Theta Squad Part 1: Battle for Illima

Chapter 1
1200hrs, Illima Police HQ, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

SGT. Josephine Good-springs

“Suppressive fire, let’s send these bastards back down the holes they came from!”  She yelled, while spraying bursts of lead at the freshly emerged Locust drones.

“Springs, direct me to somewhere I could grab some bullets for my longshot,” called the friendly voice of Private Henry Johnson, Theta squads sniper.

“Ask the grubs, I’m sure they’d cooperate,” she called back.

“Ok lads ‘n lasses, stop organising your date for tonight and start killing some shite, I want to be home for tea,” yelled Larry, surprisingly loud considering the distance they were apart and the volume of the ‘music of battle’ as he called it, to which he himself was adding to with the mulcher rotary machine gun he wielded with ferociousness.

“Oi Larry! Stop concentrating on us old man and concentrate on the battle. Linkin who has somehow got in front of you without you realising it, is in danger of being hit by the spray of that inaccurate bastard you call a weapon.” Laughed Johnson, sighting up the longshot on a locust who was about to jump Linkin.

“Linkin get back here mate, you’re in my way.” cried Larry, “Inaccurate, I bet even you couldn’t get a locust drone in the head while firing from the hip, I can do it, bet you can’t with that stick you call a rifle,”

Trying to prove his ‘Accurateness’, he emptied a clip on one of the drones who was foolish enough to go into the open, unfortunately for Lawrence, nothing hit the drone, and it laughed, but before it could complete its laugh, Henry popped its ugly head with his longshot, from the hip.

“You really think you’re more accurate than me,” laughed Henry, “Outdo that.”

“That’s Easy,” cried Larry, sending another burst of lead at the locust horde.

“In your dreams,” muttered Henry as he headshot two grubs with one bullet, “Oh Sweet, two birds with one stone.”

“Oh no, oh, oh hell no,” cried Linkin in anger, “Cover me, my weapons jammed.”

“Covering fire!” yelled Larry, firing bucket loads of lead at any locusts that threatened Linkin.

“Ok I got it,” cried Linkin, Gladness thickly in his voice.

“Linkin lookout!!” cried Henry.

The sound of a chainsaw revved into life, but it wasn’t Linkin’s Lancer.

“Theron!!” she yelled. She could tell that the locust was a Theron Guard by the larger than normal crests on the armour, and its helmet had no eye holes.

A second chainsaw joined the sounds of battle, this time it was Linkin. The Theron guard jumped down beside Linkin and pushed the chainsaw down, to cut Linkin in half. However, Linkin met the theron’s chainsaw with his own and the two duelled each other in a match of strength. There was no doubt that Linkin was strong, you could tell by the thick bands of muscle on his arms, but Theron Guards are bred killers, bred to be bigger, faster and stronger than normal locust, which in turn, are stronger than all except the strongest of gears. Henry knew this and was sighting his longshot up to the theron’s head, if it looked like the theron would get the best of Linkin, he would put a bullet through its head, plain and simple. He lined up the shot and got ready.

“Hey, uh, Johnson, you mind killing it now, I’m getting a bit tired,” yelled Linkin over the sound of clashing chainblades.

“You got it Linkin,” henry yelled back, he didn’t breathe out to steady his shot, he was confident he could make the shot easily, he pulled the trigger and the bullet flew...

… But didn’t make its mark, it grazed the shoulder crest of the theron’s armour.

“Oh Shit,” cried Henry when he realised his mistake.

“HENRY, TAKE THE FRICKEN SHOT NOW,” cried Linkin, he was losing the battle, the theron was pushing its blade down and down, Linkin’s blades were slowing down under the strain, “Oh fuck, HELP ME!!!!!”

“I’M COMING LINKIN!!!” yelled Larry, who was sprinting at the two, speed increasing.

But he wasn’t fast enough, the theron’s chainblade cut all the way through Linkin’s lancer and went easily through Linkin’s chest armour and eventually cutting into his chest, all the while Linkin was screaming in pain, as every single blade on the chain cut through his chest.

“NOOOOO!!” Larry boomed as a crashed into the theron guard, he tore the lancer from its grip and punched it continuously in the face, until its skull caved in, but Larry didn’t stop there, grabbed the locust’s arms and ripped them both off in his rage. Now he was done, he ran back over to Linkin.

“I’m gonna die –COUGH- aren’t I Larry,” struggled Linkin, coughing.

Larry knew that the chainsaw had gone through a lung, one he could see it the whole lung and the hole that had been sawn into it, and when Linkin had coughed, blood had run down from underneath his helmet. Larry knew that Linkin knew he was going to die, but it didn’t stop Larry from saying, “No Linkin, you are not going to die, not now, stay with me come on, Linkin…” And he trailed off, it was obvious the big man was in tears.

Linkin reached up to his neck, and ripped of his Cog Tags and said, “Here, take them –COUGH-COUGH- Remember me,” And as the big man accepted the COG Tags, Linkin died in his arms.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” the big man cried, he picked up his mulcher and turned back to the battle that she had been waging singlehandedly while all that happened, “COME ON GRUBS, SEE IF YOU CAN TAKE ME!!!!”

“FOR LINKIN!!!” she cried, firing full auto into the ranks of locust, bullets tearing the unlucky ones apart.

“I’m sorry Linkin,” murmured Henry as he changed from his longshot to his lancer, full of rage, and added his own firepower to the battle.

Together the three, filled with rage and grief for their fallen comrade, pushed the locust back into the emergence holes they came from, and forced them to seal up the passages they used to reach the surface. When they realised the battle was won, she yelled, “That was for Linkin!”

“THAT WAS FOR LINKIN!!!” cried Larry.

“That was for Linkin,” Henry said, just before collapsing to the ground, sobbing.

Chapter 2
1400hrs, King Raven flight, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

CPL. Lawrence Jackson

“Oi! Henry, welcome back to the land of the living,” he said as Henry’s eyes flicked open and he sat up.

“I must have blacked out… wait, Linkin??” Henry said suddenly looking all over the crew bay of the Raven for the younger Gear.

“He is gone, it wasn’t a dream,” said Josey, putting a hand on Henry’s shoulder.

“It’s all my fault,” said Henry, head bowed.

“No, it’s not your fault,” he said, “It is mine, if I had have been faster, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“But if I had have killed the theron, you wouldn’t have had to tackle it,” he said.

“Guys, I know it can’t fix what happened, but when we get back to base, drinks on me, and we can toast to all the good things Linkin enjoyed in his relatively happy life,” said Josey, it lightened Henry’s mood slightly, but not by much. The last time someone close to him died in his life, he had become a drunk, always at the pub, drinking till he dropped.

“OK, THETA SQUAD, BASE IS IN SIGHT, HOPE YOU HAD A RELATIVELY GOOD FLIGHT, CONSIDERING ALL THAT’S HAPPENED,” said the voice of the pilot of Bessie (The King Raven they were flying in) over the COM feed, whose name was ever elusive to his mind.

“Understood Jason, thanks for the info,” replied Josey.

Jason, Jason, Jason, he thought, trying to lock it into his mind. He looked out the door and saw the worst thing possible, Colonel Samuel Becker, Linkin’s older brother and commander of the whole battalion.

“Oh Shit, its Colonel Becker,” he said.

“You have got to be shitting me,” said Henry burying his face in his hands.

“All we have to do is explain how he died like a hero,that’s how we will remember him,” said Josey harshly, it didn’t lighten the mood at all, “I’m sorry guys, I don’t mean to sound harsh, but that’s how Linkin would want to be remembered, as the hero he was.”

