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We raced across the barren tundra, trying to not lose the Scorpion. We came to the top of a hill and off in the distance we saw the downed pelican on its side and smoking heavily. We also saw about 200 flood combat forms and about a 1000 infections that were just waiting to sink their tentacles into us. Everyone looked into the valley in disbelief as they locked their weapons.

"What are we gonna do, Debo?" said Foster in a cool tone.
"We are gonna run over as many of 'em as we can in order to get to the pelican. Then we will help defend the pelican." I said into the mic. for all my squad to hear.
"We're with you, Sir." I heard everyone say into their mics, even Romalee.

We took off at full speed, the scorpion could crush combat forms beneath it massive body and take out large groups with its main gun, it would be fine on its own. I started doing fishtails to try to kill as many flood as possible, it worked. I also did some figure 8s for a minute, then I tore ass to get to the pelican. I saw in the distance the Scorpion taking out huge numbers of flood, and not retaining even a scratch. Foster and I jumped outta the warthog, leaving Dien to man the LAAG, who began to kill flood in waves.

"The stench is so horrible, how can these things smell so bad?" said Alverez.
"Hey, maybe it's because they eat a lot of Mexican people for lunch." said Dien jokingly over the comm.
"This is no time for jokes. We could die here." said Lane into comm as he mowed down a wave of combat forms.

Foster and I ran up behind a group of soldiers firing a heavy mounted machine gun.

"Where's your CO?" I asked a marine who had a bandage over his eye.
"I'm the CO. Glad ya'll made it." He said
"Sorry for the delay, we got held up because the tank was so slow." I said as I shot an bulbous exploding flood.
"We need all the help we can get. I need you two here with me." he said
"No problem." I replied

A flood infected marine landed between a marine and I. The flood raised his arm to strike the marine. Just as he did this I took out my knife and jammed it deep into its back until half of my hand was in the rotting flesh. It turned around and a tentacle in its chest tried to grab at my armor. The CO turned around and shot the flood in the back with his shotgun. A green liquid explosion erupted from its chest and splashed on my chest and face.

"Thanks." I said
"Just another confirmed kill." he chuckled

I killed a flood about two foot in front of the machine gun line. He dropped a shotgun, which I promptly picked up and began firing at more of his friends.

"Look!" said Foster as she pointed to the flood I'd just killed.

An infection was on its back and now burrowing into its back towards its chest. The body began to twitch and stood up as I watched in amazement.

"Shit." I said in disbelief, just before the CO put a round into the flood's chest.

23 minutes later...

TAT-TAT-TAT!!! I put three rounds into the chest of a mutated elite. That was the last of the flood in this area. The CO walked over to me and put on his jungle boonie and threw his helmet to a marine with no helmet.

"Boy howdy, we sure showed them." said the CO.
"You must be from the southern U.S." I said
"Yep, born and raised there, by the way, I'm the one that was on the radio with ya." he said
"Really, what's your name, soldier." I inquired
"Name's Bob, Bob Stooker." said Bob
"How'd ya'll end up out here?" I asked him
"We coming to reinforce the commanders column. A plasma burst from a wraith caught our wing and took out the engine." he said
"Must've been good piloting. Where are the pilots?" I asked
"The cockpit was crushed when we hit. They didn't stand a chance." he replied as he shook his head.
"At least the rest of ya made it." I said

We started to mop-up the place, look for any undead enemies and make 'em dead. I was inspecting the flood bodies when I heard screaming on the other side of the Scorpion tank. I ran around to see what was happening and jumped around the front of the tank to discover a single infection form had survived, and was now crawling up Diens back, he ran around screaming, obviously scared outta his wits.

"GET IT OFF! OH MY GOD HELP ME! HELP ME! OH MY GOD! GOD! SOMEONE PLEASE GET IT OFF!" Dien yelled as he ran past me.

