Norris took a deep breath before thrashing about, slamming a fist against the Derrick's metal exterior, and kicking it. He looked to Spears like he was about to say something but bit down his lip and turned away and let out a groan.
"Why her!" He called out. Delta team came from around the Derrick and looked at everyone confused.
"What's going on?" Marcus roared his husky voice.
"We are what's left of Base's attack." Mack turned to Marcus. He let out a similar groan to Norris' then looked to his cousin.
"Well what's HIS problem?"
"Ali was taken by the Locust that attacked Base." Kelsey spoke; her voice rang lightly and almost innocent.
"Aw, shit." Marcus let out a sigh and walked over to Norris and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, man." Norris stood there with his head rested on the back of his arm as he leaned on the Derrick. He pushed himself off.
"Let's go." He spoke, his voice a bit darker than what I've heard. His face was torn into great pain and anger as he stomped his way towards the compartment of the Derrick that carried supplies. He searched through them and he pulled out a Hammerburst and a Torque Bow. He slung one of the weapons on his shoulder and carried the other loosely in the other. Marcus put a hand up and held it out in front of Norris.
"Now wait a minute. We're not going to just jump in there without a plan. We have new crew members here. We each have a part now." Norris looked at him funny. "What I mean is…I know you're upset. But don't let this lose your focus on our mission, here." Norris leaned in closer to Marcus' face.
"Since when did you care if we go in guns blazing or not?" He huffed and nudged past Marcus, and up the Derrick's ladder. I guess Norris wasn't going back in the Centaur with us.
Marcus let out a sigh and his hands dropped loosely to his sides. "Alright." He snapped up and looked around. "Falconer, you gear up. I'm sure there is a Gear Suit in there for you, if I'm correct." Kelsey nodded and ran into the Derrick. "Spears," He twitched his lips a little, as Spears stiffened to the sound of her name. "Get back in the Centaur, you're leading us in." She nodded slightly and turned to head back to the Centaur. "And Spears…" She turned to Marcus. "…Be careful." She turned and didn't say anything. "Marsh, you go with her. Carmine, you too. Zap and Striker will take over—"
"N-Now wait a minute." Mack spoke up, but then immediately regretted it. Marcus turned to look at Mack. "You can't order my squad around, Marcus." Mack began to mumble as he spoke.
"I don't see you stepping up to the plate, Captain." Marcus raised his voice to the shy guy. "ARE you even their leader?" He leaned in towards Mack's face. Mack quivered his lip a little, ready to speak, but he was interrupted.
"Of course he is." Kelsey walked up, already in her Gear suit, and placed a comforting hand on Mack's shoulder. "And he's right, Marcus. We're not yours to command. We saved your ass anyway, so it would be fair if you were grateful to us and our Captain." For a brief moment Marcus looked stunned for being talked back by a female, someone other than Spears, whom I only believe that she was the only female Marcus held something against. I found it rather funny that Marcus and his team owed Team Alpha AND he was being talked down by a GIRL. I guess it served him right for putting Spears down earlier.
Marcus frowned at Kelsey for a minute then threw up a hand. "Fine." He said. "Do what you will, with your crew. But don't get in our way." He turned and headed back to the ACP.
Kelsey looked back at Mack and smiled. "It's alright Ben, he's just cranky." She giggled and went back to the Derrick. Mack looked up at me and laughed nervously.
"Luckily I have her to help me out." He thumbed over to Kelsey. "Well, guess I'll see ya." He smiled slightly and I waved at him.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mack." I choked out. He nodded and mumbled, while heading back to the Derrick. I turned to head back to my Squad, whom now had no leader in it.
I reached up to the door and poked my head in. "Anyone know why Norris isn't joining us? I mean…shouldn't we be with our leader?"
Marsh was sitting in his same spot, but picking clean at his new weapon he grabbed from the Derrick—a Longshot Sniper Rifle—which was Marsh's signature weapon. He placed it on his lap gently and stroked its side with a rag.
"Why should we?" He said, without looking up. "I told ya Rook, Spears and I have had each other's backs covered before Norris came along. He just managed to make things easier to handle being around."
"Besides." Spears chimed in from her driver seat. "He needs time away from us to recuperate himself about Ali."
"I don't understand." I looked back and forth between the two. "Why would he leave us for a squad that reminds him nothing but Ali? How will that help him recuperate?"
"Because, Rook." Marsh set his gun down and looked up at me. "They are the only thing left of Ali. They are the closest thing to Ali for him to be around. We're just a memory of WHY he is doing this, not WHO he is doing this for."
"And I think, now, he needs to be reminded of who." Spears mumbled.
"Oh." I said and sat down in my seat.
"You two ready?" Spears leaned back to look at us.
"Yeah."
"Let 'er roll, Britt." Marsh rested against the metal wall with his hands behind his head, and the Centaur shifted as it started to move forward. And as a ritual, inside the Centuar grew quiet again.
"So who all was in Alpha Squad?" I spoke up.
Marsh let out a short laugh. "Before or after Base was attacked?"
"Err—"
"Okay, BEFORE Base--before the fall of Jacinto for that matter—Alpha was set up with the first COGs that aced through Basic like it was cake…Not that Basic isn't already easy, but that's beside the point. This group of COGs were like, the BEST. But the Locust caught us all off guard. They were ambushed—like BEYOND 'ambush'…they were slaughtered. Reports from Delta said they were just a pile of mush or just…no trace of them. The Locust completely wiped out Alpha team, and we weren't entirely sure how they did it. As for Alpha team NOW—that's Ben's Squad." He let out a chuckle. "Which, I'm surprised they handed over BEN the Leader Card." Spears let out a short giggle, then shook her head.
"Be nice Chaning."
"No, no!" He was fighting back more laughter. "I mean, no offense, but you have KELSEY who is better built as a MAN than a WOMAN, and they have people like Matt Zap, and Tony Striker, not to mention TANK on their squad." I felt puzzled by all these names of the people they were listing. Except for Kelsey, the girl I saw earlier. "I mean, Falconer can probably kick more ass than YOU, Britt."
"Hey, bite me, Chaning."
"Ha, sorry. But no, Ben Macke is a good guy. Mack-Attack is what we call him. He's pretty cool—a little shy, but you've gotta get to know him. As for Kelsey, the Falcon, she's pretty badass. Especially for a girl—Of course NO ONE IS BETTER THAN YOU BRITTANY!" He rolled his eyes and laughed.
I tried to hold back a few laughs myself. Kelsey did seem better built than Spears. I wondered how Spears got on a Base position than a COG like Spears did.
"Hey, how did Kelsey-"
"Get a spot on Base?" Marsh finished for me. "Falconer passed Basic with Spears, though was a bit higher than her."
"Shut up Chaning." Spear grumbled.
"Well…it's true!" He let out a laugh and continued. "But see, Falconer isn't much of a fighter—in fact, she sort of hates violence. So she requested a spot on Base."
"But…with Base gone right now…What will happen to us?" I asked. Immediately the room fell silent.
"We fight for survival." Marsh broke the silence.
"But we've been doing that-"
"Or we can just give up, Rook. Does that sound heroic to you?" I shook my head. I looked down at my Lancer that lay across my lap. I thought about how we would be spending, what could be our last days on this planet, fighting for survival. We are the very last hope of our species.
I looked up as the room of the Centaur grew dim. We were passing through the entrance of Mt Juno, but there was no sign of Brumaks that were here minutes ago. A knot swelled up in my throat as I looked out the window.
"Whoa," Marsh got up and leaned over Spears. "Hit the lights, Britt" Spears flipped a switch above her head and a white light illuminated the ground in front of us. I stood up and leaned closer to Spears seat as well. My eyes widen at the sight in front of us.
There were small sacks that scattered all over the ground. The Centaur came to a slow and sudden stop. The three of us stared in complete awe.
"What do you think those are?" I asked. Spears shook her head.
"Let's go check it out!" Marsh's mouth grew wide with excitement. Spears rested her elbow on the dashboard of the Centaur and continued to stare out the window.
"No," She mumbled then slumped back in her seat. "I need you on my cannon." She looked up at me. "You go check it out."
I felt a sudden shock in my chest. I let out a short sigh and nodded my head. "Alrighty." My voice trembled slightly as I turned to the door of the Centaur. I slowly climbed out, with my Lancer slung on my back. I felt my body tense in panic.
I was out…on the field…on my own…
My boots crunched on the dry dirt as I inched closer to the nearest brown sack in front of me. I felt the light from the ACP and Derrick beating on my shoulders.
"Carmine, what's the hold up?" Marcus called out from the ACP. I didn't respond. I walked up to the sack with my Lancer targeted right on it. I pressed the nose of my gun on the surface of the strange piece in front of me, and felt the nose sink in with a sickening noise. A hole punctured through the soft sticky substance and a gash of air and brown ooze leaked out. I leaned in to try and peek through the small hole, and the entire sack shifted slightly, making me jump back and pull the trigger on my Lancer. A few spurts of gunfire hit the sack, and the sack jolted and twitched, ripping a howl. My body stiffened at the eerie noise, and I took a step forward.
"Rookie, be careful-"
The sack broke where the small hole was, and a sticky oozed claw ripped out and lunged at me. I let out a yell and stumbled backwards, firing at the thing that was trying to attack me. The eerie noise ruptured once more, only continued to echo on throughout the mountain. I looked around to see the other sacks were wiggling. "Oh no.." I mumbled.
"Reavers!" Marsh screamed through my ear, and was quickly drowned out by gunfire from the Centaur's machine gun.
I tried to roll over onto my stomach, and saw the Centaur was moving backwards. The ACP moved to the left of the Centaur and the Derrick had rolled up on the Centaur's right. I hurried to my feet to get back to my team. I felt something caught my leg and pulled me back down on the ground. I rolled over to see a distorted figure covered in ooze and looked so boney and raw. It raised a claw at me. I ripped out another yell as I initiated the chainsaw on the bottom of my Lancer. It cut through the creature and slumped into two pieces each falling on both sides of me. I paused, taking a breath, staring at the rocky ceiling, only to see a black creature hover right above me and suddenly stop. I felt the ground shake as four black poles crushed the ground around me. I let out a yell as I stared at the belly of a Reaver.
A hand grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out from under the Reaver and pulled me onto my feet. I looked up to see it was a face I had not recognized, and felt a pull on the same shoulder he had grabbed me. I looked up to see the air was filled with red lights that were falling in my direction. He pushed me ahead of him and stopped to turn back to the Reaver. He pulled out a grenade and swung it at the Reaver, sticking the driver in the head and turned back to push me back to the Centaur.
"Who the hell are you?" I called out, trying to talk over all the gunfire. He didn't respond.
The red lights fell behind us, ripping an explosion and a roar from the Reaver. Someone from the Derrick had set off a Mortar. The ground shook as the Reaver collapsed.
Cole and Dom rushed past us throwing grenades ahead, and firing at the sacks. I looked back to see the ground in front of us was covered in fire. I stood there trying to catch my breath.
"Carmine, get your ass back in here!" Spears rang in my ear.
The man, who saved me, pulled me to the Centaur and pushed me up the ladder. I reached the floor of the Centaur and collapsed trying to gather what had just happened.
"No way!" Marsh had jumped down from his cannon. I looked up to see he wasn't talking to me. "Justin?" I rolled over to see it was the man who had saved me, standing in the doorway of the Centaur. I heard Spears jump up from her seat.
"Where the hell have YOU been?" Spears said as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Nice to see you guys too." He mumbled, throwing his Boltok over his shoulder. "This was my replacement?" He pointed to me.
"He's new." Spears said bluntly.
"Hmm." Justin nodded and then threw his gun down next to me. "You won't last long."
"He's lasted this long." Marsh let out a short laugh.
"A lot longer than you." Spears spoke bitterly.
"Hey," Justin took a step closer to Spears. "You guys LEFT me back there! After I promised I would take care of the Locusts after I took out the Brumak."
"Well what were we supposed to think after that Worm got you…and all those Locusts and Brumak?" Spears' voice grew agitated.
"I said I took care of it!" Justin growled and threw his hands in the air. He began pacing until he finally sat down.
A noise came from the ladder, and Norris appeared in the doorway. The room fell silent for a moment as Norris and Justin stared at each other. Norris let out a sigh and rested against the doorway.
"Nice to see you're still alive." He spoke softly to Justin. Justin nodded in agreement and stared at the floor. I sat up and looked at the two boys, noticing a resemblance. They were brothers.
"What happened out there, Justin?" Spears mumbled, not looking up at him.
He took a deep breath before answering her. "Well, for starters…that worm DIDN'T get me. I managed to hide myself behind a few rocks, and snug myself real good in between them. After the worm passed us, I pulled out and saw you guys had left. I tried to get myself out of that cave before it got flooded. I hauled my ass here, figuring this was where you guy would get yourselves in trouble. I waited out here a few days, also learning a thing or two about the Locust."
"What do you know?" Marsh spoke up, rested his back on the wall.
"Well, not too long ago, a herd of Brumaks came through here. And before that, an army of Locusts were hauling this giant cage. They were meeting up with this big guy I've never seen before. Bigger than General Raam. They were doing like this..slave exchange." He let out a sigh before looking up at Norris. "Ali was with them." Norris' face grew hard and red.
"Anyway," Justin continued. "They took the slaves in exchange for these…pods on the ground."
"What are they?" I spoke, feeling my voice crack.
"Well, I cracked one open, that just so happen to be a dud." The paused, as though he was trying to find the words to explain it. "Those things have the same body structure of a human. But their development isn't human. I think the Locusts are trying to blend the human species with…theirs."
"That's impossible," Spears spoke up, unfolding her arms. "The Locust's aren't smart enough to generate that kind of thing. We took out their main Hive when we sank Jacinto. They can't possibly carry that technology after that."
"It doesn't take technology to make a hybrid, Brittany." Justin looked up at her. Spears finally understood what he meant.
"Oh God.." Spears' face turned to disgust. She turned around and sat in her chair. A loud bang came from the doorway of the Centaur and Norris grabbed Justin's collar and pulled him up.
"WHERE DID THEY TAKE HER!" He howled at his brother. I was beginning to feel fear towards my leading officer.
"I-I don't know, Jordan." Justin stammered. "But I'm guessing they took her down to the hive—Deep in the mountain." Norris threw his brother down and walked to the door.
"Move forward!" He yelled at Spears, and then climbed out of the Centaur.
"Now where the hell are you going, damnit?" Spears called out to Norris.
"Just lead the fucking way!" He said before disappearing out the Centaur.
"Ugh!" Spears thrashed in her seat. "MEN!" Marsh let out a short laugh.
"C'mon, Britt, you know he went to go tell Marcus and Mack what we just found out."
"Yeah, yeah, you men are just as pissy as us girl on our periods." She grumbled and shut the door of the Centaur, and started the large vehicle back up.
"Looks like you're back on the team, JT." Marsh slapped a hand on Justin's shoulder.