CHAPTER 2
Previously...
Garrus tumbled into the vehicle, gasping for breath. Ashley immediately shut the door once he was inside.
He made his way over to her, still out of breath. Through his narrow visor, she could see the fear in his eyes as he uttered two words: "thresher maw."
Ashley's eyes widened, but she swung round and dropped into the driver's seat. She was getting their vehicle the hell out of there.
"What are you doing?" Garrus demanded. "We can't leave Shepard behind!"
"I saw the sensor, she's nowhere near here! If we stay we'll be cooked by the thresher maw. We have to get out of here and find another way round to Shepard."
"We'll never find her again in this blizzard!"
Before Ashley could argue back, the ground quaked, and there was a resounding thud as something hit the side of the Mako. She just had time to glance back at the grid of the Mako's functioning systems, which was now completely lit up in red, as a wailing alarm filled her ears, and the vehicle shook as something lifted it from the snowy ground and catapulted it into the air.
Ashley clung to her seat, trying to keep one had on the Mako's controls. It smashed back down onto solid ground, and she groaned as her face collided with metal for the second time that day, though this time it was thankfully protected by her helmet.
She pushed herself upwards, staring around at the havoc wreaked upon the Mako's interior. Garrus was getting to his feet, and did not appear visibly injured. She turned back to the controls, though the thermal sensor had been knocked out, she wanted to at least see where they were, how much damage had been done, and if she could get the vehicle moving again.
A firm hand clamped around her arm, pulling her away from the controls. She stared at her turian ally in brief surprise, before he said hoarsely, as he had been winded by the crash: "We've got to get out of the Mako before the thresher maw reaches us. This rover vehicle isn't going anywhere, and even if the guns still work, we won't have a chance against the Thresher Maw if we can't evade its attacks."
Ashley nodded. They didn't have any choice: if they stayed in the Mako, they'd be killed, but if they went outside, they might get lost and freeze to death, or walk right into the thresher maw. Damned if they did, damned if they didn't.
Garrus grabbed hold of the heavy metal door, trying to lift it now that it was struggling open automatically. Ashley heaved with all her strength, though it didn't really compare to that of a turian.
The door groaned, falling open, and the pair dropped onto the thick snow outside. Joker hadn't been lying about Antibaar, it did remind one of stepping into a freezer completely stark naked. The icy wind was biting through Ashley's armour, into her skin, and her visor seemed to be steaming up a little at the corners.
"Stay close," Garrus murmured, as though the thresher maw might hear them. Maybe it could. They were stepping lightly, as Ashley had once heard that threshers were sensitive to movements on the surface of the planets they inhabit, and the last thing they wanted to do was alert it to their presence.
"Let's find Shepard," Ashley said, indicating to her right. She didn't necessarily know if it was the right direction, but she had a hopeful feeling, and was sure she'd glimpsed some rocky area that way. In any case, Garrus seemed to trust her. That thought gave her a pang of guilt, but she quashed it. It really wasn't the time to be dwelling on her complicated feelings and unfair past judgements.
They moved swiftly over the snow, which had luckily been compacted so much that their feet didn't sink into it. The wind was blasting ice into Ashley's face, and the snow collected on her helmet as she made her way through the thick cold wind. The frigid wind was tearing right through her armour, which was of standard thickness, but was made for resisting bullets, not blizzards. She threw a backwards glance towards Garrus.
The turian seemed to be struggling too, and had pitched his bulky upper-body forwards in an attempt to force his way through the fierce winds. She noticed with mild envy that the snow wasn't sticking to his armour, as it was hers, seeing as it was thermal armour. She wasn't sure how much better it would be at keeping him warm though.
At that moment, Garrus stopped moving, staring at Ashley. "Stop! Do you feel that?" He murmured in a low voice.
"Oh, God, no." Ashley grimaced as she felt the slight tremors beneath her feet. She readied her assault rifle, though she knew it didn't have nearly enough firepower to take down a thresher maw.
She leapt backwards as a huge set of teeth, embedded in a muscular jaw burst through the snow and rock, just metres from where they stood.
Ashley turned on heel, sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her in the opposite direction. Garrus flew past her, glancing over his shoulder as the thresher hurled itself back into the ground, snaking its way beneath them.