Dien was running at full speed when it happened. SNAP! We suddenly heard come from his body, then he hit the ground, not budging a bit. The little creature vanished into Diens back very quickly, before any of us could even try to get it off of him. Diens body began to twitch, it shook violenty, then Dien stood up with a glazed over look in his eyes, and started to charge at us.

"OH NO!" yelled Alverez.
"OH SHIT!" I said as I opened up on Dien with my battle rifle.

Dien hit the ground and stopped moving, he had become infected obviously, it must've been a very horrible feeling, knowing death was only seconds away, a very painful one too. As I reloaded my clip I walked over to Alverez, who was leaning against the Scorpion.

"It's all my fault, Sir. I should've pulled it off his back. I should've stabbed it with my bayonet." said Alverez
"It's not your fault, Alverez. It's just war. You were scared the same as he was. No one could've helped him. He was destined to die that way and he would've died that way no matter what you did. Don't blame yourself, it is NOT your fault." I said reassureingly to Alverez.

I was consoling Alverez when I noticed I didn't see Romalee anywhere.

"Where did Romalee go?" I asked Alverez
"He went down during the middle of the fight. He took out his energy sword and went all ninja-style on the flood. He took out about twenty or thirty probably, before a swarm of infection forms got him." Alverez said.

We were still in mop-up when we saw a warthog top the hill at full speed. I had a bad feeling about it, I don't know why. It looked like it had been riddled with bullets and it had a very green look to it. I squinted to try to get a better look and made out a few marines in the seats. The one on the LAAG looked very tall and big with his helmet hanging off the back of his head.

"Excellant. Maybe there are more warthogs for us to drive outta here." said a Marine from the crash.

At about that time the 'hog came barreling at our position. A chill ran up my spine that told me to get behind the scorpion and hunker down. As the hog got closer I could see that the passenger was hanging half way out of the warthog. The guy on the LAAG turned towards us and began opening fire. The tracers began to impact around our position.

"HIT THE DECK!!!" Foster yelled.
"KNOCK THAT THING OUT, SANDERS!" yelled a Marine to my right.

A Marine stood up and fired a rocket at the warthog. The rocket started a spiral toward the oncoming warthog and with amazing accuracy it impacted on the driver side of the warthog. The 'hog flipped over and exploded, killing everyone inside it. We ran to it to investigate. Lane was there first. He stared at the bodies in disbelief.

"Oh my God, the flood can control our vehicles!" said Lane as he examined the flood bodies.
"This means... WE GOT TO GET BACK TO THE IN AMBOR CLAD!" I yelled to everyone.
"Why?" said a short, runty Marine
"Because if we don't, then the flood will take our ship and get off the ring." I said in desperation.

Sgt. Bob Stooker looked at me and began to order everyone to get all the ammo they can and pile on any available vehicle.

"Ok everyone. You heard the man, we gotta get back to the Clad so the flood bastards don't take it away." said Stooker
"Yes, Sir!" everyone said in unison.
"Stooker, my team is working independent of your team. Correct?" I asked
"Sure. You're very much a leader as far as I can see." he replied
"We're going to go find another ride outta here. We'll be back in a few." I said to Stooker
"No problem. We'll be here." he replied with a smile.
"Lane, Alverez, we will take our hog and search around for any available vehicles. We need to get to the ship with as many men as we can." I said in a rapid tone.
"Yes, Sir!" they both said.

We jumped in our warthog and away we went. We went about two miles and had found nothing, until we topped a hill and saw a fresh pelican just sitting the middle of an open area. We started slowly towards it. We stopped and got out. Alverez remained on the LAAG in case of an emergency.

"Lane, I'll go in and check to see if this thing can fly. Stay here and watch for trouble." I said

As I pushed the external opening switch for the bay doors of the pelican I heard something clank. I walked slowly into the dimly lit troop bay and turned on my helmet light for illumination. I heard something else clank in the direction of the equipment locker.

