AUTHOR'S NOTE: This idea popped into my head one day; after a week-old obsession of Gears of War [WARNING--SPOILERS! Play GoW/GoW2 FIRST!!!] ...I decided to throw my own story into it. I DONT claim anything on Gears of War, believe me I give these guys tons of props for coming up with this whole story/game. But for amusement's sake, I wanted to throw myself, and several other friends from school in a neat story from a pretty cool game. Because...why not?
The Dawn of man falls; A new Age will rise
An Age of Change.
"Carmine, get your ass over here!" A shrilling howl of my Squad Leader, Lieutenant Jordan Norris, sounded over the light rainfall of gunfire. I squabbled, adjusting my helmet while holding my Lancer close with my left hand, and stumbled towards Norris' direction. I felt a hand grab my shoulder and yank me back behind the large rubble of broken rock that was our makeshift defense. A few flares of the Locust's gunfire splattered near my feet. I let out a sigh of relief and looked back at my savior.
"Careful, Noobie." Chaning Marsh let out a short laugh as he slung his Lancer back into his hands and peered around the rock and returned fire. I stayed close to Marsh as I reloaded my empty weapon.
Norris, this is Delta Leader Fenix speaking. Marcus Fenix droned in my earpiece. The Queen is returning to Hive 12, we need your Squad to ease around the back door—We'll cover you and take it from there. I reared my head over to Norris' direction to see him crouch low behind our small defense with a finger to his right ear. I heard a small click as he spoke.
"Beta Team, Norris here. We're in a bit of a tight spot, Marcus. But we'll be on our way over. Spears is retrieving a left over Centaur found off of an abandoned camp; possibly Cole's old squad from several months ago." Cole's voice cursed in the background from Delta's feed. Another click and Fenix let out a low sigh.
Alright, Beta. We'll see you in a few hours. Over and out. Delta clicked off.
There was a brief silence as I locked in my last clip and peered around the corner. There was no return fire from the Locust, or any Locust for that matter.
"Where did they go—"
"Quiet!" Norris interrupted me. I listened in to hear far off into the distance a low whistling and a hiss. Norris lunged at me and yelled.
"Get down!" A small blast hit where I once was and gunfire sounded from Marsh.
"Reavers!" Marsh screamed and backed around to the other side of the rock defense, while continued to fire at the black creature.
I crawled and fumbled over to Marsh, as Norris helped me up. The three of us returned fire, feeling the vibrations pulse through my fingers and jolt throughout my body. There was a high pitch squeal coming from behind us that made me yelp.
"Tickers!" I wheeled around and backed away from the small creatures that crawled at me twenty miles per hour, all the while, shooting at them. Three of them exploded, while another one slicked off behind a rock. Marsh and Norris still tried to take out the Reaver behind me as I searched for the final Ticker. Finally the small brown thing lunged at me and exploded in mid-air, knocking me off my feet. The gunfire that killed the Ticker came from the large machine that drove over the rocks and our leftover corpses of Locust.
Anyone order a large sexy beast? Voiced a female through my earpiece.
"Spears! Can you sing this monster to sleep?" Norris responded with relief.
In two notes: Gun. Fire. She giggled and clicked about fifty rounds from the Centaur's machine gun right into the Reaver's head, along with its driver-gunner man. The large black monster collapsed with a cry. Marsh threw up a hand with a cheer.
"Yeah! Nice one Spears!"
A heavy-suited body slumped out of the Centaur and let out a soft grunt. She wheeled around and wiped off a small bead of sweat. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, revealing her small slim face. Other than covered in dirt and sweat, she didn't look that bad. I had never seen a female Gear before, but I heard that they were pulling everyone out on the field now.
Spears was one of the high ranked girls, who could be mistaken for a guy with how high her stats were. Hell, I think she beat a few of my brothers' stats.
Marsh was a full out sniper. He comes pretty handy on the ground with other weapons, but handling a sniper is like throwing a bomb out in the middle of the field. He was also known to be slightly cocky.
And then there was Norris. He was, above all, the leader of this new squad I was assigned to.
At first I was excited, from hearing about how great these squads were, and how they usually help out Squad Delta on occasion. That thrilled me. Both of my brothers were under Marcus Fenix's command. Norris was right up ranked with Marcus, if not--higher. I even heard they might be cousins or something.
"Spears, we got a request from Delta needing some assistance." Norris greeted the lone female on the team with a pat on the shoulder. She playfully removed his hand from her shoulder plate.
"What are you talking about?" She said as she shifted her weight to the side.
