Chapter 1: I should have stayed in bed

THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO MY BABY SISTER BABYLON WHO'S ALWAYS HELPED ME AND PUSHED ME TO CONTINUE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

The filthy streets of Sera were now littered with bodies of both humans and locusts and stained with their blood. After what seemed like forever, neither side had gained anything.

A loud boom was deafening, letting the tired Gears know that a boomer had joined them on the surface.

At the end of the long street, Baird crawled to find any sort, leaving behind a long smear of blood. He let out a soft groan and pressed a hand to his ribs. When he pulled it away, he found it covered in blood.

"Damn it." He muttered, which causes him pain just to speak.

The simple chest movements, simply breathing let alone crawling caused him pain. His breathing became labored as he leaned heavily against a crumbling brick wall, struggling to just to stay consicious. If he lost consciousness now, then he was as good as dead.

One street over, he could hear Cole. "Whoo! C'mon. bring it on sucker!"

"Frag out!" Marcus called out in his monotone voice.

"BOOM!"

Baird felt his blood run cold. Seconds later there was an explosion that made him want to crap his pants. He scrambled for better cover, fighting unconsciousness even more.

"BOOM!"

Another explosion shook the ground under him, causing him to lose is balance. Taking behind a car, he struggled to pull air into his lugs.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The boomer's footsteps slowly got closer and closer. Baird could feel each deep "thump" in his chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Taking off his bag, he tossed it under the car and climbed in after it being careful not to make any sound as he did so. The crunch of his armor pressing on the dirt under him made him freeze in horror. He prayed that the Boomer's loud footsteps would cover any sound that he would make.

Now from under the car, he could watch the boomer to see where he would go next. Luckily the big ones were really stupid. They would never think about looking under a car for an enemy.

"Hey Baird!" Cole's voice boomed over the radio, causing him to wince. "Where you at?"

Good ol' Cole, always looking out for him. Though, Baird was afraid to reply. If he replied now and the boomer found him, he would be dead.

"Damon!" Baird could start to hear the panic in his voice.

He waited for several more seconds before replying.

"I'm alright, Cole." Baird whispered "I have a Boomer on my ass."

"Don't worry , baby! I'll e right there…. Uh… Where you at?"

"One street north of you .I think the Boomer is heading your way."

"I see him."

The Boomer must have seen Cole because he seemed to stumble a little bit faster down the street.

Baird let out a long breath then winced. Even that had caused him some pain. The edge of his vision was becoming hazy, almost like looking down a long foggy tunnel.

Not good.

The sound of multiple gunfire meant other Gears were helping Cole with the Boomer.

More heavy footsteps caught Baird's attention, shaking the ground under him and making his teeth rattle. It was another large dumb locust joining the battle, unknowingly passing him by.

"GRIND!"

The loud automatic fire from the grinder was deafening, especially since it stood not even a yard away!

"Take cover!" Marcus shouted over the gunfire.

Even with the limited view, Baird could tell that they were having difficulty.

Carefully bringing his gun around, he began to shoot at the Grinder's feet. In no time his clip was empty. The process of reloading in a very small area was going to be difficult.

Several times he slammed his hand on the bottom of the car, or the rough ground. Them jamming his finger, he finally slammed the clip in and began to fire once more.

It took tons of ammo not only from Baird, but from the other Gears to finally bring the large dumb beast down. Those things had much thicker ski than their smaller counterparts, but they were much dumber. They didn't move very fast and they didn't always think to take cover.

"BOOM!"

The boom was like thunder, shaking the planet to it's very core.

Baird could hear the loud commands from Marcus as he shouted over the gunfire.

On the edge of consciousness, Baird slowly made his way out from under the car, leaving another long trail of smudged blood behind him. He was losing way too much blood.

Again the ground shook and large hole opened up several yards away. Locusts came pouring out like ants coming out of a flooded ant hill.

His vision was now pretty limited as he made his ways to the remains of a crumpled brick wall. There he collapsed in a heap, gasping for air.

The gunfire had become much louder now from the new guests who had just arrived. Cole of course was pretty loud as well.

Closing his eyes, Baird finally accepted that this would probably be his last moments on Sera. What a way to die, bleeding out in a filthy street all alone.

He would have at least like to be with Cole if he was going to die. Cole was the only one he considered to be his best friend. His best friend, yeah he liked the sound of that. The guy did save his life quite a few times.

There was a movement and the sound of shuffling rubble. Baird's eyes which had been slightly shut was now was fully open, he brought is gun in the direction of the sound.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest as very slowly crawled up in the rubble inch by painful inch. Since he was going to die anyways, so he might as well go figure out what was making the sound.

Here was no gunfire, not even any footsteps, just the slight noise of shuffling rubble. For all he knew, it could have been a sniper camping out waiting for an unexpected Gera to come strolling by.

But it wasn't a sniper, a Locust yes but not a sniper…

There lying in the rubble laid a small grey baby Locust, raiser sharp teeth and beady eyes looking up at him.

