Two Months have passed... two horror filled months of more death, more destruction. The COG now seem to have a larger chance of reclaiming their once peacefull world of Sera...

The efforts of Delta Squad, consiting of Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, Augustus Cole and Damon Baird were a major victory for the Military... causing the enemy to scatter, giving the COG time to prepare for a Major attack on the enemy strongholds. Victory was thought to be only one battle away.

It wasn't.

The Locust advanced on the remaining Humans who were all on Jacinto Plateau, approximately 24 hours before the COG were to launch the attack on the Locust.

The attack was severe, thosands of Humans were killed as the Locust, unable to burrow up into the Plateau, advanced upward on foot. The battle lasted weeks until the Locust were repelled, leaving the Human population incredibly low. The COG decided to do the only thing they could do... attack.

Operation 'Last Stand'.

Marcus moved behind cover as the bullets started flying, hundreds of thousands, mayby even millions of Locust firing apon the scarse COG Soldiors. Marcus was on the front line, along with ten other men, including Dom, Cole and Baird, who were all firing up over the cars and trucks that ley helplessly on the road ahead... wich lead right into the Locust tunnel system that was home to the remaining Locust.

"Keep firing!" Marcus shouted over the noise as the Hammer of Dawn sattelite fired down apon a small group of Locust, causing them all to burn down quickly, Marcus laughed a little.

He threw himself up, giving him a clear shot ahead. He fired quickly, taking down three Locust with ease as he jumped back down next to the soldior next to him, who was trying to un-jam his Longshot.

"Having fun not doing anything Soldior?"

"Sir, it wont stop jamming!"

Marcus laughed a little, tossing away the old ammo clip from his Lancer and loading in a new one, grabbing the mans sniper and un-jaming it, reloading it for him.

"There. Now start taking off some Locust heads." Marcus said, gunning down some more Locust.

Marcus threw a frag into a large group of Locust, prorably about ten. They all exploded, sending parts of Locust all around the place. He ducked back down, pulling out his Shotgun and jumping back u, firing madly at three advancing Locust who dropped to the floor in pieces as Marcus minced them up.

"Mmmm. I needed that." He said, laughing to the soldior next to him, who was lining up a shot with his sniper. Suddenly, there was a crack and the soldior fell onto the floor... dead, blood pouring out of his forehead. Marcus looked down at the man, pulling him back into cover, closing the dead eyes. Marcus picked up the mans rifle, reloaded the blood stained clip and jumped up again, searching for the Locust who had shot the man.

There was one who had just fired a bullet in Marcus' direction, he aimed up the beasts face, pulling down hard on the trigger, sending the bullet into the animals nose wich caused its head to pop-off and roll away, leaving the limp body to fall over in a heap.

"Arg. Damn Locust."

"My Queen... the Humans advance on our encampment outside Arten"

The voice was high-pitched and loud in the Queens ears... she was staring to regret sending all of her forces at the Humans... it was a price to pay for the significant Humans deaths however.

"Fools. How could you allow them to get this close! Is this what the Locust horde is made of? Mindless morons that can't stop a few Human Soldiors!" She bellowed, gripping her pistol and firing into the scared Theron guards head, causing it to drop to the floor, blood spraying on the wall next to him.

"Do not let them through."

----------------

Marcus fired his sniper again, causing a Locust to do a barrel roll over the concrete slab that it had used for cover.

"Eat shit and die!" He yelled as he fired his sniper blindly at a Locust, the bullet slamming into its foot, causing it to fall over.

Marcus noticed three soldiors ahead of him advance. He jumped over his cover... sprinting as fast as he could to the men who had just run into a large group of Locust who were firing shotguns wildly. He jumped over the cover, landing on one Locust, causing it to drop onto the floor under his weight. He slammed the end of his Sniper into another Locust head, causing it to fall backwards and snap its neck on a concrete slab. One of the soldiers chainsawed a Locust in half, sending blood all over the place as Marcus fired a sniper shot into a Locusts leg a close range, causing it to fall over. He raised his leg, slamming it down on the beasts neck, snapping it off immediatly as he jumped behind the concrete slab the the dead Locust body was slumped over.

"Thanks for the assistance sir!" One of the men yelled over the sound of his Lancer.

Marcus moved his body up as he dropped his ammo-less sniper to the floor and picking up a dropped Lancer. He blind fired over his head toward a Locust group of three, killing one and wounding another.

"Oh yeah!" He yelled as he slammed another clip into his Lancer.

The Queen, as she refered to herself as, watched as hundreds of Locust ran out of the large caves that they called home. She sighed, the Humans should never had got this close. They had to be killed... the Locust were the true owners of this war... they would not loose to victums.

"My Queen. The Theron group are ready to flank the Humans..."

The voice hissed behind her, she turned around, her black cape moving with her elegantly. Her face was more Human than Locust.

"Send them in. Gua'ra. No mistakes."

The Theron moved out, picking up a Lancer on his way and re-grouping with the twenty Theron Guards that moved out of the Cave.

She sighed. Death, destruction. She had seen it all.

Behind the rest of the group, Damon Baird was taking cover... not really in a tactical sense, but in the "I really wish I wasn't in the middle of a war right now" kind of sense. He finally got the nerve to peek out to the left of the pillar he was taking cover behind, and began to fire his Lancer bullets upon some of the locusts that were too stupid to be taking cover.

"Right, I drop a few, but nobody gives a damn when I do. No. It's only when Fenix, Santiago, or Cole does," Baird mumbled to himself.

One of the soldiers not far ahead of him turned around and laughed, only to get shot in the back by Hammerburst rounds. Baird shook his head and sighed. They say laughter is the medicine of life, but it seemed that that guy got killed for it.

"Where the Hell is Gus and Dom?" He asked aloud, angrily.

Dom stuck his head out from his cover somwhat behind Marcus, when he had run, Dom had stayed behind to cover him. He fired at an Advancing Locust, who was killed instantly.

"Where the Hell is Gus and Dom?"

Dom smiled at the sound of Baird's voice, he jumped up and sprinted backwards, firing at a few Locust as he whent, taking down one and wounding two others. He jumped behind Baird's cover, looking at his confused face.

"Sup Damon?" He said, laughing as he shot another Locust in the back of the head.

"Sup Damon?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what's up..." Baird began, blindly firing a few rounds from cover at the locust troops. "It's a beautiful day. Everything is going the way I hoped it would. It's not like we're in the middle of a war or anything, so we might as well enjoy it!" Baird said, the volume of his voice increasing until he finished.

"Now look at me, following Fenix's orders," Baird spoke, in a disgusted tone. "Getting in jail sure does a lot for a soldier, y'know?!" He threw a frag grenade after his last rant. The other locust forces had ran away, but one of them was obviously oblivious to the situation. The grenade beeped, and the locust tried to run away, but was blown to pieces.

"Gah, whatever. Please excuse the ranting. Yeah, yeah, I know Marcus is a good soldier... but my arm's still killing me, y'know? It's starting to get in my damn head. As if all of this Hell going on made it hard enough to think!"

"Gah, whatever. Please excuse the ranting. Yeah, yeah, I know Marcus is a good soldier... but my arm's still killing me, y'know? It's starting to get in my damn head. As if all of this Hell going on made it hard enough to think!"

"Ah c'mon Baird! Dosean't this remind you of all the fun we together a few months ago?" Dom laughed, he enjoyed stirring Baird up.

He fired over the top of the Concrete, causing a Locust to do a backflip over an overturned car. He heard a large explosion near him, two Locust ran out of a house to his left. He rolled backwards, hoping Barid had done the same as he fired on the first Locust, bringing it to its knees and eventually dying. He jumped back behind the concrete, allowing Baird a clean line if site at the final Locust.

----------------

Gua'ra stood with three of his bretherin, they all had Longshot rifles and were waiting for the signal. Roughly eighteen more Theron Guards were bickering with each other behind them, all awaiting the chance of fresh Human death... they enjoyed such things. The signal was sent, a large explosion from a house erupted, two Locust running out and firing at two Soldiors around the area. Gua'ra loaded his rifle, sending the exess clip to the floor and running out, firing immediatly at a Human, who took the bullet in the foot, he turned around as Gua'ra slammed his rifle into the mans head, snapping his neck. Gau'ra roared, signaling for the rest of his forces to run out, all firing bullets.

They were fighting Humans to the left right and centre, they had come directly into the middle of the Humans forces, causing them to scatter and take cover, the Theron Guards had done the same.

---------------

Marcus finished unloading bullet after bullet into a Locust's skull, cracking noises erupting into the air. He heard the Roar of a Theron Guard, more of a squeel really. He turned around, about twenty Theron Guards were in the middle of the COG Forces, firing behind and forward.

"Shit..." Marcus yelled, grabbing a Soldior who was about to be shot, pulling him down, saving his life.

"Lets move!" He yelled, loading his Lancer and running through the street toward the Theron Guards.

Baird fired a few Snub pistol rounds at the creature after Dom had jumped back behind the concrete. "That was a good one," Baird said, approvingly.


"Lets move!"

Baird was taken back a bit by Marcus's orders, but he figured there wasn't much point in staying back where he was. He quickly charged towards the sergeant's position. He then realized that they were being surrounded by Theron guards.

"Oh Hell," Baird shouted, angrily. "That's great. Now what?"

"Oh Hell. That's great. Now what?"

Dom looked over at Marcus, who was running to their position with three other soldiers... jumping over obstacles until they crouched down neat Dom and Baird.

"Where the hell did those bastards come from?" Dom shouted over the loud noises erupting all aroung him, he fired his Lancer a few times, taking down one of the Theron Gaurds, another aiding him.

"Shit! I missed!" One of the soldiers next to Dom yelled as a Sniper shot wizzed past a Theron Guards face. Dom smiled as he took it out for the man.

"Oh yeah thats how we do it!" Yelled another soldier as he threw a grenaid, causing a Theron to explode over a few Humans.

-------------

Gua'ra walked up to a Human who was on the floor, bleeding. Bullets were flying past him as he raised his foot, sending it down into the mans face, causing his head to pop off and fly into the bushes.

"Advance!" He hissed, moving forward as the Theron Guard next to him was gunned down by a man a little ahead. He moved quickly, jumping behind some cover and firing his sinper at a Human, taking his head clean off. Gau'ra laughed and hissed as he reloaded his rifle. He was enjoying the fresh blood of his enemys.

Baird was trying his best to hold his own during the Theron Guard's attack... but then he watched in terror as one of them brutally killed one of the COGs by stomping on his head with great force.

Something snapped in Baird's head, and he lost his cool. He charged at one with blind rage, and sunk into it with his Lancer's bayonet chainsaw. The creature made a horrible screeching noise as the blades cut into his flesh.

"How do you like this, fucker?!?!" Baird shouted, and put on a sadistic smile as he continued to send the blade through the creature's body. A loud splat was heard, and the creature fell to the floor in three different pieces.

"How do you like this, fucker?!?!"

Gau'ra turned at the sound of the loud Human voice, noticing one of his Men to his left being sawn through by a chainsaw beyonet until the body slumped on the floor.

He pulled up a dead Humans Lancer and ran over, revving it crazily as he brought the chainsaw down at the Human...

Baird's sudden bloodthirstiness had still not worn off, and he took the challenge as soon as it happened. He blocked the attempt to being chainsawed with his own lancer.

"Ha! Oh this is too good! Was that your friend? Welcome to my world, you filthy little shit!" Baird shouted, before swinging the clashing chainsaw bayonets with the Theron Guard again.

"Ha! Oh this is too good! Was that your friend? Welcome to my world, you filthy little shit!"

Gau'ra hissed as the man slashed his chainsaw up again, slamming it into his own, sending sparks all over the place. The Humans and Locust in the area had seemed to stop firing, watching to see how the battle would infold. Gau'ra slammed his chainsaw back into the dule, causing fuel and sparks to fly out again... it was strange, this Human was the only who had ever lasted this long against Gau'ra's chainsaw.

The two were going back and fourth with their chainsaws, and Baird's aggressiveness had no signs of fading. "Why do you look so surprised? Did you take me for a weakling?!" Baird shouted. "Brains can make up for brawn. I'm a fast thinker. Let's see how fast you can act..."

Baird quickly forced his lancer as hard as he could to the theron guard's lancer, which gave him enough time to pull out a frag and shove it into the guard's leg. He ran the other direction and jumped behind a barricade of sandbags.

"Why do you look so surprised? Did you take me for a weakling?!Brains can make up for brawn. I'm a fast thinker. Let's see how fast you can act..."

Gau'ra felt a sharp pain in his leg, he looked down as he recoiled back from the man's push, he almost fell over, just enough time to get steady again. He pushed his hand down to his leg, gripping onto the grenaid and ripping it out of his leg. He limped forward a little, arrempting to throw the grenaid... it was over. The grenaid beeped and a large explosion erupted infront of him. And then, nothing.

------------

Dom ducked for cover as the explosion erupted a little behind him, he looked back, seeing Baird behind cover and bits of Theron Guard raining all over the place.

"Woo! Nice!" He yelled as he started firing at the rest of the Theron's, who were seemingly low on moral.

Baird took a while to recollect himself before opening fire on the other theron guards. "What's going on? Why are they hardly doing anything?" Baird asked, the malice no longer dripping from his tone. "I just took down a theron guard, not like that hasn't happened to them before..."

Baird popped out from the sandbag barricade and fired at a few more before crouching back down. "Was this guy important to them?"

"Was this guy important to them?"

"I hope he was! These bastard's need something to lower their Morale!" Marcus yelled, snapping a Locust's neck who he had downed.

"Oh yeah, I could do this all day."

------------

"Marcus! Incoming Locust from the end of the Street!" Dom shouted, firing down the last Theron guard.

"Baird, get you're ass up here and follow me!" He shouted, about fifty more Grubs had just started engaging the other COG Soldiers up the street, he waited for Baird as Marcus ran off, firing at the last of the scattered Locust through the street as he went... more were coming.

Baird quickly charged forward to Dom's location, still smiling over the chainsaw bayonet clash victory. Of course, he knew that he couldn't get high over himself all day, so he quickly brought himself back to earth (so to speak).

"Ugh, they won't stop coming will they?" Baird shouted in dismay, once reality seeped into his mind. "What the Hell is forcing them to go on this way, RAAM is dead!"

"Ugh, they won't stop coming will they? What the Hell is forcing them to go on this way, RAAM is dead!"

"I don't know, but im looking forward to killing whatever is!" Marcus yelled back as he took cover at the front line, the fifty Locust sprinting towards him and Dom, Baird not far behind.

Marcus revved his chainsaw, the first ten would prorably try get straight through... charging... they always did. Surely enough, a Locust jumped over Marcus' cover, only to have its leg chainsawn off, causing the Locust to knock itself out when it fell back down. Marcus simply shot its skull a few times, looking over at Dom who had just chainsawen a Locusts head off. He smiled, Dom didn't usually do the close-combat thing... Marcus loved it.

"Baird, hurry up!" Marcus yelled, looking over ta Baird who was still running to them.

---------------------

"Yeah, eat that fucker!" Dom had yelled as he' d chainsawn a Locust' head of... blood splatting all over the place.

He got back down, eight more Locust were coming over... only two had made it over in the first wave and were chopped to pieces by Marcus and Dom. The other eight stopped and took cover, noticing that the first wave had all been killed. The firing started, bullets flying everywere from the thirty Locust who had taken cover, the rest were still coming down the road.

Baird continued charging at them with a scowl on his face. He always hated it when his pace wasn't quick enough for Marcus. "All right, all right, I'm here. It's not like you left me alone for a little while before."

Baird let out a sigh as he fired Lancer rounds at some of the locusts on the other side of the barrier. After he reloaded his gun, he took cover beside Marcus and Dom. He stuck his lancer over the barrier and blindfired a few shots at some of the locusts, more than likely missing all of them.

"You know, somethin's killing me here. Where the Hell is Cole? I figured this would be 'his kind of shit,'" Baird said, smirking a little. Although Cole had earned a ton of respect from Baird during their stint together on Alpha Squad, Baird had frowned upon a lot of things Cole did. Baird's been known for being cocky, but he doesn't run around pompously mouthing things like "Everybody wants to see the Cole Train!" Baird also assumed that Cole took steroids, like the stereotypical thrashball player would.

"You know, somethin's killing me here. Where the Hell is Cole? I figured this would be 'his kind of shit,'"

Marcus turned to Baird, who was now on his right, Dom on his left.

"Cole's on a King Raven at the moment, he'll be here soon" Maruc shouted over the continuing Gunfire around him. He looked over at Dom, who was taking out a Theron Guard who was charging at the encampment.

-----------

The dead Locust Theron hit the floor in a thud, right infront of Dom's cover.

"Woah. That was close." He said, looking over at Marcus and laughing a little.

"Man these fuckers don't stop coming!" He shouted, looking at Baird who was just starting to fire over his cover.

-----------

"My Queen"

The voice once again hissed around Terana's mind... Terena... she had not thought of herself by that name in a long time.

"What." She spat at the Theron Sentinel who was walking into the room, causing him to flinch.

"The attack against the Human force was a failure, Gau'ra and all his men were killed..." The Locust trailed off, backing away a little, looking down at the Locust body from about an hour earlier... he had no good intentions of becoming like him.

There was a growl infront of him as the Queen raised her fist and slammed it into the the desk of wich she sat at, causing all Locust in the room to cower.

"Nevermind him, he died serving his Queen." The words moved out of her mouth elegantly... she wasn't like other Locust... she was different... perhaps... Human? She thrashed her head to the left and hissed. She didn't need these thoughts troubling her.

She sighed, moving out of the room and down the staircase of the once life-filled parliment house of Jacinto, she had something special planned for the Humans.

Cole was hanging over the edge of his King Raven, looking out for Delta Squard.. although he could only see a swarm of locusts.
"Theres got to be 10s of thousands down there" He shouted to the pilot.
The pilot didnt hear him though, focusing on flying the chopper.
After 15 or so minutes of circling, Cole spotted Delta Squad, under heavy fire from locusts.
Cole signalled the pilot to set her down in a safe spot until he heard a BANG.. lights flashing all around the chopper.
"We're going down, i repeat, we are going down" Yelled the pilot, trying to stay calm.

Cole almost slipped out of the chopper, although steadying himself. He looked out to spot a seeder, who fired upon them.
The chopper soon pulled into a tail dive and smashed on the top of a building and then.. everything faded.

Marcus looked up at the Raven that had been hit by a Seeder, smoke was erupting from the back as it slammed into a building a few streets away. He looked in shock, Cole was on there.

"Dom, Baird! Get over to that chopper, get any survivers, uncluding Cole!"

----------------------

Dom looked over at Marcus, he nodded, knowing Marcus wanted Cole back here to fight, he stood up, running toward a house to his left, pushing down the fence and running through, taking cover next to the wall, waiting for Baird to follow.

Baird wildly charged towards the helicopter. Although Marcus had given him the orders to, he wasn't doing it for him. Baird knew Cole for a long time, and although they clearly annoyed each other on occasion, he was probably the closest Baird had to a friend.

"Hang on, Cole!" Baird shouted, now beside Dom, who is also charging toward the helicopter.

"Baird! Get the hell back here, we got Locust incoming!"

Dom shouted as he jumped behind a car, scoping out with his newly found sniper rifle, firing at one of the six Locust who were advancing, hitting it in the heart, killing it instantly.

'Shit! Where are these bastards comin' from!"

--------------

Tarak moved through the doorway into the office, three Theron Sentinels were inside, two on either side of the door and one behind the three captured humans who were knelt down and tied up, the Theron behind holding a shotgun to the back of the first, barking at the other two to stay still as Tarak walked in, he was huge compared to the others in the room... only the strongest are able to be Locust Generals, he was one of the best... the Queen's most reliable General, or so she had said.

He moved up to the first human, who's helmet was on the floor, cracked, blood dripping down out of his mouth.

The man seemed to know who the Locust was, he shuddered, causing the Locust a great deal of joy... the man was already cowering in fear.

Tarak waved his hand left at the Theron, who moved away to join the other two Theron Sentinels, who seemed to be eager of what was about to come.

Tarak drew his large Boltok pistol, loading a round into it and pointing it down to the humans head.

He hissed a little, pushing pressure onto the trigger. He stopped as there was a loud crash, the building shook, he simply looked at the cieling... waiting to see if anything came through it. Nothing did.

He moved over to the Theron's, who were also looking up, surprised by the sudden crash. Tarak heard the human behind him sigh in relief as he moved toward the doorway, he quickly swung around, firing the shot straight for the human, sending the large barrel into the human's forehead, causing his head to explode from the force of the explosive shot. His limp body fell to the floor, the other two looked shocked, blood having splattered all over them. The large Locust smiled, turning around and walking out, two of the Theron Sentinels following him, the third staying in the room with its shotgun pointed at the remaining Humans.