"We're heading up to Mt. Juno on your new beast." He gestured toward the large vehicle over her shoulder.
"Huh." She grunted. Her blue eyes glazed over to me as I gathered more ammo to take on our trip. "Who's this guy? The new recruit?" I looked up as she briefly acknowledged me. I nodded and smiled through my helmet, though she probably couldn't see.
"Yeah, hey. I'm Nathan Carmine." I spoke breathlessly. "It's a pleasure to meet you--uh...Spears?" I fumbled on my words.
"Mhm," She mumbled. "Pleasure." She let her hands drop loosely on her sides and turned back to the Centaur and began to climb the ladder. I quickly followed behind, eager to learn more about the lone female on our team.
"So," I spoke, feeling my words stutter a bit. "Wh-why do they call you Spears? I thought you had something different. Like, K-Konnick?"
"Ha! The kid doesn't live back in our stone age, does he?" Marsh howled from under me, as he followed behind up the ladder. I heard Spears let a low growl from inside the Centaur's driver pit. "Carmine, have you ever heard of the famous singer, Britney Spears?" Now I felt stupid.
"Oh...so your name is Britney?" I asked, not that it made my stupidity lessen any.
"Brittany Konick--though I think I'd prefer you call me Spears. It makes me sound less of a girl if you called me by 'Brittany' and no one can ever pronounce my last name right." She began flipping switches and the Centaur hummed alive. Norris was climbing up the ladder to our ride as it started to warm up.
"And why are you Marsh? No other cool nickname?" I asked Marsh who sat next to me, cleaning his Lancer. He had used the chainsaw that was attached to the bottom of its nose. None of us like Locust blood and guts all over our weapons. Rumors were spreading around that they were beginning to carry some sort of disease. Stupid bugs.
As I looked for Marsh's reaction, he finally set his gun down on his knee at look at me with a raise eyebrow and his upper lip curled. "Doesn't Marsh sound badass enough? I mean--COME ON!"
"Yeah, he thinks Chaning Marsh is a lot better than Patrick Chaning Marsh." Spears let out a snort as she gripped the wheel to steer the Centaur out from our rock pit area. Marsh gave Spears a glare and shook his head. He continued to clean his gun.
I turned over to Norris who sat himself on my right. "And you? What's your cool nickname?"
He glared at me for a moment and, he too, raised an eyebrow. I obviously was missing a lot of memos here.
"Who, Chuck Norris over there?" Marsh looked up and let out a scoff. "Psh, his name alone is more badass than mine! I wish I was a Norris!" I let out a nervous laugh, still feeling deprived from everyone. I obviously didn't get out much, before the first break out of Locust and the Pendulum Wars. Norris rolled his eyes and inclined his head back against the machine's metal wall.
"I swear, Norris just makes me sound too pansy-ish." He groaned.
"Well we wanted to call you Karl, Eater of Babies, but you just weren't down with it." Spears let out a giggle. Marsh joined in on the laugh as Norris rolled his head in embarrassment.
"How about we just stick with Norris then?" He shrugged.
"Alrighty, Chuck NORRIS." Marsh let out another roar of laughter. I joined in, still feeling confused. "What about you, Noobie?" I shrugged at Marsh's question.
"I guess I'm Carmine. One of the many brother's of Carmine. At least that's what my other brothers went by."
"Aren't you the third Carmine?" Marsh asked, wiping a small bead of sweat from his face.
I nodded. "I have many brothers."
Marsh snapped his fingers. "Then you are Number Three."
I reached to scratch my head, but hit metal from my helmet instead. I looked around at my small crew of four. I had nothing in common with these three people other than our one goal and mission: To save humanity. But that didn't mean we all had to sit here and share the same interests. I looked out the front bulletproof glass of the Centaur and look at the small hill up ahead, which was the tip of Mt. Juno. The room had become quite awkward for a brief moment. Spears was humming, which led me to believe that was another reason she was nicknamed after the infamous singer. Marsh was still fussing with his gun and gear, keeping it clean. And Norris rested his head and shut his eyes. It was then I realized this was going to be a long ride to Mt. Juno.
About a good hour and a half down the road, Marsh had finally hit a point to where he couldn't clean his gun anymore than it already was. Spears had run out of songs to hum, and began drumming her fingers in random beats on the wheel of the Centaur. Norris was still fast asleep against the wall of the Centaur. There was a loud shift of metal clashing as Marsh set his Lancer aside.
