The Death Angels > A Quiet Place fanfic

Mexican military units sent into Oaxaca took a beating on the same scale as the one handed out to the Russians in Siberia. Unlike those Russians who were slaughtered by an opponent who was near invincible near to Tomsk, those in uniform in southern Mexico weren’t so well-equipped nor as organised. Had they been, it still wouldn’t have mattered either way. They would never have stood a chance when faced with such an enemy as what had arrived in Oaxaca. Multiple units of the Mexican Army, as well as marines from the Mexican Navy, entered the state and found themselves engaged before they could properly deploy. Attacked when in column moving towards where they were sent to establish blocking positions, they were ripped into. Other units made hasty deployments when air support – and there wasn’t much of that – gave them some warning of what was coming their way. Every man had his rifle up and heavy guns were deployed facing forward on those occasions but it did no good. Death Angels charged and leapt into action.

More than ten feet tall and on four legs, moving at lightning speed, bullets bounced off them while their armour also protected them from what few heavier munitions were sent their way… that were the few which could make an impact. They dashed all over the place, never staying still. Anything that made a sound was the subject of their rage. That included the few armoured vehicles employed by the Mexicans. The Russians had failed to do anything with their tanks in Siberia and when the Mexicans tried to bring lighter-armed ERC-90 Lynx vehicles into play, the Death Angels struck against those noisy contraptions. Turrets were ripped off and chassis’ thrown about. One Lynx fired an armour-piercing projectile into a Death Angel at almost point-blank range (Russian tanks hadn’t been able to do that) and tore off a limb. That success came with the destruction of that armoured vehicle though and a living, capable three-kegged monster instead of one on four legs. Witnessing the near invincible savagery of their opponents, countless Mexican soldiers stood their ground and fired their guns regardless. Their bravery was amazing. It was also futile: they might as well have used peashooters. Others ran though, fleeing for their lives. Cowards came shouts after them yet away they fled as fast as they could.

Mexican and American military aircraft and helicopters were in the skies above Oaxaca when contact was made with the invaders from the heavens. Sighting reports from aircrews as well as recorded footage was broadcast far and wide. There were air attacks made as well. One of the many criticisms voiced in Washington at what the Russians had done was how they had gone from troops with rifles to tactical nuclear weapons with nothing in between. Where were the massed artillery barrages from afar? How about tactical air support too? Heavy artillery was used sparingly in Oaxaca – to no appreciable effect either – but aircraft flew attack missions. Bombs were dropped while rockets & missiles were fired. Kill claims were made. None of them were verified though. The ordnance used was what would be employed against a conventional military opponent. Blast effects from air pressure and especially shrapnel would do wonders even against protected infantry. It didn’t have the desired effect against the Death Angels though. The Russians had realised that, hence why they went straight to what those elsewhere who were left aghast at the bucket of sunshine approach. Russia’s president had atomised the monsters savaging his nation yet killed everyone else in the way. That wasn’t done in Mexico. Most of those aircraft and helicopters were Mexican but the Americans had a good number in the skies too. A US Navy aircraft carrier was some distance off the Pacific coast and other jets had flown from US bases using massive tanker support. Drones also flew about like they had done from the start though no longer operating without Mexican cooperation.

Surveillance missions were done alongside the attack missions. The Death Angels were tracked as they moved about when spotted with those watching their orgy of destruction left in awe but also horror at what they observed. Nothing seemed to cause them to hesitate nor turn away. It was just attack, attack, attack while onwards, onwards, onwards. Sound drew them. They didn’t appear to have any ability to see anything: no one knew if they had a sense of taste even. One US Air Force drone flew low and slow right above one of the Death Angels. It was noisy and certainly made the creature mad. The huge beast went nuts, lashing out everywhere but unable to discover where the noise was exactly coming from. A missile fired from the wing-tip of the drone was eventually fired straight into the creature. There was an explosion, one which had no effect upon the targeted creature. It carried on doing what it was doing.

