The planet Sera. 13 years after Emergence day. One year before the Scorched Earth Offensive. The town of Elysia.
Ashe kept running.
Bullets grazed his face and ricocheted off the shoulder plates of his body armor. He was close now, but a sweeper squad of Locusts were entrenched behind the cars and trucks abandoned in the streets, their huge muscular frames hunched over their tightly gripped weapons, popping up to fire a burst of rounds at him then dropping behind cover again. Ashe knew they were only being cautious because they did not yet know that he was separated from his unit. He could hear his C.O. screaming over the comm piece pressed into his ear, ordering all units to fall back to the helipad for immediate evac via Raven.
Fall back or be left back.
Ashe kept running. But it was not towards the waiting Raven.
Sarah, I'm coming...
It was pure luck that his unit was chosen to coordinate an uplink from the Central Square communications facility in Elysia. The long years of war had steadily taken it's toll. Resources were dwindling. Linking communications by satellite was a last ditch effort to better coordinate relief efforts for those hit hardest. A relatively easy assignment from Command in recognition and appreciation for his squad's service in the Dark Hill campaign. He had already planned to ask for permission to stop home and look in on Sarah and the baby after the assignment was complete. The war had gone on longer than any had expected. 13 years was a long time to be fighting. Ashe had only served two full tours of duty. This was the third. But he had grown up in a world where the enemy could rise at any moment and destroy what little there was left. Joining the Coalition and becoming a Gear was one of the few options Sera had left for it's citizens. Ashe believed in the Coalition. He believed that the tide of the war could still be turned. He only wanted to see for himself that his fianc? and newborn baby girl were getting along alright without him there. The frontlines were far away, and the town was too small and isolated to be of any real tactical advantage to the Locusts. He thought they would be safe in Elysia. He told Sarah that they would be safe.
He was wrong.
His unit had just completed the satellite connection in the facility's communications room when they felt the first tell-tale tremor. Ashe's heart dropped and felt as if it had turned to ice. The call came in over the comlink, confirming what they already knew. What they already dreaded. Outside in the streets, the earth broke open, swallowing cars and people. Whole buildings collapsed into massive sinkholes.
And then they came. Crawling out of the hot pits.
Locusts.
Humanoid subterranean invaders from the bowels of the earth. They were hulking, and bestial. Weighing about the same as a full grown lion. Their armor was crude but their weapons were comparable to those of the Gears, and the Locust knew how to use them with vicious effectiveness. These Locust were Drones; pale, scaly skinned behemoths armed with Hammerbursts; heavy, snub nosed semi automatic pulse rifles that fired in short but savage bursts.
Ashe's unit were the only Gears within the emergence zone. They took up positions and laid down suppression fire on the Locust assault teams, trying to give the civilians time to evacuate. But the Drones were everywhere. Too soon it became apparent that the town was all but lost. And any civilians still trapped within their homes would soon be rounded up by Locust sweeper teams and murdered.
Sarah...
That was when Ashe began to run.
A flicker of movement up ahead. Ashe pulled his pistol from it's holster. As he ran along the driver's side of one of the abandoned cars in the street, a Drone emerged from a crouched position behind the rear end, Hammerburst at the ready.
BANG.
The back of the Locust's head exploded.
Smoke wafted from the barrel of Ashe's pistol as he hopped over the Drone's slumping body.
Ashe kept running.
Emboldened by the sight of one lone human soldier seemingly running for his life, the Locust began emerging from cover to stop him. Ashe tossed the pistol into his left hand and with his right hand pulled his shotgun from the magnetic clamps built into the back of his armor plating.
A Locust rushed out from behind a trucking vehicle and ran at him. It roared and began firing wildly, it's thick, heavy boots crushing the asphalt as it charged. Ashe leveled the shotgun.
BOOM.
The Locust flew backwards as if hit by a small tank It's body crushed the passenger's side of a parked car, shattering the windows . It dropped heavily to it's knees and slumped over. Black blood began pooling beneath the body.
A savage snarl was all the warning Ashe had as he instinctively dropped low and turned. Another Locust had managed to come up behind him quiet enough to try and take his head off with a vicious swing of it's heavy Hammerburst. The attack swung over Ashe's head. Ashe raised his shotgun to fire again.
Click.
Misfire. Or Jammed. The Locust caught it's balance and turned. Spittle flew from it's wide angry mouth. It was blinded by rage. Instead of firing it's weapon it raised the Hammerburst intending to smash Ashe's skull. Suddenly, Ashe heard a familiar sound. The sound of a COG Lancer on semi-automatic. And then he realized he was being fired upon with the weapon. His eyes slid to the side and spotted another Locust running at him and firing a Lancer it had probably taken from the dead hands of a fellow Gear.
Time seemed to slow down.