"So," He shifted forward, resting his arms on his knees. "When did you get recruited?" He asked me. I slid my fingers over the grooves of my Lancer and let out a sigh.
"Well, uh," I stammered. "Both of my older brothers were Gears, I think both on Marcus' team." I rubbed the side of my helmet, feeling the metal scratch my scalp. "I'm not sure, I was still in basic by the time my oldest brother, Tony, was Geared up." My hand dropped from my helmet. "I heard Tony didn't make it, but no news on my other brother, Ben." I let out another sigh. I wondered if he was all right.
"Not many of us made it after the Fall of Jacinto." Norris groaned, rubbing his head. He stood up and walked lazily about the small cabin of the Centaur. "Hell, we barely made it." He said, referring to Spears, Marsh and himself. "I was back on Commands with Anya Stroud, Kelsey Falconer--"
"And Ali..." Marsh mumbled. His eyes rolled over to Norris as I saw a warming smile on his face.
"And Ali." His smile grew. He was silent for a moment, almost taken back by the name of one of the Control Workers who operated on looking out for the Gears. Our Protectors. "My Angel." Norris muttered, almost reading my exact thoughts. My eyes dropped to the ground as I tried to understand his pain. "After the fall of the Last City, they started yanking out more COGs onto the field, as many as possible. I was the first pulled, along with Chaning and Brittany, six months ago. More got added to our crew but-" His eyes fell over to Marsh, who lowered his head. "They are lost in the Locust's lair. No one's heard from them since." He shifted his weight then reared over to his seat on my right.
"I'm sorry, sir." I muttered, shyly. The corner of his mouth smugged up as he shrugged.
There was a short silence before it was quickly interrupted by a shake underground. Sirens wailed within the Centaur and Spears was already flipping switches and pressing buttons while yelling at the machine.
"Whoa, what the hell?" She looked around outside through the large glass.
"Spears, what was that?" Norris called out. He got up and bent over her shoulder to look.
"Some maggot is getting under my wheel. It's pissing me off!" She spoke frustrated, turning the gears of the Centaur and maneuvering it over the ground while trying to find a smooth road. I weaved side to side, bumping Marsh on my left on occasion. Norris leaned closer and pointed out the window.
"Look!" Marsh and I jumped up and looked at Norris' direction he was pointing. Holes were appearing throughout the ground leading right below us. The Centaur shifted as it sank into a small hole. From the hole a small creature emerged spider-like, more closely like a grasshopper with sharp teeth. Norris gasped as he snapped up his Lancer in the air, prepped. "Seeders!"
"I need someone on my cannon!" Spears yelled over her shoulder. Norris pointed to Marsh and nodded. Marsh pulled down the metal ladder that led up to the cannon up top of the vehicle. He climbed up and sat himself in the tight space and settled himself in there. The Centaur made a weird hum as it began shooting its machine gun. Norris and I leaned forward to look out the front window as Spears slowly drove around the holes, and Seeders splattering from Marsh's firing.
There was a larger rumble underneath us. Spears let out a few more curses as a jolt went through the Centaur, knocking me down on my feet. I looked up to see a large brown blob, with fingers on the sides, shoot straight up in the air five miles ahead of us, but looked awfully close to be that far away.
"CORPSER?" Spears screamed
Oh fuck no, Marsh groaned in my earpiece. Fuck THIS shit! Spears! Fucking drive this shit down to the ground.
"No! I'm not doing anymore repairs! FUCK THAT! We won't make it to Delta Team on time if we waste our time with these things." She grunted and pushed down a lever. "I'm punching this thing past us."
"You're really boring Brittany!" Marsh called down from above.
"Hey, do YOU want to drive?!" She snapped back. "NO! I didn't think so! We're jumping past this shit!" She slammed down the lever and the Centaur made a jolting boost, shooting past the large Corpser that attempted to lung at us. Spears let out a thrilling squeal as she boosted the Centaur over a small cliff and flew in the air for a moment. We landed with a fairly painful crash. It made my armor slam against my skin pretty hard. The Centaur made an ugly noise and then shut down.
"Damnit!" Spears slammed her fist on the control panel.
"What's that about not repairing this thing?" Norris snickered slightly.
"Fuck you, Jordan." She slicked out of her seat and popped open a small opening to the controls of the machine. A few switches got knocked out of place, but it didn't seem too bad. Marsh was kicking the walls from above.
"Guys!" He yelled. "That thing is still following us! You better hurry the fuck up!"
"Yeah, yeah." Spears grumbled under her breath. She fidgeted around and fumbled her fingers through the wires as Marsh continued to scream at her. Norris ran over to the driver's seat and tried to start the Centaur up. I stood there nearly helpless.
