Gears of War - Bravo Squad
Prologue: Almost Seems Peaceful
6:22 AM; Light
cracked through the steel shutters of the window slowly rising up to
reveal four, armor clad soldiers. Only but two still breathing, laying
against the cold gray wall of the complex.
The faint beams of sun finally broke the grim darkness of night shining
into the weathered eye-lids of Bravo's leader, Sargent Bobik. Dark,
stressed rings, hung under his eyes, they tensed as the light washed
over them. His facial features were scarred and rugged, but they
maintained some youth and vitality. Usually his voice was confident and
full of vigor, but going through hell can take that away from any man.
"Ugh.. Is it that time again," The Cog leader groaned, blinking twice to clear his vision, the nightmare of last nights encounter still stained in his head.
NAVCOM had ran them straight behind a "small enemy force" of two dozen grubs, equipped heavily with bolo grenades and a troika turret. If it wasn't for their small advantage of being behind them-- A small shiver ran down his back, he didn't want to think about it.
It had been possible only with the help of NAVCOM, the ones who had led them into the mess, that they found refuge inside an abandoned pornaugraphy shop, where luckily the previous owner had reinforced the building with steel.
Bobik peaked his eyes over to the left, catching a brief glimpse of the mauled Gear before guiding his view back to his right. He gave a grim stare at Specialist Raylo, the only other living person in Bravo squad. His dark, brown, hair covered his head down to his eyes. Something that would usually not put up with, but things had gone to crazy to care about such protocols. Exhausted, the Cog soldier only pushed himself to greet his Capitan by turning his head to meet Bobik's stare. The grizzly face of his leader was too much and Raylo mustered a good morning of sorts."Aye well -blam!-, we lasted the night now did we," Raylo whispered happily.
The Sargent looked up, the sunlight still poured through, clearing the shadows covering broken shelves full of pornaugraphy. A weak smile filtered through the pain that ached in all of his limbs.
"Yeah, yeah we -blam!-ed them up pretty good didn't we Steve," Bobik replied, stamina filling his tone once again."What are we gonna do with them," His eyes motioned over to the former members of Bravo squad.
"Well," Bobik started, first getting back on his feet,"First we're going to grab their Cog tags," He hunched over and picked up his Lancer,"Then we're going to find regroup with Command," He dropped his clip, exchanging it for a fresh one," Then," Bobik checked his Lancer again, wiping off dried blood from the bayonet,"We're going to kick some ass..."
A sharp voice cracked over the COMM channel,"Bravo Squad, be advised, you have enemy Locust heading toward your location, king ravens en route."Specialist Steve, Minay got to his feet and revved the Lancer's chainsaw bayonet,"Guess we're going to have to skip a couple of steps."
Incoherent growling echoed outside, the clinking of clips being locked into place and bolts being pulled back.
Bobik motioned toward the door, holding up three fingers, then two, then one, they dashed for the door, zero.
"HOOSSTTEEELLSSSS!!!"
Chapter I: Hump the Ground
6:57 AM; Bullets
impacted on the side of car, a slight convenience given to last two
soldiers of Bravo squad. They had emerged from the adult shop with guns
blazing, two grubs went down before a Theron guard alerted the rest of
the group to their presence.
The outside atmosphere was engulfed with the ambient sounds of
explosions, shrapnel, and bullets pounding flesh. Two wrecked cars,
stripped of wheels and put on blocks, were positioned outside the
building, the two Gears, battle hardened and adrenaline rushed, were
blind firing their Lancer from the immobile vehicles into the small
crowd of drones. Specialist Raylo ducked behind the car as a salvo of
bullets from the hammerburst smacked the frame of the vehicle.
Unnoticed, the Theron guard had fallen back to higher ground, swapping the Boltok pistol, and unfolding the Torque bow. Raylo peaked through the shattered window, spotting the explosive sniper.
"Theron guard, 2'0 clock, up high!" Specialist Raylo shouted over the gunshots.
Bobik unlimbered the Longshot, the faithful weapon had always helped and he hoped it wouldn't stop now. He quickly checked the chamber, grabbing a particularly large bullet, giving the explosive-tip a small kiss before loading it.
"Steve! Cover!" The Sargent hollered as he steadily rose up behind the wheel of the car, he could now see the Theron guard.
The other Gear got up, grabbing a bolo grenade from his pack, the explosive however looked more like a medieval weapon than a grenade as he swung it wildly in the air, he finally let go. The ball and chain flung through the air, bludgeoning a drone.
One-one thousand...
The explosion followed after, tearing apart three grubs into nothing but blood and smoke.
It served it's purpose as Bobik steadied the sniper rifle, acquiring
the target. He took a deep breath, remembering what had been done to
Bravo's fallen.
"Eat it, b!tch."
Bobik squeezed the trigger, slapping the Locust with a .50 cal. round to the face. The Theron guard's severed body toppled over, the charged Torque fired, punching itself into the back of grenadier.
Specialist Steve Raylo dropped the assault rifle and grabbed Gnasher, the shotgun of choice for the Cog. He jumped over the hood of the car and went full sprint to a fallen cement pillar on the opposite side of the street. Five meters in front of him was the emergence hole, the 5x5 burrow that had been dug by the Locust. He searched the corpse laden ground for another grenade, using his last on the grubs seemed like a bad idea now, they needed to plug that hole.
"Raylo, they're coming up!"
A pair of scaly arms stretched out of the hole and grabbed the ground, one hand clasped onto a grenade. Raylo looked over to Bobik, he gave a quick sigh and sprinted over to the emergence hole.
The Locust drone looked up at him and roared, but intimidation wouldn't work. The human soldier placed one steel clad boot on top the grub's hand, the animal's facial features tensed in pain as his bones shattered. Raylo lowered his shotgun point-blank into the putrid creature's face and squeezed the trigger.
It seemed as the whole drone had suddenly vanished, exploding into nothing but blood and gore. Raylo bent over, the whole beast was obliterated but the drone's hand and the single grenade. He held the grenade out, hanging it over the seemingly endless pit and dropped it, taking five step backs as a blossom of smoke and fire erupted from the hole.
"Ah..." The worn Cog down sat down on the nearby concrete block, setting the Gnasher on the ground," Can we go home now?" Specialist Minay cheered with a fake optimism.
"You know," Sargent Bobik said as he walked over, sitting down next to him," It's not over yet."
Raylo sighed and pulled out his last clip for his Lancer.
"Yeah," Specialist Raylo looked up at the sky, the morning breeze was wearing down as the day started again. The air was quiet and held no promise for the flutter of king ravens flying in for evac anytime soon. But rather in the distance closer to the rubble littered ground was the faint rumble of something moving under the earth and getting closer.
"Yeah, I know..."