared a path through the remaining Man-Bear-Pigs. 9. For now, their fight was over.

3 1. The Man-Bear-Pig Commander paced impatiently outside the makeshift medical facility within his newly-conquered base, deep in thought. 2. ''How long could it take the medic? He's been at it for days!'' the beast thought to himself. 3. The Commander stopped, and forced such impatient thinking out of his mind, reminding himself that an artist could not be rushed to perfection, and that greatness took time to prosper. 4. Soon, in due time, the Commander's projects would be complete and ready for war. 4 1. At the base where the officers of High Command had gathered, RJ and the team took some much-needed time to rest. 2. They had spent almost all of the past two weeks in near-constant battle with the horrific Man-Bear-Pigs, and they were completely worn out. 3. Matthias, Kenneth, Alberto, and Tyson were gathered around a television in a lounge, playing Halo 3. 4. Lindsey, meanwhile, briefed her comrades Hannah and Megan about the events of the past day. 5. RJ sat quietly in a corner of the lounge, cleaning his weapons. 6. He had appropriated the Energy Sword belonging to the fallen Chieftain, just before he had climbed into the Huey, and was studying how the weapon worked. 7. He activated it, and two curved blades shot out of the hilt to form a spade-shaped weapon. 8. It was fairly light, which surprised RJ, and he swung it around gently a few times to see how it handled. 9. When he was pleased with the sword, he deactivated it and hooked it to his combat belt. It would come in handy sometime. 10. RJ turned around in his chair to find that an officer was approaching, and stood up to salute. 11. "At ease," the officer, known as Major Alpone, said. 12. He stepped over to the lounge to get the attention of the group playing Halo. 13. "Listen up, leathernecks!" he shouted. "R and R is over. I've got some important intel for you." 14. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing and turned to face the dark-complexioned Major with concern. 15. "Seems that we've come across something big. Real big," he said grimly. "We believe we've discovered where the Man-Bear-Pigs have set up shop. However, this isn't a nest like those we've seen before, this is a human-made facility. 16. I doubt that any sane human would ever join those horrid things, so the monsters must have overwhelmed the former occupants and captured the site. 17. To make matters worse," Alpone continued, "The facility is an abandoned nuclear waste containment center. Yeah, that kind. The Man-Bear-Pigs have clawed their way to the ultimate position of power; they could detonate the contained material and about blow away half the state! 18. We have to find and stop the Man-Bear-Pig Commander, before it's too late." 19. This shocked the room into silence, as the MBPs had never tried to take such a large, critical human installation before and succeeded. 20. Finally, RJ balled his fists. "Let's go Pig hunting." 21. RJ and his squad were packing for their mission when the MBPs made their initial counter-attack on the base. 22. Luckily, the squad was heavily armed, and were able to hold their own against the creatures until forcing them to retreat.

5 1. Major Alpone threw down his empty battle rifle, drew his P55 sidearm and fired a steady burst at a Man-Bear-Pig that had been unfortunate enough to come within the Marin'e range. 2. The beast took a killing hit and went down with a deep thump. 3. The Major then turned his attention to the Chieftain that had come up behind him and threw an M67 fragmentation grenade at the creature's feet. 4. He then shoved his pistol under the chin of another MBP and pulled the trigger. 5. This was going to make for a very long day.

6 1. It wasn't before long that the MBP snipers began to attack. 2. Long trails of smoke followed the shots as bullets exploded from the barrels of the rifles and found their targets. 3. MBPs were known to use captured human weaponry from time to time, but they had never demonstrated such accuracy before. 4. The first shot blew the windshield out of a fleeing Humvee, and the next several caught a few unlucky soldiers hunkered down in a foxhole carved into the sandy earth. 5. RJ had commandeered an M60 machine gun turret mounted in the bed of a modified Dodge Ram and was careful to lay down suppressing fire on the snipers. 6. They began to drop like some many rows of dominoes, but a few managed to escape and retreat into the sandy dunes beyond. 7. One, however, decided that it would squeeze off a few more shots while it could, and took aim with its Dragunov rifle. 8. There was a single human that struck it as a perfect target; he was seated in the back of a human automobile and was giving the MBP infantry a hard time with his M16 rifle, so the sniper adjusted his aim and fired.

