Hi guys! Ok, so this is just a little Baird/Bernie story I've been meaning to get down. I've been reading the Gears of War books, and I have to tell you, I just love those two together! Sorry for the lame title, but I really couldn't think of anything better. This takes place during Jacintos remnant. (I know that that's a little early in Baird and Bernie's relationship, but I really liked the atmosphere around Port Farrell.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to tell me what you think!
(P.S I am still working on my other stories. I've just been pretty busy with school, but I promise, the longer they take to update, the better they'll be. =D )
Boots crunching over newly fallen snow was the only sound in the crowded forest that surrounded Port Farrell. The woods were progressively becoming devoid of wild animals ever since the refugees from Jacinto had moved in, and as Baird and Bernie walked on in silence, there was an eerie calm to the atmosphere.
The two gears had been on patrol for about an hour now, tracking a wounded locust that had escaped an ambush a few days prior. Traditionally, one grub that had gotten out of battle wouldn't have been much cause for concern. But after the hollow had been flooded, the entire race of locust was on the brink of extinction. Every single grub had to be accounted for.
"Would you please remind me why we're out here?" Baird's voice broke the silence, puffs of steam coming from his mouth while he trudged through the ankle-deep snow. Bernie had really hoped that he had found something better to do then constantly run his mouth, but once again, she rolled her eyes as he questioned her.
"Because, Blondie, we have to track down the Locust we lost the other day." She figured she wouldn't encourage him with more sarcasm, and opted for a quick answer that would shut him up.
She heard Baird scoff behind her. "I mean, why are we out here. I'm not going to sugar-coat things granny; I don't want to be here with you, and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time; Knitting…or screaming at kids to get off your lawn….or sizing up coffins….." The blonde grinned sarcastically while counting each of his points on his hand.
Bernie rolled her eyes again, wishing that he would shut up. They had been on patrol for quite a while now, but not once had there been a full five minutes of silence. He was a cocky bugger, and the female gear was still trying to learn the ins and outs of his attitude.
"Because." she replied patiently, taking a few paces ahead. "They know that if you get out of line, I can give you a good smack to the jaw." The forest fell silent again, and Bernie smiled when Baird didn't come up with a quick reply.
"It's creepy how all the animals moved on. I've never been in a forest like this before…" She changed the topic before Baird had the chance to think of something.
"You know what I think? I think you're still just on edge from that pack of dogs the other day. What was it that nearly took your arm off? A rabid chihuahua…?"
Bernie simply shot the mechanic a look before continuing her walk. Baird hadn't even been there when the dogs had attacked her and the rest of Delta, but saying that would only add fuel to the flames. She let it go.
They walked on for another ten minutes, Bernie constantly reminding Baird to be quiet, and to keep his eyes open for any signs of life. But no how many broken twigs, footprints, or puddles of blood they found, it didn't feel like they were making any headway. The bastard was defiantly on the move, and pretty soon it would be getting dark. She wished that they could just find him and get home already. She wasn't about to state it out loud, but the cold weather was aggravating her joints, making things even less enjoyable.
"It's friggin' cold out here." Baird piped up again, stating the obvious while shouldering his lancer. As he folded his arms over his chest, Bernie could see the tips of his fingers had defiantly turned a shade bluer in the last half hour, but she didn't know whether to feel sorry for him, or poke fun at his inexperience.
She settled on the latter.
"God, you're such a city boy Blondie. What's the matter, didn't you and your dad ever explore the great outdoors together? Y'know, father-son fishing trips or something like that?" It was Baird's turn to get teased, but she felt slightly awkward bringing up his childhood. He would get very fidgety whenever someone spoke of his parents, and Bernie continually found herself wondering if they had anything to due with Baird's perpetually bad attitude.
"Are you kidding? Leave the comfort of our mansion, with the servants, chefs and butlers? Absolutely not." Baird's voice took on a sort of posh accent, but his tone didn't sound as jokey as it did before. Other then mentioning his house, he didn't talk any further about his parents, and Bernie suddenly felt like she had crossed a line; whenever she and Baird talked on a personal level, the main goal of their conversations was to acquire firepower for their verbal sparring. But they both had common decency, and tried to avoid certain topics for each other. And that included Baird's home-life.
