Prologue

Time: 15 YEARS AFTER EMERGENCE DAY

Place: URBAN PATROL IN EPHYRA

The Squad crept slowly through the old ruined building which used to be a school. The Squad consisted of six men split into three groups of two. Their objective was to patrol the Streets just outside Jacinto however they had heard a scream coming from the school and control had ordered them to search the building and investigate. Two Gears had stayed at the entrance as Squad 1 moved upstairs and Squad 2 continued down the hallway of downstairs.

The Second Squad consisted of Private Burns and Private Alex. They slowly moved up the corridor on the second floor, lancers digging into their shoulders in case something like a wretch jumped out at them. Wretches were Dog Like creatures and they usually stuck to creepy buildings with tight spaces.

Burns Hated Alex, he thought he was a freak, he was always brooding around reading old books he found on Patrols and there was something just not right about him. He had never been sent on a patrol outside of Jacinto before and all of a sudden he disappeared for a while and came back covered in scars and wouldn't tell anybody what happened. In fact, he only ever talked to Razz, his childhood friend.

Alex Stopped and put his hand up to form a fist but Burns kept on walking, his huge gear boots crunching on the broken glass from the windows that lay on the ground. Alex let him walk on but didn't follow; instead he crossed to the opposite wall and aimed his lancer at a door that was barricaded up.

As Burns walked past the door it burst open and three Locust Drones came out with Hammer Bursts. Alex Knew he couldn't take them all out with one magazine of his lancer so he sprayed low trying to stop them from shooting Burns in the back. He ran towards them while still spraying, he dropped the lancer and it dangled by the strap as he slammed into something.

He quickly tried to stand back up while withdrawing his pistol. He could see that one of the Locust was dead, but another was standing right in front of him while the last one that he had just knocked down was getting up. He quickly aimed at the standing locusts head and pulled the trigger has fast as he could. The bullets knocked the locusts head back with each bullet but he still stood until the entire magazine had been unloaded into his head, it's back rested against the wall and he began to slowly fall sideways into a slump on the floor.

The last Locust grabbed him by the neck but Alex grabbed the grenade that hung by his legging and stuck it to the locusts shoulder armour piece. The Grub knew what that meant, it let go and began clawing at the grenade allowing Alex to give it a hard kick, thrusting it back into the room where a room full of grubs were shooting out the windows at Squad 1 downstairs in the courtyard.

The Locust Fell into the crowd as the grenade detonated, Alex turned to see Burns on the ground wrestling with two Wretches as they tore into him. Alex was about to level his lancer and aim towards the wretches hoping to get a good shot when the door beside him burst open and two Locust drones came charging out.

The Lancer was still attached to him via the strap but he knew he was almost out of bullets so he revved the Chainsaw Attachment to the Chainsaw and instead of bringing it down on top of the locust to cut him in half, he thrust it forward instead. Something he had learned on his first mission.

The Chainsaw dug into the Grubs gut, digging deeper the muzzle came out the back covered and Alex opened fire while the Chainsaw gutted the charging locust. The bullets hit the following Grub in its knees, downing him. It tried to crawl away but Alex Slowly stalked it. Walking behind it, he pulled his knife from its sheath on his right boot. He put his hand on the grub's forehead and pulled back so it exposed its neck, he then stuck the knife into the throat, behind the windpipe and begun to saw back and forth until the throat was cut open and the Grub gasped for air as it twitched on the ground.

Alex Looked up to see Razz and the team leader standing in the door frame. Both staring at the carnage in the room. There was just Alex Standing in a room full of Limbs and blood holding a knife in one hand and the other just retracting from a locust with a slit throat. Rarely Gears went up against Grubs in Hand to Hand Combat but Alex had quite a neck for it.

The Team Leader was still staring at the carnage before he simply stated "Fall in" and walked on down the corridor. Razz Stared a little longer and just simply shook his head "Damn dude".

This was why Alex liked him so much, his carefree attitude towards everything, being cheerful despite the worlds state and not judging him. Everyone Judged him. He walked out of the room to see that Burns had been ripped apart by the wretches but the corpses of the Wretches were scattered throughout the hallway, Squad 2 had got them when they reached the stairs.

Alex knelt down and pulled the Cog tags off of the body and mumbled "asshole"