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A Marine Named Peters: Move Out!
Posted By: GLADIATRRR3000<gladiatrrr2002@hotmail.com>
Date: 9 July 2003, 5:20 PM
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"Okay. You have two choices. You can help us, or you can die."
Peters trusted this Grunt. Every Grunt he had killed seemed to be an extreme coward, and he doubted that this one would be an exception. It would obviously choose life over death, so it would tell them all of the Covenant secrets. There was still the possibility that it would give away their position, so whatever deal they made had to be good for it, too. "I know you speak English. Either help us, or die. What will it be?"
The Grunt didn't speak for a few seconds, but eventually he talked. "I will help you." It paused. "Only if you swear to let me live afterwards."
Peters thought a moment, turned around, and began to talk to Johnson and Karls. "What do you think?" Peters asked. "It seems to be telling the truth." Karls replied. "Just shoot the damn thing!" Johnson suggested.
"We have very little time. We need to do something fast." Peters said. He could hear Banshees not to far off. He turned back to the Grunt. "We will let you live only if you tell us what we need to know and stay quiet when we tell you to."
The Grunt thought for a moment. "Yes... I will help you..."
Peters kneeled down so that they were at the same height. "I'm Peters. The person behind me is Karls, and the person next to me is Johnson." Peters said. "Look, we do need your help, so anything you need, short of getting us killed, we will get you."
"I need more methane!" The Grunt cried instantly.
"Okay." Peters thought for a moment. "Where can we get that?"
"Each Grunt has an environmental suit which cools us down to our home planet's natural temperature and contains enough methane for us to breathe." The Grunt said. "If HE," It pointed to Johnson. "Didn't blow up the Grunt's building, there should be a small room inside containing more methane packs and food."
"Alright." He turned back around to Karls and Johnson. "We need this Grunt to make it back alive. To do that, we need to get it's 'environmental suit' back." He turned back to the Grunt. "Will you tell us your name?"
This enraged Johnson. "We don't need to know it's goddamn name! We don't need to get friendly with it! It's just another Covenant, and it'll kill us first chance it gets."
"I think that too." Karls said. "How do we know we can trust it?"
Peters sighed. "Listen. We need to learn more about the Covenant to destroy them. They have vastly superior numbers and better technology than us. This war has been going on for far too long, and this Grunt could end it."
"We already have prisoners!" Johnson said. "Why don't we ask them?"
"Because," Peters said. "We didn't treat them well. It's easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar."
"Don't give me that old bullshit!" Johnson said. "I'm getting out of here, and of you want to live, I suggest you do the same."
Karls looked at Peters. "He's right, sir. We have no way of trusting this Grunt. We need to get back to Alpha Base."
Peters sighed. "Okay. We'll hog-tie the Grunt and interrogate him when we get back."
Johnson agreed, but Peters could see that he was still angry. They moved out. As they were climbing down the mountain, they could see Banshees flying overhead. They would pass every five minutes, so Peters and his men would have to hide in the bushes for cover, which slowed them down. After two hours, they got down to the base of the mountain, and Peters ordered them to a halt. "Alright. We made good progress down the mountain, but we have a problem. We have to cross this plain yet again, and there is no cover, save a few rocks. It's two miles back to the town, and another half-mile from there to the hills. Any ideas on how to make it there alive?"
Everyone started thinking. After a few moments Karls yelled. "Hey! The Warthog that we drove here on! It should still be there!"
"Good idea. Let's move out. Johnson, carry the Grunt." Peters said, looking at Johnson. Johnson cracked his knuckles and moved towards the Grunt. "On second thought, Karls, you carry the Grunt." Johnson looked slightly disappointed, but backed off.
They began to walk towards the place where they last saw the Warthog. When they were close enough to see it, they some something more. They saw what could easily be fifty Covenant salvaging the area. "Karls!" Peters said. "Try to snipe as many as you can, then Johnson and I will go in and mop up the rest."
"Yes, sir." Karls said. He climbed up a boulder and steadied his rifle. He took careful aim, and fired four times. He reloaded and repeated this process several times. Every few seconds, however, he'd have to hide behind the rock, as plasma would fire at him. After ten minutes, he came down. "There aren't many left, so you and Johnson..." He looked around. "Hey, where is Johnson?"
