I live for the Swarm.

I heard the words as I came to, repeated again and again by a myriad of voices, both inside and outside of my head. It didn't make any sense, and I forced my mind to start workin'. I had to figure out where I was, figure out where the rest of my men were, and get back to base.

It was like tryin' to think with a brain full of honey. My synapses weren't firin' right, and I felt detached, almost like after havin' been put under for surgery. I was awake, but my body wasn't respondin' yet. I couldn't make sense of the information that was comin' across my senses, and part of me wanted to slip back into unconsciousness. Gruntin' with the effort of stayin' awake, I tried to piece it together, and memories swam up to the surface. Very slowly, very painfully.

My whole platoon had been air dropped to a remote location on Char in an attempt to create a new foothold on the forsaken planet. Supposedly there was only one hive in the region, and we should have easily been able to wipe them out, and take the Vespene harvest for ourselves.

"Shoulda been easy" seemed like the tag line for every mission I'd ever been on.

For the Overmind.

Sensation started to return to my limbs, and I stumbled forward, breathin' in the acrid stink of the dark place I was in. The air was wet, beyond merely humid, and nearly boilin' hot. I could taste decay and growth, and something more fungal. It was a familiar stench, something I'd breathed every moment since we'd landed.

Zerg.

Memories roared to life with that thought, and I replayed the fight at our base.

Marcus laughed as I approached, and mock saluted me. "Thanks for your supreme leadership, Sir."

I laughed, adjustin' the hang of my gun, raisin' the visor on my helmet. "Sit on it," I snarked back to the Firebat. Our laughter rang out across the broken plain, the last remnants of the Zerg base rottin' as the sun set. SCVs worked around us, their torches sparkin' bright, their treads whinin' as they moved about the foundations of our new base. Flood lights burned bright atop the newly finished command center, a handful of workers bringin' in crystals for renderin'.

I didn't pay much attention to the SCVs as they darted around, trustin' them to be able to do their job without military leadership. I'd set a couple patrols to watch the perimeter, but all reports said this was a low Zerg area.

Amazin', for Char, but I wasn't goin' to question.

"So, you think this will work?"

I chuckled, fishin' for a cigar out of my carry belt. "Maybe yes, maybe no. The higher ups think it will."

Marcus rolled his eyes, the scent of napalm and Zerg blood waftin' off his smudged armor. "Yeah, well, they always say their new plan is going to work."

"And we always follow along, doin' what they tell us to. How high can I jump for you today, Sir?" We laughed again, and I relaxed, ready for some sack time.

The two of us stood in companionable silence, enjoyin' the sunset as best we could. I didn't wax poetic, or anything like that, but I liked bein' able to take a breath without havin' some bug lungin' for my life.

A rumble started at the edge of the base, barely audible, more like a feelin' in the soles of my combat suit, but it quickly spread. I frowned, watchin' as black ground began to boil, dust risin' in the air, and the sound grew louder. "What the hell is that?" Marcus asked as I took a step closer to the disruption.

I frowned, glarin' at the ground where chunks of dirt bounced around, rocks dancin' like they weighed nothing. I took another step forward, then felt my heart stumble. "Zerg!" I shouted, liftin' my gun, stumblin' back to Marcus's side, firin' before I really had a target.

Claws flashed in the dyin' light, carapaces revealed in the floodlights, and Zerg ground troops poured from their burrows, squealin' and screamin' their battlecries. Guns fired sporadically as the rest of my squad realized we were under attack, and the squeak of SCVs stopped dead as the workers saw the incomin' terror.

Panic quickly turned to a battle rush as I focused on killin' Zerg. There were hundreds of zerglin's, their short bodies boundin' across the distance. Screams sounded as the SCVs were attacked, torn apart between the rapid attacks of the swarmin' beasts. I couldn't stop to think about the guys dyin', could only focus on savin' my own hide.

