Sera

Position Unknown

Locust Processing Barge

16 AE

You ever have a nightmare you can't wake up from? One so unpleasant you're ready to just end it right there and not sleep for the rest of the night?

You ever realize that nightmare is real and you can't end it?

I never expected it to happen to me, though I certainly didn't hope for it, yet here I am, with hooks piercing the flesh of my back and shoulders, hanging in the darkness with pain flaring all over my body.

It's the sort of sharp pain that makes you shy away from the source on the double, yet I can't move, not even on the single, or it gets worst, and it just won't stop. All I could do is scream. I did that plenty up until now, but I it seems the pain has subsided enough for me to know that would just attract attention on myself, which I really don't care for right now. I like not having a Beserker raping my face…

There's another prisoner in a nearby room, somewhere to the right, screaming his lungs out as they do things to him I'd rather not think about.

To the left, the rustling of chains and groans of pain tell a similar story; another piece of meat is hanging in here… Or they're coming for me.

"Hey, someone alive out there?" The call is barely a whimper, my voice hoarse from screaming so much.

I barely remember screaming, though the reason is obvious. I don't even remember how I got here.

"Y…Yes…" The voice is female and that seems to hit me harder for some reason.

Dad always said women must be protected and respected, not just because men are stronger and that kind of bullshit, but also because only girls can give birth and given that the process of continuing the human race is such a fucking painful thing to them, we owe them some god damned respect.

Funny thing is, he never seemed against women soldiers and neither am I, but I guess I'm a bit of a sexist from all the chivalry bullshit they fed me at the Academy…

"Are you…" What? Tied up? Hung to the roof like meat? Shit… "Are you okay?"

"No… I am not…"

Great, now my brain thought she said she wasn't strapped up and stopped dulling the pain to wake me up in wait for my imminent rescue.

Should have stayed in bed this morning; that day ain't really turning out to be a blast…

Eight hours earlier

Stranded settlement Hole

Southern Coast

I walk down the street under the rain, pure rage flowing through my veins.

I don't see the debris or Locust corpses. I just see the antique street and a lot of red.

Rage, when unhindered, makes no distinction between right and wrong, friend or enemy, which is why I am walking down the street right now, away from the makeshift HQ

Benjamin and I used to run out in weathers like that all the time, getting ourselves fit for military service. Ben always thought speed was better that raw muscles and tried to keep a balance between strength and mobility.

Clay used to laugh at our effort, saying we were scrawny and would always be.

Half right there, big bro, Benji stayed lean and thin; I grew arms big enough to strangle a Grub and did so more than once during the war, although my favorite hand to hand technique is to go for the eyes. It felt good, back then, getting payback for Tony. Fuck, I remember my first day on the job, almost three years ago, first time I killed a Grub; best day of my life.

I puked for the rest of the best day of my life.

Must have killed a hundred drones after that, maybe more, even though I lack experience with bigger kinds of Locust, I guess I qualify as a Vet now.

The killing, fighting and current struggle for survival were the easiest way for me not to think about Tony's death, and now that Benji's gone as well, I don't know if I can hold up much longer…

Well, that little shithole Stranded settlement we're crashing in is gonna have a nice shipment of Locust gear as soon as the Sarge agrees to go hit the Grub camp downtown.

I wish Tony and Benji could see me, could see Clay; we're mean motherfuckers, just like we pretended to be when we were kid and played war games…

Except in my case, it's still just a façade, my way of surviving this war; pretending I'm some kind of badass who's not afraid of anything. I'm not; I'm a coward, but I'm alive and that's precisely because I avoid fights when possible.

This rage-induced daze brings me to the front gate, actually a school bus outfitted with armor plates and machine guns on the side facing outward, I tell Jaime to open the damn thing.

"Going out for a walk, lad?" The old man asks from the shaky guard tower, his longshot hanging loose on its bandoleer.

"Nope," I answer, looking at his blind right eye, "I'm on corpse duty, so open the damned gate…"

He nods and pushes a lever, causing a large rock on my left to lower itself and the bus to roll out of the way.

It's dark in the settlement, thanks to the all the Imulsion being diverted toward vehicles and most fire being kept near the center of town, away from the wooden walls, but outside is pretty well lit, thanks to all the flaming corpses.

Corpses duty… My job is to search all the meat out there for ammo and weapons. Sarge figures it will keep my mind off my dead bro.

