Chapter 9: Orphans
15 Years After E-Day, 24 Hours After the Sinking of Jacinto
Tyran Wilderness, Just Outside the Jacinto Plateau
The Jacinto Plateau, once the great impenetrable bastion of hope for humanity, has now been turned into a giant lake, filled with the ruins of the once great city of Jacinto. From the wilderness, you could still hear the crumbling remains of the city falling into the giant lake, even a whole day after the sinking. It was the sound of the destruction of civilization, not just for the humans, but the Locust as well. For although there was a great victory in the destruction of Jacinto, the cost was almost too great. The Hollows were now forever buried under thousands of feet of water. There was hardly enough time for most of the Locust to properly evacuate. Millions of lives taken by the most precious commodity on Sera, water.
The irony was not lost on Vex, as he strolled through the woods silently with three of his most trusted companions. He did not know their names, just their faces. It mattered little. The four Locust crept behind the thick foliage and spotted their target, a stray horse. Vex had heard a few things about horses. Humans seemed to like them a lot, for what reason, Vex could not imagine. The troops had not eaten since the fall of Jacinto, they had grown tired of waiting for backup to arrive. They eagerly stared at the horse, but did not make a sound.
Everyone assumed Vex would be the one to take the shot. They patiently waited as he took careful aim at the horse's head, making sure to avoid making any sudden movements.
Another building plummeted into the massive lake of Jacinto. Its crumbling sound shook the wilderness, startling the horse and sending it into a speedy gallop, too fast for even Vex to react. The troops groaned in frustration, one even tossed his rifle against the nearest tree, only to gasp at his actions and retrieve the weapon.
"Sorry boys." Vex said as he adjusted the strap of his rifle.
"Not Vex fault." one Drone said. The others mumbled in agreement.
The group trudged back to the camp site, with their massive boots crushing twigs and leaves, a feeling very alien to them.
"When Queen come back?" one Drone asked.
"I don't know. This is starting to trouble me." Vex replied.
"Queen not come back?" another Drone asked.
"Let's have faith in her. She's probably just looking for other survivors." Vex said.
"Vex probably right." the Drone said.
Vex didn't even know if he believed that. The Queen was willing to sacrifice the Throne Room, all of the Hollows, put all of her people at risk, and abandon the survivors. What made Vex think she would actually come back for them?
The group arrived at the camp site, situated in a small clearing in the middle of the woods. Frost was beginning to settle in this part of the woods. Vex never remembered being so cold in all of his life. In fact, for the first time, he saw his soldiers shivering. Wasn't that just a human thing? Thirty or so Locust troops crowded around a large fire. Because they had not prepared to be sleeping in the wilderness, there was no proper shelter for anybody. Everybody looked up at the group, visibly disappointed that they hadn't caught anything.
"We'll try again later, the sounds of the city collapsing keep startling potential prey." Vex said.
The eye reticule on Vex's helmet had been fading gradually ever since the sniper shot the grazed his head back in the Hollows. He rubbed his hand against the side of the helmet, where the bullet had made contact, and felt several exposed wires, some of which were completely torn apart. In these conditions, repairing the helmet was almost impossible. He slid off his helmet, revealing his badly scarred face, and tossed the useless headgear aside. He sat down as close to the fire as he could, and tried in vain to move and make use of the muscles on the left side of his face. There was little feeling, but it was something he found himself doing absentmindedly from time to time. His left eye, permanently a pearly white color, had been in disuse for so long that he had almost forgotten what it was like to have two eyes.
Several gunshots peppered the air, probably a good mile off.
"I thought everyone was here at the camp." Vex said out loud.
The Drones looked around amongst each other, trying to see if anyone was missing. Vex quickly counted the group, and found that everyone was accounted for.
"Survivors, I presume..." Vex theorized, "Hunters, come with me."
The hunting group of three Drones who had accompanied him on the botched horse hunt immediately stood up and followed Vex in the direction of the shots, well outside the edge of the forest, closer to the fallen city of Jacinto.
Another group of survivors was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it meant more weapons, more soldiers to fight off humans and Lambent. Strength in numbers. However, it also meant more mouths to feed, something that was already difficult with the thirty-odd soldiers at the camp. So while the idea of survivors brought Vex hope, it also troubled him gravely.
