Author's Note - Well after royally stuffing Wilks up in the last chapter I figured I really couldn't leave you high and dry, especially as a lot of my brain will be going into the new Gears and developing a new tale which will follow along the Gears 4 storyline. Watch this space.

Anyway here's chapter fourteen, which really should be named Conversations Around Fires because that's pretty much all that happens here, not to underwhelm you for what you are about to read. After everything that's happened it usually good to slow it down a little and take stock of the events they have been through. Plus now that Wilks is headed down the one way line to Glowie Central we kind of need to address it with his squad. I simultaneously love and hate to torture my characters I'm afraid, it breaks my heart but that is the way the character wants to progress.

I've waffled enough. Please enjoy and apologies on any delay in the next chapter release.

Chapter Fourteen - Infecting Minds

Betrayal, anger, hatred.

He felt so foolish and lost. And yet he knew that the Gears had been out for blood the moment he had unlocked their cells. A naïve part of him had thought that even when his Formers had attacked they would have laid down their weapons and accepted them. How could he have been so misguided

He staggered backwards up the stairs fleeing from the sound of gunfire, even as it subsided into silence.

Humans would never understand.

"Angelo?" a voice in the darkness alerted him.

He whirled round in a panic baring his teeth and rising up to his feet in defence. A figure in the shadows stepped forward to reveal himself.

"Angelo it's me," He unhooked his mask to show his face to the lad he had once known so well.

Angelo stared back at him, recognising vague features from the man standing in front of him. Most significantly a memory of him firing a gun at a man to protect him. He remembered him shouting out to him to run when other men had wanted to kill him. He had protected him not too long ago and they had fled together. A part of him wanted to trust this man wholeheartedly, but another part remembered the distrust and hate shown the more he had descended to Lambency.

Behind the leader Thaw approached hesitantly, removing his beanie hat to reveal a gaping hole in his skull showing his fleshy brain inside.

"We're just like you Angelo," the Leader spoke softly, "affected by the same virus that has hurt and twisted you, given to us by the pathetic humans that roam Sera. We're one and the same."

Angelo frowned, drawing nearer to Thaw to examine the extent of his disfigurement, he placed his hands on his shoulder to leaver himself taller to take everything in. Thaw flinched slightly for fear of Angelo turning on him.

"They did this to me," he gruffly told him as Angelo stood to look at him, searching his face for similarities. He grabbed hold of his hand and placed his own against his palm to assess if there were any differences.

"We are disfigured creatures, shunned by humans, all of us," the Leader reaffirmed behind him, "even Lem treats you like an animal."

Angelo whirled round quickly at the name, "Lem?"

"I don't think he respects you, he's there torturing those poor Formers and making you watch. I would never dream of hurting our fellow beings," he placed a comforting hand on Angelo's shoulder, "I bet you let those Gears out because you thought they were different. You thought their leader would help and protect you all, not slaughter them. But he's like every single human on Sera, vermin that need to be exterminated. We can protect you, you know, we're all the same. We could find any survivors and take them away from this place. There's a fishing village not far from here, we could destroy it Gelo, take what we deserve from those who've done nothing but torture us. It could be our home."

A smile flashed momentarily over Angelo's face, "Home?"

"You, me, Thaw, that young woman behind you and all of our people,"

Angelo turned to see that Luicie had emerged from the darkness, watching the encounter closely and nervously. Behind her a few Formers had remained.

Thaw nervously pulled his beanie back on and the Leader placed a steadying hand on him in support.

"It's okay," he spoke to them, "We are like you. We want what is owed to us, we want a home where we will be accepted. Please come with us. We will protect you."

Wilks staggered to one side momentarily, leaning against the wall to support himself as a searing pain surged through his chest. He paused to steady himself, taking a few heavy breaths.

Cam stopped, placing a concerned hand on his back.

"Yer okay?"

Wilks nodded, "Just a few chest pains."

"That's how it starts," Lem commented quietly as Cam tugged him along by his cuffed hands. He planted himself momentarily to give the Gear a cursory once over, "It's the headaches you need to keep an eye on."

Wilks spat up a taste of bile as he glanced at Cam, a look of defiance on his face. Cam heaved Lem a little too roughly after him, causing him to trip over. As he assisted him back to his feet he stepped menacingly over him.

