Baird's mind raced as he lay under the truck motionless, covering his mouth with his palms, blood dripping down the bridge of his nose. "Baird! Come in! Do you read-" Startled, he quickly reached up and shut off his tac-com, praying whatever was out there didn't hear. "Shit! Shit! Did it see me?" he screamed silently. He held his breath as he watched the over sized locust, a digger, or a grinder maybe, make its way to the front of the pack-horse. He could hear it growling, attempting to search the truck.
Just then Baird remembered his Boltok revolver attached to his hip. He quietly took it in his hand and hugged it to his chest, wincing each time the gravel shifted under his body. He heard the locust sniffing the air as it kicked his chest piece, which he'd left on the ground. "How many more were out there?" he thought. He couldn't stand being stuck like this; completely blind and helpless. He breathed heavily through his nose before scrambling to his feet to the side of the truck opposite the locust.
He quickly identified it as a grinder, which had heard his movement and motioned to rev up it's massive chain-gun. Before it had time to react however, Baird shot three bullets into it's head and it fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Baird's hands shook as he holstered his pistol and scrambled to the driver's side to retrieve his lancer then made his way to the front and started putting on his chest piece. He struggled with the clasps, his whole body still tense with fear. Finally, he dropped the armor to the ground and sprinted in the direction of the explosions.
As he got closer, he could hear the sounds of gunfire; the inaudible shouts of his squad mates. He could barely see them in the distance when he nearly collided with a locust drone, armed with a lancer. Baird skidded to a halt, and shot several rounds into it's body, then continued on. He made it to a small clearing to see a group of Locust; a couple diggers, a grinder, and several drones headed in his companions direction. He quickly slid behind a large rock before being spotted. "Were they following us? No, they couldn't have…They…," His eyes went wide. "They were headed for Delta 1…" The small convoy of grubs was well armed and organized. It wasn't by chance they'd been walking around in the forest, they were on they're way to aid their troops. Marcus and the rest of Delta were already giving them hell, he knew, so once the Lambent showed up, they needed all the help they could get.
Baird thought of his friends out there somewhere and clenched his teeth, then lobbed an incendiary grenade as far as he could, where it exploded in a huge blaze, nearly engulfing the entire group in flames. With the element of surprise on his side, Baird took care of the few survivors with his lancer, and ran the last fifty yards screaming to his companions; frantically asking where they were, what happened. Finally through the smoke, he could just make out Ziryn's silhouette, keeling on the ground next to someone, surrounded by locust drones, when the explosion almost knocked him off his feet. His ears were buzzing, as he looked around, disoriented.
He searched the surrounding area for the rest of his squad, until he saw Carson, near silently choking, gasping for breath. He ran up to his body, and one look told the mechanic he wasn't going to make it. He was white as a ghost, lying on the ground surrounded by a pool of his own blood. "Carson, what happened?" Baird asked as he clipped his gun to his back and carefully picked him up by his chest piece. The man gasped, trying to speak. Baird put his ear to his mouth. "They…D-dead…They…" He managed in the lowest of whispers. He took one last deep breathe before his eyes faded, and his body went limp in Baird's grasp. Baird gritted his teeth and gently placed his fellow gear back on the ground. He just stood there; holding is head in his hands.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of several large locust troops heading the other way. He quickly jumped behind cover as they noticed his presence, sending bullets flying in his direction. He grabbed his lancer and blind fired over the fallen tree he used for cover, taking down a digger before it had time to fire. Just then, he heard Sam's voice over the tac-com. "Sid! This is Byrne. Come in! Over!" "Zayn! Ziryn! Somebody answer me, damn it!" "Sam! Are you there? I'm..." He was interrupted by a boom shot going off to his right. He cried out, covering his ear; shielding his face. "Baird! I..." Baird's gun jammed as he frantically tried to reload it. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted as he shoved the magazine in by force. "Baird," Sam cried, louder then before. "I read you! Where are you? What the hell happened?"
