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Chapter 1


"Damn Covenant!" Vince screamed as the surgeon cut into his wounded arm. We had just gotten back from our last skirmish, and there were quite a few wounded and dead tonight. Compared to the others in the Med. Tent, he got off easy.
The year is 2556, four years after Master Chief destroyed the first Halo, and I am Lieutenant Gideon Fernam of the UNSC Marines. I am on Nemesis II, a planet in the Deneb system. My convoy is en-route to the main UNSC base on this planet, which has been targeted for destruction by the Covenant. We are, at the moment, losing the war horribly, although the Spartan program has been re-instated. We have two of the units in our battalion at the moment. But we are still losing more and more troops every battle. Our only hope is to get to Earth's Hope, the name of the base, before the Covenant armada arrives. But to know more about my story, you must know more about me.
I am 6' 4", 24 years old, with black hair and blue eyes. Or at least one is blue. The other was cut in combat, and is now artificial. It was during my second solo mission, and I was on a cliff, sniping a Covenant patrol that was in our way. I had killed about half of them, and they were all running into a nearby cave. I had seen an elite leave a while earlier, but it didn't occur to me that it might have seen me. I heard the bushes rustling behind me, and turned around only to see that elite right behind me with a laser knife. I swung my rifle around just as he swung down with his knife. I blocked his swing, and with my other hand pulled out my 9" custom made knife. I jabbed it into its stomach, then ripped it up. He grabbed my rifle and threw it off the cliff, my knife barely hurting him. He then brought his knife down toward my face. That is when he cut my eye straight down the center. I fell backwards screaming, but somehow managed to pull out my pistol and blow a hole through its face without even knowing what hit it. My eye is now an almost white blue, being mechanical. But there are advantages- it came with night vision and a targeting sight.
I have been in the Marines for almost all my life, and have been on different space craft for all of it. My mother was killed when our first transport, where I was born, was boarded by the Covenant. She was running with me in her arms and my father laying down covering fire when an elite started firing at us. We were almost to the escape pod when the elite hit my mom's leg, severing it at the knee. The pod was about to launch, so she threw me into it jut as the doors closed over her. It killed her instantly, severing her head and arms. My dad was lucky enough to get away on another one, and he found me later. I killed my first Covenant when I was 5. I was hiding behind some boxes with my hands over my head, a completely useless position when the plasma hits you, when a wounded Marine crawled behind, handing me his knife and pistol, as well as a few rounds of ammo. "Kill a few for me," he said, then got up, and dove out from behind, throwing grenades and shooting until a plasma grenade stuck to his arm. I saw him get up and run, then I heard an explosion and an elite screaming. I looked out and all that was left of the battle was half an elite and the Marine's leg. I threw up in a corner, then started to run to the nearest pod. There were two grunts along the way. I snuck up behind one and rammed the knife into its life support, ensuring its death. I then whipped out the pistol and shot the other through the head at point blank. The last thing I heard it say was, "I HATE YOU! HUMAN BASTARDS!!" I ran into the life pod and, on the way down to the planet, I threw up twice. Later I found out my father was killed in that battle.
"Next time those Covies come for us I'm gonna take a few more down!" Vince yelled, probably just to ease the pain of the surgery.
"There, you'll be fine after a few weeks," said the surgeon. It was a small operation, just taking off the top of the plasma burns. It is the only way to heal them, because if you just leave them they will eventually burn through your whole body. It is a very gruesome way to die.
"Thanks man. Now Gid... er... Lieutenant, lets go back to our posts. I need to talk to you along the way," Vince said as he got up.
"Ok," I said as we walked out, "now what is it?"
"Listen Lieutenant, I need to ask a favor of you."
"Anything. And remember, while we're not in public, you can call me Gideon."
"Right, well anyway, tonight I realized that I really might die in this campaign, and you know I have my darling back on Earth. If I die, then could you send her a message? Saying how much I love her?"
"Of course I will. I would have done that anyway."
"Thank you."
"No problem."
