Sarah Gordons: Crawlers

 "Sarah, Kelvin, how are things going?" Adrian smiled and shook hands with Kelvin. He nodded curtly at her and then turned back to Kelvin, his blue eyes glittering at the sight of the sub-machine gun. 

 "Sarah sweetie, I came by the house yesterday but you were already asleep," Jennifer whispered in her ears. 

 "The house? What for?" Sarah inquired as they disentangled from the hug. 

 "Apparently, she found some old CD-ROMS and a bust up video player at the junkyard and decided to host an impromptu movie night. At first, I thought the CDs won't play 'cause they were like late 90s, but I was wrong. Adrian fixed the Video player and Jenny wanted you to join us, as we feasted on cold coffee, ribeye steak and...." 

 "Michael! It wasn't that bad!" Jenny exclaimed and shoved her brother.

Michael merely rolled his eyes and hugged Sarah. He was just a few inches shorter than her, she noticed. 

 "So, tell me, Mike. What did I miss?" She asked to humor him.

 "Nothing much. Some Arnold Schwarzenegger classics from the old days. Terminator, Eraser, Total Recall, and what was the other one again? Ah, yes, True Lies. But you probably wouldn't have enjoyed the show, thanks to Adrian and Jenny playing around beneath the blankets and making a whole lot of noise." 

 "Ow! That's a lie, Sarah. Don't believe him. How could say that, Mike?" Jenny moaned.

 "What can I say? Honesty is one of my finest and greatest attributes," He smiled and they laughed. 

Sarah turned to Adrian, who was admiring the gun and talking to Kelvin.

 "Adrian, where's Hero?"

Hero was the cute brown Labrador that had led the Rangers to the ruins where Adrian's body lay. The puppy had a collar tag with the initials 'A.B', and the Rangers assumed the dog belonged to him, given the fact that Adrian could only remember his first name which matched the first initial on the collar tag. This was after Adrian protested that he had no knowledge of the dog that always clung to him. He however raised the dog and renamed it Hero, having forgotten its initial name. Sarah was fond of the Lab herself, except when he got too kissy-faced with his tongue.

 "Oh. He's at home with Spencer," He informed her, one hand on the gun's muzzle.

 "So, what are we doing today?" Jenny asked, easing herself back to stand besides Adrian. 

 "I don't know, yet, but we've got to wait for our instructor," Kelvin told her.

 "I gotta go. See you guys later," Michael waved and jogged off to join some third-level conscripts entering the training grounds.

 "Good riddance," Jenny hissed. 

 "Where're the rest of us?" Adrian asked, referring to other fourth-level recruits. 

 "I'm guessing, they're at their D-tasks. I hope they arrive soon, though," She told them.

 "Jamie's coming. Ben, too. And a couple others," Jenny said excitedly.

 Sarah followed her gaze to see James Draven walking in with Benjamin and four other 'green conscripts'. Benjamin was laughing at something James said, but stopped when their gazes met and held. Frowning, she averted her eyes and focused on her gun instead. The newcomers joined them and while the pleasantries were being exchanged, she snucked off. Approaching the weapons' rack, she returned the AK-47 to it's position and looked over other choice weapons on the shelf.

 "Still find of guns, eh?" A deep voice spoke. It was the third time she was getting jumped upon and she felt it was just her lucky day to get snucked on. She turned to tell whoever the person was, that it wasn't a good time to be around her, and came face to face with Gabe Wilson, an intermediate senior who was promoted from the NX-GEN policy a year ago, with honors as the best soldier in his batch. He was a cheerful fellow, and was one of the few people who stood by her when she was discriminated against in her early years. Resplendent in his military attire, he stood with his back to her, watching the freshers train. His hands were folded across his chest and his eyes expression was grim.

 "Gabe, when did you get here?" She asked.

 "Long enough. Couldn't resist watching you shoot. You are the real goddess of the mark, you know," He turned towards her, smiling. There was a hint of affection in the compliment, but she ignored it. She walked up to where he stood and stood beside him, watching the youngsters with an awkward silence.

 "Well, I try my best, but everyone knows that I'm a mere human, not a mythic deity," She said after she couldn't bear the silence anymore.

 "You are being too modest. It's not secret that you are superb with a gun, not minding it's type," He paused. "I wish we could turn many of these young lads into products of your quality. The Nest and humankind is in sore need of such talent, especially now."

She looked up at his face and saw the anxiety, fear and worry etched in it. 

 "Gabe, what's wrong?" She asked him. He dropped his hands at his side and sighed heavily. 

 "News just got in this morning. Camp Harville has been sacked. A crawlers' horde attacked the settlement and a lot of humans were killed. A few survivors were able to escape to Oakheart."

 "Oh my God!" The words escaped her mouth.

 "We don't know yet, but, the horde might match south towards Oakheart, and then move against Morganville and Oasis." Gabe continued.

 "Camp Oasis will deal with them."

 "I doubt that. Words on the lips of those in authority suggest that Camp Oasis won't be able to stop this horde," He countered.

 "How exactly large is this horde?" She couldn't understand how Oasis couldn't stop the crawlers. If they can't do it, what are the chances that we can? She asked herself.

 "The exact figure can't be provided now, given the nature of crawlers to separate from the horde to different directions in groups of twenties to fifties, but the scouts estimate about thirty-five thousand"

 "Thirty-five thousand?!" The figure shocked her. 

 "If Camp Oasis falls, I can only guess what the military council would do. It won't be long till five-year olds are handed arms and ordered to stand in between the battlements to shoot anything that crawls into sight. I fear for all of us, just..."

 She wasn't listening to Gabe again. Thirty-five thousand crawlers or more were moving south against the remaining settlements. Thirty-five thousand! She still couldn't believe it. A regular horde was no more than four thousand adult crawlers, but this was a horde of thirty-five fiends. It seemed quite hopeless to her. 

 "...wish we actually knew where these jerks came from and what exactly they want. It's crazy, right? I mean, learning about the origins of these aliens might just give us insights on how to tackle 'em," Gabe was saying. 

 The fourth-level alarms sounded, calling the green conscripts to the arena to commence the day's classes and training. Gabe wished her luck for the rest of the day's activities and left her standing there, watching the youngsters as they joked and laughed about their guns. She knew this was no joke. The fact that the Occupation were able to send thirty-five thousand crawlers against them attested to this. She then wondered if Gabe was right, if she really wanted to know more about the conquerors.