"Wanna turn up the heat?" Marcus asked as his flame throwers lanced hot and yellow into a mass of Zerg flesh. Zerglin's squealed, crumplin' into crispy heaps as they died, their sides burstin' and splittin', spillin' across the dry ground. He didn't bother to focus on his targets, just tossin' his napalm as far as he could, into as big a mass of flesh as he could. Firebats were not meant to be precision troops, but their flames were fantastic to watch as they ate through Zerg armor.

If only I had the time to appreciate that at this point. I had to focus on survival, on pickin' a target, on makin' something die. We had a dozen 'bats from our earlier siege, and I let them fend off the zergies. "Get them down!" I shouted, takin' steps closer to the command center. "Everyone on me! Form up and get those 'lisks down."

Men called out as they fell back, shootin' and movin', swearin' as they fought, avoidin' the killin' limbs of our attackers. We were outnumbered easily ten to one; for every Zerg we took down, two or three more came boundin' in from the dark. There was no end to them.

SCVs trundled up beside us, joinin' the troops to avoid the slaughter that had befallen their friends. There were significantly fewer of them than at the beginnin' of the fight, even though we'd been fightin' for less than two minutes. I shook my head at the waste of resources, though they were little more than civilians. They didn't deserve to die like this, cut apart like a slaughtered cow. I heard their weldin' guns arcin' as they tried to fight for their lives, desperate not to have their blood soak into the thirsty ground. I knew they wouldn't make a difference, but they were one more body between me and the incomin' Zerg.

"How do I get out of this bleedin' outfit?" snarled a marine to my left. I didn't have time to figure out who it was that said it, focused as I was on piercin' the chitinous armor of a hyrdralisk as it loomed over a Firebat.

"Better yet," Marcus asked, his flame throwers on a near constant spout, "how the hell did they set a trap for us? Can animals even do that?"

I didn't have time to answer as I switched to another hydralisk, watchin' the first one rear up and die. Now that we were groupin' up, they were goin' down faster, bodies torn apart by our rounds. I had talked to a scientist before the drop, back when we were still shippin' in to Char. He had talked and talked about the Overmind, and how the hive mind of the Zerg worked. He babbled on about how the collective intelligence of the Zerg could rival humans, and he'd sounded like he actually admired the things.

He'd sounded less admirin' after I busted his nose.

Unfortunately, that knowledge didn't do me much good here. All I needed to know was where to shoot, and when the backup was comin' in. But we didn't have backup, and all the shootin' I did was barely makin' a dent in the line of Zerg. Their bodies piled up, stinkin' with their blood and napalm, yet it seemed like so few.

The scattered bodies of Terrans were much more noticeable. Every dead soldier was noticed, and meant that many more Zerg could surround us, could attack us.

Growin' desperate, I growled beneath my breath, my finger achin' where I was holdin' down the trigger. I felt my weapon growin' hotter, and knew this wouldn't last much longer. I wanted to find the commander who'd ordered us on this mission without backup, and frag him like we were bein' fragged. I wanted to carve the name of each of my fallin' men on his forehead, even though it would never brin' them back.

I wanted to do something that would make me feel better.

A high, almost musical voice sounded over our head, and I felt the air move as some kind of flyin' Zerg came closer. Marcus fell beside me, and I rolled away from the scythin' arm of a hydralisk, firin' wildly. The battle was lost, most of the squad was down, and we were scatterin', but I couldn't make myself stop firin'. I would not give up this easily.

Something hit me from behind, grindin' my head into the dirt, heat searin' up my spine. I grunted, tryin' to rise, but darkness claimed me.

I am the future.

I drew a shudderin' breath, shakin' as I stood still, memories dyin' back down. The Zerg had broken us, and that was all I remembered. How the hell had I ended up here? Where was here? Grittin' my teeth, I tried to figure out what was goin' on, and glanced around.

I paused, my breath stillin', as I suddenly realized I could see everything around me, that I'd never really been in darkness. It was like lookin' through night vision, but in warmer tones, and more detailed. I saw metal corridors corrupted by pulsin' tendrils and creepin' growth. I saw furtive movements, and bodies hunched into mounds. I started to wander slowly through the vaguely familiar room, tryin' to orient myself to my current situation.