"I don't care if I have to drag yer tattered body across Sera, we're getting that serum for him. You withhold any information from us and yer'll be wishing we locked yer in that cell instead,"

Lem swallowed and nodded nervously, "yes sir."

The further they walked through the wilderness the more the Stalks had erupted, everywhere they looked dormant Lambent Stalks towered around them. It was starting to resemble an inescapable forest. A once recognisable landscape had now been skewered into a strange frightening land.

The women pushed forward, navigating via the gulley towering around them. Having to retrace their steps a few times and find an alternate route. They had been lucky so far and hadn't encountered any Locust or Lambent. But Aidie knew it wouldn't be too long before their luck would run out, so she kept pushing them forward. Much to Sofie's dismay, they refused to stop except when the baby needed feeding.

The ground rumbled under their feet and all four women stumbled backwards. Until recently they had always known their enemy emerged from below ground. But now, as another Lambent Stalk burst through the ground, they had no idea where to expect their next threat.

"Praise the Allfathers," Emma breathed, pointing to the a building in the distance, "the Church!"

The ground under them gave way, Sofie and Emma sprinted as fast as they could whilst Aidie slipped into the subsidence. She leapt to grab hold of the ledge and levered herself upwards as Freja took hold of her hand in assistance. A pain shot through her injured arm as she put a little too much of her weight on it. Cursing, she scrabbled over the ledge and heaved herself out of the expanding pit. She lay flat on her belly for a few minutes longer than she would have liked, feeling a wave of exhaustion ebb into her consciousness. She hated holes that appeared in the ground at the best of times, but now was not the best time when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep. She let out a heavy breath and scrambled herself onto all fours and then onto her feet, giving Freja a nod of thanks. Looking around for the Church and way to at least breathe.

The sound of footsteps in the tunnels had caused Cam and Wilks to raise their weapons in readiness until a voice called out.

"If you bloody pepper me with holes you'll never hear the last of it," came the undeniable voice of Miles.

"We've found a way out," Archer called as they finally drew up to them, "the tunnel twists round to a doorway."

It was then that the pair caught sight of a handcuffed Lem being lugged along by Cam.

"What's he doing here?"

"Atoning for his sins," Wilks responded as he stopped to take in the men of his squad, "gents we are tasked with finding Angelo for our new friend here."

"Why would we do that?" there was a sharpness in Archer's voice as he addressed Lem, " Not only did you infect my poor heavily pregnant niece but you also slaughtered her and her mother. There is nothing you could offer me that would make me want to help you."

"Lem here has access to the cure for the Formers, except... he foolishly attached it to Angelo's collar for... safe keeping," Wilks paused a few times to fight back the sickening pain lurching up inside him again.

"Ol? Are you okay?" Miles approached him until Wilks held a hand up to stop him so he could turn and vomit to one side. Miles looked shockingly back at Cam, "What's going on Cam?"

"We're looking for his buddy for another reason," Cam explained, "They infected Olly with the Lambent parasite."

"What?!" Miles and Archer bellowed in unison, their fury once again directed at Lem who tried to take a step backwards but found himself still tethered to Cam.

"Why would you do that?" Miles sounded more upset than angry, how could someone justify doing this, "we just lost Aidie, he's having a hard enough time without you doing this to him."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know about Aidan and we needed someone to help us, we didn't know what else to do,"

"He would have helped you kid, he's that kind of person. He didn't need you to infect him,"

Lem felt tears prick his eyes, he had never really met Wilks' squad before and looking at the defensive protection they were showing he was starting to understand why Wilks had turned into the man he was. They truly loved the family that fought alongside them. No wonder Aidie had dropped everything for them.

"We can cure him though," he heard himself trying to defend his actions, "if we get to Angelo in time we can cure him before the Lambency gets to him. But you're going to need to keep him rooted to who he is if he's going to stand a chance of fighting it."

"Guys, I am still here," Wilks panted whilst bent over leaning his hands against his knees, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me as if I was a slobbering wreck of a Former already."

This time Miles went straight up to his Sergeant helping him to a stand, protectively helping him along.

"C'mon on then Ol, let's go find this kid,"

As night drew in the Nightmares uneasily settled down in a camp with the Formers lurking in the darkness somewhere nearby. Angelo had needed to see the disfigurement of all of the mercenaries before he'd decided to join them and not unleash the Formers on them. Luicie had remained nearby as support and they sat beside the Leader watching the flames of the fire heating their limbs.

