"Mayday! Mayday! Control, come in! We're being attacked! Requesting immediate assistance!" Private Carson shouted into his earpiece. "Ziryn! On your flank!" He called, firing several rounds into the chest of another locust, sending it crashing to the forest floor.
"Delta 2, this is control. Request acknowledged. Just hang in there. Choppers will need at least twenty minutes to reach you. They just arrived to assist Delta 1." "Ugh, alright. Just get here ASAP!" "Grinder!" Ziryn warned her three other companions. "Sid, can you reach Baird or Byrne yet?" the raven-haired woman asked as she unloaded the clip of her lancer into the Grinder's gut. "Shit! Still no signal! We're on our own!" The young Gorasni soldier gave up trying to reach them and held up his Longshot as he kept low against the trunk of a fallen tree. He focused his dark brown eyes on his target; a Theron Guard reloading his Torque Bow.
"Hold your breath, fire." He said silently before pulling the trigger. His aim was dead on; a perfect head shot shattering the grub's skull, blood spurting in the air. "Got one!" Sid yelled to no one in particular. "I count 6!" Ziryn shouted. "Same" Zayn replied. "Oh, shit…" Carson muttered. They peaked out from safety of cover to see three Diggers and at least ten more drones. "Oh, God! Get down! Sh-" The digger exploded right at Carson's feet, sending him flying back, landing hard on the ground, his body in a heap. "Damn it! No!" Sid screamed, doing his best to fend off the drones headed straight for him.
"What the… Uh, hey! Hello?" Came Baird's voice over the tac-com. "Baird! Come in! Do you read-" The channel was static now. "Baird?! God damn it! I lost him!" Zayn yelled before he saw a Locust charging at him, chainsaw revved. "Zayn! Look out!" Ziryn shrieked, turning her attention to her twin's attacker, aiming for the head. He and the locust both had their bayonets locked, struggling against each other's force. Just as the male gear was about to lose his grip, something hot and sticky splattered across his face, and the drone collapsed headless to the ground. He just stood there for a moment, gasping for breath as he watched his sister take aim at another target with her Boltok.
"Zayn! Get down, mate!" Sid called to the youngest of their group as a digger made its way towards him, dirt flying in its path. "Bloody hell…" Sid rolled out of the way, just barely avoiding the explosion, then sprinted to the nearest tree. He took cover behind its trunk, and reloaded his lancer. Just then, something struck his back. He had a moment to see the frag grenade at his feet before it detonated, raining debris around the surrounding area, the massive oak toppling over with a loud thud.
"Zir! Sid's down! Oh, God…" Zayn choked, rubbing the dirt out of his eyes; his ears ringing slightly. Ziryn was lying on her stomach, slowly picking her head up off the ground. The grenade had knocked her off her feet. She groggily reached for her gun, which had landed a couple feet away. Her ears were ringing as she fingered the weapon, her hands shaking. She stood up and raised her lancer just in time to see a savage grenadier impale her brother with it's retro lancer bayonet, then toss his body to the ground.
She heard nothing, not the sound of her gun as she finished off Zayn's killer, not the growls of the remaining locust troops closing in as she sprinted to his side. She didn't even notice the blood dripping from her stomach as she clutched his hand with tears in her eyes. She saw flames and smoke on her left, followed by Baird rushing in about a hundred yards out, shooting one, two, grubs with his lancer shouting at the top of his lungs, though she didn't hear a word of it. She squeezed Zayn's shaky, ice cold hand in hers, looking into his green eyes. The mortally wounded gear squeezed her hand back, then slowly reached for his last frag attached to his belt, and Ziryn at once understood. As a group of five Locust drones raised their guns at the pair, Ziryn looked up at them, eyes blazing, lips pursed together, quivering, and pulled the pin of her grenade as her twin brother did the same.
"Baird! We've got company! Do you read me? I think Carson is down, do you have a visual?" Sam was sprinting, her words flying from her lips. She waited for a reply, but heard nothing but static, which caused the brunette woman to stop dead in her tracks. She'd heard the low growls of the Locust over the radio just moments ago, but when she looked around she saw no signs of them, or her companions. She stood for a moment, her breath ragging from exertion.
"Oh, Baird…They couldn't have…" The thought of any actual harm coming to that cocky, annoying, though strangely lovable man made Sam's cheeks flush with anger. "Those bastards…They bloody well better not have…" She continued running as fast as she could until the pack horse was in sight. She approached the vehicle slowly, raising her rifle. There was nothing; no one in sight, save for a dead grinder and Baird's chest plate. "What the hell…?" she whispered to herself.
"Sid! This is Byrne. Come in! Over! Zayn! Ziryn! Somebody answer me, damn it!" She was just about to yell in frustration when a flustered Baird interrupted her. "Sam! Are you there? I'm..." His voice was crackly with the static. "Baird! I..." She winced and covered her ear as she heard a loud boom over her tac-com. This time though, she saw it in the distance too, about 1000 yards away. Her once silent earpiece was now full of commotion as she struggled to hear her squad mate over the noise of gun fire and explosives going off. "Son of a bitch!" Baird shouted as he struggled to reload his lancer. "Baird!" she cried, louder then before. "I read you! Where are you? What the hell happened?"