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Arbiter's Next War: Part 2
Posted By: Michael Archer<michael_archers_email_address@yahoo.com>
Date: 11 April 2005, 7:33 PM


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1930 hours, October 31, 2556 (Military Calendar) Planet Earth, New York City


      New York was very beautiful during the night, thought The Arbiter as he strolled through the streets with the marines following him. He looked up and saw the lady again. He wondered why she was there.

      "General", he said. "What is the lady doing in the middle of the harbor?

      "What lady? Oh you mean the Statue of Liberty! Well, it's a long story, but the French gave it to us for our 100th year of independence. We can go up in it some time. But right now, we have to kick some flood ass!"

      The Arbiter loaded his battle rifle, and raised it.

      "Hey Arby!", whispered Johnson. "Lower your battle rifle. You don't want to freak out the kids".

      "Yo! Tall kid!".

      The Arbiter turned around and looked down. There was a kid there with a sheet over his head and two holes cut out for sight.

      "Nice gun! Nice costume too!".

      "You shouldn't be out right now little boy", said Johnson. "Didn't you watch the news? Didn't you see those little bastards.....I mean those little creatures that were attacking people?".

      "Yeah I did. It was a pretty cool hoax. Just like the moon landing".

      "Actually, that did really happen".

      "Well, if it did, how could the flag wave on the moon?"

      "Well, you see the flag wasn't a normal flag. It was....".

      The General was wasting his voice. The kid had already ran off.

      "It was a lunar flag!", yelled Johnson. "The flag was just siff!"

      "Calm down General", said The Arbiter. "We have to protect the streets New York. The Flood is a very dangerous parasite which contains spores.....",

      "Yeah, yeah. Look, we just have to keep the streets safe. We don't want to see one of USA's biggest cities....".

      Suddenly The Arbiter snapped up, his battle rifle raised, scanning the area.
      "What Arby?", said Johnson.

      "Be quiet!", The Arbiter snapped.

      The Arbiter fired three bursts out of his battle rifle as the first pod popped. A dozen other Infection Forms leaped at them as the Arbiter and the Marines opened fire. Johnson stayed at the back to give orders.

      "Pop those little bastards! No, use your gun!".

      Then from behind a corner, a human combat form ran out. Johnson and The Arbiter fired nine shots and the combat form went down. This was just one of million in New York.




1829 hours, November, 24 2556 (Military Calendar)
Planet Earth, Washington, DC, White House


      "Well General, you kept the city under control for a long time, but now New York's population is now down to about 1,000. Those little guys ate up everybody, and most people moved out.", said the President of the United States. "Today we celebrate Thanksgiving, giving thanks to the Pilgrims who came to USA to start a colony. Of course, they would have got back on that ship, and sail back over the Atlantic Ocean, if they knew that one day, it would be attacked by a parasitic life form. But General, you know that we can't have them live in USA. We're going to have to launch a strike against them".

      "With all due respect sir, launching an attack against one of the main cities in USA, wouldn't be smart. It could cause....."

      "General Johnson, if we do not launch an attack soon, we should change the national anthem to "the land of the trapped, and the home of the parasite".

      Sitting in front of The Arbiter, there lay a half eaten turkey leg. The only meat on the table was the food that he dared to touch. After he ate half he got up; walked to the bathroom; and threw up. He was glad that he brought his own food, and didn't have to live on this human food.

      "General", spoke The Arbiter. "I think the President has a point. The Flood would consume all if they aren't stopped".

      "If anybody knows about the Flood, it's Arby. His gods built a whole planet to contain them, Mister President. I remember when I first fought them. They didn't eat me though".

      "That's why we promoted you to General Johnson. You never give up. Get some good sleep tonight boys. Tomorrow is a big day. Those parasites won't know what hit them".




1011 hours, November 25, 2556 (Military Calendar) en route to New York City

      "You know, I getting really pissed", said Johnson. "Why does the President always send us back on a plane to New York? We stayed for one night in Washington!".

      "Well", said the Arbiter. "That was a little insane, but at least we got to see lots of the tourist attractions. My favourite one was that black wall that had millions of names on it. I also liked that really big old man that was sitting on the chair".

      Johnson looked out of his window. From the distance he could almost see little yellow pods sitting on the Statue of Liberty.





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