Cole was the first to break the silence. "So kid┘your name▓s Xander,
right? What's a runt like you doing in infantry"
Xander frowned behind the helmet. It was always the same: you▓re too small,
too young, too little to do what needs to be done. But so far the youth had
proved it wrong over and over. "I was needed. Just about everyone's needed
that can fight. I signed up because I wanted to be useful"
Baird snickered a bit. The kid sounded like he hadn't gone through puberty
yet with that damn squeaky voice. "I'm sure you'll be very useful to the
Locust as a toothpick, kid."
"What I lack in brawn I make up for in brain. Though not much could be said
the same for you, you▓re all mouth"
Baird narrowed his eyes then and let out a growl. Marcus and the others
laughed a bit, and Cole patted the kid on the back. "You▓re alright Xander,
least in my book. No one▓s ever made Baird shut up so quick."
Marcus cleared his throat then. "Alright enough with the pleasantries.
Let▓s get this show on the road and close up these holes and get going"
They worked for the next three hours, clearing out stragglers and closing the holes. This wasn't what Xander expected. The small amount of Locust was
nothing compared to the rumors that had been passed around through Basic.
┘Though Echo had quickly been killed by a small number as well. But they had
been all rooks with one older vet. Xander tried to get rid of the screaming
cries of pain, blood, all the blood, and the insides of a human that no one
but doctors should have to look at. All that had happened all around still
echoed in his mind's eye.
Frost stiffed a bit as Dom shook him back to reality. "Hey are you okay, kid?
You act like you've never seen a dead Grub before"
The lifeless eyes of the done that stared up at Xander had nothing to do with
what was going on. It was just the damn memories that had resurfaced. "I'll be
fine. Just bad memories."
Dom smiled and patted the kid on the back again."They'll go away with time,
usually. Just try and focus on the here and now so you don't get killed"
Marcus walked up on the pair and grunted, "Alright, time to pull out. We have
orders to head to Landown to check on some reports of a few more Locust taking
refuge up there. Control's sending an APC out so we don't have to walk"
Baird sat there watching Frost with the others. Something wasn't right, and
he couldn't put his finger on it just yet. He wasn't going to let it go
though: like a bulldog with a bone in his mouth, he would hang onto this one
until he found out what exactly was bugging him. "So, kid, just where were you stationed before they dropped you out here with us?"
Xander turned then, looking at Baird. "I was with Echo squad, and got sent
there right out of basic. I wasn't there but a few months before we got
ambushed clearing up an e-hole that broke through close to Jacinto. We were
the closest ones so they sent us┘everyone died but me"
Baird smirked then, figuring he had something now. "So you were the only one
left outta what, a squad of six? Tell me then: how the hell did you make it
out alive?"
Xander's eyes went down under the helmet: if they could see them they would pretty much brand the rook a coward. "I hid sir. We were taking heavy fire from a very well-armed drone squad. I panicked and took cover under a derrick┘and watched as they killed my squad. You happy now? Yeah, I'm a damn coward! First real damn fight I was in, and I panicked and watched as they killed everyone. I couldn't move or do anything."
Baird frowned a bit. "So you just hid while they were killed? You didn't do
anything? What the hell! What kind of Gear are you?" It was safe to assume
Baird was not pleased with having a coward amongst him.
Xander slowly moved away from the man, as it seemed Baird was ready to knock
the hell outta him for it. "I oughta punch your head right off┘maybe we'll
get lucky and some Grub will shoot your little head off with that damn helmet
of yours and it'll go rolling. It▓d give me some satisfaction at least"
"Enough!!!" Marcus growled. "Baird, calm your ass down." he turned and looked
at Xander then "But know this, kid, you better not turn tail and run on this
squad or I'll personally shoot you in the ass"
"Yes sir. I┘I won't let you down." Xander could feel Baird's eyes drilling
into him. Already it seemed that the poor rook had made an enemy out of one of
the very men that he idolized, and Baird wasn't going to let it die.
It wasn't long till a King Raven dropped off an APC and the Gears loaded up.
Marcus was driving, Dom was in the co-pilot's seat, and the rest seemed to be distancing themselves from Xander. So he sat alone looking out one of the
small slit windows at the barren lands. War had pretty much scarred everything on the surface. Between the Pendulum Wars and the war with the Locusts right after, nothing seemed to have a break to re-grow. Xander turned then to watch Cole cleaning his lancer, digging out grub guts from the chainsaw blades.
No one said a word, and Xander had had enough of the silence thus far. "So I take
it you guys are going to make sure I never forget my cowardice"
Cole looked up from cleaning. "Look kid, we all get scared even now, so don't
let Baird and Marcus's tough guy talk get you down. Roll with the punches and
show 'em what your made of"
Xander nodded and took the words to heart. He then went back to looking out
the window, now prepared to show these guys just what he could do.
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I wanna take this time to thank Insane Anarchist-aka Allie for being my beta ^^ this is an updated version..