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Against All Odds Part 2: Cat and Mouse
Posted By: Torr<corey_waterman@hotmail.com>
Date: 17 October 2005, 11:11 pm
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Hope you all like this one :)
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Cochran traded his shotgun for Pacelli's battle rifle and looked up over the couch again. He could see them all now.
Four hunters, one elite, six jackals, and ten grunts were present among the group. The hunters were on each corner of the group, providing an almost 'armored escort'. The elite had silver armor on, meaning it was an 'ultra' or one of the more badass warriors and higher-ranking officers. Cochran sighed silently and made some hand signals to Pacelli. Pacelli turned pale and clenched the shotgun with fear, his knuckles going white, but he stayed alert.
Cochran had another look and saw that the patrol had stopped near the front of the building. Four grunts clambered about over the glass and walked into the building to check for humans. The grunts were talking amongst themselves, jabbering in their squeaky, annoying language. Three of them went immediately past the two marines, heading for clothing racks.
One however, searched the front of the store near the sales signs and ads. The grunt then went towards one of the civilian corpses and surveyed it, turning it over with joy and making excited noises.
Sgt. Cochran risked another look outside. The patrol was standing there and the elite seemed to be somewhat annoyed by the time it took for the grunts to search the store. The hunters looked around, surveying every area around them for possible threats. Their massive armored bodies were intimidating and Cochran knew that if he was found that there would be no way to win a fight against them.
The grunt got closer and moved into their direct line of sight. The building was dark so the grunt strained to see, and moved behind the couch, out of sight from the patrol. Cochran reacted quickly, jabbing his combat knife in the back of the grunts head and setting its corpse down quietly next to him.
He nodded at Pacelli and the two of them moved silently toward a clothing rack not far away. One of the grunts turned its head towards them, and jabbered something at another grunt. Together the two grunts began heading directly toward Cochran and Pacelli.
Cochran ordered Pacelli to hold his position, and he moved quickly to another clothing rack, flanking the two grunts. The grunts moved in between two racks to reach Pacelli, but Cochran was ready for them. Pacelli was on the ground, motionless, playing dead.
One of the grunts raised its plasma pistol and took aim at Pacelli to make sure he was dead. Cochran put his combat knife in the alien's back and jammed his foot down on the other grunt's head before it had time to respond or even acknowledge what happened. He pinned the grunts head to the floor and then jammed his knife into its forehead, killing it quickly. The grunt had only managed a quick squeak.
Cochran stood up and Pacelli got up from the ground and smiled at him. Suddenly Pacelli said something and tackled Cochran. A fully charged plasma bolt flew over both of them and Pacelli pulled out his friend's SMG and killed the alien.
"Uh-oh." Cochran managed to say, seconds before the first blast.
Pacelli scampered away further into the building and Cochran dove to the ground and looked under the clothing rack. All four hunters were charging up their fuel rod guns and the elite was shouting and pointing toward the inside of the building. The jackals took a defensive stance and the grunts formed up behind them.
Cochran gathered his senses and followed Pacelli. The blasts kept coming, rocking the building and hitting random places. Clothes flew everywhere and parts of the walls crumpled. A cash register exploded near the counter towards the back. Pacelli already had his sniper rifle out and he was taking aim. The barrel stuck out between some clothes, barely noticeable.
Cochran moved to the other side of the building and took aim with his battle rifle. He heard the first shot and saw it hit the nearest hunter right in a thinly exposed area of orange skin near the neck. The hunter let out a very low and loud moan and then fell to the ground. Luckily, the Covenant hadn't seen the vapor trail because of their panic.
Now the elite was firing and the grunts and jackals moved into the building, but the hunters continued their barrage, focusing it on the sides as the grunts and jackals moved through an aisle in the center of the building.
Cochran watched as the grunts and jackals got closer and closer to Pacelli's position. He aimed at their sides and quickly took down three jackals. The jackals quickly identified where the fire was coming from and turned their shields, only to be blasted in the back by Pacelli's shotgun.
All the jackals were down and the grunts scattered and shouted in quick panicky squeaks. The hunters adjusted their fire and Cochran winced as the shots flew towards Pacelli.
The corporal moved quickly though, and dove behind the counter just as the three shots destroyed his former position and one of the grunts that was unlucky enough to get in the way. He took aim again and brought down another hunter. This time, the Elite saw the vapor trail and pointed. Two green explosive plasma missiles zipped towards the counter. Pacelli dove to the ground and the counter exploded around him; wood and the marble countertop flying everywhere.
The two remaining hunters moved up, walking into the store slowly with their shields up, and they continued firing. Cochran crouched further into his hiding place and saw another grunt fly up as it was hit. A grunt ran into him by mistake and he beat it down with his battle rifle. Then he took aim as one of the hunters exposed its backside. He aimed carefully and put two bursts into the orange flesh. The hunter fell.
