Reminisce

"Your stamina is running low. Recommendation: Seek immediate respite to regain stamina." The ANTI spoke to Liam-31, who had since been walking for the past hour towards the location of the camp.

"I can't do that. Too many creatures live around the area." Liam-31 responded, continuing to walk through the uninhabited city. The creatures that lived on Earth were mostly nocturnal, excluding raptors and mimics; the creatures mainly used buildings and dark locations as nesting grounds. 

"Recommendation: seek respite outside of buildings." ANTI suggested, which Liam-31 took as sarcasm, which was slightly surprising for an A.I. Although he would rather continue walking so that he would make better time, he knew that ANTI would not stop bugging him until he rested.

Finding a nearby bench, he released the backpack on his shoulders as he sat down, letting out a small groan as his slightly sore legs were able to recover.

As the sun beat down on his armor, he looked up towards the sky, watching the clouds slowly move as time ticked with each second that he spent gazing at the world. It was surreal to him just how beautiful Earth was, and how it was taken from him and humanity in such a short time by creatures who originally rose from the ground.

Seemingly forever ago had it felt like the creatures had taken his home; or what would've been his home. Born inside of a space station close to the moon, he was born and raised to become a soldier fit to reclaim Earth, otherwise known as a Bastion. All his life he truly knew nothing about Earth and the remnants of civilization that were left behind, but being able to witness first hand the lost civilizations left Liam-31 to marvel, but it also led him to harbor deep hatred to the creatures who had taken them away. 

While rather mysterious in origin, the creatures had first been believed to have been located in the region of South America, seen digging their way up from the ground before tormenting and killing masses of civilians. It was only a matter of time before Earth had become overrun by the creatures, which prompted them to relocate most of the humans left on Earth to the Moon, leaving them to live there for decades. Those who continued to inhabit Earth lived each day in terror as the creatures became the dominant species, living in secrecy so they would not be killed. 

Only until a decade ago was the idea of creating specialized soldiers to combat the creatures was set in motion, prompting Project: Bastion to bet established; the liberation of Earth from the creatures.

While numerous squads of Bastions had been sent down to Earth before Liam-31, none had ever made it back, or had even completed their missions successfully. Bastion units were unable to communicate with civilization on the moon, and were mostly left to fend for themselves as they continued towards their mission; their sole purpose. It was the same purpose that Liam-31 continued to progress towards, and that was to eliminate the creature's origin. 

Realizing that he had been idling from his mission, Liam-31 stood up from the bench, lifting his backpack onto his back before continuing to walk through the ruined city. He could feel his eyes droop as he quickly pushed himself to continue walking

For five minutes Liam-31 walked through the streets of the city before he heard something in the distance. 

While rather far, Liam-31's hearing levels were high enough for him to recognize that the sound made was that of a high pitched screech, which was then followed by several other similar screeches coming from the same direction. 

Alarmed by the screeching, Liam-31 began to run towards the nearest building, seeking the means to hide from the creatures he definitely knew were coming towards his location: raptors.

Finding a building to hide in, Liam-31 sat in silence for two minutes as the screeching gradually became louder and louder, before coming to the point that the raptor's screeches would blow out a normal person's ear. Looking out from the window, Liam-31 was able to see several large raptors hovering over the sky. Almost dinosaur-like, the raptors had massive beaks with large wings the size of an adult male, and claws so large and sharp they would be able to pick up an elephant with little difficulty. They had the vision of a bald eagle, and if they were able to spot Liam-31, he would most likely not be able to survive. 

For a short while the raptors circled through the sky, before finally flying off South as their screeches became lower and lower until they could no longer be heard from the area. Feeling a sense of relief, Liam-31 walked out of the building, continuing his journey towards the camp.

Only until he noticed the massive amounts of rotting human bodies in the area he began to walk in did he realize why the raptors had come to his location in the first place.