In every direction, changing course once at first set on one too, the Death Angels roamed free across Oaxaca. They tore through not just soldiers sent into the state but also civilians. Oaxaca was home to more than four million people before the meteor struck with over thirty thousand lives lost at that moment. The Death Angels set about attacking into silence everyone else. Villages, towns and small cities were approached by them and ran through. The noises which came out of those populated areas drew their attention. Evacuation efforts were underway at that time when the Mexican authorities ordered people to leave in the aftermath of the massive disaster which was the impacting meteor. A lot of people didn’t want to go. Others did though, especially when they were witness at a distance to a lot of military activity ongoing and also heard a wave of rumours coming out about the los angeles de la muerte. Those creatures made their presence felt during much of that mandated evacuation. In particularly upsetting sights for those observing what was going on from far away while using aerial surveillance, one Death Angel attacked a convoy of ambulances transporting evacuees from a hospital. If any human force had done such a thing, that would have been a war crime of the highest order. There was another convoy on the way out of a small city, one with many children crammed aboard buses and trucks. The fates which they suffered when that huge creature silenced every single one of them was indescribable. To witness small, lifeless bodies being thrown into the air after being torn into two or three pieces left those who saw that stunned, horrified and upset: many drone operators sited up in Nevada had to be replaced at their work stations after that incident because they just couldn’t go on.


Another pulse came from the meteor impact site where the remains of that lump of space rock had buried itself into the ground. It was far bigger than previous ones. Unseen, a wave of electromagnetic energy shot out across the sky. Aircraft and helicopters fell towards the ground when all of their onboard flight systems went out. There were some which did survive the pulse due to geographic features redirecting the waves and also if they had EMP shielding to guard against nuclear weapons effects, but not many were that fortunate. Others went down and down hard too. It was a counterattack. That was how that action was seen by generals in Mexico City advising their president and also up in Washington among the national security establishment. Air attacks had increased and so, in response, the Death Angels struck back. How they did that beyond the actual outcome was something that all attention focused upon. The loss of so many aerial surveillance platforms was more than just their crashing though. Tracking of the Death Angels as they moved further afield couldn’t realistically be done by anyone on the ground and so much of the sky was left empty. They took advantage of that.

Efforts focused upon the meteor impact site with weapons zeroed-in. If the Mexicans could have struck at it, they would have. Yet, it was the Americans who had a go, seeking to eliminate that weapon which frightened those in Washington even more than the rampaging, murdering Death Angels themselves did. They used the biggest non-nuclear weapon in their arsenal, determined to destroy it in the fashion that America liked to go to war: with one big opening, massive attack. While they were busy making that attack, the political, diplomatic and societal upheaval in response to a Russian apparent ‘nuclear accident’ in Siberia, and fake news spread from Poland giving a different take on that, continued. The world was distracted, governments involved in the fight against humanity’s single greatest threat ever too.

Have you seen the films and how fast they move? They won't stay still.
One of them got a 90mm shell up close and lost a limb because that round wrenched it off. The Hellfire from the drone relies upon a combination of explosive force but unless it penetrates the creature's armour, it will not do the job. Nukes did due to how devastating they were. In Mexico, the Americans will try to use thermobarics. That might do the job but first they have to find their enemy and also not slaughter innocents too.  

I watched the first one last Thursday before seeing the second one on Friday. Got thinking, then reading and then writing.
MOAB, yes. Chemical weapons are something that the US doesn't have anymore. Other Western countries don't either: maybe other regimes elsewhere do. the problems are delivery and not killing innocents. Then... every image I have seen of a Death Angels doesn't show a mouth or nose. It must breath, somehow, but getting any gas or anything like that into them might be difficult.

Probably they breathe like insects or frogs where the oxygen just diffuses through the skin. Insects and spiders have book lungs on their bodies for that very reason.

Just like in World War Z where Honolulu ends up as the wartime/provisional/temporary capital of the United States.

Here's some analysis regarding creatures's biology: