They had bagged what was left of Larrons and tucked him in one of the Derrick's storage compartments. It seemed a little insulting to his name but leaving him there would have been worse. Erika had seen too many Gears left behind after a battle. Her hand gripped one of her belt pouches on impulse. Inside she could feel the edges of Cog Tags pressing against her palm through the fabric. Their bodies may have been lost but their names would never be forgotten. The mood had been somewhat solemn ever since Larrons had been tucked away. No one had spoken. Even Penny kept his mouth shut for a change but Erika had been keeping an eye on him all the same. He kept to himself, standing under the Grind Lifts main rigging, out of everyone's way. He kept looking over his shoulder as if someone was going to catch him at something. Erika had a fair idea of what it was. The mother fucker was using again. Everyone had their coping mechanisms. Erika smoked, some guys drank, others gambled, some went looking for no strings sex. She knew guys who wrote letters home to families that weren't there anymore and some who went down to the orphanages to help take care of the kids. Not everyone could hack it though, every once and a while someone blew their brains out but that was getting rarer. Yeah, everybody had their coping mechanisms and Penny's was hardcore stuff he bought off the Stranded. Trouble was, Penny was dumb enough to do it on duty. She could feel her blood boiling but she bit her lip as usual. She wasn't one to rat anyone out. She had her secrets too. This time she tasted blood.

Penny had been in Able before her. She'd never liked him the moment she set eyes on him. Despite his outward confident demeanour his eyes gave away his addiction, there was anger in there too. He wore displeasure like a cloak, had an acid as fuck tongue and no respect for anybody but himself. He was a cocky prick and a parasite at the best of times even when he wasn't using, when he was on the stuff he was unbearable. He'd taken an interest in Erika, well her body to be more precise, she was just a thing to him. Allan Pendax was a prick of the very worst kind.

"What you lookin' at? Liking what you see huh sweet heart?" Pendax declared with a smug grin.

Erika realised she'd been staring, not at him directly but staring none the less. She raised two fingers and turned away. There were people you mourned and people you would be glad to be rid off. Unfortunately the ones you liked were always the ones who died. Larrons would not be the last of Able to die today, Erika could feel it in her blood. She knew all too well from experience that death was always there waiting, just sitting in the corner of your eye, un-noticed till the last second. She herself had replaced a poor kid named Carmine, who used to be Able squad's marksman, after her old unit had been wiped out in Noroa. The only members of Able who had been around since the squad was formed during the Pendulum Wars were Blander and McNair. Others had come and gone, no one lived forever. Erika had memories, people's faces, names and voices, floating around in her brain. She usually shut it out but there were times the pain would creep back in and that damn ache would spark up in the back of her skull like it was the devil himself laughing at her. Erika blinked and shook her head. The rig bumped gently over the un-even ground shaking her back to the present. She looked up and sighed.

There were a few people though that Erika imagined might live forever if they tried hard enough. Across from her a Derrick named Betty rumbled along on Dita's right. Erika could see the infamous Marcus Fenix leaning on the railings behind Betty's cockpit. Now there was a man who'd been to hell and back and survived. Aspho fields was the biggy, the one he was most famous for. A real live hero, though she'd heard he'd never admit that himself. A hero and traitor. He'd been sent down by Hoffman himself and then re-assigned to Delta Squad to deliver the Lightmass bomb that had never worked. She wondered how that must have felt. All the effort and loss of life for something that did fuck all in the long term. Fenix was an enigma to everyone but his best pal Dom. Erika looked back over her shoulder again at Pendax, who was rubbing the bottom of his nose, his gloves came away slick with blood. Erika turned away, disgust creasing her brow. When she glanced up again Fenix caught her eye. Erika executed her usual gesture of acknowledgment, index and middle fingers straight and tapped briefly to her temple then a flick in the direction of the recipient. Her "lazy arsed salute" as Kolea used to put it. Marcus just tilted his head forward in a brief nod then another Gear tapped his shoulder and he attention was refocused.

Brandon Kolea. His smiling face flickered in her memories for a few moments and Erika felt the knots of pain in her guts return. Brandon Kolea "The Ginger Nutter." Same age as Erika, signed up on the same day she did and they'd fought together ever since. Until... Erika inhaled hard through her nose and forced back the tears forming in her eyes. The ache came back. That had been a bad day. Erika often wondered how, or why she had been spared when everyone else had been killed. They'd all suffered but poor Kolea had the worst of it. She could still hear his screams. Erika raised a hand to her mouth, she could feel a retch coming, this wasn't going to be pleasant. Her skull throbbed.