The remaining hunter charged through the store at full speed, knocking through a wooden table and a clothing rack to get to Cochran's position. The hunter busted through another rack of clothes and came at him full speed. Cochran rolled just in time as the hunter used its shield to knock in the wall. It turned around quickly to avoid giving him a shot at its weak area. The hunter charged again, and Cochran stayed still, firing rapidly at the exposed neck area. He missed and hit the armored head and raised shield and this time he had to strafe to the left to avoid being crushed by the hunter.
He tripped over a knocked over table and fell to the floor. The hunter closed in on him and he wouldn't have time to move so he unloaded the last of BR clip into its front side, but it did nothing to the beast. Tossing the BR aside, Cochran laid into the hunter with his SMG.
Just in time, Pacelli appeared behind the armored beast and put a shotgun shell into its back. The hunter fell forward and Cochran managed to crawl out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by its massive corpse. Pacelli grabbed his friend's hand and pulled him up.
Cochran stood dazed for a few seconds, but the sound of Pacelli shooting a grunt brought him to his senses.
The last grunt charged Cochran and he emptied his SMG into it, then tossed it aside, out of ammo. Rolling forward, he grabbed his formerly discarded BR and shoved the last clip into it.
"Good work." Cochran said, patting his friend on the back and taking a deep breath. They were both drenched in sweat and alien blood.
Pacelli looked outside the store.
"The elite is gone." He reported.
Cochran heard the sound of a plasma sword igniting and a split second later saw the end of it jam through Pacelli's stomach. Pacelli fell forward, impaled by the energy blade, and the elite pulled the blade out, laughing.
Filled with rage, Cochran fired at the elite and slowly moved backwards. The alien shrugged off the bullets and charged him, letting out a terrifying battle shout.
Cochran dodged the first strike and then rolled backward, putting another burst into his enemy. The elite moved forward and swung at him. The blade barely missed Cochran's arm and instead hit the battle rifle, cutting it in half. Cochran threw the destroyed weapon aside and stood before the elite, weaponless.
The elite laughed again and watched as Cochran retreated towards the half destroyed counter. The elite jumped three meters into the air and landed on top of the counter, swiping at Cochran. Cochran ducked under the blade and sprung forward over the counter and past the elite, narrowly missing a downward swipe.
The elite turned around and faced Cochran, who was now against the back wall. The elite charged him and stuck out its arm. Grabbing Cochran by the throat, it slammed him against the wall and held him there, slowly raising its blade.
Cochran saw the alien's ugly mouth form a smile and then lash out as to bite him. The alien laughed again when Cochran flinched and began to speak.
"Now die, human." It said and raised the plasma sword up to cut off Cochran's legs and slowly kill him.
"How the hell can you speak English, you son of a bitch?" Cochran screamed, afraid for the first time. The elite didn't even listen.
Suddenly Cochran heard the crack of a sniper rifle, and the elite dropped him in surprise. The alien's shield flickered off and it angrily turned towards the mortally wounded human on the ground. Pacelli held the sniper rifle there, in one hand, shaking. He looked up at the elite and spat blood onto its boot. The elite beheaded him, and gave Cochran time to react.
Cochran tackled the elite from behind and forced his elbow into its armored back. He kicked it in the face and managed to wrestle the plasma sword free from its grasp. He began to bring the sword down upon the alien when it punched him and knocked the sword out of his hand.
The elite threw Cochran off of him and got up; marching toward him angrily, ready to beat the shit out of the pitiful human.
Cochran dodged the first punched and hit the alien with a right hook to its four jaws. Then he hit it again in the stomach and had time to hastily remove the helmet from its head. Cochran followed up by kicking it to the ground, and he began punching the elite in the face. He hammered at the alien bastard, punching until his fists were covered in purple blood. The elite couldn't see because it was blinded by its own blood, so it struck wildly but Cochran beat it into the ground.
Finally, with one last punch, Cochran felt the alien sag to the ground. He stood up and finished it off with a downward stomp, crushing what was left of its face.
Cochran coughed and stumbled in pain. He ignored it and moved toward Pacelli's corpse. This pain wasn't even close to the kind he had felt before. The kind of pain he had felt on Sigma Octanus IV when one of those explosive needles had exploded and re-decorated his insides. It was still a mystery to him how he had survived that. It was mostly due to his friend, Corporal Harland's quick thinking. Harland was still a corporal. Cochran had been a private at the time, and now, thanks to several things, he was a sergeant.
He and Harland had both received the Medal of Honor for what they did on Sigma Octanus. Fincher and Walker, the other marines who had been with them, wouldn't have made it out alive were it not for Harland and himself. Cochran had shot down a banshee after Walker froze up, and saved all four of them. Over the year he kept in touch with Harland and was stationed with him again several times. He heard that Fincher had died, and he lost track of Walker, never hearing from or about him again.