The Leader glanced at Thaw who was uncomfortable being so close to the creatures that could lash out at any moment without warning. He kept his weapon close at hand, but always lowered it whenever Angelo glanced his way.

When Angelo and Luicie took themselves to one side to curl up and sleep Thaw was finally able to speak freely.

"What are we doing?"

"We're getting what's owed to us," the Leader answered simply.

"Is this the answer? Lying to these creatures so we can get what we want,"

"They are a means to an end, once they have achieved our purpose we can put a bullet through their heads,"

"And what about the Formers, what's going to stop them from turning on us?"

"You think I'm that daft Thaw, we'll wait until we're at the village and let them loose, they'll be too busy doing what they do to notice that we've eliminated their precious leader,"

"And what if they floor the village and return to us to find we've slotted the only thing that can control them?"

The Leader was silent, mulling over the options in his head, his eyes flicked from side to side as he calculated the options. He then looked back at his next in line.

"If that is the case we'll destroy them before they have a chance to get back to us, lay traps to stop them getting out,"

Thaw chewed on his gums thoughtfully, glancing over at Angelo's sleeping form.

"Poor kid's never going to see it coming, he thinks he's found a purpose, an ally,"

"Us or them Thaw, that's the law of Sera,"

They stared at the fire in silence, Thaw let out a heavy sigh and pressed a hand lightly against the back of his head. He had hated what the scientists had done to him, messing around with his head when they had run out of options. Injecting him with Imulsion laden poisons until he was screaming. The last straw was the moment they had broken apart his skull to gain access to his brain to see the effect the Imulsion did to his synapses. He responded in the only way he knew how, to beat them bloodied and senseless then flee. The only man who had shown him kindness sat beside him now, he had taken him in and helped mould his warped mentality. He had never once doubted him because he trusted him completely. Until now.

Emma and Sofie had easily fallen asleep with the baby nestled carefully between them, accustomed to resting in the outside regardless of the threat around them. Aidie had never been as lucky. As a Gear she had taken it as her duty to protect the weaker individuals in her care. Thinking of all the things Wilks would have done if he was in her place. She remembered like it was yesterday, the sleepless nights he had endured to get her family safe to Jacinto before the COG had decided to sink it.

She kept searching the darkness in the hope that he was out there somewhere. So much of her had wanted to return to the mansion to find them, a part of her that relied on him to survive. But the side of her that reminded her that she was a Gear told her she was responsible for the civilians now, and they relied on her to get back home. So instead of fretting she scratched out marks in the dirt as they went so that if they chose to follow they would know where she was planning on taking the others.

Freja sat silently, her eyes nervously flicking across the dark horizon then back to her companion. She hadn't spoken much since she had been rescued from the cells but Aidie knew she was taking everything in. There was something about Freja that unsettled Aidie. Maybe it was because she had gotten used to Wilks' guarded nature over strangers, or maybe she just hadn't met enough people from the outside world. She seemed like a skilled scavenger, aware of her surroundings and capable with her hands, but there was something about her Aidie didn't overly trust.

The baby let out a pitiful yowl, startling Freja suddenly. Her eyes flicked to the child edging slightly away as Aidie cautiously plucked the infant from the two sleeping women and carried her back to the warmth of the gentle glowing embers of the fire. She dropped to her haunches, shuffling herself comfortable as she commenced rocking the child very gently until she settled back into a slumber.

"You seem good with children," Freja observed eventually, "do you have any yourself?"

"Me? No," Aidie quietly responded, "I'm just around them a lot. The village where we live, they have them in abundance. Plus a friend of mine just had a ..."

She drew to a halt as her eyes drifted to Sofie's sleeping form.

"They just lost their children. Those Nightmares that held you prisoner murdered them in front of him. Barely left him alive. I don't know how Sofie does it, how she could carry on after watching such an atrocity."

Freja let out a breath, "I'm sorry, how horrible."

She shook her head to shake the image of the poor children she had not long laid to rest, then turned to her new companion. A chance had opened for her to push for information and she needed to take it.

"What about you? Any family where you're from?" She asked curiously.

Freja gave her a slight smile then indicated to the child, "Once upon a time maybe I would have considered it. But Sera is a cruel and unforgiving planet when mankind is nearing extinction."