"Control to all squads, we're detecting major seismic activity just ahead of you!" Anya Stroud's voice declared in Erika's earpiece and instantly the sensation was gone. She swallowed. Stroud, there was a voice that got your attention. War hero for a mother and a war hero for a boyfriend, if you believed the rumours about her and Fenix. Erika didn't know or care. She liked Anya, she had a kind heart.

"Copy, control." Blander replied.

"Whoa." Racket muttered as the Derrick pushed through a clutch of trees and the ground ahead was made visible.

Erika, Archer and Bassky ran to the front of the Derrick, weapons ready. The ground was cracked and blackened; smoke was rising from some of the fissures. It looked a major earthquake had hit during a forest fire and that both events had somehow been confined to this one area of land.

"Well that can't be good." Bassky observed.

"Oh really? I thought we were having a fuckin' picnic." Pendax replied with a sneer.

"Cram it up your ass..." Bassky began.

"Lock it down." Blander snapped.

Pendax snorted and looked over the side again.

"Prick." Bassky muttered.

Erika nodded.

There was a grumble and the entire world suddenly seemed to shake, more rocks tumbled into the nothingness between the fissures. Cracks split the ground and the sound of shattering stone filled the air. Then the Locust came. Hordes emerged from the E-holes now erupting all around the Derricks. All at once the brief calm was obliterated by a storm of noise. Gunfire exploded down towards the Grubs and more came hurtling back. Erika saw a Corpser emerge from the ground on the opposite side of the waste land. Its massive finger like legs crashed down onto one of the Derricks and dragged it back down into the E-Hole.

"Ah shit." Bassky sighed.

Erika braced her Longshot against her bicep and sighted the horde. Some were carrying grappling lines and hooks.

"They're gonna try and board!" She exclaimed.

"Erika, take as many of em out as you can before they get to close. Archer, Penny cover the right, knock off any hooks, Bassky the left with me." Blander ordered revving his chainsaw bayonet with a savage grin.

McNair opened up with the chain gun shredding the front line of Locust pouring from the E-Holes, puffs of gore leapt into the air as the heavy-duty rounds split flesh like wet paper and crunched apart bones, about fifty went down in seconds but McNair couldn't cover everywhere at once. Erika flicked another cigarette from her pouch and popped it between her lips. She struck a match against her Long Shot like he had done so many times before and took a long drag. This was it. This was battle, now she could do something; make a dent in the Grubs instead of standing idle while all hell rained down like she'd done when the Nemecysts had attacked. Now she didn't feel anything, no pain, sorrow or anger. It was just kill, re-load and kill again. She knelt and propped the Longshot on the railing. Her ammo pouch was opened wide on her hip. She sighted and compensated for the Derricks shaking.

Erika exhaled through her nose, enjoying the taste and smell of the cigarette, it steadied her. She sighted on a grenadier carrying a grappling hook. Crack! The Longshot recoil kicked hard into her shoulder but she was used to that and it didn't hurt anymore. The Grub was snapped off his feet, a halo of pulped brain matter splattering the Locust behind him. Her hands a blur of motion, Erika re-loaded the rifle and drew the bolt back with a satisfying click-clack. She spied a second and squeezed the trigger. This time she caught the ugly bastard right in the eye and punched a hole in his head the size of a tennis ball but the round kept going though and kneecapped a following comrade. It fell and was trampled to death by the advancing horde. Two for one, Erika grinned.

"Come on you cunts." She muttered, "I got plenty of bullets."

A fourth Locust died clutching its spilt innards, Erika's round blew his stomach open like a water balloon.

"That's for Larrons."

She fired again, another head disintegrated in a puff of blood mist and bone chips.

"For Brandon."

Feeling the Derrick shuddering violently, Erika lowered her weapon, losing sight of her next target.

Racket was hauling on the controls, his expression pained.

"The grounds giving way under Dita's wheels. Hang on Gears this is gonna be bad!" he yelled.

Racket steered the Derrick left as the earth collapsed to the right and another E-Hole disgorged yet more Locust. Erika gripped the hand rail and braced her legs in a vain attempt not to fall. At first she didn't but another E-hole opened just in front of Dita's right wheel. The Derrick lurched forwards as the tyre entered the hole squashing the emerging Locust beneath its mighty treads, it wasn't big enough to swallow the wheel and Dita bounced out like a car hitting a pot hole only massively scaled up. Erika slipped on what thought must have been Larrons blood and hit the deck hard enough to wind her, she lay there gasping for a few moments. Above her the blue sky was lined with tracer fire streaking passed like fireworks, it was almost beautiful.