“A Hero,” he murmured.

“GUYS, I COULD CONTACT THE COLONEL AND TELL HIM THE MISSION WAS A SUCCESS, BUT THAT THERE IS SOME BAD NEWS IF YOU WANT,” said Jason over the COM.

“No Jace it’s all right, we need to do this,” said Josey back.

“ALRIGHT, I’M HERE FOR YOU GUYS YOU KNOW,” Jason said after a pause, and closed the channel.

Bessie Slowed pace and started to lower to the ground. He noticed someone else next to Becker, someone familiar, he couldn’t think of a name. Bessie touched down and Henry was out first, he walked past Colonel Becker and said, “I’m sorry sir.”

“What is wrong, was the mission a failure?” asked Becker, worriedly, his serious face turned to slightly horrified, “Wait, where is Linkin?”

He reached into his pocket and grabbed Linkin’s COG Tags and handed them to the colonel, tears in his eyes.

“How?” Becker said hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“I wasn’t fast enough, that’s how,” he murmured.

“It is my fault sir,” said the voice of henry, sadness thick in his voice, “Overconfidence gets men killed.”

“What happened Sergeant Good-Springs?” said Becker.

“We won the battle, Linkin had a duel with a Theron Sentinel, Henry missed the kill shot and Larry was too far away to get the Theron away from Linkin, and I was busy fighting the Locust,” stated Josey, “I’m sorry sir.”

“It is ok Theta, people die in war,” said Becker, although it was obvious in his tone that it wasn’t ok, “Drinks on me, in memory of Linkin.”

“Sir, I already said that,” said Josey.

“Well then, we can both get some drinks,” said Becker, the slightest of smiles on his face, “Ok, now Captain Ford, what was it we were talking about.”

“Well it was about the new recruit that just came out of training, he just came back carrying two of his squad mates on his back and the other with a sprained ankle, stranger still, the kid barely had a scratch,” said Ford, “He says that he wants to change squads ‘cause they aren’t strong enough.”

“Well I think there is a Squad that has room,” said Becker, “What do you say Theta, want your squad up to full strength or not?”

“Let’s see this ‘Kid’,” said Josey.

Great, he thought, another rookie, right after the other was killed.

Chapter 3
1430hrs, Illima city Army Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

PVT. Henry Johnson

“I swear I left him right here,” said Captain Ford.

Over in the distance he saw a monster of a gear, all muscle, as big as old Larry, holding another gear by the throat and was yelling at him.

“Is that the rookie over there?” he said pointing.

“Dammit Dylan, stop getting yourself into trouble,” said Ford, “Yes that’s him.”

With that, Captain started running towards the Rookie and the fight that had obviously broken out. The others followed at a jog. When they got there, Ford started yelling.

“Private Dylan Keeting, put Sergeant Morran down at once!” Ford shouted.

“If you tell him to stop making fun of me, I will comply,” said Dylan, not even loosening his grip, and not even turning his head.

“Sergeant Morran, were you making fun of him again?” Ford said.

“Sir, I was just having fun,” said Morran, “And sir, you have to admit, his helmet does look pretty... AAAH FUCK, STOP, I WAS KIDDING!!”

And Dylan stopped punching him in the face and proceeded to throw him at the ground.

“I’ll have your head for this, Keeting,” said Morran, and spat blood from his mouth.

“And I’ll have your Military Career if you don’t stop this bullying,” shouted Ford, “What do you think your father up in command will think of you then.”

A little colour drained from Morran’s face, and he got up, spat more blood at Dylan’s feet and stormed off. Dylan took no notice, he was turning around already, he saluted and said, “Sir.”

“At ease Dylan, no need for formalities, we are all friends here,” said Colonel Becker, who had been standing out of sight.

“Sir,” said Dylan, turning to Ford, “What was it you wanted me for.”

“Dylan, I have you a squad that will definitely be strong enough for you,” said Ford turning to introduce them, “This is Theta .”

“I’m Sergeant Good-Springs, you can call me Josey,” said Josey nodding to Dylan, whose cheeks blushed. Someone has a crush already, he thought.

“I’m Corporal Lawrence Jackson, or simply Larry, if your pared with me if we split up stay close and out of my way,” said Larry, obviously remembering Linkin, who had been too far away from him.

“And I am Private Henry Johnson, or Henry, One thing I need you to always remember, Overconfidence gets people killed, trust me, I learned the hard way, less than three hours ago,” he said, extending a hand, which Dylan took and shook, his grip surprisingly strong for someone his approximate age.

“Private Dylan Keeting, ready for combat,” said Dylan, saluting (AGAIN), which the three returned.

“May I ask you Dylan,” he said, “How old are you exactly?”

“15 years old, 3 months, two days, to be exact as you requested,” said Dylan. “Sir.”

“Wow, that is exceedingly young for a gear as big as you,” said Colonel Becker, “No offence.”

“None taken sir, it is all muscle, according to my training sergeant,” said Dylan, “I take pride in it.”

“Sergeant, Josey, I quote the training sergeants words when I say this, ‘He is not real pretty to look at, and it is unlikely you will get a conversation out of him, but, he is the one person you can trust with your life, especially in a firefight,” said Captain Ford, “I am actually surprised you have got this much chatter out of him.”

“I don’t think he isn’t nice to look at, I’ve seen worse, take my ex-boyfriend for example,” said Josey, a cracker of a smile on her face, and Dylan was blushing bright red, Josey extended a hand, “Nice to meet you Dylan.”

“Hmmm,” said Dylan, who took her hand, but didn’t crush it like his hand or Larry’s. Yep, definitely a crush, he thought, I’ll have to help em both out. He stepped up to the two while they weren’t looking and pushed them both together and then onto the ground. Larry who had been watching Henry, Burst out laughing, as the two crashed to the ground, Dylan swinging himself underneath Josey, which caused Ford to break out in hysterics and even Becker managed a smile.

“Henry, that’s the second time you have pulled that trick on Josey, last time on Linkin, this time on the new kid, Its still funny,” laughed Larry, his mood, and nobody else’s mood for that matter lessening when Larry mentioned Linkin.

“Not cool man, not cool,” said Dylan standing, embarrassment thick in his voice, his cheeks an even brighter red than before, he had obviously taken the joke, because if he hadn’t, he was sure he would know. Dylan leant a hand for Josey to get up, which she took.

“Second time Henry, Seriously,” laughed Josey, then she proceeded to kiss Dylan on the cheek, who looked faint, and well and truly in love.

“Steady big guy,” said Larry, stepping up to catch Dylan if he did actually faint.

Dylan reached up to his cheek where Josey had kissed him, then noticed everyone was looking at him. He ran off, towards where Captain Ford had said he had left him, and picked up the golden helmet that was resting on the ground, and the golden lancer that lay next to it, he then placed the helmet onto his head and attached his lancer to one of the magnets on his back, he then jogged back to them.

“Ha, now you can’t see my face,” said Dylan, Triumph in his voice.

“We also can’t see where you are looking,” He said, looking at Josey, “If you take my meaning.”

“Dammit, never heard that one used before,” said Dylan, reaching up to take his helmet off again.

“So you were looking at Josey,” he laughed.

“No…” said Dylan, blushing, and embarrassment thick in his voice.

“Sergeant Good-Springs, Captain Ford, come with me, there is a squad leader and Officer briefing soon, and we need to be there.” said Becker.

“I hope I can trust you boys not to let Dylan drink any alcohol while I’m gone, he is 15 remember,” laughed Ford.

“You can ‘definitely’ trust us sir,” laughed Larry.