"Spears! It's coming! Hurry up!!!"
"Got it!" She slammed the lid shut with glee. "Get the fuck out of my seat Jordan!" She shoved Norris out of the way and slid back into her spot and flipped a switch. The Centaur roared to life once more and hummed happily.
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Marsh chanted from above.
Another pull on the same lever, and the Centaur took another boost forward, throwing me off my feet once more. Norris picked me right up and patted my shoulder a bit. "Marsh, are we in the clear yet?"
Well, Chuck, it's a clear ground ahead of us, Marsh rang through my earpiece, buuuut not so much on the skies.
"What do we got?" Norris leaned in close to Spears and looked through the glass. I leaned close too, only to find black spots splattered in the sky like small clouds, only moving at high speeds. My jaw dropped at the sight of the gathering Reavers that hovered at the peak of Mt. Juno.
It looks like we've found our back door, Sir. Marsh groaned.
"Yeah, Chaning, I'm seeing that." Norris let his head drop and he let out a sigh. "There's no sneaking past this, is there?"
"I don't see it possible for a group of four getting close to that mountain without total annihilation, Jordan." Spears let out a sigh and looked up at Norris. "Should we call Control?"
Norris' jaw clenched as he stared at the black cloud of Reavers fluttering ahead. Spears began slowing the Centaur, trying to buy Norris some time to decide.
"We can't go in this without some sort of help. We need to call Control and ask for some assistance. SOMETHING! Or we'll get our asses handed to us down there." Spears shifted the gear to a halt on the Centaur. "Look, I know we can't risk the Locust's finding our new station, but if we don't call for help, there will be NO backup for Marcus and his team. Ali and Ben will be fine, they'll understand."
I remembered we weren't supposed to contact Control often, especially since we were on the start of reconstructing our culture; trying to get a decent base started and build a defense on our poor selves. Especially since Jacinto was our last human city, we had no form of human living space. Everything was being overrun by Locust, who were fleeing the underground after we flooded one of the hives. I understood Norris' difficult choice here, and from what I understood, someone he cared about was part of Control. There were not only one, but two risks on his shoulders.
His shoulders fell as he let out a sigh of surrender. "Is the radio working?" He looked over to Spears.
"I can get it running right now." She leaned over to her left and began flipping switches and flicked on more above her head until a loud hum and beep came from the glass. A small screen fell from the top of the control panel and it fuzzed before showing a small brunette girl with bright blue eyes.
"Control here." The girl spoke lightly. "Beta team?" Her tone changed in surprise. "You guys are out of the area, you shouldn't be on this line." She leaned to her side about to disconnect until Norris cut in front of Spears.
"Ali, don't!" He protested.
"Jordan?" Her surprise increased. "Oh Jordan! How are you? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Her eyes dug in through the screen and I felt her worry melt on all of us.
"I'm fine, we're all fine. We contacted for some assistance and possibly some extra weapons?"
"Something explosive perhaps?" Spears peered around Norris. "And hello, Ali." She waved.
"Look, we can't stay on much longer, with the risk and all, but can you promise me you'll help us out?" Norris pleaded.
Ali's face twisted in a little pain and she let out a sigh. "I'll do what I can. But Jordan…Please, be careful."
Norris nodded. "I will. I'll come back for you." He promised.
"Thank you, love." She blew a kiss to the screen and disconnected the line. The screen went black and the Centaur began to shake once more.
Guys, what the fuck is going on down there? Why did we stop moving? Marsh screamed through my ear.
"Well fuck, Chaning, there is no need to throw a fit up there. Quit rocking this thing." Norris pressed his hands against the sides of his head.
That's not me, Sarg. He buzzed back.
"He's right, Jordan." Spears peered back at us. "That's coming from behind us." She pointed. Norris and I followed the direction she pointed and we peeked our heads out the side door of the Centaur. My jaw dropped once more at what we saw.
"Holy fuck!"
"What is taking you guys so damn long?" Marcus jumped out the side of the APC, Armored Personnel Carrier, and slung his Lancer Assault Rifle on his shoulder and smiled slightly. I nearly shit in my suit just by looking at Marcus Fenix himself. He was intimidating to look at, and almost scary to know he was a murder. But hell, aren't we all that now?
Norris jumped down the ladder of the Centaur and stomped his way over to Marcus. "We had some troubles along the way." He shrugged and placed a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "It's nice to see you again, Cous'."
