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1705 hours, October 22, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Unknown system, Covenant Holy City High Charity

      When I awoke I was in a cell. My body ached all over. There was very little light, so I couldn't see very well. My vision was just good enough that I saw another body on the other side of the cell, so I began to crawl towards it. As soon as I moved, a pain shot through my back that was just unbelieveable that I nearly passed out from. My sight got blurry again, but I didn't pass out. I just sat there for a long time, not even daring to breathe heavily. After awhile, I saw the body on the opposite wall start to move, it got up, and started walking closer, closer, closer. My spirt was willing to fight if it was hostile, but didn't have the strength.

      "Is that you, Johanson?" came the voice. It was Foster
      "Yes, it's me. What the hell happened?" I said
      "You got hit over the head with a Brute's rifle and I got knocked out by a Jackel's pistol." she said as she rubbed her head.
      "Why do you think they put us in the same cell? " I asked
      "Because all the others are broken." she said simply, pointing to the other cells.
      "I can't see very well, everything is fuzzy and distorted. How are we gonna get outta here?" I said.
      "To hell if I know. Maybe the Chief is still up here. Maybe he can help us." she said excitedly.
      "Here, where are we?" I asked.
      "I overheard the guards say earlier this is High Charity. We have been up here for over eighteen hours I'm guessing." She said
      "Do you know what happened to the rest of the squad?" I asked
      "No sir, I got knocked out about as soon as you did. I figure they made it ok. I was still a little conscious when they brought us out to the ship. There were only about fifty more Brutes remaining." she said
      "I hope they all got out OK. I may have led my men into a trap." I said in anger
      "I don't think you led them into a trap, but I do think you gave them fighting spirit. I am certain they all survived." she said, trying to console me.
      "Can you give me an examination?" I said "I feel like all the bones in my body are broken."
      "Sure." she said as she picked up her back-pack.
      "Hey, they even left all my medical stuff in my pack! Good thing too." she said happily.
      "I saw the In Ambor Clad in a tower a couple of miles away. It was smoldering and looking pretty unflyable." she said
      "Great. The flood brought it here." I replied

      She looked me over and found out that my back was injured and sore from the Brutes trampling me before they got me into their ship. I also had a broken rib and a cracked forearm. I felt relieved to know that. She gave me some painkillers from her bag and sat down beside me.

      "Why do you think the Covies are keeping us alive? They usually only take prisoners as a show of public killings." I said
      "I don't know. Maybe that's exactly what they want of us. Just not right now." she replied
      "Do you think we'll get outta here OK?" she asked
      "I don't know, I just don't know." I said as I began to curse.
      "Why are you cussing?" she asked
      "Because it's hopeless. The Brutes are gonna KILL US! They hunger for our blood. They want US ALL DEAD! We will never escape this wretched holy city and live to tell about." I said
      "Hey, cowboy up, Johanson. We've been through too much shit to just simply lay down and die in this alien shit-hole. You need to keep up your spirit." she said
      "This situation is hopeless. The Chief is gone, we are a Covenant Holy City along with the flood. If the Brutes don't kill us then the flood will infect us and we will become zombies. JUST LIKE THEM!" I said in desperation.

      She quit trying to reason with me for a while. It was silent, except for the sounds of very far away battles between Flood and Covenant. I thought I heard the sound of a battle rifle, but it was probably just the flood rolling up on us. As we sat in our 7x7 cell, I could hear voices, voices of fallen comrades. They were just a bother at first, but just kept getting louder and more distinct.

      "We are going to get you!" they were saying, just repeating that same phrase over and over and over again. I couldn't get the pictures out of my head, the faces of Dien, Lane, the CO on the Clad, and a face of another Marine whose name I couldn't place, but he was the gunner on the warthog that was destroyed by the fuel canister exploding. Their faces were now decaying at rapid rate as they talked to me. I tried so hard to make the voices go away, but they just kept hitting me in waves.

      "For Gods sake. What have I done to you?" I said, staring off into space.
      "Who... ME?" asked Foster.
      "You. . . KILLED US!" said the voices in unison with Foster.
      "The voices! Can't you hear them?" I said
      "No, all I hear is the distant battles." she said "Oh... that's the morphine. Must be where the voices are coming from. Just calm down, it's just the morphine making you freak out. Once it's through your system you will be back to normal, Sir."

      Morphine? A battle hardened Marine getting morphine. I kept having the hallucinations well into the next 6 hours. Although she didn't say much, I could tell Foster was getting pretty tired of just waiting around. The morphine had made me groggy and I fell into a dreary sleep.

      I awoke to the sound of Fosters voice over me.

      "Get up, we need to get the hell outta here, NOW!" she said
      "Outta here, where the hell we going?" I said

      I noticed a group of ODSTs, Marines, and Elites standing guard at our cell door.

      "We came to rescue you, Sir. We will explain everything when we get back to the CP." a Marine said as he walked over to help me off the floor.
      "Thank you. We thought we were toast." I said
      "We'll getcha outta here. Just stay behind us and pick up any weapons you can find. Human ones that is." He said

      Foster helped me to my feet. I could feel the broken rib moving around inside my body. I checked my pocket, I still had my plasma pistol. They hadn't searched me for it, good thing too. I took it out and leveled it in case we meet any light resistance, very light resistance that slipped past the entire fire squad in front of me. I felt like a dumbass for even brandishing it. It was so puny and insignificant looking, so I put back into my pocket and went on.

      We ran down an endless number of empty halls, hoping to find our way back to the shuttle area. I had no idea where we were, but the ODST leader sure did. We turned a corner and I saw a battle between a lot of brutes, jackals, buggers, and flood.

      "SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!!!" yelled the ODST leader

      Everyone started firing down the hallway at the flood and covenant loyalists. I decided to join in the fray, I pulled out my plasma pistol and started firing rapid burst at a group of infection forms. I could barely hear anything because of the volume of gunfire and plasma discharge from our weapons. Finally, the last flood form hit the ground, missing its arms, head, and most of its internal organs.

      "Sorry, brother." A marine said as he crushed the head of human flood form, apparently that of a fellow marine.

      We ran down the very long hall, at the end of which there was two pelicans and a phantom dropship. We loaded up and headed back to the ring. I looked around the pelican and saw that we were missing a marine that was in front of my cell.

      "Hey. Are we missing a marine?" I asked the marine next to me.
      "Didn't you see him get taken down by an infection form? He was right next to you when it happened." the hispanic marine said
      "I didn't. I must've been looking at something else." I replied

      The rest of the ride back to the CP was uneventful. We returned to the CP, only took about 45 minutes.

      We landed with a gentle THUD!. I got out and was I helped by Foster and an Elite. I was taking to the aid station immediately for an examination. I was told my vision would be back to normal in a few hours, it would become clear then blurry from now 'til then. I also had a cracked femur, broken rib, and one of the disk in my back had to be pushed back into alignment. I faired pretty good compared to some. I left the medical tent and headed to the Command building when I was stopped by a silver elite that took part in the rescue.

      "Human, I fought many of your kind all of my life. I thought it for a divine purpose, but I now realize it was but sensless murder. I wish to give you a gift." the elite handed me an MA5B assault rifle, which was replaced by the BR55 over 2 months ago. Almost all were destroyed or taken out of service.
      "I took from one of the only two humans to ever fight for me. He kept me alive on the other ring when the flood attacked. His name was Mark Levy. I quickly began to respect him when he saved a group of grunts from flood. After that, he said he wasn't taking us prisoner, he was saving our lives so we might save his at a later time. I never got that chance. On the third day after our arrival on the ring, the human was leading us to his crashed vessel in search for help. He was killed by a lesser elite that thought he was saving our lives. I had a lot of repect for that human, I took his rifle and knife for keepsake, out of respect." he said
      "How'd you get off the ring?" I asked him as I examined the rifle
      "After I called for evacuation, I killed the elite for that marine's revenge. We got back my cruiser just before this Master Chief caused the vessel to explode and destroy the ring." he replied
      "Thank you. Maybe this will help our alliance." I replied
      "Yes. Good day." said the elite
      "Goodbye." I said

      I took the rifle back to my room and examined it. I was amazed to find the flashlight and ammo display was still functioning. Upon further examination I found it had been modified with an extended barrel for increased range and accuracy. Also, it had a small 4X scope and a silencer that was contained in the stock of the rifle along with a note.

      The note read

September 22, 2552 (0637hrs)

            Day three on this damned ring. I lost my whole squad to the flood. I saw a flood take Garcia's head off with a single slash of his clawed hand. I've taken a SILVER elite back to the cave to save him, along with three grunts and another marine. The covenant I saved think they're prisoners. The marine I saved is PFC. Gordon Yardel, a demolitionist from 4th platoon. He told me he just jumped on the Autumn to get away from Reach. I am going to lead the group to the Autumn, maybe there's help or supplies, possibly maybe even a tank or warthog. To help with the combat, I'll also give the "prisoners" weapons. I think the elite is beginning to trust me a little, though Yardel thinks I'm crazy to think that way. I'm am running low only on hope, I have enough weapons and supplies to fight probably the whole army of flood. I have food ammo, grenades, everything. If only we had a transport to get the hell outta here. Writing things down helps me to regain hope. I must go now.

                                                                              Pvt. Mark Levy, 3rd MEU, 1st Platoon, 5th squad

      Mark Levy must've really liked this thing to make a lot of these modifications. I began to put the rifle in my foot locker when a small chip fell out of the compartment from which the letter came. I examined it and recognized it was a digital video from a helmet cam. I quickly put into the small projector in the room and began viewing it.

      The entire video showed his journey from The beginning of Reach until just before he lead the group to the vessel. The video showed to be full, this must be why it was in his rifle, so he wouldn't record over his long and hard journey.

      I decided not to tell about the letter or video to DeNardo. I walked into DeNardo's office and began.

      "Staff Sergeant Johanson reporting for duty, Sir." I said
      "Good to see you back, son. We thought we'd lost ya out there." he said with a smile
      "Sir, what happened to the rest of the group I was with when I was taken prisoner?" I asked
      "A lot of 'em made it out, only lost two Elites, four Grunts, and three Marines. It is tactically a success." he said coldly
      "Do you know the whereabouts of Sergeant Stooker or Sergeant Alverez?" I asked
      "Yes, Stooker is in his room. Alverez is in the infirmary. He got his leg nearly taken off by a brute on a rampage." he said
      "By the way. We got Miranda and Johnson back. They are in their room. Right beside the Marines that worked with MC on High Charity." he said
      "Well, that is GREAT!" I said
      "We managed to find Cortana when our forces were searching for you and other marines on High Charity. She had to be left behind while the Chief went ahead and jumped on an Earth-bound Forerunner ship, which has the Prophet of Truth on it. The Covenant are planning to fire ALL the rings by way of the ark." he said
      "Where's Cortana?" I asked
      "She had to be left at High Charity. We had no way to transport her here." He said.
      "Why did you come for me?" I asked
      "We didn't, we got report from those marines on High Charity that Cortana was still up there. So we sent a search party for her and she said that you were being held in a cell. That's the only reason we found you." he said
      "Well thank you anyway, sir." I replied
      "No problem, by the way. This is the Arbiter." he said with a smile
      "Arbiter? What are you talking about?" I said in confusion, just as I said this an Elite in wierd looking armor de-cloaked himself.
      "He is what saved Johnson and the other Marines from certain death, well, the other Marines anyway. Johnson has always been a survivor." he said
      "Ok, nice to meet you." I said as I saluted the Arbiter, which saluted back but didn't say a word.
      "Sir, can I go talk to the Captain and Johnson?" I asked
      "Sure. Dismissed." he said
      "Sir, an elite gave me an MA5B ... " I began and told him the rest, but not about the video or letter.
      "Well, that's a damn fine elite. This WILL strengthen our alliance." he said

      I went to the room DeNardo had said they would be in, and he was right, they were in there.

      "Permission to come in?" I said
      "Permission granted. What's your name and rank." said Johnson.
      "My name is Staff Sergeant Debo Johanson. I was taken prisoner on the operation we launched to save ya'll." I said
      "Yeah, I heard about you and the other Marine. Foster wasn't it?" He said
      "Yes, Sir. She should be around here somewhere. We got taken to High Charity and rescued, I don't know if you heard." I said
      "Yeah, we heard your pelican sit down. I was in the infirmary with you, I suppose you don't remember me because you had all those drugs in ya, they were trying to re-align your back." he said
      "Would you like me to go find Foster?" I asked
      "Sure." he said

      I went looking from tent to tent, I could find her nowhere. That is, until I checked our room, I'm such as dumbass sometimes. She was lying under the covers of the bed sleeping from what I could. I shoke her and started to talk to her.

      "Foster, Johnson and Miranda want to talk to us. Get your stuff ready." I said in a frenzy
      "They do? Why?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes
      "I guess because we got captured trying to save them and they want to show their gratitude." I said
      "Ok, let me get my fatigues on." she said

      2 minutes later after she finally got dressed...

      "Ok, let's go." she said as she picked up her combat helmet. "Just in case we get into a battle between our room and their's."

      We entered Johnson and Miranda's room together and the Sergeant told us to have a seat and act as if we were all the same rank.

      "So. Tell us how you two fared after leaving the column back in the Quarentine Zone." said Johnson
      "Well, we went to the pelican first of all..." Foster began

      She told them all about how we fought back some flood at the Clad and what we had just escaped.

      "Well, that's quite a story." said Johnson as Foster finished the tale.
      "Thank you, Sir." Foster and I said in unison.
      "Thanks for trying to defend my ship. I'm glad you at least made an effort." Said Miranda
      "Thank you." we again said in unison.
      "No problem." she said.
      "I'm gonna brief you on your new mission, so be ready when I call ya. Dismissed." Johnson said

      Foster and I went to see Stooker and Alverez. We went to the infirmary to see Alverez first because it was closer than Stooker. We walked in and asked a medic where we could find Alverez, he pointed at a cot about 10 cots down the row. We walked over to it, Alverez was about half asleep. His leg was bandaged heavily. We woke him up to talk to him.

      "uhhhmmm. . . who th . . . ell is it?" is all Alverez could get out.
      "It's Foster and Johanson. Remember?" I said
      "uhmm. . . OH. YOU GUYS MADE IT!" he said, coming out of unconsiousness
      "Yep, we were rescued from High Charity." Foster said "What the hell happened to you?"
      "I got hit by a charging Brute. He nearly took my leg off. The doc' says I'll keep my leg, but I can't fight. I can only fight if I get a prosthetic limb attached to me, and get my leg amputated." he said
      "What are you gonna do?" I asked
      "I think I am gonna get the fake limb. That way I could still fight. The doc says that I will be able to fight in about three days after surgery if I get the prosthetic." he said.
      "Well, whatever you do. Remember who did this to you. The Covenant. Don't ya want to get some payback?" said Foster
      "Yeah, I do want payback. I think I will get the prosthetic. Well, the drugs are starting to kick in again. I think I'll see ya'll later." he said
      "Bye." Foster and I said in unison.

      We walked back to our room. We both sat down and discussed some of the things we thought about being in Johnsons squad and whether we were gonna be happy in it or not. We sat in that room for hours, just talking and laughing. We went to bed, hoping never to see another day of combat.

      I awoke in the shimmering light of mid-day. Foster was still asleep. I went to the latrine, then I decided to get ready for another day in the military. . . so I got dressed in some new fatigues that I was issued from the CP. It was just the pair that I'd worn the day before. . . only washed, pressed, and starched for me. It felt good to get back into the clean pants and shirt. I put my plasma pistol back into the left pocket. After I got dressed I went to the mess hall.

      "How ya feelin'?" I heard a voice say over my shoulder
      "Just fine." I said as I turned to see the face of the inquirer, which was Sgt. Johnson "How are you?"
      "Just fine myself." Johnson said
      "Are we gonna go on mission that today or what?" I asked
      "Well, I don't know. Probably, if the Separatist Fleet arrives." he said
      "Well, we'll be ready when ya need us, Sir." I said
      "I know ya will, Son." he said

      I got my tray and went into line. For lunch there was some kind of meat, soy burgers, burritos, and lots of side orders. I took a burrito and a few side orders of nachos and peppers. It was great to get a good tasting meal in my belly, instead of that damned freeze-dried ration shit. I finished my meal and dumped my tray. I stepped outside and decided I would go back to my tent and check on Foster. I stepped in. I walked over and shook her.

      "Foster. Get up. We need to go see about Stooker." I said
      "Ok. Gimme a minute." she said as she got up outta bed

      2 minutes later. . .

      We walked outside and went to Stookers room. We entered the room.

      "Where can we find Sergeant Stooker?" I asked a marine as he was buttoning his shirt.
      "He is down there, on the end of this row of bunks." said the Marine
      "Thanks." I said

      We walked down the hall and found Stooker.

