Harvard Alley was a desolate place even for the shitty world that was left after the war. It was in a constant state of electrical storms and the radiation was so dense it made Gieger counters buzz like a swarm of locust. Why the BDF had chosen to settle an outpost here, Grinch couldn’t guess. Black Horse had been tasked with clearing out the Gray that attacked it years ago but the swarm was too dense and half the team didn’t come back. Whatever reason the Bastion wanted the outpost for must not have been important enough to sacrifice another team and it was left to rot.

Grinch had hoped the Gray nest would be abandoned after all these years but Gray were notorious pests that could linger in an almost hibernation-like state for years. Grinch had carefully rationed the power of his suit on the trek here and now he was thankful for the sacrifices he had made. The cold nights he endured were little payment for the thermal visor and powered exoskeleton built into the suit. If things got nasty inside he’d need every drop of energy to get out and make distance between himself and the swarm.

He had been hiding in a decayed forest that surrounded the outpost. Burn marks were still etched into the trees from a nearby bomb crater created during the war. The rain was falling in sheets as bright electrical bolts lit up the dark forest every few seconds. The landscape was bleak and the rain had turned the soft charred dirt into a swamp devoid of life, at least Grinch hoped it was devoid of life.

Grinch stuffed his bag of supplies in a hollowed-out tree so they wouldn’t slow him down or make any noise. He collected all the thermal exchange magazines he had ‘acquired’ when he left the Peak and carefully positioned them in his suits harness for quick access.

After spending several minutes readying himself and several more observing the outpost for signs of life, Grinch finally knew he had to move out. If the BDF were here for a trap, it was well hidden. Hopefully, they would give him time to explain before gunning him down. Surely with just one member of the team, they would want information before turning him into a pile of organic matter to be re-used.

Moving in the dirt was slow for his armor that was already caked in layers of mud and soot. He stopped at every sound he could make out through the rain as he calmed his breathing. It wasn’t fear the gripped him, it was the prospect of failing his family back at the Peak. He knew without his help the Bastion would permanently end them. He had to move on, he had to succeed.

As he reached the outer fenceline of the outpost his boots finally found firm footing on the decaying concrete perimeter. The fenceline was long past due for repair and getting through the metal wiring was easy. The compound was comprised of several rusted buildings that were fairly standard for BDF outposts. Grinch knew the center building would lead underground to a command station. The others were barracks and maintenance sheds that held no value to begin with but the weather had turned them into little more than rusted heaps. Grinch abruptly stopped at the steps leading to the central building. The rain was battering the roof of the structure but under an awning he could clearly make out a muddy footprint on the metal panel floor. He wouldn’t be alone, they were here.

Grinch kept his rifle holstered as he knew the sound would alert every creature here. He’d need to use his sidearm or gauntlet blade, the rifle would be a last resort. The metal creaked under Grinch’s weight and he gritted his teeth but continued inside. The doors still showed signs of the Gray attack that caused the outpost to be abandoned. Deep gouges in the thin prefabricated metal had ripped the doors away from the hinges, leaving the dark interior exposed. He stepped inside and pulled his sidearm in close, the pistol would have trouble penetrating Gray hide but it would have to do. The darkness enveloped him as he made his way into the first room. It was a common area but the sofa’s and tables were pushed around the doorway Grinch had just walked through, likely a desperate barricade by the defenders. Grinch had to turn up the power on his night vision in his helmet as the ambient lighting in the room was non-existent. The green hue washed out his depth perception and the added strength made everything blurred.

He spent little time in the first room as he moved towards the target deeper underground. The elevator was easy to find even in the darkness as BDF outposts had little deviation in architecture. As he expected it wasn’t working but the large bucket like lift was situated on his floor. He contemplated powering it with his suit locally but after so many years of neglect, it would undoubtedly collapse. Instead, he moved around the bucket and found the cables holding it to the opposing wall. He checked them by pulling on them hard and found no slack which was a good sign. The cables were thick but old. He would be taking a risk sliding down but it would save time and perhaps he’d be able to avoid any nests in the lower quarters if he could go straight to the command deck. He decided against his better judgment and holstered his pistol before wrapping both hands around the cable. He tested it with his weight before satisfied it would hold and moving his legs around it. He kept his grip tight to move slowly down the shaft. He was too close to the wall to avoid grinding against it and had to use his feet to ‘walk’ himself backwards down the shaft. This made it difficult to see underneath him into the black void of the shaft.