"Hahahaha! Try to run, you filthy Grunt!" Johnson said. He had freed the Grunt, so that he could hunt it down. 'These creatures don't take prisoners, so neither should we!' he thought. 'I'm going to hunt it down, kill it the way these things are supposed to be killed. Not in some camp, but in the wild, where there is danger. Where both people can be killed, the hunter and the hunted.'
Johnson could hear Peters yelling for him, but he didn't care. He never liked him. Peters was so stuck up. Arrogant just because of the one battle he was in. He was no leader. 'I should be the leader!' Johnson thought. He continued hunting down the Grunt, listening for the cracking of sticks on the ground, or the rustling of leaves. Every so often, he'd hear the Grunt yelp. Finally, the Grunt stopped. Johnson ran at it, plasma grenade in hand. The Grunt turned around. Johnson primed the plasma grenade and stuck it to its face as he ran by. The Grunt tried to rip it of, but after three seconds, the grenade exploded.
Johnson didn't have time to celebrate, because the grenade blew off part of the Grunt's armor, and it stuck into Johnson's leg. Johnson tried to pull it out, but it had lodged itself into Johnson's leg. He began to crawl away, when Covenant, attracted by the noise, came by. They slowly surrounded Johnson, one by one raising their guns.
Peters heard a loud scream, followed by plasma fire. It echoed for a few seconds, and then finally died out. He turned back to Karls. "He's gone. Let's go." He walked passed Karls, then turned around. "Move OUT, soldier. That's an order."
Karls turned to face Peters. "He never liked you. That's why he died. He couldn't stand to follow orders from someone he hated." He paused for a moment, then shouldered his rifle. "Okay. Let's move out."
Peters gunned down any Covenant that moved, then leaned against the Warthog. "Do you want to drive, or gun?"
"I'll drive." Karls replied. "So, are we making a stop at the outpost, or are we just going back to Alpha Base?"
"Let's make a stop. With luck, there will be a Longsword there, and we can just fly back home. If not, we can take a tank."
"Good idea." Karls turned on the engine, and Peters hopped onto the back. Karls turned the vehicle around, then burnt rubber. Every few minutes, a Banshee would pass a few hundred feet away, and they would kill the engine and hide behind the Warthog to make it look like an abandoned vehicle. Eventually, they got to the outpost. It was still intact, but everything was still upside down or broken. They split up and searched opposite sides of the outpost. A few minutes later, Peters caught sight of a communications dish, still intact. He searched the area for a radio, then he found one on the ground.
"Karls!" He yelled. "Get over here! I found a radio!" A few minutes later, Karls showed up, carrying more ammo.
"Good! Call for evac! Now!"
Peters turned on the radio. It was static, he changed the frequency to the one most used by Alpha Base and started talking. "Hello? Can anyone read me? Lieutenant Thomas Peters calling Alpha Base. Can anyone read me?"
They waited a few seconds, then over the radio came, "Yes, we can read you, Lieutenant Peters. What's your status?"
"We got to Bravo Base, but it was glassed by the Covenant. The Covenant have taken the area. We managed to take a few of them down, but no one made it back from the base, and my squad has only two members left, myself included."
"That's bad news, Lieutenant." The voice said.
"Yes it is. I am requesting backup now. I'm at the old army outpost two miles south of Bravo Base."
"Evac is on the way. Do you need any medics?"
Peters felt his leg give a sharp pain. "Yes. We need a medic, and a surgeon ready back at Alpha Base."
"Roger. We'll be there in 2 hours."
"Thank you." Peters turned towards Karls. "Any idea where we should rest? I haven't slept in days."
"Yeah, there's a bunker a few hundred feet that way. We can rest inside."
"Okay." Peters began walking, his leg now hurting with no adrenaline to numb it. "Should we take shifts sleeping, or should we risk it?"
"No one knows we're here except for the evac team, so I think it's safe enough to risk it."
"Your Excellency. We have just intercepted a transmission." Said an elite from the shadows.
"Good work. Does it involve the Holy Relic?" Said a Prophet, sitting on his hover chair.
"No, your Excellency. But it does involve a human named 'Peeterz', who is believed to be the leader of a squad who killed many today. He himself is considered the hero of a battle which the humans refer to as 'Alfa Bace'."
"Send three dropships to deal with him. Fill one with two Hunters, and the other with Elites."
"Yes, your Excellency. This human will not see tomorrow's light."
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