Left Behind by aussie_spartan
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Left Behind 2
Date: 25 October 2007, 11:37 am
Left Behind 2
Right now I'm going through a series of stories which focus on things that happen in Halo which I think could make interesting stories. This one centers on something from the original Halo on the level The Flood when you have finally left the complex where you first encounter the Flood. In the book it explains that all the marines are killed but sometimes in the game I am able to keep some marines alive when Guilty Spark appears. It always made me wonder what happened to the marines left behind and so I decided to create this story about them, please excuse any inaccuracies.
The scenery around them was all murky greens and deep browns, the odd looking trees reached upwards towards the sky and their massive leaves blocked out nearly all the light. Ferns the size of a fully grown man were scattered around the edge of a small lake which was only waist deep. The lake, roughly in a circular shape stretched for at least fifty meters in diameter and in the center was a small island with a tall metal tower which stretched even higher than any of the trees around it. All of this however was hard to notice through the intense battle raging around it. Lance Corporal Thomas Miller raised his assault rifle and looked into the trees hanging overhead for a new attacker, it had been fifteen minutes since the Spartan had left and they were already in the shitter. Miller swore at the thought of the gun-ho super soldier who just left them knee deep in it while he was off somewhere else playing around with those damned flying tin cans. As much as he hated the Spartan he had to reserve even more for Captain Keyes, wherever he was Miller was willing to bet that it wasn't as bad as this. It was on that thought that the undead ugly he was tracking chose to jump out of the darkness (as they seemed to have a knack for) and instantly went on the attack. The thing dragged it's vaguely human body across the ground after it landed as it had fallen short of Miller by a good ten meters.
Miller had planned it this way and opened fire blasting away indiscriminately towards the walking mass of bones, blood, flesh and God only knows what else. "Yea! You like that?"
Miller saw the monstrosity fall and wondered what these things had against humans, on the same note he wondered what the Covenant had against him. It seemed everyone hated them for some reason but whatever it was Miller didn't really care as politics and the complicated world of inter-government relations always eluded him. All he knew was war and it had been that way since he was ten when his father had told him that his mother was killed inaction. Looking back that was what probably drove him to enlist willingly rather than wait to be conscripted, almost all his friends had tried to evade military service but for reasons he had not known then they were very strict about people who refused service. Now he knew why, the Covenant war was not going as well as the general public knew, in fact it was going so bad that they didn't know not because they weren't watching the news but because the news wasn't covering the truth. All they saw was brave marines and Spartans plastered across screens in heroic positions that inspire and gave a sense of patriotism. Miller laughed at the idea of patriotism, it had little meaning in the hell he was facing as his enemy didn't care in the slightest whether he loved his country or not.
Turning to face Sergeant Stacker, Miller felt new respect for the man "Miller! Get your ass into gear! These mothers aren't going to wait for us to kill them so it's your job to take the hurt to them!"
Since the Spartan had left them Stacker had assumed command and had done his best to assemble them into something that vaguely resembled a fire team. It was hard as many of the soldiers had seen too much today and just wanted to break rank and run for their lives. That would almost certainly result in the collective deaths of all involved including those who didn't run so Stacker was maintaining a tight control over all of the soldiers. Originally they had been very sloppy in defending themselves which had caused the unnecessary deaths of several soldiers none of whom Miller knew on a first name basis but whose deaths had unsettled him all the same. When Stacker took command he set all in a rough circle with shotgun armed soldiers towards the front instructing them to concentrate on the big ones and the assault rifles towards the back telling them to concentrate of keeping the little ones off the backs of those with shotguns. This had worked effectively for a while until people started to run out of ammunition and had to stop to pick up more ammo or switch to a weapon off the ground. The gap allowed their new attackers in and when they got in they didn't just swarm in, it was more like opening the floodgates. They streamed in as if there was nothing else left for them in the world but to throw themselves at Miller's assault rifle, even though there was only the slightest chance that they would even make it.
"They won't stop attacking us! Are they suicidal or just dumb?" called a marine from somewhere behind Miller.
They came from everywhere and wouldn't stop for whatever reason they seemed content at throwing endless bodies at the trapped marines probably hoping that eventually they would all slowly fall. The plan was probably going to work to as more than one poor marine had succumbed under a wave of these scary undead enemies.
