Desmond kept his eyes peeled. The thick fog had intensified, and a short while after they'd left their hiding spot, a soft snowfall had set in. It reminded him of days long past. The image of two figures running towards him, arms waving and screaming appeared in his mind.
He pushed down the painful memory, focusing on the task at hand instead.
They were sitting in the crater of an explosion next to a burnt-out shop, probing their environment for clues of enemy movement.
"It's not too far now!" he whispered to Nyra who crouched right behind him. The asari nodded silently, their only Avenger-rifle firmly in her hands.
He just hoped that it was the right way. When he had scouted the area last night, the plan to scavenge had seemed so simple. Now, with all the fog and snow, it all looked a lot different. His senses told him to go one way, but his gut told him to go another. And the cold …
Normally, he didn't mind the cold at all. Growing up in Solitude, the probably coldest human colony ever built, he was accustomed to freezing cold. But this, somehow, was something different. He felt vulnerable, like swimming in a deep ocean, not knowing what might be lurking beneath you. He turned towards Nyra again.
She looked at something distant, her eyes trying to pierce the thick, grey blanket that covered the whole city. His eyes lingered for a moment. Even here, amidst all this destruction and in this cold, she still looked so … beautiful. A familiar feeling filled his chest, a feeling he had tried his utmost to suppress. Suddenly, somehow, the cold didn't seem to be so bad anymore. She noticed his stare.
"Something wrong, sir?"
He squinted his eyes, focusing his thoughts.
"No, nothing's wrong. Let's move."
They vaulted over the crater wall, hurrying towards the corner of a building. Once they reached it, they pressed their backs against the wall, as Desmond peeked around the corner.
A destroyed car still slung a thin pillar of smoke in the air, the fire that fueled it almost extinguished. Desmond rejoiced in silence – the burning car meant they'd taken the right way. The remains of echo-team were so close.
"Just through that building, up one floor, drop down on a square on the other side. Move!"
Nyra bolted for the building, crossing the street as fast as she could. When she reached the entrance of what used to be an apartment-complex, she turned around, peeked around the corner, and waited for him to catch up.
He braced himself, then started running.
Something moved on the far side of the street. Around a corner, a brown, hulking mass of flesh and electronics appeared, exhaling a white stream of air from its maw.
"Shit, shit, shit." He cursed with a hushed voice. He really was in an abysmal position. He'd run too far from the corner to make it back without the Brute noticing, but still was too far away to make it to Nyra. The latter had spotted the Brute as well and was now waving for him to get to her, petrified.
The beast hadn't spotted him yet. He cursed one last time, then jumped behind the wreck of the car, towards the Brute.
The thing turned its head, alerted by the sound. It took a step towards the car. Desmond hunkered down behind it, holding his breath.
The thing took another step. Nyra watched, her eyes widened in horror. She raised her rifle.
The Brute took another step, effectively standing beside Desmond. A giant metal-claw supported its weight, equally big as a human. The thing raised its head, smelling the air with three loud smells.
A Marauder appeared around the corner, barking at the brute in a guttural growl. The beast turned around, roared back, and followed the corrupted turian.
When the Brute had vanished into the fog, Nyra came sprinting towards him.
"Come on, we have to move before they come back!" He was visibly shaken.
"You okay?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
Desmond had never been so terrified in his life. He hated being exposed like that. But he had to pull through, push down this fear. If not for himself, at least for her. Screwing up would put her in danger. And he would be damned before letting that happen.
"I'm fine. We're almost there."
They entered the building and took the stairs up to the first floor. Through a window, they could finally see the tanks he'd spoken of. They were two in total. One was flipped over, its armor ripped open and splattered with a black and crimson substance. Desmond didn't want to think about what had happened here. On the far side of the square stood some of those spikes Intel had named 'Dragon's teeth'. A single Marauder patrolled between the two destroyed tanks.
"One hostile, between the tanks." Nyra whispered.
"I see him. Best we deal with him quietly. I don't want him calling his friends."
Nyra scratched the back of her neck. It was a sign that she was thinking. Desmond smiled involuntarily.
"I could hide behind the right tank, lure him towards me. You go around the other side and kill him while he's distracted."
"Sounds good. You lure him towards you on my mark, okay?"
She nodded, and they made their way down the balcony.
She took her position, and he took his. "God, I hope this works" he whispered to himself as he signaled Nyra to start the distraction.
A stone flew, smacking against the side of the left Mako-tank. The Marauder turned around, raising his weapon instantly. When he didn't see any imminent threat, he moved in closer to inspect the noise.
Desmond moved out of cover, inching his way forward. If the Marauder turned around now, he would be cut down in an instant. He took another step forward.
The Marauder stopped and looked left and right. Desmond had to move fast. He abandoned the silent approach and darted towards the corrupted turian, closing the gap between them in moments.
For the first time ever, Desmond saw something resembling fear in the eyes of one of those corrupted things, as he pressed his pistol between its mandibles and pulled the trigger. The hull of the Mako was splattered in blue goo, the body of the Marauder slumping down to the ground.
Nyra appeared from around the corner, examined the corpse of the turian and grinned.
"Nice work, sir!"
Desmond would be lying if he didn't felt good. Killing one of those things and Nyra smiling made up for the scare before. He grinned as well.
"Alright, enough dilly-dallying! Let's get the distress beacon and look what things we can salvage from these babies!"
Before getting to work on the tanks, Desmond took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair. The air felt cool against his skin, little snowflakes melting on his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, Nyra was looking at him and smiling.
Maybe, just maybe they could pull this off.