She unzipped her hooded sweater to reveal a garish jagged scar across her stomach, Aidie let out a gasp as she took in the damage in its entirety.

"What happened?"

She caressed a hand over her stomach a final time before zipping the sweater back up and letting out a sigh.

"Monsters come in many shapes and forms, not just the ones we have been taught to fear. Believe it or not I have experienced more cruelty at the hands of humans than I ever have from Locust. My parents sold me at the age of five to whatever beast would pay for me. As it turned out children are a hindrance come the end of the world it seems."

"You're talking to the person who was left at a COG run orphanage at birth before the Locust attacked. I know firsthand how little parents disregard their children,"

"You were one of the lucky ones then," Freja responded dryly, "my parents left me at the hands of the highest bidder. A man who took pleasure in my suffering. For most of my miserable life he beat and abused me. My breaking point was at the age of twelve, I didn't feel too well, sick all the time, very tender. For a while I attributed it to the beating I had received, but the sickness was all too regular. Turned out I was pregnant. So I ran, I ran to find someone who would tear the abomination from me and I never looked back."

"Bloody hell," Aidie blurted out a little louder than she needed as the baby squirmed in her hold, "I am so sorry."

"Don't be, escaping that bastard was the best thing that happened, it wasn't easy living wild. But I grew up to defend and protect myself. I didn't need anyone to survive."

At Aidie's astonished face Freja sent her a smile, "please don't fret. By the time I was competent and capable I found a tribe that helped assist my development. I've never forgotten that bastard mind you, he plagues my dreams. By the time I was strong enough to face him he had made a runner. I will find him again and when I do l won't stop until his village has burnt to the ground."

"Even innocent people who had no idea what he was?"

"That bastard will never hide from me," she stared intently at the baby in Aidie's arms, "he stole my future from me. After everything that happened, no matter how much I moved on. I could never bring myself to consider conceiving another child, regardless of how difficult my scars made it."

"I am so sorry Freja," Aidie responded honestly, aware of the struggle her original guardian had gone through when she was a child. Even when her home had been torn from her Wilks caught her from the fall. Life had dealt her a rather lucky hand in comparison. She tried to work out the best way to help make up for the pain, "is there anything I can do to get you back to your tribe?"

Freja sent her a look, "you kidding me? I wouldn't leave you with these two, as far as I can see you need all the help you can get. I'd appreciate being reunited with my tribe eventually. But first things first, I'm staying with you."

"Thank you," she smiled genuinely, letting herself relax a little for the first time as the child wriggled closer into her chest for warmth.

"It's a strange feeling isn't it," Freja murmured watching Aidie closely, "opening up to a feeling you never allowed yourself to have."

Aidie cautiously exchanged a look with her companion, "I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"It's funny," Freja continued, "when it does finally hit you, it will be like a kick in the guts. Such a small allowance of a possibility with huge repercussions. And once you open up to it there will be no going back from it."

Aidie frowned, rising to her feet to place the sleeping baby back between her surrogate protectors. She needed to distance herself from the confusing swirl of emotions Freja had rightly predicted.

"It's complicated," she sighed positioning herself from the prying eyes of her companion as she gazed out into the darkness.

Freja, not one to let the conversation drop so easily, slumped against the rock beside her, "You want to talk about it?"

Aidie took a moment, arms folded, back propped up against the rock, to contemplate the offer. She had grown up in a male environment all her life, men who lacked the ability or need to understand the emotions she kept bottled up. This was the first time a woman had offered a hand of compassion, no matter how convoluted her methods. She was half inclined to fully open out to her just for the sake of lifting the weight off her shoulders for once. Turning partially to her she took a breath just as a scuttling sound alerted them.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, almost in relief.

Freja nodded silently, dropping to a crouch and signalling to the direction of the sound. Aidie nodded, drawing her knife from her waist and taking the lead. They shuffled around the rocky terrain until they caught sight of movement in the darkness. It was small, like a dog in size but stockier and faster. They drew closer to it in order to gain some kind of idea to what the creature was. Then it turned to them and hissed.

Aidie leapt backwards in shock. Stepping between Freja and the creature. She hadn't seen Locust for a long time, but this was different, it looked wild. A Ticker with no bomb unnerved her almost as much as one with one.

