Left Behind
Posted By: aussie_spartan<aussie_spartan@hotmail.com>
Date: 6 May 2007, 1:11 pm
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The following story was inspired by true events in Halo: Combat Evolved. In the second level (amazingly enough titled 'Halo') I noticed that on some occasions Echo 493 would leave without picking up all of the marines. I always felt bad for them in a way, being left there and it amused me to think about those marines left behind having amazing adventures when I left.
"Wait!" Yelled Lance Corporal Felix Hughes "Wait!"
"Fuck!" He yelled even louder when the dropship didn't turn around.
Felix even tried firing at the pelican with his assault rifle for good measure but it all amounted to nothing, it wasn't turning around and no matter what he did it never would. Of all the things that had ever happened to him this was probably the worst by far and that included the day his girlfriend sent him a 'Dear John' letter. "God damn it, I'm a walking country song." Felix muttered to himself. "Now all I need is my dog to be run over by a car."
Felix looked around taking in his surroundings. There wasn't much really, a rockslide had formed a natural maze from the crashed escape pod to the top of the hill where Felix and the rest of his squad had taken residence.
From the moment they got out of the pod the Covenant hit them with all they had, air support, ground troops even going as far as posting guards at the only exit to the valley making sure they couldn't escape. Sergeant Stacker had organized them very quickly on top of the hill sending them down now and then while covering them with his sniper. Eventually the Spartan had shown up and things started to look up, he was mercilessly efficient in eliminating the opposing forces dropped in and then when the battle seemed almost over one last Covenant ship flew in, the Covenant moved quickly into the hill hiding in the rocks.
Felix and the rest moved into the rocks as well to try and flush them out for the Spartan to kill and in the engagement Felix and Private Matthew Boots were facing to off with a particularly nasty Elite. Boots and the Elite were nose to nose blasting away at each other while Felix tried to flank the Elite and hit him form behind but the Elite was a better tactician than them. It turned around quickly and fired a controlled burst in Felix's direction and at the same time pulled out its plasma pistol. Boots, who didn't see the pistol thought this was his opening and stopped moving to get a better bead on the Elite. Felix tried to warn Boots but it was too late, he didn't have time to react as the Elite fired the rifle at Felix and the pistol at Boots. Two plasma rifle shots melted the metal on Felix's chest plate, painfully giving Felix second degree burns but Boots wasn't wearing his armor and the pistol shot that hit his chest craved a sizable chunk in his chest cavity. The bullets from Boots' rifle bounced off the Elites shield making it flare a bluish color, in any other situation Felix would have taken the time to circumspectly examine the color and the shield but right now he didn't have the time.
Rolling on the ground Felix was able to escape the barrage of plasma fire that the Elite sent his way but it messed with his lock on the beast so it was able to move in closer to him. Stepping outside his strike zone the Elite had an excellent advantage because Felix's assault rifle was pointed away from it. The Elite dove hard into Felix then grabbed him by the top of his chest plate and head butted him with all the force it could muster. Felix dropped to the ground unconscious but apparently the Elite presumed him dead, unfortunately so did his comrades as they left him there by accident.
"Well this is fucking great, stuck here all alone with nothing to do but sit on my ass and hope the cavalry come back here to rescue me in time." Felix said more to himself than to anyone else.
It was hard coming to terms with what had just happened. Well, moaning wasn't going to help him but Felix just couldn't think of anything else to do. Felix turned his attention away from the portion of the horizon in which the pelican had disappeared when his decision was made for him. A Covenant cleanup ship was approaching and if he didn't make himself scarce and soon then he was in deep shit. Felix made a runner for the exit to the valley hoping the ship hadn't already seen him and judging by the lack of plasma fire they didn't. Felix crept past the rocks in the small corridor leading to the much larger valley outside keeping a careful eye on the top of the corridor for snipers and scouts. "Why the fuck does this happen to me all the time?" Felix wondered out loud.
Felix stopped almost as if waiting for his echo to answer his question but they did not, even if they did Felix wouldn't have heard them it was the other echo's being made by the corridor that concerned Felix. A high pitched barking like noise and loud grunting noises were coming from both where Felix had come and where he was going. Felix placed the enemy force in front of him at about three grunts and an Elite, the noises from where he had come however sound more like just two grunts but Felix presumed that even more were waiting back at the landslide. Seeing no other option Felix hid behind the nearest rock and waited. The sound grew louder and Felix heard a grunt singing some sort of song, as he drew nearer Felix recognized the sounds of a human music player. The grunt was obviously singing along to a music player that he had pillaged from a marine somewhere. "We are the champions! We are the champions!" the grunt yelled at the top of his voice.
Felix smiled at the grunts singing abilities, they almost matched his own. Then he clicked the safety off his rifle and used the singing to get a fix on where the little buggers head would be right now. The two parties on either side of the corridor drew nearer and Felix saw three grunts moving past him towards the Elites group. The grunt that was singing was amongst them and when they reached the other group the grunt stopped singing immediately but he must not have known or been able to shut the thing down because the music continued to play. There was some speaking in the Covenant warbled tongue which Felix couldn't understand without his translator but from what he could gather the Elite was pissed about something. Felix heard a crunching sound and the music stopped abruptly, knowing what the Elite had done Felix wondered what kinds of music the Covenant listened to. "Amazing what kinds of things you think about while facing certain death." Felix mumbled to himself quietly.
More speech in the Covenant dialect and then the group were moving back towards the landslide, they would have to pass Felix's hiding spot and Felix wasn't so sure whether or not the Elite would spot him. There was nothing he could do however because if he moved now they were sure to spot him so Felix just gripped his assault rifle all the more tighter. "Stupid Demon, he kill too many." One grunt said as they moved toward him but he was quickly silenced by the Elite.
Luckily they thought that the corridor was clear so they didn't bother to thoroughly check the path they were taking. Felix once more saw three grunts pass him by in a tighter formation than they first passed him, then came two more grunts and a red elite bringing up the rear. Felix eyed the elite suspiciously wondering if he had been spotted or not, hopefully not or he would be in one hell of a mess. After they had passed Felix waited a few minutes just to make sure that it wasn't a trap, with each minute Felix's heart slowed down from its originally high beat and he grew more restless. When he could take it no longer Felix poked his head out from his hiding place and finding no visible enemies he crawled out and jogged away from his starting position. Darting out into the next area Felix gasped at the sight that met his eyes, all he could describe it as was beautiful a flowing river passed through this larger valley which was populated with large pine-like trees and soft green grass as far as the eye could see. "How big is this place?" Felix questioned out loud.
When Felix asked this question he wasn't talking to anyone so he was very surprised when he heard a response. "Larger than you will ever know human."
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