Still better than the stairs. He reasoned silently to himself, trying not to think about his odds.

He was in no hurry and kept the movement slow. Every time he put too much force behind his foot against the wall the metal panel would pop outwards as it flexed and make a loud noise. Noise was not something he could afford in his vulnerable position.

After what seemed like hours he saw a rusted number 5 painted on the wall, which was 2 floors above where the command deck normally was. Maybe he would reach it with no issues after all, he thought to himself as his normally pessimistic attitude started to wear thin.

As if fate could tell what he was thinking the cable started to pull awkwardly as the rust had wormed its way into the metal fibers. He fell a few inches as one of the strands above him snapped, the others wouldn’t hold. He needed to get off the cable, now. The cable finally ripped apart as he reached behind him and tried to grab the ledge of the closest floor. His weight pulled him down and against the side of the shaft which made a sound similar to a loud metallic drum. He only had one hand on the ledge and let out a low grunt as he swung his other hand up and pulled himself onto the platform. The suit was heavy even for someone who lived in it and he had to take a deep breath to regain his composure.

He laid on his stomach for a moment and listened behind him as the cable fell down the shaft causing sharp banging sounds that echoed through the dark corridors of the facility.

Shit. He thought as he pulled himself up to a knee and scanned his new surroundings. The walls were glistening with moisture and for a moment he assumed the rain had leaked down all this way. Then it hit him, this was a nest. The walls were Gray matter and likely housed a colony of the creatures who would sleep in the organic structure. He slowly raised up from his knee and drew his rifle.

No point in being quiet anymore.

He knew what was coming and wasted no time. He sprinted towards the stairwell with reckless abandoned. He considered hiding but the creatures would find him eventually. When awoken they rarely went back into hibernation quickly, they’d want to feed before another century of slumber. The stairwell was thankfully clear of any Gray mass and he took the stairs two at a time which made plenty of noise. He needed to reach the Command Deck, it was a reinforced panic room designed to keep high ranking officials alive until Venator rescue...this time he was a few years late.

The slow rumble of bare skin on metal sounded above and below Grinch. He paused for a moment to listen where it was coming from. He grabbed a circular grenade-like object from his belt and prepped it before continuing to sprint down the halls.

Shrieking started to echo through the stairwell and the rumble had grown to a roar of movement. Grinch passed an open door that led onto another deck. He tossed the grenade-like object in the room and kept running down.

After a few seconds the object he tossed started making a high pitched whistle sound and released a thick cloud of noxious odors. It was designed to distract swarms but rarely lasted long, they despised the noise and smell it released. It would help any swarms above but do nothing for the ones between him and the target.

He jumped over a collapsed part of the stairwell where it looked like an explosion had taken a chunk out of it years ago. As he landed on the other side he turned to continue down the stairs and spotted two Gray in front of him. He had no time to register what kind they were, they were big, all he needed to know. He fired a round into each creature as they were thrown into the wall behind them from the force of the cannon.

Wasting no time he sprinted past the smoldering corpses before they finished falling off the wall. Another crashed into the wall in front of him as it charged up the stairs with no concern for itself. He fired into the creature as another took its place, he fired again and again at another. One after the other the monsters filled the stairwell in a Gray blur of claws and teeth, biting and slashing at anything, including there own kind. Grinch didn’t know if they had four limbs or 6, he switched on his helmets spot lamp so he could see without the blurry night vision. The room was bathed in white light and it revealed the swarm coming at him like a tide of violence.

He had no time to charge his weapon and resorted to quick blasts that wouldn’t carve through the creatures as well but kept them at bay. He used one hand to fire his rifle and threw another device from his belt into the swarm. This was a real grenade, an incendiary grenade. Grinch dove into the Gray mass after the grenade and used his superior weight and the exoskeleton’s strength to push the creatures aside like a linebacker. After a few seconds, the grenade enveloped the room in an inferno and the shrieking that followed deafened Grinch. The grimace on his face turned into a sly smile as the creature’s pain gave him a sick pleasure. His suit protected him from the intense heat and allowed him to barrel into the burning creatures that flung about in agony. One of the Gray’s he stepped over reached out and grabbed his leg, tripping him.