"Lane, get in here. NOW!" I whispered into my mic.

He came up slowly and took up a position beside me.

"There's someone in there. Open it up and I'll shoot if it's a hostile." I said to Lane

Lane got in front of the sliding door and jerked it open as fast as he could. A pilot was standing with a shotgun in my face, he then lowered it gently.

"Thank God. I though I was the only one who'd made it. I'm Lt. Cliff Heffton." he said
"What happened here?" I asked
"We were flying support for Keyes when we got a distress call from another pelican in the area. My fuel gauge was apparently wrong because we had to make an emergency landing due to no fuel. My gunner, co-pilot, and crew cheif said they were going for help and to stay with the pelican. I got scared when I saw about a dozen combat forms run by the pelican, so I stayed in the weapons locker. I've been in there for about 35 minutes." he said
"Well, we have about twenty marines that need transport to the Clad. Will this thing fly?" I asked
"Yes, but we don't have any fuel." he replied
"I think that maybe we can get some from the downed pelican we just helped defend. Probably the same one you were going to support." I said
"Yes, I heard your traffic across the comm and though for sure you all would be killed. By the way, have you seen the rest of my crew?" he asked
"I'm sorry, we haven't. Can you stay here while we go and get the men and fuel?" I asked
"Sure, I stayed here before." he said

Lane and I got back in the warthog and managed to find an additional two warthogs that we drove to the downed pelican. We arrived back at the downed pelican and began to formulate a plan.

"Sgt. Stooker, we found an abandoned Pelican about 2 miles away with no fuel in it, at ALL. Besides that, the pelican seems to be fine. Do you have ANY fuel at all left in this thing?" I asked him, pointing to the smoldering pelican.
"Yes I do, probably about 3/4 of its supply. We could use the scorpion to tow it back here and transfer the fuel from this useless pelican to the other pelican." said Stooker in an excited voice.
"Why don't we just take the fuel from this thing and haul it to the other pelican. It's easier and would be a whole lot more safer." I said
"That's two miles of basically open area. We could be ambushed by flood at any time." he said
"Well, then we better get everyone on a vehicle." I said
"Yes, sir." Stooker replied

Stooker began ordering his remaining troops and breifing them on our plan. In about 20 minutes we had everyone on a vehicle and the fuel in some canisters for safe transport. There were three canisters, so we put one canister in each of the vehicles, just in case we did get ambushed. Our column would have the tank at the front and then the three warthogs would fall in behind. Alverez and a new marine would be driving the tank. My warthog was just behind the tank, I was riding with Lane, and Foster. I went to it and mounted up.

"Alright Alverez, move out." I said into the comm.

The massive machine began to take off at slow speed and gradually built up a rather moderate rate of travel. All I could think about was how we would manage if the flood DID attack us while en route to the pelican. We would survive, just not all of us.

"FLOOD! WE GOT FLOOD CLOSING IN ON OUR ASSES! MOVE IT!" I heard a marine yell over the comm.

I turned around just in time to see gunfire erupt from the trailing warthog. Over three dozen combat forms were chasing the our convoy, followed by close to 500 infection forms. The warthog hit a rock and caught a little bit of air, that was just enough for the passenger to fall out of his seat and hit the ground.

"STOP! JIMMY'S FALLEN OUT!" the gunner yelled to the driver.

The marine got up and began firing as fast as his BR55 would allow. Flood were firing weapons at him. Eleven pink needles begin to spiral towards him and all impacted on his left leg and buttocks. The marine clutched his rifle and just looked up into the sky as he waited for the needle explosion to rip him apart. A pink explosion happened and the upper torso of the soldier was thrown a few feet and came down with a wet crunch because his bones had been shattered.

"GOD DAMNIT! GOD DAMNIT!" the gunner yelled in fury.

The gunner stopped firing his controlled burst and simply held the trigger down. He wanted revenge for his apparent friend's death. We were only about a mile away from the pelican now. The flood was gaining ground on our convoy, the trailing warthog couldn't compete with the number of bodies being thrown at him.