Tarak and the Therons moved up a flight of stairs wihch led to the top floor, of which had another staircase leading to the roof. They moved over the last step, looking out apon a large hallway with debri all over the place, Locust bodies littered the floor. Tarek looked down the hallway, part of a 'King Raven' as he had heard humans call the machine, was slammed down through the cieling into the floor, it seemed like the cockpit of the vehicle, the rest was apparently on the roof.

Tarak turned to one of the Therons, who immediatly payed attention to its General.

"Sssearch the area." Tarak hissed, causing the Theron to walk off, scanning the area with its Lancer. He and the second Theron moved up the stairs, passing the dead body of the pilot who had apparently flown the machine. Daybreak shined down apon the two Locust, causing Tarak to slightly squint his eyes, moving up over the last step, the Theron following. The 'King Raven's' cockpit and body were sticking out, fire and concrete all over the place.

Tarak moved closed, noticing two humans, one lying on the floor, seemingly unconcious and one was sitting up, immediatly raising his Lancer. Tarak raised his pistol, firing at the mans heart of wich send the man backwards off the side of the building, a large hole in his chest.

The Theron moved toward the other human, he was larger the any human Tarak had ever seen, almost as tall as him and just as strong.

"Thisss ones alive..." The Theron hissed to Tarak, who moved in closer.

The second Theron came up the stairs, moving toward Tarak.

"Area secureeee sir." The Locust hissed, seemingly pleased with himself. Tarak nodded, opening his large mouth to speak.

"Bring this human with ussss." He hissed, pointing at the large human who was unconcious. Both the Theron's nodded, grabbing an arm each and dragging him down the stairs.

Cole woke up in a daze, looking down at his feet. He felt himself being dragged along.. so he looked up to see 2 massive Theron Sentinals dragging him along the deserted street.
"What the fuck you overgrown pigs, get off me" Cole shouted, not aware of what he was saying at the time.
Tarak stopped letting go of Cole while the other kept a hold of him.
"what did you just sssssssay?" Demanded Tarak
"I said, get off me you fucking overgrown PIGS" Cole shouted at Tarak, spitting at the Therons feet.
"You are a brave one, i can see. But you will prove no match for our locust horde, me or our powerful queen" Hisses Tarak back.

As soon as Tarak spoke his last words, he lifted his arm up and backhanded Cole to the face, blood spurting out of his mouth all over the gravel road and knocking him out cold.

Baird, after regaining consciousness finally, found himself covered in a pool of his own blood in the middle of the street. He couldn't remember anything that had happened, but he had taken quite a blow during the crash. He couldn't remember if a piece of shrapnel had hit him, or if he had taken enemy fire. Either way, it hurt like Hell.

"Uh..." Baird managed to say, before entering a coughing fit. "Is anyone there?" He finally asked, once the coughing had ceased. "Cole? You around?" He asked, although the silence around him indicated that he wasn't.

Of course not, Baird thought to himself. Cole's always talking, there's no such thing as silence around him.

Baird smiled to himself a bit, before realizing the severity of him not being around was. Had he died in the wreck? Was he being held captive? Was he back with Marcus and Dom, who seemingly weren't around his location? Only time would tell...

((NOTE: I am only controling Dom until someone creates him.))

Dom looked over at Baird, who had been shot to the ground by the Locust. He jumped up, firing frantically at the Locust who was almost close enough to touch, sending it into a backflip, killing it instantly.

He knlet down beside Baird, who was seemingly confused about where he was. Dom felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, a Lancer shot had slammed into his shoulder, sending him to the ground, he fired his Lancer, killing the Locust that had shot him instantly. He grabbed Baird's arms, jumping up and dragging him behind the car, getting back down.

"Arg! Damn that hurts!" He yelled, looking at the blood that was pouring down his shoulder like a fountain. He switched his Lancer into his other hand, blind firing through the window of the car, hearind the windows smashing. He stopped as he heard a large explosion near him, sending shrapnell all over Baird and himself, his ears rang... he couldn't hear anything but the now quiet sound of gunfire. He stood up, firing at the Locust who had thrown a grenaid, only to see it take cover behind a building and blind fire at Dom. He sighed, getting back down.

