(c) Epic, etc, etc

As they neared the town, their radios went dead. Baird cursed some and griped about being stuck in the middle of no where with a girl. Liz decided, to herself, that he might be gay. The sun began setting, and they needed shelter for the night.

"At least this place is abandoned," Baird muttered.

"This close to Jacinto you'd figure somebody would be living here," Liz shrugged.

"Let's get higher ground."

"Top floor, third building on our right," Liz pointed.

Baird didn't really understand why she was so specific. It had to be some sniper thing. Vantage points, he assumed.

The first floor was once a bakery, probably. The ovens were rusted and dented. The counter and tables were charred. There was no front door, and most of the first floor windows were broken. Liz planted a grenade at the bottom of the stairs, and Baird planted another at the top of the stairs. The second floor looked more promising. There were two apartments. One, doorless, had been ransacked. The other provided a wonderful view of the street below. What had been its kitchen was scorched and charred. Bookshelves were overturned, and a radio lay broken on the floor. It had one bedroom, which was empty. The only furniture rested in the kitchen and living room. Burnt tables and chairs, bookshelves, and a couch, mostly intact.

"Home sweet home," Baird grumbled.

Liz tore up floorboards in the bedroom closet while Baird fortified the door.

"So this place have a better view or am I missing something?" he asked.

"I like the number three, and I'm right handed," Liz called.

"Really?" he snorted, "What are you doing?"

"This might be a Stranded camp. Maybe we got lucky, and they didn't notice us. Pick a gun and put the rest of your junk in the hole."

Liz kept her longshot, of course. Baird stuck with a shotgun. Between them, anything far and near would easily be taken care of. He tried the Tac-Com again, but no luck. Liz watched out the window for any signs of life.

"Think the Locust followed us?" Baird asked.

His question answered itself with gunshots. Grubs poured into the town, and humans flooded the street. Liz moved to the first floor. Baird reluctantly followed.

"If she gets shot, it'll be all my fault," he muttered grimly.

Together, they watched the Stranded take out the grubs from their previous skirmish. Liz was looking off somewhere else, but Baird couldn't see her eyes. They were covered by a Cougars hat (a present from Cole). He scowled at the hat. Somebody screamed. In one fell swoop, Liz thrust her longshot in Baird's hands and snatched his shotgun. She bolted towards the screaming.

"Stop being a fucking hero! It's going to get you killed some day!" he called after her.

Baird scowled and folded his arms. Liz skidded to a halt in an alley. A grub had cornered a little kid. She sniffed and sprinted at it. Some Stranded, and Baird, made it to the alley just in time. The drone had the kid up by their neck. Liz tackled it (Baird found himself thinking of Cole) to the ground. It dropped the kid and swung it's rifle at her head. Easily, it shoved her off and kicked her before returning it's attention to the kid (who instead of running, sat there crying).

She coughed up blood. Liz swung the shotgun at its legs. It turned, angry, and made as if to crush her skull.

"Fuck! Liz!"

Blood trickled down her face as she smiled. Shotgun in the air. Bang. Gore sprayed over her and the kid. What remained of the drone rained down on her. Liz sat up in time to see people flocking her. Baird crouched beside her. Did he look concerned? She couldn't tell – she had blood in her eyes. She fell back, somebody caught her, allowing herself to seep into darkness.

Liz came to in a rather large room. It was pretty empty, for the most part. She was on a cot. A dish of (bloody) water and various medical tools lay, discarded, on a table nearby. There were a few more cots around the room. They were empty. The windows were boarded up, and there was only one door.

"Are we locked in?" she wondered aloud.

"Oh, so you're just assuming you and I are a 'we,' now? When 'we' weren't a 'we' when you went off with my gun," Baird snapped. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here."

"You'd probably be dead, but whatever. That's not my problem, now is it?" she retorted, "Why are we locked in?"

"Let's see... They patched you up, point some guns at me, told me to stay here, and left. Didn't really say why. They'll probably eat us."

"They're not cannibals."

"Stranded, cannibals. Same thing," Baird shrugged.

"Can we break the door down? What about the windows?" she asked.

"Guarded and too high up."

"Fuck..." Liz groaned.

The door opened. Three men and a woman came in. The lady went to Liz. She checked Liz's head wound before scurrying out again. Two men pointed their guns at Baird. They motioned him to stand near the wall. The third man wore sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat. His face was covered by a bandana.

"Hey, assholes, you gonna let us go?" Baird demanded.

"Yeah. Let's just antagonize the guys with the guns," Liz rolled her eyes.

The man in the hat motioned for the others to leave. Reluctantly, the guys with guns did. Baird moved beside Liz.

"I'm Bennett. I'm sorry if my men threaten you. We only wanted to help the young lady. I mean, she did save one of our own," Bennett explained.

"Yeah, well, she gets off in life expectancy shortening situations," Baird snorted.

"Are you letting us go?" Liz asked.

"Asshole," Baird added.

"Are you COG? We kind of have a rule or two against letting the COG around," Bennett inquired.

"Do we look like COG?" Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, I guess not. You folks are stationed just a bit out of our town. You're more than welcome to join us."

"Sorry. We have plans in Jacinto," Baird shrugged.

"You know... COG don't take too kindly to Stranded," Bennett stated.

"Stranded don't take too kindly to Gears either."

"It's hard to respect a government that sacrifices their own people."

It's sorta short? It's like three pages long in my word processor. Life has caught up to me and excuses, excuses. So I am pounding away at this as often as I can. Stay tuned and such. Hopefully I'll have another update soon!