Bernie dropped the subject, but she felt like she should do something now for him; a sort of peace offering.
"So how bout this." She spoke up after deliberating the idea for a moment. "After we find the locust, me and you can go deer hunting. We're running low on supplies back at base anyway….and that way, I can teach you a thing or two."
"Y'know granny, I really can't think of anything that would be more fun then spending the entire day with my favorite senior citizen. I mean, it's not like I had anything important to due…"
He didn't refuse her out right, so Bernie took that as a good sign.
"I'm your favorite, am I Blondie?" she smiled, making sure to keep a few paces ahead of him.
"Sure Granny. You're actually not as bad as you look. Oh, but wait. The retirement home called earlier, and they said you're due back by six….." Baird mimicked a pout as he kept walking, ducking under low-hanging branches while jogging to catch up with Bernie. It was apparent that this terrain was familiar to her; she was weaving her way through the snow covered forest with barely any trouble, constantly leaving Baird a few feet behind. "What a shame…I was really-"
Before he could continue, Bernie stopped dead in her tracks and held up her hand. They were on the edge of the tree-line now, a large clearing in the mass of foliage directly in front of them. She signaled for Baird to stay where he was, and to shut his mouth.
He did as he was told while near silently taking his lancer back into is arms, straining to hear whatever it was that had spooked Bernie.
They waited a full two minutes in unmoving silence, listening for anything that sounded out of the ordinary.
Finally, Baird got tired of standing in one place, and was just about to voice his opinion when a twig snapped, setting both him and the older gear on sentry mode.
He got a better grip on his lancer, shifted his feet into a more steady position, and was just about to take off in the direction of the noise when Bernie placed a hand on his shoulder.
"He's close." she stated while gesturing to the fresh drips of blood on the pure white snow. "I'm going to get a better view; see if I can spot him from up there." She nodded towards the large oak tree. "Since it's a clearing, you can scout ahead, and check the perimeter. But make sure you stay in my line of sight."
She looked up into the branches before swinging her lancer onto her back, not quite sure how to reach the first branch.
"Don't get stuck again…" Baird quipped with a smile, bending his knees while lacing his fingers, creating a make-shift step for his female companion. It was like he had read her thoughts, but taunting her about getting stuck in a tree downplayed the kindness of his gesture.
She planted her boot into his palms with more force then necessary, using most of her weight to bounce up to the nearest branch.
"Are you sure you'll be ok while I'm gone? The sun's setting, and you get so scared in the dark…" Bernie took on a worried tone as she ambled up the tree, purposefully sending snow that had accumulated on the branches in his direction.
"You better watch who you're talking to." He was speaking through the comms now, careful to keep his voice hushed as Bernie vanished from sight, using the dead leaves at the very top of the tree for cover. "There is plenty of snow down here, and I just happen to be a master at constructing geometric shapes."
Before Bernie could figure out what he meant, a perfectly shaped snowball whizzed by her face and buried itself into the branch next to her with a resigned puff. Any other time, she might've thought it funny, but right now, she had nearly lost her balance thirty feet in the air.
"Baird-" she could only hiss his name through the earpiece before he cut her off.
"That was simply a warning." He stated with finality, and she watched through the scope of her sniper rifle as he started walking forward again, lancer at the ready.
"Stay north." She reminded him one more time, and, knowing that she could see him, he gave her a quick salute in response, not bothering to turn around.
Two minutes passed as Baird steadily moved forward, keeping his gun close. Both he and Bernie were straining to hear anything that would betray the locust's position, but there wasn't a sound.
He walked ten, then twenty, then thirty feet ahead, his blue eyes carefully scanning the foliage that made up the circumference of the clearing, but still no sign of the grub.
Come on, where are you, you bastard….
Just as Baird reached the end, he looked back at the oak tree and signaled "thumbs down".
