Tensions high and lives on the line, Hoffman realized that he had lost control of the situation. This rogue civilian was holding him hostage, and the only thing he could was stare down the cold hard barrel inches from his face. Charles stayed poised with searching for his questions that he direly needed answers too; Hoffman sat still staring back at him callously waiting for someone to make a move to protect him. It took several minutes for him to realize his officers, were not willing to risk their lives for his own.

"Well isn't this, just perfect," Hoffman turned his head to his personal, "We've got a horde of Locust blasting away at our door step and you all are sitting there slack jawed while this asshole has a rifle in my throat, congratulations we are now official, fucked." His officers stood still while Charles flustered with his questions, "So are any of you going to start explaining the situation to this little asshole or are you really going to let him kill me?"

Jessica looked deeply into her commanders eyes, within them she saw something that she had never seen before, fear. Hoffman was scared for his life, but his emotionless cold cut stare hid that fact from everyone else. He had always been that way, cold as steel and an emotionless rock, even after hearing the first reports about the Locust Horde advancing and attacking human settlements, he just stood there staring at her with the same emotionless gaze.

She shifted her eyes to her fiancée, Charles was so lost in all of this and one bullet could make sure that none of them left the bunker alive. Jessica was stuck in a difficult situation; she had to choose her career or Charles, either way she was going to lose something. She readied herself to try to calm Charles down,

"Charles," she stepped into field of vision, "Charles, you need to put the gun down,"

Charles brashly looked straight at her, "Not until I get some answers!"

Jessica put both her hands in the air, "Then we have a lot to cover, and not a lot of time to do so," Jessica slowly stepped backwards, heading for a wall of computers, consoles, and some other monitors Charles couldn't make out. She turned to a small video screen and began scrolling through it, "I have no idea where to start explaining this,"

Hoffman took the opportunity to add his two cents, "How about the fucking beginning," Charles ignored the comment at first but Hoffman continued to voice his opinion, "And if someone would be so kind to get this Lancer out my face!" This time Charles planted his foot heavily into Hoffman's rib cage, he withdrew from the heavy amounts of pain and nausea, Charles had unseeingly cracked several of Hoffman's ribs. Hoffman heaved heavily as Charles returned to watch Jessica, "You'll pay for that…"

Charles looked back down at Hoffman, "Did you say something asshole?" Hoffman's vision rose to meet Charles',

"I said, you'll pay for that," Hoffman clinched tighter around his ribs as he forced air through his lungs. Charles grabbed Hoffman by his armor and buried the barrel of the lancer deep into Hoffman's throat.

"I'm not going to pay for anything, if anyone else is going to die today; it's going to be your ass." The whole facility shook from an explosion above them; Jessica rushed over to Charles and pulled him back,

"We don't have time for this," Jessica rushed over pulled Charles back from Hoffman, though he never broke the gaze at his adversary, "Alexander tie Hoffman down, Charles sit yourself." The young Lieutenant hesitantly grabbed a spool of interlaced metal cable and bound Hoffman to his chair, Charles watched silently never shift his gaze until he was sure that he was safe.

Charles sat down slowly and peered adamantly at the large viewing screen in front of him, Jessica began scrolling through a large number of files, searching diligently for the answers Charles was looking for. The complex continued to rumble as the horde pounded away looking for a way into the massive labyrinth where the small group of survivors now resided.

"Ah here they are," from Jessica's reaction and expression, Charles figured that she had finally found something; Jessica opened a video file marked *Top Secret*. She stepped in front of the viewing screen, it's light emanated around her, "Charles, I told you earlier that we knew about the Locust, but the fact of the matter is that we never expected an attack of this magnitude..."

Charles looked confused at his fiancée, "But you did expect to get attacked? Why the hell didn't dumbass over there take some kind of precautions…" Hoffman lunged forward in his chair, only slam back against the desk, breathing heavily he addressed Charles,

"Listen you impudent asshole," he gasped for a breathe as his raged brewed, "Do you honestly think I'm the only one to blame for this god awful shitty mess? I'm an officer following orders from the Coalition Central Command, just like the rest of these drones."

Charles smirked, "They are the drones? Really now? I find it so amazing that the drones are the one with the common sense and conscience. Now shut the fuck up asshole." He turned back to Jessica, "Jess, can you just show me the video?"