Sooner or later, I'll have to think about it though, and my gun has a massive fuck-off chainsaw on it. Things won't be overly hygienic, if you catch my drift…

0

0

0

Position Unknown

Locust Torture Barge

Processing facility

I pull hard and tears fill my vision, along with red clouds and tiny blue lightnings. There'd even the roll of thunder in my ears.

Does it hurt soldier?

Despite knowing Bernie's voice isn't real, I feel the need to answer, "Yes sir!"

Are ya goin' to give up?

There are chains riveted to the floor and holding me down, but still manage to pull myself about an inch up. The chains linked to the hooks in my back go limp, but the ones in my ankles and shin stretch the skin to tearing point.

"No." I shake myself, the tearing sensation increasing to the point it fills my whole mind like an over-inflated baloon, threatening to pop my eyes out of their sockets. Shit, my skin is tearing like a t-shirt two sizes too small and all I can think of is a balloon metaphor…

Then, it vanishes, the pain, that is, replaced by a cold and wet sensation. Hooks are out.

Then get ta work!

My arms are still stuck, but I got some mobility now, so time to put those aching muscles to use…

Of course, I can't just break the chains like some kind of ape; I'm tough, just not that much, instead, I pull on my left hand while keeping it limp and my thump pressed against my palm.

This is shit I've only ever seen in movies, but I'm sure I can pull it off; I can kill Grubs with my bare hands, I must be able to unhinge my own thumb.

And I better hurry up and do it, cause a door just opened right in my face and although the light is blinding me, I can tell it ain't pizza delivery… Great, now I'm hungry.

"Hominid." Something hisses from the light. I give you one guess as to just what that something is.

"Grub." I spit back, still pulling and groaning from the horrible pain. The grub thinks I'm groaning from the hooks in my back. The Grub is an idiot.

Before anything glorious or painful can happen, however, a gun goes off and blood sprays across my face, followed with a cold sensation in my chest, like I've had ground ice shoved down my throat.

Did that asshole just shoot me? What a moron, can't even kill a guy right!

"Was that supposed to hurt, asshole!?" Famous last words, huh?

The only answer I get is some cloaked figure walking up to me from the light. Too small to be Locust or Gear… Stranded?

I try to see the slim newcomer's face, but can only see a flash of purple…

What the fuck is this? Cuddlybear rescue op?

"Nice diversion." The same girl as earlier congratulates.

From the looks of it, she wasn't hung on hooks or anything, just chained up and it appears she managed to free herself in a fashion much less painful than mine… Or I'm hallucinating…

An orange hologram appears around her arm and she uses it to, somehow, undo my restraints. Yeah, I'd stack my money on an hallucination.

"Why didn't the Grub get you outta that suit?" I groan, my legs giving under me.

The other isn't strong enough to keep my fat ass from crashing down and the impact is so brutal, it sends waves of pain along my whole body.

The other gasps and backs away in horror. I vaguely remember getting whipped earlier, and not in a kinky way, but my brain thankfully blanked out most of the thing, so I guess I won't be going nuts yet…

Which is a very strange thing to tell oneself, truth be told…

The other seems to hurt for me, but pain ain't so bad any… Who am I kidding? It feels like someone's whipping me with every breath I take and just getting up hurts so much it feel like I'll pass out.

My vision is red and I'm seeing a cog made out of blood right in front of me, apparently hovering in mid air.

Hallucination again, I guess. The girl gets her shit together and finally answers my question. Been so long I forgot what I asked.

"They know I'll die without it."

Sure, I guess that makes sense.

Sounds like a northerner or something, maybe Gorasni, couldn't tell for sure, only time I met those bastards was on Vectes and we were too busy killing Stranded pirates for chit chat.

Doesn't matter, she's not packing a weapon –which begs the question of what the fuck that shot was earlier- so I take upon myself to provide firepower.

The drone that cloaked lady killed –incinerated, more accurately- was packing an Hammerburst and a Boltok pistol. Bending over to pick them causes blood to trickle all along my back, but I still do, then hold out both weapons to my new pal.

She looks at them, then at me.

"Ugly fat bastard with punch or ugly skinny bastard with punch?" I ask, putting it simply. She picks the pistol and I can see she's missing two fingers.

Wonder if she was burnt or something and that's why she has to wear that weird ass suit…

Maybe she's a Grub, even, who knows.

Who cares? Move!

"By the way," I call after making sure the hallway is clear, "Name's Devon Carmine."

She stops for a second, wondering just what to answer, then speaks in a tone more questioning than anything, "Laki…"

Sure, hey, not like I care.

"Cover my back Laki," I chirp while moving on, "We're bustin' out."

I can almost hear the woman cringe at the mention of my back…