7 1. Kenneth planted himself firmly in the bed of his truck and hung on for dear life as Matthias swung the Dodge over a mound of dirt and into the main war zone. 2. RJ was busy taking care of the snipers, so Kenneth decided that he would put his M16 to good use and handle the oncoming MBP infantry. 3. He was making progress, and the enemy troops were beginning to thin out. 4. But it was then that the Man-Bear-Pig sniper chose to fire. The armor-piercing round tore through Kenneth's modest armor and entered his bicep. 5. The force of the hit alone was enough to knock the soldier from his position in the truck and send him crashing to the ground. 6. RJ noticed that Kenneth had disappeared, and turned to find that the soldier had fallen from the bed of the truck. 7. When he looked closely, he could see that Kenneth was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and didn't seem to be moving. 8. In one swift motion, RJ jumped from the turret and ran straight toward his fallen comrade. 9. Distant, the Man-Bear-Pig sniper cursed itself for missing the shot, but had another ripe opportunity when it saw the second soldier leap from the machine gun and run for the wounded human. 10. The MBP lifted its rifle again and peered through the scope. He would make this shot count. 11. Kenneth spotted his assassin and watched as it prepared to fire again. It had its sights on RJ this time. 12. The injured solider summoned all his remaining strength and lunged in front of RJ as the sniper fired. 13. For the first time, Kenneth felt that he had finally done something worthy of his constant bragging to Alberto and Matthias. 14. RJ watched in horror as the bullet caught Kenneth directly in the chest and sent him tumbling to the sand. 15. Then, motivated by rising anger and grief, RJ took Kenneth's M16, quickly aimed down the ironsights, and dropped his friend's murderer. 16. After avenging Kenneth, RJ knelt beside the dying solider and grasped his weakening hand. 17. Kenneth's strength was quickly diminishing; it wouldn't be long now. 18. With unbelievable effort, Kenneth looked up at RJ and spoke his final words. Kenneth's eyes began to tear, and he let out a racking, bloody cough. 19. "RJ, buddy, you're gonna win this war for me. You hear me? You're gonna make them pay." 20. Their eyes locked for a last moment, and then Kenneth looked up into the smoke-filled sky. 21. His hand let go of RJ's and slumped to the ground. 22. "I will, bud. I'll finally put a stop to this. For you," RJ promised. 23. For a long time, RJ wasn't sure how long, he sat quietly beside Kenneth and wondered how exactly he would manage to fulfill that promise.

8 1. Major Alpone shot the last round in his magazine and realized he was out of ammo and out of time. 2. A berserk Man-Bear-Pig Chieftain was charging him and was preparing to lunge with its Energy Sword. 3. Worse still, a squad of Black Ops MBPs was beginning to close in, their stolen AK-15's pointed directly at the Marine, hoping to capture him. 4. Alpone searched his utility belt for a spare mag, a last resort of defense, and then found... a frag grenade. 5. Only one remained, so he would have to make it count. 6. The bloodthirsty monsters were clumped around him. It was now or never. 7. Alpone lifted the grenade up, yanked the pin out with his mouth, and charged into the Man-Bear-Pigs' midst. 8. The explosion could be heard throughout the base.

9 1. Matthias had long since ditched his truck, and was now back-to-back with RJ as they made a last stand against the Man-Bear-Pigs. 2. Carnage lay everywhere, and dull explosions rang out from around the battlefield. 3. "This is it," Matthias said with resignation as he reloaded. "It's finished." 4. And it was finished, but not in the way Matthias had thought. 5. The sounds of automatic gunfire and the thumps of explosives stopped suddenly, and the war zone became eerily quiet. 6. The allies stood still for a full minute, taking in the oddly peaceful atmosphere, broken only by the familiar sound of rotors. 7. Then, as if from heaven, two Apache helicopters appeared from behind them, and the men felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over them. 8. "Let's go!" one pilot shouted over the sound of the rotors. "The Man-Bear-Pig Commander's expecting some visitors! Best not keep the bastard waiting!" 9. Matthias stepped up to board the helicopter with RJ, but the warrior turned around and put his hand on Matthias's shoulder. 10. "There's a good chance this is a one-way ticket, and I can't lose another friend today. And, I have a promise to keep," RJ said, halfheartedly smiling but with a sad look in his eyes. 11. Matthias thought back to Kenneth, and understood. 12. He clapped RJ on the back and said, "Go finish what you started. And take care of yourself, too, or I'll have to find someone else to help clean up this mess once it's over." 13. RJ grinned, and the soldiers shook hands. 14. And with that, RJ climbed into the Apache and left behind the destruction of the still-smoking killzone.

Seventh Installment
Tying Loose Ends: The Final Battle

Previous Installment
The Return of Man-Bear-Pig