She silently signalled Freja to take a step backwards, leaving the Ticker to its scuttling in the darkness. Retracing their steps back to the camp until they came upon a sight that made the pair stop in horror.

Four Lambent Drudges were heading in their direction.

"Get up," she urged their sleeping companions, "we need to go now!"

Cam watched as the campfire flickered and danced, waving against the cooling night breeze.

"Did I ever tell yer about yer ma?" he asked quietly.

Wilks released his pinch on the bridge of his nose momentarily to look up at him, "if this you trying to rekindle some half assed attempt to tell me about the life I never I had, stop it."

"I helped deliver you, yer know," Cam's vision was fixed on the fire light, "a tiny bawling scrappy thing. A spitting image of yer ma. She was a beautiful girl."

"Cam, I'm warning you," Wilks mumbled as he massaged his temples.

"Have the headaches started kid?" Cam eyed him carefully.

Wilks nodded in confirmation and returned to pinching the bridge of his nose, "it's mostly dull throbbing pressure."

"Keep fighting it kid, you're doing good,"

Lem who had been sitting against a rock nearby watched the exchange in silence as Cam continued his story from the past. Miles and Archer sat facing the fire listening quietly to Cam's chance to finally open up to the lad he had partially raised as his own.

"She was an Indie rebel, a turncoat that had seen the other side of the war. And for reasons I will never know she was madly in love with yer pa. He married her before the COG had a chance to arrest her for her actions during the war. And maybe he had feelings for her too, I'll never really know, but it was the only thing he did out of character his entire life so I can assume so. They were together a few years before she actually fell pregnant with you, although I'm certain the timing was planned. The COG had started closing in on Richard's war crimes and in particular his wife's crimes. Turned out yer ma was a wanted criminal and the Indies had been searching for years. They sentenced her to death, but yer pa kept her safe."

Cam glanced up at Ollyvar who had now dropped his hands to listen to every word, his brows furrowed slightly in confusion at this sudden revelation about his life.

"Yer pa kept her safe until the day you arrived. Onyx guards had been sent to fetch her and eliminate her before the Indies found out about her location. You came early kid, a month too early, but I had always said it was like you knew. Richard locked yer ma and me in the bedroom whilst I helped deliver you. She kept telling me that she had been trying to run from who she once was but she always knew it would catch up with her eventually."

"My parents were war criminals, seems fitting," Wilks grunted shaking his head in bewilderment.

"We could hear the guards arguing with yer pa outside the room and then you arrived shortly after. I held you in my arms as the guards smashed the door down, yer pa wrestled a gun from one of them walked up to yer beautiful mother and held it to her head. She knew it was the right thing, she looked him straight in the eyes and accepted her fate. Because Richard had carried the sentence out himself they exonerated him for harbouring a wanted fugitive, plus you gave him a small amount of immunity. He was an asshole, yer pa, but I had never seen him the way he was around yer ma before or since. I genuinely believe he loved her. You were left in her place and he was immensely proud of you. You were his legacy.

"What a legacy," Wilks scoffed, "and here's where it ends. How it started, you and me and nothing but death around us."

"I still remain hopeful that we'll find this cure for you in time," Cam poked at the dying fire with a stick as embers glinted and glowed back at him flickering up flames in response, life in death.

"What was her name?" He asked quietly staring at the fire in contemplation.

"Aliana,"

Wilks nodded thoughtfully before eventually speaking, "Thank you Cam. He never spoke of her his entire life."

"He had his reasons,"

"Aidie and I once argued about knowing our parents and I told her that she was lucky that she would never know their fate, even though I knew I was lying to myself. There wasn't a day that I didn't think about my mother or why I looked nothing like my father."

"You always looked like yer ma, the older you grew the more you looked like her. Possibly the reason why yer pa turned the way he did to you,"

The men were silent for a while all five staring contemplatively into the darkness. Wilks was the first to break the silence.

"After all these years I still wonder why," he said quietly, Miles and Cam glanced back at each other as if they had been expecting it, "he made me feel like I meant so little to him, so why would he shoot himself?"

"I think that was the point kid," Cam answered solemnly, "after everything that happened between you and him, despite all the disagreements you both had. Regardless of anything else that happened to him since, you were the only thing he cared fiercely about. And losing you was something he would never have been able to handle. So he made the choice so you didn't have to."