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Halo: Stories of the Ring by John M. Buhl
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Silence
Date: 24 October 2006, 2:27 am
This is my first story in a series of short Halo stories. Some may be related to a character or group of characters, but some may not be. Questions, comments or ideas for another story are welcome. Enjoy!
This story is set on the first Halo, before the Flood are discovered.
Silence.
BEEP!
"Hon, you have a message from High Com."
Sgt. Marcus Boyd woke with a loud groan. "Put it on Gloria", he said.
"Sargent, we have a situation. We sent Fireteam Argon over to explore an area where a high number of Covenant forces have been sighted. They went in over 12 hours ago, and the last transmission we received reported that they were under fire. We want you and your team, along with your wife's team to find what happened to Fireteam Argon."
"Affirmative, sir!" Marcus replied.
He quickly got dressed, and donned his armor. He contacted the rest of his squad, and told them to get tactical and meet up in Pelican #2450. He knew his wife, Gloria, would be telling her squad the same thing, except to meet in Pelican #2451. He and his wife knew each other's thoughts to a degree. After all, they'd been married for 3 years, and learned each other's habits. After meeting up with his squad, and telling them the Sit. Rep, he boarded the Pelican. On the way, he was thinking about what could have happened to Fireteam Argon. He personally knew their commander, Lt. James "The Bull" Harvey, and knew that if Harvey and the squads that had been sent to explore the area had been killed, that whatever killed them must have been a truly formidable force. Plasma fire from the ground interrupted his thoughts. He told the pilot to make an emergency landing in the bog, and to tell the pilot of the other Pelican to do the same.
Marcus and his squad, designated "Alpha Team", was a formidable force. Even though they were just five men, all had been at the top in their fields, and were all in covert ops. Same went for "Bravo Team", led by his wife, Sgt. Gloria Mendez. Both "Teams" had one sniper, one rocket jockey, two men with assault weapons, and of course, the commander. Normally, each would just carry their primary weapon, the standard Naval-issue HE pistol, and four fragmentation grenades, but today, they were "heavy." The sniper and rocket jockey carried a standard assault rifle, along with their specialty weapons, sidearm, and grenades, and the two assault men carried Lotus anti-tank mines along with their assault rifles, sidearm, and grenades. The commanders carried what they wanted. In Marcus's case, that meant a shotgun, assault rifle, the standard issue sidearm, and a full complement of plasma and fragmentation grenades. He knew that Gloria would go lighter with just an assault rifle and the standard issue sidearm.
God, Gloria! Even though he got to see her every day, he still couldn't get enough of her. The pilot landed, and Marcus concentrated on the task at hand: killing. He and his team took the low ground, while Gloria and her team took the higher ground. Then, they heard sporadic firing of plasma weapons, and then silence. They slowly made their way to the source of the firing. All that was there, were two Elites in gold armor standing above hundreds of dead Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. John made a motion, and the snipers of Alpha Team and Bravo Team, took them down. After making sure the area was clear, he motioned for the Teams to move forward. They passed many dead Covenant soldiers, along with empty and destroyed Wraiths, Ghosts, Banshees, and Shades along the way. Marcus thought it was creepy that there was no sign of life anywhere, except for he and his Teams' movements. They finally approached the location of the last transmission from Fireteam Argon. In front of them was a large structure. They entered the structure, and came upon an elevator. Here Marcus said, "O.K. Alpha Team will proceed with me down the elevator, and explore. Bravo Team, you stay here." Then he and his team proceeded onto the elevator pad. Marcus activated the elevator, and Alpha team proceeded down the shaft.
Upon reaching the bottom, Marcus and his team saw some more dead Covenant. He took comfort in seeing that they bodies were full of lead. They made their way through the only door, and down a long, narrow corridor. Here, Marcus stopped and took pause. "You guy seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked.
"Yea, there's a whole lotta blood down here," Pvt. Malvo commented.
"Oh that's blood? I thought that these walls were painted red," quipped Pvt. Carwell.
"Carwell, don't you have any respect?! This is UNSC blood here, not some Covenant split-lip's," growled Pvt. Jameson.