"C'mon warthog number 3, we only have about 1200 meters to the pelican." I said over the comm.
"Don't worry, sir. We got this shi ... " the driver said before being cut off.

I was looking back at the 'hog when this occured, a single bolt of plasma had it the fuel canister onboard, causing a massive explosion. The explosion blew the warthog apart and killed about a dozen combat forms in the immediate are of the vehicle. They never knew what hit them.

"SIR, WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" Stooker yelled over the comm.
"Alright, Alverez. Stop the tank and let us pass, then start bringing up the rear and tear those fuckers a new one. Got it?" I said
"This is Alverez, we got it." he replied

The tank stopped and we drove past them at lightning speed. We topped the ridge that overlooked the small valley the pelican sat in.

"HELL YEAH! WE MIGHT JUST MAKE IT OUTTA HERE!" I heard a marine yelled.

We drove to the pelican and began unloading the fuel. Cliff stepped out of the troop bay and had a HUGE grin on his face.

"Johanson to Alverez. Keep those bastards back while we fuel. What's your position?" I said into the mic.
"We are about 300 meters from the pelican. We got only light resistance left. We'll be there in a matter of minutes."he replied
"Copy that, I still want you to stage at the entrance of the area in case of another attack." I said
"Roger that." he said

I turned to Stooker.

"Get your men to get that pelican fueled NOW!" I said
"Already on it." he said happily
"We need to get it done FASTER!" I said, putting emphasis at the end.

He commanded his men to do so. In about 10 minutes the fuel transfer was complete, now the moment that we all had been waiting for. Cliff stepped into the seat and pushed a button. The pelican spit and sputtered, but didn't start.

"Oh shit, we're dead man. DEAD!" said a Marine in a maniacal tone
"Pull yourself together, man.! We are going to get outta here. Know why? BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!" said Stooker in a strong tone
"Yes, Sir." said the marine
"Try the engines once more, Mike." said Stooker in a hopeful voice.

I could hear Cliff say a little prayer as he pushed the ignition button.

BRRREEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

The engines hummed to life. Everyone cheered and shot their guns into the air.

"Thank you, God!" said Cliff as he nearly passed out.
"Looks like we are going to get to the In Ambor Clad." said Stooker
"Yes it does." I said "Alverez, you can move up to the LZ now. Marines, get that scorpion attached to the pelican asap, we'll be needing it."
"Yes, sir. We'll be right there." said Alverez

We got the scorpion hooked up to the pelican and threw in all the ammo we could fit. We could barely fit everyone in it because of the ammo, but we got everyone in anyway.

"EVERYONE IN?" asked Cliff
"GOOD TO GO!" said everyone in unison.
"Good job, Sir. I didn't think you were the leader type, but you proved me wrong." said Foster.

I took one last look over battle field, at the downed pelican, at all the dead bodies as we were lifting off. I would never see this place again, nor did I want to. It was a breeding ground for death. A lot of ment lost their lives here, and no one would probably even hear of this story if the Covies had anything to do with it.

Onward towards the lightly guarded In Ambor Clad. A single pelican with fourteen Marines on board and a scorpion MBT for back-up. The next battle would surely be my last I thought to myself. How could we win? There is an unknown number of flood, thousands of Covenant, and only about a 250 Marines, 88 ODST's, 200 of the ship's crew, and a small number of ONI operatives that came here. Only about 115 Marines, 47 ODST's, 60 crew members, and 3 ONI operatives are left that I know of.

We flew about 300 feet off the ground at about 110 mph. It would take at least 40 minutes to get to the Clad. I thought about home. How it might be if we lost the war and the human race became extinct. Rotting corpses roasting in the August sun. No one around to pick-up the bodies, to bury them. No one around to report to HQ what happened, no HQ to report to. The thought of it sent a chill down my back. Foster saw me shake and sat next to me.

