The last thing I remember was lying down to go to bed after a long night of horde mode. When I open my eyes again I'm not in my bed, not in my room, I don't even know where I am. I don't recognize this place. It's a war zone with devastation and blood everywhere, dry and fresh. I'm lying on top of something. Something that was soft on the inside with a hard shell, like a body. I had to lie there for a moment while I grasped the situation. I roll off this heap that I am lying on and sat up slowly. Oh, my head hurts. This was one of the weirdest dreams I've had in a long time. I think this is a dream; it has to be a dream. And it was only about to get weirder.
After I finally gained my composure, I looked to my side to see what I was lying on. It was a body. But, not a human body. It had arms, legs, hands, and a head. But it looked like it had scales or something. It was lifeless as it lay at my side. I poked it. Nothing. So I crawled around to the other side it was facing to get a look at its front. Oh my god! Now this has got to be a dream! Right? It was all too real though. The smells of old gunpowder, a sort of musky sent coming off the being in front of me, the feeling of everything around me, and most of all, the pain in my head, I think I fell or something. I can't remember how I got here. The being in front of me looks so familiar and real. And then the realization clicks. If I didn't know any better I'd say that it looked like a locust. Wow this is one intense dream. It was a locust. A god damn locust. And it felt real like it was a live breathing thing. Or used to be I guess. Well ok then what the hell is going on?
The next thing I know as I go to stand up, suddenly I'm staring down the muzzle of a weapon. It was a Hammerburst. A Drone hisses "Ground walker!" at me and I'm horrified. I know this can't be real and this is my dream. But I can't move, I can't do anything, I'm stuck there, frozen in place. Maybe now I get to wake up? Then I heard a loud crack and I thought I was dead. Ok so now when I open my eyes I'll be back in my nice warm bed. Arterial spray flies everywhere and all down my face and chest. This feels too real to be a dream. The blood almost hurts as it runs down my face like tiny shards of glass in thick goo. I sat there on my knees shocked. This isn't a dram is it? I couldn't tell if the blood was mine or the locusts. How is this possible? But I knew once he fell to the ground lifeless next to the other, that I was not the one shot. Next I heard the loud thudding of boots. Shit not another one. I close my eyes.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" calls a man to me. A person.
But I have not looked to find a face that the strangely familiar voice belongs to. Then the boots appeared in front of me and I open my eyes and look up to see the man I assumed had just saved me. It was none other than Marcus Fenix. Holy shit! Am I on Sera? Am I in the game? That's Marcus Fenix! I hear a couple more foot steps behind me. Marcus reaches out his hand to help me up.
"Are you hurt? Do you need medical assistance?" Marcus asked.
I sit there in shock, swimming in my own thoughts for what felt like forever. "Miss?" I snap out of it, I take his hand and somehow muster up the strength to stand. I'm suddenly so dizzy, I almost lost my balance and fall over. But then another man catches me from behind.
"Whoa there baby girl you better take it easy. It looks like you hit your head pretty hard." The giant black man says to me.
"Cole Train?" I ask confused.
"Great! Another fan. This should be fun." I could have only assumed that it was Baird, judging by the harsh sarcasm of his tone.
"Yes ma'am!" Cole flashes a huge smile and I almost feel better.
As I stood on my own again, I looked at the four men standing around me. All four staring but with a different expression on each face. Marcus had his typical concerned but emotionless face. Cole was worried I think, about the blood that was mine coming from my forehead. Barid just wanted me to leave. And then there was Dom, he just stared like he was waiting to see what I had to say next. This is getting too odd.
"My name is Sargent Marcus Fenix. This is Baird, Dom, and you already know of Cole. We are Delta Squad. "
They all gave me a nod of acknowledgement as each name was said. Cole still had a big grin on his face.
"My name is Aurora. Thank you for saving me back there. I appreciate it."
"Yes because saving you stranded assholes is something we live for!" Baird squawked.
"Aw don't be like that to the nice lady Baird! I don't think she's feeling too good right now." Cole turns to me. "Don't mind him, it's been a long few days and he's a little tired. He didn't get his nap today." He explained as he rubbed Baird's hair like a child.
"Get off."
"Knock it off you two. How's your head feeling?" Marcus asked.
"It's been better but I think I will be ok. It's just a scratch."
"So where are you from Aurora? Do you live around here?" Dom asked.
"Um ." What do I say? Hi I'm from another planet hahaha; I just fell out of the sky, but don't mind me. Yeah right. I got to get crafty on this one. Wait, why do I even care, it's not like this is real or anything. But it still felt too real. Looking at the men in front of me, I realize that they were men, not videogame characters at all, real people.
"Nowhere really, I just kind of wonder around looking for shelter at night and food during the day. I..."
Then suddenly a loud bang goes off about twenty feet from us and debris flies everywhere.
"Contact!" Marcus calls out. "Get into cover and keep your head down!" he barks at me.
Wow my ass hits the ground so fast I forgot I had legs. I crawl over to the nearest block of concrete I could find and did as I was told.
"There's more to the left! They're flanking us!" Dom calls out.
Marcus ducts down to miss some fire as he reloads his lancer, knocking his longshot off his back in the process. It can't be that different can it? I pick up the longshot and pull up the first grub in my sights. "What are you doing? Put that down!" Marcus screams at me. BANG! A headless locus falls to the ground. And another, and another, and another. Hey, I'm pretty good at this. And after about 30 min or so we finally cleared out the sudden onslaught of locus. I stand and go to hand Marcus back the longshot when I notice everyone staring at me once more. But this time in more disbelief than wonder.
"Damn baby that was amazing! You're pretty good at this shit." Cole cheered as he patted me on the shoulder. Baird gave me a look of I'm not impressed and Marcus just had one eyebrow raised.
"Where did you learn to shoot like that? It was pretty impressive." Dom asked. I don't have an answer for that. I feel from my face to the tip of my ears turn hot and bright red with embarrassment. Dom is at Marcus's side whispering something in his ear while Marcus is just staring me right in the eye and slowly nodding his head in agreement with whatever Dom is saying to him.
"I bet she killed one of our gears and took his longshot and that's why she's so good." Baird accused.
"Does anything important ever come out of your mouth when your lips are flapping or is it always some sort of whiny bullshit?" I snap at him. "I'm not a stranded..." I pause. "I'm just lost." I have to remember to act like I have no idea who these guys are. Baird just rolls his eyes.
Cole chuckles a little to my insult as he pats Baird on the back and Marcus gave me a little smirk of approval.
Marcus then cleared his throat as to get everyone's attention, never looking away from me.
"We could use someone with your skills. Unless you have dinner plans somewhere else."
"Wait wait wait! She's not going to come with us is she? We don't even know her!" Baird protested.
"My name is Aurora Parker, born 11 B.E., no family, and I couldn't give less of a fuck what you think about me. Wana learn more? Go watch my biography."
"Baird quit your bitching, we could use a good shot like her." Marcus said. "So Aurora, how about those dinner plans?"
"I think I could take a rain check."
"Well then, welcome to Delta, rook."