Love KIA (Damon Baird x Reader)

Chapter 16: What Now?

After sinking Jacinto, everyone on the Raven took the opportunity to catch up on some desperately needed rest. Nearly the second we sat down, we all fell right asleep. From what we could tell, the water from the ocean flooded the entirety of the Hollows, drowning every last Locust inside. We assumed the queen was down there as well, but we couldnt be sure. Chances are, she knew of our plan, and evacuated as soon as possible. However, none of us were too concerned with that at the moment. For now, we reveled in our victory, and looked to the future. With Jacinto gone, we would need to rebuild. Start new. Where that would be, we left up to Hoffman and the higher ups. Delta had done more than enough for one day.

The ride was surprisingly smooth. No jolts, no alarms.. It was nice. I had always associated flying with air combat.. the raven swerving to avoid bullet fire, the sounds of turrets everywhere.. but not this time. It was calm, peaceful even.

I woke up to someone lightly shaking me. I perked up a bit, still half asleep, barely processing the fact that Baird was saying something to me.

"Hey.. Wake up.. We've landed." He said, shaking my arm.

I sat up, lifting my head off his shoulder and looking outside, "Wha..? Where are we?" I asked.

"I have no idea." He replied, "But I'm guessing home."

We both stood up and stepped off the Raven, joining Marcus, Dom and Cole. We were on a beach, near what looked like an abandoned COG outpost. Marcus informed us that we were waiting for word from Hoffman. He and a few other soldiers were currently going over the Hollows with radars, looking for any signs of life.

"It had to of worked.." Dom said, "I mean, we flooded the whole damn place! Nothing could have survived that."

"We cant underestimate them. We need to be sure." Marcus said back.

"It better of worked." Baird scoffed, "We cant have sunk Jacinto for nothing."

"Let's just wait for word from Hoffman." Marcus said

Seemingly hours had passed since we landed, but it couldve been mere minutes. Time was lost to me as I kept drifting in and out of sleep. Baird and I had sat down against a nearby building with the rest of Delta. Dom and Marcus were talking amongst themselves, while Cole was chatting away with some other soldier. Baird looked over at me and Scooter closer, letting me lean on his shoulder.

"We're constantly on the move.. I never noticed how tired I was.." I mumbled

"Yeah.. but we can rest now." He said, "Even if we didnt win.. We need to rest."

Just then, our COMs went off. It was Hoffman.

"Attention all Gears.. We just finished our sweep of the Hollows.. There is no signs of life. I repeat, no signs of life. We did it. The mission was a success."

The sound of cheers and clapping erupted amongst everyone. Everyone stood, hugging one another, reveling in our victory. Cole was high fiving and chest bumping everyone, while Marcus and Dom celebrated in their own, quiet way. Honestly, I dont think they were celebrating at all.. especially Dom.

Baird turned to me the second Hoffman gave the message, a huge smile spread across his face.

"It worked!! Its finally fucking over!" He exclaimed.