Just a little teaser while I'm working on Chapters 10 and above

Hi guys! How was the weekend?

Anyways, just to update (and tease) you guys, here's section 4. I'm working on Sections 10 and above now, so I got that going for me, which is nice (insert meme here, lol). Again, sorry for the terrible delay, dealing with more than 20 characters is a first for me so  please indulge me.

Thanks!

Section 4

Rei had always resented the father that deserted him, deserted them. Rei and his mother had had numerous problems due to Rei’s parentage, and only his adoptive father, Doctor Mensik, offered to help when his mother finally sacrificed herself to save Rei.

It was an Infested incursion on the slums of the Valefor settlement. He and his mother had escaped from the Imperial Capital into the makeshift squatters’ area near the Corpus Cult mining facility. The Corpus accepted any labourer willing to work cheap and without questions, so all sorts of people made a living near the facility

Rei’s mother, though born into an aristocrat family and well educated, chose to flee Empire territory for fear for her child. She had been the latest lover of the promiscuous Prince Giacomo, and the child she bore the man was the target of several nobility vying for the throne, especially of Ekidna Hemlocke, the fiancé of Giacomo himself.

Ekidna had sent more than a few assassins to kill the mother and son, but due to the sacrifice of the Lamperouge clan, Ariadne, Rei’s mother, was able to escape from the Earth capital of Yamata unscathed. Ariadne was instructed to contact assistance from the aristocracy based on Neptune, but was unable to reach that far due to her damaged ship. Having landed and destroyed her craft near Jupiter, she was able to find kindness from the poor people inhabiting the slums of the Valefor facility.

Though born from a wealthy background, Ariadne made a living as a humble metal looter from the Corpus dumps to make ends meet. For her, though poor, living safely and content with her son were the best days of her life. She home-schooled Rei while she was not working, and merely found peace in looking at him play with other children in the neighbourhood before she went to work.

But one day, as she was halfway through her work in the dumps, there came smoke and screams from the slums. Her eyes widened at the horror of hearing the roar of the Infested amidst the screams. She then dropped her loot and ran with all her might towards their makeshift home.

Rei by then was left alone to fend for himself as everybody ran for their lives. He had seen a friend of his, Vivi, about to be attacked by a charger but he threw a rock on its head to distract it. The charger now changing its target; madly rushes Rei instead. Rei shouts to Vivi to run, and dashes into another direction himself.

He scampers into a narrow alleyway he knows, but is then terrified to see that the exit has been blocked by fallen debris. Hearing the stomping noise the mutated quadruped made get closer and closer, Rei frantically searches for a way through but fails. He spots a darkened crevice to his left and dashes to fit himself in.

Halfway through the darkness, Rei feels the walls close in on him and realizes he is stuck. His fears escalates as he realizes that the stomping sound is now gone and a snarling sound is now present at the opening of the crevice. Rei freezes in fear but then a several droplets of liquid suddenly begin trickling down his shoulder. Slowly looking over his shoulder, he spots the feet of the Infested at the opening of the crevice.

Finally able to look at the thing slowly trickling down his side, he reels back in silence as he sees it was blood. He looks up towards the source and sees a severed leg dripping blood from the rooftops. He had stifled himself successfully from making a sound but then the leg suddenly jerks and is pulled back forcefully, making him jump in his place and collapsing several metal materials to the ground. The sound alerts the quadruped and he screams in panic as the creature roars.

The creature starts crawling and clawing into the crevice and Rei tries to push himself further into the crevice. He screams as the jutting metallic scraps of the walls dig into his flesh but he was determined to survive. Inching himself more and more into the crevice, he spots the other side of the darkness collapse and give way; giving him hope as light flooded his eyes. His strength bolstered by what he saw, he ignored the roaring mutation behind him and pressed on.

He was then crawling towards the bright light when his eyes finally adapted. What he saw then changed his mind and stopped him in his tracks. All he saw was a multitude of corpses being eaten by the Infested, just a few meters from where he lay. Tears ran down his cheeks as he recognized some of the bodies from the torn clothes they bore; some of them were the children that he was playing with just moments ago. The image of a desolated space mingling scraps of metal, dilapidated bodies and roaring Infested wrenched out any hope he had left.

His eyes extinguished and blurry, he turned around to the monster slowly clawing itself closer and closer to him. His thoughts sank down, knowing that he was now alone, as the direction of the desolated space not only bore his former friends, but was also the direction of the dumps where his mother worked.  He merely sat still as the mutation was only two meters away and its stench filled his nose.

The mutation roared louder and louder as it came nearer, but Rei was apathetic now. The creature missing his feet by an inch, it roared and hissed at its frustration. Rei knew that this moment was the end and was already resigned to his fate, but then felt a twinge of curiosity upon realizing that the loud noises stopped. He looked up to only see the creature lie motionless inches from him.

