Chapter 24: Ray of Hope

Light pierced through their closed eyelids with the intensity of a boiling day. Tucker slowly peeled them open only to feel the reality return to him in the form of unwanted, but now bearable pain. The others slowly sat up with their empty stomachs constantly feeling as if they were on the verge of puking. Simmons looks at the others quietly before asking. "Why are we even getting up? Let's all just go back to sleep."

"Good point," Grif agreed as he fell back down. "What is even the point in us going anywhere now?"

Around them were the bodies of those who left the planets by a different means, and the rubbles of the evacuation base that left their hopes in shambles. Caboose too lied back down quietly, no words were uttered and no noises were made. Mike and Tucker both used one another for support as they slowly stood up. Both men went around to their comrades to study their conditions up close, but it was clear as day that not only was it their body that was tired, but also their minds as well. Morally, they were destroyed for there was no longer any motivation left amidst this destruction. Tucker slowly hobbled his way over to Grif and sat down by his side. "Com- Come on guys, we gotta keep our head up."

"Yeah," Mike reinforced as he shook Simmons awake once more. "If we give up here, then there is nothing to look forward to at all for the future."

"Future this, future that," Grif scoffed. "I don't care about the fucking future, I just want off this shitty planet!"

"Come on Caboose, you understand what we are saying, right?" Tucker stared at his dark blue friend, but heard no response. Nothing could be heard coming from Caboose much to the worries of Tucker and Mike. The two went over to check his condition. He was awake and very quiet, just as he mostly had been ever since facing the reality of Iowa's death. Tucker stared back at the orange one. "Grif, if you give up here, what about Sister?"

The orange one looked at the aqua soldier, as if angered at the mention of her. Tucker looked up to the skies and spoke. "Even if you give up, she will probably live on and instead of joining up with one another, she will be carrying on the sadness of losing her brother all by herself."

Grif balled his hands as he felt his anger turned to frustration, surge. It was the truth that pushed this volcanic like surge, and the truth irritated him greatly for Tucker was correct. But he was unwilling to be moved so easily. He fell back down with a fatigued sigh escape his mouth. "I…just can't bring myself to…care anymore."

"Really?" Tucker tilted his head to the right as he stared into Grif's visor. The orange one averted his gaze to his side where he slowly closed shut his eyes. Tucker leaned in closer, almost to the annoyance of the orange one. "Then you wouldn't mind if I eat your secret stash of pudding back home, do you?"

Wait a minute, Grif's head turned around instantly as his eyes opened wide in confusion. How would he know I have a secret stash of pudding back in Blood Gulch? No one should know that! Tucker's lips cracked open into a wide smile as he looked down with a sense of superiority. "Man, I bet it will be super delicious, especially after all this struggling. That pudding will sure hit the spot."

Grif felt his heart pound faster. Tucker isn't joking around here. He gripped his hands against the hard and jagged rock formations of the ground. The aqua one looked up with an idea as he rested his fist against his palm with a gentle bump. "Hey Caboose, want to eat that pudding together with me?"

The dark blue soldier remained quiet as he did his best to block out all noise. No matter what noise it was, it always somehow devolved into the familiar pitch of Iowa. Delta grew worried overtime as he had conveyed to Epsilon. But the fragments understood that they could do nothing but watch. They could only observe for they lacked the strength to even materialize right now as their host's suits ran low on power. Rejected, huh? Tucker pondered as he felt a little heart sting. With girls it's one thing, but with these guys, it feels completely different. So this is what rejection coming from a family member feels like.

"Hey Grif," Tucker turned back around to notice the agitated expression on his orange friend's body. "What was it you used to say, pudding is love, pudding is life? Well pudding is going to be my tummy filler soon if you don't get your ass in motion."

As if propelled from the back, he smacked his hands hard onto the ground and felt a burst of energy he had long craved for. Grif raised a fist towards the aqua soldier and exclaimed. "No man other than I is worthy of consuming the high quality pudding I have for I'm the chosen one by the pudding lords!"

Tucker quickly chuckled at the declaration leaving Grif profoundly confused. "W- Why are you laughing? I'm serious!"

"I know," Tucker answered as he held his stomach that hurt both from the laughing, and the hunger. "It's just that I'm glad to see that there is still some remains of the Grif I knew before coming to this planet."

The 'me' he knew before coming here? Grif looked down at his body and then towards Simmons. I suppose we have changed, and for the worse. As Tucker offered a hand, Grif pulled himself up on it and the two men used one another as support as they approached their next agreed target. Mike was bent down by his side doing his best to talk to him, but those words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Grif quickly relieved the ODST of his efforts and instead then Mike went on his way to help Caboose up. The orange man gently nudged his maroon friend with his foot. "Simmons, get up."

