Eclipse Phase: Earth Bound

Buried by Sand

        For the first time since Tucker was ten he is setting foot on earth. the nostalgia very strong for him, it is heavy in the very air he breathes. "home sweet home.." Tucker looks to the leader of his squad, Conory, and asks, "where are we specifically?" Conory answers in his usual deep southern manner. "we're in Illinois, boy. can't you tell?!" Conory points forward into the distance. "that thar is Chicago, or at least what's left of it!" Conory lets out a crude laugh to the fact that it is now a wasteland. Tucker doesn't reply. merely shakes his head in slight annoyance..... continuing their mission they make their way into the shambles of the city withered to ruble by desert sand. 

Nikki: "Does anyone know anything about this intell we're here to recover? other than the location is incredibly sketchy"

Tresha: "No, unfortunately, no one was told the details of the content that this intell contains. Only that it is critical to our fight against future Titan threats."

Donald: "It's called a covert opration for a reason, Nikki"

        They move closer towards the desolate city. Tucker looks up at a street sign sticking out of the sand. A cross street sign that reads "W Madison ST" and "S Hamlin Blvd".

Tucker: "This man we're suposed to meet, doctor umm..."

Conory: "Dr. Bictorious, Tucker."

Tucker: "Yeah, that guy.. does anyone know anything about this guy we're supposed to meet?"

Conory: "Yeah." Conory reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a pinch of chew tobacco. He then stuffs it into a corner of his mouth. Meanwhile, Tucker stares at him like come on, waiting on him to reply in a little more detail. Conory notices Tucker staring at him and then remembers the conversation.

Conory: "Yeah, so anyways. I don't know the guy personally but i've heard a few things about him."

Jason: "Like what?"

Conory: "Mostly bad stuff. he was kicked out of the Firewall labs, but he was too much of a genious to have his talents go to waste. So they gave him supplies and relocated him to a place of his choice."

Transa: "He chose here??"

Conory: "Yeah well thats where a lot of the bad stuff plays in. Lot of people say he's a nut that fell a little too far from the tree." he spits nasty brown chew on the ground.

Transa: With a cute laugh she says, "are you trying to say he's crazy". Conory smiles and replies, "yes I am" Transa finds it funny and giggles to herself.

Tucker: "So to summarize, we're supposed to retrieve a data chip with who knows what in it from a mad scientist somewhere in the city of Chicago."

Conory: "Yeah, we..." he is interupted by a loud shush from Tresha. they all pause and look at her for a moment. then they all pick up on the sound of movement close by. The squad huddles up behind the wall of a building, adjacent to where the sounds come from. It is other people, they sound able bodied and on a mission of their own. theirs also the sound of an engine, most likely of an ATV. There's alot of stepping as they seem to be going somewhere.

Unknown: "Gather up! They're calling us back. We're returning to the wall!"

someone else: "You heard the man. Load them up. Let's go! Let's go!"

after a moment Tresha peeks around the corner.

Tresha: "come on" the squad runs a swiftly across the street to another building.

Donald: "I think they're gone... for now anyways."

SG-5: "It is recomended that we advise excess caution regardless"

Conory: "I agree with our floating security drone"

They don't get much further, however till they hear a bandit shouting out to them from a place out of sight within the vicinity of where the squad stands. From the way the voice is amplified it is safe to assume that it is being spoken through a microphone.

Bandit: "we don't so much like uninvited guests..."

Not knowing where the voice is coming from they each aim in a different direction. They're prepared for anything to happen.

Conory: "We read you loud and clear. We're just passing through"

Bandit: "I don't think so, my boys and have been watching you, you see and we've noticed how well armed you'll are. How you move from block to block. I know what you are. You're Firewall agents."

Tucker: "What does it matter if we are?"

Bandit: "Oh it matters. You see, the only way we can survive out here is to take what we need. And fellas, you have what we need, your equipment, your weapons, your lives."

        Just then they make themselves visable as they begin firing at the recovery squad. They are held up in a building still intact, southeast of the squads position. SG-5 hovers up infront of it's squad mates and creates a kinetic barrier to deffend against the gunfire for a limited time. The squad falls back to find better cover. Once they do, the sec-pod falls back as well. 

        It does get nicked a few times, however, it's nothing serious. The squad then returns fire on the bandits, but it's little use. They're outmanned and out gunned and are beginning to lose this fight. The squad retreat in the hopes of either loosing them or finding superior cover.

         Fleeing through the terrain of desert sand and partially collapsed buildings they become a little more distant from one another. Suddenly, two bandits on atv's dec'd in armor come ridding up from the side. Each atv has a person sitting on the back with a submachine railgun, which the fired off at the squad. There was no time to turn around and shoot back, only to run away faster. The atv's seperated Nikki from the group and forced her to take a different route.

        As they run in the opposite direction of the bandits, they make their way over a giant sand dune. The massive sand dune conceals under it, a skyscraper that has fallen over years ago during the fall. As they make their way up the incline, Tucker begins to fall behind. With the adrenaline rushing through the squad mates from being shot at they do not notice him falling behind nor Nikki's entire absence. Tucker is completely unaware that as he steps through the sand, he also runs over the unbroken glass windows of the fallen skyscraper. The glass breaks under his feet and a large pocket of sand starts flowing down into the building, taking Tucker with it. Tucker struggles to fight his way through the sinking sand, but for all his might, he is not strong enough to fight it. It over takes him like a powerful wave drawing him out into an ocean. Tucker falls a short way down through the window, into the building, and becomes buried by sand. His squad and the bandits take the gun fighting away from there. Tucker first, sits there, buried by sand, dazed, his head spinning after everthing that has happened. He takes a moment to assess his situation before acting. He knows that he is buried under large amounts of sand with very limited oxygen, and that he need to act quickly to get out. He can hear them clicking in the fading distance. It takes him a second to realize that the clicking is gunfire. The sound is gone now. "they must have left me behind" he thought to himself. 

        He struggles for hours trying to get loose from the sand mound. The sun is now setting and he is just now starting to break through the surface of the sand mound in the dark empty building.

                        will be continued in chapter 2