Before me loomed a fellow marine in his battle armor, but there was something terribly wrong with him. He held no weapon, his arms danglin' by his sides, deformed by new muscles and claws. His shoulders were twice as wide as they should be, and a thick carapace scrunched across his back and head. He gave off the acrid odor of Zerg, and he shuffled as he moved.

I'd seen this before, whenever the Zerg took one of our command centers. Some brainiac scientist had named them "infested Terran", as if that could take away the pain of seein' a comrade corrupted by these monsters. Damn brains never got into the thick of it, never had to see human eyes filled with alien desires. They never had to put a bullet in the skull of a friend, or see a base wiped out when one of the fiends got to it and exploded.

They'd certainly never been in a corrupted base, had never breathed in the scent of infestation, or been surrounded by the Zerg.

Live to die.

The Zerg-infested marine shuffled down a corridor, toward a distant light, before I could get close enough to see if I knew him. I followed, needin' to find a way out, itchin' with the need to be under an open sky. Even the tortured skies of Char had to be better than this pulsin' slice of hell.

I edged along slowly, recognizin' the huddled shapes of zerglin's as I drew closer. I held my breath, knowin' I should feel an adrenaline buzz in the presence of these voracious beasts, but I felt nothing. I took another cautious step forward, but the zerglin' kept sleepin', or hibernatin', or whatever it was they did. Not a single claw twitched as I passed it, and I let my breath out in a gust of relief. So far, so good.

The itch to be outside turned to an ache, to a drivin' need. I picked up the pace, almost trottin' past the other slumberin' Zerg. They didn't notice me, didn't seem to care that their prisoner was escapin'. The light at the end of the corridor grew brighter, and I started runnin', needin' freedom.

I live for the Swarm!

I kept runnin', even after I hit the rocky surface, a compulsion to run fillin' my heart. There was joy in the run, and I took long, lopin' strides, practically boundin' across the ground.

Movement attracted my attention, and I turned toward it, curious. It was another infected marine, lopin' across the cracked earth. There were three others near him, all lopin' in the same directions. The direction I had chosen.

I stopped in my tracks, feelin' the first lick of fear since I'd woken in the humid Zerg den. An infested and converted command center. Something that had once been human, and was now Zerg. The source of the polluted marines racin' by me.

Tremblin', I glanced down at myself, holdin' a deformed claw up to my eyes.

I am Zerg.

A scream rose in my throat, painfully chokin' me, my heart racin' fit to burst from my altered ribcage. I had been perverted by the Zerg, made into a suicide monster, chargin' across battlefields to wipe out those who were once my allies.

The urge to run rose again, painfully, and I gritted my changed teeth. I would not give in to whatever compulsion was bein' forced on me. Whether it was the Overmind, or the cerebrate, or something else entirely, it didn't matter. It was definitely the Zerg hive mind tryin' to get me, and I wasn't goin' down like that.

Pain surged through me, like fire across my nerves. "There is no fighting me, little human."

I shouted out my frustration, clenchin' my claws, tremblin' as a foreign mind slithered into my skull. "No! Get out, get out, get out." My thoughts turned to clouds, tearin' like mist in the wind. The mind of the Zerg hive was insidious, leechin' away all that made me human, forcin' me to be a monster.

"Your race is weak, pitiful. You were not meant to survive this long. Your soft flesh cannot endure the rigors of exploration, let alone evolution. You should save yourself the pain of resistance, and crawl and hide from us."

"What do you know of us? You know nothing. You're just a fungus, a parasite waitin' to be burned out of rotten flesh."

"You cannot stop the Swarm. We are everywhere. This universe is ours, and you are but one small stumblin' block."

"No," I hissed. "You are bugs, merely bugs. Bugs can't run the universe. We'll stop you, just you wait."

