I love Gears of War. That includes almost all the stuff about it. So this story will be a reflection of that. I hope you'll enjoy this ride along with me.
"There is something out there." A frantic young voice ducked down behind a piece of rubble. Once his back pressed against, the vibration had several peddles roll off from the top
"We know what that means." Another voice responded but sounded raspy.
"Lock and load people, grubs inbound." An affirmative feminine voice called out as she slide a new magazine into her weapon. Several human beings scrambled about in light blue glowing armor. The armor of the COG.
The woman of this little squad was named Lance Corporal Erica Dartmouth. The current leader to the remnants of Echo Squad. With a number of six remaining Gears alongside her. It used to be ten…
The current objective of Echo Squad is to hold off the advance of the enemy to protect a Coalition of Ordered Governments' depot. The place the Echo set up in was a supermarket. There wasn't much that be could used. Just a series of sandbags that were left over from a previous firefight. Which was a commodity onto itself. Echo dug in and constructed a makeshift barricade. The soldiers posted there were ordered to evacuate whatever supplies they could salvage before the enemy could swarm the region. The region being, the city named Illama. Echo squad is currently holed up in a superstore. The place has been picked clean of whatever supplied it offered.
"Are they Maulers?" The same young voice called out as he peaked out of his cover.
"We don't know that and shut up." Another voice called back. This one belonged to another young voice. He ducked down beside the young voice. He pulled the chamber back to bolt out the next round out of his 'Pulse Rifle' (The Gears of War 1 Hammerburst). The walls started to shake.
"Anyone got a grenade?" Dartmouth asked.
"Here." Deep voice responded as he passed her two frag grenades. Red chained balls swung limply as Dartmouth took hold of them. She lowered her head the reached for her back for a Lancer Mark II. Standard issue, has great compensation for fore the fire rate and has a chainsaw bayonet in case things needed to get messy.
"Please don't be a Corpser. Please please please!" The young voice rambled to himself.
"We'll be fine." Another soldier paced past the young one. He was in his late-twenties and has been part of the COG for the second half of his life. Battle tested since the Kryll Storms and many battles since. The dark skinned man with his hair tied back into dreadlocks. The slide out a spent shotgun shell from his 'Gnasher.' A 12-gauge shotgun that is lever action and can fire as fast as the user could allow.
The ground started to quiver then rumble.
"Feel that? Better get ready." This Gear was named Private Jace Stratton.
"Roger that." A Gear named Private Logan Decker prepped his Pendulum-Wars Lancer. A bulky weapon that is the big brother to the Mark II variant and packs one hell of a punch. Also known as the 'Retro Lancer.'
Then like that, two steel reinforced doors blasted down for the enemy to enter the store.
The young voice took a deep breath as he pointed his Lancer at the doorway. Then to Echo's right flank, the tile flooring pressed out of place. The ground shifted apart, then came the blood curling roar.
It was a deep one. The kind that a lifelong smoker cried out as it several creatures crawled out of the exposed hole. Each of them had pale thick skin and didn't cared much about armor. The Locust as the COG like to call them, are humanoid creatures that live underground in the crust of the planet. In the years since they appeared, they've been a non-stop force that wishes nothing more than exterminating the human race. A small red ball flipped through the air and landed at the sandbags Echo laid down several hours earlier.
KOO BOORRRRUUUUMMMMM.
"To the side!" Dartmouth ordered. Once she said that, Decker volunteered himself to take aim toward the Emergence Hole. His Retro Lancer laid down a continuous load of bullets. It didn't mean much but several of the creatures toppled over.
Eventually Decker's Retro clicked empty. "Cover me!" Decker shouted as he ducked his head down.
"I got you!" The sixth Gear with the raspy voice named Private First Class Urien Marson shouted.
"Thanks."
The bullets continued to hale around the place as the young voice ducked his head down since his Lancer went empty as well. He looked around and felt something heavy at his back then he fell to the ground. One of the Locust charged through the gunfire and jumped over the sandbags to kick the young Gear down.
From that, the soldier scrambled under the Locust's boot. It was a tall one that didn't have any kind of clothing at its torso. The wrinkled white skin of the beast flexed, as the head looked downward. The jaw of it had clear jagged teeth and with orange eyes. The lips pursed up and a pair of pitchless black holes of a sawed-off shotgun aimed at the Gear's head.
REEEVVV VVRRRRMMMM VVVRRMMM!