Josey and the two officers walked off in the direction of the ops tent, leaving Larry, Dylan and him alone.

“So,” said Dylan, “What exactly can we do?”

Chapter 4
'''1510hrs, Briefing Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

COL. Samuel Becker

“Ok, Men,” He said, “and Ladies, Today, Chairman Prescott gave the order to evacuate Illima City, he believes that the COG Military must direct its resources to more important sites, such as Ephyra, and Jacinto, he also believes evacuation is important because intel suggests that the Locust General RAAM, is leading the Assault on Illima, and that the horde is using such specialist troops as the Tremor, Mauler Elites and Theron Elites, even a berserker was sighted emerging from close to a high school near city hall and the Illima city Orphanage..”

“Sir, the berserker, where is it now?” asked a young Lieutenant at the back, Minh Young Kim, if he was not mistaken.

“That is unknown, the berserker hasn’t been seen since it emerged,” He said, “Onyx Guard units are being deployed to assist with the evacuation, that’s good news, now for I’ll call you in one by one into my office to tell you your deployment zone, dismissed.”

All the officers and squad leaders got up and started to leave, when he said, “Lieutenant Kim, come here.”

“Sir?” asked Kim.

“Your deployment zone will be closest to the high school and the orphanage, get those civilians out of there,” he said, “Get Sergeant Good-Springs please.”

“Yes sir,” said Kim, who then Saluted, which he returned, and then left.

A few seconds past, then Josephine Good-Springs walked through the door of the tent and saluted.

“Sir,” said Josey.

“Your deployment zone will be the General goods store and the Thrashball Stadium area, in both those areas, Civilians have been sighted, get them out,” he said, “Now get Captain Gordon for his orders.”

“Sir,” she said, she saluted and she left.

Give ‘em hell gears, he thought.

Chapter 5
'''1526hrs, Theta Squad Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

PVT. Dylan Keeting

She is too old for you Dylan, he thought, Forget about it.

While Josey had been at the briefing, the three boys, went to the mess tent and got a huge meal of four sausages with bacon and scrambled eggs each, then they had gone down to the shooting range for a few minutes, where Henry and Larry had competed, each with the others personal weapon, they tested there accuracy, and every round Henry managed to get bullseyes, with a mulcher, impossible for anyone except the most accurate, and he wondered how Henry had missed the kill shot when the other rookie had died. After going to the range, they went back to their squad tent and had all laid down on their beds, Henry told him which bed to sleep on and they all went to sleep, all except him, who was just lying down, thinking about Josey and his dad, who was now either dead or had become part of some group of stranded. When he thought he was about to fall asleep, he heard a knocking on the door of the tent, and someone was calling for them to unlock it. He realised Henry was up and was walking to the door, which he unlocked and opened.

“Hey Josey,” said Henry grinning tiredly.

“Henry,” said Josey, “Wait, Henry you tricked the rookie into sleeping in my bed again didn’t you, I am not impressed.”

“What?” he asked, rolling off the bed and landing with a thud on the floor mat of the tent, “I’m sorry Sergean…”

“Josey, and its ok,” said Josey, glaring at Henry, “Its Henry’s fault.”

“It was a joke,” said Henry.

“Henry!” said Josey, her temper rising, “Someone was told off earlier for making fun of him, and now, because he “obviously” likes me, you use it against him, to embarrass him, I really am not impressed, I want all of you with your gear on and outside in five minutes tops, we deploy in ten.”

He was already armoured and geared up, so he just popped on his helmet, slid his snub pistol into his belt, grabbed his golden lancer and went outside. Outside, Josey looked like she was either about to explode into rage or Burst into tears. Unsure as to what to say, he tapped her on the back.

“Um… you ok?” he asked, “I’m sorry for wrecking your bed, I… uh…”

“Dylan, I’m ok, thanks for asking,” she said, tears in her eyes, “It’s just that so much has happened today and its getting too much to handle, I just want to curl up and cry.”

She fell onto him and buried her head into his unarmoured shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. He didn’t know how to react so he patted her on the back.

“I’m sorry,” Josey said sadness thick in her voice, “I should be more composed, I’m a soldier, not some fan girl who just got told by her idol that he hates her, thanks Dylan.”

“Its ok,” he said hesitantly, “Your squad mates are… uh… here for…”

She stood up on her toes again and kissed his helmet. This time he didn’t fall over, but stood taller knowing he had lightened her mood.

After a few seconds of patting Josey on the back ‘till she regained composure, it took another minute or so for Henry and Larry to come outside.

“Where are we being deployed Josey?” asked Larry kindly, obviously aware that she was a hairs breadth from becoming a hurricane of tears and rage.

“I was hoping someone would ask me that,” said Josey, “We are being deployed to the Thrashball stadium area, to evac some civilians from the latter, and some more from within the General goods store in the same area, any more questions.”

“Any intel on what kinds of locust are in that particular area?” murmured Henry, hoping not to anger Josey again.

“Cheer up Henry, its ok, I was just frustrated by something that happened while I was on my way back from the briefing,” said Josey, kindness and encouragement obviously on her mind, “And as for intel, it just says lots of locusts, so intel can’t be relied upon here, as usual.”

“Ok Sarge,” said Henry.

“Ok Theta Squad let’s move to Bessie and fly out,” said Josey as she turned around and started walking towards the Raven Landing area.

He picked up the pace so he could catch up to Josey and ask her, “What happened when you were on your way back from the briefing?”

“I’ll tell you all when we get back from this operation,” said Josey, “But promise me, just you Dylan, that you won’t go after the man that did it.”

“I promise,” he said, but he wasn’t going to comply, he would teach whoever put her in such a foul mood a lesson.

Chapter 6
1545hrs, Illima City Thrashball Stadium, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

SGT. Josephine Good-Springs

I like Dylan, she thought, he is a good kid, I know he will go after Captain Gordon, I want it to happen, but I’m worried what will happen to Dylan if he does do it. A sudden transmission from Jason cut her from her thoughts, “THETA SQUAD, WE HAVE REACHED THE LANDING SITE, PREPARE TO DISEMBARK,” said Jason over the COMS, “GOOD HUNTING GEARS.”

“Thanks Jason, be back to pick us up when we are done,” she said in reply.

When the Raven touched down, Dylan, whose movements were almost robotic, got out and took aim down his sights and checked to see if it was clear, Larry joined him, then she hopped out and Henry came last.

“Ok Theta, from here there are two possible paths to the stadium, Glenn Street and Dannaer Road, we’ll split up, Larry with me, we’ll take Glenn Street, Henry, Dylan take Dannaer road, RV at the stadium guard house, sync,” she said

And in unison, the others each said, “Sync.”

And they split up. She kept her eyes open to the road while Larry watched the buildings. So far no Locusts had popped out to ambush them, but she still had the feeling she was being watched. It was too quiet, luckily, Larry broke the silence, “So, uh, Josey,” said Larry, “Anything happenin’ between you ‘n Dyl’?”

“No, he just lightened my mood from something Captain Gordon said to me,” she said, in a tone that meant that she was remembering something she didn’t want to remember.

“Just say the word and we’ll rough ‘em up for ya,” said Larry Enthusiastically.

“Why do you think Dylan likes me?” she asked Larry, “I can’t think of any reasons.”

“DON’T BE DAFT JOSEY,” Larry boomed, “I can think of many reasons why he would like you.”

“Like what?” she asked, intent on finding out reasons.

“Well, one would be that you are a very pretty young woman, if you don’t mind me sayin’, and you have been nicer to him than most, and he told me his mother had died when he was very young, so he has probably never had the presence of a sisterly or motherly figure in his life, he probably hopes you can fill that role and look after him like a mother or older sister would, and remember, he is fifteen, he may just like you,” explained Larry.