We arrived at my post, a raised platform on our Lion Transport (The Lion Transport is an APC with bite; it has a forward cannon, a little more powerful than the scorpion tank's. It also has four machine guns and a mortar mounted on the rear), as I am an elite marksman. Vince is a Warthog and Covenant Vehicle specialist. I set up my S3 AM Sniper Rifle and took a look at the radar on my platform. There weren't any enemies on the screen, so I set up my coat and fell asleep. I had a dream about my mom and dad, we were on Earth, and it was just a normal day. Then everything turned dark, and plasma started raining from the sky. It fell down onto my parents, and when the skin melted away to elites stepped out, opened their mouths and started beeping. I woke up sweating, and there was still that beeping noise. I soon realized that it was my radio. I took a quick look at the radar, and saw enemy troops all around us.
"Damn..." I uttered before answering my radio. "What is it?"
"We are under attack! Get into your position and shoot anything that moves!" the voice at the end of the line yelled.
"Yes sir!"
I pulled up the rifle, checking the gas link and the smart-linked scope, and looked through the scope at the canyon in front of us.
"Holy shit..." I muttered to myself. There had got to be at least five hundred thousand, if not more. Ghosts ran off the sides of the canyons, Banshees flew overhead, and Mortar Tanks lined up behind the front of the army. There were thousands of Jackals lined up with their shields facing us. Elites roared behind the lines, waving their plasma rifles in the air. Hunters clashed their shields together. We stood no chance, with our small convoy of seventy-five thousand men.
For a while, the whole Covenant army was just standing there, waiting for something to happen. Everyone was shooting, slaughtering the enemy, but whenever one died another just took its place. The Spider Tanks were blasting their double cannons at the enemy, smoke trailing behind the shells. I sighted in an elite in a ghost. Remembering my training, I breathed in, the slowly let out my breath, keeping my arm steady, waiting for my heart to be stopped beating for that precious second. I squeezed the trigger and watched as the elite fell off the back of the ghost, a hole clean through its head.
After what seemed like eternity, the Covenant forces rushed at us. I scoped in a hunter, and just like in training I shot his neck, killing him instantly, as well as two grunts behind it. I then sighted two elites in a Specter, which is the Covenant's version of a Warthog. It has two seats in front and a gunner's seat with a shade plasma gun mounted on it. I picked off the driver first, then I took out the gunner just as he was hopping out.
Now Marines were dieing all around me. My radio was beeping again. I picked it up and heard the retreat order coming from the other end. My things were ready in a flash. I started climbing down the ladder, but about halfway down it got hit by a Banshee's fuel rod gun. It started to shake and I fell 30 feet to the ground, luckily landing on my back, where my backpack cushioned my fall. I got up slowly, because even with my tough backpack it hurt. Then I started running for the forest, where the best place to hide would be (The Covenant engaged us outside the forest, where they could maneuver more easily. I have seen many a ghost get stuck sticking straight up because they hit a tree.)Then Vince pulled up behind me in a Warthog.
"Hop in!" he yelled.
I jumped in the back and we drove toward the forest. By now there were more Covenant running to block our path, as well as the others who were running toward the forest. They opened fire and I watched as dozens of our men were ripped to shreds, or burned so badly they couldn't live for much longer. There was a boy; he couldn't be much older than 18, who tripped on a rock right in front of us. Vince slid to a stop right in front of him.
"Jump in!! QUICKLY!!!" Vince yelled.
"God... thanks dude. They were really killin' us out there." The boy said.
He started shooting at the lines. He must have been really experienced, because a little after he started I saw four Jackals go down right in front of us. I started firing too, thinking that it was stupid not to have done that in the first place. But under this pressure, it was hard to think, especially if you didn't know how to operate one of the guns in the first place. Luckily enough for us, Vince was just running over anything in his path. We were fast approaching the main blockade by that time, and there were only more of the enemy coming. We were almost there, and then two hunters came out of nowhere and started shooting at us.
"HOLY CRAP!" I yelled, shooting at them. But all it managed to do was knock them back a few inches. One fired, narrowly missing us and making the Warthog jump a few inches off one side. I was looking around, and saw a little cliff with a path up to the top. Apparently Vince saw it too, because in flash we swung around and he was headed straight toward it.
