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Good Friday: Chapter VI
Posted By: HellBreaker<hellbreaker03@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 December 2008, 4:36 am
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Chapter Four
"But I just got here?" argued the Marine urgently.
"I don't care, you get your ass back on the bird now!" Ordered his new squad Capitan, Friday the Spartan. Sam had not seen the man without his helmet in their last encounter and now that he had it just sparked his curiosity even more. The man's right cheek bore a crystallized scare, undoubtedly caused by plasma. He was baled and wore a green dew rag to keep the sweat out of his eyes. His helmet was tucked underneath his left arm while his right pointed at the awaiting pelican.
The ODS Troopers were already unloading supplies from the hornets. Five crates of ammunition, weapons, rations, water and other items needed for the survival of the teams. Though they had been told otherwise, Friday had been awaiting them at the drop zone. Whatever enjoyment he had held at getting some much needed equipment had evaporated when he saw the young Marine hop off the pelicans gang way.
"You are leaving with that pelican private, and that's final. You said it yourself I have jurisdiction over you now, and that means get in the dam bird." He was now enraged at finding out Sam had been transferred to his unit. Not to mention it had been authorized by the base commander himself.
"Sir the reason I went though all this trouble to get here is that I need to speak with your privately" Sam pleaded, he had no intention of trying to argue with this man now. He just needed to make him self heard and he knew the Spartan would listen, something just told him so.
"I don't care if you saw a grunt shit out a god dam grenade…" Fry was interrupted by a cocky Trooper named Buzz when the ODST shouted out "I have Sir!" which earned him a backhand across his neck from his Sergeant. Sam seized the momentary cease in the shouting to whisper to the Spartan "I ran into an elite who…" he too was cut off as a heavy armored fist clenched around his mouth. When he saw the look on the Spartans face Sam sincerely regretted ever being born.
"Private, follow me now!" Friday ordered in a grizzly tone. Now officially frightened of his new Capitan, Sam had no choice but to follow. This was not the man he had met on the tank.
'That just figures, just my god dam luck' Fry thought to him self. Things couldn't get much worse, then she shows up, and now that he had to look after this dam kid. He accepted he only had himself to blame. And from what the soldier had said he guessed that he probably also saved the man's life, or sealed it. Fry looked out from the tree line at the six men working on unloading the supply crates, lost in thought.
"Um sir?" Fry shot up a hand to silence the kid, he needed quiet to think. Sam waited.
"Private" he finally said.
"Yes sir?" Sam answered a little apprehensively.
'I am going to regret this. Isn't that right guys' Friday thought, causing a millisecond of sadness washed across the Spartans face. "Vary well, you Private will not be leaving so salvage what you need from the drop off and lets move out, we are burning daylight." Friday said with a slight frown. "I have one rule though".
"What's that sir?" Sam said without wanting to know.
"Rule one is that you are of no use dead, do you understand?"
"Uh, yes sir" he said downhearted, then he turned and headed for the ODSTs still loading up their packs.
Friday waved off the pelican, it was no longer needed. While the great bird broke off the second Hornet pulled away to tail it, however the first still stayed grounded waiting for the team to finish restocking.
Inside one of the crates marked High Explosives Sam found a strange belt of what looked like modified grenade rounds. There where four of them attached by a metal linking system similar to machine gun belts. Puzzled but still interested in finding some normal frags he dove deeper into the crate when something was thrown at him. He looked down to see a large knapsack.
"Load it all up rookie" Buzz said humorously "just don't blow your self to bits now." Laughing to him self Sam began to load up what was left in the bin, except for the linked grenades; he wanted to look at them more in a minute. He never got that chance. Friday, now fully armored scooped up the belts and shoved them into his large sack with little effort then heaved up a SPNKr without so much as a grunt. Sam looked at his own small pack, now filled with fragmentation devices, and felt a little ashamed. However to his relief the Hell Jumpers each sported the same size packs. The Spartan now carried at least triple of what any one man could. '
It's a wonder the covenant are still winning the war' Sam thought as the last hornet lifted off.
Fry felt he needed to make himself clear that this was a stealth approach and they needed to make it to the cave he had set up as a base camp unnoticed by the frequent jackal patrols. 'Here goes' he sighed.
