Gears Keep Going... Even If They have To Stop

Chapters

I... honestly have no idea what I'm doing
The hell are you supposed to be?
A Strange Rendezvous
Captured
Theres always more grubs...
Fire from both sides
Cancelled
Re-write
Messages in the wind
Chapter 5

I... honestly have no idea what I'm doing

Okay... First thing wrong with this. Their weird... quadrupedal things. Never seen anything like 'em.

Secondly, they scream like little girls.

Third, why the hell are they so cute?

Fourth... the hell am I gonna do with them?

After sliding/climbing down the cliff face, I found this trio of... well I don't rightly know. I would have just left 'em, but since E-day, 'any and all new types of anything breathing is to be caught, if able, and taken to command for'... whatever the rest said. Anyway, I picked all three of them up and started walking north. It was a direction.

I had to leave the mulcher. That was the main thing pissing me off right now. I know it only had fifty rounds left but... it's a fucking mulcher! You don't leave something like that unless it's broken or empty! Ugh...

I pushed some branches out of the way, careful not to let any of them hit the...things. The good thing is, their so small I could carry them in one arm. Had my gorgon out in my other hand.

Shit... it's getting dark. Need a place to camp...

I made my way a thru the underbrush for about anther hour before seeing became a problem. Not that I couldn't see fine at night, I just didn't want to fall and crush these cute lit-*SMACK*

Before I could even finish that train of thought, I smacked my self up side the head with my gorgon. I now know why it only takes one swipe with this thing to kill a wretch. It fucking hurts. Which reminds me. I stopped and looked at where the wretch had slashed up my arms. They were the healed up fully. I holstered my gorgon, and reached back to check where the bullets had entered. The armor had already repaired itself, wasn't even a dent. Ah, the wonders of modern war time developments.

I continued walking for about another hour, till I came across a small trial. I could walk it, but it was a tight fit between the undergrowth. I knelt down to check for tracks. There were three fresh tracks, from at least a few hours ago. I grabbed one of the... hell, I need to call them something other then 'thing's'. Um... Quads? I... guess that would work for now. Hey! I just named a new species! Yeah for me...

Anyway, I studied one of their 'feet' and compared them to the tracks. Sure enough, they matched. They were headed west. There weren't any other tracks to go off of, so I headed west down the path. Maybe it would head me to where they lived. Oh hell... if there are more of these quads... are they hostile? Will I have to kill them?

...

Eh, fuck it. I don't care.

I headed west down the path. The sun had started to go past the horizon, so it started to get dark. Er. I quickened my pace a little in hopes of not having to sleep out here. I'm used to sleeping in shitty places. But this place... Just reeks of wrong. Especially if there are more of those multi-headed thing's out here. I mean, one was no problem. But, I don't have the mulcher anymore, and to fight one of those things with the protecting the quads? Hell-to-the-no.

After about half an hour the sun had fully gone down, and this place got fucking dark! I mean shit, I've been in parts of the hollow that were brighter than this crap. I could've popped a sick flare, but that would make me really good target. Good thing is, I could stay on the path easily thanks to he thick under brush lining the fucker.

After going for a bit longer, and contemplating just setting up camp here, I saw lights in the distance.

Zecora sipped some more of her herbal tea as she sat on one of her pillows. She looked towards the door and gave a worried sigh.

She was worried. The crusaders should have been and left hours ago. They were suppose to show up and 'help' her gather herbs in the Everfree today. But they had not shone up. At first she just thought they may have forgotten. But quickly ruled that out. Applebloom had promised, and she was a filly of her word. Then she had heard the most awful roar. Not one of the creatures that make the Everfree there home, those were common occurrence. Bu the roar she had heard today, from far away. It was something new, very askew.

She sipped some more of her herbal tea. Then got up and went to her cauldron. She leaned her head in and took a sip of the brew. Suddenly, a very loud series of knocking came from the front door.

She rushed over and opened the door.

"Who makes such a boom?

Surely not little Applebloo-"

Zecora looked up at the creature kneeling at her front door. The creature was very tall and bulky. It had weird metal sticking over the top of it's back, and she could clearly make out a blood covered knife atop one of them. But the one thing she was paying the most attention to, was that it had the crusaders under one of it's arms. Thinking quick, she spun one her fore hooves and planted a full buck right between where the creature legs met it's upper torso. The creature made a few sputtering noises as she spun around and planted her feet. Waiting for the creatures counter attack.

But the attack never came. It made some more sputtering noises, and growled a bit. But it did not attack. What it did do, was set the crusaders down on the ground in front of her door, stand up, and limp away. Muttering something and it started to cough. She was very confused by this.

She cautiously walked over and pulled the crusaders into her house. She stepped outside and closed the door. She turned around and saw the creature was standing a small ways away from her house. It had it's claws on it midsection and was doing some sort of deep breathing. It then made an 'urp' sound, ran over to a tree, and leaned on it as it threw up.

After the creature was done, it spit what bile remained in it's mouth, and spoke.

"That... is the last time I help anything not COG."

Zecora jumped as it spoke. She had not met anything like this creature that could speak. The creature then looked over it's shoulder at her. She splayed all her legs and put her head low to the ground showing off, giving the creature a scowl as she did so. It looked at her, she looked at it. The creature then sighed, and walked over to another tree. She turned as the creature walked, never taking her eyes of it. It turned her direction abruptly. Making her sink further to the ground, ready to charge.

It leaned back against the tree and then let itself fall to the ground. It let one of it's legs go straight, but kept the other at an angle and leaned one of it arms on top of it. The other arm was on top of the other leg. It looked her in the eye with a scowl.

"Ok," It spoke. "You hit me out of fear, I get that, I do. I'm willing to forgive that, in exchange for a civil discussion."

The words it spoke caught her off guard. She kept her stance and scowl. It rolled it's eyes.

"Look, Iv'e had a really shitty day. Can't we just talk?"

Again, she kept her stance. It brought on of it's claws up to it's head and rubbed it. But now that she could look at the claw better, the ends were too rounded to be claws, and it looked to be wearing some kind of metal glove. It's head shot up as it's claw pointed straight at her. She jumped a little at the sudden movement and boom of it's voice.

"Have I done anything to harm you!? I saved those little ones from a big multi-headed... thing! Doesn't that get a least a 'hello' around here?" It accented it's words with rapid movement of it's arms.

What the creature said would definitely explain why the crusaders hadn't shown up earlier. But she had no way of knowing if what it says is true or not. For a few moments she let this go thru her head. All the while the creature gave her a pleading look. She was about to respond, but the creature talked for first.

"Look... if you don't want me here, I'll go. But I really don't want to sleep out in the open here. As Iv'e said, I had a really bad day. I don't know where I am, where home is, or even which general direction. So please... just say something. Even if it's just 'go away'."

The look in it's eyes were sad, and what it said sounded true.

Zecora abruptly stood up from her stance, turned and walked back inside. The creature looked down at the ground with a neutral expression. It stood up as well, and turned to leave.

"Come inside!

Before I change my mind!"

The creature turned and gave slight smile. But that was wiped away, and replaced by the neutral expression from before. It walked over to the door and knelt down. It had to crawl, but it fit. Zecora closed the door soon after.

Well, that didn't go as expected. I thought as I crawled inside.

Once inside, I was able to stand up on my knees. I still had to duck my head a bit, but it was better than crawling around. The stripped quad closed the door after I was all the way in. The first thing that hit me about this place was the smell. It wasn't a bad smell, it was just strong. I looked around a bit, the place looked like an exotic spice rack. There were masks and bowls of stuff everywhere. In the middle was a big cauldron with a soupy substance boiling away in it. The stripped quad walked around me to the cauldron.

After the quad added a few things to it, and stirred it a few times. I heard movement over to my left. About two feet from me was the three I had saved. They moved a bit, as if trying to get comfy. I saw a pillow not to far off from them that was big enough. I reached over and carefully picked them up and knee shuffled over to the pillow. I set them down as carefully as I picked them up. Once all three of them were on the pillow, I slid onto my side, brought my feet in front of me, and crossed them into a sitting position.

I looked back over at where the stripped quad was, it was sitting on it's haunches looking over at me. Once it saw that I was looking back over, it spoke.

"Zecora is my name,

it is not of much fame.

Wondering the Everfree,

how crazy you must be."

"My names Dedrick." Not to be rude, I gave her my name. Also the name Everfree wasn't ringing any bells, and I know my geography pretty well, so I must be pretty far off not to know the name. "What country am I in?"

She gave me a quizzical look before she answered.

"How do you not know?

Maybe you are putting on a show?"

Great, now she thinks I'm lying.

"I really have no clue. I just woke up in the middle of a field. I also have never seen beings like yourself before."

She looked at me for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought.

"This land you are in is no small piece,

Equestria is a land of peace.

By the look of you,

the same cannot true.

The things on your back,

look to be for attack."

I looked at her for a second, deciding whether to ask her about the rhyming thing, but decided against it. Iv'e never heard of a place called Equestria, ignoring that she didn't know what a gun was, or a place that didn't know of war. Then a thought occurred to me.

"What's the name of this planet?"

She seemed really confused at this question. She sat there for way too long thinking of a response, or just thinking of how to make it rhyme. I really couldn't tell which. She finnaly answered after what seemed to be minutes.

"Tomorrow, I will take you to see twilight sparkle,

surely she can help with your debacle."

I gave a worried sigh. I wanted to ask more questions, but seeing as though she didn't have all the answers, or just didn't want to upset me with them... I couldn't tell, and thinking about it is making a bit angry.

"Maybe you should rest,

tomorrow you can continue your quest."

I looked back up at her. I guess my anger was showing a little bit. I just gave a shrug. She pointed a front limb over to my left. Looking over, I saw a small pile of pillows that was over next to the wall. I turned my head back towards her and gave nod that she returned. I got up onto my knees again, and knee shuffled over to the pile. I took the two biggest ones out of the pile, and set them up against a bare spot on the wall.

I proceeded to take my weapons off my back. I took off my sniper rifle first, and set it against the wall next to a nearby window. I took off my retro and then turned and laid my back against the pillows. It wasn't the best sleeping position, but try sleeping in a centaur with three other guys. Then you'll find the true meaning of discomfort.

I set my retro down next to me and laid my hand down on it. If I need to grab it, or someone tries to grab it, my hands already there. I looked back up at Zecora, she was scooping some of the soup, or what ever it was, out of the pot. She them picked up the bowl in her mouth. She walked over to the side of me and set the bowl down on the floor. I gave her a questioning look.

"Drink the brew,

It is my specialty stew."

With that, she walked back over and poured a bowl for herself. I picked up the bowl, and stared at the contents. It had a few pieces of what I guessed was vegetables. I sniffed it, it smelled like veggie stew. A few thoughts of poison and the like popped into my head. My stomach decided to remind me I haven't eaten in a few hours. Fuck it. I took a mouthful. Oh my damn. It was actually delicious. Not that crap the cooks back in Jacinto made. I instantly inhaled the rest of the bowl. I'm sure I was making a pig out of myself for eating the way I did, but I didn't care. This shit was good. After finishing the bowl, I heard a slight bit of laughter.

