Love KIA (Damon Baird x Reader)

Chapter 4: It Fucking Glows

The second Hoffman said something about a glowing wretch, my interest was certainly piqued. I stood up and walked over to the rest of the team, and they all had the same look of confusion that I did.

"You all heard that too, right?" I asked

"Yeah.. The hell did he mean? Glowing wretch?" Baird asked, "Pretty sure they dont glow, last I checked."

"Well only one way to find out. If theres a new form of grub out there, we need to know about it." Marcus said, standing up, "It was spotted not far from here. We can walk there, no point taking a Raven."

The group stood, and we all made our way outside. Guns at the ready, we left the saftey of the walls, and headed out into enemy territory. Marcus taking the lead, Dom beside him, and Cole, Baird and I in the back. None of us quite knew what to expect, or really what to look for. Maybe whoever spotted this thing saw wrong? Wretches didnt glow, none of the Locust did. Least... Not that we knew of. We learned more about the Locust every day, I wouldnt put it past them to start glowing out of nowhere.

As we walked, I noticed Baird shooting me the occasional glance. Eventually, i let out a sigh, and looked at him.

"Can I help you?" I asked, keeping my pace.

"I wanna ask you something." Baird stated.

"What is it?"

"What's your story?" He asked, "You know, everyone has a story. Why they joined COG. What's yours?"

"I would rather not talk about it." I said, looking forward again.

"Why not?"

"Baird, shut it." Marcus ordered, "I told you not to push it."

"What, it can't be that bad! We've all been through shit, talking about it can help." Baird said, rolling his eyes.

"Not everyone wants to talk about it, Baird. Now drop it." Marcus ordered once more.

I wasnt sure why Marcus was being so defensive, but then it hit me. He was the leader of Delta, Hoffman most likely filled him in on my story. I didnt say anything about it though, i just felt like dropping the subject entirely. But.. Maybe Baird had a point. Maybe talking about it would help? I never talked about any of it before, I always kept it all bottled inside. Never saw a point in venting, confiding in anyone else.. but not right now.

"Right, well, any idea where we're headed?" Baird asked

"Couple meters north of here. Not too far." Marcus stated.

"You really think they saw a glowing wretch? Think theyve mutated or something?" Dom asked

"Who knows. It's possible." Marcus replied, holding a hand up to stop us, "Hold up. I saw movement up ahead."

We all raised our guns and looked ahead, trying to spot what Marcus had seen. At first, there was nothing. Presumably just some debris falling over, or maybe a rodent. Then, that all too familiar screech: Wretches. This one sounded different though, almost a gurgled kind of screech. We kept our guns raised as the source of the cry came into view. Sure enough, it was a wretch.. and it was glowing yellow, just like Hoffman said.