Ashe tossed the pistol into the air. The pistol tumbled end over end high overhead as Ashe gripped the barrel of his shotgun with both hands and swung the weapon like a bat, smashing the Locust in front him with a savage swing. The Locust's head spun to the side at an unnatural angle and Ashe could hear it's neck snap like a tree branch. Keeping his momentum, Ashe turned and hurled the useless shotgun at the Locust running towards him. The weapon hit the monster just below it's knees and it began stumbling. As it fell forward into the street, Ashe caught the pistol he had tossed into the air, took less than a moment to aim at the Locust's big white head, then pulled the trigger.
BANG.
The Locust's head exploded in a cloud of dark red blood.
Ashe holstered his pistol and picked up the COG Lancer. The feeling of the familiar weapon in his hands turned desperateness into hope.
The remaining Locust began howling like monstrous wolves, consumed with bloodlust. They began emerging from cover showing no sense of fear or self preservation. Ashe knew the enemy possessed little to no cognitive intelligence, and when enraged they became little more than mindless, hulking beasts. But there was a reason why they were called Locusts. And that reason was because they could use their sheer numbers to accomplish what their combat training might not.
The Locust swarmed towards Ashe's position.
Ashe began backing down a narrow side alley. He knew it would force the Locust into a bottle neck and make them easier to put down. The alley was also a dead end, which would protect him from being flanked. He held his fire and continued backing away, forcing the Locust to pile into the narrow space, practically climbing over one another like ravenous animals cornering prey.
Ashe felt his back press against the alley's dead end wall. The Locust were lumbering toward him like a single, mindless machine of rage and fury.
Ashe gripped the Lancer and slowly closed his eyes.
He remembered a Sunday morning not that long ago. The sun came through the white billowing curtains of the open window and seemed to make everything glow. Sarah was sitting on the sill. She was wearing a white nightgown and she was in her bare feet. The curls of her long, red hair crowned her shoulders. She was cradling Ashley in her arms. gently rocking the baby and singing to her softly. She looked up at Ashe with those beautiful green eyes and smiled at him. So as not to wake the baby she mouthed the words I love you.
Ashe opened his eyes.
The Locust were close now, but they did not open fire. Ashe knew it was because they wanted to hear his screams as they tore him to pieces with their bare hands. But the apartment he shared with the woman he loved was less than a block away. He didn't know if Sarah and the baby would be there. Maybe they managed to get out in time.
But Ashe was not a man that could live with maybe.
He pulled the trigger and held it. The Lancer sprang to life in his hands. Locusts began dropping like bloody carcasses one on top of the other. But they kept coming. There were a lot of them. Too many. Enough to make a full squad of armed Gears break a sweat. Ashe knew he was not a one man army, but the words of his combat instructor, an tough old man named Sergeant Anvil, came rushing back to him concerning the engagement of superior forces.
"You are Gears. Gears do not give up. When faced with overwhelming odds --, keep firing until God Almighty reaches down from the pearly gates and smites the enemy down --, or until you are dead. Whichever comes first."
Ashe kept firing.
The reverberation of the Lancer began numbing his hands. He kept firing, and the Locust kept coming. The world began to dim and Ashe could not tell if he were blacking out, or if being splashed in Locust blood was blinding him. The world shrank into complete darkness. Ashe had only the sound of the firing Lancer and the feel of it in his hands to tell him he was still alive. But the sounds of the Lancer began to fade as well. Now he had only the blood-slippery grip of the hot metal in his hands and it's ceaseless vibration to reassure him that he had not yet run out of ammo. But soon, he could not even feel the Lancer in his hands. There was nothing. No light. No sound. No feeling.
Just the darkness.
And one thought.
Sarah...
It was the buzzing that brought him back from whatever abyss he was sinking into. At first, it was annoying, like a fly buzzing in his ear. But it steadily grew louder. The feeling was coming back into his fingers. His hands felt like they were on fire. The darkness began to recede and the world came back to him a bloody red. The buzzing was near deafening now.
Ashe widened his eyes.
He was holding the Lancer up and at an angle. His thumb was pressed against the ignition button on the back of the hand grip and the chainsaw attachment built into the rifle's undercarriage was revving. Chunks of something warm and wet was spraying him in the face. There was the sound of a large animal squealing. Ashe depressed the engine button and the chainsaw halted.
Ashe stepped back, his senses slowly returning.
He had been cutting into a Drone's torso lengthwise with the chainsaw bayonet. Reality came rushing back to him. Where he was. What was happening. Ashe ripped the Lancer free from the dead Locust's body, splattering bile and intestines on the ground. He swung his aim left and right, ready to fire on anything that moved. But nothing did. Dead Drones were piled on top of each other where they fell, chewed to pieces by Lancer fire. Blood covered the alley walls as high as the second story. Ashe was dripping with gore.
