Disclaimer: Gamma Squad and its members belong to me, the locations, weapon names and other characters belong to Epic.
Chapter 1: Under New Management
Gamma Squad was full of misfits: the leader, Sergeant Abel Crowshaw, had had his index finger on his right hand blown off by a lone Locust sniper. Kelly Evelyn was the only female COG soldier to survive the Pendulum Wars, so she was evidently skilled. Blake 'False Eye' Winters' nickname spoke for itself,his left eye had been tugged out in an underground fight club brawl by a Stranded bum. Lastly, there was Clay Carmine, the biggest misfit of the bunch. He was completely inexperienced on the battlefield, seemed to be a magnet for bullets and was afraid of his own shadow. The other three in Gamma Squad wonder how he managed to get signed up.
"Take the shot, Blake," ordered Abel through the headpiece. "I don't fancy losing another finger on the account of a sniper. I'd rather you do the job. At least you'll be in range for me to kick your ass."
The bullet flew across to the smashed window in the building opposite Gamma Squad. A huge grunt of pain meant that the Locust sniper had been either badly wounded or killed. Blake remained prone on the roof of the abandoned police station whilst Abel proceeded down the street below.
"Evelyn, status report!" Abel shouted through the headpiece.
"Got a lot of dead grubs here, sir," Kelly replied. "I think it's all clear. Carmine, you idiot, get down! Scratch that, sir. We're under heavy fire again."
Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away, a shoot-out was commencing between a dozen Locust troops and two lone COG soldiers. Kelly and Clay may have been giving the enemy quite a bit of resistance, but their numbers were increasing, and Abel was too far away to provide support.
"Blake is going to have reach you via the rooftops," Abel said. "Rendezvous back inside the station. Sergeant Crowshaw out!"
Blake began to move slowly across very thin wooden planks to the other buildings. If he rushed, he could potentially fall to his doom, but time was of the essence. Abel decided to check out the building where the sniper had been shot. He equipped his snub pistol and checked his ammo, full clip. Approaching the stairs with caution, he took thudding steps up each one. Bad move. There were still Drones in the building and they had heard him coming. About 70 rounds of Hammerburst shells came flying Abel's way and he was forced to jump down the flight of stairs. Another bad move. Two drones chased after him, and soon enough, he saw a massive boot gliding above his face whilst he was flat on his back. Was this the end for Sergeant Abel Crowshaw?
"Sir, are you there?" a concerned Kelly asked under overwhelming gunfire. "Sir? Sir! ABEL!" she screamed when she heard a squelching noise followed by horrible laughs from Drones. "Oh my god! Carmine, Abel's dead. Those bastards got him. I....I need to tell Blake." She changed her frequency and said in a shaky voice "Blake, it's Evelyn. Abel has been killed."
"Kelly, get a hold of yourself," Blake pleaded in an effort to calm her down. "He may still be alive, but for now I'm taking over the squad. Try to hold out. I'll be there soon."
Blake's message didn't seem to stop Kelly's stress levels. She began to sob on Clay's shoulder. He hugged her in comfort, but their cease fire allowed a Drone to sneak up on them. Clay couldn't move in time to down him, so it looked like a bleak situation, but luckily Blake had moved into a good sniping position and blew the Drone's head off. Clay and Kelly finally got their bearings and began retaliating.
"THIS IS FOR SARGE!" Clay shouted over the immense sound of his Lancer shots.
A couple of minutes later, the three of them piled the Locust corpses together and burnt them with a Scorcher. Blake thought it was justifiable after they had killed his commanding officer. Clay suggested that they visit the place where Abel was killed, but they didn't locate his body or any others in the vicinity.
"He is dead, isn't he?" Blake questioned. "You heard them shoot him."
"No...not exactly," Kelly replied nervously. "There was just a loud thud and mocking laughter from the Drones."
"He may still be alive, then?"
"Probably not. It sounded like a curb stomp. He wouldn't have survived that."
"Well then, we're done here. I'm calling for evac."