Marson stepped out of cover just so he could rev his chainsaw bayonet. The saw blades carved away the thick hide from the left shoulder to the right hip. The severed torso fell to the ground, with blood drenched armor Marson offered a hand to help the young Gear to his feet.
The young Gear heaved for air. The Veteran chuckled then brushed some blood off the shoulder of the young Gear.
"War ain't over yet!" Marson crouched down and placed his back to the sandbags.
"Come and get it" The Gear with the Pulse Rifle shouted. Once he shouted that, his left shoulder sparked several times as he stumbled backward. The bullets coming from the Locust grazed his armor.
A Locust that could named as a Drone had it's chest erupt with blood and bullets. In rapid succession, the left thigh bursted out in blood which caused it to drop and roll on the floor.
"Come on! Make it worth my time!" The Gear shouted out. Bullet casings rained from the Pulse Rifle.
The thing about the Locust is that they're resourceful bastards. As in, they know how to wage war, build weapons, and use creatures of various sizes to fight the inhabitants of Sera. He peeked out of cover as he fired two more bursts from his Pulse Rifle. Another Locust with a head encompassing helmet charged forward but kicked its legs to the ceiling from point blank range.
"You're not so tough!"
"Damn it, Wilson! Get your head down!" Dartmouth waved her arm at the young voice to pull him back. The Pulse rifle obsessed Gear is named was Private Charlie Wilson.
"You got a death wish man!?" The young Gear shouted, his voice cracked at the end as he never been in such a firefight.
"Nope." Wilson nodded as he reached for his back. At his back, was a something called a 'Breechshot,' originally a UIR (Union of Independent Republics) sniper rifle called a 'Markza' but after Emergence Day, The Locust claimed the weapons and heavily modified the Markzas to be a bolt action rifle. The muzzle and barrels were replaced to fire larger caliber bullets. Needless to say, it made for a great weapon in mid to for the Breech. So the Gears took to calling them Breechshots.
"Say cheese!" Wilson smiled as he fired a bullet into the stomach of a Locust drone. The very basic form of infantry of the Locust Horde. It collapsed to the ground and held onto its stomach in an attempt to stop blood loss. Decker snickered to himself as he fired his weapon again to make sure the Drone died on the second bullet as it toppled onto its puddle of blood.
"I'm okay ma'am!" Wilson bolted the spent shell casing.
"BOOM!" A nine foot tall Locust blasted a doorway open. This thing was called a Boomer for obvious reasons. I loves to blow stuff up and remind the COG soldiers about it. These creatures carry large single shot grenade launchers. It could blast apart a human beings the moment it makes contact. Amply named the 'Boomshot'
"To our right!" Marson started to unload his Lancer in the Boomer's direction. The bullets had little effect since the Boomer flinched more in annoyance since it couldn't focus on where to shoot at. The young Gear noticed the effort and did the same. Wilson and Decker provided them cover fire.
Jace stood up as he felt something touch his back.
"Jace come on, we're going around." Dartmouth ordered and Jace nodded. Dartmouth had a fully loaded Lancer as Jace did the same with his Gnasher.
Wilson's Breechshot clicked empty as he capped another Drone. He had another magazine to use and he pulled it out of his back pocket. Since the situation grew dire with every second, he couldn't take his time. He slammed the magazine into his Breechshot but the locking mechanism didn't latch properly.
"What the hell!?" Wilson didn't think much about it as he tried to align the magazine correctly.
"Fire your weapon Wilson!" Marson shouted.
"It's jammed!" Wilson shouted back.
"BOOM!" A ball of red flew through the air and overshot the barricade. Had Marson stood up, he could have taken a full brunt of a Boomshot.
"Oh shit!" The young Gear let himself shout out. He didn't feel proud to let that happen as Echo team ignored him.
"Where's Dartmouth and Jace?" Decker asked as he reloaded his Retro.
"Flanking. Keep up the fire." Marson replied. Finally the Boomer absorbed enough punishment for it to fall over to its back.
"Roger that." Wilson replied as he swapped back to his Pulse Rifle.
The young Gear noticed that there was a long a long continuous glow emanating from the doorway. He squinted his eyes to see another Locust Drone storm out. What separated It appeared to look like any other drone, but it behaved differently. The Hammerburst in its hands fired off dozens of rounds and several grazed Marson's armor.
"Are we going to get any backup?" The young Gear asked. He aimed at the Drone with the odd since eye slit helmet.
"No, we're the only soldiers Command could spare." Decker responded.