"HANG ON!!" he yelled over the rat-a-tat-tat of the machine gun. He drove us right up the back of it and sent us flying over the enemy lines. The kid was firing straight down at them, and I started to do the same. I saw at least three Jackals and a few grunts fall as they watched us with a look of utter surprise on their hideous faces. Or that could have been horror. It is hard to tell emotions on the Covenant. We landed with a jolt on the other side, almost throwing me out of the back, and I immediately turned around and started firing while they had their backs turned. So did the boy. I saw the two hunters fall from being hit in the back or the neck, and a whole lot of jackals died with their backs turned so that their shields weren't covering themselves.
"That should let a few more of our men through." The boy said.
There were still some Covies ahead of us. Vince didn't seem to care much though. He just ran right through most of them while I and the boy took out others along the sides. A lot of firing was still coming from both sides though, and more and more Marines were dieing. It looked hopeless for our side. I ripped apart an elite standing a few yards away from our warthog as it passed, then whipped around and continued shooting at the Covenant lines, which were now advancing, or retreating depending on which side you were on, toward the forest. I continued firing at them, but now there were more drop ships landing. And we had just received word the base was under attack. I heard a Marine who were passing calling out, "WE'RE DOOMED!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE OUT HERE!!!" before he was shot down by an elite. He was right, I thought, this is hopeless and we all know it. But before I go, I'm gonna give 'em one hell of a fight. Vince was still driving as if he were being chased by the Devil, who is still not as horrible as those little creatures that were chasing after us. Just as I had thought we were going to make it, a Grunt threw a grenade right at us. Vince tried to swerve and avoid it, but it latched onto the rear tire. I had just enough time to think "This is gonna kill" before it went off, sending us flying. The last thing I remembered was hitting the ground.


Chapter 2


I woke up a while later with my head throbbing. It took me a while to realize where I was, but I was in the forest and was lying with my back up against a tree. A medic who was talking with an officer in front of me looked over and walked toward me. He bent down and examined my eyes, ears, mouth, and my major cuts extremely skillfully. It was almost like a second language to him.
"You're ok soldier. Get on up and start doing whatever you want. If I were you I'd send letters to your loved ones back home. I don't think we're gonna make it out of this alive."
That reminded me of what Vince said. I got up and started looking for him, hoping he was alive but knowing it was not likely. I was amazed I wasn't held in some Covenant cell now, and reminded myself to look for the guy who saved me.
There was a tent a little ways off, and, figuring that was the best place to start looking, headed over there. I lifted up the flap and stepped inside, but the only thing in there was ammo and weapons. No Vince. So I continued to the next tent. A med. tent; there were many dead and wounded in it. But, luckily, no Vince. As I was walking to the next tent, I heard a voice behind me. Spinning around I saw Vince and that boy. I walked over and, after saying hi, asked if they knew what happened.
"Greg saved us after we fell," Said Vince.
"Greg?" I asked them.
"That would be me," said the boy. He didn't really look like much, brown hair, brown eyes, and a small scar that ran down his cheek. There was nothing special about him though.
"Yea. I woke up and he was throwing us into the side seat of the warthog. Then he jumped in and drove off toward the forest. He picked up another man along the way as well. He saved both our lives." Vince added.
"Well Greg, thanks a bunch." I said.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it will be repayed soon. Especially since we are in war and everything. It's what a soldier is supposed to do." Greg said unconcernedly.
"Thanks all the same." I said.
I asked how many casualties there were, and got the reply from an officer standing near by.
"Forty-thousand at least son. If not more. We were slaughtered out there. But we gave 'em Hell while we were . Estimated two hundred thousand deaths on their side."
"I could tell from my warthog, Sir!"
"Damn" I muttered as I turned back to Vince, "So we only have thirty five thousand left? We are seriously screwed unless we can figure a way out of here."
"That might not happen. The base was completely destroyed and even if we could get a ship into the air, the Covenant have the whole planet blockaded. It's completely hopeless." Vince said.
"Maybe not," Greg whispered, "I heard there was a briefing for the Special Ops tomorrow. I think they are going out to see if they can find a rumored abandoned Blockade Runner. That might get a few of us out of here."