The Lancer felt light. Ashe raised it upwards and pulled the trigger. The Lancer clicked dry. Ashe had no memory of when he had run out of ammo. He tossed the Lancer aside and pried a Hammerbusrt from the thick fingers of a dead Drone. The weapon was heavier and felt clumsy, but Ashe knew all too well how deadly it could be in a firefight. Sloshing through limbs and entrails, Ashe began making his way back to the street.
He was going home.
Ashe ran through the deserted streets of Elysia. Night was coming, and the street lamps began flickering on. Ashe reached the apartment building and took cover to assess the situation. The building seemed mostly intact. No major structural damage. No sign of fire. But the doors at the front entrance seemed to have been smashed through from the outside. The building's interior lights were dark.
God, no...
Ashe broke into a low run, up the short steps and took cover beside the entrance. He peered inside. All of the apartment doors on the ground level were open wide. The marble steps leading up to the second story were cracked and missing chunks. The wooden banister was broken through in some places. As if something large and heavy had made it's clumsy way up the staircase.
Ashe moved quietly, but quickly up the staircase.
Please...
Ashe made his way down the dark, second story hall, swinging his aim into the open doorways as he passed, then swinging his aim back to the hall. He reached the apartment he shared with Sarah and slowly pushed the open door ajar. The apartment was dark. There was no sound. He entered the narrow foyer and moved into the living room. Clear. He swung his aim behind the counter in the kitchenette, then moved down the hall leading towards the back of the apartment. He tipped open the Bathroom door. Clear.
There was only one door left.
Ashe slowly pushed open the bedroom door.
There was blood splatter on the wall across the room.
The Locust Hammerburst suddenly felt too heavy to carry. Ashe's arms lowered and the Hammerburst thumped to the floor. Ashe staggered forward and followed the blood trail down the length of the wall. On the floor between the bed and the wall was the body of a woman. She was coiled up in a fetal position over the remains of what looked like a bassinette. The bassinette looked as though it had been shot at several times. Both the woman's body and whatever was in the bassinette lay in a thick pool of red.
Ashe could hear a sharp ringing in his ears. He winced as the ringing suddenly got louder. He clapped his hands over his ears but the ringing seemed to be coming from inside his head. He dropped to his knees and closed his eyes tightly. It felt as though his brain was going to explode.
"Ashe?"
He was going insane. He could feel it. He could her voice. Calling him.
"Ashe, is that you?"
He prayed that the pain would kill him. He wanted to die. Anything to keep from hearing her voice. From being reminded that he was too late. Too late to --.
Hands gently caressed his face. A familiar touch. He did not want to open his eyes. He did not want to see the horrible things that lay in the corner of the --.
"Baby, it's me. It's Sarah..."
Ashe opened his eyes.
The room was bright. The lights were on. There was no blood on the walls. Sarah's pretty face was looking down at him with a mixed expression of utter happiness and concern.
"I thought you were one of them." she said as she helped him to his feet. He expected his head to ache as he rose, but the pain was gone. Sarah threw her arms around him. It was good to feel her again.
"Ashley..." he asked softly.
Sarah smiled and brought out the baby where she had bundled her in blankets and hid her on the floor in the closet.
Ashe took his baby girl in his arms.
"How...?" His eyes began to sting and blur with tears. He found it hard to swallow.
"After the initial attack the Locust moved on." Sarah explained. "I think they were more interested in reaching the communications center than killing people. After they destroyed the satellite dish, they went back underground."
The communications center. That made sense. Interrupting the uplink would be a far more reasonable objective than occupying a small town like Elysia. And with the satellite destroyed and no resources readily available to rebuild it, there would be no reason for the Locust to return. Ashe could feel the strain of the day finally bear down on him. He burst into unrestrained tears. He wanted no more to do with war or being a Gear. He only wanted to hold onto his family and never let them go.
"Ashe, come on," Sarah said as she gently took the baby from him. " We need to see if anyone else needs our help."
They were alive. He made it in time. He was not too late.
Ashe felt relief and gratefulness swell within him.
He turned to follow Sarah.
But something made him stop.
His brow furrowed. He felt a surge of familiarity wash over him. Like the feeling of deja vue. Or being asleep and knowing you are about to revisit your worst nightmare. He felt the need to turn around. There was something he had to see. But some primal feeling deep within him screamed for him not to look.
Please, just let it go.
Ashe turned back around and looked.
"Ashe?" he heard Sarah call from the other room. "I need you."
Ashe turned to go to his beloved Sarah who was alive and well along with their beautiful baby girl, Ashley.
He did not see the splatter of blood on the far wall or the horrible things on the floor beside the bed.
Or so he told himself...