“Oh…” she said, the fact he wanted a female presence to look after him because his mother died had added another piece to the chess board, “I will ask him when we get back.”

“You do that, but he may be too embarrassed to answer,” said Larry, “Fifteen year old boys are like that.”

“Ok,” she said. Oh the mission, she thought. “Back to the mission.”

“Let’s go then,” said Larry, enthusiastically (Again), “The other two are probably there already.”

And the two continued down the road, eventually the stadium came into view. When they reached the stadium, it was still too quiet.

“Why is it so quiet?” she asked.

“Maybe nobody is ho…” he never finished, because at that moment, the most horrifying of locust creatures burst through the wall of the stadium. It screamed in rage and swung its massive club like hands to club at whatever had made the noise. Suddenly the fist came flying at her, all she could do was scream and raise her weapon in the hopes of blocking it.

One thought was running through her mind. Berserker, she thought. Then the fist crashed into her and she blacked out.

1547hrs, Illima City Thrashball Stadium, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

PVT. Dylan Keeting

“Ok Theta, from here there are two possible paths to the stadium, Glenn Street and Dannaer Road, we’ll split up, Larry with me, we’ll take Glenn Street, Henry, Dylan take Dannaer road, RV at the stadium guard house, sync,” said Josey.

And in unison, the others each said, “Sync.”

And they split up.

“Ok Dylan,” said Henry, “You keep your eyes on the buildings and stay next to me, I’ll keep my eyes watching the road.”

“Ok,” he said. And they didn’t say anything else for the next couple of minutes.

After the couple of minutes had passed, Dylan broke the eerie silence, saying, “Hey Henry.”

“Hmmm?” Henry replied.

“Do you think Josey likes me?” he asked.

“Of course she would, she likes everybody, but I know how you mean so, I would say she kinda likes you in that way and I can give a few reasons for that.”

“Really like what?” he asked, curious, “I can’t think of any reasons why she would like me at all, in any way possible.”

“BULL CRAP!!” laughed henry, loudly, “One reason, you helped her cheer up, two, you shifted your body so that she couldn’t hit the ground, all up you’re a real gentleman, and I think your quite a nice bloke, I’m sorry I kept teasing you.”

“It’s all goo…” he was interrupted by a crash in the distance, followed by an unnatural scream of rage. Seconds later, a woman’s scream, that sounded eerily familiar, “What the Fuck was that?!?”

“Berserker, the others are in trouble,” said Henry, suddenly focused, “Come on, double time to the stadium.”

And they sprinted up the road as fast as they could possibly go. They reached the corner and found Josey, her arm resting on her chest, blood was thick in her hair where she had hit the back of her head on the road. He checked her pulse, he sighed in relief, it was still going, but relief turned to rage. I’ll have the head of whatever did this, he thought. Then another thought struck him, where was Larry. As if to answer his question a human roar coming from somewhere inside the stadium, followed by a burst of heavy machine gun fire, which in turn by another scream of rage.

“Larry is inside the stadium,” he said.

“I know I heard as well, since I am better at range, I wouldn’t be much help in there, you go, I’ll look after Josey,” said henry in answer.

So with that, He went to find an entrance to the stadium, he found his entrance in a hole in the wall, obviously the source of the crash he had hear earlier. He went inside and almost immediately wished he hadn’t, inside were the mutilated and dismembered bodies of the civilians they had been sent to save. Not wishing to linger, he followed the sound of battling giants, till he came to the Thrashball field, he immediately saw Larry, blasting away at a monstrous creature that was charging at him. Larry needs my help, he thought. So, he fired a burst at the berserker. He cried out to it, “Yeah I’m over hear you over grown locust bitch!”

Larry immediately knew he had been given a chance to escape, as soon as the berserker stopped its charge to change direction towards the new smell, and sounds that were coming from the same direction.

“Dylan!!” yelled Larry, “Grab a scorcher flamethrower from the locker room, it’s the only way to beat this bitch.”

“Affirmative, distract it while I grab the scorcher.”

With that, Dylan moved immediately towards where the locker room was, if he remembered correctly from his childhood. He was right, and he reached the locker room almost immediately, he looked around the room for the scorcher, which he found lodged underneath one of the lockers, the body of another mutilated civilian lay before it. Poor bastard mustn’t have been strong enough to lift the locker, he thought as he lifted the locker and grabbed the scorcher that lay underneath. It had a few dents and scrapes, but other than that, it was fine. He left the locker room and went straight back to the thrashball field, he found it in a different state to the one he had left it in, Larry was unconscious or dead underneath a bench that had  been thrown at him, he guessed, and the berserker was trapped inside the field by pillars that Larry must have pushed down.

“Oi! Bitch I’m over here,” he yelled, the berserker, as he was hoping immediately started moving in his direction, “Yeah that’s right, I want to talk to you about something.”

It screeched and charged, also as he was hoping. When it got into range of the scorcher, he fired  and a large jet of flame flew out and hit the berserker, which screamed in pain and rage, it stopped a charging and instead sort of ran around in circles waving its arms around. Instead of continuing the burst of flame, he quickly dropped the scorcher and drew his lancer and emptied a whole clip on the berserkers now softened armoured skin, blood flew out wherever a bullet hit, by this point it had stopped waving its arms around because it was no long on fire, but it was still burning. He placed his lancer on the ground, after reloading, and picked up the scorcher and fired another burst of flames at the berserker, this time, its screams were increased in pitch and it started swinging it arms around trying to find it mark on something. This time, he continued the burst of flame on one spot until the flesh of the berserker could be seen, it screamed again, the screams pitch was so high, he almost had to block his ears, but he didn’t, he couldn’t if he wanted his plan to work, eventually the whole of the berserkers chest was almost completely open flesh, all the armoured skin melted away. Unfortunately, by this time, the scorcher had run out of gas, so he threw it to the ground and grabbed his lancer. This has to work or I am dead, he thought. He revved the chainsaw bayonet on his lancer and sprinted up to the railing stepped up to it and jumped towards the berserker, swinging the chainsaw in an ark. And when it met the berserkers body, he realised he was successfully doing the impossible, he was actually using chainsaw on a berserker. Blood and splinters of bone crashed against his helmet as the chainsaw ate through the meat of the berserkers chest, a seemingly endless fountain of blood began spraying his body as he met the berserkers heart, there was fast spout of blood before the fountain stopped and he was met by a mass of bone splinters as he went through its spine and the back of its rib cage, when he reached it skin, the chainblade met resistance, because he realised, he had not melted its back. Eventually the chainsaw went through the skin of the berserkers back and he realised, his whole head and shoulders were inside its chest cavity.

He pulled his head out and realised, he was almost, from head to foot, completely covered in blood. A sudden sound of clapping came from behind him and he turned to find that Josey, Henry and Larry were all watching from the stadium seating. He bowed casually and then fell to the ground, he realised he felt sick. It has to be normal, he thought, for someone to feel sick after chainsawing through something or someone.

“Good job!” shouted Larry, “You saved us all and successfully did the impossible, you chainsawed through a berserker.”

“How many times have you chainsawed anything in your life?” asked Henry, curiously.

“That,” he said, “Was my first time, I enjoyed that a lot.”

“Well of course you enjoyed it,” said Larry, “You are almost as tall as it.”

“Are we going to the other objective?” he asked, although he already suspected the answer.

“Nope, Foxtrot Squad has been sent to that objective,” said Josey, she sounded in pain, “We contacted Colonel Becker while you had your head stuck inside the berserker and told him that we were in no condition to go on another mission today.”

