With a quick twist clockwise, the bones in the Theron Guard's neck snapped, causing the body to crumple to the mossy ground. Colonel Victor Hoffman quietly relieved the locust guard of its weapons, checking the functionality of the Hammerburst Assault Rifle. It was no Lancer, but it would have to do. He wasn't in a position to get picky. Surrounded by humanoid abominations, armed with only a single weapon, and without support, Hoffman considered his chances of survival. One slip up, and he was royally screwed.

His vision blurred when another dizzy spell hit him. Shaking his head, he attempted to clear his sight. He had ripped off the sleeve of his uniform that had been partly torn off and wrapped it around his head. Within minutes, it was soaked in blood. His whole body was shocked by flashes of pain whenever his torso twisted or turned sharply. If he didn't find help, a Locust would either end his life or he would probably bleed to death from internal injury.

He kept his head low, slowly ducking and crouching behind pillars and boulders, taking care not to make a single sound that would alarm the Locusts of his presence. His radio had gone out, smashed and destroyed when they went down, and he had know way of knowing if Stroud and the other Gears were alive. The only thing certain was that the data he carried was still safe and secure, for now. He stared down at the giant lake several levels below him once more. In the center, tail up, was 763-1. It had taken quite a beating, and it was a miracle he was alive.

The enormous hole they had been pulled through made 763-1 look like a small toy in comparison to size. They had gone through several levels of strata, that much he remembered. Something had pierced through the sides of the Raven, grabbing hold of it, and pulled. From the first level of earth they hit, 763-1 was thrown around like a ragdoll, and that was when he lost Stroud and Private Marsh. They were again pulled under, he remembered, flying out of the Raven, thrown against solid rock. He kept his breaths short, sure that he had broken a couple ribs.

When he came to, he looked down the hollow, but saw no signs of life or of the monster they had come across. He almost cursed up a storm when he thought of Stroud, Dorne, Marsh, and Carmine. It only took seconds. It took less than a minute to bring down the carrier and lose his entire team. His blood boiled when knew that the Locusts didn't care how many were of theirs were killed, only that the mass survived. But it didn't work like that with humans. Every life was precious, every life meant something.

Flashes of the ambush ran through his mind. Somehow, those bastards knew who Stroud was and how important she was. They targeted her first, assuming she carried the collection of data she and a few others have managed to gather over the last couple months. Smart girl. She had secretly given Hoffman the real data disk, in hopes to lure the Locusts away from the sensitive material.

"I need to take the extra precaution, Colonel," Stroud had said, handing him the disk. "We cannot take the risk of losing this data, so I will be the diversion." Worked like a charm, but what was the cost?

He knelt when he heard another group of drones marching nearby. Jesus, they were everywhere. He had no choice but to wait despite his desire to rid the entire Hollow of them. Who did those sons of bitches think they are? Locusts were fragile beings, easily taken down by bullets and missiles, but it was the sheer number of them that was so overpowering. They were like insects, coming at them from every angle. Even when the war dragged on, they still didn't know what the horde's goals were.

He wiped the sweat and blood from his face, thinking about the best course of action to take. Other than a goal of making an ascent toward the surface, he was without direction. The only thing he could do was search for more COGs. 763-1 fell near the House of Sovereigns, and he knew for a fact that several squads had been dispatched underground in that area. Problem was getting to them. Maybe, going further down was best after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had journeyed deeper into the Hollow without interruption, and Marcus wasn't so sure that was a good thing. It was uncomfortably quiet. They jumped down a steep ledge and continued into the outskirts of a crater like pit. "Ah, shit," Marcus sighed when they came upon a bloody battlefield. One glance around the area told him that the COGs lost this one. Many soldiers were sprawled around, covered in their own blood, completely motionless. "Check to see if anyone is still alive," he ordered. This wasn't just a fight that was lost, it was a massacre.

Human limbs had been blown off, and headless bodies lay everywhere. A sick layer of red covered the grounds of the pit they had stumbled upon. Each step he took caused his boots to stick to the ground. All of these soldiers, and only a few Locusts corpses were killed in comparison.