"It's a friggin' ambush! They must have been on they're way to Marcus' location! I'm all alone, man! Where are you? Are you alright?" The blonde gear yelled into his tac-com as he unloaded the last of his lancer's clip into a group of Theron guards, the bullets ripping through their thick skin; blood spraying in the air. "I'm fine, I'm on my way, hang on!" Sam responded as she continued her way towards the smoke still hanging heavily in the air from Baird's incendiary.
As she dodged the flames on the ground, the smell of burning flesh making her eyes water, she spotted her surviving companion, as well as Carson's body. She gasped under her breathe, and then rushed to the nearest bolder, about twenty-five feet from Baird. "What do you see?" She called, taking cover behind the massive rock as a torque bow exploded behind her, just missing her head as she dropped to the ground. "There's…, damn it! I can't tell, At least 10!" Baird yelled with frustration from behind cover. "Fan-bloody-tastic…" Sam muttered as she took aim with her Longshot, striking an unfortunate Theron guard, taking a good portion of his head off.
"Boomer! Baird, look out!" She screamed as she reloaded her sniper rifle at lightning speed. "Got it," Baird responded, swinging his last incendiary grenade a few times then launched it in the boomer's direction. It struck the massive grub in the chest, exploding on impact. "Smokin'!" Baird quipped as he watched 3 other drones writhing on the ground, engulfed in flames. "That leaves," he counted silently, "looks like eight more! Oh, shit! Sam! Watch out!" Three diggers revealed themselves from the woods, walking slowly towards the two, taking aim with their massive weapons. "DIG!"
"No, no, no!" Sam shrieked as she chain sawed a drone down the middle as it attempted to flank her. She lobbed a frag blindly in the direction of the diggers. It landed slightly to their right, taking out one of them as well as 2 grenadiers. Baird focused on the other with his lancer, unloading an entire clip into the grub's chest. Sam was able to finish off the remaining digger, but just as it fell to the ground, it had managed to pull the trigger, sending the explosive tunneling its way straight to where the brunette stood. She rolled to the right, but it was too late.
"Sam! No!" Baird screamed, as he watched her slump to the ground. He finished off two more drones, and then carefully made his way towards her, dodging a boomshot that hit the ground off to his left, using whatever he could for cover. To his relief, Sam began to come to, shaking her head as she reached for her snub pistol on her belt. She took aim while on her back, finishing off the last three grubs as Baird rushed to her side.
"Shit, Oh shit! Sam! Oh, God…"Baird gasped as his eyes frantically scanned Sam's body, eyeing the chunk torn out of her armor, and the blood dripping from her lip. "I'm alright I-" She exclaimed in pain holding her side. She winced, before glancing at her hand to see her glove was covered in dark red. "Aw, shit…" she whispered to herself as she made a fist with her blood-stained hand. "Here, take my hand," Baird attempted to help Sam to her feet, but Sam yelped, causing the blonde to pull away, looking a little more then scared for his female companion.
"D-did we get em' all?" Sam asked, trying to take her mind off the stabbing pain in her ribs. "I think so," Baird replied, still panting from his excursion. He scanned the area, but there was nothing in sight. He pressed his fingers against his ear as Sam wiped at her lip. "Control, come in! I don't even know where to start… Carson is down, we need an evac, now! Byrne's been hit, and," he lowered his voice a tad "It looks pretty bad." "Copy that corporal. What's your location?" "I, umm," he looked around for a moment, trying to remember which way he'd come from. "Just south of the pack-horse, in a small clearing. We've gotta get out of here now, you here me? I don't even know if there's any more of em' out there!" Baird responded, flustered. "Rodger that. Just sit tight Baird, a Raven is on its way, but it's going to take some time." "Alright, Baird out." He looked down to see Sam's face had gone pale, her breathing labored as she lay on the ground, coughing weakly.