Chapter 3: Defense

"KR-22 is going down!" the pilot continued to shout.

"Brace yourselves!" Marcus shouted as the chopper hit some trees and hit the ground with a loud thud. Prishe was the first to climb out and fell to her knees as she hugged it. Fabia followed but instead of falling over to hug the ground, she fell over to puke.

"I...am not...going on...one of those...AGAIN!" She commented while catching her breath.

"And here I thought I would get used to crashes by now." Baird commented as he helped Sam out of the wreckage, "Ever get the feeling someone's just fucking with us?"

"Enough, we need to get to Anvil Gate to assist in the defense." Marcus commented while getting any equipment he could. Prishe was examining the area when her eyes landed a Retro Lancer and ran over to it.

"Dibs!" she shouted while picking it up.

"Aww man!" Cole remarked, "Hey, where's Carmine?"

"Over here!" Carmine shouted from a distance, "Hey, I think you should see this!" The group ran over to Carmine and were startled at the sight of a Locust creature.

"What the hell is that?" Anya asked.

"Don't ask me," Carmine responded, "Baird?"

Everyone turned to see Baird studying the creature, "Well...it looks like a Kantus," Baird reported, "...but I don't see any Gorgon Pistols nearby, its nails are more like claws, and it seems to have significantly better muscle compared to the average Kantus...like if it adapted to take enemies one on one."

"A close quarter combat Kantus?" Sam asked, "So we call them CQC Kantus?" Just as Sam finished her question something tackled her to the side and held her down with its weight as it savagely clawed at her.

"Get the fuck off her you ugly shit!" Baird shouted as he quickly took the Retro from Prishe, kicked the creature off, and viciously stabbed to death. As Baird finished his assault he turned back to Sam and helped her up, "I'm going to have to think twice if you're just going to let other guys jump on you." he joked earning him a punch in the gut.

"Hey," Prishe called, "This one looks the same as the one we found dead."

"That settles it; we have a new species of Kantus, the Savage Kantus." Baird commented as he regained himself.

"Alright, we've lost enough time already," Marcus commented, "let's move out to Anvil Gate." On command the group began the walk to Anvil Gate, arriving thirty minutes later to a battlefield. The group flanked the Locust and managed to cut a hole in the attackers as they made their way inside.

"Marcus, god damn it, where have you been?" Hoffman asked as they got into the base.

"On a field expedition," Marcus replied, "We've discovered a new variant."

"A new variant?" Hoffman asked surprised.

"Yeah, Savage Kantus." Marcus replied, "They're the same except the new ones have claws and are a lot stronger."

"Got it," Hoffman confirmed, "Alright, now get out there and give'em hell!"

"Let's move it Delta!" Marcus shouted and everyone moved to the walls to join the fight. As they reached the walls Prishe and Fabia took the area above the front doors, Marcus, Anya, Baird, and Sam took the left wall which was being hit the hardest and Cole and Carmine took to the field.

Cole picked up Boomshot as soon as he arrived, "The Cole Train has arrived! You in trouble now bitches!" Cole fired at the heavier units while carmine took down the smaller infantry with a Longshot rifle and chain sawed them with a Lancer if they got through. Back at the front gate, Prishe had taken a Oneshot and Fabia grabbed a Vulcan Gatling gun.

"Damn! Look at all that blood!" Prishe commented happily as she fired the weapon causing a Boomer to explode into tiny pieces. "Hey!" she shouted to a nearby Gear, getting his attention, "Go capture one of them for me, I want to know what one of them tasted like alive." The soldier was shaken up by her comment but immediately shot a nearby Grenadier in the legs, disarmed it, and dragged it inside, all out of fear of what Prishe would do if he didn't comply.

"Prishe, are you serious?" Fabia asked as she continued to mow down the faltering assault. Prishe however never answered her question as the remaining Locust units began to retreat.

"All units, cease fire. No point in wasting ammo." Hoffman ordered over the speakerphone. After a while everyone was helping reorganize the base when a bone chilling cry of pain filled the air followed by a shriek of fear, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. "What the fuck was that?" Baird asked, his question answered as a soldier ran up to Hoffman, scared shitless.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-ir! The- she- I- it-" the soldier shuddered.

"For goodness sake son, spit it out!" Hoffman commanded.

"The g-girl, s-she, she's-" the soldier was cut off as his explanation came through the doorway in the form of Prishe with blood covering her mouth and dripping from her chin as if she had just eaten the biggest BBQ sandwich...but instead of BBQ it was blood. Hoffman looked at her with complete surprise in his face and several soldiers ran for buckets to puke in, many not making it to one.

"Ahhhh, that was good. Who knew Locust Grenadiers tasted so good!" Prishe commented, oblivious to the reactions around her.

Fabia walked in and saw Prishe covered with blood, "Prishe! What happened!? Are you ok?" she asked worryingly.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, just went for a snack." Prishe replied causing Fabia to turn a little green.

"Could you at least clean up after your 'snacks'?" Fabia asked feeling her breakfast trying to make a comeback. Prishe looked down and barely noticed her blood covered clothes.

"Oh, sorry Fabia, I'll get cleaned up." Prishe replied.

"Hey, I'm not going to start getting reports of missing soldiers and bloody rooms am I?" Hoffman asked before Prishe could leave to clean up.

"No, I'm not a cannibal...it's just, for some reason Locust just taste so good." Prishe replied and left the room. Baird approached the area she was standing in and picked up some of the blood that dripped off of Prishe with his fingers and tasted it, earning disgusted looks from everyone.

"So...is it true?" Cole asked still disgusted.

"Well, it actually tastes like candy." Baird replied.

"Really?" a soldier asked.

"OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOT!" Baird shouted, "I don't know if she fell on her head when she was smaller, but the fact is that she's crazy."

"Oh come on Baird," Sam commented, "We all have different tastes...even if hers is a little weird."

"I won't care as long as she doesn't get thirsty around me." Baird commented.

"Let's just hope she doesn't take a liking to our own blood." Marcus commented earning a few nervous nods.