The response was an echoin' laugh behind my eyes. I screamed, stumblin' forward, clutchin' at my deformed skull, resistin' the deep voice with every shred of will. It didn't matter if I had been transformed, if I had been infused with the genes of these creatures. I was a human, I was a marine, and I would stop the Zerg. The Zerg were a blight wherever they touched, and they would need to be dug out, burned out, killed out. The universe would be better off without them. They were nothing but pests, and no one would miss them.

Pain left me, a wave of dizziness wringin' a gasp from my tortured throat. I drew a deep breath, straightenin' my spine, lettin' my hands drop. I gazed around the landscape, tryin' to decide where I was. Any spot on Char looked like any other spot, and I felt lost, alone, and deeply depressed.

But I was a free man, still in charge of myself. No Overmind compelled me, couldn't make me kill my friends.

I was in charge!

I started runnin' again, but in the opposite direction. I would find the hive cluster, and I would destroy it. I would turn my weapon against the demons who had created me, and show them the strength of the human spirit.

I am Zerg.

Other Zerg were preparin' for battle, risin' from their burrows, callin' out in a series of squeals and screams I dodged between them, not wantin' to waste me chance to inflict damage upon this plague. I needed to find the hive cluster, or one of their hive minds, and make them pay. They'd condemned me, and I would condemn them.

I am wretched.

The sounds of battle came to me from over a hill, and I ran faster. Crestin' the hill, I saw a skirmish spread across the plain before me. Zerglin's fell in waves before the chatterin' guns of armored marines. Firebats surrounded hyrdralisks, roastin' them in their husks. Mutalisks fired on Goliaths, who mechanically rocketed them out of the air.

But I am strong!

Sunken pits at the edge of the Zerg colony lashed out with powerful tentacles, strikin' at the Terran attack force from beneath the ground. Wraiths strafed these defensive posts, their rounds tearin' through bulbous carapace, ichor and guts spreadin' across the ground. Lookin' for an openin', I spotted my target.

Prepared to die!

Pulsin' with putrid life, a brain was nestled in the midst of the hive cluster. Cerebrate, I remembered the scientists callin' it. It was the controllin' force behind the Swarm. It was the biggest known threat to the universe, and it was sittin', alone, commandin' its forces to attack the humans, almost as if waitin' for an assault.

It was the thing that had tried to take over my mind.

My vision narrowed to the cerebrate, and the path I would take to it. I raced down the hill, across the plain, onto the spongy mass of Zerg base, determined to reach my target. I dodged Terrans and Zerg, wove through lines of defense and offense, gruntin' to myself as I forced altered legs to pump as hard as they could.

Sacrifice me.

A few stray bullets clanged against my chitinous hide and power armor, drawin' pain from the wounds. Ichor burned against my body, and I redoubled my efforts. I refused to die before I accomplished my mission. The Zerg would feel my pain, would taste my revenge, and would think twice about messin' with the Terrans again.

Let me serve!

Time seemed to slow as I came within yards of the globular Zerg brain. I saw marines starin' with grim determination, their guns trained on me. Gouts of fire lanced from Firebat arms, chasin' me as I kept approachin' the cerebrate. Zerglin's bounded alongside me, launchin' themselves at the soldiers. My breath like fire in my lungs, the Zerg mind loomed in my vision.

For the Overmind!

Pain shot through my eyes, and I nearly stumbled. My vision remained blurred as I scuttled across the last few steps. Throwin' myself forward, I wondered if my Zerg corruption was failin' me in my dyin' moments.

Growin' larger in my vision as I flew through the air was not the sticky membrane I expected. Instead, scarred metal rushed to meet my deadly embrace, a marine company name stenciled in Terran along the side. I impacted hard, feelin' the carapace on my back rupture, activatin' my explosive payload.

In my last moments, I found myself clutchin' the side of one of my own command centers. There was no escapin' the Swarm, and they were goin' to make the universe their own. The Overmind was right; there was no fightin' them.

I am Zerg!