Winter of Sorrow

Act 1

He watched from the window above, pumping hot lead into the grubs, staining the snow red with their blood but the wave was still yet to break against our mighty wall of fire. That's when he seen it happen, before his eyes.

Standing in his bright baby blue armour, his head with the short cut black hair protruding from the all encompassing uniform that seemed like a second skin to him, jolted back unnaturally and dropped to the ground. A pool of blood started to form around the prone body and from his lips.

"NO! NO! Pick him up Jase! Pick him up!" Jacob shouted while continuing to pump bullets into the grubs, not even bothering to aim anymore, he didn't care about the grubs anymore, just wanting to help his buddy up from his near death like state.

Jase bounded over the cover and grabbed Stefan by the collar and dragged him into cover and started laying down covering fire while Jacob bounded down the stairs of the barn house to their position. Jacob was terrified.

It was the worst case scenario for Jacob as squad leader. He didn't think he deserved that position at all but Hoffman was hard to argue with at times. Jase looked at him as he came out the door, his medium length black hair blowing in the wind like the rugged warrior hero he was made out to be.

"He doesn't look to good Jake. Losing quite a bit of blood and were under heavy fire from the grubs!" he said in that oh so calm manner he always portrayed. Jacob reached into his com-bead and shouted into the mic.

"This is Baker 4 calling for casevac! We got a man down!" he roared.

"This is Control, were sending out ravens now and…Alpha 3 is coming to support your extraction, ETA 5 minutes." the voice said over the comm.

The grubs were trying to close the distance and Jase popped up out of his cover and raised his longshot and a head popped off the grubs shoulders. Jacob was emptying clips from his lancer and was quickly going through the clips and was starting to lift some clips off Stefan's pouches.

"5 minutes Stef, 5 mintues ya hear me? Then you're going back to Jacinto for a big hot meal and a shower! Just you hang in there ya here?" Jacob was shouting over the din of combat.

In his ear the com-bead bleaped and then a voice crackled. "This is Alpha 3 moving in from your rear, start falling back Baker, that's an order."

The armoured figures moved into the cover strewn across the street and started adding their fire to the battle while Jacob hoisted Stefan over his shoulders and began to sprint back towards the City centre.

"Were almost there Stef, just hold out for another few minutes!" He said to him as he bounded down the street. In his peripheral vision he could see the Raven starting to land and the cabin door opening up. Jacob reached the door and turned around and put Stefan down on the floor.

"He took a few rounds to the chest but I think the armour sucked up most of the damage but he is starting to lose a lot of blood!" he shouted to the medic, the roar of the Raven's blades drowning out his voice.

"Don't worry he will be fine, get back to the fight Sergeant!" he replied and then the Raven dusted off to the skies.

Jase just caught up with Jacob and looked at him not needing to say anything, the expression on his face the same as his.

Baker 3 had been together since the start of this grub war. They had been together well before it but not as a COG fighting unit. They had worked together and had been to college together but the war had changed them and forged them together into a well drilled fighting machine. They had taken a few shots but nothing too bad, they seemed to have a lucky streak that until now hadn't been broken since before the Lightmass bombing when they lost Connor to a sniper shot outside the Safety zone of Jacinto.

The battle for Landown was tough and was wearing down the gears more than they thought it would. There were too many new rookies to blood in this fight and not enough experienced troops left to train them all before they went to battle. Mikael was still down at the battle with Alpha and pinned down by the locust on the other side of the bridge.

Jacob could hear the voices in his ear saying that Mikael had been rescued from the other side of the bridge and making his way back to regroup with him and in the distance he could see the long haired truck driver running down the street whooping and a wailing like a madman. It was very uncharacteristic of anybody in the COG so no doubt a lifeboater.

"Fuck yeah! Taught them dirty lil grubs a lesson eh?" he was shouting as he approaching them.

"Yeah, give them a good run for their money so you did but you nearly got yourself killed." Jacob replied a bit worried.

"I been fighting grubs for god knows how many years now and I'm still here where others ain't so I don't think I'm gonna go dying now." He said in a tone that showed some respect to the fallen but that instinct of look after number one.

"When can we get moving again then?" Jase asked in his usually cut to the fucking chase tone.

"Whenever your ready boys, though you seem to be a bit short?" Mikael said casually.

They jumped up on the Assault Derrick which though technically was called something else, everybody referred to as "Jenny". Every damn derrick driver had a name for their rig which didn't seem to bother many of the gears except that damn Baird in Delta who complained about everything and Jacob was taking a guess that he was going to complain about naming rigs as well.

The ride to Landown had been tough but the units at the front of the convoy had been the hardest hit, losing a couple of ravens and a few derricks and most importantly, losing men.