"Ok listen up; we are covering roughly eleven miles tonight so keep up. If you fall behind, you are left behind. If you give away our position, either the enemy will kill you or I will. We are running silent and fast so none of that dog panting, if you throw up you burry it, but don't fall behind. Understood?" He said grimly, Fry was determined to keep them alive if he could. And the best way to do that was to make sure they didn't screw themselves over. To his relief they all answered with pride in their voices, although he detected a bit of apprehension from Private Sam. He would have to watch that kid.
"OK follow me and don't make a sound" The Spartan ordered.
Four three hours they ran, the sun was setting when Friday signaled for them to stop. Thankful to have a chance to take off his pack Sam wasted no time in finding a log to sit on. A few of the ODST removed their helmets, they where drenched with sweat as was he. "Ok water, drink it slow and drink only enough to tide you over" Said the Spartan still standing. Did he ever get tired? Sam toke back his earlier assumptions. This man simply looked human, but he was something else entirely. As the armored figure turned to look at something in the greenery Sam notices three sets of faded numbers painted in white on his left arm. He hadn't noticed these before. The sets where like the big 13 on his right, but he couldn't make them out because of the wear on the man's armor plates. Now that he rely look at him, Friday was a mess 'was he like that before and I didn't notice?' Numerous scrapes, dents and plasma burn marks scared his armor. The only thing that seemed still slightly intact was his helmet, which Sam could tell was newer than the other components.
Five minuets later their officer ordered "Ok breaks over, we need to move the patrols only get heavier at night." Even the ODST Sergeant seemed reluctant to get up when the command came. Once everybody was all set they took of at a medium pace. At least the night air was refreshing. Sam craned his ears as a long drawn out bird call went out. He had done a little research on the animals of Prometheus III. There was one species of lizard capable of flight on the planet that toke the place of the birds. It even sung into the night to attract a mate. They where even said to mate for life. It was that soothing melody that filled the air that night.
Every now and then the Spartan would break off, telling them to go strait for a while. When he returned most of the team would hardly notice him for a minute. He was like a ghost of the forest, constantly melding into the trees and then reappearing again for brief periods. How he was able to do this Sam hadn't the fantast idea.
They ran on into the night. Sam had no idea how far they had come but the going had been rough these last few miles. They where moving though rocky terrain near the base of one of the great mountains in the range. Each step seemed to echo off into the darkness. Sam wondered about landslides or what creatures could be lurking out there. Suddenly Friday held up his hand, everybody froze. Sam's ear piece quietly whispered "A Jackal patrol everybody stay down they haven't seen us" the Spartan said.
Everybody inched their way forward, sure enough through the tree line a pare of the birdlike creatures stood studying the forest. Sam looked to see what the Spartan had planed but he was gone, as he looked around there was a small thud back towards the aliens.
The soldiers stared in wonder as Friday now stood where the two had been before. But he was the only living soul there. He had killed both of them soundlessly in less than ten seconds. When Sam got a chance to look at the aliens he found that they had large puncture wounds behind the basses of their skulls. Purple blood dripped from the claws on the Spartans gauntlet. He picked up a plasma grenade and said "Move on half a klick north and you will find a cave, I have to make this look like an accident."
As Sam and the ODST hurried on their way he heard a distinctive explosion. A few moments later the Spartan caught up with them and hurried on ahead.
The cold hard nature of the man surprised Private Sam. He hadn't expected him to be like this, not after their friendly game of cards on the tank. Maybe he was just being nice because he thought I was scared? Sam thought as he followed the man in front of him. Or could he possibly just be like this on missions? He didn't know; all he knew was that if he wanted to get out of this alive he needed to stick close to this man.
From the mouth of the cave Fry listened to the lizard's song. He smiled a true smile, something he hadn't done in what seemed like a long time. The others had already gone to sleep; he had volunteered to take first watch. As he listened to the melody he ran his hand over the three white numbers, then to the scar on his cheek. The smile faded and replaced by a tear. He didn't know that another listened to the song as well that evening. An elite in silver armor brushed her hand across an old bullet wound on her shoulder as she looked up at the stars.
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