"God damn!" Racket whooped, "Close one huh guys!"

"Good driving Racket." Blander replied with a respectful nod into the cockpit window. Racket tilted his hat.

Bassky helped Erika to her feet. A grappling hook appeared on the rail in front of Archer but before the Locust could board his chainsaw took its head clean off. Archer took a bucket load of blood in the face for his troubles.

"Aw fuck, it's in my mouth!" he exclaimed spitting furiously. "Tastes like shit."

"You like shit though right?" Penny smirked.

"Brumaks!" McNair roared. It was the first time he'd spoken all day.

"Multiple Brumak's south side of Landown, we're not outta the woods yet!" More reports came flooding in over the comm net. They were getting pounded. Most of the radio chatter turned into yells for help and screams of pain.

"All rigs move to Landown, I repeat all rigs break off and move to Landown!" that was Anya's voice again. It was the only thing Erika could make out clearly over the din of gunfire and screeching Corpsers. Stroud was good at getting her point across on the comm net whatever situation they had to deal with.

"Aw shit! Straight ahead guys!" Racket shouted. "We gotta Brumak blocking our way out!"

Erika turned on the spot. Sure enough one of the hulking creatures was waiting for them. Fifteen feet of slab like muscle and grey scaled skin trudged towards the Derrick. On its wrists, mounted chain guns whirred into motion. It roared in defiance, drowning out the sound of battle for the duration of its short but terrifying outburst. Erika had seen them before but there had always been a Centaur on hand to deal with them. Suddenly her Longshot, which was powerful enough to stop a truck, felt like a pea shooter.

"Racket! Ram the fucker!" Blander demanded. "McNair, fill him full of lead!"

McNair opened up with the mounted gun. Screeching as bullets ripped through its fore arm and destroyed of its chain guns the Brumak threw up its other arm to hide its face. Another row of bullets stitched along its abdomen, blood rained down on the ground. The Brumak attempted to cover its vulnerable belly with its undamaged arm. For a moment it was distracted, that moment was all Racket needed.

"Yeeeeeehaaaaw!" He cried, slamming the rig into full speed. "Get down Gears, Dita's got a date with a Brumak!"

Able squad hit the deck; once again McNair just held onto the gun, his fingers barely left the trigger and a torrent of rounds continued to spew forth.

Dita hit the Brumak at full speed. Erika felt the impact rattled her bones; she whacked her chin against the metal deck and cursed. Stumbling and roaring madly the Brumak crashed a fist down on the rigs cockpit. Racket and Draper ducked but the reinforced cabin held and the action gave McNair a clear shot. His sustained fire tore into the Brumaks head gear and punched through into its brain. McNair kept on the pressure, completely shredding its skull. Warm chunks and liquid rained down on the deck below and the beast collapsed dead. Racket rolled right on by, shoving the massive twitching corpse aside.

"Told you my Dita was tough." Racket sounded like he was grinning.

"Damn, you gotta teach me how to drive like that." That was Draper, he sounded more relieved than anything else.

"Let's not do that again." Archer mumbled clambering to his feet.

Bassky nodded, "Fuck me McNair, is there anything you can't stand up to?" he asked. "Makin' the rest of us look bad."

McNair shrugged, almost apologetically, "My mother."

"If she's anything like you, I can believe that." Bassky wiped Brumak brains from his visor.

It was said in good humour. As the sounds of warfare drifted away behind them and the ascended to Landown, that sense of post battle euphoria started to kick in. For everyone but Erika.

She spat blood; she had bitten deep into her bottom lip and widening the wound she'd made herself earlier. Her cigarette was amazingly still smoking between her fingers how she'd held on to that was a mystery. She took a drag and closed her eyes. When she opened them Archer's hand was stuck in front of her face. She took it let him pull her upright. His face was grimy with Locust blood.

"You hurt?" he asked, worry obvious in his eyes.

"Aye. I'm alright." Erika replied licking her wound lip.

"Landown ain't far off. I don't think we're done yet." Racket stated absently. "I heard the place is full of grubs."

Bassky replied first, wiping yet more bits off his lancer casing. "Yeah it is. Ten shitloads of them is what I heard."