He fell onto the stairs and as his body struck the metal it collapsed from the mixture of fire and the creature’s weight combined with Grinch. Sharp metal and claws scrapped over Grinch’s armor as he bounced down the stairwell. He struck another flight of stairs with the Gray mass around him but fell through like the first. The rusted metal was unable to support the falling battle and it continued to crash through flight after flight of stairs. Grinch pushed and shoved the creatures away but every time he’d get his bearings he’d hit another metal girder and be knocked back. Finally, after several seconds of falling the mass of violence struck the bottom floor with a heavy slap of wet organic bodies. Grinch shook his head as he struggled to regain his orientation. The Gray swarm wasn’t moving as they laid in a heap of dismembered limbs and burnt organs. He looked for his rifle in the pile of metal and bodies but the sound of shrieking above interrupted him.

Grinch jumped over the bodies and headed for the doorway out of the stairs. The once bright light of his headlamp was cracked and stuttered as it shut off and on. The lens was covered in Gray blood that gave it a distorted color. He had no time to waste fixing it, he needed to move before the rest of the swarm made it down the shaft. Leaving his rifle he moved out of the stairwell and saw the Command Deck in front of him. The thick reinforced walls were covered in claw marks but showed no signs of penetration. He sprinted towards the door to the Deck but tripped over himself as he was still struggling to regain his balance after the fall. He felt something running down his stomach inside his armor and knew it was blood, something had penetrated his suit somewhere. He had no time to treat his injury, he needed the doors to the Command Deck opened.

Grinch opened his wrist-mounted computer and fumbled with the wires before attaching them to the door control panel. He keyed in the access code that all BDF outposts used for the Command Deck and waited.

...Nothing.

“What the hell!?” Grinch yelled as the shrieking grew louder behind him.

He keyed in the code again but the door held firm. Grinch punched the door with his fist which made a heavy thud.

“This can’t be how it ends.” Grinch murmured. His hot breath made the interior confines of his helmet humid and he blinked away a droplet of sweat. It felt appropriate that he had spent his life trapped in a suit of metal and now he was trapped in the confines of another metal hell.

The sounds of teeth chomping echoed from the stairwell. The Gray swarm had arrived and were already feasting on the remains in the stairwell. The swarm was massive and they spilled out of the stairwell and into the room Grinch was in. They were biting and clawing at each other over the scraps before one noticed Grinch and let out a higher-pitched shriek.

“Come on then!” Grinch yelled as he ejected his blade from his Gauntlet. He was going to die here in this forsaken dungeon with just one door between him and the beacon that may have saved his family. No stranger to death, Grinch steeled himself for the coming swarm.

As the swarm came at him like an ocean tide of Gray matter, the room was filled with bright light. The control panel turned green and the door started to hiss as the air pressure equalized between the two rooms. The swarm was briefly stunned by the sudden light from the ceiling but quickly regained their momentum and charged at Grinch. Grinch wasting no time dove into the Command Deck the moment the doors were wide enough for him to fit. Grinch hit the metal floor as he lost his balance and fell inside the room, he scrambled to get back up and shut the door. The Gray swarm was mere feet away from the open door as it began to shut with no input from Grinch. The heavy metal doors slammed shut and almost instantly the sound of claws scraping on metal could be heard on the other side.

That door shouldn't be able to close on its own.

Grinch let out a sigh of relief and took a knee before looking down at his blood-soaked armor. The blood wasn’t Gray, this was red, his blood. The armor had closed up the hole on its own but he needed to triage the damage. He’d need to start planning his escape and couldn’t afford a suit rupture.

“All Venators are in a perpetual state of a foul mood but really I get Grinch as my escort?” A male voice with an unnatural tone boomed over the intercom above Grinch.

Grinch quickly scanned the deteriorating Command Deck to look for the source of the voice but found only rotting corpses and dusty terminals.

“Gabe?!”