She nodded in agreement, as the video began to play; Charles studied the visuals of an underground chasm, full of stalactites, stalagmites and lime stone deposits, fountains of Imulsion followed through the gaps within the rock faces. He noticed the video's time signature dated to almost twenty or so odd years earlier and there were heavy amounts of static through out the scenes. From what he could make out, Charles realized that he was looking at the heart of Sera, the deep pools of Imulsion began to wind into rivers of the free flowing liquid. Voice slowly began to emerge from the distance.

A small band of soldiers and what appeared to be a small creature clambered through the cavern towards an unknown destination. They moved slowly, trying to anticipate any danger that could be lying in wait but there was nothing beside the brewing and bubbling sound of Imulson echoing throughout the expanse. A pair of privates among the six soldier, began rambling aimlessly at the sight of Imulson,

"Dude, Alex, look at all this Imulsion!" the private gazed deeply into the yellow tinged liquid, "we should sink a well down here and retire," he began searching for a suitable place to begin drilling and his friend planted a heavy foot in his hindquarters.

"Steven, you're a dumbass," Alex mocked with stout irritation, "We have better things to do, than to sit in this shit hole, to build an fucking well!"

"Like what? Seriously look at all that juice!"

"Like getting laid?" the entire company erupted with laughter, "If you spent your time doing that, than I think Vanessa would be a hell of a lot happier, that bitch." A sudden eeriness began to set in with Alex, "And besides this place gives me the creep…, Captain why the hell didn't we just drop this little bastard off at the entrance?"

Their captain turned around and smiled softly, "Simple Alex, Hoffman wants us to make sure that it makes safely back to where ever it came from. And for us to gather as much intelligence as we can about it's species…"

"Well that's a bunch of shit…" Alex interrupted, "Why didn't his straggly ass come along? Because he knew what this little bastard is capable of, you all saw what it did to those scientists, Hoffman is a coward."

Steven agreed with his companion, "Yea, Captain it's not like we are ever going to be coming back down here again, and this thing isn't dumb enough to come back to surface." An evil grin grew across the creatures face, it's eyes burned with deep seated contempt. Charles sensed the danger growing as they moved deeper into the hollow.

As they pressed onward, a massive structure illuminated in the distance, but as they got closer Charles could see that it was not a single structure but an entire city. The city itself eclipsed that of any major city built upon the surface, the walls surrounding spanned miles long and seemed impenetrable.

The locust smiled wickedly, Charles could see by the look on it's face that the soldiers were in imminent danger and they had no clue. Their banter grew silent as they approached the citadel gate. There were what appeared to be massive statues of dinosaurs all along the outer walls, and sentries at every vantage point along it. The gates stood erect before them, each intricately designed and covered with a combination of steel and imulsion fused metals, massive iron crosses inlaid in the center of each.

The squad stood in awe, as the gates slowly churned and groaned as they opened. From the dark shadows beyond the gates, emerged the Locust downed midnight black armor, carrying an elongated sword with serrated edge. Charles eyes opened widely upon the realization, it was the same Locust. It seemed as if time had stood still for it, Charles could feel it's looming presence as it stepped through the threshold. As the gates opened wider, there were thousands of Locust soldiers standing in rank, standing silent as their leader walked forward.

The captain looked quickly and furiously at his men, "Cut it's bonds, release him, now!" His men did so with no hesitation, the smaller locust charged forwarded and kneeled before it's leader. The two only spoke one to the other; the younger bowed his head,

"Kor'mal…"

Kor'mal acknowledged the youngling, as it held out it's hand, he placed his sword within them and stepped back toward the gates. The soldiers slowly began to pace backwards only to find the Locust had surrounded them. Kor'mal looked to his horde, threw both his arms down, tilted his head back and bellowed a single word that echoed throughout the catacombs.

"Raam!"

The horde was unfazed, but Raam stood to his feet and turned swiftly to his captors, his eye burned red with rage. Steven began fumbling with his lancer, "Captain! Captain!" There was no answer as Raam charged forward drove the sword through the Captain's throat. In a panic, Steven began shouting frantically, "Fire at will, Fire at will, Fire at…," shink, a small arrow buried itself in his abdomen, "Shit!..." Steven exploded before anyone could react.