Miller turned to Stacker and called over the chaos around them "Sir, we can't hold this position for much longer. If we don't move now then we could be in some serious trouble with things that I'd rather not face on an empty clip."
Stacker nodded grimly and radioed over the squadcom "This is Stacker. I want anyone left armed with a shotgun to blaze us a path to the nearest clearing which I'm placing a marker on," quickly consulting the rough map of the area that the recon flights had given them he placed a marker on a point about one click north west of their position. "As soon as you get there I want you to radio so we can come and back you up."
Several shotgun armed marines attempted to follow the order by breaking the circle and making their way to the marker but the moment they left the protection of the circle the enemy descended on them, making short work of them. Miller watched in horror as thousands of the tiny bastards jumped at them aiming for the head while the bigger ones fired with stolen assault rifles and the like at them. Miller had always wondered why the Covenant were so repulsed over using human weapons but Miller now thought he knew why as a shotgun blast from one of them sent pellets into a private peeling his skin off.
Miller turned to Stacker and yelled "Sir! I don't think we're gunna make it!"
Stacker just smiled and kept on shooting with his assault rifle which for some strange reason assured Miller. Stacker had thus far been the only rock able to stand to the raging river of everything that had happened even when the Master Chief and Keyes had long since washed away. Another alien ugly landed in their midst but no one fired, in fact many of them were glad to see it because it was the first alien they had seen for hours that didn't look like it had been dragged out of the crypt. An honest to God Covenant Elite.
There was a tense moment when Miller came to his senses and realized that no matter how glad he was to see the Elite they were still enemies and he targeted the Elite with his rifle. The Elite tensed and returned the welcome with his rifle and that's where they were frozen for several moments as almost everything around them dissolved into nothingness. Miller knew that in a basic exchange of fire he would lose so he had to turn the engagement in his favor, he contemplated pushing the Elite and using the muddy ground beneath to unbalance the Elite. Before he did however Miller wondered why the Elite had yet to fire, the Elite was far faster than Miller and was probably five steps ahead in their engagement already yet he still had not drawn first blood.
It was Stacker who brought understanding to Miller's questions when he spoke not to Miller but to the Elite "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
The Elite looked away from Miller and stared at Stacker. For a long moment they bore into each other's eyes, sizing their opposition up to check for any sign of insincerity or aggression. Finally they looked away from one another satisfied with their evaluation of the former; Stacker calling for a cease fire on Covenant and the Elite calling what Miller could only assume was the same thing to his troops, wherever they were. Miller's concentration was taken back into the fight when a full body creature landed only three meters from his face and started to run at him with a tremendous speed. After dispatching with the mass of flesh Miller looked for Stacker finding him fighting alongside the Elite making him wonder why the Covenant had decided to team up with their long time enemies. The more Miller thought about it the more it made sense, even the Covenant with their seemingly endless resources and troops would falter under the pressure of this new unrelenting enemy. Wondering where said endless Covenant troops were Miller searched for them as well and found seven Elites (all coloured black which as far as Miller knew meant that they were good fighters) and at a cursory glance about sixteen grunts. No jackals and no Hunters (something for which Miller was both happy and annoyed as he was not looking forward to seeing them but they would have also made for very good cover).
"Human," Miller heard the Elite yell at Stacker "We cannot hold this ground for long. We must leave here with great haste."
The Elite spoke good English but reluctantly as if the very language that humans spoke offended it which only increased Miller's curiosity as to who Elite's were outside of battle, not that he had much to begin with.
"And how do you plan that we leave here exactly?" Stacker asked "Why should I trust you as well?"
The Elite seemed to consider this for a moment then spoke more to the Elites and grunts around him than to Stacker or any of the humans "For more time than I care to remember our kind have been sworn enemies because of our differences but now we have something in common. This enemy," the Elite gestured towards the undead enemies "wants both of us to fall beneath its feet and both of us refuse to do so. Most importantly we both cannot survive this without the other."
Miller thought that the Elite made a compelling argument and Stacker must have as well because he nodded. Not everyone saw things as they did however because Miller could see a lot of angry faces amongst not only the humans but also the Covenant. The Elite must have sensed this tension as well so in what Miller thought was an attempt to bring some sort of normality to their situation he added "Consider your troubles only on hold. The moment the danger has past we will once again be enemies as we were destined to be."