"That's still not near enough to do enough that matters. But maybe we can help. I heard that the Spartan unit Commander Flame is going to go out on a solo mission to the base. Not even he can hold off a whole battalion of Covenant if he comes across one. Maybe he would be wanting some help?" Vice whispered so that the officer wouldn't hear.
"Well, I'm probably going to die anyway, so why not find out. I'm in," I said.
"Me too. Might as well," said Greg.
"Good. We'll go see him tonight."
Later that night I was sitting around the campfire waiting for the signal from Vince. People were telling ghost stories they liked, and there were quite a few. The one that was currently being told was the Big Toe. I remember the first time I heard that. I got so scared I couldn't go to bed for a week. I felt a tap on my shoulder spun around. Vince was standing right behind, and motioning for me to follow him. I got up and walked over to the armory tent. Greg was already in there.
"I just saw Flame packing up. It's now or never guys." Vince said.
"Ok, let's do this." I said.
We walked over toward the main entrance to the camp. Flame was standing there packing a bag with ammo. He heard us and turned around faster than any normal man could. He was at least seven feet tall with black flaming armor. I have to admit that it was really cool.
"Soldiers, what are you doing away from the fires?" Flame said
"Well, we were here to see if you need any help on your "secret" mission. Even you can't take down a whole Covenant base alone, and it would be pointless to lose you and have the whole remaining convoy destroyed when you could lose three and save more than that." Vince was probably one of the best people I've seen at convincing people of different stuff. So we were just going to let him do the talking.
"Absolutely NOT. I will not let you risk your lives on a suicide mission."
"Why not? If you die there was no point to it. We could help a ton. Maybe even get you out alive."
"No."
"Yes. We're gonna come whether you like it or not. It can't hurt, and can only help," Vince said as he pulled up his Assault Rifle, "and I might as well kill you now, seeing that you won't get anything out anyway."
"Hmmm.. I'm beginning to like you. I guess I'll let you come along. Be here by 2200 hours soldier. And call me sir, seeing as I'm a higher rank than you are private."
"Right Sir."
It was 2034 then. We all went our separate ways, Vince to the Armory tent, Greg back to the fire, and me to my tent. I started getting ready, packing the standard issue gray USNC uniform. I put a custom 20x scope on my sniper rifle, and packed some extra 8 round sniper clips in my pack. I shoved my pistol into its holster, and put extra clips into my pack. I also grabbed my 7" knife and attached it to my belt. I then walked to the cook tent to try to get food. There a say Greg.
"They won't let us get anything. They said if we wanted food we should have eaten at dinner."
"Well, we shall just have to sneak in then, eh?"
"Just what I was planning. Ok, there is a flap at the rear. We will have to wait until they leave."
"Ok, but remember, we don't have much time."
We were waiting for about an hour, making it 2145, then, finally, the cooks left. We snuck in and grabbed a few candy bars and some other food. Just as we were getting out, the cook saw us.
"Hey! Get back here!"
He ran after us, but luckily enough we were much faster. We outran him a little ways into the forest, then started circling the camp toward the gate.
"That was close!" Greg whispered to me.
"Yea, I know. Good thing we were fast."
"Ya."
We reached the gate, and saw Vince and Flame already standing there with two warthogs, a rocket and a LAAG.
"Where were you two?" Vince asked.
"Getting some food. The cook saw us and chased us into the forest, but we're ready now." I said.
"Good. Vince and I will drive. You two get in the backs." Flame said in the almost mechanical voice all Spartans have. I got in the LAAG and Greg got the Rocket. Flame and Vince started driving into the night.
"Let's kick some Covenant ass!" Greg yelled over the sound of the Warthog. I was just praying we would get out alive.

Chapter 3


We exited the forest without any trouble, and were entering the canyon we were attacked in the first time. There was still blood all over the canyon walls, human and alien. The wreckage of a Lion APC was run up along the side of the canyon. There were mortar tank, banshee, warthog, Scorpion, Spider, and other wreckages everywhere.
"Damn, we were worse off than I thought." I muttered.
"Yea, I know. We didn't stand a chance." Flame said.
We continued on, Flame and Vince doing an excellent job of maneuvering around the corpses. Then, we heard the sound no Marine wants to hear. Ever. There were two Banshees coming up to our position, and fast.
