Gears of War: What War Has Brought Us To

Chapter 6: Knocking On Death's Door

Upon arrival at the torture chambers, the humans knew that this was their final destination. The cells were opened and 208 walked to each of them to attach the shackles to their wrists. A Drone on the lower level of the Barge flipped a lever that activated a bridge that extended to the ground. The humans were led out and 208 handed the chain to a Drone closest to him. He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do, he just knew he had to do something. Patrol squads of Therons lead by Palace Guards walked in and out of the chambers, hardly even acknowledging the group. The humans stood, helpless in front of the locusts, shaking with fear. "You May proceed with your task," 208 suddenly said. "Stay alert and don't let your guard down." "Yes!" The Drones called out obnoxiously. 208 cringed at them and continued. "I will be supervising the torture. Don't disappoint me." The Drones nodded and each chose a human that they wished to torture. The first was the young, healthy man who seemed to just accept he was going to die. A Drone forced him onto a table that had chains on each corner with shackles that fastened around the prisoner's ankles and wrists. A lever was cranked and the chains pulled toward the corners of the table and caused the prisoner's limbs to slowly be pulled apart. In agonizing pain, he screamed, begging them to stop. This only encouraged them to do more to him. They stopped cranking the lever and another drone came over to do his damage. He grabbed an ice pick from a table beside the prisoner and stabbed it into one of the prisoner's ears. 208 could see the human trying not to scream but it was inevitable. Suddenly, a gunshot. 208 turned around suddenly to see humans coming toward them from a high jacked Torture Barge.  The Drones scattered across the chamber. The rest of the prisoners seemed to not know what to do so they crouched down, covering their heads and hoping they wouldn't get shot. 208 stood his ground and grabbed RAAM's torque bow he still had connected to his armor. He aimed, shot, and missed. Suddenly, a bullet pierced through the armor on his shoulder and he fell to the ground in a shriek of pain. "Flank them!" he shouted from where he was now kneeling on the ground. The Drones didn't seem to acknowledge him and went on doing things their own way, attacking head on. Suddenly, a Palace Guard with several Theron Guards appeared at his side and the Palace Guard grabbed his arm to pull him up. "Rise," his raspy voice said. "You must lead them to victory!" As the Palace Guard called orders to his Theron squad, 208 moved painfully behind a large pillar by the wall. He knew he had already failed his mission. Suddenly, the Palace Guard, who had revived him only a few moments prior, flew backward in an explosion of blood and fell dead at his feet. The hisses or angered Therons filled the chamber. 208 attempted to grab the body, but a grenade had been tossed toward the both of them, and while 208 managed to get out of the way, the guard's body was blown to pieces. The humans were moving closer and 208 continued giving orders but none of the Drones were paying any attention to him and the Therons were starting to fall back. There were only two Drones left out of the five original and 208 was sure he'd have to face the humans himself. Then, suddenly, a giant explosion blew the Barge down, and the attacking humans along with it. Unfortunately, the explosion had such an impact that the Drones who were moving too close to the Barge were killed. 208 was now alone. RAAM, riding a Reaver landed at the entrance of the torture chamber. He must have been the one who destroyed the Barge. He jumped off, landing on the body of a barely alive human, completely crushing and killing him. "I actually had hope for you," he hissed. "But you couldn't even defend yourself against a simple attack from a few ground walkers. I give you my knowledge and you put it to shame like this. You're no leader, they wouldn't even obey you. Now go, return to the training grounds where the other failures have returned." Getting closer and closer, he crushed the head of the human chained to the table with an angry fist. At this point, RAAM was very close to 208. He was much bigger than 208 had realized and his snarling face was somehow even more menacing than it had been before. He obeyed. The trip back was a walk of shame.