Chapter Two
The Pit of Ruin
"Brief and powerless is man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark." - Bertrand Russell, Mysticism and Logic
"At fifteen hundred hours, all forms of contact with both Omega Squad and KR-Six Six were lost. The last known transmission, although distorted, confirmed that there was an ambush. From the end of the transmission, we can at least confirm that there was also a Brumak in the area that Omega Squad was being evacuated from. While not entirely confirmed, the members of Omega Squad and the crew of KR-Six Six are considered KIA until otherwise reported differently. Let us all remember the brave sacrifice that our brothers in arms have made in the name of humanity's survival against the Locust Horde."
The male voice coming in over the tac/com lines of the COG soldiers out on the field was scratchy and fuzzed with short bursts of static. The mild interruption caused a few to turn their gazes skyward, their train of thought revolving no longer around the incoming transmission from Jacinto HQ, but towards the possibility of Nemacyst inking the sky. While the transmission from Jacinto HQ continued on, so did the work of the Gears out in the field as they trudged on with their mission of saving what remained of humanity from the onslaught of the Locust Horde.
Beta Squad's commanding Sergeant – Richard Bartlet – sat hunched forward on his seat of a battered piece of concrete that had been blown from a building, his gaze focused on the JACK that hovered before him with flip screen alight and bearing an overview image map of the area. Around the Sergeant, his squad members were taking a moment to enjoy the brief pause in their grueling hike towards Jacinto HQ, legs stretched out and weapons propped up at a hands' reach away. They knew better, even in the scarce moments of peace that they found on the battlefield, than to have their weapons out of reach. While they took the moment to rest, the Gears of Beta Squad were visibly on edge as they kept eyes trained either on the sky or on the random intersecting junctions that crossed paths with their own location. The transmission being fed across the Tac/Com was the main cause of their unease as they listened to the grim announcement that confirmed what Beta themselves suspected after hearing the massive explosions erupt almost two miles from their own position.
While their orders to head back to Jacinto still stood, Sgt. Bartlet wasn't about to turn a blind eye from what he and his squad had partially witnessed. Even though they weren't tapped into Omega's Tac/Com signal, the violence and ferocity in the explosions that they had seen could only be summed up to the involvement of a Brumak in the fray. Not many survived the onslaught of a Brumak, especially when caught off-guard and ambushed. Although well aware of this, and knowing they had been ordered to return to HQ, Sgt. Bartlet was already working out an alternate route that would swing them back around to Omega's last position and search for survivors... or at least recover the COG tags of then fallen if they hadn't been stripped by the Locust.
"Hey, Sarge," One of the men sitting closest to Bartlet spoke up suddenly even though he stared off towards the distant plume of grey black smoke that was still rising from the earth. "You really think anyone survived out there?" His question pulled the attention of the other two men in the squad, eyes no longer on the sky or streets as they stared at their sergeant, waiting for an answer to their own unspoken questions.
The JACK bot blipped a few times in a manner of its own pattern of speech as its flip screen locked back into place against its front panel as though the handy tool was questioning the sergeant as well on the matter. Rubbing a thick hand across the back of his well tanned leathery neck, Sgt. Bartlet exhaled a long breath through his nose before lifting his head to meet the three pairs of eyes that stared back at him. "Who the fuck knows." He muttered while glancing off at the lingering stain of smoke that stuck out against the sunset colored sky like some morbid beacon. "But even still, if there aren't any survivors, the least we can do is retrieve their COG tags and make sure that they are remembered." He pointed out gruffly while standing from his seat on the concrete block and picked up his Lancer that sat leaning against the lip of the block. "Let's get moving men, we've got a lot of ground to cover before night hits."
With merely a nod from their heads, the three men of Beta Squad were up on their feet, Lancers clicking with a reload as they prepared to start a new hike towards what was more than likely the resting ground of their fellow comrades. The JACK bot vanished from sight as Beta Squad moved out, it cloaking shield activating to keep it unseen by enemy eyes. There was the slim possibility that the crew of KR-66 and Omega Squad could still be alive out there, albeit more than likely injured or unable to move at this point, but there was still that small window of possibility in the eyes of the sergeant as he took point.
The two mile hike through the demolished city was uneventful for the most part, which was a rarity for the Gears who were used to having to duck out from one piece of cover and dashing to another. While they didn't walk openly down the middle of the rubble littered streets, they did stick closely to the farthest part of the sidewalks and often weaved into the blown out building fronts, eyes trained on every possible opening for a Locust ambush. Every once in a while their eyes would turn upwards towards the sky to search for the pulsating balloon like bodies of Nemacyst. The closer Beta Squad got to the wafting stream of black smoke the more they could smell the horrid stench of burning rubber and other things they didn't even dare begin to make out. The smells became near overwhelming as Beta finally set foot upon the scorched earth, their eyes slightly wider as they stared at the twisted carnage that lay before them.