A baby Locust here on the surface? Baird was pretty much the resident expert of the Locusts. He knew a lot about the Locust but this just stunned him. They lived and bred underground. It amazed him to see a baby above ground and alone for that matter.

For several minutes Baird just stared at it. He knew that he should kill it, knowing all to well what it will become if he allowed it to live long enough to become an adult.

For some reason he couldn't do it. The thing laid there helpless as it stared up at him, almost pleading for his help.

How can something that walks on two legs seem like such a monster?

"Baird!" Cole's voice cut through his thoughts.

He could hear several sets of footsteps rapidly coming his way. He didn't have much time to make a decision.

Their feet got closer and closer.

Quickly he scooped up the little grey creature and placed it in his small bag which already held things he collected while on patrol. He closed the bag just in time.

As they arrived, Baird was barely conscious. A large pool of blood now gathered under his body, and his side now stained. It was amazing that he was still awake with all the blood loss.

"Baird." Cole kneeled beside him.

Marcus brought a thick finger to his ear. "Control this is Delta, do you read?"

"Control here." It was Anya. If Delta Squad was awake, so was Anya.

"We need casvac ASAP! Baird is down and bleeding pretty badly."

"Hold on." There was several minutes of silence. " Alright, I have a raven in bound. ETA is about five minutes."

"He doesn't have five minutes, Anya!"

"I'm sorry Marcus, but it's the only free raven. Right now all other ravens are bringing in injured. E-holes everywhere and many Gears were injured."

"Alright, thanks Anya. Delta out."

Cole gave Marcus a worried look. He knew that Baird had a very slim chance of making it back to the base alive.

"Hey man." Cole said a little quieter now. "Come on, keep your eyes open. The raven will be here real soon."

Baird gave him a dirty look. He had heard Anya over the radio, he knew how long it will take to arrive.

"Cole."

"Hey you're awake. Man you really had me worried baby!"

Baird just watched as Delta stood around looking very uncomfortable. They all knew that he wasn't doing well.

Slowly he tried to sit up, hoping that maybe that would somehow keep him awake. The moment he tried to move, a sharp pain shot through his body and he fell back.

"Ouch!"

"Baird!" Cole reached out wanting to do anything to take away his pain.

"You don't look so good, Damon."

He didn't. All color had drained from his face and he looked very sickly.

"Gee, thanks."

The five minutes seemed more like five hours.

Then there was the deep thundering noise of the incoming raven.

"It's about damn time." Marcus muttered.

The large craft set down in the middle of the intersection.

"Come on guys." Marcus said. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Carefully Cole helped Baird to his feet. As he did so, Baird winced and had to lean heavily against him. Dom picked up his backpack which felt heavier than normal.

With each step he took, searing pain shot through his body. He stopped; taking deep breaths as he once again leaned heavily against Cole. Cole looked down worriedly at him.

"You okay, man?"

Is he okay?! Did he look okay!? Was he joking?!

It seemed like forever before they finally reached the raven. It took Baird much effort and help just to climb into the raven. He collapsed in a heap, covered in blood and sweat.

They all took their seats. It would take them another five minutes just to return back to the base.

Baird leaned heavily against the cockpit wall, his breathing uneven. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to stay awake.

"Stay awake." Cole said gently. "We are almost there."

"I know…"

With each jarring movement from the raven, pain shot through his body, causing his eyes to snap open. He took a sharp intake of air.

Beside him sat his best friend, Cole. A very loyal friend who had always been there for him and on many occasions had saved his ass. Cole is the only person he had ever trusted with his life.

"It will be okay, Cole." He said weakly.

"Yeah.. You're probably right…"

Silence filled the little area as everybody just sat there and watched the quick change of the scenery. Baird glanced at the others. They sat still, seeming like they were all on the edge.

Marcus sat tense, his jaw clenched shut. He sat there with his eyes closed and his body never moved. Beside him Dom sat, leaning forward as he stared at his picture of Maria. He was only a little bit more relaxed than Marcus.

Cole sat with Baird on the cold metal ground of the raven, looking really worried. Cole..,. the greatest friend anybody could have. Loyal, helpful, the guy that would die in the ditch for him.

"We're almost there." Cole said again.

He didn't know when he had passed out, but when he did, he was dead to the world.

Cole looked up to Marcus who nodded. There really wasn't anything they could do anyways. He sat there for several long minutes, just watching the slow rise and fall of Baird's chest.

Off in the distance, the large buildings of the COG HQ slowly came into view. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Now Baird just had to make it just a little bit further and everything would be okay.

TBC

HEY HOPE YOU LIKE IT! I'VE BEEN WRITING AWAY TRYING TO GET THIS FIRST CHAPTER UP AS FAST AS I COULD. I'VE BEEN INSPIRED ONCE AGAIN, BUT HOPEFULLY IT WILL CONTINUE AND GET ME THROUGH THE REST FO THIS STORY. I DON'T PLAN ON MAKING IT SUPER LONG, BUT WE'LL SEE.

THANKS BABYLON FOR THE CONSTANT PUSH ON GETTING THIS STORY STARTED. THIS ONE IS FOR YOU! LOVE YA BABY SISTER!