"Shit. Ok, we can hopefully evade these guys. All you have to do is shoot them." Vince said.
"Right," Greg and I said at the same time.
The Banshees were closing in fast, and then we saw them fly into the canyon directly ahead of us. They started shooting plasma bolts at us, and one shot a fuel rod. Luckily it missed. I started shooting, and Greg shot two missiles, both missing. I was hitting the banshees, and the first was starting to smoke. It concentrated fire on me. It shot a few blasts, and one hit the tip of the gun, melting the barrels.
"Shit..." I muttered to myself. I pulled out my Sniper rifle and waited for the banshee to pass, then shot the Elite in the foot, right where I was supposed to. The bullet travels through the elite's whole body, killing him instantly. Unfortunately, it also fries the controls, effectively making it useless. It fell, with the body still in it, all the way to the ground, where it hit the antenna of a Lion and blew up, taking part of the Lion with it. Now there was only one banshee left. This one was smarter. It never turned its back to us, and didn't get close enough to be hit by a rocket easily. The only thing to do was shoot it with everything we had. I scoped it in with my sniper, and squeezed the trigger, only to have my shot go wild from a turn that we made. I tried again, and hit this time, only slightly damaging the Banshee. Greg was still firing rockets, limiting the Banshee's movement, but none hit. I pulled out my pistol and started shooting with that, doing little more than making dents in the thick armor plating. We were firing like hell, but it was doing absolutely nothing to it. Then I remembered I had packed two cases of explosive tipped shells. I reached into my pack and pulled one case out. I loaded them into my rifle, and scoped the banshee in. I fired my first shot, which flew right past the side of it. I re-aimed and fired again. This time I hit the right blaster, blowing it up and destroying the plasma weapon. I scoped it in again, and missed far to the right. I scoped in my last shot, waited until he stopped for a second to switch back, and fired. This one fit straight on, destroying the controls. It went into a dive, and hit the ground. A second after it did, it exploded.
"HELL YEA!!!" I screamed.
"YEEEE HAWWWW!!!!" Vince yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Good job men." Flame said in a casual way.
We continued through the canyon until we reached the end. From there was just an open expanse of desert, five miles through that and you will reach the base. There is nowhere to hide anywhere within ten miles of any one spot. We continued to drive across the desert, me in the side seat now. I pulled out my sensors screen and took a look. No enemies within two miles at that time. We were going about sixty, which is fast in the sand. About a mile away from the base we were ambushed. Ten Jackals, Four Elites, two in Ghosts, and about twenty grunts. We flew into the line of Jackals, killing four, and then I shot an Elite in the ghost. The ghost fell to the ground, unharmed. I jumped out and then hopped in the ghost, swinging around and blasting four Grunts out of my way. Greg fired a rocket, destroying the other ghost and killing six grunts. I shot the rest of the Jackals, quickly destroying the shields and killing them. Flame ran over the remaining elite. The other ten grunts started scattering and running away, screaming. I picked them off one by one with the Ghost, while the others did the same. With that threat destroyed, we continued on to the base, me still in the Ghost. The remaining mile without harm, and stopped about a quarter mile outside of the base. It was swarming with Covenant forces.
"Alright, let's do this." Flame said.
I set up on a hill with lots of tree cover. Vince was in the Ghost, and Flame and Greg were in the warthog. Those three were going to rush in after I take out as many as I could. I set up, scoped in a mortar tank. The only weakness is the slit that the elites see through. I scoped that in, waiting for just the right time before squeezing the trigger. The Elite fell back dead. Grunts were looking around and running for cover. I continued picking off the Mortar tanks. After I got all five in the area, I got to the Specters. There were twelve of those. I hit the drivers first, making sure the gunner couldn't move. Then I shot them. There was a hole clean through every elites head by the time I was done. Then one grunt saw me. He pointed up at me, and plasma fire started raining down in my direction. That was the signal for the other three to rush in. I continued to snipe as much as I could while rockets were raining down on the fortifications. Vince was running over anyone that got in his Ghost's way, ripping them in half. Two hunters emerged from the base's entrance. I immediately shot one through the neck, and Vince got the other with a rocket. By then there were only scattered Grunts and Jackals left. We mopped them up, and entered the base. It was a normal hallway, except for the human and Covenant blood everywhere. There were a few grenades scattered around the hallway. I picked a few up, then followed the others down the hallway. We entered a crossroads, and covenant started firing from down the left fork. We returned fire, we quickly killing them all, and picked up their 'nades. I picked up a plasma rifle so I could defend myself if I were attacked by elites. Then we continued up that hallway.