"Eh, I don't think that's the best way of doing this," Tucker gently restrained Grif's leg as he turned back to Simmons then. "Come on man, we need to get moving."

It would be better if they just left me behind. Simmons turned his face away from the two as he felt his body weigh down. It would be better if I'm just forgotten for I don't deserve to be saved or anything. I don't deserve to leave this planet. Grif poked Simmons on the chest as he leaned in closer. "Simmons, if you don't get up, I'm stealing your wallet and once we are off this planet, I'm going to go to Vegas to blow it all away there."

No response, a situation that left Grif baffled. "Huh, that threat usually gets him up."

"Up in what way?" Tucker asked before quickly following up. "Bow-chika-bow-wow!"

Yet as a means of a response, he felt his arm sore. To his right, Grif rested his fist strongly against Tucker's arm. "That was a horrible joke."

"Why have you guys been saying that lately?" he pondered in slight sadness as he rubbed his arm out of its pain. Grif took one of Simmons' arms and expected his aqua friend to do the same. "That's because you have had horrible timing lately, not that it was very good to begin with before. But it has gotten worse."

"Like you can do any better."

"I probably can't, not right now."

Tucker froze as the men finished lifting Simmons up. "A- Am I talking to the real Grif here?"

"Heh, yes you are," Grif chuckled to himself as he heard the doubt in Tucker's voice. The aqua one was however quick to recover from the shock. "Alright, Mike, do you have Caboose?"

"Yes, I do," answered the ODST as he slowly lifted Caboose up. "Although I must say, he weighs like led."

As the group began its slow walk, Simmons' mind was only filled with memories. They were memories of a worse off time. Memories of his comrades, shrouded in their own red as they each fell to their knees. No, I don't want to see this. But slowly, he drifted off into a deep sleep, and was left with no choice but to forcibly experience the deaths of his precious family over and over again.

A few days later, as the BGC trudged on, they noticed yet another few explosions in the distance. A battle, they all thought. Tucker quickly looked around and found an entrance to a human base that they could cut through to head to the other end of the battlefield, without becoming involved. "We can go through there, just remember to keep your head low."

"What about food?" asked Grif as he tightly squeezed his stomach. Mike did the same having felt his cheeks redden at the loud roar it released. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to take a look around."

"And steal you mean?" asked Simmons as he looked down at the ground in guilt. They all knew that the soldiers fighting there needed the supplies just as much as them, if not more so. But their desperation screamed louder in their ears than logic did. As they lessened the distance between the base and themselves, the grim reality of the battlefield became clearer. It was no battle, it was a massacre. The Sangheilis maintained air superiority and simply opted to destroy the human soldiers from above. The BGC could do nothing but avert their gaze and simply keep on walking.

Caboose couldn't help but look towards the screams as his eyes opened wide in shock. His feet moved reflexively towards the battlefield, but he was quickly and abruptly stopped by his comrades! The dark blue soldiers stood still, fighting against their grip with every fibre in his body, and them with theirs to act as an immovable wall. Tucker held his friend by the chest and planted his feet deeply into the ground. "Listen Caboose, just look away and follow us!"

Dammit, not again, thought the whole lot of them as they slowly pulled Caboose towards the base's entrance. While tedious, they successfully managed to reach inside of the base. Quickly they took the more silent route so as not to arouse suspicion as the only ones right now in the base seemed to be of higher rank. It wasn't long before Grif's nose went off and quickly led him there like a dog to the base's pantry. His mouth watered, and before he could jump into a pool of vegetables, canned goods and fresh meat all kept in one area, he was restrained by Mike's neck lock. "Okay, calm down. We don't need you getting too excited about this Grif."

"At least one good thing has come out of this," Tucker pondered as he looked back out of the pantry's door. He still felt the pinging guilt sensation as did the rest. But their hunger won their hearts over. Quickly, the whole group took out their ration bags and filled it to the brim with as much as they could. This also included taking a quick bite to eat as they exited the base to satisfy their stomachs for now at least. Grif stopped in his tracks as he took a bit out of a piece of bread and looked back one last time. "I wonder if they will be alright."

Tucker nearly choked on his fruit when he heard that. "I never thought I would see the day come where you care about others like this."

"I have always cared," Grif shot back with some irritation evident in his voice. "I just don't bother showing it."

"Right, by being a dick," Tucker replied with a widened grin. Grif simply munched down his bread and continued walking forward. Mike took a piece of his own fruit and offered it to Caboose who walked with little interest in his stomach. "Here Caboose, you need to eat to keep up your strength."