Looking up, I saw Zecora laughing behind her front limb. I brought my hand other hand up off of my retro and rubbed the back of my head.

"Could I, um... have some more, please? It was very good." I asked while offering my bowl.

She gave me a smile before she answered.

"Of course you may,

the dept of saving these three must be payed.

And for one as big as you,

I'm sure I can part with some more stew."

I gave her a small smile as she took my bowl. She set the bowl I gave her down, grabbed the ladle, and then stopped. She looked down at the bowl and shook her head. She put the ladle back and walked over to a shelf. She stood up on her back legs and grabbed a bigger bowl off the shelf. She then walked back over the pot, set the bowl down, and grabbed the ladle. She filled it, after the ladle was put back, she went to pick up the bowl with her mouth... then stopped. She looked back up to me.

"I got this bowl for you,

so you could have more stew.

But-"

Before she could finish I had gotten up and shuffled over. She gave me another smile as I picked up the bowl. I was about to chug it like the first bowl, but I sopped myself. I set the bowl back down, and pulled my spoon out of my back pouch. I began to eat as Zecora pulled a pillow over next to me. She grabbed her bowl and began eating too.

For awhile, the sound of both of us eating was all that was heard. Until someone yelled behind me.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ZEBRA SAVERS!!!!"

"Da fu-" Was all I got out as I turned to look behind me, just to get hit with a pillow. Scratch that, I was getting assaulted by pillows. The three little ones were throwing pillows at me. In response, I just turned back around and kept eating. Zecora jumped up and walked inbetween me and the little ones.

"Is this what you do,

to someone who saves you?"

"Huh?" All three of them said in unison.

"I heard your screams. Followed those till I came to a cliff. I saw a big, multi-headed thing. I killed it. Then climbed down the cliff, and found you three. So yeah, I saved you. Now let me eat." I don't like being rude, but god damn it, this is the best tasting food iv'e had in months and I want to eat it in peace. I heard the little ones move around a bit, then whispers. As long as I was left alone to eat, I didn't care what they were doing. Not like they were a potential threat.

I saw Zecora walk back over and grab three more bowls. She set them down and put a pillow down next to them. She then returned to her pillow and continued eating. The whispering continued for a little bit longer.

"Hey, come over and eat." I called out to the little ones. Their whispering stopped immediately.

I heard the clicking shuffle of their appendages, I then heard an exasperated sigh as one set of shuffling turned into walking. The purple haired winged one walked around Zecora and got up on the pillow. She gave me a glare, then laid down and began eating. I shrugged and ate another spoon full. After a few seconds the other two came over and laid down next to the winged one. Now that I wasn't worried about getting attacked, still am just less now that I'm inside, I got a good look at them.

The one with closest to me was the winged one. She had purple hair on her head and coming out the back like a tail, and if that was natural, then that is awesome. Her coat was orange, so was her wings. Her wings were the most peculiar to me. They were so small, maybe they just get bigger as she grows? Maybe their residual? I don't know. Either way, for wings to be able and lift something their size they would have to be enormous.

The next one over had a light purple and pink hair. Her coat was white. Bright white. I mean damn was it white. How the hell could anything have a coat that white. Also my theory on their hair being natural is looking good. She also had a horn. No damn clue what that was for. Might be for defense. It was small, so it might get bigger with maturity Same as with the wings, maybe?

The next one had red hair and an over sized bow in her hair. She didn't have any abnormal appendages. Guess that means she's... the normal type? Ugh, this is getting confusing. Her coat was a plain light yellow. She looked as I was looking her over. She shied away from my gaze and returned to her eating.

I sighed internally. I hate when people are afraid of me. I'm actually a nice guy. But because of how I look, most people think I'm evil. I think it's because of the bags under my eyes. Makes 'em look sunken. I'ts not my fault I get enough sleep. If the grubs would fuck off for a day, then I'd sleep more! Not to mention my height. I know that most gears are taller then normal people, but I was tall to begin with. Hell, my Dad was seven foot three, and I'm taller then he was! Damn it, I'm rambling in my head again. Fucking hell I hate being being out on my own. At least when I'm with other gears I can talk. I mean really talk. And I rambled off again. I need to focus. Make nice.

I finished off what was in my bowl and set it down in front of me.

"That was delicious, thanks Zecora." I said while giving her a smile.

"It was no problem,

You are very welcome." She said as she returned my smile.

"How are you guys enjoying yours little ones?"

The one with the horn in the middle looked up at me and gave me a small forced smile.

"It's g-good, um... T-thank you f-for saving us, mister." She squeaked out. I gave a light chuckle as I leaned back on my elbows and stuck brought my legs out from underneath of me.

"It was no problem. So. What are you your names?" I got back up on my knees and started shuffling over to the pillows I leaned against the wall.

"Oh! Well, I'm Sweetie Belle." She nudged the yellow one next her. I was behind them now, the pillows were on the other side of them.

"Ahm A-apple Bloom, sir. And thank you."

I got over to the pillows and turned to lay on them. I let out a content sigh as I got comfy again. I looked back over at the group of little ones and Zecora. She was getting more stew for herself. I looked back over at the little ones to see Sweetie belle whispering to the orange one. The orange one had her face in her bowl, seemingly ignoring the white one. This brought Applebloom into it, whispering at her too. I couldn't hear them very well from where I was sitting.

"Ugh! Fine!" The orange one yelled out. She turned her head to me. "I'm Scootaloo, thanks." Then she went right back to eating. I laughed a deep laugh at her. She immediately looked back up at me, mad.

"What? You think my name is silly?"

"No, no." I said while my laughter died down. "You just remind me of how stubborn my sister is." I said with a slight smile.

"Oh, you have a sister?" Asked Sweetie.

"Yeah, her names Natalie."

"That's a weird name." Said Scootaloo.

"Scoots! That's not very nice."

"It's alright Applebloom. Well, to me your names are kind of weird too."

"Well what's your weird name. Mr. Mctallenstein." Wow. They really are kids if that's the best she's got.

"It's Dedrick, Ms. insult-the-guy-who-saved-you." God I'm childish.

"Well, Dedric, what are you? Some giant shaved diamond dog?"

"First off, I have no idea what that is, secondly, I'm going to be the bigger man and ignore you." At least I know when to quit.

"Chicken." She's a child ignore her.

"Bawk, bawk, bawk!" Ugh... Now she's doing the noises.

I looked over at Zecora for help. She was covering her mouth with one of her front appendages, holding back laughter. Scootaloo kept making the noises. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. If I could sleep through a mortar barrage in a bunker, I can sleep through this. She stopped making the noise, and I thought she got bored and moved on. Oh how I was wrong. I suddenly felt something jump up on my chest. I brought my head up and opened my eyes to find Scootaloo staring at me.

"Can I help you?"

She reared up on her hind legs, tucked the front ones in, and started doing the noises in my face.

"Alright now your gonna get it!" Before she could react, I grabbed her with my hands, and started to tickle her. She yelled, screamed, thrashed, pleaded, giggled, all in vain to get me to stop. She had fallen down on my chest and I flipped her over to get better access to her belly. The other two ran over and giggled yelled at me to stop. They hopped up on my chest to try and tickle me back. My armor proved to thick for there efforts to penetrate. By this time I was chuckling heartily.

I could hear Zecora laughing as well. I then felt Scootaloo go limb against my onslaught, so I stopped, and went after the other two. I grabbed them both in one hand each. They fell down giggling against my chest, kicking at my hands with their small legs. They soon went limp as well, so I stopped. All three of them were breathing hard as I kept them from falling off me. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were giving off residual giggles, Scootaloo was quiet. I looked down at her. She was asleep again.

Sweetie Belle gave off a yawn, followed by Applebloom, followed be me. I lightly pushed the three of them closer together at the center of my chest. They cuddled together and gave a content sigh. I kept my arms around them just in case they roll in they're sleep. I looked over at Zecora to see her cleaning. I wanted to say something, but I didn't want to risk waking the little ones. It didn't take her long to put the bowls away. She then began to go around and put out the candles. When she was done, the only light remaining was that of the embers underneath the pot.

She then grabbed one of the bigger pillows and dragged over by my leg. She looked over at me and gave a smile and a nod, I returned the gesture. She then laid down on the pillow. I watched her for a bit. Till the raising and falling of her chest became the rhythmic tell tale sign that she was asleep. I then leaned my head back, and let myself drift off.

"So... you haven' told her yet?"

"No... But I will. I just...Can't find the words."

I looked up from the ground to look at Natalie playing on the playground with other children. I felt someone put their hand on top of mine.

"You will. I know it's hard." The other hand gripped mine. I looked over next to me, found myself lost into Rebecca's beautiful eyes. "But you'll have me to help you through it."

She gave me a light smile, as I flipped my hand around to hold hers. I gave her a smile in return.

"How could a guy like me, ever get a girl like you?"

"You couldn't. I had to let you take me out on a date because I lost that bet, remember?" I let out a small chuckle as I brought my free hand up to rub my face.

"I entirely forgot about that. Guess it's a good thing I could fix that car, huh?"

"I guess it was. Otherwise, I never would have seen how sweet you are." She beamed up at me as she spoke. "Now lean your tall ass down here so I can kiss you."

Instead of leaning down, I let go of her hand, and stood up from the bench I was sitting on. She gave me a look of confusion, till I leaned over and picked her up. She gave a yelp of surprise then started to giggle. I had her legs over one arm and supported her back with the other. She threw her arms around my neck and we kissed deeply.

We kissed for what seemed forever. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath me. I had to struggle to stay upright. I brought my face away from Rebecca's. I immediately turned around to look for Natalie. She was at the far end of the play ground. She had fallen over from the tremor. Then the ground shook again. I put Rebecca down.

"What is that? An earthquake?"

"I don't know, whatever it is it's not good. Let's get Natalie and get out of here." I began to jog in Natalie's direction, Rebecca right next to me. We got to her in no time. Kids all around us were crying for their parents as another tremor shook the ground.

"Brother! The monsters are coming!" Natalie cried as I picked her up.

Another, stronger, tremor shook the ground and I heard what sounded as an explosion from down the street. With that the tremors stopped. I heard yells and screams coming from the direction of the explosion. The sound of gun fire filled the air. I needed to think fast. I looked to Rebecca, she was starring at something in the distance.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me. I shifted Natalie over to one arm and picked Rebecca up with my other arm. I began running away from the gun fire.

Thing was, the sound was coming from everywhere.

The hell are you supposed to be?

"You've gotta be shittin' me, it's really called that?" I gave Zecora, now known as a zebra, a small glance to my side as we walked.

After breakfast, of which I greatly enjoyed and appreciated, we had a small discussion. I agreed to answer any questions that they had, if they answered mine. Pretty much we just took turns from there. She would ask a question, I'd ask one, the little ones would ask one, and so on and so fourth. Zecora asked questions about me, what I was, who I was, favorite color, my diet... Yeah, they didn't the news of me being an omnivore to well. The little ones asked questions about where I was from, what I do, what my stuff was, things like that. Little bit after that, Zecora thought it should be time to head into town. So we've been doing this back and forth since.