That was the hardest thing to keep a hold of these days. The APC's and the Centaurs and the Ravens were valuable but not as much as the men who were driving them. The Human race was losing more and more men and women everyday either to the damn grubs or joining the damn stranded.

It was hard for Gears to accept why the stranded wouldn't join up and fight for their survival instead of being the lowest of the low scum trying to scavenge the dead bodies of fighting men and broken COG equipment to make ends meet. Some had joined Operation Lifeboat but not enough.

The rig came to a halt inside the cemetery beside some other rigs and all around was the wreckage of another battle with the damn grubs. There were some COG bodies still on the ground and lots more grub bodies decomposing where they died. But some of the rigs had been destroyed and in the distance you could still hear the gunfire where in his ear he could hear squads pushing back the locusts and keeping the rigs safe.

"This is Baker 4 to Control. Do we proceed with grindlift operation or help the secure the rigs?" Jacob said into his mic, he wasn't sure what to do and there wasn't much room for gun ho command anymore, not when it was just him and Jase.

"Control to Baker 4, proceed with grindlift, we have reserve units moving into the help secure the area. Your orders are to re-group with any other COG units and then proceed from their. Any new orders will be passed along when I get them." the woman said. It was Anya Stroud. The best damn Controller in the COG but she had a thing for Delta and rumors were that it was for that damn hero of a Sergeant Fenix.

"Ok boys, the lifts are ready for takeoff. Ready when you are!" Mikael shouted from the cab

"Ok, mounting up now." Jacob replied and stepped into the cramped grindlift.

Jacob was a big enough guy but the armour made you about twice your size especially in cramped conditions like a grindlift. But there wasn't time to complain as the door closed and the lift quickly descended through the earth. The ride was bumpy as hell but it was to be expected but after a few minutes of travelling the bumpiness stopped, the feeling of being suspended in mid air took over and it was both amazing and terrifying but it was soon ended when with a bone jarring force the lift hit the ground and doors busted down to reveal a smoke and dirt filled few of what was the locust home, The hollows.

"Watch your back Jase, the grubs could come from anywhere." Jacob said quietly over the com-net. The hollows were an odd creation, neither natural nor unnatural in a sense. The grubs used corpsers and other kinds of freakish creations to tunnel around the underground and then came up to the ground to attack the COG. Weird fungal growths covered the roof of the hollows and odd types of flora were spread out around the place but although it all seemed unnatural it was quickly made into a natural battleground when the sound of bullets whizzed past Jacobs face.

"Get down! Grubs!" he shouted to Jase who had already hit the ground before he finished his words. The locust horde was an ugly and bestial and savagely terrifying enemy but they were not stupid. They had outsmarted many a good gear and had exacted a heavy cost on the Human race; this was an enemy who you didn't take lightly.

Drones were running down from a entrance further up the path they had landed on, shooting down towards the 2 stranded gears. Jacob checked his lancer and toggled off the safety and with a roar on his lips he started firing back up the path. With no cover to hide in the locust were taking some of the incoming fire but it would take more than 1 or 2 bullets to bring down the grubs. The closet grub lost his head in a puff of blood and gun smoke and Jacob knew that Jase had brought the longshot to bear and with that kind of advantage the grubs broke off from the savage blood lust run towards the gears and took cover behind the rocks that fell from the roof.

The quick start to the battle quickly turned into a sluggish pot shot match. The grubs would pop out every so often to take a few shots Jacob would send a burst of lancer bullets towards them, while Jase was slow and steady waiting on the perfect shots. But this situation could get worse any time soon.

"This is Baker 4 to any other units. Please respond!" Jacob shouted into the com-bead.

There didn't seem to be any kind of response thus far. The battle dragged on for another 5 minutes, Jase dropping one or two more grubs but from the last count there was 6 left and didn't seem to be breaking from their cover any time soon.

"Baker 4, this is Fox 2 moving into assist. ETA…4 minutes" A voice crackled in his com-bead and it put the fight back into Jacob.

"Roger that Fox 2, we have them suppressed for now but I think they are starting to get a bit tired of waiting for us to break cover." He replied. No point in letting them runs into a situation without some kind of knowledge. As they said it was what you didn't know that killed you.

The bullets whizzed from either side but none making any significant damage to their enemies but it was enough to keep the heads down. The Locust knew how fast the Lancer could pump rounds and how devastating it could be to take a few in the chest or head but their own guns dubbed the "hammerburst" could take a gears head off with 1 well placed shot.

The grubs had never seen the flank coming. Fox 2 came out of the entrance they had emerged from and started unloading an ear bursting hail of fire into their backs. One fell, then another, then another and quickly the odds were in the Gears favor but that never stopped the locust when their blood was up. Turning to face Fox 2, Jacob broke from his cover with the chainsaw revving and the smoke belching and flipping the lancer's grip to face upside down he lodged the chainsaw into the lower spine and brought the saw through his body spraying blood and guts and other shit he didn't want to know about and finally bringing the saw out through the shoulder.