Stacker smiled "Our troubles?"
If the Elite saw any humour in what Stacker said he wasn't showing it as he turned to his troops and jabbered a series of quick orders to them (Miller could only assume from the tone of voice that they were orders but he was fairly sure they were). On hearing the orders several Elite's looked at each other puzzled but obligingly moved to where they were told to move and the grunts took positions with the humans. As they melted into the ranks Miller could see a general plan of attack forming on the battlefield. The Elites, whose shield protected them from the brunt of the enemy assault, were stationed heavily to the south of the soldiers so that they could push through the cavalcade of enemy bodies and make a path for the grunts and humans to bring up the mass of their group. Humans with shotguns were positioned at the north of their group so that when they started moving they would present the shotguns as their back to the enemy and assure themselves that they wouldn't be swarmed from behind.
Toma Husamee watched his Sangheili take positions and when everything was ready for their retreat he commanded them to move. He had to hand it to the humans; though they were weak in power, mind and resolve they were completely unafraid of death. Something which he had never really thought about much when they were the only enemy but in reflection of their actions which he had witnessed in the past they were indeed worthy adversaries. He would tell the prophets nothing of his colluding with the humans after they made it out, if they made it out because it would not only result in his death but also result in the deaths of all those under his command who had willingly worked with the humans. Toma knew not why the prophets had declared a holy war on the humans and frankly it was not his place to argue with the decisions of the prophets but still Toma wondered why they had not accepted the humans into their ranks long ago. They fought just as well as the Unggoy. Toma was awoken from his revere by one of his subordinates, Major Fumo Tonganee shouted at him in their native tongue that they were almost to the clearing where transport would take them away.
"Good job Fumo. Now contact the dropship and tell them that we are ready to be picked up and to bring all the firepower they can with them. A Lekgolo pair would be a nice touch to the arsenal."
The subordinate nodded to show that he understood then got back onto the radio and started to relay his words to those whom could turn them into actions. Then the one known to the humans as 'Stacker' spoke to him again in the human's harsh language.
"Calling for evac?"
Toma did not understand what the human meant by the word 'evac' as he had never come across the word before nor had any of the lessons he had taken had taught him what that particular word meant. However he had heard humans use it when referencing dropships and as far as he could tell it was either a combat plan to get humans out of the battlefield or it was what they actually called their dropships. The latter Toma doubted as he knew the word for them was 'pelican' or a bird of that sort. Whatever the case this 'Stacker' was probably right since he was asking whether the radio call was about getting his troops out of the hot zone. This did not mean that he was going to tell him (Toma assumed that Stacker was a male from what little he knew of the humans) about the reinforcements he was also calling for. Toma respected the humans as adversaries but he was not stupid. If he told them about the Lekgolo the humans would never consent to coming within sight of the dropships meaning that they would be harder to kill and in the end that's what Toma planned as their fate, death.
"Yes human," Toma responded to the human "I am calling for our ships to come pick us up. I would ask you to come with us..."
"But you want us dead." Stacker finished his sentence for him.
Toma made a mental note that this Stacker seemed smarter than the other humans and even possessed higher leadership skills. He would be the primary target when Toma decided that the human's usefulness had ended and it was time to put them down once and for all. He studied his adversaries face marking it and making sure he would recognise it in battle when the time came. Without their leader the humans would crumble like a dirt clump in Toma's hand. It was his usual plan, take out the leadership then watch as chaos enfolded the rest of the troops and pick them off at his leisure.
Miller listened to the brief exchange between the Elite and Stacker with as much interest as he could spare which wasn't much since the new enemy (whom Miller had learnt were called 'The Flood' from a group of frightened grunts) had taken it upon themselves to make any amount of progress by the Human-Covenant union as painful and as difficult as possible. It seemed that every ten meters of ground they gained lost them one more soldier to the insidious, writhing mass of flesh and tentacles that was the Flood. Miller smiled at the irony in the name and wondered if it was intentional or accidental but thought it more likely that it was intentional as no one who had ever faced the Flood and called them by that name would be referencing anything other than their nature.
That's it for now; I wasn't expecting this to be so long so I was forced to break it up lest I litter you (the reader) with thousands of words which create a story too long for anyone to read no matter how long an attention span they have. Tell me if you liked it... hell, tell me if you didn't.
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