No response. Mike looked at him in concern, and then to Tucker who observed the whole scene from afar. Simmons was slowly walking behind the rest, eating his piece of bread, little by little, while feeling the imposing stares all around him. He looked to his right to find Donut, slowly turn his head around with every bone crackling in his body. Simmons looked to his left, where he found Sarge, already staring into the maroon one's visor. His family, his failures, stared deep into his mind, and into his soul to send a sting throughout his whole body, a sting of never ending guilt. You don't deserve to live, you are weak, you are pathetic and you are useless. Those are just a few thoughts that would rush through his head everytime he looked one of them.

Now several meters away from the battlefield, and the noises blurred off into the distance, the BGC felt slight comfort. None dared to look back. As Grif continued to lead the way towards the hope of finding something else, perhaps finding an abandoned base with leftover vehicles, or a hospital where they could treat themselves, they heard the radio in their helmets crackle. Nearly all of them winced at the unexpected noise invading their ears. But quickly they all wanted to shut their radios off at the voice that followed the static. "Hello my sexies, how you all doing down there, having fun times ja?"

"I feel like shit!" Grif moaned. Muffins clapped his hands and squealed. "The best time then!"

"Why are you contacting us over this open channel?" demanded Mike as he took a hard seat onto the ground. "You realize how dangerous that is, don't you?"

"Really?" Muffins seemed genuinely surprised leaving the ODST to sigh in frustration. "I have always been doing it like this. Maybe the enemies don't bother attacking because of my sexy voice!"

"Not funny," Tucker retorted as he sat down like the rest. "Why did you contact us?"

"I just wanted to check in to see how my lovelies are doing. So, made any progress yet?"

"If you mean dying of hunger, then yes, we are well on our way to doing that."

"Oh no, my poor bunnies!" Muffins exclaimed as he nearly shook the Pelican out of control. In the background, they could hear the familiar voice. Grif's ears perked up with relief at her voice in particular. "Kaikaina?"

"Oh, hey big bro!" she exclaimed, and from the uncomfortable noises the German pilot made, they could tell she was getting up close to him. At least you get to suffer some misery as well, thought them all. Tucker recovered quickly as his stomach began to ache from the laughter. "Muffins, that evacuation point you told us about, it turned out to be all for nothing."

Everyone on the other end went quiet. Muffins dared not to ask, but needed to know. "W- What do you mean?"

"The enemy has a fucking huge battleship is what we mean!" Grif exclaimed in response as he sat up and rested his head against his knee. "It wasn't even a battle anymore."

"Just a massacre," Simmons whispered with hardly an ounce of energy in his voice. Mike looked forwards where he felt as if he heard more screaming. "The battles seemed to have shifted in one direction only as well. It's no longer about us being able to keep up with the enemy, it's as Simmons put it, a massacre."

Again silence was present on the other side. Caboose turned to the others as none bothered to speak. "How are the others?"

In the background of all the noise from Muffins' side, they could hear Doc explaining the usual. Their status had not changed in the slightest aside from Sister's. It wasn't long before Muffins however opened his mouth again, although this time with a moderately useful piece of information. "I know of another evacuation point that you could try."

Tucker looked up from the ground instantly towards Mike. The two men shared a nod as Tucker quickly replied. "It's worth a shot. Tell us the position."

"It will be quite a walk ja, it's near the coast."

"Near the coast?" asked Grif as he looked all around with his arms spread wide out. "I haven't even seen one body of water on this planet ever since we arrived."

"Oh there is an ocean here bro," Sister commented as she felt the cool breeze hit her armor. "I'm staring at one, and it's pretty awesome."

"Well, I will take your guy's word on it," Tucker answered as he slowly stood up. "Heave-ho, alright guys, I say we go for it."

"As do I," Mike was the second to stand up. Simmons looked at the two and simply turned away. Fools, they have already seen how outmatched we are. They still want to go on? Truly the jesters here I say. Giving up is better. But his eyes widened at the agreement from the orange soldier. Grif now felt slightly revitalized having heard his Sister. I'm going to go to her, and then we are all going to go home together. Tucker thanked Muffins for his help and immediately proceeded to block out any egotistical comments Muffins threw out. The aqua one stretched his legs and arms. "Okay then, let's go guys. Hopefully this is the final stretch. Let's make the daylight count, move people, move!"

A/N: That was perhaps one of my shortest chapters aside from the Prologue in this story. I also know there wasn't much in the way of progress with the plot as much as it did with exploring more of Grif's and Simmons' state of mind in particular. But I hope that was an enjoyable read. The next chapter should be longer with a big surprise.

Any constructive feedback you can provide is much appreciated!

Thank you for reading and supporting the story, I really appreciate it!

~ Monty