"Something the matter?" She asked
"No, just thinking of home." I said
"Do you think we'll make it off this ring?" she said
"I don't know." I said "Right now I'm thinking we will all die at the hand of the flood."
"Don't think that way. We survived a flood attack of three-hundred men strong, we only had nineteen, and we still won." she said

That cheered me up a little, but not much.

"I just don't wanna die out here in space." I said.
"Oh come on. I think we will be just fine." she said
"Thanks but I don't think we will, Alex." I replied

For about 30 minutes we talked about this and that, trying to forget our problems. She was nice, I had never noticed her beautiful brown eyes and that dark brown hair with blonde high-lights. Right then, she looked like and angel that had come to take me home, through a battle zone that is.

"ETA TEN MINUTES. GEAR UP AND LOCK AND LOAD. I JUST CONTACTED THE CLAD AND IT IS UNDER HEAVY ATTACK FROM THE FLOOD. BE PREPARED, THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG FIGHT." said the pilot over the comm.

We all got prepared for the landing. The tank, which Alverez and another Marine would be operating, would land about 1/4 of a mile away and start taking out as many flood as they could. While the rest of us would go on and land at the Clad and help defend it.

"ETA 30 SECONDS. GET THAT TANK READY TO DROP AS SOON AS WE HIT THE DECK." Yelled the pilot.

"SHTHUNK!" the tank was released about 8 feet from the ground. As soon as it hit the ground it started rolling towards the Clad. I saluted Alverez as he saluted me when we took off. I would probably never see him alive again.

"ETA TO IN AMBOR CLAD... 40 SECONDS. GET PREPARED!" said the pilot.
"What are you gonna do after you drop us off?" I asked the pilot
"I am gonna get two marines to stay onboard and help support ya'll. I will fly as much as I can, but I gotta get refueled and rearmed first." said the pilot.
"Ok buddy. Thanks" I said

We landed in the pelican bay and unloaded everyone. Lane and I went to the bridge to see where the CO needed us.

"Uniform Six-Eight reporting for orders, Sir" I said to the CO
"Six-Eight, we need you and your men to go and help defend the lower vehicle entrances to the ship. These things are getting in everywhere." said the CO

We went to the lower levels of the ship to defend the vehicle bay, which was empty except for two warthogs.

"Stooker, get your men out there on those 'hogs to help the scorpion." I said
"Yes Sir." he said

Stooker got six of his men to volunteer for it. They loaded up the 'hogs and out the door they went. What brave men they were. The knew they would get infected within a few minutes. They loaded up anyway and sped into the heat of the battle. I watched as they began tearing through waves of flood.

103 minutes later...

"GET DOWN!" I said, Lane hit the deck just as I pumped a flood full of lead.

It dropped a plasma pistol in the snow. For some reason, I picked it up and put it in my pants pocket. I might need it later I though to my self. By this time, we had lost the lower levels of the ship.We lost the vehicles bays except for the pelicans, which had two pelicans in it. The 2 warthogs had been destroyed by the sheer number of flood that continued to thrash at them, but we still had the scorpion going strong.

"Alverez to Johanson." Alverez said over the comm.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked
"Sir, we are out of cannon rounds, all we have left is coaxial ammo, and that is running low. They are coming at us in waves, please come help us." said Alverez
"I can't Alverez. You have to hold on. Keeping running those bastards down and conserve your ammo. How much ammo do you have left now?" I said
"Sir, we only got about a thousand rounds." He said desperately over the comm.

Oh no, these men are gonna die and it's all my fault. If we had held the vehicle bay then we would've been able to get them in here. I went to the CO to try to get a new plan in order.