The two high ranked men walked side by side as I debated on whether or not to climb down the ladder and interrupt their reunion or whatever. But as I made my way down the last step, my boot slipped and I felt the ground smack against the back of my armor, which in return, inflicted damage on myself. It was rather embarrassing and painful. Spears and Marsh let out a roar of laughter from inside the Centaur. I felt my cheeks flush, but lucky they couldn't see past the helmet.
I felt a hand grab and pull me up. I dust my backside and looked to see three men I wasn't really familiar with. The large black man that lifted me up patted my shoulder and held his hand out.
"Hey, you their Rook? Name's Cole." I really felt myself ready to shit my pants. "This here is Baird and Dom." I waved my hand nervously.
"Cole, don't scare our Rookie. He's shy." Spears called from the top of the Centaur.
"Hey there, my wonderful angel. Is that my crew's beast you're riding in?" He called back at her with a wink.
"YOU'RE beast? I found this beauty all by itself with MY name written all over it." She laughed a little as she slid down the ladder, obviously more graceful than my entrance.
"All right, all right, I see how it is." Cole said, waving his hands in front of him. "Where's Marshmallow?"
"HEY! I told you NOT to call me that!" Marsh poked his head out of the door of the Centaur and glared at Spears. "I'm going to get you for that one, Brittany."
"Don't look at me. I haven't called you that since the third grade, honey." She let out a giggle and turned to Cole. "Yes I have." She whispered.
"Anyway," Marsh ran up to the five of us as we glanced over at Marcus and Norris talking in the distance. "This here, guys, is Number Three."
"Number Three?" Baird questioned, trying to hold back a laugh.
"The Third Carmine." Spears corrected.
The three Delta men immediately looked down and stood there awkwardly. "Oh." Baird blurted out.
"Oh?" I voiced, feeling a small pain in my chest. I sort of expected what was about to be said.
"Look man, we're so sorry, but-" Cole trailed off. Dom placed a hand on Cole's shoulder and stepped forward, standing in front of me.
"Both of your brothers, Benjamin and Anthony, did a wonderful job at what they did." He reached into his pocket and pulled out two dog tags and placed them in my hand. "I'm really sorry. They were wonderful comrades, and probably better brothers." Dom's voice made me want to break down and cry, but truth be told, I didn't expect anything less than this. I took the dog tags of my brothers and squeezed onto the only thing I had left of them. I stuffed them in one of my bags that carried a ring from my mother and a photo of the family back at our casual BBQ's back when we were all kids.
"Alright boys," Marcus roared from behind us, "Gear up. We're tagging along with Beta. We're going to try and slick past the Reaver cloud as best as possible and go into the south end of the mountain." His eyes rolled onto mine. "Do I know you?"
"C-Carmine, Sir." I stuttered. I'm pretty sure I pissed myself on that one.
"Jesus, what is this, Déjà vu?" He rolled his eyes and nodded at me. "You're brothers were really good men. You should be proud." I nodded, unable to speak another word. "Alright, let's head out—"
"Marcus, look out!" Spears whipped out her Boltok Pistol and snapped a few shots into a spare Seeder that had crawled from under the Centaur's belly. It let out a squeal before croaking over on its side. Spears ran toward the Centaur and inspected the bottom of it. "Shit another one!" She held up her pistol again to fire but she threw her arms down and kicked the large wheel of the Centaur. "DAMN IT! Got away." She let out a sigh as we ran to her side. She looked back under the Centaur and mumbled to herself. "Please don't tell me…Fuck, they did."
"What?" Norris asked. "What's wrong?"
"They wired into the radio." She ran a hand through her hair. "They must have been there when we contacted Control."
Everyone sighed in unison, knowing the mistake we had made, and the large possibility that the Seeder was going back to report its findings. There was silence as we let the news soak in us.
"Let's get back to the mission. The sooner we take out this hive, the better off we are at not worrying about more Locusts attacking our new base." Marcus stormed back to his vehicle, and the rest of his crew followed. "Lead the way, Spears. And watch your holes, damnit!"
"Hey," Norris held a hand towards Marcus' direction. "It was an honest mistake. Easy on her, Marcus."
"Whatever, I'm not going to let some girl run humanity to the ground because of her stupid mistakes." He slid into the APC and shut the door. Norris let out a groan and turned to Marsh and me.
"Back in the Centaur." He ordered. Marsh and I followed Spears in, without another word spoken. I placed myself in my same seat in between Marsh and Norris, as Spears continued to drive us down the hill towards the mountain; Delta following behind.