What could be made out as the mangled body of the King Raven lay misshapen and overturned at the basic center of what could only be described as a low dent in the earth. There were several small fires still licking away at the burnt out blackened hull, the source of the black and grey smoke that continued to rise up into the air. Not more than three feet from Beta sat one of the helicopter's blade, blackened and still smoking even long after the battle that had snapped it clean from the King Raven. Sergeant Bartlet shook his head as he stared across the ravaged piece of land, the pitch colored scorch marks indicating that a Brumak had to have been involved like the outgoing report from HQ had pointed out as a possibility.
"There's no way in hell anyone survived this." One of the men mumbled while walking forward towards the remnants of KR-66, waving a hand before his face as the smell wafting in was horrid. Towards the front of the helicopter the Gearspotted several charred objects that lay scattered about in an odd sort of formation. He groaned inwardly as he got closer and recognized the objects as being human at one point in time. "Hey!" He paused and glanced back over his shoulder at the rest of his squad that was starting to fan out now and check the area, "I found Omega!"
"All of 'em?" Bartlet barked back in question as he started towards the King Raven.
Corporal Zach Evans nodded stiffly as he turned to stare down at what remained of Omega Squad. "Yeah, looks like it." He grunted roughly while continuing forward to crouch down beside the closest body and carefully turn the corpse over.
Sergeant Bartlet swore under his breath while running a hand through his close cut black hair. "Shit." He knew better than to hold on to the very unlikely hope that Omega had survived whatever had happened to them, but there was still that small fraction of his being that had hoped for the best and that they would at least find the squad battered rather than dead. Glancing at the rest of his own squad, Bartlet exhaled a gruff sigh before issuing his next order, "Collect their COG tags." There was a flickering waver in his voice for a split second before he continued on, "We need to get back to Jacinto."
A few of the other men mumbled under their breath as they each moved to one of their fallen comrades and carefully searched their bodies for their COG tags. It would be Corporal Evans who after gathering the COG tags off the body before him who would notice something was a bit off about the number of bodies that were laid out across the earth riddled with bullets and charred to a crisp. Scratching the back of his head, Evans started to think back over the names of the men he knew belonged to Omega Squad and then glanced around again, only to then furrow his brow deeply.
"Sarge!" Evans spun about on his heel and stood quickly, eyes widening a bit as realization hit him. "Hey, Sarge! How many guys are in Omega?!" His rather out of nowhere question earned him a rather puzzled and confused look from his sergeant. Shaking his head slightly, Evans pointed out the number of bodies that were on the ground. "There's only four of 'em here. If I remember correctly, there's supposed to be five guys in Omega, one of 'em being the smallest and their sniper!"
Everyone stilled immediately, eyes turning almost at the same time to stare at Evans as the brunette haired corporal glanced about the area, scanning for the missing Gearof Omega Squad. As if cued by this sudden revelation, the rubble that blocked the half dilapidated building that hovered off in the northwest corner of the area started to move as if something were pushing against it. The sound and movement had Beta Squad turning all at the same time with Lancers lifted and aimed. The rubble continued to move, a few bits here and there giving way until finally a rather large piece toppled forward and struck the ground with a dull thud. Bartlet glanced at his men from the corner of his eye as he caught them all tensing and heard the sound of their Lancers switching to auto fire. They were ready for a fight, especially if it happened to be a Locust left behind to scout the area.
Another piece of rubble from the top of the pile toppled, striking the first piece that had fallen and then rolled off to the side as the pile started to quiver from a force being applied on the other side. The trigger fingers of each GEAR twitched as they took a simultaneous step back, preparing themselves for a possible gunfight that was about to explode in the next three seconds as more of the debris in the pile fell to create an odd sort of clearing at the top. Sergeant Bartlet squinted at the exposed hole in the rubble pile, his body tensing momentarily as he saw movement through the gap only to then suddenly relax to the point where he dropped his Lancer to his side. He exhaled a heavy breath before suddenly walking forward towards the thrashed building, earning himself the confused stares of his men who were still holding their Lancers high at the ready.