Bernie sighed with frustration, but right before she could begin her slow descent back to the ground, a heart-stopping growl permeated her ear-piece, and she had just enough time to look back into her scope before an ugly grey form emerged from the cover of trees.
Baird had most definitely heard the grubs guttural tone, but all he could do was turn around, lancer raised, before the wounded locust slammed directly into him.
There was a split second of paralyzing fear as they both hit the ground, and it was only when Baird's voice sounded in the comms again was Bernie able to regain her focus.
"Bernie….I…. found him…." Both of Baird's hands were gripping the locust's claws, which were wrapped firmly around his neck. It was a constant struggle to keep the other pinned down; the Locust would tear his wrists away from Baird, attempt to sink them in his neck, only to have Baird grab the talons right before they could dig into his flesh. Bernie could already hear that Baird's voice was being choked back, but it wasn't until she focused in on the pair that she could see the locust was in a much better position then her companion.
"I can see that." She replied, trying to find an angle to shoot that wouldn't put Baird in any danger while wondering how he managed to retain that snarky demeanor in any situation.
As fast as she could, Bernie mentally went through the flaws and pluses to the situation; firstly, the grub was unarmed, which was a major relief in a situation like this. Also, judging by the large amounts of blood dripping from its skull, there must've been a tender area on his head. That could also serve as a weakness.
But then, the thing was on top of Baird, and their heads were defiantly too close for Bernie to want to risk a shot. Baird's lancer had been thrown aside in the tussle, and since his hands were busy keeping the grub's sharp talons away from his neck, he had no way to reach his sidearm. Plus, Bernie was too far away to get to them in time. No, sprinting thirty plus feet would've been fine. But she knew dismounting from her perch on the tree would take upwards of ten minutes. Her sniper rifle was the only viable option at the moment, but even then, what could she do?
"Mataki…..some time….today….would be fine…" Baird's ragged voice interrupted her thoughts, and she could now see small streams of blood coming from the base of his neck. It would only be a matter of time before the Locust managed to snag an artery, and then…
Bernie didn't even want to think about it.
"He's too close." her speech was still as calm as it had been twenty minutes ago, but as she stroked the trigger of the gun anxiously, she could feel her hands trembling ever so slightly. "Baird, you have to move him away from your head."
Bernie barely even heard the savage growls from the locust, as her attention was focused solely on Baird. The sound of his breathing was worrying her now; between every sharp intake of breath was a gagging cough, and she knew that it wasn't much longer until he lost consciousness.
"That….all….?" he managed between each strangled breath, hands and legs thrashing under the weight of the Locust.
Having to listen to his struggles without being able to do anything was making her sick, but she couldn't take a shot that would risk doing more harm then good.
"Bernie…..I c-can't….shit….." a pained cry escaped Baird's lips as the locust finally managed to pry it's wrist away, and sunk its clawed hand into the mechanic's shoulder.
Baird was now using his boots to try to get the creature off, but the thing didn't seem to feel any pain while it continually brought its free hand down wherever Baird's armor didn't cover.
"Baird...Gun!" Bernie had to raise her voice to be heard over the savage growls of the Locust, and she could only hope that he understood what she meant.
Grab the snub pistol.
She knew that surrendering one of his hands would allow the grub more leverage, but hopefully, Baird would be able to shoot the bastard before it could inflict much more damage.
"W-hat-t?" he spoke as best he could through his harsh breathing. His face was completely pale now, and Bernie could see that his blinking was becoming rapid.
"Baird, shoot the bloody thing with your pistol!"
That time it seemed to register; just as Bernie looked down to set her gun, so she could risk doing the job herself, three shots broke the monotonous sound of their struggles, followed almost immediately by a pained scream that sent a chill down her spine.
Bernie lost no time in looking down the scope, and took aim at the Locust. Its head was now reared back with pain, and she could see distinct gunshot wounds in its upper arm. She took one steady breath while sighting the crosshair directly on the Locust's eye socket before firing.