“We also told him, ‘Our rookie just successfully got himself stuck inside a berserker ’,” said Larry, “In exactly those words, didn’t you Henry.”

Henry nodded, smiling, “Bessie is already on station for evac, let’s go, if you’re done.”

“Yeah, I’m done,” he laughed, “I don’t think I will be chainsawing another berserker just yet, besides I need to wash this out, I’m gonna stink by the time we get back to base.”

The others laughed and they turned around and started walking to the exit. He realised the Chainsaw was still running and switched it off. Then a horrible thought came into his head. We failed the civilians.

Chapter 7
'''1605hrs, Infirmary Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

CPL. Lawrence Jackson

“How’s the arm,” asked Henry.

“Doc says it’ll be ok, but that I’ll be off duty for the next few days while it heals,” said Josey.

“Say, didn’t you say you would explain why you were so angry when you came back from the briefing,” he asked, curious.

“I did, and I’ll tell you, but only if you promise you won’t go after him,” said Josey, he voice serious, but kind.

“I promised already,” said Dylan.

“Cross me heart Lass,” said Henry, crossing his chest.

“I promise,” he said, “Now tell us.”

“Ok, I’ll tell you.”

And She began…

'''1515hrs, Briefing Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

SGT. Josephine Good-Springs

''She left the Briefing Tent. Great, she thought, Captain Gordon just when I thought I was in a good mood. She reached the Bravo Squad Tent and knocked on the door, Private Helidon was the one that opened the door.''

''“G’day lass, what would you like that I could help you with,” asked Helidon as politely as his accent could allow him.''

''“Hello Heli, could you get Captain Gordon for me,” she asked reluctantly.''

“Are you sure, he is a little drunk, and you and I both know how bad he is when he is like this,” he said.

''“Yes, I remember, you saved me from his drunken madness,” she said, Helidon blushed a little, “I do need him though, the colonel asked me to get him.”''

''“I wouldn’t say saved, I was merely being a gentleman, is all,” he said politely, “Ok since Becker asked you to, I guess I better do it aye.”''

''And he turned around and called out, “Oi! Gordon, you drunk bastard, someone wants you!”''

''He winked at her and left the door. Helidon is great, she thought, just think of him when you talk to Gordon.''

''“Why hello there, have you come to admit your love for me?” said Gordon, the smell of alcohol heavy on his breath, something tells me he is more than a little drunk, she thought.''

''“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but I don’t love you, I admit I think your slightly handsome when your sober, but I don’t love you, just forget it,” she said, she was about to continue, but he grabbed her collar, pulled her to him and kissed her on the lips for what seemed to her like minutes, she struggled in his grip and tried to get him off, but he didn’t budge. He stopped kissing her and slapped her on the bottom.''

'' “No Struggling, pretty girl, I’m in charge,” said Gordon, in his drunkenness slurring his words. She struggled again, and he slapped her again, and then proceeded to grab her shirt and started to unbutton it. Just in time, Helidon came out again and tore her from Gordons grip.''

''“Get off her you idiot, go to Colonel Becker right now, before I knock you unconscious and force us to explain what you were doing!!” yelled Helidon angrily. But Gordon didn’t move he, he just stood there, and smiled, just before punching Helidon in the face, Helidon threwh the next two and then two other gears that she didn’t know came around the corner, saw what was happening and ran over, one of them noticed her and ran over to her, the other got in between the two fighters and told them to break it up.''

''“I am Private Tai Kaliso, what happened here?” he had a thick Islander accent.''

''“You’re the one who found out that chainsaws were more useful than bayonets, well the captain, the drunk one, was slobbering on me basically, and Helidon came to my rescue,” she said, “Who is your friend?”''

“That, my lady is Private Michael Barrick,” said Tai, “I am actually surprised he didn’t join in the fight.”

''“Oi! Sergeant whatever your name is,” yelled Barrick, “Helidon says my friend here was being told to go somewhere, where to exactly?”''

''“Briefing tent for his deployment orders,” she said in answer, Barrick nodded then grabbed Captain Gordon by the collar and half dragged him in the direction of the Briefing tent, “Pleasure to meet you Tai.”''

''“I am sure we will meet again,” and he jogged over to help Barrick with the struggling Captain Gordon.''

''“Thanks for the rescue Helidon,” she said.''

''“Think nothing of it,” he said before sighing, to, she guessed, let off some steam.''

''“I had better get back to my Squad,” she said, “I’ll see you round.”''

''“See ’ya,” said Helidon before going back into the tent.''

 

'''1610hrs, Infirmary Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

CPL. Lawrence Jackson

“Whoa, that is some deep shit,” said Henry.

“Understatement of the bloody year,” he said, now he was genuinely angry.

“Sarge, I know you made me promise,” said Dylan, “But I have a somewhere I have to be.”

“NO!” she yelled painfully, “DON’T, I CAN’T HELP YOU IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE!!!”

But he was already gone.

“We’ll get him back,” said Henry.

“No don’t bother, not even a berserker could stop him,” said Josey.

“You can’t stop me either,” he said, just before running out after Dylan.

“Noo!” she said, “Please No.”

He thought he heard her say. I’m really sorry Josey, he thought, I really am.

Chapter 8
1615hrs, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

PVT. Dylan Keeting

He realised someone was behind him and he turned to find Larry standing there.

“You can’t stop me from doing this,” he said angrily.

“I know, I’m not here to stop you,” said Larry, obviously just as angry as he was, “I am here to help you.”

“Good,” he said, gladly, “I didn’t want to have to hurt you to get you out of my way.”

He stopped and realised he must have hurt Josey. I lied to her, he thought.

“Oh shit, is she ok,” he said, worriedly.

“She will be ok, just make sure you don’t kill him, or then she wouldn’t be ok,” said Larry.

“Aww, you take the fun out of life,” he said, jokily.

“Come on, this way,” said Larry.

And they went off in the direction of the Bravo Squad tent. When they arrived, they found the door open. They went inside and found that all of bravo squad was in bed, except however, Captain Gordon. Then once again, he felt someone was behind them, he turned to find the one they were looking for. He tapped Larry on the shoulder, who then turned around and said, “Ah.”

“Might I inquire as to why you are outside my tent?” asked Gordon.

“Well we just came to settle some matters,” he said, just before punching Gordon underneath the jaw throwing him into the air, to land on the ground five metres away.

“What did I do?” asked Gordon, well and truly afraid, “Why are you doing this?”

“You sexually violated Sergeant Good-Springs,” Larry said angrily, “we have come to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“I wasn’t in control of my senses,” said Gordon, who, as he realised, had tears streaming down his face, “it’s not my fault.”

“Bull shit,” he yelled before punching him in the face, “What are you trying to say, you can’t control yourself when you’re drunk.”

He punched him again.

“I bet you had complete control of your body your trying to get out of this,” He yelled before punching him again. Larry looked like he wasn’t sure about this anymore, like something was wrong.

“I don’t know,” cried Gordon, tears and blood running down his face, “I don’t know.”

“Bull Shit,” He yelled throwing another punch, this time, Larry intervened and grabbed the fist before it could land.

“Dylan, STOP!!!” yelled Larry, “Dylan is this the look of someone who would willingly do that to someone, NO IT ISN’T, it’s the look of someone who knows he did something wrong but doesn’t know exactly what he did, so STOP!!”

He grumbled, ashamed of himself.

“I know how you feel, so I will accept your apology,” said Gordon, hesitantly standing up, then he threw a punch, which caught him in the cheek and made him fall to the ground, “And that is for punching me.”