Wilson peeked out of cover as fired three controlled bursts as another Drone dropped dead. The one with the helmet, and looked like a cyclops laughed as it moved up. Then like that, four more similar to it came from the doorway.
"Put them down!" Marson adjusted his line of fire.
"Echo, Jace and I are in position, get ready for the counter attack."
"Copy." Decker answered for the squad.
Several aisles down from the barricade, a door was kicked down as Dartmouth and Jace stormed out and immediately killed three of the incoming Cyclopes. Dartmouth tossed both of her grenades.
"Surprise motherfuckers!" Dartmouth laughed as she sawed a Cyclops from the stomach down. The intestines spilled out and in turn forced the Locust to drop to its knees. Dartmouth kicked it back as it bleed out.
"Groundwalkers!" One of the Drones pointed directly at the flank.
"Advance!" Decker order as Echo all popped out from the barricade. The four of them jumped out over cover to apply pressure. A groaned in pain as Decker fired at its midsection. Jace's Gnasher blasted a Drone's torso away from its legs. Jace leaned back as his armor endured several shots of another Hammerburst. Dartmouth noticed it, she aligned her Lancer to take it out.
At the barricade, Decker and Wilson made their way to the other two as Marson and the young Gear provided cover fire. The young Gear flinched as a bullet whizzed past his head. It still freaked him out at something could spill his brains, like a gumball machine.
"We're good!" Decker shouted as they made to Jace and Dartmouth.
Jace fired two more shells as he needed to reload his Gnasher. At his back, was a belt that arranged his shotgun shells for him to easily pull out. "Come on, Echo. We got this!"
Dartmouth charged forward and she used her Lancer as she threw it forward for a Drone to catch. In that moment, Dartmouth drew her Snub Pistol and fired four bullets into the mouth of the Drone. Jace successfully reloaded his Gnasher and continued to put on the fire at the Locust. She nodded to herself. It wasn't bad work to kill so many.
A sharp and bitter pain pierced through her lower back...
Then it all ended. Just by the shape of the pain, it felt like a bayonet. A Drone with a Retro Lancer pierced her armor and lifted her up. She cried in pain as Jace saw her and her blasted the Drone away for it to drop her. The blade snapped and wedged itself deeper into her lower back. Blood seeped out of the armor.
"No." Jace flipped Dartmouth over and dragged her to a safe place of cover. She wasn't tall enough for her head to peep out of cover. Jace turned her on her side and did his best to apply first aid.
In the chaos, Decker and Wilson didn't noticed what happened as they focused on the Locust as that happened behind them. Once it came to time to reload their weapons that was when they got to see the state of their squad leader. Jace opened a hemostat dressing to see if he could hold back the bleeding.
Decker looked like he was about to help but Jace waved him off. "Keep those Grubs off us, I'll call you if I need you!"
"Yeah." Decker looked away he popped out to continue the fire at the Locust.
"Roger." Marson looked that the Gear. "Come on kid." The two of them jumped over a metal counter. A metal rake for candy pushed over to reveal another large Locust. This one was the same thing as a Boomer but used a different weapon. Instead of Boomer, this Locust was named as a 'Grinder.' It had a weapon called a Mulcher in hand, a heavy hand crank weapon. More specifically, a chain gun.
"GRIND!" The thing looked toward Echo squad. The closest target being Marson. There was no room for the Gear to react. The Grinder laughed as it cranked the Mulcher.
"Go!" Marson shouted to Ben.
Dozens of bullets blasted at Marson. He stopped in his tracks and his body started to convulse backward, the bullets severed his left leg for him to fall down. Echo couldn't hear his screams over the Mulcher churning Marson to paste. In five seconds, Marson's head rolled off and stared at a vacant wall, clear of blood or damage.
The Grinder laughed to itself. "WEAK!" The Grinder shouted as it turned to Echo squad. The young Gear was completely cut off from his team when they were just fifteen feet away. When Marson was killed, the Gear took cover at a large pillar. It was wide enough to hide the Gear completely. He panted several breaths to himself as Echo called out to him.
'I am going to die!' He just survived basic training and sent to his first squad. 'Some soldier I turned out to be…'
The Gear looked out to see Echo squad in trouble. Decker and Wilson took cover behind several wooden crates and it was layered by three more creates but the Grinder started to chip away the cover. Eventually, either Decker or Wilson would be killed at this rate. The Grinder continued its prolonged dark laughter.
There was decision to be made. Let Echo die and hide out, or do something really stupid.