There was a strange sound in his ears as his hearing came back, a little blurry. He shook his head. He needed to make a run for it with Baird. He noticed a shopping centre to the left of them, it was a long run, but it looked like they could go through it and come out on the street of wich Cole's Raven had crashed.

"Baird, this might hurt a bit!" Dom said, lifting him up over his head and placing the body on his shoulders. The next thing he knew, he was running as fast as he could... firing blindly in the direction of the Locust, who ran after them as he moved. They drew closer, bullets were slamming into the concrete around Dom's feet. He didn't stop, all he needed was a few more seconds. He leapt at the sound of the distant 'Boom', smashing through the glass doors of the shopping centre, revealing a large, dark complex inside. There was an explosion outside, causing the entrance to collapse inside, sending rubble and concrete all over the place. The dust cleared as Dom looked up again, noticing Baird groaning beside him. The entrance had been completly blocked, which wasn't actually a bad thing.

Dom sighed in relief, standing up and walking over to Baird, kneeling down and pulling out a needle all C.O.G soldiers carried these days.

He injected the needle into Baird neck, causing him to become unconcious. Dom then wrapped up the bad wounds and sat there, Lancer pointing off at the large hallway filled with shops. The shopping centre was more like a megastore of sorts... it was huge, thats all Dom knew. He sat there, waiting for Baird to wake up.

When Baird finally came to again, he squinted his eyes in a confused expression again, and mustered the strength to talk.

"I just had a dream I was bleeding and I didn't know where I was fighting the Locust... oh wait. That happened, didn't it? Or is this the dream? Or were they both dreams? Or was I..." Baird brought his palm to his face and smacked himself out of his asking phase.

"Gah... thanks Dom, for whatever you did that brought me here." Baird stopped talking for a minute, and his eyes widened.

"Where's Cole?"

"The Raven Cole's in was shot down remember? Where going there now." Dom said as Baird woke up. He stood up, pulling him to his feet and moving into a store nearby, wich he looked for food inside. Finding nothing.

"Damn, we better get moving. And keep you're eyes open... I've got a bad feeling about this place." Dom said, moving off down the hallway.

"Shit, so you haven't found him after the wreck..." Baird whispered, angrily. He walked with Dom down the hallway, then got into another cynical question phase.

"You don't think he's dead, do you?" Baird asked, worriedly. He had known Cole for a quite a long time now, and the idea of the tougher-than-nails Thrashball superstar dying in helicopter crash... no, dying in general... had been an unnerving thought.

"And another thing," Baird questioned, quietly. "Where the Hell is Marcus? Does he know where we are?"

"You don't think he's dead, do you?"

"Im sure he's fine... Cole can survive against fiftly Locust im sure he can survive a crash." Dom said, laughing a little.

"Where the Hell is Marcus? Does he know where we are?"

"I think he followed us late, if he did, we're split up now. He'll prorably find another way there." Dom said, asking himself the same question.

There was a loud crash in the distance, followed by a high pitched squeel.

"Oh shit! Baird, we got a Berserker!" Dom shouted, jumping through the glass into a shop filled with kitchen ware. He reloaded his Lancer, he knew it wouldn't do anything... still.

"Baird. Don't talk and do what I say." Dom said, staying completly still as the beast walked down the hallway toward them... he rememberd something Marcus had said...

"She can hear us... she can smell us... but she can't see us..."

His thoughts were cut off as the creature howled again, moving into the store that Dom was in.

It moved to a shelf near him, next to the counter he was ducked behind. He held his breathe as the Berserker moved infront of him, sniffing the air... it seemed to know Dom was there as it raised its fist, Dom rolled over the counter, smashing into another shelf, sending him into the wall as the Berserker slammed into the desk, shattering it into a million pieces. It ran toward Dom, who rolled out of the way and into the hallway, beggining to run down the long hallway ahead.

"C'mon Baird! This is where it gets fun!" He yelled sarcasticlally.

"Baird. Don't talk and do what I say."

"Wait a second, whose the one who spent all that time studying all of these locust bastards? I think I forgot the name... oh yeah... ME!" Baird whispered angrily.

His gaze then went to the charging berserker. "Oh shit. Oh shit... I take it you can't pull a Hammer of Dawn out of your ass about now, Dom?" Baird asked, sarcastically but fearfully. "I'm sure as Hell not going fisticuffs with that gigantic piece of shit, that's what Cole was for!"