“Come on Dylan, let’s go,” said Larry, and the two walked back to the infirmary.

When they reached it, Josey was standing outside, her arm in a sling, her face a mask of anger.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and he warm tears rush down his face and he fell to his knees, his face in his hands.

Larry joined him on his knees, and put his arm around him and whispered, “Me and Henry will leave you two together, she has something to tell you.”

Larry patted him on the back, got up and left with Henry.

He stayed on the ground, head in his hands. He felt a soft hand touch him on the shoulder, he looked up, tears in his eyes to see the caring face of Josey looking down at him.

“Are you ok,” Josey asked.

“I will be,” he said.

“Well hurry up,” said Josey, “I’m gonna ask you something.”

“I’m ok, I swear,” he said, though he knew he wasn’t.

“Ok, uh, I don’t know how else I can say this,” said Josey, hesitating a little.

“What is it?” he asked, slightly worried as to what she would say.

“Why do you like me, we haven’t known each other for more than half a day?” said Josey.

“Because you are beautiful,” he blurted out before he even knew he was saying it, “uh… I think you are very nice and I…”

“You what,” Josey asked kindly.

“I haven’t really had any female presences in my life, I went to an all-boys school, and my mum died when I was three…” he said, wondering if he should actually be saying this.

“Ok…” said Josey, obviously, the feeling of uncomfortableness was mutual, “You do realise I’m seven years older than you, right?”

“No, I didn’t even know that,” he said, “And what is that supposed to make me think.”

“I’m too old for you,” said Josey, she winced when a slight look of anger appeared on his face.

“I don’t care, I’m sure if my mother was still around, I would love her, and she would be in her forties,” he growled.

“But that’s Differ-“ he cut her off. He had stood up now. And he stayed there for a few seconds before saying.

“Did you think I didn’t know this, ‘Sergeant Good-Springs’!” he said at last, “Of course I knew you were too old for me, that won’t stop me, I heard you say when I left before, ‘Not even a berserker could stop him’, and you know what? You were right, not even a berserker could stop me, you know what did, Larry, his face told me it would hurt you more.”

And he stormed off. He reached the Theta Squad tent and stormed into the tent, angrily fixed up Josey’s bedding and then threw himself onto one of the spare beds. When he was just falling asleep, he realised, Josey had been crying.

Chapter 9
'''1632hrs, Infirmary Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

SGT. Josephine Good-Springs

 

What have I done, she thought. Her head in her hands, she had been crying for the past two minutes, and now she was curled up in a ball on her bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

I said too much, she thought, I was too hard on him, and now I have turned one of the most caring people I have met against me. She started another bout of sobbing just before someone walked into the tent, a little relief flooded through her mind, but when she looked up she realised it was the nurse tending to one of the other wounded gears. She continued her sobbing, even when another person came into the tent, this time she didn’t look up, she just stayed there, sobbing until a hand started resting on her back and was moving around in circles softly. This time she did look up, and found Henry looking down at her, eyes full of kindness.

“I screwed up Henry,” she said, her voice thick with sadness, as she grabbed hold of his arm, “I screwed up big time, and now Dylan hates me.”

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” said Henry, “Larry is back at the squad tent, and before I left to check on you, he said exactly the same thing, ‘Guys, I screwed up, and now Josey hates me,’ it took us a few minutes to tell him that that wouldn’t be the case.”

“He did?” she asked, “You’re not just trying to cheer me up?”

“Nope, you can ask Larry the same thing,” Henry said kindly, “Besides, from what Dylan told us, and his words too, all you said was the truth.”

“But, to him, ages doesn’t matter in love,” she said, curious as to what he was getting at.

“That is because it doesn’t, did I tell you about when the Math teacher, um, Ms Batley, asked me out on a date, and she was in her early thirties, I was fifteen at the time, I actually liked her as well, she was a pretty woman, so it kinda worked out for like two weeks.”

“What stopped it?” asked Josey, curious, she immediately wished she hadn’t because the old wound it must have opened must have been great, for a look of grief appeared on Henry’s face.

“She died in a crash,” said Henry, his voice full of sadness, but then his face lit up, “But that’s history now, no use dwelling on it.”

“So, you think it could work, you know, me and Dylan?” she asked.

“Wait a few weeks, get to know him, and by then, I am sure you will have the answer,” said Henry.

“And what if it doesn’t?” she asked, worried.

“Don’t think like that, or it won’t work,” he said in response. “I told Larry to tell Dylan that he shouldn’t talk to you until your arm has healed. And I want you to not talk to Dylan, Oi! Doc, I want you to order this sergeant to not go looking for Dylan Keeting.”

“Uh why,” asked the doctor.

“I would say that it’s none of your business, but since you’re the doc, I gotta tell you,” said Henry, “It may open old wounds.”

“No don’t…” she whined.

“Josephine Good-Springs, I am hereby ordering you to not go after the kid that did something to a berserker, understood, good, now I can go back to more pressing matters,” and he walked back to do whatever it was he was doing beforehand.

“Henry,” she growled, playfully.

“I’m sorry doctors’ orders,” he said, before winking and turning towards the door.

She reached out to him, “No don’t go.”

“I gotta sleep, and so do you,” he said, then he turned and left.

At least, she thought, Dylan doesn’t hate me.

Chapter 10
'''0800hrs, Briefing Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

CPL. Lawrence Jackson

“Ok Theta Squad, since Sergeant Good-Springs is injured, I have chosen your unit commander, and a temporary replacement,” said Becker, his face serious, “Corporal Jackson, I have put you in command for the time that Good-Springs is in the infirmary, and your replacement will be…”

“You sir,” laughed Henry.

“Don’t tempt me,” said Becker, his face into a smile, “No your replacement will be Private Helidon, from Bravo Squad, since all of Bravo squad is Injured or on trial for crime.”

He knew who Becker was talking about.

“Your deployment zone will be at the edge of Illima City, and you will be assisting Civilians getting into APCs and getting them out of this shithole, understood?” asked Becker. His answer came in three nods from the gears in front of him, “Good, snap to it.”

And they left. When they got outside they found Private Helidon, who saluted and said he was at his service. Then they proceeded back to the tent, armoured up, grabbed their equipment, picked up their weapons, and left, they found Helidon once again outside their tent, this time, fully equipped and armoured. He nodded to Helidon, who nodded back, and then they went to the Raven area and got into Bessie. She lifted off, and they left to the landing point, where they found a huge line up of civilian cars.

“We have to get all these people into APCs?” asked Dylan in disbelief.

“Believe it or not, yes,” said Helidon.

“This is unfuckin believable,” said Henry, and what he said was true, it was unbelievable.

“Language Henry, there is a fifteen year old boy here,” said Helidon.

“Fifteen year old ‘MAN’, he did chainsaw a berserker yesterday, so I think he has seen or heard worse,” said Henry, who then proceeded to say every swear word in the book.

“How does Josey deal with this guy,” said Helidon, his  eyes wide, filled with disbelief.

“I wonder the same thing about myself sometimes,” he said.

After that, the rest of the flight was relatively quiet, considering they were in a King Raven.

When they arrived at the checkpoint, they realised just what they had just got themselves into. Boy Josey, he thought, you are lucky you’re in the infirmary. There were civilians everywhere, most of whom, were yelling at the poor gears at the checkpoint, who were obviously going flat out, but it obviously wasn’t fast enough for the civilians.

“We had better give those boys a hand,” he said as he began jogging down the hill to the checkpoint. When they reached it, he said, “How may we assist you boys?”

“Well you can start by getting all these civvies back in there Vehicles except the ones at the very front and the ones that don’t have vehicles,” answered the Gear at the guardhouse.