The Gear nodded to himself as he reached for his back. Along with the Standard Lancer, this Gear was also given a long barrel rifle called a 'Longshot.' A weapon that appears to look heavy on appearance but was rather light in comparison to the Markza. It had a single chamber for it fire a large caliber bullet. The Gear loaded the Longshot. In his mind, a single name was engraved on the casing of the bullet, and it was Grinder.
"GRIND!" The Grinder chanted and it continued to crank the Mulcher.
'This is it!' The Gear shouted to himself as he popped out from the pillar and looked through the scope of the Longshot. He did what his instructors told him not to, which was not to take a breath while firing. The Gear exhaled as he accepted that this might be the last moments of his life. The small blue dot of the scope squared in on the Grinder as it noticed the Gear.
"GRI-!"
POP. The Longshot fired at short range. The bullet flew through the air and one that single shot, it locked itself into the eye of the Grinder. The Grinder stopped laughing, and instead leaned to its right and dropped the Mulcher. A loud thump struck the ground.
The Grinder was dead and so was the rest of the Locust wave. The Gear leaned back to the pillar and continued to heave for air. Thank goodness he wore a helmet, otherwise he could be breathing in dusty air along with the iron smell of blood.
Decker killed another Drone as the screaming Locust seemed to have disappeared. The Emergence Holes that flanked the barricade didn't exist anymore since it collapsed onto itself.
Wilson looked up as he aimed his Pulse Rifle around. It looked like they killed off the Locust that made their assault. He looked away for a moment to see that Decker walked to Jace's side. Erica Dartmouth, had a content expression her. There wasn't anything Jace could do in time. Decker looked to his right to see a broken bloody bayonet. The string of blood of the bayonet stemmed from their leader.
The young Gear walked away from his cover and he looked down at the remains of Marson.
'No one deserves to die like that.' He thought to himself as he stared.
"Hey Ben." Wilson called out to the young Gear. "Nice shot."
"Uh… thanks. I wasn't sure if I was goin' to live after that." Ben replied. Under his helmet. With all of its features of a clear view and air filters. Ben could imagine the smell the blood and bullets.
"Neither did I, champ." Wilson discarded a spent Pulse Rifle clip then he loaded a fresh one. As he did that, he walked to Marson. The corpse of the man he served with for the past 5 months. Wilson grimaced to himself as he kneeled down to the corpse. A blank smile caressed his face as he kneeled down to take the blue COG tags. The name, squad, and identity code were pressed onto those tags. Even in a desperate time of war, the Coalition makes sure every soldier has an identity and a label for comrades to scavenge.
Wilson stood up. "Come on."
Ben and Wilson walked back to the team to see Dartmouth's state. Jace walked away from Erica with her COG tags. The body recovery team plan to sweep this sector in several days. A body bag will come for Erica and Urien, Decker would make sure that will happen. He just needed to submit the tags to a Quartermaster.
The remnants of Echo team was now comprised entirely of Privates. Each of them didn't see the need to point it out.
"Hey Carmine. Thanks for the save." Decker pointed out as they walked to together.
Ben nodded to Decker. Just by the look of the armor, Decker's left shoulder would need to get the shoulder pad replaced along with the chest piece. There wasn't a need to explain what happens to those with weakened armor.
"So what do we do now Echo?" Wilson asked as he took hold of his Breechshot.
"I guess we report back to the depot." Decker replied as he looked away then pressed his left hand to his ear.
"Control, this is Echo 6, we've held off a Locust raid and are requesting an update. Are they done moving the salvage?"
…
"This is Control. We've received word that Sigma Company moved the supplies. Disengage and regroup. They leave in half an hour." A male voice responded to the team.
"Copy that." Decker moved his fingers away. "Sound like a plan?
"Yeah…" Jace replied.
Then like that, Echo team left the store, the barricade and carried the tags of the rest of Echo squad. Ben rubbed the front lenses of his helmet as he glance back. He looked in the direction of the soldier he just met and remember all of their names. Ben sighed to himself as he glanced outside to see Echo walk away from the store. With a Lancer in hand, Ben tightened his fingers at the grip.
"Yo Carmine? You coming or what?" Wilson waved to Ben.
"Coming." Ben nodded as he jogged with his squad mates.
Well, I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter to 'Lost in the Echo.' I'm not sure how long this story will take but I hope you'll enjoy the adventure of Echo Squad. Please leave a review of your thoughts. My name is Will and it's a pleasure to meet you.