The four soldiers made it to the edge of the forest and ran across the rocky terrain of an abandoned construction site. Dozens of forgotten and now useless cranes and tractors littered the site, which was probably abandoned around the time of E-Day, all those years ago. The site covered a massive three mile stretch of land just outside the Jacinto Plateau. What could the humans have possibly been planning to build out here?
After a few intense minutes of searching for the firefight, the group came upon it. About half a mile ahead, pinned down behind a large, rusted truck was a group of four Drones and two Kantus. Only one of the Drones was returning fire, the rest of them appeared to be completely out of ammunition.
"Who bad guys are?" one of Vex's soldiers asked.
"Let's find out," Vex said, "Let's take the high ground." he said as he pointed to a ledge overlooking the firefight.
The group quickly dashed for the ledge, and upon reaching it, they looked carefully to identify the enemy, who were taking cover behind a large, fallen stone pillar. Vex wished he still had his fancy headgear, the zooming reticule would come in handy right about now.
"Hoomans!" one of the Drones said.
"Not Gears..." another Drone added, "Skinny hoomans."
"Stranded. They must have been left behind from the evacuation of Jacinto. Let's give them a quick death." Vex said, "Two of you stay here and provide sniper support." he then looked to one of the Drones, a Flame Grenadier, "You, come with me. We'll flank the humans down there."
Vex and the Flame Grenadier made their way down the sloped surface and took cover behind a large truck at the base of the hill. Vex could now see the targets a lot more clearly. There were five Stranded humans in total, armed with Gnasher shotguns and Snub pistols, nothing too troubling for the Locust forces.
Vex and his Hammerburst fired first, striking one of the humans three times in the neck and head, dropping them to the ground immediately. The remaining four humans jumped in surprise, having not even noticed the flanking soldiers. More shots rained down on the Stranded from the snipers on the ledge, dropping two of the humans to the ground. The other two humans ducked behind cover, seemingly with no intention of coming out. Vex unclipped one of the grenades from his belt and rapidly swung it around at his side, letting go once he felt there was enough force behind it. The grenade flew through the air and landed on top of the stone pillar the humans were taking cover behind.
One of the humans immediately came out from the cover, appearing to have been injured by one of the sniper shots. Without hesitation, he dove on top of the grenade, absorbing the massive blast with his body. The two uninjured humans sprinted from the firefight as quickly as they could.
"Let them go!" Vex shouted.
All gunfire instantly ceased, as the Locust forces tried to interpret what had just happened. Did that human truly sacrifice himself to save the lives of his friends? It was an awe inspiring moment that left the Locust dumbfounded.
"Why let hoomans go?" the Flame Grenadier asked.
"That humans' sacrifice shouldn't be in vain." Vex said, "We should be above that."
The snipers from the ledge made their way down towards Vex, as did the group of Locust whom they had rescued.
"Thanks for rescue." one of the surviving Drones said.
"Grateful." one of the Kantus said.
"Where hoomans go?" another Drone asked.
"Probably further into the construction site." Vex replied, "They've probably got a camp around there. I doubt they'll plan another attack any time soon, but if they do, at least we have a pretty good idea of where they live."
"You have camp?" the Kantus asked.
"Yes, we have a pretty safe place in the wilderness." Vex said, "We'll take you there."
Vex took another look at the body of the human who had sacrificed himself. His legs were completely torn off from the blast, and his torso was now covered in a gaping hole. On his head, however, an interesting piece of headgear remained intact. Vex believed it was an aviator's helmet, he had seen pictures in one of the human books he'd read. He carefully slid the helmet off the human's head and placed it on his own, a near perfect fit. Before leaving, he closed the eyes of the dead human. It wasn't often Vex found himself respecting a human.
The Locust, now with six additional members, wearily trodded back to the camp site. Brutally cold winds scraped against the troops, and their breath became a thick mist in the freezing air. How long could they possibly last without the help and guidance of the Queen? For the first time in a long time, Vex worried about the future, and wondered if he had the leadership required to get his people through this predicament.