Jase had produced his Pistol, one of the big heavy boltok 6 shooters and emptied 6 shots into the backs of the remaining grubs. And with that the skirmish came to a suddenly quiet close. It always did and that was the terrifying part, you never knew if they were dead or just pretending. They said about a good 20% of ammo used against the locust is finishing off the half dead ones on the ground.

"Jacob, good to see you made it. Where is the rest of your squad?" Fox leader asked, it was an old friend Gerry. In his days before the war Gerry was a chef in a fancy restaurant in Ephyra but when the restaurant business dried up after E-Day he decided instead of cooking sloppy meals for a living he would put his hand to soldiering and with his experience running a tense kitchen he became a natural fire up your butt leader.

Jacob walked up to him and grabbed Gerry's outstretched hand with both of his and shook it then slapped him on the back. "It's been too long Gerry. I lost a man before we used the lift and we didn't receive any more replacements since we lost Connor, so it's me and Jase." He pointed at Jase who stood looking around with that Snipers eye.

Gerry was about 2 inches taller and a bit bulkier than Jacob but from a distance a lot of people got them confused so Jacob decided to grow a goatee to be the "distinguished one".

"Well my orders were to regroup with any other Squads and assist and who better to assist than yourself. Let's get moving guys!" Jacob said with more vigor.

Jacob was glad it was Gerry from Fox 2. He knew him for a long time and it was good to serve alongside somebody with a great deal of experience. He dreaded having to run into Delta 1. Marcus Fenix was a pendulum wars hero and there was no doubt denying it, he had a record as long as your arm and the scars to prove it, but Jacob had a few run ins with that jerk Damon Baird and the less time he had to spend near him the better.

"Our orders are to move out and secure a beachhead near…" Gerry said looking at his map and then pointing to a set of co-ordinates "here. I think were about here so it shouldn't be that long a hike if we don't get bogged down in the thick stuff." He said cheerfully. That attitude wouldn't last long and both Jacob and Gerry knew it, but there was no point in being totally grumpy and walking about with a stick in your arse all the time.

Setting off at a jog they covered the ground quickly without drawing too much attention to themselves. The Hollows were creepy as hell and the sounds of echoing battles could be heard in every direction for kilometers around. This was the biggest offensive since the Pendulum Wars, this was it, do or die moment for Humanity and every fit and able Gear was deployed in an effort to end this thing before we run out of food, water, people or whatever the hell the locust were gonna destroy on their path to victory.

"Jake, I got a bad feeling something's following us. I don't know but it's like I feel some grub just burrowing its eyes into me." Jase said quietly to Jacob. Jase was a born sniper and had excelled with the Longshot and had the snipers senses to go with it, Jacob knew he wasn't lying.

Using his com-bead he whispered "Everybody spread out and take cover. Possible enemy…" he never got to finish the sentence when a shot snapped out of the wall and with a puff of blood one of Gerry's men went down.

"God damn it! Snipers! Everybody get down!" Gerry shouted and Jase crawled into cover and brought his longshot to bear, scanning the walls and paths for any kind of shooter. To their left was an alcove in the wall where 3 grubs were standing, one with a sniper and 2 with what seemed to be Hammerbursts.

"Spotted them and taking them out." Jase reported in that spine chilling calmness under fire. The Longshot rattled in his hands a in the distance another puff of blood and brain chunks could be seen drifting in the space where the snipers head was. Reloading with unnatural speed he slammed home another round and with another shot dropped another shooter and not waiting around to take the third the other ran off.

"We can't stay here. Let's get moving on before more shooters come back. Double time it men!" Gerry shouted in to the tac-com and with that everybody started to run down the long narrow path towards the objective but keeping as low a profile as possible. It was hard enough running with all the damn armour on but keeping low made it even more straining but Gears were fit men and trained to deal with such strain. The Armour was there to protect them from the incoming fire but their training helped them deal with everything else as they said in basic.

"We should only be 2 minutes away from the objective, just keep pumping your legs" Gerry said again to encourage the men and push them a little beyond their limits. Putting the thought of marginal safety into their minds made them work all the harder and even Jacob was pushing himself harder than before when he heard them words. Then the objective appeared. A large open room with all the usual hollow shit in it but instead of grubs there was another squad of gears here moving piles of rubble and rocks into some kind of cover.

"This is Baker 4 and Fox 2 reporting in Command, were at our objective and awaiting further orders, over." Gerry said into his bead, panting from straining himself on the run from the action to the objective.

"This is Control; grindlifts should be appearing over your heads in about 10 minutes, just secure the area for their safe arrival. Over." The mans voice said

"Thanks Anthony, Fox 2 out." Gerry said with a smile, breaking the professionalism that was there prior to the last sentence.