"The control room should be somewhere around here..." Flame said about five minutes later. We turned a corner and there was a door with a window on it. I looked through the window, and there were a bunch of glass cells. Bullet proof glass by the looks of it. It must have been where they kept the captured covenant I thought. I couldn't have been more wrong. We opened the door, and immediately a marine with a gaping hole in his head fell out. He was dead. We walked in cautiously, me taking up the back and Flame going in the front. The closed with a Whoosh when we stepped inside. I turned around and nearly threw up. There were dead Marines everywhere, but no Covenant at all. Not even a speck of purple blood.
"What the hell could have done this...?" Vince asked.
"I have absolutely no idea, but whatever it was it must have been powerful." Greg replied.
"I have only seen something like this once," said Flame, "and if it is anything close to what it was before, this whole planet is doomed."
"Well, what was it then?" I asked Flame.
"It was in the pictures brought back from Halo when Master Chief destroyed it. He was in a building in the middle of the swamp, and he was following the General to stop him from finding a secret "Weapons Cache." That is when he first met them."
"Met what?" Vince said nervously.
"The Flood. You wouldn't have heard of them. It was classified material. It seems that the one body he brought back was brought here. What the hell were they thinking when they didn't destroy that body. Anyway, the Flood destroy anything they come across. They start as small spider like things. When they kill something, they burrow into them and take over the body, seriously deforming it. The pictures were truly sick."
"So.... Are we screwed or can we get out?"
"Well, if one Flood gets off this planet at all, it could mean the destruction of the entire universe. The only way to stop them is to completely destroy the planet."
"I would take that as a yes then."
All of a sudden we heard this scuttling sound. It was coming from nearly everywhere.
"Crap." Greg muttered.
"Where's it comin' from?" Vince said.
"I don't know! Damnit we are fucked here!" Flame said.
Just then I felt something hit my head. I looked up and saw something green dripping from the ventilation shaft above us.
"There!!! THEY ARE UP THERE!!!" I yelled.
We all pointed our guns up just as the spiders came streaming down. Now, if you shoot one they kind of explode, killing a few with each explosion. So when we shot the first few coming out, most of them were killed. But a few jumped down on us. Vince shot one just as it was latching onto his face, and the rest were dead in seconds.
"Let's get out of here!" Vince yelled, bolting for the door. I followed him, but just as he reached it there was a loud explosion from right behind us. We turned around and there was a gaping hole in the wall. An infected elite jumped out, and ran toward us. Flame whipped out a Shotgun and blew a hole in its chest, immediately destroying the "spider" controlling it. We ran out the door and back down the hallway, blasting the occasional grunt as we went. Every once in a while there was a stray flood, which we took care of easily. We reached the exit and stepped outside. Greg got in the gunners seat of the Warthog, Flame in the drivers, and me in the side while Vince got in the ghost. Just as we were about to drive off seven infected Elites jumped off the roof of the building. The quickly surrounded us and started firing. I shot one with the sniper, quickly figuring out that it didn't work well. All it did was make a hole in the body of the Flood, which did next to nothing to harm it.
"Shit." I said. I pulled out my pistol and fired using that. It didn't do much more than the sniper rifle. Meanwhile Greg was firing rockets everywhere and Vince was slicing them in half. But more kept coming.
"Here, use this!" Flame yelled over the fire, holding out a shotgun. I took it and fired at an infected Marine flying through the air toward us. It died instantly. I continued shooting every one that came after us. Finally, using some common sense that seemed lost before, Flame and Vince just plowed right through the wall of Flood that blocked us from the exit. I looked behind us. There were tons of flood bodies littering the ground, but still more were coming out of the door. We were lucky we got out that fast. We continued on, meeting no resistance until we got back to the camp. We were driving through the woods, and we got to where the camp was pretty fast. Well, at least where the camp used to be.