"Damn," Cole said, veering off to the right. "Didn't look like they even had a chance."

Baird knelt to check a Gear's pulse, but after a moment he shook his head. "Nothing," he gritted through his teeth, snapping off the soldier's tags. He jumped over to another body, and swore when he found the same result. "This is some bullshit," he said when he observed the marking on the second pair of tags. "Only twenty-two fucking years old."

Dom couldn't help the heavy burden he felt in his heart. Each body he checked was lifeless, cold and pale. 'And young,' he thought sadly. His eyes traveled over the small body, wincing when he saw the numerous wounds that the boy's life poured from. He pulled a clip from a bloodied Lancer, frowning. The kid wasn't even able to get a shot off before he was gunned down; the clip was full. "We should probably stock up on ammo," Dom said, but his voice was soft, drowned in regret. The worst thing about picking up supplies from the dead was looking at their faces, their eyes. It would take more than what Dom had to offer to avenge the innocent lives that were lost, but he would try his damnedest to ensure their lives weren't wasted. He made it a point that for every downed soldier he saw, he would take out two more grubs.

"Got a live one!" Marcus cried out. Dom was on his feet, hurrying to Marcus as was Baird and Cole. He saw Marcus huddled over a shaking body; he could hear the soldier's raspy breaths in between gurgled gasps. "Keep it together, soldier," Marcus ordered.

One look at the man, and Dom knew he wasn't going to make it. "G-good…" the older man stuttered. He must have been this squad's CO; he was at least a decade older than Marcus and himself. "Good to know someone m-made it," he choked. Even with medical personnel tending to him, the man's body suffered such serious injuries, he didn't have a snowball's chance. His Gears armor was shredded, as if his own Lancer had been used against him. But several grubs lay dead next to him. Few were sprayed with bullet holes, and one had its throat slashed opened.

Dom knelt down, placing his hand on a bloody shoulder. "You did good, soldier," he smiled encouragingly. He knew it himself that his own smile wavered. It as always difficult to see someone die in front of you.

"Don't look so sad, boy," the soldier coughed. "I get to be with my family again. Sent some of those fuckers to hell," he inhaled sharply, pain wracked across his face, "and now I can be with my wife and kid in heaven. T-there isn't a happier ending to this old man's life…"

All Dom could do was nod. Slowly, he wrapped his fingers around the chain to the COG tags and pulled. "Take it easy, Gordon," he said after looking at the metal plates, and saluted the man.

"D-did she make it?"

Marcus' eyes widened. He bent forward, not wanting to miss a single word. "Who?" he asked, urgently.

"Pretty girl… blond…" whispered the lieutenant. "Told her to run when they came…"

Anya. Marcus felt his heart beating against his chest in earnest. It was the best news he had heard since they were sent here. The lieutenant coughed up more blood, resting his head against Marcus' arm. "Gave her my pistol. Good shot… ran west… you take care of her, boy," he said, looking Marcus straight in the eye. Even on his dying breath, Marcus could see a glimmer of hope in the lieutenant's gaze. How he could be so hopeful in spite of the state he was in, Marcus couldn't fathom. Shortly after, the old man's eyes rolled back, and his chest let out a final breath.

Marcus gently placed Lieutenant Gordon's head on the rocky ground, his hate for the Locust horde growing stronger. For the longest time, he tried to alienate himself from his comrades. Seeing his friends die around him had turned him into a hateful man. But slowly over time, he began to transform that hate into an energy he could effectively use against his enemies. He was still torn whenever he saw a fellow COG die in his arms, that feeling could never go away. He wouldn't let it.

He stood and took a deep breath. "Delta, we're heading west." A deep silence followed.

"Movement!" Baird hissed suddenly, aiming his Lancer behind them. He kept his voice hushed, but there was no mistaking the urgency in his voice. Each of them took position, Marcus signaling that he and Dom would flank left, and Cole and Baird to cover them.

Keeping quiet, he and Dom quickly hid behind a large wall of stone. When they began to move further, he heard footsteps, soft shuffling falls like something was being dragged. He crouched down and hugged the wall, moving slowly. The steps were coming closer, but Baird motioned that he didn't have visual.

