To no avail

"Shouldn't we have eaten breakfast at least before we set out?"
"I did. But you didn't wake up early enough."
Then why didn't you wake me up earlier...

Gregory and Astrea were trekking in the desert. The ground was so hot that Gregory could feel his feet getting burned through the brown thick leather shoes he was wearing, and the sun was radiant as usual.
They took the same route Leon's team had taken to go to the nearest oasis and bring back water, in hopes of finding them.

***

On their way to the oasis, they spotted a rare sight in broad daylight.
Two giant hercules beetles wrestling with their enormous horns.
"Hmm... you don't see this every day." Astrea sounded almost amused, but it was clear this wasn't her first time seeing this scene.
"Will they hurt us?"
"No. We will hurt them." She said as she pulled out her revolver from its holster.
Two shots were fired. The beetles screeched in pain and their elytrons were moving wildly in a feeble attempt to fly and escape, but they couldn't.
"Hey, how come you kill them so easily? These things look very sturdy..."
"The bullets of my revolver are coated with insecticide. Works great on insects and humans alike."
"Oh... right, hahah.." He didn't know what to make of this.
"Only difficult part when it comes to beetles is you have to hit their underpart. Their elytrons and head are tough."
Eventually, the beetles stopped moving completely.
"Bring out the knife I gave you."
"Why?"
"We should get some of their meat since we are here. Unlike roaches their blood isn't toxic."
"Uhh..." Gregory was hesitant, but he knew it had to be done.
"Alright!"
Skinning giant beetles was easier said than done. Carving through the durable chitin exoskeleton was incredibly tiresome, and the smell was putrid.

***

After about an hour of walking in total they could make out a wooden shape in the near distance.
"Is that a cart?"
"Mhm." Astrea nodded. Gregory noticed her footsteps getting quicker and so he sped up himself to keep up. 

Once they arrived at the now abandoned cart, the only thing there was four wooden barrels full of water on top of the cart, and some automatic rifles on the ground. The automatic rifles Leon and his squad used. Astrea crouched down to pick them up and gave them to Gregory.
"Hold on to these in your bag."
"Sure thing."
"Lets go to the oasis." Astrea started breathing more heavily. A sound enhanced through her gas mask.
Gregory didn't know much about the people they were looking for, but he knew they were important. That's the reason why he started to worry as well.

***

"Wait." Astrea put her hand in front of Gregory, signalling him to stop while she scanned the environment. Something was off.
The trees and bushes didn't have any fruit on them. That meant that someone had taken them.
Wizard wanderers are too gourmet for them.
The Junkies relied on their fungus.

Those were the thoughts that crossed Astrea's at that moment.
"Why are the fruits gone..." She muttered to herself.
"Hey, wouldn't this be a place where one would find insects?"
That's right.
Astrea looked at Gregory, surprised. Something she hadn't thought about.
"S-Sorry if I said something dumb, hahhah...
So that means...

"Leon and his men where here, they killed the insects and they took the fruits. The reason that they aren't on the cart is because they were eaten by insects there during the night. So that means that they must have abandoned their cart for some reason..."
Giant insects couldn't eat fruit while it was still attached to a plant due to the fact that most of them produced natural insecticides. Once they were cut from the plant however it was easy food.
"Graaaghh!" a hellish screech was heard.
In an instant Astrea pushed Gregory aside with her hands, saving him from the flung spear that was coming his way.
A dirty and crazed looking person emerged from the bushes of the oasis and had thrown a spear at Gregory. His eyes were red, filled with blood-lust and frenzy, and his hair was unkept.
Two more men with similar appearances emerged and they started running towards our heroes, armed with primitive looking stone knives.
Bang bang
Astrea pulled out her rifle immediately and shot both of them dead. Two perfectly calculated shots in their heads turned the upper portions of their bodies into blood fountains.
Gregory was stunned, and he started sweating even more for reasons unrelated to the desert heat.
"You. Try and get the last one."
The last man was left unarmed after having thrown his spear.
Gregory hesitantly pulled out his rifle.
The frenzied man started running towards them, even without a weapon.
"Aah!"
The unexpected recoil took Gregory by surprise, but the crazed man was now lying down on top of the scorching sand. An amateur shot had randomly hit the man's heart.
"Not bad." Astrea's voice remained calm, despite the fact that they had just killed three people.
"Hey... why did we have to kill them?" Gregory's eyes looked worried but he could not see what Astrea's face looked like beneath her gas mask. He didn't know if she shared the same feelings as him right now.
"Do you know how these savages live?" Astrea asked a curious question and Gregory started getting the worst ideas.
"H-How..?"
"They capture people and feed them to a giant mycelium. The fungus then creates fruiting bodies that are enough to sustain a human body, but it parasitizes them as well."
"S..Sto-"
"After the fungus enters their body it takes control over parts of their nervous system, making them lose all sanity and commanding them to feed more people to th-"
"STOP." He couldn't hear more.
"..."
"I get it... but tell me something else, please."
"What?"
"Was killing them the right thing?"
Gregory was looking straight at the lenses of her mask, trying to look her in the eyes, but there was nothing there. Only the reflection of himself and glare from the blazing sun. It was almost like he was talking to himself in the mirror.
"From a survival standpoint, yes."
"No dammit! I don't mean that."
"Then what ar-"
"Did the world benefit by us killing them? Wasn't there another way, like restraining them?"
"Well..."
"..?"
Astrea took of her mask, revealing her gorgeous pale face.
Droplets of tears started materializing from her intertwining olive green eyes.
"I don't know anymore..."
"I'm sorry!" He felt guilty for a reason unkown to him
"I just want to find Leon and the others for god's shake! I want to be sure that they are safe... I've lost too many people..." Her immovable stoic voice started fracturing and becoming more sorrowful and feminine. 
By now they had both realized the reality of the situation, and Gregory couldn't hold back tears of his own.
What am I crying for...?
At first his only goal was to do enough good deeds to assure himself a spot in the Aether, like that celestial being had told him, but now he has started caring for these people. How could he not?

Astrea put her gas mask back on and looked up to the sun.
"All I'm here for is to just help some people... I can't do this anymore..." She murmured to herself, barely loud enough for Gregory to hear.
Although he caught a glimpse of what she said, for some reason Gregory wanted to pretend like he didn't hear it.