The silence in the Centaur was getting awkward. Spears was severely offended at Marcus' complaint about her gender, Marsh had nothing to clean and keep him occupied so he went up to the gun at the top of the vehicle, and Norris looked too troubled about seeing his cousin. Although I was well around curious about my crew.
"So...", I began, trying to keep a tremor out of my voice, "how did you end up a Gear Britt-, I mean-Spears?"
She glanced over at me, somewhat condescendingly. "After Jacinto fell, the COG started pulling anyone and everyone into service. Started doing testing on girls, and if you passed...well, you pulled the short straw." She kept her eyes mostly on the terrain ahead of us, which was probably a good thing.
"So you didn't want this?"
"Not exactly, but I couldn't say no either. Besides," she snickered, "if they didn't draft me, Marsh's dumb ass would be Corpser food right now."
I heard Marsh through the comm. Fuck you Brittany!
She laughed. "During the first foray to the hives, trying to get to Landown, Marsh was in one of the Assault Derricks that got flattened by Corpsers on the way there. I saw him pinned down there, and tried to get the driver to turn back around for him. Lucky for Chan that the Centaurs started showing up, otherwise he would have been left behind to get eated." She giggled. "I pulled him out, fought off a couple dozen Locust, and hauled him onto the derrick. Fought through the hives together, before we ended up with Jordan."
Marsh spluttered over the comm. Wasn't quite sure what he was still doing in the cannon turret. Must be comfy up there or something. At any rate, I turned to my commanding officer. "How did you end up a Gear?"
Norris kept his head against the wall of the Centaur, eyes closed, but he did answer me at first. "Operation Lifeboat. Ali and I were just scraping by with a group of Stranded when we heard that the Coalition was planning a big invasion of the hives. Figured it would be a good time to get her to safety, what with the Locust having a big fight on their hands, so I took the COG's offer." He sighed heavily and leaned forward, cracking his neck before resting his head in his hand. "Traded my life for asylum...but she couldn't bear to be away from me. So she signed on as a Control contact. Few tours of duty, I became an officer, and she requested to be my squad's contact. Few more weeks and it went through." He looked off into space and smiled warmly. "First bit of leave I had was right after the Lightmass Bombing, I had two weeks. I asked her to marry me..." He sighed heavily, before leaning back again to rest. "Now, I just have to survive."
Marsh spoke up. Few tours of duty? Dude! 3 promotions for bravery in the field! Fuck, you held off a Locust Emergence Hole single-handedly for what, a few hours? I mean, I've done some sweet things with a sniper rifle, don't get me wrong, but fuck! Few tours of duty my ass. Only guy with a crazier record than you is Marcus. Surviving isn't the problem; it's not ending the damn war before the wedding.
Norris looked a little annoyed...and I was a little awed. I managed to yell up at Marsh. "You said you're pretty handy with a rifle."
He snickered, the sound a rush of static, over the comm. Hell yes! Blew through Basic, top of my class in Marksmanship and Field Survival. Not that Basic counts for much anymore. Anyway, a couple dozen head-shots later, me and Brittany get shunted into Norris' squad. We're pinned down in front of this temple thing like some squads started finding, and it's the first time we fought a Kantus. Kept reviving everyone, we were running out of ammunition, totally fucked situation. Managed to put a round through its throat at a couple hundred meters, past like three or four Rockworms it was using for shields and all of this while getting my ass stuck up against some pillar deal to get the right elevation for the shot.
I let out a laugh, as I took in my comrades' adventurous history. I leaned my head against the wall and wondered if my brothers had experienced something similar before the Locust's took them out.
"So," Spears grunted a bit. "Why did you decide to become a COG?" I felt puzzled by her question at first, then she continued and her tone sounded more and more agitated. "I mean, both your brothers didn't do a pretty good job helping Delta Team." She rolled her head back to me for a moment. "What makes you think you can do any better on our team?"
"Hey hey," Norris pulled his head up and snapped a finger at her. "Come on Brittany, you know it's not his fault." I bit down on my bottom lip. I knew Spears was still mad about Marcus' comment on her gender. I agreed, that was a low blow—even for Marcus Fenix.
"Sorry." She mumbled impolitely. I didn't respond. I understood why she was mad. She just needed to release some tension. But we hadn't run into anything to shoot at for the last few miles.
We crept down the hill, closer and closer to the mountain. The large cloud of Reavers began to slowly congregate over towards the other side of the mountain and sink low.
"Where are they going?" I asked as I leaned forward.