Alex dropped his rifle and tried to flee for his life but before he could get anywhere, Raam was upon him. Raam grabbed the horse collar of his armor, threw him towards the ground and cleaved him in half before his body reached the earth. Raam quickly dispersed with the rest of the soldiers before approaching the camera. His blood shot eyes, pulsed as he yelled,

"For the Horde!"

The room fell silent as Raam's last words echoed resounding off the walls. Charles looked away from the screen; the gruesome scene had been too much from him. Nauseous, he placed his hands on his stomach, and vomited bile unto the ground in front of him, heaving heavily Charles looked over at Hoffman,

"How could you," his head shook with shame, "You sent them to die…" Charles' eyes began to well; his raw unabated emotion began to pour forth. His spirit had been broken, his body collapsed with it. The lancer he had that held so fervently earlier now fell carelessly to the wayside of his body; he now knelt there in total surrender of the situation, staring with cold lifeless eyes.

"And what's worse, is that you knew!" His words echoed in the hearts of everyone in the room, and stirred their repressed emotions, "Now, we are all suffering for it." Charles wiped the bile and froth from his lips but remained focused on Hoffman, "I've lost everything because of your arrogance," Charles turned his eyes to everyone else gazing silently at him, "And you all sat here with him, worrying about one person that matter to you," he paused briefly and closed his lifeless eyes, "Yourselves…"

Once again his words hit home, but harder then before. Charles did not know where these words were coming from, nor could he stop them, he bowed his head and began to pray aloud. "I am a pilgrim in an unholy land; I will not allow this atrocity to happen again. I have one goal to achieve before my dying breath," Charles placed both hands on the ground in front of him and rose from the depths of his despair. When reach his pinnacle, he turned slowly, stared deeply at, Hoffman, "To bring down your government and you with it."

Hoffman's face went white with fear; something within this young man had changed. Like a phoenix rising from it's ashes, a new the fire burned within his eyes, and spread to a luminescent glow around his body. Charles' now stood, with his spirit rejuvenated, strong in the face of his adversary. His face was emotionless, as if frozen by time, but his eyes, never had Hoffman seen such eyes.

"Charles?!" Jessica's concern came without fear of the repercussions, "Think about you're saying! And we did try to stop them..."

"And you failed…" Charles spoke coldly, then looked at her in a way he never had before, with hatred, "What exactly, was your plan? Sacrifice the masses so that Coalition could survive?"

She slapped him with her broken hand, using all her rage and sadness driving as the force, as tears poured mercilessly from her eyes. "I can't believe you! What has happened to you? Where is your compassion?"

"It died with our family," He had hardened his heart to the problems of others; "I am not going to sit here, and wait for those Locust to kill us. There are more answers and the Colonel has them." Charles quickly rearmed himself and aimed his lancer at Hoffman once again, "Start talking, before I start shooting.

"And what the fuck do you want to know? Why we kidnapped Raam, what the purpose of this facility is, or why we did not warn civilian population? Go ahead and pick one, it's not like I'm going to fucking tell you anyways." Hoffman was far past worrying about his life, "If you don't kill me then those Locust will. And either way, I really don't give a shit, cause what you want isn't what's really important right now, so you can just go fuck off."

Charles poised to kill him, but his window closed, a violent eruption tore through the bunker as sirens and alarms began to echo within the corridors, a young female voice sounded over the loudspeakers.

"Our defenses have been penetrated, start emergency evacuation procedures! King Ravens are en route; Once again. The Locust have penetrated our defenses, start emergency evacuation procedures! King Ravens are en route… may God be with you!"

The commander center came alive as the soldiers began arming themselves, collecting important Intel, and finding their out of the facility. Several soldiers made the effort to release the Colonel before the enemy forces overwhelmed their position. Charles could hear oncoming fire echoing through the hallway he had entered through, he rushed to the doorway.

Johnson and Jones were scrambling towards him at full speed, with waves of wretches on their heels. Charles knew they would never make it if he just stood there; blindly he flew in the corridor to help them, as Hoffman ordered,

"Any man, who stays behind, gets left behind!" turning towards Jessica, he added "Major Anderson grab the resonator! We are leaving now!"

Charles had no time to turn back, but his survival was not important now, those men's were. He shouted back at Hoffman, "Come help, you arrogant asshole!"

Hoffman went to the corridor and retorted, "If you want to be an fucking hero than be my guest, I don't really give a shit about whether you walk away from this or not, your aren't my responsibility! Have fun Jackass!" He turned and sprinted towards the other end of the facility.