Dylan hit the loud speaker on his helmet and said, “We would like everyone to remain calm, all those who came in vehicles, please get back into your vehicles.”

“Good speech lad,” congratulated Helidon.

“I know right, very enthusiastic, I’m sure they are ecstatic,” laughed Henry.

“Don’t worry lad, I’ll slap him for you,” laughed Helidon, Henry laughed even harder, and Dylan was forced to giggle.

Most of the civilians who had vehicles got back into them, but some of them didn’t.

“I repeat, please get back into you’re…” Dylan didn’t finish, because he was hit, smack bang in the face by a rock. He knew Dylan was angry, because when he stood up again his muscles were tense and he basically just looked like someone who was angry, he then bent down, grabbed rock, and went started walking down the road towards the culprit. He reached out to stop Dylan, but the latter shrugged off his hand and continued down the road, he immediately found the culprit, a middle aged man with builders clothes on, Dylan then picked him up by the collar and held him in the air where everyone could see him, Dylan proceeded to say, “You see this man, this is what happens when you don’t cooperate.” He then smashed the man’s face through the window of the truck he had retreated into after he had thrown the rock, then tossed the man, unconscious, onto the ground.

“GET INTO YOUR FUCKING VEHICLES, NOOW!!!!” yelled Dylan, the rest of the civilians went straight into their vehicles, afraid to be smashed like the man who had chucked the rock. Dylan then jogged back to the guard house and asked the gear stationed there for something. He guessed what Dylan was doing when the guard gave him a green box with an antenna attached to it, Dylan then walked back over.

“I’m going to say something to all of them, ready,” Dylan flicked a switch on the box and plugged a cord into his helmets COM system, “Attention Citizens, what you just saw today was not an act of the Coalition, it was an act Dealt by me, for me, got it, don’t go stranded because you think the COG is mistreating civilians, this man assaulted me, and I retaliated, got it, good.”

Dylan flicked the switch off and took it back to the guardhouse.

“Very good job,” said Helidon, his eyes filled with amazement.

“He scratched my damn helmet, do you know how bad that is, that’s like smashing a family heirloom,” said Dylan before sitting down on the ground. Helidon walked down to the unconscious body of the criminal and threw him into the car, Helidon then went to the back of the truck and started searching for something, he came back around to the front of the truck with what looks like a torch. Oh crap, he thought, he is gonna weld the doors to the truck closed, well I guess it serves him right. After Helidon finished welding, he came back and sat down next to Dylan.

“Uh guys, have you realised it is unnaturally dark for this time of day,” said Henry, pointing up at the sky.

“Oh god, the locust are beginning the assault,” he said.

Chapter 11
'''0830hrs, Infirmary Tent, Illima City Military Camp, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

SGT. Josephine Good-Springs

“Why is it so dark,” one of the nurses said to herself.

“Someone turn the lights on,” said another.

And someone did and the darkness was away just like that. And only now did she realise that Gordon had been standing next to her bed.

“What the hell do you want?” she growled. She definitely was not in the mood for Gordon right now, because of her damn arm, she couldn’t go on a mission for the next week or so, so she basically didn’t have any company.

“I wanted to say sorry, for whatever it was I did to you while I was drunk,” said Gordon, kinder than she had ever heard him before, “And now I have done that, we have to find something else to talk about.”

“How are you even here?” she asked, “You’re meant to be in a cell.”

“They let me out, but I can’t have any alcohol for the rest of my life,” said Gordon grimly.

“Well that’s good, now you won’t try to trick yourself into thinking that I love you,” she said, normally, not angrily, nor kindly.

“I did that?” he asked.

“Ooh yeah, don’t you remember?” she asked.

“Nope,” answered Gordon shaking his head.

Outside there was a sudden crash and the screams of a man, as well as the sound of something being torn apart.

“What was that?” she said, suddenly worried.

“Oh shoot, the kryll, the locust must have inked the sky, that’s why it got so dark,” said Gordon, also worried.

Suddenly the radio came on and said, “Illima Military Camp, this is Private Jason Griffin, King Raven 556, I am en route to your location, please respond, over.”

She motioned for Gordon to grab the radio for her, which he did and gave it to her.

“Jason, this is Sergeant Good-Springs, over,” she replied.

“Good-Springs I need you to light up something, I don’t have any Idea where any of the tents are in this darkness, over,” said Jason.

“Affirmative, we’ll light something up, out,” she replied, when the radio cut out, she said, “Now what, what are we gonna light up without getting eaten?”

“We have a medical flamer, for cauterising wounds, but it may not be enough,” said the Doctor.

“It will be enough,” she said, “Do you have any alcohol and anything large that we can soak it in?”

“We have bandages?” said one of the nurses.

“And we have alcohol,” continued the doctor, “I see what you are trying to do, essentially it should work.”

“It will work, nurse bring me the bandages and the alcohol, doc’, bring me the flamer,” she said. Boy will I be glad when we are out of this city, she thought. Eventually they all brang the equipment over to her, and she was able to begin, she started by soaking the alcohol into the bandages, but was interrupted by another scream from outside, and more bloody sounds, she continued, faster now, and was done before long, “Ok I won’t lie to you, the person who goes out there…”

“I’ll go,” interrupted Gordon, “I don’t want you to remember me as some drunk, I want to be remembered as a hero.”

She knew she couldn’t stop him, but she couldn’t let him do it, she had only just, really, met him properly. “Good luck,” she said and then kissed him on the cheek.

He took the bandages and lit them, he walked over to the door, turned around, and nodded to her, then left.

“Good-Springs, I see light, is that you?” asked Jason over the radio.

“Yes that’s us,” she said moodily.

“Who went out there, I don’t see anybody holding the light,” Jason said, she sobbed, “It doesn’t make sense, he couldn’t have been attacked by the kryll, he was holding the light, but if he ran off, he is definitely dead by now.”

“Captain Gordon, will be remembered as a hero,” she said, tears streaming down her face, “Now get us the hell out of here.”

Chapter 12
0900hrs, Illima City Evacuation Checkpoint, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera

PVT. Dylan Keeting

“What the fricken hell do we do now,” said Henry, “They have turned their Lights on, we turned our lights on, the street lights are on, what now?”

“We wait for Evac,” said Larry.

“We are the bloody evac, Henry said angrily, “and we are not doing a good job at it.”

“That’s because these people aren’t moving,” Larry growled, “Now shut the hell up, and make that a standing order for the rest of the day.”

“Hmph,” Henry murmured before grabbing some tape and wrapping it onto his mouth.

“Good, stay that way unless I ask you a question,” said Larry, “Ok we need to get these people out of the city.”

“They are idiots, they think it is safer to stay in the city,” said Helidon, who had now changed his ‘vocabulary settings’ to Theta Squad, “They need to get their shit together and move.”

“Language Helidon, Language,” he laughed, “I agree however, they need to get moving, how about we give ‘em a little nudge.”

“Alright, let’s go, oh and uh, Henry, grab a piece of paper and right something that will tell them to move,” said Larry, Henry nodded, obviously smiling under the tape.

They walked down the hill towards the cars and started knocking on windows and asking people to start getting out of their vehicles and moving towards the checkpoints. In one vehicle however, he found a child, a little boy, around six years old. Someone locked him in, he thought. He knocked on the window and waved at the boy, who edged away from his side of the car. He grimaced, he must look pretty intimidating with this helmet on, he took it off and smiled at the boy, who sort of smiled back. He motioned to the kid to get away from the window, the kid must have understood, because he moved into the front seat. After he felt the child was far enough away from the door, he punched hard but not hard enough to make shards of glass fly everywhere, just hard enough to break it, which it did.