Looks like they are gathering at the South end of the mountain. Marsh answered my question. Wait a minute. What's that at the bottom of the mountain there?
Spears began to slow the Centaur and leaned forward. "What is it now Chaning?" She grumbled, still having that agitated sound in her voice. She let out a long sigh as she slumped back into her seat. "Fuck me."
Norris stood up and walked to the window. I followed behind trying to peer around the two COGs. "What is it?"
"Brumak." Norris groaned.
Actually, not just a Brumak. Marsh giggled slightly. We've got a herd at that entrance we're supposed to go to.
Norris and Spears let out a sigh in unison as Norris' head dropped. There was a long tone in my earpiece as Marcus droned through it.
Why did we stop?
Norris placed a finger to his earpiece. "Marcus, we've got a herd of Brumaks down at the base of the mountain. And the Reavers went around to the other side of the mountain, so unless you've got orders to go somewhere else-"
Just keep going. Marcus snapped back at Norris.
"Marcus, this is ridiculous. How are we supposed to get passed this load?" Norris argued back.
Listen, you either take the orders, or Ill move your female driver out of my way and we won't ask for your help. Better yet, you can go for my tactic and DISOBEY orders. See where that ends you.
Norris' face turned hard. He shook his head and hit his earpiece once more. "Fine, we'll pull forward." He looked to Spears, ordering her as well as answering Marcus. She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air.
"Whatever." She shifted the gear roughly and pulled the Centaur forward in a sort of rush. Marcus was just pissing her off more and more.
After a few more miles down the hill, the Centaur, aside from the humming of the great machine, had an eerie silence for a while. I wobbled as we edged closer and further down the mountain's opening on the south end. My throat knotted as the mass of Brumaks swayed and gathered near the entrance.
I wonder if they're guarding something down there. Marsh comm'd through my ear.
I saw Norris shrug by my side. "I don't see why. It's not like we gave any impression of an ambush-"
"Psh." Spears snorted. "We give off that impression ALL the time."
"Well yeah, but I meant an ambush HERE." Norris corrected. "I just don't see why they are cracking down on defense here."
There was a hum and a pop on the radio. That's because the bugs fled back to all their other hives when Jacinto sank. Marcus droned. They must have closed off a tunnel before we— Spears clicked off the radio. Norris leaned over her and flipped it back on. —You did NOT just turn that radio off, Spears! Marcus howled through the speakers. I swear—She clicked the radio off again. Norris tried to hold back a laugh.
"Stop it." He mumbled, and flipped it back on.
Oh, I'm going to smack your skull in—Spears flipped the radio off once more, appearing slightly irritated. I was beginning to find this amusing. Marsh was chuckling through my earpiece.
"I don't want to listen to that prick." She grumbled through her teeth. Norris shook his head and leaned in to flip the radio on once more.
"Well, we have to. So knock it off." He fought back another laugh.
The radio clicked back on. Oh, you stupid woman—The Centaur made a sudden sharp stop, flinging me onto the floor and Norris knocked into the back of Spear's metal chair. Marsh breathed heavily through my earpiece.
Oh shit.
"Spears, take it easy." I could hear Norris. I slowly pushed myself up and lolled my head up. Spears had disappeared from her seat and down the Centaur's ladder. Norris passed me to follow her. Marsh kicked the metal walls with glee.
Yeah! You kick his ass, Britt!
I peered around the corner to watch Spears pound her steps toward the APC where Marcus was emerging from. He held his head high as she approached him. The other three Delta members peeked their heads out from their vehicle.
"You arrogant discriminating asshole!" Spears screamed and two of the Delta members retreated back inside. A rush of fear ran down my back. This was a side of Spears I didn't want to mess with.
"Get your ass back in your seat, soldier." Marcus spat in Spears' face. Her face grew hard with rage as she raised her fist to hit him. Marcus grabbed it and gripped her throat with the other and slammed her against the APC. "Listen here, you." He inched near her face. "I'm not going to let some bitch get us all killed. Especially not YOU-" Norris grabbed Marcus' shoulders.
"Marcus, lay off." He tried to get Marcus off Spears, whose face was flushing purple as she gasped for air. I leaned forward, ready to jump down and help, but Marsh screamed in my earpiece.
FUCK! The sound of the Centaur's turret droned through the air in the direction of the south end opening to the mountain. I peered around the other side to the front of the Centaur and found a large thirty foot beast with a large cannon on its back; teeth as sharp as large razors. My chest leapt with fear at the sight of the large monster.