"Oh shit. Oh shit... I take it you can't pull a Hammer of Dawn out of your ass about now, Dom?"

Dom was still sprinting down the hallway, the Berserker was getting closer and closer.

"Baird! Instead of sitting around waiting for me to get killed make a fucking distraction!" Dom shouted, jumping into another store... he looked around, hearing the screaming Berserker coming in behind him. He jumped into a freezer room, it was cold... refreshing. His heart was pumping so fast he could feel it moving his entire body with it. He stood there in the corner of the room behind a box. Quietly waiting.

"Whose a pretty girl? Oh yes you are, you're a pretty girl. Now come charge at me, you filthy shit!" Baird shouted as loud as he could towards the berserker. He picked up a nearby piece of rubble and threw it down the hall, laughing as it traveled across the hall. That is, until the rubble hit the creature in the head.

Then Baird's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Oh shit, I'm gonna die."

Marcus slammed his Lancer into the door infront of him, sending it open into a large mall. He had seen Baird and Dom run through the entrance, being persued by Locust. He was now, killing off the remains.

He fired down at the last of them from inside the Mall, killing it and sending it to the floor in a pool of blood. He heard gunfire in the distance and a screaming noise.

"Shit..." He whispered, running up a flight of stairs to his right, coming into an open hallway on the third floor with several windows on the side... he moved up the hallway cautiously...

-----------------

Dom watched as the Berserker ran off in the other direction. He jumped outt of the shop, firing his Lancer at the beast... wich was now almost at Baird.

"Hey bitch! Come get me!" He shouted, bullets bouncing off the beats head and slamming into the concrete around it. It turned, charging back at Dom quickly, he had a plan. He looked behind him, the Berserker was down the other side of the hallway... hopefully he had enough time. He ran left, jumping into a staircase and heading up three steps at a time. He needed to do this fast. He heard the Berserker howl as it started climbing the stairs... at least five flights below him. He charged up, coming to the sixth level of the large mall. He ran down the hallway toward a large window on the other side. He stood there, firing his Lancer as the beast came charging at him, gaining speed as it went. Dom moved sideways and back, a bit edgy he wouldn't make it. The Berserker made one last step, sending its fist into Dom, who slammed into the window, shattering the glass and plumeting down into what seemed the end. The Berserker had fallen with him, and had now hit the ground. He felt himself flying through the air... unable to stop. His body suddenly jerked, feeling his hand being caught by something. He looked up, Marcus was hung out the window, he had caught Dom on the third floor of the building.

"Shit, you're alot heavier then I remember!" Marcus said, grunting as he pulled Dom through the window.

Dom grinned. Now back on solid ground, looking at Marcus.

"Thanks man." He said, Marcus had saved his life countless times. As he had saved Marcus' several times.

"Don't mention it. Rekon it's dead?" Marcus said, poking his head back out the window... looking down at the Berserker of which was not moving.

"I't better fucking be." Dom said, looking down at the beast.

"Wheres Baird?" Marcus said, becoming serious again.

"Back on the first floor... at least... thats where I left him." Dom said, picking himself up and loading his Lancer again.

"Alright, lets find some stairs."

"Ah, don't tell me Dom is dead," Baird said to himself, pacing back and fourth in the hallway. "Well, as long as that damn berserker is down there with no way of getting up here, maybe I have nothing to worry about." Baird then wondered why he was talking to himself and promptly shut up.

He walked to the hole that Dom and the berserker had fallen down. That's a long way down, he thought to himself, throwing the piece of rubble he had used against the berserker down there and waiting to hear impact.

Marcus and Dom moved quickly up the staircase Dom had run up, eventually coming to the sixth floor.

"We better find Baird, c'mon." Dom said, waving his hand for Marcus to follow, he did. They moved down the hallway toward the hole Dom and the Berserker had fallen out of, noticing Baird standing there leaning over the edge, looking down. Dom moved up behind him quietly, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back so he didn't fall off the edge.

"Scare ya' Damon?"

------------------

Marcus looked down, it had been a long fall for Dom... if Marcus hadn't of been where he was at the time, Dom would prorably be under that Berserker.

"Shit, thats a longg way down." He said, smiling and moving toward Dom and Baird.