Gears of War: Exile (fanmade novel)

Act 1 Chapter 2: Unwanted Attention

15:11, Andius

"Do you think Beta-3 had a successful mission?" Vance asked. "I hope so," Jeff said "That train was carrying a lot of valuable shit"

"I just hope that Goraznayan isn't gonna kill all of those criminals and take the Imulsion back to his other Indie pals"
"Jerry, would you stop talking about how much you hate Gorazni's, it's kinda getting annoying" Vance said "besides, the UIR are finished"

"Okay, both of you knock it the hell off."

The interior of the 'Dill was silent for a few seconds. My earpiece beeped. "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Tango-2, we are taking heavy fire from locust troops! I repeat, we are under heavy locust attack and we need immediate assistance!"

"Isn't that little Androsan's squad?" I ignored Jeff's question and pressed my earpiece "Tango-2, this is Omega-2, we're coming to assist. Where's your location?"

"We're holed up at the Nassar Embry Memorial Library Construction site"

"Don't worry, we'll be there in a second" I turned to Vance "Punch it!" Vance slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and made a sharp left turn. Jerry went to the back of the APC's interior and grabbed his rifle off the magnetic holster. "Jerry, sit your ass down!" Vance slammed on the breaks. Jerry went flying backwards. "God Damn it !" Jeff yelled.

I jumped out of my seat and went to help the bastard up. "Don't do that again," I said to him. He squeezed past me, without saying a word. I grabbed Vance's custom Gnasher along with mine and Jeff's Lancers. I gave them both their guns and together, we exited the Armadillo.

Dominick Androsan may have been my brother, but to me, he was more like my best friend. So when I saw him at the bottom of the concrete stairs that led up to the unfinished entrance of the library, getting beaten by a locust drone, I immediately felt a wave of rage wash over me.

I raised my Lancer and took aim at the drone. It was getting ready to throw another punch, that's when I pulled the trigger and felt the butt of the rifle ram into my armored shoulder.

The recoil of the Lancer Mk. 1 was a feeling you could never forget. The bullet hit the drone on the right side of it's torso. Dom nudged the drone off of him with his foot. It was on its back. That's when Dom got on top of it. He pulled out his knife and stabbed the drone in the face.

He yanked the knife out of its face and ran over to me. "Hey bro," I said happily "Good to see you"

"Likewise"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a few bruises. Those grubs can hit hard, man"

"Where's your squad?" Jeff asked

"Dead," he said "the grubs got 'em"

"I'm sorry to hear that buddy" I pressed my earpiece "Alina, this is Ethan, we found Tango-2"

"What's their status?"

"KIA. All except for Dominick. We're gonna have him ride with us to Ephyra"

"Okay. Hey, be careful Ethan, we've lost a lot of good Gears today"

"Wilco, Omega out-" The ground started shaking. "This isn't over boys," Jerry said. Dom grabbed a hammerburst Assault rifle off of a drone.

The ground started cracking. Right below where Vance parked the Armadillo, a perfect circle of cracks had started to form. It was about three times the size of the APC.

Me, Dom and Jeff took cover behind a fallen pillar. "Get ready!" I yelled. The ground shook. The APC fell into the gigantic hole that had just barely formed under it. "damn it !" Vance yelled