"Brumak!" I yelled, though I felt a slight squeak in my voice. The others looked to me; Marcus released his hold on Spears. Norris looked briefly terrified then grabbed Spears and bolted towards the Centaur.
"FIRE AT THAT THING!" Marcus yelled. I fumbled trying to figure out what to do. Norris and Spears were just getting to the ladder. I leaned forward to grab my Lancer, but something caught my eye from the window of the Centaur. The large Brumak stretched towards our vehicle, raising an arm high in the air over us. I stumbled, running to driver's seat, and pulled on the Reverse lever and pushed down on the pedal. The Centaur launched backwards, almost ramming into the APC behind us. We swerved a little, as I tried to control the wheel. I could hear Norris and Spears grunting while trying to get in the Centaur safely, without falling out. The door slid closed and locked, indicating they made it in safe. I heard footsteps approach me from behind.
"GET OUT OF MY SEAT!" Spears snapped. I stuttered, trying to apologize and find words of explanations, but Norris stopped me before I could say anything.
"DRIVE!" He howled next to me, pointing at the Brumak that was trying to snap its teeth at us. There was pattering on the metal as gunfire came from the hulking beast's back. I geared the wheel towards the left, feeling the back of my neck dampen from sweat. I was getting really nervous. I didn't prep for this kind of position in any Basic training or anything. I didn't know what else to do, but wait for Marsh to take out a load of rounds into the Brumak.
I saw a small black vehicle zoomed by and rammed into the side leg of the large beats, and it tripped slightly to one side, unaware of what hit it. The ACP launched a few rounds into the Brumak's underside. It let out a roar of pain. I wheeled the Centaur over towards the ACP and allowed a clearer shot for Marsh to get the Brumak's belly too. After a few rounds, the Brumak stopped squirming weakly on the ground and let out one final groan. Everyone in the vehicle let out a sigh of relief. Then the ground shook once more, and the radio fuzzed for a bit.
Beta! We're being dragged down! Marcus screamed through the radio, along with the voices of the other members of Delta team howling through. Marsh gasped through my earpiece.
Another Brumak has them! Another drone of firepower came from Marsh. I tried to turn the wheel helplessly until I was pushed aside by Spears, who took my spot easily. I rolled around on the floor, while Norris grabbed me and helped me up. The Centaur wheeled towards the direction to see the ACP being dragged down the hill smoothly, with the Brumak clenching down onto it.
"What do we do?" I shouted over the sound of gunfire. I was beginning to panic, watching our fellow teammates fall into the enemy's hold. But a large humming vehicle slugged past us and headed down to where the ACP disappeared to.
"Who's that?" Spears leaned forward inspecting the large carrier-vehicle.
A Derrick? Marsh paused his shooting for a moment, as we all watched the Assault Derrick fire a few sets of rounds into the pit below. Several COGs could be seen scurrying around the deck, all the while, firing.
The Centaur rolled forward following the Derrick down the hill only to find the Brumak, that once held on to Delta Team, now dead. The entrance of the Mountain was just ahead, only there was no herd of Brumaks now. I felt puzzled. But then the Centaur came to a stop and everyone was slipping out of their vehicles. Spears jumped out of her seat and followed Norris, who had already slid down the ladder, out the Centaur. I followed behind.
I made it down the ladder a bit more graceful than last time. I turned on my heel to see Spears running up to a lone female, in a slim suit with reddish-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, in an embrace. The two girls squealed with glee at the sight of each other. Norris was walking up to another COG that had sandy brown hair and looked a lot cleaner than the rest of us. Behind them were about five other people. This looked like a newer squad.
"Ben?" Norris laughed in surprise, and gave a small embrace to the sandy brown haired guy.
"MACK-ATTACK!" Marsh yelled from behind, as he was getting out of the Centaur. The guy waved at him nervously.
"What are you all doing here, Mack?" Norris looked around and back at his fellow COG friend.
"We're the new Alpha Squad." Mack smiled slightly, scratching the back of his head. This guy seemed more nervous than me. "Like the Rookie I sent you?" He gestured over to me. Norris looked back and nodded.
"Couldn't have asked for a better pick." He laughed a little. "Oh," He turned over to the other female I didn't recognize. "Where's Ali, Kelsey?"
The tall girl named Kelsey frowned a little, and walked up to Norris to place a hand on his shoulder. "Jordan…the base got attacked. We had to evac, but…" She trailed off, and looked down for a brief moment. "Ali didn't make it with us. Jordan," She took a deep breath and exhaled. "They've taken her."