The area around them was soon becoming a defendable area against the Locust in their own heartlands. The grindlifts were throwing them off because they could land anywhere in the hollow and deploy the Gears into backyard and kick their asses. It was like payback for all the times they popped up from out of nowhere and killed too many good men and women.

Jacob was lost in his thoughts. The day he lost Anna all those years ago on E-Day, he hadn't got the chance to say sorry and patch things up. He was remembering all the nightmarish thoughts that had raced through his mind all those years and tried to shut them out but when he started the waterfall that was these thoughts it was very hard to stop and although he had seen more blood and guts than any man should have seen, them thoughts tore him apart like razor hail.

But his train of thought was broken quickly when the voices started shouting in his ear. The Grubs had turned up to the party and forgot their invitations and now it was time to show them the door, the hard way!

The Lancer was up and aimed in seconds and he started firing long streams of hot lead towards the locust that were attacking from a large balcony above their position. They had the height advantage but apart from snipers and theron guard most locust were lousy shots compared to a trained and experienced Gear. But they tried their best and the odd shot was clipping their armour but nothing serious.

Jase again brought the Longshot into effect with devastating consequences for the grubs and heads started popping off like fireworks at new years. But it wasn't enough to make any serious dent in the numbers, for every damn one that died another was in his place to add more fire to the storm of bullets whizzing back and forth with deadly force.

"Fuck me! They just don't give up" one of Gerry's men shouted before a shot took his head from his shoulders and the gore covered the ground behind him in a messy mosaic of brain matter and skull. Gerry took losses tough and started going through his clips a bit too fast and was wasting ammo but this wasn't the time or place to say. The grindlifts would be down any time soon and the locust didn't seem to be weakening. Jase then spotted something in the crowd of ugly monstrous faces, a god damn Kantus! These freaks were like commanders in a sense but they could stir the locust to a damn frenzy when they wanted to. They were dangerous too with them damn Ink grenades.

Jase took aim and shot but the Kantus moved just before it connected but the shot still hit something in the thick mass of grubs that were shooting them. Jacob was wishing now that they had a god damn troika or something that could just pulverize these damn drones and end this shit.

Gerry stopped firing and turned to Jacob with a look on his face that said a stupid plan was coming. Gerry was as hard as nails and took no shit from his men but he was prone to a risky plan if it meant winning the battle and Jacob had seen that face a few times before when they were in a scrape like this.

"Just keep them busy, I have a cunning plan!" he said and started prepping his frag grenades. Oh no!

"You're not doing it Gerry! It's too damn risky. There's about 10 meters of open ground between you and a decent throw you would never make it! Don't do it!" Jacob was shouting over the din of fire but that wouldn't have mattered if it was silence, the idea was just outrageous and he was gonna get killed.

"I won't get killed if you're covering me though. So do your job right and well have a few beers when we get back topside." He said and put his lancer down and broke from the cover. The fire rate from the Gears doubled as Gerry made the run across the open ground. Gerry was swinging two grenades in his hands and as he made it to the right distances he launched them as hard as he could and turned around not even looking to see if they made it or not. The boom from the grenades was deafening in the Hollow but it did the job. Grubs were dropping to the floor below like rain but still a few remained and were pumping hot lead and one or two tried to hit Gerry but he was simply too fast for them.

Jacob watched Gerry run back towards the cover with a smile on his face like he knew the plan was going to work from the very beginning because of his faith in the Gears, but that victory was short lived. Like a slow motion replay Jacob seen the bright blooming light cross the room in his peripheral vision and smack Gerry right in the chest. With a look of complete horror he grabbed the bow in his chest with both hands trying to remove it but it was wedged into the armour like a sword in stone and a second later there was bloody scraps of what used to be one of the best damn sergeants left in the COG all across the floor.

Jacob was horrified by the scene, he didn't believe it at all and broke from the cover to help him and thought the rational part of him knew he was dead the hope was still in him that the armour took the brunt and that he was still alive. But the closer he got the more unrecognizable the body became. Tears came to his eyes as he looked at the body, or what was left of it, lying on the ground. The head was still intact and around its neck was a set of COG tags that every Gear wore. Taking it from his neck he placed them into a pocket in his uniform and reality came back to him.

The bullets were chewing up the ground around him and a voice in his ear was shouting at him to take cover. He turned and bolted and still his eyes were welling up with tears at the loss of such a dear friend and comrade. But the battle was over for now, the last few grubs either dead or dying or running away from the scene of their defeat and with remarkable timing the Grindlifts started to fall from the roof all around them and more Gears were deploying and setting up a defendable position for some of the high rollers to take over the operation from the front.

Now Operation Hollow Storm was kicking off but already Jacob had had enough of it.