"CO, why don't we just lift off and land somewhere else that isn't infested with flood?" I asked
"We were told to hold here and defend the ship. Besides, if we were to go somewhere else then the Captain might not be able to find us." he said
"Why haven't you tried to contact Keyes and tell her what's going on?" I asked
"Because she is probably out of comm range. Also, if we moved locations then the Covenant might shoot us down in the process. Trust me, the Covenant don't want to risk one of their ships just to board a single human vessel in a flood infested region." he said
"CO, how many of your men are left?" I asked
"Forty-Seven." he said in a low hopeless voice.
"Sir, when we were in the pelican bay earlier I saw two unused pelicans, not including the one we brought. All we need is some pilots." I said
"And leave our only means of transportation back home. I am not leaving, but you all can. Besides, all our pelican pilots are dead." he said maniacally
"Sir, we will loose this ship if we stay or go. Only difference is how many people die. My squad is gonna pull out." I said
"Fine, take everyone and get out. I will stay here and defend the bridge. I will set up lotus mines at the entrances after everyone is gone." he said
"Sir, you really should come with us." I said sternly
"Don't get an attitude with me. Go now, before I take someone with me." He said as he leveled his gun to my chest.

I took this opportunity to start searching for everyone to get them into the pelican bay and tell them what was going on. Before I could start a voice came over the comm.

"All hands, report to pelican bay three for extraction. Abandon the ship NOW. Don't try to enter the bridge, it is booby trapped. Good luck, everyone." said the CO over loudspeaker.

Everyone ran as fast as they could to the pelican bay. I got there almost last.

"Ok everyone. We are getting outta here, we will go to another part of the ring and establish a CP. Any questions?" I said
"No, Sir" everyone said to my amazement.
"Is there anyone that knows how to fly a pelican?" I asked
"Yes." 11 people said as they raised their hands.
"Good. Decide who will pilot these things. We need to get the hell outta here." I said

"Uniform Six-Eight to Pelican Six-One-Nine. We need you to come into pelican bay five and get ready for extraction. We are leaving the Clad behind." I said in the my helmet mic.
"Yes Sir. Do you want me to pick-up the scorpion on my way?" Cliff said
"YES, COME PICK US UP. NOW!" said Alverez before I could answer the pilot myself.

We got everything we could to fit into the pelican. Food, water, ammo, and electronics were the most essential, they were loaded first, then everyone sat where there was space. We got the scorpion reloaded and refueled and reattached to the pelican. We were about ready to go when we heard the flood knocking at our door.

"GET YOUR ASSES MOVING." I yelled to everyone.

I jumped on the back of my pelican and latched in.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" I yelled to the pilot

I felt the pelican begin to lift-off and start to move forward. I looked back into the bay to see the flood bust through the door. A combat form lunged at our pelican, but fell and was sent sailing into a pit. I took a look out the back of the pelican and I was stunned. There were thousands of flood coming towards the ship. The sight made me think that this is a hopeless fight. I sat down in a seat and put my head down.

"Good luck, Sir." I said quietly into my comm.

I looked around and saw that there was no Pvt. Lane to be found. Then I tried all the channels but I never reached him. I guess he got killed, poor guy. He was probably the most afraid of all of us. We headed to a warmer, more hospitable part of the ring about a thousand kilometers away.

"Pelican One-Four-Six to anyone on this frequency. We have set up a CP near the 'Control Room'. We need some help. If anyone is out these then please respond." came a voice over the comms.
"This is Uniform Six-Eight. We copy you One-Four-Six. What is your situation and where is this 'control room'?" I said
"We are about 600 miles south of where the In Ambor Clad set down." said the voice
"Roger, we were heading that way anyway. We are about 590 miles out. What it your situation?" I said
"There is only about a hundred of us, all Marines. We have plenty of ammo and food but we need to mount a rescue operation." said the voice
"Roger. We will discuss it further when we arrive. ETA is about four hours and fifty five minutes. Hang tight. By the way, who am I talking to?" I said
"This is Lieutenant Micheal DeNardo. See ya when ya get here. Out!" said the LT.

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