Acting upon chance, he decidedly approaches the monster only to be surprised at its sudden movement. Tumbling down, he was bewildered to see the creature be dragged backwards. After clearing the entryway, she then saw the shining face of his mother.

“Rei! Rei! Come here!” Ariadne shouted.

“Mom!” Rei burst out in tears again as he tore his way out of the crevice and into the arms of his mother. “You’re okay mom! I was afraid you’ve left me.” He shouted as he sobbed.

“Hush now. It’s okay my little Tenno. Hush.” Ariadne said as she stroked the hair of the boy crying in her arms. “You’re friend told me you ran this way.” She paused to look her son in the eyes, “I’m very proud of you my son. You saved someone. Now stop crying, you have to live up to your name, okay? Little Tenno?” Rei’s mom telling him about his proud heritage.

“I’m not little and I’m no Tenno! I’m a Lamperouge!” the boy smiled as he stifled his sobs.

“Okay then, Rei. You’re a Lamperouge. You’re a new man now!” Beamed Ariadne as she bent down to wipe his tears. “But now we have to leave. It’s not safe here. Come.” And she held the boy’s left hand as she rose. She felt Rei’s hand clamp down on her right hand and she smiled.

“Okay, Mister New Man, lead the way!” She teased the boy to lift his spirits up.

Rei only nodded with smile, still sobbing. Still clutching his mother’s hand, he tugs at it and runs toward the domed facility still visible on the smoky horizon. Seeing Corpus dropships ejecting numerous pods from afar, Rei then visualized a way in his mind towards the Corpus reinforcements. Ignoring all the horrible sounds around him, he focused only on running while clutching to the warm hand.

After what seems to be an eternity of running through alleyways and tunnels, Rei felt his mother’s grip on his hand tighten. “Rei,” he heard his mother speak, “promise me something.”

Surprised and distracted, Rei was only able to blurt out “Mmm-kay” whilst running.

“Tenno, promise me you’ll grow up to be a good man. Be a good man and save our people. Just like what you did for your friend there, okay, honey?”  Ariadne asked her boy.

Nonchalantly, Rei responded while stopping to catch his breath and regain his bearings. “Mom, that was just one guy,” Rei remembered the scene where he saw the remains of his other friends, “Vivi was just one guy, I wasn’t able to save the others.” Rei steeled himself not to cry again.

“Still, promise me.” Ariadne replied. “Promise me that you will never stop trying to save others. You are a Tenno, Rei, it’s in your blood.”

Looking around for a safe way to cross the main streets, Rei irritatingly responded, “Mother, how many times do I have to tell you, I’m not-”

“Promise me.” Ariadne demanded.

“Fine, I promise.” Rei responded with a sigh. “I promise to uphold the old Tenno code you always make me recite.”

“Thank you.”

Rei rolled his eyes and frowned, but then saw the opportunity to cross the main street to the Valefor Facility when he sees the Infested being driven away by Corpus employees with their equipment. Once he spots that the Infested slowly being unable to fight back a horde of small mechanical tanks, he tugs at his mother’s hand and says, “Mom, let’s go. This is our chance.”

Sensing no response from his mother, he tugs and calls out repeatedly to the person behind him. Finally looking back while tugging again, he was suddenly flung to the ground as his last tug was not met with resistance. Still clutching his mother’s hand and out in the open, he scrambles quickly to his feet only to freeze in horror upon standing up.

He was clutching the severed hand of his mother; the severed end still bleeding but badly torn from the limb. With wide opened eyes, he turns to look at his mother. Her left arm bleeding from where the hand was, she was bubbling at the mouth and mildly jerking her body. Now her eyes had become mix of red and green, and she was now jerking in a stooping position. She had been infected.

“Mother!” shouted Rei.

“Thank you, R-Rei.” Ariadne started stuttering. “Y-you promi-mised.” Tears mingled with blood and pus ran down her cheeks as she starts walking painfully backwards away from Rei.

Still clutching the severed hand, Rei starts to run to his mother, but then a mechanical arm clamps painfully down on his right shoulder. A hail of bullets suddenly tears his mother apart, but he sees her still trying to get away from him. Moments then, a bullet hits her left eye and it explodes, but a mutated replacement suddenly grows out from the wound, still letting out tears.

Repeatedly shouting and trying to get away from the mechanical arm, he sees several Grineer move simultaneously into position in front of him. He keeps shouting and letting tears out, but his voice and tears fall muted within the gunshots. A Grineer solider finally uses a flamethrower and lights up what was left of his mother.

He finally got himself free from the person holding him, but he was too late. The last thing he saw from the gaps between the Grineer was his mother’s lips, smiling, mouthing the words “I love you.”