"Yes, it's really called that. How dense can you be to ask the same question three times?" Answered the orange 'pegasus' seated on top of my head.

"Yeah, whats so hard to believe about the name Ponyville?" Asked the white 'unicorn' on my left shoulder.

"Well, for one, where I'm from we don't usually name our towns after our species." I answered while pushing a branch out of my way with my free hand.

"What do ya name 'em then?" Asked the yellow 'earth pony' from my right shoulder.

Yeah... they used the puppy look, and said they were still tired from yesterday. It's fine, they don't weigh much.

"Usually, we name them after near by land marks, or after the people who founded them. Like Jacinto... is..." I sighed and tilted my head down a little bit.

Natalie...

I dipped my head a bit. I know it's stupid to feel like this, especially seeing as i'm alive to make my way back to her. I just can't help but feel an emptiness in my chest when I think about it. It also doesn't help that she's all I got after what happened to Rebecca.

But she's safe. And I will get back to her.

I Felt someone tapping my forehead, I looked up to see two purple eyes looking back.

"You alright in there? You stopped walking."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a tad homesick is all. How much farther Zecora?" I looked over at the zebra, who was giving me a concerned look.

"It is too not far,

soon you shall see it from afar."

Hmm... It does count as a rhyme, but it's a simple one. I thought while we started walking again.

Zecora explained to me that it is a tradition for grown zebras to speak in rhymes. Although, nowadays most don't. I don't get it, but I don't have to. Not my culture.

We walked in silence for a bit, till we came to the end of the forest. The trees seemed to open up as I walked out of the forest. The sun was shining over head, birds were singing, and there was a cool breeze. I stopped a few steps outside the forest to look around. There was more green grass, rolling hills covered in it. I took a deep breath, the air smelled fresh and clean. But... there was a small smell of... burning carried with it. I furrowed my brow a bit. Why would I smell burning? They're herbivores, why would they need to burn anything? I took another, slower, breath. Yep. Somethings on fire somewhere. I took one more, even slower breath.

Blood.

Dried out in the sun, blood.

My scowl returned. I had had a small smirk all morning, but it was time to get serious. I looked down at Zecora, she was smelling the air just like I was a second ago. She stopped and looked up at me, a little bit of fear in her eyes. I sighed through my nose and looked forward.

"Which one of you said that they lived the closest?"

"My family's farm is just down the road from here, whats that smell in the air?"

I knelt down to one knee, setting my retro down on the ground next to me.

"Alright, time to get off." Sweetie Belle and Applebloom jumped off my shoulders. I had to help Scootaloo get down. After they were all off I grabbed my retro and stood back up. I looked around cautiously, trying to pinpoint where the burning smell was coming from. I swiveled my head slowly, taking short deep breaths. I saw a bell tower in the distance, it was also the direction that the smell was the strongest. I didn't want to scare the little ones, so I kept my mouth shut about it.

"Alright, which direction Apple bloom." I said in a calm even tone, never taking my eye off the bell tower.

"It's this way, come on!" She took off left heading towards a road not too far off from where we exited the forest. The other little ones started after her.

"Hey!" Applebloom, and the rest of them stopped instantly. They all turned and looked at me with a confused look. "Stay close to me, I don't want to get lost." I flashed them a fake smile.

"Oh! Sorry." Said Applebloom while rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

Me and Zecora shared a glance, and then we walked over to where they had stopped. Once we had caught up they walked with us down the road. Me and Zecora walked in silence, the little ones were talking nonstop about how excited everyone would be to meet me. As she said, the walk wasn't a long one. After a few minutes we had reached an apple orchard, guess that's where she got her name. After a few more minutes, a farm house came into view.

Applebloom ran ahead a ways. I was about to call out for her to stop, but she stopped, turned, and looked me in the eye.

"This is it! The Apple family farmstead!" Presented Applebloom with a sweep of her leg.

I would have maybe noticed how old the placed looked. Or how well kept it was. Or how I liked the color. But the main thing I noticed was how the front door was ripped off it's hinges and laying a few feet away. I looked at Zecora, she looked up at me. Fear and uncertainty was written all over her face. I looked back over at Applebloom. She was still holding her hoof in the air.

"Applebloom... your house..." Squeaked Sweetie Belle. "It's kinda wrecked." Finished Scootaloo.

Applebloom raised an eyebrow, then turned around to look. I couldn't see her face, but how her body started to shake, was a dead give away. Zecora rushed over and grabbed her as she was about to run. Applebloom went into hysterics, crying for Zecora to let her go. Zecora held on and whispered in her ear. The other little ones fidgeted where they were. I sighed through my nose again. It's gonna be a long day.

"All of you stay here." I was hoping that Zecora could handle things here. I may have a sister, but consoling my sister and consoling a member of a different species, is a whole other ordeal. They may act like humans in many ways, but I don't know how far the similarities go.

That, and I just don't feel like dealing with it.

I started walking towards the house. From my vantage point, I could definitely see blood on the porch. I hoped that the blood wasn't visible from where they were. Last thing I need is three hysterical kids running around attracting attention. I reached the porch in no time. I ducked down a little and stepped up on the porch. It gave a little groan in protest of my weight. I winced internally. If they're hostiles inside, they know I'm here now. I stood in silence for a second, listening for sounds of movement in the house.

Besides the blowing of the wind, I didn't hear much else.

From where I was, I could see that the blood was from something being hit, falling down, and being dragged away. The trail seemed to start in front of the door and go along the middle of the porch to the end. I stepped over to the blood and knelt down. I reached out with my free hand and ran two fingers through it. I brought my hand back up to look at it. There were a few flakes of blood on my glove. The means that the blood was at least over twelve hours old if it was so dry it didn't cling. I flipped my hand back over to look at the watch/compass combo. It was a little after noon. So whatever happened, whatever did it might be long gone by now. Also, my compass needle was spinning like crazy. And it's a digital compass! I tapped my wrist against my knee a few times and took a second look. It was still fucking spinning!

Ok... What in the fuck makes a digital compass spin like that?

I decided to chalk it up to being an equipment malfunction. I wiped my hand on the exposed part of my pants and turned my attention back to the task at hand. I wanted to go inside and see what was inside, but if the door was any indication to the size of the house, I'm not gonna fit. I decided to follow the trail and see what I find. I got up and off the porch and walked in the direction the trail went. At the end of the porch the trail kept going in the dirt. Now that it was in the dirt, I could make out tracks. All around and on top of the blood are foot prints going to and from.

Because there's so many, I can't get a definite number But from the ones that are off to the side, I can tell that these aren't Wretches. The Foot marks are to small, and the claw marks I can make out are way too big. A new type of Locust? Who knows. It's definitely not the first time Iv'e met a new Locust species, and I'm pretty damn sure it's not the last. Fuckers are diverse.

I kept following the trail for a good hundred feet, that's when I came to the trees. I stopped just outside the line of trees. That's a lot of cover. If I went in, I could very easily get ambushed. I could just walk away said I didn't find anything, not get involved. Just work on finding my way back to Jacinto. But... Fucking hell...

I gave a long sigh, and looked at the ground. I brought my retro out before my eyes. I gave it a good long look. Form the bayonet that has killed hundreds personally. The but end that has broken more jaws than I can count. The old dent on the front that deflected a snipers round from going into my heart. The message that Rebecca scratched into the rifle just behind the front sight...

Be safe, aim straight, don't be an idiot

-Rebecca

I chuckled openly as I read. I started to think back to better times, back when... I shook myself out of my reminiscence before I depressed myself. I brought my attention back up to the trees. I pointed my retro forward from my hip, and proceeded in. After about a hundred and fifty feet or so, I looked ahead a bit to see the trail ended at a small hole in the ground. I brought my retro up to aim better, and slowed down to a creep.

I felt my heartbeat accelerate. I darted my eyes left to right, looking for movement. I took my time getting close to the hole. My head was on a swivel. My hearing peaked, trying to pick up the softest of sounds. I heard birds, the rustling of leaves, and the thudding of my boots. Nothing I was listening for. Each step took me closer. I hate being close to Grub holes... Last time I got close to one, a Theron grabbed my leg and pulled me down in. Have you ever fallen in complete darkness? It's not fun.

I finnaly reached the hole. I stepped up next to it carefully and looked down the barrel into the hole. Empty. With a small exhale, I relaxed a bit. I could now examine the hole. It was small, much smaller than normal Locust holes. It was confusing. Maybe one grub could come up at once. Locust tactics consist of overwhelming there target. This was definitely not a Locust hole. But what made it?

I was about to throw a grenade down the hole, when I noticed a set of tracks heading in a different direction then the ones I followed here. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and put away the grenade. I stepped over and knelt down next to the tracks. Looking at them, I would have to guess some kind of dog. But there were a few prints that had four meaty fingers, and what appeared to be claws at the tip of each finger.

Bipedal dogs? Never seen a mammal like Locust before. Maybe it's not a Locust? Different hollow faction perhaps? Damn, it. why does shit have to get more and more complicated all the time...

It was then that I noticed the direction in which the tracks went. My eyes widened, and my heart started beating faster.

Shit! they're headed for the path we took to get here! Fuck! They could of been watching us! The girls! I need to...

As if on cue, I heard the girls start screaming. I cursed under my breath. I stood up and took off. Good thing is, the path they took was inbetween the rows of trees. Made it so I could run at full tilt. I heard the girls scream again, but it was closer. I wasn't very far off to begin with. After a minute of running, I reached the path we came in on. I made a hard left, stumbling a bit, a raced towards where they should be.

I could see form a distance where I left them, they weren't there.

"SHIT!" My head was swinging back and fourth savagely. "YELL OUT SO I CAN FIND YOU!"

No response.

I looked down to check for tracks, but the ground was disturbed too much to pick anything out. I looked back up and checked around franticly for any sign of them. I spotted a three thick scratches on a near by tree, and a broken spear on the ground. I then heard another bout of screams coming from beyond the trees.

In the direction of the hole.

Cursing my self internally, I ran back in that direction. I didn't want to risk taking the time to go back to the clear path, I just ran through the trees. Branches tore at my skin as I raced by. I saw something move in the distance. Focusing, I could make out a brown something wearing armor on the top half of it's body. It was running much faster than I was. It disappeared into the distance shortly after I saw it. I gritted my teeth and picked up the pace.

I reached the hole in time to see a... I don't know what the hell it was. What I noticed first was it lowering a limp Zecora down the hole into outstretched claws. It turned on me, fully dropping Zecora down the hole, and growled at me with pointed yellow teeth. It pulled a spear from behind it's back, and started to charge at me while I was running. Reacting fast, I put three rounds into it's chest. The rounds hit it with enough force to send it backwards. I shifted my focus on the hole. Another armored dog-thing had popped it's head up. It looked at the now cooling corpse, then to me, charging straight at it. I aimed at it and pulled the trigger. It ducked down to avoid the bullets. I reached the hole and prepared to jump down... Just to get a face full of dirt.

I sputtered and back peddled. I brought a hand up to get the dirt out of my eyes and nose. After a few seconds, I got enough out to see. I blew out the dirt up my nose. I quickly looked over at the hole. It now had a three foot tall pile of dirt on top of it. I was about to get mad about it, when the ground started to shake. Soon, all around me, those dog-things emerged from more holes all around me. They had spears, axes, and some crude swords. They all howled and started coming at me. They all had there weapons pointed at me, ready to cut me to pieces. They all moved so fast. Circling around me, there had to be at least thirty of them.

I fired my retro in a sweeping patter around me. I wasn't really aiming, didn't have to. They were so grouped together, all I had to do was spray. The ones out front were thrown back, and to my surprise, the rounds were tearing through and going into the ones behind. What was left of my clip ran out fast, but I got at least a dozen of the bastards. I heard a howl behind me. Thinking fast, I swiped my retro around. There were three of the dogs in the air about to stab me. The bayonet connected with one and sent him into the other two. By the sound of it, I broke a lot of bones with that one.

I quickly reloaded. I let out a bout of laughter when I heard the round chamber perfectly. I saw something coming towards me out of my peripheral. I moved out of the way just in time to dodge a spear. I quickly brought my retro up to bear. The dog-things were cautious now. They easily had me outnumbered, but they were keeping their distance, and cover. Most likely out of fear. Seeing as I just killed a lot of them in no time. Suddenly, they all froze. Then, just as soon as they emerged, they all ran for the holes they came out of. It was a flurry of movement, and just as soon as it started, it was over.

I spun around a few times, trying to find a target. I finnaly realized how hard I was breathing. My heart was going at a hundred miles a minute. I evened out my breathing to calm my self down. A sound from my left, made me spin around. It was the dogs I had hit with the retro. They had landed in a heap against a tree. The one I hit was definitely dead. The one in the middle appeared to be trying to stand. The other one, was trying to limp away. He didn't get far. A burst from my retro ripped him apart.

. Now that I wasn't being attacked, I could get a good look at it. They were definitely bipedal dogs, by the looks. Their hind legs were like regular dog legs, the front limbs were big and meaty. The fingers ended with big jagged claws. By Locust standards, they were maybe as good as a strong Wretch. I put a few rounds through it, and started to think about what to do now.

I couldn't hang around here. My best bet was to head for the town. To be honest, that was the only thing I could think of. Not wanting to hang around and give them the chance to ambush me again, I bolted back towards the path. I took the clear path I had taken before back. Once I reached the path, I took it back the way we took to get here. About half way out of the orchard, the ground started to shake so bad I started to lose my footing. I stopped running, expecting to be attacked again. Instead, I heard a loud crashing noise behind me. I turned to look, to see the trees rising up and falling down behind me.

Those bastards were turning the orchard into a sink hole.

"Oh fuck me..."

I turned and ran as fast as I could. It wasn't long before I was out of the orchard, but turning my head to the side showed that the ground was still falling down behind me. I had to put my retro on my back to get full use of my arms while running. I started to feel the ground fall from under my feet, it was catching up.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit."

I picked up the pace as best as I could. Up in front of me was a hill. I threw all my determination into making it to that hill, hoping that it hold together. I reached the hill. About half way up I stumbled and fell, landing on my side. I felt my heart lurch up into my throat. I quickly covered my head with my arms and tucked my legs up into my chest, expecting to fall at any second. But, for some odd reason, I wasn't. I still felt the rumble. Slowly, I brought my arms away from my face. I rolled over to a sitting position, and my jaw dropped so hard I thought it was going to fall off.

The entire orchard was now a gaping hole in the ground. The hole itself must have been a couple miles wide. I stood up slowly, unsure of the integrity of the ground I was on. I pulled out my gorgon, and slowly, ever so slowly, walked over to the edge. I could make out trees standing among the rubble off in the distance. I took one small step forward, and a big piece of my sanctuary fell off. I stumbled backwards, and fell on my ass. A small bit of pain raced up my spine. I grumbled a bit in response.

Instead of standing back up, I rolled onto my stomach and crawled over to get a better look. I got to the edge and looked down. This time, there was movement. I couldn't see what it was from this distance, it was a good half mile drop. I switched out to my longshot to get a better look. From the standard zoom, I could see that it was those dog-things again.

But, from tunnels dotting the side of the hole, ponies were walking out. I felt something churn in my gut. I kept looking out among the dogs and ponies, till I came across a familiar trio. I clicked the zoom button to full. The three were struggling against the hold of one of the dogs. The difference on this one being, he was wearing some sort of vest, and a collar. I brought the cross hairs up to his head, and was getting ready to take the shot, when he set the three little ones down. I furrowed my brow in confusion. I moved the cross hairs to follow the little ones. The were running with tears in their eyes. They soon tackled a purple unicorn.

She fell backwards from the force of their tackle hug. I couldn't make out what they were saying. All of a sudden Applebloom straightened up. She looked over in one direction and smiled. I moved the cross hairs over a bit and spotted an orange earth pony. She was wearing a hat. A fucking hat. I had to take my head away from the scope and shake it a few times. But sure enough, when I looked back, she was wearing a fucking hat. Anyway, Applebloom tackled hugged the orange one, who looked like she had been crying a lot recently.

Then a white unicorn, who's mascara was running, ran over and tackled Sweetie Belle. I saw Scootaloo looking around for someone as well, but looked scarred when she wasn't seeing who she was looking for. Then the purple one stepped over and said something to her. She perked up a bit, then the purple one walked her away. I would have watched to see what else was going to happen. But, the loud barking alerted me that I had been spotted.

"Time to go."

I crawled backwards, and stood up. I put my longshot back on my back and pulled my retro out as I turned. I headed up the hill slowly, as not to fall and die. When I got to the top of the hill... I could see the town in the distance.

I could also see the brumak from here as well.

"Well today just got shitty."

A Strange Rendezvous

After seeing the brumak standing in the middle of town, I expected it to notice me right away. But it didn't, the thing didn't even appear to be moving. Ignoring the fact that missiles weren't raining death down upon me, I ran for the nearest building. I reached it no problem. That immediately sent up a red flag. Nothing is ever that easy for me. The house was too small for me to go in, but the cover felt better than standing out in the open.

Hell, the fucking house was so small, I was taller than the first floor!

I put my back up to the house and stepped over to the side to peer down what appeared to be a main road. I poked my head out to find it deserted. The street had rubble strewn about from small explosions, frag grenades most likely. Some carts, that held once ripe and delicious fruits and vegetables, were destroyed and the produce rotting. A few corpses littered the street. I counted at least ten to fifteen ponies and one grub from what I could see. The ponies were a mix of the different types. Giving the roof tops a good once over, and making sure there weren't any far away sniping positions with a view of the street, I moved around the house and onto the street.

I moved slow. My retro was pointed out from my hip. I swept it back and forth as I kept my eyes open for movement. I usually try not to look at dead bodies, as to not get the image burned into my head, but I couldn't help but look. They were all so small, so... helpless. From the direction the bodies were splayed, they were trying to run away. I shook my head, trying to get my focus back on the task at hand... but I couldn't look away. For the first time, in a long time, I felt saddened by death.

Ever since Rebecca... Died, I've tried to block out all the death, and pain around me. And so far I had succeeded. When someone in the squad died or got hurt, I just let the others handle it while I provided cover. I even started to resent people when they died. I think... that was because they got to take the easy way out, while I still had to fight, bleed, and protect all of what we held dear.

Who am I kidding... I wasn't fighting for anybody. I was a errand boy for Hoffman. All of Black squad was. That's all we did, was go out and retrieve some data from old buildings, and intel from locust computers in the Hollow. Sure, some of what we got was important. But I think most of it was for the scientists at Azura. Hell, the old man probably doesn't even know that place exists.

I suddenly felt a very cold, very wet, sensation on my left cheek. It made me realize I've been standing out in the open for a while now. Shaking my head, and cursing myself for letting my mind wander like that, I looked up. A massive wall of dark grey clouds was rolling over the town fast. No storm moving that fast is good news.

"Razor hail..." I said while furrowing my brow.

I started jogging down the street, a light drizzle had started. I needed to find cover before the storm let loose. I had to jump over debris and bodies as I went. I stopped when I reached a junction in the road. Ahead of me was an ally, to my left the road seemed to just connect with another street. The road to my right was for about a hundred feet before connecting to another street.

I looked to the left, then to the right. There weren't any distinguishable facts about either direction. Fifty-fiftying it, I went left. About halfway down the street, I started hearing gun fire. I slowed down to a walk, and aimed my retro in front of me from my hip. Worst comes to worst, I can just bust in a wall to get away from the hail. If some locust come at me, I need to be able to react. Suddenly, the sound of wings filled the air. I ducked myself into the ally to my right, and put my self up against a wall.

I looked up to see a few of the, um... pegisi, I guess? Anyway, a whole shit load of them were flying out of the clouds above the town. Then the sound of gun fire filled the air. I saw the beautiful sight of burning bullets from a few mulchers fill the sky, along with a few boom shots. I saw smoke trails from hammer bursts and lancers as well. The pegisi dodged as best they could. Doing flips, dives, barrel rolls, and the like.

But there is no dodging a fire barrage like that.

The sky filled with cries of pain and death. Crimson blood started to fall with the rain. The bodies were spiraling down, that is, if there was enough of a body left. Bits and pieces were falling down all over the place. Not long after the pegisi started to get slaughtered, a carriage came down and a bright purple... Shield. Grew into existence from the carriage to cover the town. The bullets were being stopped alright, but the boom shots and constant mulcher fire was taking it's toll. Where ever a boom shot hit, a few cracks spread out. They mended themselves soon after. A little bit after that, the gun fire ceased.

The sound of heavy boots walking on the cobble brought my attention away from the sight. Peaking my head out far enough to see. Three Therons were walking towards my position. Bringing my head back fast, I hoped they hadn't seen me. They had torquebows. I don't like torquebows. Not. One. Bit. I'm not afraid of them, just don't like them.

I pressed my back against the wall and held my breath. I didn't hear their usual taunts or they're movements quicken, which means they either didn't see me, or they're smart. God I hope it's the later. I felt my heart leap into my throat as the thumps of their boots grew closer. Then one of them came into view. I pressed my back harder against the wall. The second and third followed behind right next to each other. They all walked past the ally without a glance. I waited a few seconds before exhaling slowly from my nose as relief flooded my body. My heart descended as my body relaxed.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head forward as I took a few calming breaths. I reopened them with a ferocious look on my face. I slowly moved away from the wall. I looked to the left at the therons walking away. I looked to the right. Clear. I looked back at the Therons.

I need information, but I need to do this quietly.

Therons are the hardest to get information from, but it's possible. Just takes some... creativity.

I put my retro up on my back and pulled my shoulder blade out with my right hand. I slowly walked out of the ally, giving a glance to the right. I then turned to the left. The Therons were still walking down the street, their boots making a loud thumping noise as they went.

Perfect, that will make sneaking up on them easier. I thought with a smirk on my face.

I started to move at a measured pace. Slow enough to where I wouldn't alert them, but fast enough to catch up. When I was about ten feet from them, the sound of gun fire opened back up, followed by a very loud 'POP'. All three Therons stopped, and looked up. I took the opportunity.

