Chapter 1

He awoke with a pain in his stomach as well as in his head. Sleeping in a Raven always did that these days. His muscular definition did not reflect his age since he had the body of someone almost half his age, but not quite.

"Hey glad to see sunshine is up," his best friend and fellow Gear, Dominic Santiago, stated smiling brightly. This brought a grim smile to his face and helped to ward off the head ache if only for a little bit.

He was recalling the events of the past twenty-four hours with little belife in his own memory. They had sunk Jacinto, their only place of residence. Where would the COG go now he wondered silently to himself before addressing Dom for the first time that morning.

"Where the hell are we going?" Sergeant Marcus Fenix of Delta squad questioned.

"Well the pilot said that Hoffman told him to take us to an island off the mainland to stay until they can find a suitable city around."

"Are we almost there?" Marcus asked with raised brows, slightly confused and slightly curious as to the whereabouts of this island.

"Yup. We should be landing any minute now." Marucs looked out the side of the bulky helicopter to see a vast and jungle covered island beneath them. He could make out a large facility which actually appeared to be a warehouse more than anything the COG would be running. But, he learned from past experiences including the New Hope facility, that things rarely were as simple as they appeared.

The Raven landed gracefully and Marcus scooped up his Lancer, Gnasher, and Boltok pistol putting each in their designated holisters and places on his burly anatomy. Both Marcus and Dom hopped out of the aircraft and Dom pounded the side of the Raven to signal they had gotten off. It soared back up into the air to an unknown destination. Well at least unknown to Dom and Marcus. Marcus surveyed the area with his deep blue eyes checking for where they were supposed to rendevous with the rest of Delta. The lush green landscape was filled with trees, bushes, and God knows what else. They appeared to be on top of a mountain with a dirt trail leading down to a small clearing. "I say we go down there," Marcus stated pointing to the clearing some one hundred meters away.

Dom followed closely behind his ranking officer and the man he respected most in the world. Dom may have been only slightly shorter than his sergeant but, the size difference between the two was enormous. Marcus had obviously hit the gym more religiously than his counter-part but that didn't change the fact that they both could hold their own.

The brush appeared to move about as they walked by. Dom chalked this up to the wind but, Marcus wasn't so easily satisfied. "What is it?" Dom asked, his voice barely a whisper, as Marcus raised his fist to signify a stop to his comrade. Both men held their Lancers with a grip the would easily suffocate any living thing and yet their index fingers we barely on the triggers as they scanned the brush with caution. Then the familiar sound came within hearing distance.

"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."

"Tickers!" Marcus shouted, switching to his trusty Gnasher shotgun which would make destroying these expldoing foes slightly easier. They backed up, Dom still with his Lancer, and saw four of them pop out of the thick brush laying in front of them.

The sound of gun fire broke the serene silence of the entire island.

"What the hell was that Baird?" Cole asked his long time squadmate. The gun fire continued until it finally came to an abrupt stop.

"Beats the hell out of me. Sounds like gun fire though." Baird pointed out with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"No shit. Where is it coming from?" Cole quickly countered.

"Looks like the clearing we went through earlier. Anyway, do you have anymore of those nutrition bars?" Barid said trying to ignore the obvious problem.

"Shut up," Cole told Baird giving him a slap to the back of the head. "We are going to see what that was." Much to Baird's dismay, the pair got up from their little break beside a stream and ran back to where they had just come through minutes before. Cole checked the ammo in his Lancer as he ran, making sure it was topped off for any ensuing fighting that may occur.

"Shit, i hate Tickers," Dom sighed with a slight bit of grief. The two walked towards the clearing they saw earlier from the hilltop.

"Ya well, just be thankful that it wasn't a Boomer because those are a lot worse," Marcus joked. A rare joke from the hardened war verteran. Dom normally cracked the jokes between the two of them.

Then a familiar sight came into view. "Hey guys. How have you been?" Marcus greeted as the duo of Cole and Baird slowed their run to a walk and looked as though they were relieved and yet disappointed. "We already got those Tickers so you two can calm down."

"Marcus baby, where have you and Dom been?" Cole questioned, not even sweating from the jog he just took, even though it was pushing 40 degrees out. Cole was in amazing shape with the help of him playing Thrashball before having to join the COG after E-Day.

"We just got off our Raven," Dom quickly stated before his Sergeant even had a chance to think of an answer.

"Well hurry up. We are going to the new COG HQ on this island. Apparently, we have someone who we have to meet." Baird, the mechanic and apparent know-it-all, stated quickly as he turned impatiently waiting for the rest of his squad to form up.

The men half walked, half jogged their way to the outpost supposedly now used as the headquartes for the entire Coalition. With Marcus in front and raising his brows in surprise, they came to a large gate wit barbed wire lining the top and the entirety of the sixteen feet under that composed of solid titanium. A sign that read 'Warning Fence is Electrified' was directly over another side that said 'Trespassers Will be Killed'. Marcus was slightly concerned. None of his squad member could tell since he was an emotional brick wall. His gruff face showed very little emotion. That is unless complete and utter anger would be considered one of those emotions. He pressed a finger to his ear and spoke with distinction hoping to hear the voice of his long time friend on the other end. "Control, this is Delta. Do you copy?"

"I hear you Delta," that familiar voice said into his ear. "What's your twenty?" Knowing that meant 'where are you' Marcus responded quickly

"We are outside a large metal gate and we need inside."

"Ok, i will open that up for you now," Anya, his long time Com, officer responded. The gate slowly creaked open and the four men walked inside. They saw a large metallic building off in the distance and walked towards it with a slight bounce in their step. They were looking forward to taking the heavy armour off and having a hot shower. But that would have to wait until a later time because they had other business to attend to.