Missing Part 1

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OK so here is a short 2 part story for in between writing my stories Sorry Babylon, it's another kinda sad, Baird story.

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The storm had come in so quickly that nobody was prepared. The skies were completely void of any clouds when Baird left early morning for a mind clearing walk.

Talking to Samantha Byrn was useless. She was always trying to show the guys that she could out shoot, out drink and out fight everybody and that just annoyed him. He couldn't take any more of her mouth. He was tired of her calling him "Blondie" as well. It wasn't "Hey Baird" oh no it had to be "Hey Blondie.."

He didn't know how much more he could take of her, and nobody was doing anything. Oh no, of course Cole and Bernie would just laugh while Marcus remained silent. Dom poor guy was still grieving over Maria.

Some time had passed since Maria's….death, but it still haunted Dom, every waking moment and even his his dreams…well nightmares. At night he would wake screaming, waking other sleeping Gears.

They would only grumble, roll over and go back to sleep. Nobody had the heart to talk to him about his sleeping problem. Not even Baird could say something to Dom. Dom was the image of loyalty. A true friend you can count on when shit hits the fan.

Baird walked through the long rows of "homes" that was set on base for the people brought out of Jacinto. People were just beginning to wake as they made their way outside to stretch and glare at the rising sun.

The summer heat came early, threatening the people with humid days, heat exhaustion, stroke and nasty burns. It was still pretty early and already Baird felt muggy. His shirt stuck to his body from the sweat that was already dripping down his back.

"Ugh…"

He quickened his pace as he made his way to the fresh cool air of the beach. Down there for now it would be quiet and empty.

And it was….

The salt air was nice and cool, very refreshing after a night of drinking. Baird felt himself almost gag at the thought of the night before. He had let Sam's words get to him and accepted her drinking challenge.

Luckily they both had the same about to drink before they both passed out. His dignity was still intact.

"Stupid woman…" he muttered.

Slowly he walked along the beach until he came across a good sized cliff that overlooked the entire beach. He scaled it quickly making his way to the top and just stared out into the ocean.

The sun was higher now and the beach was becoming more and more crowded, but nobody bothered him. Most people already knew not to bother him. He had to give them credit, they did learn quickly.

The last time somebody tried to bother him, he verbally lashed out at the woman, making her cry. After that, any civilian refused to even look him in the eyes. That was fine though. He didn't need their sympathy.

A small part of him wondered what his parents would say about him now. They were so against him doing what he loved best, and now here he is doing what he did best: fix things.

He hadn't thought of them in years. The last time he had seen them, they had argued, then he left slamming the door behind him and he never returned home after that. He had immediately went into the service. He never saw them again, not that he cared any.

Baird had gone deep in thought when a shadow was casted over him, blocking out the sun completely for several seconds. Looking up, Baird found himself under a huge cloud covering.

"Shit. When did that happen?"

By the position of the sun, it was already past noon. He cursed himself for sitting out here for so long and wasting the whole morning just sitting there.

"Great. I'll probably hear it from Marcus."

'And Sam." He thought.

He frowned at the thought of the brunet scolding him. For some reason, that irritated him greatly.

Quickly he made his way down the steep slope of the cliff, carefully stepping around any dangers that might cause his feet to slip. The sound of thunder caused him to jump and he scolded himself for acting so childish. There was no reason to be afraid, he wasn't a child anymore. He hadn't been for a very long time.

Slowly at first drops of rain began to hit his head, small drops soon turned to large ones as they soaked the ground beneath his feet and making it difficult to walk. His steps became unsteady as he was quickly soaked through to the bone. It wasn't any easier when the heavy winds came, whipping his cloths and hair about him.

He cursed the wind as he put his back to it, but that was a big mistake.

It happened so quickly, that once the movement stopped, there was no way of stopping it. The dirt had quickly become mud and stepping wrong, his feet went out from under him causing him to fall right on his tail bone. If it wasn't broken it had to be severely bruised. His guess was the first one.

There was no way to stop it now, the water and mud seemed to pull him so quickly down the hill, dangerously fast to the bottom. He tried to grab at anything that would either slow or stop his fall, but nothing seemed to work. Panic began to grip at his chest, making it difficult to breath, he made the wrong choice of tensing up just before hitting the ground.

His body slammed hard, and it was instant pain shooting throughout his entire body.

Yeah defiantly something broken there. The pain was just way too much to bare and he was instantly unconscious.

Everybody had left the beach so quickly that nobody had seen him fall. The rain came down so quickly, wiping away dirt and plant life. The cliff overlooking the ocean was now being cleaned of any dirt that had been up there, and it was now covering Baird.

Back at the base, Gears were running around trying to get everybody out of the rain. They all had just arrived to the small island, and no permanent homes had been built yet. Most of the people were living in tents until their homes could be finished.

Everybody ran though the now muddy streets of the base, making their way to a large sheet metal building that was supposed to be CIC.

Inside the people stood some huddled together as they dripped, leaving large puddles everywhere.

Some Gears were passing out anything they could to help the people dry off.

Col Hoffman, Bernie, Anya and Marcus had been talking quietly stopped as a long stream of people began to pour in.

"This doesn't look good." Bernie said quietly.

"Yeah, no kidding." Col Hoffman frowned.

"What are we going to do with all these people, sir?" Anya said quietly.

"Hell if I know." Hoffman replied.

They just kept coming, like it was an endless line of people.

Finally after several minutes, Marcus spoke. " I guess we can clear out several floors for them to sleep until the storms pass and everything dries off."

"Yeah but that puts them in a smaller even more cramped places. They'll be extremely irritable." Bernie pointed out.

"Well, it'll have to do until we can find other arrangements." Hoffman replied. "Gather everybody and clear up the top 4 floors. We are going to need to hurry. If we have to move CIC to another building for the time being, so be it."

Hoffman watched as everybody hurried off. Sometimes he hated himself. Being the Col wasn't what he really wanted. He just…fell into the position. Now he was an officer, sending good men and women off to die and somehow, he was still alive.

Somebody once told him: Dying is easy, it's living that is really difficult.

TBC…