I went into a run. The Theron on the left brought it's head down and started to turn towards me. I body checked that mother fucking asshole into the leader. I stopped myself after hitting that one. The one to my right let out a hiss. I turned, he was raising his torquebow. It pointed straight at my face. My eyes widened in surprise. I slapped it out of my face with my right knife wielding hand. It discharged over my shoulder and out of caring range. I cocked my left arm back and then punched that fucker right in the face.

A satisfying crunch reverberated in my ears as the Theron was sent flying away. The bolt that went over my shoulder detonated. I turned to look at the other two, who were now scrambling to stand a good ten feet away. One was starting to stand, the other was on it's hands and knees, dazed. I flipped my knife around to hold the blade and cocked my right hand back. The one standing turned towards me, hissing. I aimed, and threw my knife. The knife flew true and went into the gap in it's helmet and stuck into the bastards throat. It gurgled, dropped it's bow, and fell to the ground grasping at it's throat.

I then focused on the Theron on the ground. It was still on the ground. I smirked and ran towards it. When I was close enough, I jumped forward into the air and delivered a flying peoples elbow. A loud crack filled the air as it's spin broke. It' let out a pained hiss and struggled for a second, then went limp. I rolled of it and stood up.

I was smiling so damn hard right now.

Then the sound of a ticking torquebow caught my attention. I looked back over at the Theron I had punched. It was in a crouch and aiming a glowing torquebow at me. My reflexes took hold as I jump rolled out of the way. I heard the sound of the bolt fire, and hit flesh. I hit the ground and rolled upright. I looked over where I was once standing. Then the bolt exploded, followed by a shower of blood.

He shot the Theron I elbowed.

I so wanted to break out into hysterics right there. Instead, I drew my gorgon, and emptied the clip into the Theron's chest I punched while it was reloading. The bullets torn through the armor and sent blood spewing out. The Theron gave of a loud hissing yell as it fell to the ground. I quickly reloaded, and looked around for anything checking out the ruckus. Nothing moved except the falling rain and the two Therons rolling on the ground. I snorted.

I'll explain why this is so funny to me.

Locust, who love to fight in close quarters, just lost a fist fight to one COG soldier. Therons, the best of the best, just got laid out, by one COG soldier. Given, I am amazing, but it always tickles me to beat Therons to bloody pulps in close quarters. It's an achievement, I admit. Usually it'll take one normal squad to take down a small squad of Therons in close quarters, with heavy loses on the COG side.

...

I just realized I'm bragging to myself.

...

Okay, the moment has passed. Back to work!

I went over to the Theron I shot and put away the gorgon to free up my hands. I got over next to it and stopped. I looked down at it. It was wheezing. I reached down, knocked it's helmet off, and grabbed it by the throat. I lifted it off the ground with a grunt and held it up to where we were at eye level. It's feet dangled a good foot off the ground. I brought it's face close to mine. It's black eyes stared back. It tried to growl, but it came off as a gurgle.

I chuckled and smirked. I grabbed it's chest piece with my other hand and moved the previous to grab it's back. I lifted it higher to grab it's leg. I then lifted it up, then dropped to one knee, and broke it's back over my knee. It tried to scream, but it just spewed out blood. I let go of it's body and let it fall to the ground. I stood back up and spit on the body. I turned and walk over to retrieve my knife from the body of the other one I killed. I stopped half way...

And realized I was suppose to keep one alive.

"I enjoy killing grubs to much." I groaned out as I brought a hand to my face.

I shook my head and removed my hand. I walked the rest of the way over and yanked my knife out with a squelch. I wiped the knife off on my pant leg and put it back in the shoulder sheath. I started walking back over to where the Therons emerged, I pulled my retro out as I walked. The sounds of gun fire still rang out all over the place. I looked up expecting to see the beautiful sight of a fire fight, but there wasn't one.

That's weird, I wonder if those ponies gave up or chose a diffre-"GAH!"

Pain exploded from my left thigh. I stumbled a bit as I reflexively I reached down. I felt something sticking out of my leg. I immediately pulled it out, fearing that it was a torquebow bolt. I ripped it out painfully, threw the thing away, and threw myself to the right. I landed hard on my chest. I quickly tried to stand, I pulled my right leg up first keeping my weight of my left leg till it could heal itself. Once on my feet, I turned and aimed my retro towards where the Therons laid, expecting one of them aiming a Torquebow at me.

As I spun, I got really dizzy. So dizzy, I almost fell down. I stumbled a bit and ran into a building to my left. My vision blurred, and I got really tired all of a sudden. I shook my head, and grit my teeth. Poison. I reached down with my left hand, stuck a finger in the wound, and ripped it sideways.

I grunted as the pain cleared my vision. I refocused my attention and looked around the street for my attacker. All the Therons lay motionless, and I saw no one else in the immediate vicinity. I pulled myself off the wall, and brought my retro up with both hands. My mind was getting foggy and sluggish. It was making it really hard to think straight.

I saw a shadow move to my left, I turned my head to see something dart down the ally I hid in earlier. I think its the same one at least. I shook my head again and ran after it.

"BOOOOMMM!"

My eyes grew wide.

CRACK. PSSSHHHH. BOOM!

I went weightless for a second.

Then I crashed through something solid.

I landed hard on my back.

I couldn't feel anything.

I tried to move.

Couldn't.

Tired.

Can't sleep. Need to get up and...

And...

I need to open my eyes.

Can't.

Who's laughing?

Sounds like...

A boomer.

That's not good.

BOOM!

"Wake up. You are needed."

Who... Where...

"WAKE UP!"

I awoke with a start, my eyes shooting open. I was greeted with darkness, and pain. So much goddamn pain. Steady cold droplets of water plopping down all over my body. I tried moving my arms, my left was pinned under something. My right was free, I started to feel around. I was definitely under something. But how did I get here? What happened. I started to panic. I thrashed, and screamed.

Then I felt a... weird, cold sensation travel from my spine outward. It felt good. Calming even. I stopped thrashing, and relaxed. The pain began to slowly ebb away, then I heard words echo in my head.

Calm down. It's alright. Think. Breath.

Taking a few calming breaths, I began to calm down even more

Ok, yeah. Think. What happened? Something shot me with a poison tipped bolt. I saw something move and chased after it. Then I heard... a... boomer. It shot at me, and the shot knocked me into... a building or whatever. Then... it must of brought the building down on me. That explains why I'm stuck. Now.... to get out of here.

I took a few more deep breaths. I maneuvered my right arm to find what was pinning my left. I felt like wood, a support beam? I pushed up on it, it lifted right up and I moved it to my side. When I moved the beam a few pieces I guessed were sheet rock and insulation tumbled away, revealing that it was now nighttime. I slowly sat up. I got a little dizzy from the movement, but the sensation from before kicked in and I felt fine.

Okay, what in the hell was I drugged with?

Do not worry. Quickly, you have somewhere to be.

I quickly stood up. I looked over my left shoulder and saw that my longshot was still there. I then checked the side holster for my gorgon, yep still there. I looked around and saw my retro laying under a small pile off debris about a foot from where I was sitting. I picked it up and gave it a once over to make sure it was still in working condition. Everything checked out.

Y'know. For being blind sided by a boom shoot and having a house fall on me, I'm doing alright.

You don't have time for this you must move, you have to get there, you are needed.

I quickly made my way out onto the street. A few new craters doted the street and a dead boomer laid just down the street, along with a few grubs, and a combination of different ponies, all of which were wearing either blue or gold armor.

Go to your right, now.

I turned right and proceeded down the street. The sound of gun fire, although lessened, still filled the air. I reached the end of the street I was on.

Go right, run.

I turned right and broke into a run. I could see gun fire in the distance, along with a bright purple light.

Faster!

I ran as fast as I could. I had to jump over a mess of bodies and giblets as I ran. The purple light in front of me dimmed, and a few bullets started to fly around me. one glanced off my left shoulder brace.

You must get there! NOW!

I don't know how, but I started to run faster. The gun fire got louder. I could make out some sort of barricade down the street. I could also see the brumaks head form here. Along with the rocket launcher on it's ba-

That is of no concern! You have things to do, get there and help them!

I was fifty feet from the barricade now. I could make out the shapes of a few ponies and some of those dog things. The barricade seemed to be made up of a few carts and wagons. I started to worry about how to get over the wa-

Jump it!

I was now ten feet away, and the locals had taken notice of me. Most of them ran, some of the dogs held their ground and howled at me while drawing their crude weaponry. I forcibly shouldered my way past them,. Once I was past them I jumped on top of the barricade then jumped down, I looked up...

Locust... so many locust....

There had to be at least twenty Therons. Two boomers were firing from the steps of a building in the center of clearing. Three grinders were firing from the top of the stairs. The brumak seemed to be... sticking half way out of the top of the building? Overturned carts and crudely built cover littered the area.

I looked clear across, what I'm calling town square, to see an armored Kantus jump over the barricade as well. I felt my heart pump faster. My eyes dilated. The Therons took notice of me.

"Ground walker!"

I... I... Can't take on that many! There's no way! Not by myself! I need to get ou-

Kill them.

I growled and brought my retro up to bear as I ran forward.

"GGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

I opened fire on the closest group of Therons. The bullets tore into the first two, one fell as the others' head blew open. I continued my assault on the others, I got one more down and few shots into another before they all took cover and fired back. I threw myself behind an over turned cart and put my back up against it. Bullets began tearing into my cover. I blind fired the rest of my clip over the top. I heard a pained yell as my gun clicked.

I quickly reloaded. While I was reloading, I heard the fire of twin gorgon pistols, and loud raspy laughing. I took a quick peak over the cart to see the Kantus killing the Therons on the other side of the square. The Therons were firing back and yelling in their rough English about a traitor. The boomers were concentrating their fire on the Kantus and the grinders were still firing over the barricade. I decided to capitalize on the distraction, seeing as they seem to have forgotten that I was here.

I switched to my longshot. I turned and rested the barrel on the cart. I quickly targeted one of the boomers and shot him in the head. A nice shower of blood shot out as the round went through the back of it's head and out the other side. The Therons then seemed to remember I was here and opened up fire on the cart. I reloaded my longshot and switched back to retro. The fire abated for a second. I stood and zeroed in on the closest Theron. It was running towards me about to jump over my cover. I jump rolled backwards as it pulled itself over my cover. I opened up on it's legs as I stood. I saw it's knee caps give almost immediately.

I rushed over, putting my retro on my back in the process. I caught the Theron mid fall. I quickly flipped it forward and grabbed it's neck and squeezed. A few bullets were already being absorbed by my new sponge. I pulled out my gorgon and surveyed the field. A few Therons remained, the other boomer was dead, and the Grinders were making their descent from the stairs. The two of them were firing at the Kantus.

One was coming towards me, I'ts mulcher smoking. I tightened my grip and took aim. I moved around the cart quickly and opened fire on the few remaining Therons. I sent half the clip into a Therons head, who peaked over it's cover. The rest of the clip went into an advancing Theron. It fell on it's face. I reloaded, and noticed that the rest of the Therons near me were also advancing on me firing all of their clips in to my sponge.

Perfect.

