AN – Has it really been that long since I updated? Whoops. Anyways, thanks for all those that commented/followed/favorited and all that wonderful stuff. Seriously, I think this is the most I've ever written of a story and it's because you guys keep me motivated to write….even though I don't update nearly as much as I should. Guess that's having a part-time job and full-time school for you.

Enjoy!

Oh. Oh, shit.

The beast's roar echoed through the valleys and scattered the flying fauna in the area. Its breath was that of fetid meat and wet soil and made her stomach roil and lurch at the smell. She pushed off of Kaidan, who scrambled away from her as well. Their fight to the death seemed forgotten as the need of survival kicked into their systems.

The beast dove for them.

Shepard tucked and rolled not a moment too soon. The ground from where her foot was not a moment before crumbled apart at impact. She landed on her injured shoulder, but the pain seemed second to her intruding thought.

This was a thresher maw.

She didn't think about how it got to such a distant planet. She didn't think about the gun still in her hands or the chances of her escape. The only thought on her mind was of how the hell she was going to get away. The thresher maw lifted its head once more and slammed itself onto the ground. Shepard lost her footing and stumbled. Kaidan wasn't having any luck as well. She glanced his way as she pulled herself up. He attempted to shot at the thresher maw's thick hide while he regained his balance. It must have been fear that made him forget it took a whole lot more than an assault rifle to pierce its hide.

It just made the thing angrier.

She used the opportunity to scramble away from the beast as Kaidan continued to waste ammo. The boom of overhead engines had her dive for the trees, however, as two more Alliance ships rumbled across the skies.

The last thing Shepard needed was enemy backup – and of course, that was exactly what she had. The ships circled around and whizzed by while they dropped rockets around the thresher. She rolled away from the debris that flew outwards at deadly speed.

Let them deal with the creature.

She ran in no particular direction, except for 'away'. She turned her head just in time to see the thresher maw reach for a ship just as it passed over and crush it with its tentacled jaw. The metal of the ship crumbled like foil and was tossed toward her direction. The force of the ship's impact loosened the ground beneath her. She fell as the cliff side disintegrated away and tumbled down into the valley below.

The fall was nothing like before in the small temple. Before, she was weightless. Weightless, and in the company of her two best friends.

Now, the dirt scraped and pinged across her battered armor and her even more battered skin – and she was alone. A sudden flash of pain ripped down her spinal cord and she cried out.

Her momentum came to a stop at the bottom of the incline. She ended up on her back, and for that brief moment when she caught her breath, she stared upwards into the clear sky. It was dazzling, breathtaking – so out of place despite the horrendous events in the last few hours. The sounds of the thresher maw and the popping of gunfire sounded almost distant from where she lay.

Maybe she could close her eyes and block it out.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to dry heave.

She wanted to cry and never get up. For that moment there, she wanted the thresher maw to come and end her.

Grief, she found, was a crushing weight on her chest.

Eventually, however, she found it inside of her to move an arm. From that arm she moved the other until she had pushed herself up on her elbows. Slowly – the high of adrenaline was absent now – she pushed herself upwards until she was standing. Her legs shook, but it was something. She felt the machinery on the back of her neck with a tender hand. Her biotic amp had a crack running down the center – no doubt from the fall and tumble – but somehow was still working.

She took the little miracles for what they were.

"One step, Shepard." She told herself. Her voice croaked from a parched throat, but the verbal confirmation was enough to move her foot. Then the other. Then the next. Soon she was walking again, albeit with a limp. She kept her shotgun safely clutched within her grasp.

It wasn't until she was perhaps half a click away that the launch of a flare made her whip around and gaze upwards above the tree line.

16.8 clicks away from the turian base

A thresher maw's roar could be heard for miles. He and his team saw its massive head rise above the tree line before it smashed itself upon the ground near its unseen victims.

"I…didn't know thresher maws were in this part of the galaxy." Syrius sounded hesitant to move forward.

"This planet is a basket full of surprises." Garrus grumbled. He saw his team stand among the undergrowth cautiously.

"Let's move around the scene and keep going." He ordered and motioned with his readied gun.

"But…" Orsa, a particularly nervous turian called from the commlink.