Chapter 4



All that was left were smoldering tents. Nothing else. Flame jumped out and looked around while Vince, Greg and I started talking about it.
"I wonder what happened." I said, looking at the wreckage.
"It looks like the Covies found it." Vince said as he looked at the mutilated body of an elite.
"I don't know... There isn't much plasma scarring anywhere." Greg added, scratching his head.
"Nope," Flame had returned, "It looks like the Flood got here before us."
"Damn, how can they move that fast?" Vince said.
"They can jump extremely far, and can run just as fast. The spores don't care how fatigued their hosts are. They just keep running."
"That's right... I knew I saw something jump over the cliffs on the way back, but I looked and they were gone." I said, "They're that fast?
"Yup."
We decided we should get out of there as fast as possible. The extra supplies were loaded into the only two remaining jungle hogs, and we each drove one. I had had basic training, but I wasn't near as good as any of the others. Our group headed east, to the right of where we came in. Flame said he saw some boot prints heading that way. It was the best place to look for survivors. It was hard to drive over the rough terrain of the forest, but somehow we managed to get through.
After two uneventful days we came to an ocean. The water was pure green, not anything like what you see in pictures of Earth. There were one or two fish swimming around in a deeper spot, but we didn't have time to stop and fish. I'm not even sure they weren't poisonous. Sand blew up behind our jeeps, and I wondered if this all weren't just a dream. It seemed so peaceful. The trees blew in a light wind. They looked like palm trees, only the leaves were reddish. Duwans were flying over our heads, acting like absolutely nothing was happening. I almost couldn't believe it was actually happening, sitting there eating what was left of our provisions. It had been three days since we started looking for survivors, and we hadn't seen any signs yet. I was starting to think it was hopeless. Even if we did find anyone, how would we ever get off this doomed planet?
"ARRRGHH!!" I yelled, "It's hopeless!"
"It sure seems like it. If we can't find survivors there isn't any chance of living through this. But we have to keep looking. It will be impossible to get off this god forsaken rock if we don't." Vince said.
"I guess you're right. Still pissed off, but let's get going." We drove off toward the forest, the whole group downcast. I laid my head against the seat, and quickly fell asleep. As I was dozing off I thought there was something in the trees to our right, but it was probably just the wind... What seemed like five seconds later I was jolted out of my sleep.
"Wha...? What's going on?" I mumbled as I sat up.
"I'm not sure. We just stopped. Hang on." Flame started pressing buttons on the dashboard. A screen flashed on the windshield of his car. "That's very weird..."
"What is?" Greg looked over his shoulder.
"According to the infrared scanners, there's a wall, or something similar, right here. But that would mean someone has developed complete cloaking. Not even the Covenant has gone that far. The camo Elites you can still see, even if only slightly. I'm gonna take us around it." Flame turned the car and began driving off into the forest. Vince followed, turning on his infrared as well. I again thought I saw something running along beside us. I dismissed it again, but kept an eye out for anything else. About an hour later, after we had taken a few turns following the wall, I saw it again.
"Hold up guys. I thought I saw something." I jumped out of the back and took a few steps into the forest, then immediately found myself upside down and hanging from a tree about fifteen feet above the ground. "Whoa..." It took me a second to get re-oriented, then I slid my knife out from the sheath on my belt and slit the rope that had caught me.
"Wonder what set that up." Vince looked at the primitive trap, then took a look around.
"Probably the same thing that I've been seeing." I started walking around, careful where I stepped this time. Flame and Greg had their rifles raised and were standing near the warthogs. I flipped on the infrared in my HUD and looked around. There were weird glowing shapes everywhere, too hot to be Flood, but too fast to be human. "Guys... There's something here..." I flipped up my pistol as Vince pulled up his rifle. In a flash of color there were twelve plasma swords in our faces. I traced the nearest one up to its Elite holder, but it wasn't an Elite. A three foot bluish humanoid was staring straight into my eyes. It definitely wasn't any Covenant I had ever seen.

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