I stepped backwards a ways, feigning retreat. There were five of them in total coming towards me. I fired two more clips at them as they jumped from cover to cover. I kept moving backwards. Then, they all jumped from cover, guns blazing. I smiled. I let go of the Theron in my grip and quickly grabbed it's back plate. I then put my gorgon away and grabbed a grenade. I slammed it on the back of it's neck, and kicked it forward.

It collided with the front two of the group, and exploded. I quickly pulled out my retro and headed to an over turned cart to my left. Half way there, the grinder let loose on me with it's mulcher. I felt a few rounds enter my side as I made it to cover. I threw myself onto the ground as more mulcher rounds tore into and through the cart. My retro bounced out of my hand as I landed. The mulcher rounds were tearing into and through the cart above my head. I kept flat to the ground and covered my head with my hands. The Grinder began yelling as it continued firing at my position.

Thankfully, not long after that the fire stopped. I quickly pulled myself up to my knees and pulled out my two remaining grenades. I looked over what was left of the cart, the Grinder was walking towards me while waiting for the mulcher to cool. I stood up and ran to the left I tossed both grenades at the beast as I ran. One hit, and bounced off, a Theron that was standing up. The other landed next to the Grinders feet.

I pulled out my longshot as the grenades went off. The Theron was obliterated, the Grinder stumbled backwards. I skidded to a stop, leveled the longshot in my hands, and aimed at the Grinder. It's face and chest were bloodied, it's trade mark helmet had come off. It was looking straight at me with a death glare. it was starting to wind up it's mulcher. I hit the zoom button and aimed for it's head.

"Grin-"CRACK!

The bullet hit it's mark, rewarding my eyes with a shower of gore.

"HA! Take that fuck-face!" I lowered my longshot and flipped off the Grinders corpse as it fell to the ground.

I put my longshot back on my back and pulled out my gorgon. I started looking around for more Therons. But there wasn't any left standing. I heard the screaming of the armored Kantus. I looked over to see it covered in blood and it had one leg on top of what was left of the other Grinder. It had it's arms outstretched and was screaming at the sky. I started to look around for my retro. I spotted it over by the torn up cart where I fell. I jogged over to it and picked it up. I turned back around to face the Kantus. It had stopped screaming.

It was staring right at me, and I stared back.

We stood like this for a bit. The only sound being that of the rain and the movement of the locals on the other side of the barricade. I took a quick glance at it's hands to see that it's gorgons were gone. The armor on it's body was dented and broken in some places. It also seemed to be favoring it's left leg. On it's right some armor plates were missing. From this observation, if we go at it, I have a chance at winning without any explosives, seeing as I'm out of grenades.

But... it did start killing it's own men. So, I might not have to fight it after all. Either way, I think it's time I left.

I kept my eyes on the Kantus as I took a slow step backwards. I took another slow step and began turning around. The Kantus seemed to visibly relax as I turned around. I began walking towards the barric-

You will wait here.

I went to keep walking, but something stopped me. I tried walking forward again.

NO. Wait here!

A small headache formed in my head. I shook my head and took two steps forward.

No! You shouldn't be able to fight it! How are you fighting it!?!

I took few more steps forward. As I did, the pain in m,y head kept getting worse. I kept walking forward despite the pain.

NO! WE DEMAND YOU STOP THIS INSTANT!

A voice started screaming in my head, and the cold feeling faded away. All the pain from before, accompanied by the pain from my new injuries, returned. I dropped my retro as I gripped my head in both hands. I started screaming and feel to my knees. I suddenly felt something trickle down my throat, and I threw up. I retched three times. When I was done, the pain in my head had receded to a dull throb, the rest of my body still felt like crap though. The puke was a bright blue.

It would seem, that the mind poison has worn off.

Mind poison? The fuck do you mean!?! You... were that voice I heard when I first woke up, weren't you?

Yes, now... I'm going to restart the poison. This will hurt.

Just as the voice finished, the pain in my head returned full force. I regripped my head and screamed again. I felt the same cold sensation as before, but this time as it spread, so did the pain. My entire body felt like it was being encased in ice. I felt dizzy again. My vision started to blur and blacken. My throat was burning from my screaming as I lost the energy to scream. I felt my hands fall away from head as I started to fall forward, the world dimming from view.

I then felt... warmth.

It came in pulses, slowly replacing the cold in my body. I felt my body lift off the ground on it's own. I heard the voice screaming in frustration and cursing from the back of my head. The warmth started getting stronger. Then, with one final pulse, it left my body. I fell a short ways onto my feet. I stood there, gasping for air. All the pain in my body gone. I heard a slow hiss from behind me. I quickly turned around to find the Kantus standing there.

Holding my retro.

I was about to lash out and grab my Retro, but the unthinkable happened. It stuck out it's hand holding my retro, and held it out for me to take. I stood there for a second, staring at the Kantus.

"Taaakkke weapon. We musssst leave noooow." It hissed out.

I furrowed my brow, and scowled at the Kantus. I slowly reached out and grabbed my rifle. It let go as I took it.

"Why are you not killing me? You had the perfect opportunity, why help me?"

"Quessstion later. We must leave." It said as it turned away from me.

The sound of wings filled the air again. It walked over to the barricade and climbed over it. After a second, I walked over, and went over as well.

Captured

I was sitting in front of a fire, along with my squad mates. We were cooking various meals over the fire. It was a peaceful moment in a time of shit.

"Y'know, I've been thinkin..." Damn it.

"That's something dangerous coming from you Burn." Responded Garret, who sat across from me.

"Hardy-fuckin'-har asshole," Grumbled Burn from under his helmet next to Garret. "Seriously though, why do they keep sending us, and only us, out on these fucking recovery missions? I mean, if the stuff is so damn important, why doesn't Prescott send a couple squads and Centaur for fucks sake?"

"Probably because we're the only squad Prescott can trust right now, we are the only Spec Ops left alive anyway." Grumbled Nosetey in my ear piece from her watch position she had set up on the floor above us.

"T-that's not true," Stuttered Meyer from my side. "W-what about t-that Dom guy? I h-heard that he was Spec Ops as well."

"He's a fucking piece of shit that gets all he deserves." I growled.

"Damn!" Shouted Burn. "He must have done something bad to piss you off. What was it?"

I didn't respond.

"Drop it Burn." Nosetey said in our ear.

"Hell no! I wanna know what this guy did! I've been trying for years to piss the big guy off!"

I lock eyes with the eyes of Burn's helmet.

"Him and Marcus Fenix abandoned their posts. Letting the Locust through. We were ordered to retreat. We made it to the King Raven pick up. There was no room for me. I stayed behind. The raven was assaulted by over 20 Reavers. It went down, landed int he river."

"Well... we've all lost people we knew because of that shit. Its war man, shit happens. Why are you taking it so personal?"

"Rebecca was on that Raven."

Not much was said after that.

I'm not really sure when I feel asleep, but the massive headache I have, and the fact I can't remember shit, points to a concussion. That's what pisses me off the most about this damn healing solution they pumped us full of, it doesn't heal head wounds or brain trauma. What kind of half assed bullshit is that? Ow ow ow... no more yelling in my head... no more yelling at all... my fucking head...

With a groan, I pulled myself to a

Theres always more grubs...

The Grinders head blew apart in a slew of gore as I pulled the longshot away from my eye, and ducked back down behind the pile of wooden rubble. With practiced precision, I pulled the bolt back, threw a round into the chamber, and slammed the bolt home. Popping back up, putting the scope back up to my eye, I sighted a Theron pointing at my position from down the street. His helmet went flying as the round tore apart its face. Ducking back down again to reload, I peeked over the rubble pile to see all of the grubs move behind cover. Finishing the reload, I switched to my Retro.

Five grubs moved from rubble, to knocked over cart, to doorway, making fast approach to my position. The rest ran behind the buildings at the end of the street. The Armored Kantus came out from around the wall of a building to my left, and opened fire with his recently acquired boltok pistols, taking down one of the grubs. Standing up myself, I targeted one of the grubs changing cover, and unloaded into his side. Blood flew out as the heavy rounds tore into, and out of the ugly bastard.

"Frag out!" Yelled one of the grubs, as a frag was thrown towards my position

As it flew over my head, I rolled to my right into a dead end alley. As I came out of the roll and onto my feet, the frag went off. Rocks and pieces of wood dinged of the back of my armor, a few buried themselves into my shoulders. With a growl of annoyance, I threw my back into the wall of the building, and slide over till I was at the edge of it. Looking out at the street, I saw the Kantus dive into a roll and shred two of the assaulting grubs who were dumb enough to charge an armored Kantus. Popping out from behind cover, I sighted the third turning to run. Brining my retro up, I fired into its legs, bringing it crashing face first onto the cobble.

Looking down the a street, and listened for anymore grubs. Besides the grunts of the injured grub trying to crawl away, the rumble of thunder, and the slight drizzle, the area had gone quiet.

"Clear," The Kantus rasped out as it stalked forward, lowering the boltoks to its side.

With a grunt of acknowledgement, I lowered my retro, and fell in behind it.

"So...," I said, as I rubbed the stubble forming on my chin with my free hand. "Do you mind going over all that shit again?"

"Is this human deaf? How many times must it be repeated?" The Kantus rasped out, while giving my a sideways glance.

"Forgive me for not trusting something I've been at war with for the past twelve years..."

The Kantus turned its head back around, and gave off what sounded like a cross between a sigh, and a cat hacking up a furball.

"I do not wish to do harm to this land. My brothers do. They saw food, I saw innocent, powerful, creatures. I warned them, do not kill." The Kantus walked by the downed grub, and aimed one of its boltoks at its head. "They kill the creatures," He fired, spraying its brains all over the ground. "I kill them." It said as it started to reload both of its pistols. "You kill my brothers as well. We have same goal. Two are better than one, than one against many. Is simple," It gave me a sidelong glance as it kept walking down the street. "We kill all of my brothers, then we fight to kill each other when done. Is simple."

I gave a long sigh at its reasoning.

"I will admit, you did heal me back there,and stop... whatever the fuck that was, from messing with my head. But I won't trust you, ever."

"The human would be very stupid if he did." The Kantus rasped out as we reached the end of the street.

Looking both ways down the T-junction, I expected to see grubs waiting for us, but to my surprise, there weren't any in sight.

"I have a name," I growled out. "Its Dedric, got it? I'm not 'the human', makes me sound like a fucking egotist."

"Names are not important among us." The Kantus hissed as he turned left, me following a short distance behind.

"Really?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Yes... I say words, but the Deerick doesn't understand..."

"Makes sense, I guess. Seeing as they're a shit ton of you. And its Dedric."

"That is exactly the reason, Deerick."

I suppressed a groan as the Kantus said my name. A silence fell over us as we made our way down the street. The clank of our armor, and the constant downpour was all that was heard as marched on. After about five minutes of walking, lighting struck a few blocks ahead of us. The lighting itself wasn't a cause for alarm, it was to be expected with the rain.

What wasn't expected was that it kept striking the same area over and over again. The Kantus stopped walking to stare at the sight. I jogged up to stand next to it, as the lightning struck again, and again.