“Hey, why don’t you come out here,” he said smiling, “We need to get you to safety.”

“Where is my ma,” said the kid, getting out of his seat and edging toward the window.

“Let’s go find her, come on,” he said and reached inside, he grabbed the kid and hauled him out. He put him on the ground softly and reached for his helmet, but the kid looked at him, as if pleading for him to stop, which he did. Soon after, he found the kid holding his hand, when he reached the others, they looked at him, then smiled at the child.

“I see you have found yourself a friend,” said Larry, “What’s ya name kiddo?”

“Jak, my name is Jak, have you seen my ma?” question the kid, Jak.

“No, I am afraid I have not, why don’t we go find her,” said Larry, smiling, “Want a ride?”

Jak smiled, and accepted the offer, climbing onto Larry’s back and holding him around the shoulders. They passed the checkpoint and after a few minutes of searching, Jak pointed out his mother, a tall woman with long dark hair with a worried look on her face. When she spotted Jak, atop Larry’s shoulders, broke into tears and ran towards them, when she reached them she cried, “Thank you, thank you.”

“It was no problem Ma’am, but it is Dylan who you should be thanking,” said Larry motioning for Dylan to come forward.

“It was nothing ma’am, but I am curious as to why he was locked in the car by himself?” he questioned.

“Jak’s father, a man in workman’s clothes, was sma- oh, it was you,” she said straight faced, “Well I can’t say I blame you, John was a stubborn fool but was a true coward at heart, I was just about ready to leave him, with Jak, he never treated Jak nicely.”

“Well…” he said, “That is…”

“Awkward?” she said, “It is, isn’t it, oh well, these things happen, thank you for helping Jak and finding me, I would never have forgiven myself if he had been left here, good bye.”

“Goodbye Ma’am,” said Larry.

“Goodbye Jak,” he said, before Jak was taken with his mum to one the APCs, number 576.

Chapter 13
'''0930hrs, King Raven Flight to Evacuation Checkpoint, Illima City, Tyrus, Sera'''

SGT. Josephine Good-Springs

It was only halfway through the Raven Flight that she realised she was still in her hospital clothes, she said, “Oh god, Gordon.”

“Josey, that is the tenth time you have said that,” said the Doctor, cruelly, “No matter how much you want him to, he isn’t coming back.”

She burst into another bout of tears, but no matter how much she wished it, she knew the Doc was right, he wasn’t coming back.

“Piss off Doc, cut her some slack,” said one of the injured boys who was also in the infirmary at the time. Ash, she thought, that’s his name I think.

“Nah, he’s right, he isn’t coming back, it’s just so hard…” she said through tears, “He had just said sorry for something that was only half his fault and now he’s gone.”

“I’m sorry I was hard on you Sergeant, but I have lost people to, I know how you feel,” said the Doc, his voice suddenly calm and slightly less serious.

“Ok people, Evac Checkpoint in sight, looks like the other ravens have arrived and the APCs have left, let’s go pick up those men, shall we,” said Griffin, over the radio.

“Ok Grif, how ‘bout we pick up Good-Springs’ squad, she needs the support,” said Ash, smiling at her.

“Great idea, let’s get them before the other ravens do,” replied Grif before he disconnected the channel.

“Can’t you boys be a little more serious, Illima city is under locust assault and you’re worried about womans feelings,” said one of the Nurses, angrily, “I’m bloody pissed off and nobody gives a rat’s ass, but she gets the special treatment.”

“Well, just in case you were too busy checking if your hair was done properly at the time,” Ash replied angrily, “Her friend died for her, and she doesn’t even know why, what happened to you… oh well, lets see, uh, nothing, maybe a broken nail, but nothing serious.”

“Ok, ok,” said the Nurse, looking away, “I’m just a little on edge.”

“We all are,” said the Doc, putting a hand on the nurses and Ash’s shoulder, “This whole thing has put us all a bit on edge, I think we should all take a few hours to rest when we get out of this mess.”

“If we get out of this mess,” said the Nurse.

“Have hope mate,” said Ash.

“I know, I know,” said the nurse shaking her head, “hope, yeah, woo.”

After that, everybody stopped talking and the rest of the flight was quiet. When they reached the checkpoint, almost every APC had left for Ephyra, only two remained and it looked like they were almost full. After looking, she saw her squad mates, Henry, Larry and Dylan, as well as her replacement, Helidon, standing and sitting outside the checkpoint, underneath a street lamp. The Raven started to lower and those that were sitting, Henry and Dylan, stood up, the men inside the checkpoint left the buildings and walked to where Theta were standing. When Bessie landed, the squad walked towards it. Meanwhile, another raven landed and picked up the gears that had been working the checkpoint. Dylan was the first in, she smiled at him but he looked away and sat at the farthest seat from her, Larry shrugged then nodded and went to sit next to Dylan, Henry sat next to her and smiled, leaving Helidon sitting across from Henry.

“So how is the arm?” asked Henry, nodding to the sling.

“Well, you know,” she said, exaggerating the monotone, ‘It has been better.”

“What’s up, you don’t look yourself?” Henry asked, concerned.

“Well for starters, Dylan won’t acknowledge me, and then there is my arm, and to top it all off, Gordon is, uh, dead,” she said, her voice reeked with sadness.

“What, no,” said Helidon, in disbelief, “shit…”

“No way, how?” gasped Henry.

“He went outside holding a flaming alcohol soaked bandage, and got eaten,” she said, shaking her head, “He sacrificed himself for us.”

“Whoa…” said Helidon, shaking his head.

“I’ll say…” said Henry, holding his head in one hand.

By this time, the Raven was now well on its way to Ephyra Military Base and nobody had said a word since, until Ash asked her, “What’s up with him, the one with the helmet, you smiled at him and he didn’t even look at you, wassup wid dat?”

“We sorta, came to blows, and Larry, the guy next to him, told him to stay away from me, either him or Henry, it was ages ago I can’t remember,” she said in reply.

“I’ll rough him up if ya want,” he said, cracking his knuckles.

“Touch him and I will kick your ass,” she said angrily.

“I’m sorry…” said Ash, ashamed in himself.

“Don’t worry about it mate, it’s a personal thing between them,” said Henry, reassuring Ash.

And the for a few minutes after that, it was quiet, except the ongoing conversation between Larry and Dylan, which Larry had put his helmet on for so that it could obviously be private. When there was an explosion outside, everybody went tense, the hands of every member of Theta squad went to their weapons and everybody’s eyes were drawn outside. A hand pointed towards the ground, there was another explosion, further away, but it made its mark and another one of the Ravens span out of control and crashed in a ball of flame. She thought she could make out a cannon on the ground. No not a cannon, she thought, oh no.

“Oh hell, it’s a Brumak,” said Larry, as if reading her mind.

There was another sudden explosion and the Raven shuddered and veered to the left and towards the ground.

“Come on, someone get the parachutes,” said Larry, standing up and holding onto one of the handles.

“But there are only two,” said Helidon, reaching for the parachutes, but the nurse, the nurse got to them first and swung them onto her back and jumped out, “What the hell has she done, we don’t have parachutes.”

“Everybody, Brace!” cried Jason over the radio, “BRACE!!!!”

She slipped into the safety belt and covered her head. She felt two big heavily muscled arms close around her. When the Raven hit the ground, it was as if time stopped, nothing happened, but then….

Then it went to hell.

I still have the rest to write, i have more but 13 chapters is good for now right, hope you enjoyed reading, im not that good at writing but i hope its good enough.