      "Stooker. Get your ass up." I said jokingly.
      "What did ya'll do to get back here?" he said "The last I saw of ya'll, ya'll were being taken to a Covenant Phantom."
      "Well, we got rescued about fifteen to twenty hours after we were taken captive." Foster said
      "I'm glad ya'll made it. I thought for sure that you would be tortured and killed." he said
      "Well, good to see your alive." I said

      "ALL PERSONNEL. REPORT TO THE AREA IN FRONT OF THE MESS HALL IMMEDIATELY. THERE IS GOING TO BE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT." said a voice over the intercom.

      "Well, we gotta go." I said

      Foster and I went to the mess hall area and waited for the special announcement. It seemed like we waited there for hours, until finally, DeNardo and Miranda stepped out and Miranda began.

      "Marines. We are going to be returning to Earth via the Separatist Fleet. We are going to have to pack up the wounded and get our asses to the ship in two hours. I want everyone ready to leave by then. We will have to make a few shuttles between here and the ship, but that shouldn't hinder us. GET TO IT!" she said

      Everyone started to pack up the wounded and dead. We got all our supplies and vehicles loaded onto pelicans and we were ready. Foster and I stepped into the CP where DeNardo was.

      "Sir, what are we gonna do about the flood?" I said "We can't just leave, they will find a way to get off this ring."
      "I know. We have planned to blow up a covenant ship's fusion core. The explosion will be equivelent to about three nuclear warheads, which will destabilize the ring and blow it up, along with High Charity. This will take care of all the flood and a HUGE chunk of the remaining Covenant Fleet in this system." he said
      "That sounds very dangerous." I said "Why haven't you told the rest of the camp?"
      "Well, I just wanna keep this under wraps." he said " We start flights in five minutes."
      "What about Cortana?" I asked
      "We've sent a pelican to get here outta there. The pelican will then link up with us on the ship we'll be on. Get prepped to leave. Dismissed." he said
      "Yes, Sir. We'll be ready to leave when ya call." I said

      Foster and I returned to our room, I got the MA5B and Foster got her things.

      "What's THAT?" she asked
      "An elite gave me this, from a marine that fought on the other ring." I replied
      "How'd he get it?" she asked
      "Well, ... " I told her the story.
      "Wow. Well, let's get back to the pelican, we'll talk about this later." she replied

      Foster and I found the Pelican with Stooker, Kennedy, and Alverez. We rode in the pelican with them simply because they were what was left of our squad again. We began to liftoff, I took a look out the back of the pelican. It was beautiful. The topography and geography of halo was beautiful, the sun was setting in the far sky. I was admiring my view when I saw a bunch of scurrying creatures. I got my binoculars out, it was the flood. I felt the pelican lurch forward as we started to head towards the Separatist Fleet. How could the flood have gotten outta the Quarentine Zone?

      The flood were climbing trees, mountains, whatever they could to get to some fresh meat. The voices came back, the voices of Dien, Lane, CO on the Clad, and the nameless marine that was killed in the warthog explosion in the quarentine zone. I think his name was Marley... Yes, it was Marley. The voices wouldn't go away. I tried to drink some water, eat some food, and talk to Foster. The voices wouldn't go away.

      "Why'd you let us die?" the voices kept repeating.

      The faces of the soldiers in my mind started to decay and resemble the flood.

      "I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yelled in the back of the pelican.
      "Is it the voices again, Johanson?" asked Foster as she sat beside me.
      "Yes. Please, make them go away." I said
      "Here, this will help." she said as she took something from her bag.

      She injected me with another drug. I was looking out the back of pelican again, the voices were fading, and everything got blurry... then went black . . .

      I was running through the halls of a building. A building that I'd never seen before. I could hear the flood right behind me, the squishing sound they made when they wanted to eat you. I kept running as fast as I could. I looked at my ammo count on my rifles display . . . only 21 rounds left. I turned around to see nothing but air, but I could hear the flood. I could hear them laughing at me.

      "You'll never get away from us. You're gonna die by our hand." said a flood voice
      "YOU'LL NEVER GET ME YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SATANIC SHIT!" I replied

      I turned around and began running again. I came upon the corpses of dead marines. They were all the marines that I'd witnessed die. There were dozens of 'em, hundreds of 'em. I was walking past the bodies when one of them twitched, then they all began to twitch. A marine got up and started charging me, it was Lane, he was smiling as he raced towards me. Then all of them got up and started to chase after me.

      "You never get away!" the voices kept repeating.

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