"Let the humans deal with it." Garrus didn't try to hide the slight satisfaction he had from his voice. They watched an Alliance dogfighter swoop around the head of the beast. It was crushed without much effort on the maw's part.

"See? The Alliance is doing a perfectly good job."

He moved them towards the west in order to bypass the skirmish. His priority was his people. He could deal with the Alliance later.

They were perhaps four and a half clicks away from the coordinates before they were distracted by a blinding red flare that rocketed towards the sky. Garrus and his team stood silent for a brief moment as they watched the light fall back towards the earth.

"Looks like we're going to have to hurry a bit." Syrius said.

"Sounds like a plan." Garrus agreed. Needless to say, Garrus and the others began to haul ass through the undergrowth. They were grossly underprepared for an entire Alliance fleet which he hoped to the spirits weren't coming.

A cargo ship rocketed above them, just mere meters from the tree line. The massive wind it created almost unsteadied them.

Well, shit.

5.41 hours later, 16.2 clicks to the west

The last time she hiked such a strenuous terrain was never.

It's not like they had to walk such long distances before, she and her team. Sure, she had to take part in endurance marches just like every other platoon in the history of human military, but never before had she had to climb and stumble through the dips and peaks of the valley she was in for so long. To be honest, she had no idea where she was actually going. Every now and then, she retreated to the shadows the trees provided when an engine overhead became too loud. She attributed it to instinct more than the definite will for survival. Because that's what all of her actions became after a while – instinct. Head towards the brightest star she could find. Hide from the enemy. Find water.

Her head swam from weakness and pain. Everything ached, especially her shoulder. But what else could she do? If she stopped to rest she knew she'd never get back up.

So on she trudged. But with the dead silence of the forest, nothing was around to distract her from the thoughts that weighed heavy on her mind.

They're all dead.

They're not coming back.

They were killed.

They're not coming back.

The others are out to kill you and everyone else on this planet.

They're not coming back.

All because you had to be a savior.

They're not coming back.

She found herself in a dead sprint. She raced. Raced to what?

There was something up ahead.

A clearing.

She ran towards it. Her gun whirred to life in her hands. Did she even have enough ammo? Ammo for what?

She stumbled. She picked herself back up. She ran.

There, up ahead. She broke through the forest into the clearing, gun cocked and readied. Pointed at the enemy.

They're not coming back.

Her finger was on the trigger.

Wait – it wasn't the enemy. It wasn't human.

It was turian.

She stared down at the child that stood before her.

She had never seen a turian child before.

She looked upwards to see the faces of a couple dozen turians, frozen in fear of what she would do.

Casual clothes. No guns. Civilians.

Her exhaustion crashed against her once more. She dropped her arms with a shaky breath.

She felt mortified with herself. She was falling apart, letting her fears get the better of her.

The child's mother, she assumed, rushed out to grab the child that was frozen with fear. Shepard did nothing to stop her.

She shouldered her shotgun and raised her hands, hoping the gesture of peace was universal. They seemed to get the message, but were reluctant to move.

She didn't have to say anything as a dogfighter zipped across the small clearing with amazing speed. The turians flinched and suddenly remembered their objective. They were packing and hauling crates onto whatever ships they had. Children were rounded up by mothers as fathers packed anything they could carry. They were evacuating.

Suddenly, the crazed-looking Alliance soldier that crashed out from the forest was no longer the biggest threat.

The looming Alliance fleet was.

And it dawned on her as she stood there favoring her left foot; the civilians that were caught in this master clusterfuck of a war - they had no dog in this fight. They were just trying to survive, and the Alliance thought that was unacceptable.

She approached the closest turian, who had eyed her wearily from the beginning as he strapped down crates.

"What can I do to help?" she sounded like hell. Probably looked like it too, by the look he was giving her. He blinked at her for a moment taken aback.

"And why would you want to do that, human?"

"Because the Alliance and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment. And you look like you need a hand."

No sooner had she said that had the crate slipped. She reached out to grab it just as he did, both managing to save it before it hit the ground. He gave her a nod and let her haul the crate back up with him. Together, the two packed everything onto the little shuttle with amazing speed, all the while ignoring the others that gave her weary looks.

