"JD! Marcus!", with a worried yet slightly angered look on his face, Del welcomed the two. "What took you so long? Kait and I had to take a whole ass plane of Jinn down. With guns."

Avoiding his eyes, JD pushed past him, mumbling a few words of apology.

With a confused look on his face, Del glanced over to Marcus.

With a grim gaze, he shook his head.

"Don't.", he warned. "It was rough."

Kait tried to keep JD back, but he dodged her hand.

"JD...", she whispered, trying to grab his face to comfort him.

But he just shook his head and walked over to the motorcycles.

"We should get going.", JD looked at Marcus. "Dad, do you know how to handle the problem?"

Marcus huffed.

"Jinn or the villagers?", he asked.

But JD didn't feel like joking around.

"Dad. Focus."

Marcus nodded. For once, he kept his mouth shut. He knew the pain that was eating his son from the inside out. And he did not wish to tear the wound wider open than it already was.

"We need to ride a bit. Down the road and then through the old villages.", he said and got on a motorcycle himself.

Kait frowned.

"The ones that the Outsiders abandoned?", she asked.

"No. The ones that the COG left behind after the war ended. The Outsiders preferred to build their own villages. Now get on, we don't have all night."

As they stopped the motorcycles in front of one of the weathered estates of the old civilization, JD could hardly be less focused on eliminating the swarm. His thoughts were muddled, he could barely think straight.

Whenever he closed his eyes for more than a second, your body appeared in the darkness, covered in blood and adorned with flowers of ice.

A shiver chased through his body.

Something burned in the corners of his eyes, but he fought back the feeling.

He had never felt like this before. One breath and nausea tied his throat. He felt so weak, so useless.

When he raised his hands to his eyes, they shook as if he were freezing. The light skin around his wrist was already turning red and a bit blue. He had hit the door so hard that his wirst must have taken some damage.

The sight forced him to fight back a whimper of frustration.

Taking a deep breath in, he forced all the feelings down and looked up.

"You think the Swarm's hold up in that fort?", JD asked his father.

Marcus frowned.

"The what?", he asked, confused.

"The Swarm."

"That's what we've been calling 'em.", Del explained.

"The Swarm, huh? Okay...", Marcus eyed the building with the kind of expression that only a man with terrible memories could have and turned back to JD. "No, I don't. We need to get through that fort to the abandoned osmium mine on the other side."

"Because...", JD looked at him and then it the building. "Why?"

Marcus turned to him.

"Because the COG dumped a few thousand Locust bodies in there after the war. If your Swarm's related to the grubs, we'll find out there. Now let's go."

Nodding, JD grabbed his gun and followed his father through the paved streets.

Once upon a time, the village must have been a nice little place with high brick walls and houses that seemed to be older than a world Marcus remembered. Overgrown archways interrupted the walls, making them seem like portals to new world, unknown yet beautiful.

The light of the moon kissed the roofs, crawling through the holes.

Despite the terrible things he had seen barely an hour ago, JD couldn't help but think about showing you this place one day. You would probably love the many plants that grew here, he thought and had to smile at the thought of you running around and taking samples from everything that seemed remotely interesting.

But the calmness did not last for long.

Suddenly, the dark sky ripped apart and lightenings of red hit the ground. Wind started to chase through the streets, tearing at the group.

"Ah, come on!", Marcus cursed and started pushing the younger ones ahead. "To the fort! Now!"

With their head pulled in they ran across a plateau which lead across the side of a cliff.

Stones were torn out of their places, raining down on them as if hell had send them.

With their full force, they slammed into a huge door.
It screamed and cracked under the force but time and dust had sealed it shut. The wings did not move a single inch.

Kait pushed against it too. But even the three of them didn't manage to push it wider open than a crack. Only when Marcus threw himself against it with full force, it jumped open, granting entrance into the safe fort.

Quickly, Del and JD pushed it close again.

"Holy shit.", Del gasped and wanted to smile at JD.
But he was already back on his feet again.

"Let's get going.", he said and helped Kait up. "We've got no time to lose."

She eyed him with a worried look, wanted to hold him back.

But Marcus grabbed her by the shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't.", he advised in a surpassingly soft voice. "It'll be fine."

The building was a mess. Worse than that.

As the group had made just a few steps inside, strangely glowing tentacles started hanging from the walls and ceiling.

Disgusted, Kait pulled a face.

"Uh, what is that?", she asked.

Del had to suppress the urge to throw up.

"It's glowing...", he mumbled and cut some down.

Liquid seeped out of it, covering the floor in a thin, slimy layer.

"Don't touch that!", Marcus growled. "We're close to the hive. If you change something, they'll notice."

JD eyed the tubes.

Something was pressing against the womb-like material. Outlines formed.

Suddenly, a human face appeared.

Or at least he thought so.

"Dad?", carefully, he took a step back.

Marcus threw a glance at it.

"This is bad...", he growled and opened the bubble with one cut.

A person fell out, covered in sticky liquid and smelling like a creature straight from hell. They twitched, gasping for air, before collapsing.

"That ain't a human no more.", Marcus mumbled. "That's more of a Locust."