It was then, that the gunfire started. Red streaks flew from the ground with smoke trails and disappeared into the clouds.

Sharing a quick glance, and a smirk from me, we ran towards the gunfire and lightning.

This day is going to be a weird, fun, day.

Fire from both sides

The lightning had stopped as we neared the area, but the gunfire had not. As I neared the end of the street I was on, I slowed down to a light jog. Reaching the corner building to my right, I put my back to it. Peaking around the corner, I saw at least one source of the gunfire. Two Grinders and a Boomer were firing constantly into a purple dome, while grubs, and Wretches paced around. Hearing the Kantus' armor clank behind me, out of instinct, I almost turned and emptied my clip into it. Showing self restraint, I managed an eye twitch, and a shaky half turn.

"Theres two Grinders, a Boomer, Wretches, and a shit ton of grubs, suggestions?"

"Kill them."

With that, the Kantus marched past me, and around the corner, boltoks blazing.

"Brilliant plan... wish I had thought of it..."

Checking my ammo real quick, 3 clips plus the one in the retro, by the by, I peeked out again. While the grubs and Wretches were already attacking the Kantus, the Grinders and Boomer were still focused on the dome. This might be easier than I thought. Switching out to my Longshot, I dropped to one knee around the corner, and sighted up the Boomer. One Well placed shot later, its brains were flying out its ears. Up, back, bullet, forward, down. Lining up the crosshairs on the-

*PWOOM! SCREEACH!*

"MORTAR!" I yelled as I rolled to my right.

Staying flat on my belly, I heard the secondary launch, then all the little life takers impact with the ground shortly after. Getting to my feet quickly, I switched back to my retro, and ran back around the building. The Kantus was down on the ground, not in giblets, so that was a good thing. The other locust, however, was everywhere, in itty bitty little pieces. Even the Grinders were gibed. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Man, whoever you guys got as a mortar team, tell them I said thanks," I chuckled out.

Walking over to the Kantus, I kicked it a few times in the side to see if it was still alive. The Kantus gave a raspy groan in response. Still alive, good on it. Looking around the now blood covered street, I couldn't see any grubs within the vicinity. Odd, seeing as locust mortar teams like to see who they're shooting at, rather than receiving targets from the radio. Moving forward, I made my way over to the purple dome thing. Stopping two feet from it, I did the oldest, most scientific, way of checking things out.

I picked up a rock, and threw it at the thing.

All that happened was slight shimmer across its surface. Doing the next best stupid thing, I reached out with my left hand and poked it with a finger.

"Tingly." I muttered while holding my finger against it.

"Get away from them, you monster!"

Bringing my hand back to my gun, and turning towards the voice I saw... nothing? My vision was then filled with blue, followed by a slight pressure around my head and neck. Reacting by instinct, I grabbed whatever had grabbed me and tried to pry it off with my free hand. Getting a hold of whatever was on my face, the first thing that became apparent, was that it was soft, and covered with fur. Do I have a pony on my face trying to choke me out...? Feeling around the mass on my face, it began to shake and squirm a little.

"H-hey! Knock that o-off! It-HA! Tickles! I'm trying to strangle you!" Yelled the pony, sounding a bit tomboyish

Putting my retro on my back, I started to pry the pony off of my head. It struggled as I grabbed a hoof in both hands, and effortlessly pulled her off. The first thing I noticed, was her hair. It was fucking rainbow colored. Rainbow. It was all I could do not to die of laughter right there and then.

Cancelled

I asked, no one responded. So i'm going to focus on my just my college stuff, and not worry about continuing this. Seeing as not even one person, besides me, even looked at the blog pertaining to this, I'll take that as my answer.

Hell, if one person had said for me to re-write I would have.

I'll put up the chapters, and scenes I was working on.

Re-write

Link

Messages in the wind

I edited it!

Running.

It's the best skill you will ever learn or use.

Even when your just a sperm, you must go faster then the rest. So, even before you're born, you're running.

The first thing you are taught is to walk, which from there goes to running.

Some call running away cowardly, I call it staying alive.

Most Gears will say it's an honor to die for the COG. I call it stupidity.

You don't go to war to die. You do it to protect what you love.

"BOOM!"

A boom shot sailed over me as I ran across the court yard to cover. A few locust yelled their curses as I slammed into and rolled over the fallen pillar in one swift motion. I put my back to the pillar and blind-fired over the top of it with my retro. I stopped firing to blind-throw a grenade. The satisfactory boom-squelch that followed, let me know it went to a good home.

I stood up, and saw ten grubs and two boomers headed towards me. I fired what remained in my mag into the nearest three, they fell down, but I knew better to know that they weren't dead. I tossed out two more grenades in quick succession. One in the middle of the downed grubs and another to stop the advance of the others.

I went into another run at the explosion of the second, and made for the tower door. I felt a few randomly fired rounds enter my back. Slowed me down, but I didn't stop. When I got to the door, I slammed into it with all my worth. The rusted hinges stood no chance. I stumbled a bit after the hit but recovered quickly. I stuck my last grenade in a small nook a few steps from the entrance and resumed my running.

I found the stairs going up the next level quite easily. At the top, I took the time to reload my retro, and longshot. I threw some chairs and desks down the stairs to halt their advance as best I could. Good thing to, because at that moment the grenade downstairs went off. I threw the chair in my hands down and booked it down the hallway. In my head I was going over the floor plans I had committed to memory.

First floor, reception.

Second, offices.

Third, more offices.

Fourth, turret control, armory, elevator.

Fifth, storage.

Six, labs.

Seven, testing

Eight, main labs.

Nine, tower control.

I found the stairs in no time and headed up. I repeated the process of blocking the stairs, and moved on. I got to the fourth floor and kept running. This was the level I committed to memory. I had to reroute twice to get around where the floor above had caved in at. But I found what I was looking for. The armory was a little ways before the turret control, but I was very short on ammo. I filled my pouches to the brim, and grabbed a mulcher before leaving. The good thing is, that on this floor was an elevator that would take me straight to the top, given it still works.

About halfway down the corridor, I had a thought. Setting the mulcher down I ran back to the armory and grabbed a shit ton of grenades. I went back to the stairs and started to set them out. Put them under things on the floor, basically an improvised mine field. I finished laying them all out, save for the usual four, and picked up the mulcher.

I then heard an explosion and a few grubs yell out.

"Fast working little fuckers."

I made a hobble run to the turret control room. I got inside, the room had a terminal in front of a window looking out at a perfectly intact elevator. I gave a sigh of relief and hooked up my jack into the console. The turrets activated, and popped out of the ceiling.

Facing the elevator.

I slammed my fist down on the terminal, then I heard an explosion, followed by another, and another. So either I make a dead run, shut down the turrets, or do a suicide hold. I gave a tired sigh and shut down the turrets. I removed my jack and made my way out to the elevator. I got to the elevator, and pressed the up button. With a small grind, the door opened. I hobbled walked in and set the mulcher against the wall. I pressed the 9 button, and the doors started to slowly close.

An explosion at the end of the hall pulled my attention away from the door.

A few wretches rounded the corner. Three were on the ceiling, two on either side up on the walls and one on the ground, all coming straight for me. I pulled out my Gorgon pistol. A quick burst took out two of the three on the ceiling. Another burst took out the two on my left. I shot another burst at the two on the right. I took out most of them, but the one left on the ceiling and floor were to close.

The one on the floor jumped at me, and got the barrel of the pistol smacked across his face for the trouble. It went flying to the left out of sight. The one from the ceiling jumped up on my and grabbed my arms, slicing up my forearms, and tried to bite my face off. I grabbed it's neck and put the pistol against it's temple, and splattered it's brains. I threw the now cooling corpse out. The doors were almost closed now. I took one last glimpse down the hall.

What I saw made me go into a cold sweat. Two armored Kantus were rounding the corner. They saw me and gave a long howl. I fired what was left in the pistol into their open maws. In reaction, they closed their mouths and stumbled back. The one on the right recovered first and went into a charge towards me. I threw out a grenade as it got closer. The grenade knocked it off balance. But the one in the back was now opening fire on me.

The doors were only three inches apart now. Felt a little bit off relief, that was squashed as the Kantus stuck its hands in and started to pull the doors back open. I put my pistol away and took out my retro. The doors were now open a foot wide. The Kantus looked up at me, and started to do it's scream.

I stuck the retro's blade in it's mouth and pulled the trigger. Sparks flew as I fired, but a few bullets managed to get inside and bounce around. It's form went limp, the doors tried to close again, but it's head was in the way. I gave it a good front kick, and the doors slammed shut.

I stumbled backwards till my back hit the wall, and I slummed down to the floor as the elevator started to go up. It gave off a few groans, but it went up. I let out a great big sigh of relief.

I had been out running, out gunning, and out smarting the locust for past two days. I was tired. I also haven't slept. I started to feel very tired, but I shook that off and stood back up. I pulled out the last of my rations, and proceeded to eat them. A ding went off and I looked up. The floor counter had changed from 4 to 5. Now that I was looking at it, I saw that it went down to 65b.

What the hell? That's far enough down to be locust territory. No wonder this place is crawling with 'em.

I shook my head, and resumed eating my rations. With another ding I was at level 6. I pulled out my gorgon and reloaded it. I put that away then picked up the mulcher. I gently positioned it in front the door, I kept one hand on the grip and the other on the crank as I knelt down next to it.

Ding, 7.

Ding, 8.

I focused all my attention on the door, and got ready to pump death into anything on the other side. I re-griped out of anticipation.

Ding, 9.

I got ready. The doors gave a faint groan, and started to open, only to stop after two inches. With a grunt, I stood up. I left the mulcher where it was. I pulled my retro out and stuck the barrel and knife out the opening. I got close enough to see out, but far enough I could pull the trigger. Outside the door was a dusty hallway with rotting papers littering the floor. The lights on the ceiling flickered a little. It looked to be a waiting area with a few small tables and chairs against the wall. Looking back down, I saw that there weren't any disturbances in the thick dust coated floor. I pulled the retro out of the opening and put it back up on my back.

I then put my hands thru and pulled the doors in their respective directions. With a grunt from me, and a groan from the doors, they opened grinded open enough for me to fit thru. I let go and turned to grab the mulcher. The elevator lurched down a little bit. My eyes widened, I grabbed the mulcher and tossed it thru the opening, then myself. The I felt the ground shake a bit and a sound of screeching metal from behind me. I pulled myself up to my feet. Turning around, I saw the doors still ajar a ways, but the elevator was gone. I walked over to the shaft and looked down.

Black. I gave a low whistle. After a second, I hacked up some phlegm, and spit it down the shaft. I gave it a few seconds, nothing.

With a shrug I turned back around. The mulcher had landed a few feet from where I did. Looking where I landed, I saw just how thick the dust was. It was at least an inch. Also, the dust I had knocked into the air was starting to make me cough. It was like stepping into a smoke cloud it was so bad. I fanned it away from my face as I picked up the mulcher with my other hand. The fanning seemed to make it worse. Seeing as every step I took blew more of it into the air. I gave a growl of annoyance as I moved down the hallway.