"Where is the larger ship?" she yelled over the whine of the engines starting up.

"Dropping off the first group of families. Should be here soon to pick us up." His deeper turian voice carried better over the noise.

Again, another Alliance dogfighter screamed overhead. What were they waiting for?

"You guys are making me nervous." He said.

"I said I wasn't with them. Pretty sure I got my metaphorical discharge papers when they started firing at me." She replied. He looked alarmed, but said nothing else. He banged his fist on the metal hull of the shuttle and watched it rise slowly, before taking off into the sky.

"We have a larger ship waiting for us outside of this planet's atmosphere. Too dangerous to bring it closer with the Alliance around." He told her as they both watched the ship fly, along with other small shuttles that followed after it.

"Your military isn't here?"

"They should be, but who knows where the hell they are." He snorted.

"Hey Stax, we got a problem." A turian man ran towards them in a half-jog. His markings were almost luminescent. The turian beside her turned to him and waited patiently for the other to catch his breath.

"The shuttle can't land close. Turns out Alliance back up has finally arrived and won't let it land."

"How close can you get it?" Stax asked.

"About half a click away. I know it doesn't sound like much but – "

"The other supplies we have to carry to the ship." Stax interjected.

"Yeah. I don't know if we can make it. Inus said he saw some heading this way."

"Spirits, where is the military?"

"I can help." She interjected. The other turian must have just noticed her by the perturbed and borderline hateful look he gave.

"Relax. Turns out she's in the same boat as us. And we could use extra help."

"But she's – "

"Injured. We could take her out if we wanted to. She's not a threat."

Shepard guessed that was his way of sticking up for her…somehow.

"I can escort. I still have some strength left." She offered.

Stax nodded his head. "You're probably the only one with an actual gun, too."

"Yeah, there's that." She agreed.

"Okay. Januk, go round everyone up. Women and children first, then the men. We're going to get them out of here. Radio Inus and tell him to keep his ass there until we get to him." Stax ordered. Januk gave a noise of understanding as he ran off to deliver the messages. Stax turned to her and eyed her up and down.

"You look like hell."

"I feel like it."

"You sure you can do this?"

"Positive." She hoped she sounded more affirmative than she actually felt. Her shoulder had stiffened to the point of immobility, her head felt like it was splitting in two, and she was pretty sure she had a few broken ribs from the tumble, but that didn't surprise her.

He bought her bluff –or if he didn't, he decided not to say anything – and motioned for her to follow him. She tried to hide her limp as she approached the gathered group of women and children holding packs and small crates to go with them. They eyed her warily and kept their distance. It didn't bother her. Stax gave some short speech on what was going on that she didn't listen to. Her eyes and ears were towards the skyline above the trees. Everything had grown uncomfortably still. Nudging the turian beside her lightly, she motioned upwards.

"We need to go. It's too quiet." She said.

He nodded slowly as he realized it as well.

"Go. Januk will lead you to the ship. Just…keep them safe."

"You're not coming?"

"No, I have to stay for now and help get everything out."

"What's so important that you have to risk your life?" she found herself asking. It was ironic how the situation was so similar to what happened at the human base.

"Just odds and ends. Don't wait up for us. If we're not there in twenty minutes leave without us." He answered. From the way he sounded, she knew that was the end of that. Unwilling to press him, she gave him a short nod and walked towards the group she was charged with taking care of.

"Does that gun have enough ammo?" Januk did not sound trusting.

"Won't need it." She shrugged. Ow. Bad mistake. She balled her hands into fists and felt her biotics flickering to life around her fists. The amp on the back of her neck burned, but she ignored it. Raising her hands, she released her fists. Her biotics expanded into a solid dome that encompassed the entire group. Some children made noises of awe. Some looked at her like she was a witch. Januk just blinked in bland surprise.

"This won't last forever, you know." She tried not to laugh. He snapped to and began the trek into the jungle.

It was only half a click to their destination and then she was done. If she could survive everything she had been through so far, she could survive this, she told herself.

It could only get better, right?

AN – There will definitely be more Garrus in the next chapters. Plus the tone will pick up. I know it's a bit…sad. But the plot has to advance! And it will! Don't worry! Thanks for sticking around to read this far.