The rubble continued to shift and convulse as it was pushed, a low distorted grunt muttered up from behind the mess that choked off the only possible exit from the mess that had been left by the Brumak attack. The scraping sound of boot soles sliding across hard ground echoed throughout the massive dark cave that the building had become in its collapse. Beneath the cover of the helmet that not only covered the head, but also the face, teeth ground in response to not only frustration but the brutal searing pain that shot through every nerve ending that radiated out from beneath the cracked and blood covered shoulder armor. The glow of the blue optics situated on the helmet had dimmed considerably, flickering every ten seconds or so in an odd sputter.
"You've gotta be fuck'n kidding me!" Sergeant Bartlet's voice barked through the gap in the rubble, dark eyes a bit wider than they normally ever were. "You have got to be one of the luckiest sons of bitches that I have ever met in my life." He shook his head before glancing back over his shoulder and motioning for his men to move forward and start digging out the trapped Gear. Looking back in through the gap, Bartlet felt his mouth twitch just the slightest in an upwards motion. "What's your name soldier?"
"Hawx." Static scratched across the outside communication link of the helmet, distorting the voice of the surviving sniper trapped behind the rubble. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys." Something that sounded like a chuckled broke across the com link at the end of the sentence as Hawx shook his head in a sort of disbelief.
Bartlet grunted a short chuckle before attaching his Lancer to his back where the magnetic clamp held it secured in place as he started to heft the large chunks of building concrete alongside his men. "Hey, Hawx, you might wanna move back a step or two!" The sergeant barked as he notice the shift in the pile's mass as the bigger pieces were being pulled away. The sniper did as he was told, albeit with a slight limp to his step as a backslide of smaller debris started to cascade inward, a few decent sized pieces slipping from their places and bouncing as they rolled off in different directions.
It didn't take long before the front of the rubble pile caved forward, forcing the Gears on the outside to take a few steps backwards in order to avoid being pelted by the rubble. Kicking aside a few of the stubborn pieces that still pestered the now much larger gap in the rubble, Hawx placed a misstep and stumbled forward out from behind the barricade that had trapped him. Even though the sniper's armor was a heavily modified version of the standard Gears' armor, far lighter and flexible to allow the sniper a greater range of motion, the weight was still enough to knock the tired and beaten Gearoff balance. Whatever fall would have occurred for Hawx was instantly neutralized as the sniper's upper bicep was gripped suddenly and a swift tug pulled the soldier into a solid standing position alongside one of the Gears. Muttering a thanks, Hawx shifted his weight before standing as tall as possible but wincing beneath the cover his helmet from the rather sharp pain that shot up through him at that moment.
"Were you the only survivor?" Evans pipped up suddenly, voicing the question that ate away at the rest of them and had yet to be spoken out loud.
An odd sounding noise passed through the outside comlink of the helmet that was close to the description of a ragged exhale. "Unfortunately, I am. I was set up in a cover position at the top of the building while the rest of the squad pulled back for an EVAC. We were ambushed by a Brumak seconds into our EVAC from the area." Hawx paused a moment and rolled his left shoulder as the joint felt incredibly stiff with an odd pinch that was incredibly uncomfortable. "The King Raven was hit first; the second it exploded it was like all hell was unleashed. The damn thing slammed through the area with weapons hot, it sideswiped the building I was set up on and caved it inward."
"Good lord." The Gear that had helped Hawx maintain his balance let out a low whistle as he shook his head. "Like Sarge said, you are probably the luckiest son of a bitch we've ever met Hawx. That building looks like it was at least seven stories tall, and with a Brumak sideswiping it... damn boy, I dunno how you survived that."
"No shit!" Another Gear stated while glancing back at the building that Hawx had apparently survived the collapse of. "What'd you do, spread-eagle and hold on for dear life?"
Hawx chuckled slightly from behind his helmet, "Something like that. I don't recommend trying it out for yourself though. It's not a ride you wanna participate it in willingly or unwillingly."
Bartlet shook his head as he ran a hand through his sweat heavy hair, "I don't wanna sound like a complete asshole, but since Hawx here is the only survivor and the rest of 'em are dead, we've gotta get the fuck out of here and head back to Jacinto ASAP." He grumbled while motioning with a wave of his Lancer for everyone to start moving as he turned, pivoting on the heel of his boot only to pause midway through his turn. "Hawx, you good to go?" He looked back at the sniper who was now holding his own without the aid of the other Gear.
"Yeah, I'm good to go Sarge." Hawx replied while adjusting the manner in which the Longshot rifle was sitting on his back.
Without another word, Sergeant Bartlet nodded stiffly before turning entirely and taking the lead as his men and Hawx fell in step beside and behind him.