Huge chunks of earth and snow were thrown at Ashley as the thresher emerged again. She threw herself out of the way, landing heavily on the ground. The thresher turned its grotesque face in her direction, throwing back its head and projecting litres of green acid in her direction. Ashley launched herself to her feet, tearing away and firing a couple of rounds back at the enemy. The acid hit the snow, melting it immediately and scorching the ground beneath.
She twisted round as she heard Garrus calling to her. He was several metres away, gun in hand. The thresher maw plunged back into the ground, and the turian took the opportunity to shout to her.
"Chief! Get back to the Mako, the guns might still be working!"
"What about you?" she yelled back. She wasn't in the habit of abandoning allies, whatever species they may be, and especially when she'd preached that they'd be the ones doing the abandoning when it hit the fan.
"I'll try and keep it busy. Hurry!"
Ashley didn't have time to debate this. There was a deep rumble as more rock was sprayed into the air and the thresher reared its ugly head, yet again setting its malevolent sights on her. She was beginning if she had a target stuck on her back. Maybe the thresher was sexist, or racist.
She sprang towards the Mako, shouldering her gun and pushing her legs as fast as they could go without giving way. Every few seconds she threw an anxious glance over her shoulder, giving her enough time to roll out of the way of a jet of acid.
The Mako was mere metres away, though she was worried that once she reached it, she'd be trapped inside, like a turkey that just walked straight into an oven. She faltered for just a moment, but that was all the time the thresher needed to catch her off-guard.
Ashley heard a loud hiss as another stream of acid was hurled at her. She threw herself out of the way just in time, but a light spray of some of the trailing acid struck her leg, burning straight through the armour and scalding her skin.
She cried out, but hauled herself back to her feet, glancing back at the thresher. Luckily for her, it was now absorbed with trying to burn Garrus alive, or at the very least, crush him, as the turian darted back and forth, firing at the thresher whenever he got the chance. Ashley seized this opportunity and hastened to the Mako, throwing herself inside and clambering over to the grenade launcher. It was slower than the machine gun, but packed a heck of a bigger punch.
As the thresher maw burst from the ground again, the impact knocking Garrus a good few metres away from it, Ashley fired the first grenade into the thresher's slimy neck. It immediately turned its attention back to her, disappearing into the snow. Ashley knew she didn't have time to worry when and where it would next emerge, and instantly reached for the next grenade, loading it into the powerful gun.
Within moments of her having readied the grenade launcher, the thresher maw erupted from the ground, far too close to the Mako for her to aim properly. The creature was either smart or lucky, but she didn't like it either way. She fired off another round into the thresher's neck, cursing that she hadn't been able to get a better shot. She felt quite sure that it's acidic saliva was soon to corrode the Mako to such an extent that the vehicle collapsed in on itself with her trapped within.
Ashley reloaded, holding the gun steady as her dark eyes scanned the snow-swept area, ready to shoot the moment the monster's ugly head reared from the white earth. Nothing happened.
Garrus had now hauled himself back onto his feet and was stood apprehensively, his gun ready, though it would do about as much good as throwing pebbles at the thresher maw. Nevertheless, had their positions been swapped, Ashley too would have her rifle in her hands.
Then it thrust its way upwards once more. An alarm blared inside the Mako, the panel on the dashboard lit up, alerting Ashley to the fact that the rover couldn't take much more abuse from the alien menace. She turned back to the thresher just in time to see a jet of acid flying towards the turian and narrowly missing. She wasn't even sure if it had entirely missed.
The thresher whipped its hideous face round to meet her, throwing its head back, its jaws hanging open as it prepared another volley of venom. Ashley smirked, firing off a grenade down its throat. She couldn't resist staring with a morbid pleasure as the grenade exploded, cleaving the thresher's head almost completely in two.
Wasting no time, Ashley leaped out of the Mako, darting towards the prone form of her ally.
"Garrus! Damn it!"
She dropped into a crouching position beside him, laying her hands on his arms to roll him onto his back so that she could survey the extent of his injuries. It wasn't pretty, but he wasn't as banged up as she'd thought he'd be. The acid had burned through his armour and scalded the scaled skin on his right shoulder and leg.
Ashley fished out some medi-gel, smearing it onto his shoulder. The blistered skin oozed with blood, though it didn't look like any blood she'd ever seen before. At the touch of the cold liquid on his skin, Garrus stirred. He pushed himself into a sitting position.
"I'm all right, just a few burns," he said, reaching for his own medi-gel. He glanced strangely at Ashley as she continued absently to apply medi-gel to his shoulder.