All the doors were locked, not that I couldn't open 'em if I wanted, but their not where i'm headed. At the end of the hallway was a staircase that went up at a slight angle. From the bottom I could see a desk and a window above the desk. I proceeded up the stairs with the mulcher at the ready. Just because they're wasn't any locust down there, doesn't mean their not up here. Getting to the top I scanned the room, empty. Save for the terminals and windows that lined the walls. The windows had blast shields covering them from the outside. The whole room was circular. In the middle was a weird machine that proceeded up.The ceiling above it curved up with it. Walking over, I looked up and saw that the machine went up a ways.

Guess this is a spire, or something like that. Either way, I got a job to do.

I walked over to a terminal that was bigger then the rest, set the mulcher down, and hooked up my jack to it. I raised up my hand to my left eat and turned my comm on.

"This is Corporal Dedric of black squad, breaking radio silence to confirm that I have made it to the objective, over."

Static filled my ear for a second, till an all to familiar voice came on.

"This is Colonel Hoffman, we read you. Where is Sargent Green?"

"Dead, sir. We got ambushed by Therons yesterday. Green was hit by a torque bolt to the chest, the rest of got separated. I don't know where anyone else is, sir."

The Colonel gave a short growl before he answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Are you ready to transfer the data?"

"Yes sir. Sending... now." I said as I pressed a few buttons on my jack and the terminal simultaneously.

After a few seconds, the Colonel came back on.

"Were receiving it. Good work Corporal. I'll come back and give you the location for pick up."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

I backed up from the terminal to stretch my arms a bit. I was able to do a full stretch, thankfully, because of my commando armor. I started to look around the room a bit while the transfer was going on. I got to the other side of the room, and noticed a button. My curiosity peaked, I walked over to it. Looking at it, I noticed a label obscured by dust above it. I wiped away the dust.

SHUTTERS

I looked around the room at the covered windows.

Couldn't hurt to see how things are outside.

I pressed the button. As soon as I did, a small grinding noise filled the room. all the shutters slowly lifted up. I walked over to the north facing side. The side facing the front gate.

The only way out, seeing as this place is surrounded by mines and auto turrets.

Once the shudders were all the way up, I felt my face pale. Outside was a brumak and couple dozen grubs. In the air were four reavers. I felt my stomach go uneasy. I then ran towards the shudder button. I slammed my fist down on it, hoping that they hadn't seen me. The shudders closed with a loud groan. I felt a cold sweat break out across my body. I sat down in a dust covered chair with my face in my hands, as the realization hit me.

"I'm not getting out of here alive, am I?" I muttered into my hands.

I heard a bit of static, then the Colonel in my ear.

"The transfer is complete Corporal. Evac coordinates ar-"

"Call of the evac, sir." I interrupted with a flat tone.

"What...What do you mean, son? Whats happened?"

"I... Opened the windows to look outside, sir. They'res at a least a couple dozen grubs, some reavers, and a brumak outside, sir."

"I.. I see."

The line went dead for a few seconds, then the colonel came back.

"Colonel?"

"Yes, Corporal?"

"Could... Could you deliver a message for me, sir?" I could feel myself getting ready to cry.

"It's the least I could do. What is it?"

"Tell... Tell... Damn it. Under my bunk is a box. Give the box to Natalie, my sister. Tell her the combo is Mom's birthday, and... Fuck... Tell her to keep up her studies, and to take care of herself, and that I love her..so very, very much." I felt the tears now. But I didn't care.

"I can do that. Anything else I can do?"

I thought for a second. With a shaky voice I answered.

"I'd... feel better if you could find someone trustworthy to look after her. She's only 11, sir."

A few seconds of silence. Then a new, familiar, female voice popped on.

"I can take care of that Dedric." Bernie.

Good, old, Bernie.

"Thank you, ma'am. I... feel better knowing that your looking over her." I gave a low chuckle. "Specially seeing as how hard you are to kill."

She gave the same low chuckle I did. The Colonel came back on.

"I have to ask. What are you going to do? I know you aren't going to just sit there and wait."

I gave a full on laugh and stood up.

"I'm going to go out the best way I know. Take as many of them with me as I can."

"Good luck Cor- no. Sargent Dedric."

"Not that it means much now Colonel, but I thank you for the honor, sir. Over and out."

I clicked of my comm as I walked back over to the terminal my jack was hooked into. I pulled up a special program I made. My main mission is to go to military, and private installations and retrieve data. Seeing as that, we don't want to let locust get the data, if they even can, we blow up the building after words by setting the reactors down below to explode, or just whatever can explode. I clicked on it and a red message popped up.

DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?

Y? N?

I pressed the Y.

Suddenly, the machine at the center of the room lit up and made a hum as it opened up. I looked back at the main terminal. It had a display with allot of numbers being displayed, and a bar with blue slowly climbing up and turning red. At the top, it read:

Transporter powering up, please enter chamber

At the word transporter, my hopes rose a little bit. I looked over at the now open machine with a critical eye. I was very unsure what to do. But... not seeing any other options... I disconnected my jack, put it in my pocket, picked up the mulcher, and got inside the machine.

Once inside, I set the mulcher down and pulled out my retro. Looking around the small chamber, there was button on the side next to the opening. There wasn't any label or anything telling me what it did. I figured it didn't really matter. So I pressed it. The door to the chamber closed, and I felt a lurch as I felt the thing start to ascend. It then came to a stop short after. Then the thing lurched to the side and started spinning. I was forced to lean on the wall as it kept spinning. I started to feel sick after a short while of this. I then felt the pressure of the spinning stop, and I started to float. Then the chamber did a sharp drop, and then...

Black.

"Hey brother?"

I looked up from my desk to see my four year old sister standing at the door in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes, and her teddy bear dangling out of her hand.

"What are you doing up so late? I put you to bed an hour ago." I said with a chuckle.

"I had a nightmare."

I waved her over as I pushed my chair away from the desk. She came around to my side of the table and proceeded to climb into my lap.

"What was your nightmare about?" I asked while hugging her.

"I don't wanna think about it. It makes me scared."

"If you hide from your fears, then that only makes them stronger. Besides, I'll always be here to protect you."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now tell me what scared you."

"There... where monsters. Crawling out of the ground. They wanted to eat me."

"Well," I said while standing up, she gave a little squeak. "Their going to have to go through me! The biggest, meanest, gear there is! Rawr!"

I began to run around the small apartment we shared, pretending to fight the monsters with one hand while holding her with the other. She hugged my neck as she giggled. After running around for a good five minutes, we ended up in the living room, sitting down on the couch.

"There. All dead. Feel better?"

"Yeah. But I want to sleep out here with you. I don't wanna go back to bed alone." She said while looking at me with the biggest puppy dogs eyes.

I smiled and chuckled as I straightened out her hair.

"Yeah, we can do that."

"Could you take off your armor? It's kinda poking me."

"Yeah hold on." I set her down on the spot next to me, then stood up and proceeded to take my armor off. After that, I sat back down and pulled her into my lap. She shifted around till she was comfy.

"Whens mom coming home?"

"Remember, I told you that she had to go on a trip, and we don't know when she's coming back? It's why I came home early."

"Oh *yawn* yeah. Goodnight brother."

"Goodnight Natalie."

I waited for her to fall asleep. When she was, I got up and laid her down on the couch. I pulled the blanket that was on the armrest over her. I kissed her on the forehead. For a little bit, I couldn't help but look down at her and smile. I just felt so happy that the wars were over. So happy that I knew she would live in a world of peace. With a wistful sigh, I walked back to my room. I sat down in the chair and started going through all the papers that littered my desk. I threw a few away and put others in a pill. I was near the bottom when I saw the one thing I had been avoiding.

Mom's burial arangments.

With a shaky exhale, I picked up a pen and finished filling out the paper.

I awoke with a grunt. That was one of my happier memories, but it always makes me want to go home to Natalie. But, I have a job to do. Although the main thing is, where am I, and can I even find myself from here?

I opened my eyes, only to shut them again to shield them from the sun. I rolled over onto my stomach, and got up to one knee from there. I opened my eyes to see... grass. Green grass. Not burnt black, not dead yellow, blood covered red, or ash covered grey. Healthy green. I slowly reached out with a hand to touch it, make sure it's real. Sure enough, my armored gloved touched it, moved it. Bringing my head up, I saw trees. With green leaves. Small flowers were in bloom allover the clearing I was in.

I brought myself to stand at full height. Then a new thought hit me.

Where's my gun?

I quickly reached to my side and behind me to find my grenades, gorgon and longshot. But my retro was missing. I franticly turned this way and that. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw it just a few paces from me. I walked over and picked it up. I checked the mag. It was still loaded fully. I looked around some more and found the mulcher a little ways from where I found the retro. I picked it up and gave it a once over. Seemed fine.

After checking the rest of my weapons, I picked up the mulcher with one hand on the crank. Now that I was good to go, I had but one thought.

"Where the fuck am I?"

I stood there a bit, just thinking and enjoying the nice weather. Then I heard a scream.

Not just any kind of scream. But child's scream.

I heard it again, and bolted in that direction.

"What's ah hydra doin' here!?"

"I don't know! keep running!"

The crusaders were going to Zecora's hut, to help her out and maybe get their cutie marks in the process. But a little over halfway thru the walk to Zecora's, a hydra busted thru the canopy and started to chase them. The girls tried to run in the direction of ponyville, but they kept having to divert in other directions, they had no idea where they were now. One of the hydra's heads made another chomp at them, making them scream and run in another direction, and making the hydra knock over another tree.

They ran for a little bit longer. Applebloom started to notice that the trees had thinned out, and big rocks had taken their place. She could she tall cliff faces to either side of her through the trees. She knew it meant something, but she was too scared to think straight.

With a roar, the hydra reappeared behind them. All three of them screamed and ran faster. They kept running till they emerged facing a dead end. The rock wall in front of them made up the box they had unknowingly ran into. they heard a growl and turned to see the hydra stopped. All three heads were licking their chops as they eyed the girls. The girls huddled together, and started crying.

Suddenly a strange noise sounded out. Then, from the cliff above them, a louder noise rang out and fire flew down onto the heads of the hydra. One of the heads exploded from the stream of fire. Then the stream stopped and hissing noise was heard. The other hydra heads looked at the dead one and up to the cliff above them. They roared out, then the stream of fire came again and torn into another one of the heads. The fire cut straight thru and the top of the head fell off. The fire stopped as the third head shot out at the cliff above them. They looked up to see something small fly out, and enter the hydra's mouth.

The final hydra head gagged and retracted it's head. Then it's head exploded. A little blood landed on them as the hydra fell down. After few seconds, the realization that they were covered in blood from something that was just alive crossed their thought process. One by one, they started to scream. Then Sweetie Belle fainted. Followed by Scootaloo. Then Applebloom

But before Applebloom fully sucombed to the darkness, she saw something tall walking towards her.

Chapter 5

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,

the Crimson Omen has begun to rust.

The enemy nears and tears down the walls,

day by day, humanity falls.

Sisters of faith, brothers of blood,

the bodies begin to pile up in the mud.

Facing an enemy like never before,

they are the Gears of War...