"Uh guys," said Pvt. Parker, "where are all the bodies?"
Silence reigned for a few minutes while everyone took that in.
Marcus broke the silence. "Well, a bit of blood is not gonna stop us from completing our objective. Let's move out team!"
Alpha team proceeded down the blood stained corridor in silence. Then Marcus motioned for the Team to stop. Up ahead was a three-way fork. "O.K. Carwell and Malvo, you guys take the left passage. Parker and Jameson, you two take the right. I'll go down the middle. Report in if you find anything."
"Affirmative sir!" was the reply.
Marcus proceeded down the corridor, which was stained with blood just like the last one. The only difference was that there were splotches of dark green liquid. Up ahead, he saw a figure, standing with his back to Marcus, near the corridor door. He raised his assault rifle and yelled, "Identify yourself!"
The figure suddenly whirled around, and shouted, "Stay back! You're not turning me into one of those things!"
Marcus recognized the voice. It was Lt. James "The Bull" Harvey. "James is that you? It's me Marcus. What happened?"
The Lieutenant ignored him and said, "I'm warning you to stay back! You hear me? Stay away from me!"
Marcus soothingly said, "It's O.K. now James, just tell me what happened."
"God, they're all gone! Gone! You hear me? GONE!"
"Where, James, where did they go?"
"They went far, far away. The things took them. But they're not taking me! I was too smart for them. Played dead, that's what I did, played dead. But now you've found out, and you're going to tell them, and they're going to get me!"
"Calm down James," said Marcus, slowly advancing.
"STOP!" James yelled, and Marcus then saw he was holding a pistol. "Stop or I'll shoot!"
"Please put the gun down James."
"Stop coming closer!"
"Put the gun down James!"
"One more step..."
"Put the gun down now!"
Lt. James Harvey's face contorted in to a mask of fear. "No! You're not going to get me, I'll die first!" he shouted, and then turned the pistol to his face and pulled the trigger.
"Shit..." Marcus muttered. He stepped over the body of his former friend, and opened the door.
The first thing he took in when he entered the room was the number of bullet casings that were on the floor. Hundreds of them. The second thing he took in was the complete lack of bodies, or weapons. The third thing he took in was the blood. Even though it was at least 50 feet high and 100 feet wide, there was blood everywhere. He slowly walked towards an object in the center of the room. It looked like a control panel. He went up to it, and pressed the central button. The panel now displayed the message "FLOOD RELEASED." Marcus had no idea what it meant, but he was sure it was bad. He called the rest of his team. "Jameson, Parker, Malvo, Carwell, do you copy?"
"Read you loud and clear sir!" replied Parker and Jameson.
"Read you five by five, sir!" replied Carwell and Malvo.
"What's your status?"
Parker replied, "Well, we've all met up sir. The tunnels connect to a large room. There are 6 doors in this room: Two from which we came, one between those two, and three doors in the same setting on the opposite side of the room. Funny thing is, those 3 doors on the opposite side are broken...from the other side."
"Is there any blood in that room?"
"No sir. Why?"
"I think I've found the resting place of the men of Fireteam Argon."
"Alright sir. We'll be right there. I think I see you through the glass of the middle door. Damn that's alot of blood."
Marcus looked up and saw Parker's face through the glass of the door.
Parker said, "Hmm...that's strange...the door doesn't open from this side...and what's that noise?"
Marcus felt a growing sense of dread.
"What the fuck is that?!" Parker yelled. "Open fire! Sarge! Get that door open!"
Marcus was frozen to the floor.
"Holy shit, there must be a thousand of em! They're coming from all directions! No! Malvo!"
"AHHHHHH! Get it off, get it of—"
"Sarge, get that door open NOW!"
Marcus started to move for the door, but it seemed so far away.
Jameson screamed, "GAHHHHHHH--" but was cut off.
"For the love of God, Sarge, open the door!"
"I'm out of ammo Parker, give me some!" shouted Carwell.
"Sarge open the door!" cried Parker.
"Please Sarge, hurry!" yelled Carwell.