Marcus nearly held his breath, straining to hear any hint as to what they were dealing with. The problem was, every step he heard was light. Locusts were many things, but they were hardly stealthy. Much to their advantage, he could only hear one pair of footsteps. This was going to be easy and fast. He nodded upward, motioning toward Dom.

Dom nodded that he understood; screw stealth, they were going to take this one by surprise. Before it even registers what's going on, it'll be dead. Marcus held up one finger, then a second... when the third went up, he and Dom stood and aimed. "Eat lead!" he yelled, ready to kill.

But what he saw wasn't a guard or a drone; it wasn't even from the Locust horde. He kept his finger off the trigger, the adrenaline causing his body to break out in a cold sweat. If his reflexes didn't kick into overdrive, he would have shot a fellow human being. "Cease fire!" he shouted to Dom, his voice boomed throughout the pit, hopefully reaching Baird and Cole.

A few rounds had been fire off by Dom, but luckily they went wide, completely missing the target. Apparently, he had seen the target as well, and turned at the last moment. "Holy shit," Dom said in disbelief, slowly lowering his Lancer. "Colonel..."

Sure enough, Colonel Hoffman was standing before them, also lowering his weapon. "Well, I'll be damned," he wheezed.

"Sir!" Dom said in alarm, rushing to his side. Hoffman pushed Dom away, indicating that he could stand on his own two feet, but from the look of it, even he didn't seem confident in his physical limitation. He was heavily favoring his left leg.

Marcus had to admit, the colonel looked like shit. "Sir, it's good to see you alive," he said. He hated the man sure enough. It wasn't a secret to anyone that the two men highly disliked each other. The colonel went out of his way to rip Marcus and his team a new one whenever he could, but it was true that seeing him alive offered some relief.

"That's enough, Fenix," Hoffman said. "We gotta get back up top."

Marcus frowned, "sir, we were sent by control to retrieve something that Anya kept with her-"

"I have it, Fenix," Hoffman said in irritation. He pulled a disk from his uniform pocket, holding it out for him and Dom to see. "This contains the exact location and layout of Nexus, the Locust capital. As you probably already heard, this is only half the data. So unless this finds it counterpart, it's next to useless."

"What about Anya?" Marcus asked. They couldn't just leave her to fend for herself down here.

Hoffman looked at him long and hard, narrowing his eyes. "As much as I hate to say it, she's probably dead, Fenix." His voice was harsh, but Marcus could make out the regret in the tone. Anyone who worked with Anya would agree that she was more than exceptional at her job. She was a one woman army when it came to offering support and aid.

Before he could retaliate, control spoke into his ear. "The survival chance of a civilian being this deep down into the Hollow and also taking into consideration the amount of time that has passed by since the mayday call, Miss Anya has a 19% chance of survival," control said.

"That doesn't mean a damn thing!" Marcus snapped. "Sir," he growled, "a Lieutenant Gordon has confirmed that Anya is alive, and I have every intention of finding her."

"Sergeant Fenix, I must remind you of your primary objective," the voice said. "Your new mission is to escort the data to the surface and rendezvous with a Raven for extraction." There was a small pause. "I am sorry, sergeant, but I have my orders... Miss Anya would have wanted you to follow them as well."

Now the damn thing shows some form of concern for something other than the freaking mission. Baird and Cole walked up, their expressions were also grim, unhappy about the recent turn of events. Marcus had already made his decision, and backing out wasn't part of it. "Baird, you and Cole escort the colonel back the way we came."

Hoffman fumed. "Now, see here sergeant," he said slowly, wanting Marcus to hear every word. "I will need all the support I can get. I want you and Dom by my side as well."

"Baird and Cole are more than capable of protecting you and the disk," Marcus countered. "I'm going to find Lieutenant Stroud whether you and the orders like it or not. She's... she's a part of this team too. I'm not going to just give up on her and throw her to the wolves."

"You have your orders-"

Marcus looked at Hoffman straight in his eyes. He was known for disobeying orders, he had a prison record to prove it. Why should he change now? "Excuse me for saying so, sir," he said. "But fuck you and your orders."