Charles was determined to do something worth remembering. He turned back and began firing, most of his shots landed in their targets but several sprayed close to Johnson and Jones.

"Hey Charles! We appreciate the assist but let's try hitting these wretches!"

"Sorry! It's my first time actually shooting one of these things," deep down the corridor, dark shadows of larger locust began to emerge, "You guys might want to kick it into high gear, because we got company!

Alexander's voice rang out from the command center, "Johnson! Jones! You got drones and grenadiers inbound! Charles! Get back here too!"

"Alexander, you finally grew a pair! Now you won't have to suck on mine!" A giant smile grew across Johnson's face, "And did the pansy ass lieutenant actually disobey an order?! Well fuck me and call me Shirley!" Alexander's face dropped down in shame, "But think on the bright side, least you won't be taking it like a bitch from behind from dirty ole Hoffman anymore."

Charles felt the dire need to interrupt, "Guys, I know you are really turned on on how Alexander just became a man but I think we got bigger problems!" He pointed down the corridor, waves of Locust Drones, Grenadiers, began to barrel towards them

"Ah shit, we done and gone pissed em off now!" instead of panicking, he swelled up with pride as he reached the door. He decided to add some fuel to this wild fire from hell. "Hey you ugly niggers," waving his arms and performing crude jesters, "You guys want a piece of me?! Come and try to get my black ass, I will make everyone of you deep throat my…"

Charles grabbed him and pulled him the commander center, "I think you made your point, I don't think they need anymore enticement to come and kill the four of us now." He looked around trying to objects to barricade the door or give them some decent cover from the on coming horde. Then he heard the distant sound of helicopter blades cutting the air,

"Maybe, we can make it to the Raven's before the evacuate everyone?

"I would love to but we can't," Alexander looked at Charles grimly, "Hoffman ordered Jack to seal the door," then he looked towards the door that had been welded shut "After, umm…"

Jones looked skeptically at his friend, "After what? What the fuck did you say to him?! Come on start talking, I want to know the reason we're now stuck down here in this shit hole to die."

"Well, I kind of told Hoffman to fuck off and that I was done listening to his bullshit, and that I would rather die fighting with some honor with you guys."

His friends began to laugh hysterically while moving tables and collecting weapons for the oncoming siege. Johnson, knew Alexander's character better than that and was about to reveal the most probable truth about what had happened.

"You are so lying, there is no way your bitch ass said all that to Ole Hoffman," he saw the look on Alexander's face and knew he was right, "It probably went something more like this," Johnson changed his voice to mimic the lieutenant's, "Sir, went can't leave em! Colonel, I am going to help if you aren't! How does that sounds?!" Then his voice return to normal, "Then Hoffman said fine by him and kicked your ass back in here and then order his Jack Of All Trades to seal it up, how close am I?"

Alexander's face lost every ounce of expression and pride, "Fuck me, I will never understand how you were able to guess that."

Johnson pointed towards the door, "It wasn't that hard!" he took a moment before he continued, "I just looked at the all evidence all over the fucking place!" He walked over to the door and pointed, "See first off, there is a shit load paint transfer over here, from someone's armor and you got some big ass scratches on yours, and secondly looked at all these dents! Looks like he threw your ass to the wolves and you tried to break the door down with very little success,"

Everyone began laughing even Charles; he did not understand how they could laugh with death on winds and the horde of angry locust pounding on the barricaded door. "Well I guess you didn't grow a pair, but at least your not Hoffman's bitch anymore," then the smile on his face widen, "Your mine!"

Charles was on his knees again, not from a broke spirit but because he could not stop laughing as Johnson b*tch slapped Alexander every time he began to talk back. These men had lifted his spirits to a point where they had not been since his party. Nevertheless, their good time quickly ended as a sword began pierced straight through steel door and destroying the barricade behind it. Jones started shouting out orders,

"Fuck, he is cutting right through like it's paper, I got to get me one of those," the realization of that their only major defense being shredded away began to hit home, "Guys, get ready! Don't fire until they start flooding in."

Charles filled fear, began to shake violently, as he grabbed the closest weapon to him, a longshot, and took aim. Each of their lives was prepared for the fire that was going to test them, but they did not realize how quickly. As the sword stopped swinging, the door exploded inwardly, the fight for their lives had begun…