Marcus could see Parker and Carwell's backs against the glass. Then he heard Carwell scream, and saw blood smear across the glass. Then he saw something land on Parker's head, heard Parker scream, "SARGE!" and saw his head explode. Marcus was scared. He called for Bravo team, but there was only static. The door in which he had entered through had closed behind him, and it would not open. Then he heard a THUMP! He turned around slowly, and saw the metal doors being hit by something powerful. He grabbed his assault rifle tightly, and undid the holding strap on the shotgun. The door broke, and hundreds of fleshy white blobs came towards him. He held down the trigger of the assault rifle, and let loose a flurry of bullets. As soon as his ammo counter read empty, he loaded a fresh clip, and started firing again. Under his barrage, and the losses that his teammates had inflicted upon them, the blobs fell back. Then new monstrosities broke through the door. They looked like humans, but were horribly disfigured. He let loose with the assault rifle, but it seemed to do nothing to them. He then switched to the shotgun. He blew the disgusting humanoid figures apart, until there were none left. He breathed a huge sigh of relief, and lowered his weapon. The stress that the ordeal he had been through was great, and he let down his guard for a few moments, and in those few moments, one of the fleshy blobs crept behind him, and jumped on him. He struggled to get it off, but it dug a penetrator deep into his neck. The last thing he remembered thinking was, "What's Gloria going to do?"
Sgt. Gloria Mendez was worried. Her husband and his Team had been down there for over four hours, and hadn't radioed in. She knew that he had ordered her team to stay here, but she hadn't seen any signs of activity on the surface, so she decided to go down with her team. They went down the elevator, and down the bloodstained corridor. Then they came upon the three-way fork. Again, a pair were sent down each of the side corridors. Gloria went down the central corridor. Suddenly, she received a transmission from Pvt. Stulman. "Mam, I think we've found Pvt. Parker."
Gloria asked in reply, "What's his status?"
"Dead mam. His head's gone."
Gloria froze in her tracks. "Anyone else there?"
"No mam. But there are alot of broken doors..."
Gloria breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Keep me updated." She continued down the hall.
(The thing in his head was digging at his memories. It pushed with great strength against the barriers of his mind. Marcus felt weak, and powerless. The Other tried to probe the memories of him and Gloria, but he would not let it. Instead, he fed it superficial memories, and stuffed the memories of love as far back into his head as he could. He then "saw" Carwell, or what Carwell had become. He tried to communicate with him, but he could not speak.)
(The thing that was once Pvt. Carwell heard noise coming from the corridor. It smelt food. It was hungry. Suddenly, it was confronted with food in front of it. It must eat...)
"Mam! We've found Carwell, we think. Come on Carwell, we're leaving this—AGGH!"
"Shit! What the hell is wrong with you—GAHH!" yelled Pvt. Zimmerman.
Gloria heard the staccato of rifles firing down the hall. Then suddenly, silence. "Is anyone still alive?"
"Yes mam." Replied Pvt. Hawkins.
"What's the status of the others?"
"They're all dead mam. And so is that thing. Hold on a sec, I hear somethin--" The transmission was cut off.
"Hawkins? Are you there?"
(Marcus stood over the body of Pvt. Hawkins, but felt nothing but more hunger. He knew that he was losing the battle for control over himself. The Other had felt partially sated, but it heard another voice in the hall. The voice could only mean one thing: FOOD.)
There was no answer. Gloria knew with a dread certianty that something horrible had happened to Marcus and his team. She rushed into the room, sidearm drawn, and saw Marcus. Or what used to be Marcus. The fact that he was still partially recognizible made her pause for an instant, and in that instant, the thing leapt towards her, and struck her with such force that it caused her to fly back and hit the wall with a sickening CRACK!
Sgt. Gloria Mendez laid on the floor. She knew that she was moments away from death, but she wondered what had taken over her dear Marcus...
(Marcus looked upon his wife's body with horror. Using his last reserves of strength, he flooded the Other with memories of his wife, and then flooded it with rage. The Other reeled back from the sudden outburst, leaving Marcus free to control his body for a few moments. In those moments, he grabbed his wife's pistol put it in his mouth and...
A single shot echoed through the hallways.
Silence.
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