Feeling self-conscious, she quickly withdrew her hand, and instead watching as he tended to his wounds himself.
He glanced up, gesturing at the burns on Ashley's calf. "You've been hit," he observed sombrely.
"Eh, don't worry about me," she shrugged, cocking an eyebrow in a gesture he could see despite the helmet obscuring most of her face. "We humans are stronger than we look, you know?"
Garrus made a disgruntled noise as he got to his feet gingerly, taking in the white blanket that surrounded them. Ashley spread some medi-gel onto her leg, but wasn't really paying attention to it, she was too irritated at his brusque attitude.
"Are you still mad at me, even though I just saved your sorry ass?"
"I guess I should be more thankful, that you would help me, human," he answered pointedly, walking with a slow but determined pace into the blizzard.
Ashley stormed after him, with a glare cold enough to rival the planet's frigid surface. "What the hell's that supposed to mean? Quit talking in riddles, and speak your mind for a change!"
He sighed, stopping in his tracks and turning to face her. Her skin prickled uncomfortably as he stared at her with an icy stare to rival her own. "I'm aware of your feelings towards turians, Chief Williams, and it surprises me that you still hold a grudge against my people for a war that took place before either of us was even born."
"Look, it's nothing personal."
"I heard what you said in the Mako," he retorted, his tone a little irate now. "You don't trust me; I think that makes it personal enough."
"What? You can't be serious! You took what I said in the Mako completely out of context."
"I think the meaning is clear enough."
"Before you get all fired up, acting like I'm some Earth-first psycho, why don't you get your facts straight?" Ashley flared angrily. The last thing she needed was the turian aggravating her and twisting her words and feelings to make her look like some xenophobe. He didn't know the first thing about her! Of all the Normandy crew, he was one of those who had never asked her a single question about herself, so how could he presume to know what she was thinking? "When I was in the Mako, I was actually thinking about what a nice guy you are, and how you're not what I expected. I also wondered if my dad was watching, and what he'd say if he thought I was buddies with a turian."
"Oh," Garrus answered stupidly, staring at her.
Ashley rolled her eyes, stalking off into the fierce wind, which was hurling snow at her face. It was like it was trying to bar her path. She wished that Shepard had been with them; she would have known just how to diffuse the situation, unlike Ashley, who didn't have a clue.
She stopped abruptly, staring about her. The whiteness was endless and unchanging. If she just strode off and allowed herself to be enveloped by the storm, she'd be screwed, and the next time she saw her friends, they'd probably have to thaw her out, or stick her in a museum so that people of the future would know what not to do when stranded on a strange planet. Maybe Garrus would ship her back to the turians so that they could all laugh.
She shook her head, wondering if the cold was affecting her sense. Scowling, Ashley wondered if she had it in her to swallow her pride, go find Garrus and find the Mako with him.
Fortunately, God was smiling on her, and Garrus appeared through the wall of snow before she had the chance to lose face.
He was doing that thing where he bowed his head, eyes downcast and waved his arms a little, shifting from one foot to the other. She'd seen him do it a billion times when apologising to Shepard or admitting she's right. Ashley and Wrex had decided it made for amusing entertainment in the cargo bay, which was otherwise uneventful. At the moment though, Ashley just felt disappointed.
"I think we should probably just forget what just happened. What do you say we just start afresh?" He offered in a tone so soft that she had trouble hearing his voice against the wind roaring through her suit.
He proffered a hand, and Ashley took it, setting aside her reservations for the moment, and shaking it firmly.
"Agreed, now let's find the Mako, get Shepard and get the hell off this planet before I freeze."
"I forgot you don't have thermal armour," the turian commented in a voice so casual that you would think they hadn't just been arguing. "It shouldn't make much difference though, seeing as I'm cold too."
"I'm not cold, I'm frozen," she corrected, folding her arms tightly against her chest, though it didn't really make any difference. Still, at least she felt like she was doing something about it. "I think my eyelids are gonna fuse together soon. Too bad medi-gel doesn't keep out the cold."
"Yeah," he agreed, reaching a hand up to touch his shoulder tentatively as they set out in the direction they hoped the Mako would be.
Ashley decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be stranded with the turian. He was, after all, nicer than most guys she'd met, but then, he also had reptilian skin and mandibles on his face, so maybe comparing him to them was just an exercise in pointlessness.