On that mission they had lost their lieutenant, just as they had on this mission. Disintegrated by a giant scarab, just like the rest of the platoon. Once again, Cochran had gotten lucky and somehow survived.
Cochran grabbed his shotgun from the ground. Three shells were in it, and he found a fourth one on the ground nearby. Afterwards he found the elite's plasma rifle that it had dropped in favor of the plasma sword. He grabbed the plasma rifle and then tucked a plasma pistol under his belt, with his shotgun slung on his shoulder. Lastly, he grabbed Pacelli's dog tags and put them in his pocket.
"Time to move out." He said to himself.
He hung to side of the street, moving carefully. Twice he had been forced to hide because of patrolling ghost vehicles and one because of a phantom dropship flying overhead.
Cochran keyed his comm. and ducked beside a trash dumpster.
"Parker? You read me?" he asked.
"I hear ya, pal. Almost here?" Parker replied.
"Yeah, I think. Covy patrols are forcing me to move slowly, sorry." Cochran said.
"No problem. Pacelli doing alright?" Parker asked.
Cochran took several seconds before he replied.
"He's dead. Patrol got him." Cochran answered.
"Damn… Well at least you are still alive. Remember we are in a one story office building with a red sign, shouldn't be hard to miss. Get here soon, there's been an increased number of patrols in the area. Is that your fault?"
"Yeah, I think I pissed them off." Cochran said, chuckling.
"Heh, good job. Once you get here, I think we should start moving towards New Mombosa to link up with some of the Marines there. This part of the city is largely under Covenant control and its been blown to shit by their mobile artillery." Parker told him.
"The Covenant have mobile artillery?" Cochran questioned.
"Yeah, they have dropped a couple cannons in the city and they are more powerful than several wraiths combined and have a much larger range. They can also rotate but once they drop them its hard to move them. We've blown one of them up with fighters so far, but the bastards have banshees and seraphs guarding them." Parker explained.
"Wow. I'll be there soon. Another ghost patrol is coming, better hide." Cochran said. The comm. went silent and a single ghost moved down the street. Cochran took cover inside a small building. The ghost went by slowly, then boosted and turned the corner. Cochran left the building, sprinting to the other side of the street. He spotted the office building and the red sign out front. He began to run towards it.
"Hold your fire to the Southwest, I'm approaching now."
"Affirmative." Parker replied.
Cochran ran inside. Parker greeted him warmly and the other Marines waved.
"Its about time." Parker said, then looked Cochran over. He was covered in alien blood.
"Been busy?" Parker said. Cochran nodded and sat down against the wall. He recognized the four other Marines inside, but he cringed when he realized the medic had been killed. Parker noticed his disappointed face.
"It's a sturdy crew. The medic and heavy weapons specialist are dead but we should be fine." Parker reassured him. Cochran nodded and made a quick mental list of who was still alive.
Himself.
Pfc. Parker.
Pvt. Colburn.
Pvt. Borrail
Pvt. Heber
Pvt. Collins
Parker was the only veteran among them. Borrail and Colburn he remembered were both pretty good pals and were amongst the better marksman in the greener platoon he had been assigned. Collins was better with close range weaponry and Cochran had never seen him smart off. Heber, a fellow with Arabic descent, had been the real quiet one. Borrail and Colburn were loudmouths however; he had never heard Heber say anything more than a reply to a command. Then again, he had never fought beside Heber much.
"You all have enough ammo?" Cochran asked. They all nodded, and Parker noticed he was using Covenant weapons and tossed him a spare SMG and a couple extra clips. Cochran threw aside the plasma rifle and nodded to him.
"We ready to move?" Cochran asked. They all replied 'yes sir' and Cochran led them out the door.
They moved quietly and hung close to one side of the street whenever they moved. Cochran thought about it for a while and decided that Borrail was a Gaelic name, and of course Colburn was British. Parker was of course American and Heber was Hebrew or something. His own name was British, he knew. Last names and their origins had always fascinated him.
All this thinking forced him to miss something vital. Parker told him to stop. He did and then saw what they were all looking at. In the middle of the street, dozens of Covenant lay slaughtered; only one human corpse was found. Parker was crouched next to the human corpse and looked up as Cochran approached.
"ODSTs." Parker said.
"They must be heading to New Mombosa as well. Its nice to know we have Helljumpers clearing a path for us." Cochran replied.
"Damn. They don't mess around." Borrail said, surveying the pile of Covenant corpses.
They continued moving and Cochran compared the Helljumper's work to his own when he was with Pacelli. He could have been a Helljumper, he knew this, but he never wanted to be one. He didn't want to die, that was the reason why. That's what he had told himself long ago, but now he couldn't think of a reason to join them other than he really didn't want to. He was tired of fighting, tired of killing. All he was doing now was surviving and following orders…
Cochran looked through his binoculars at a large tunnel up ahead. That was the way to New Mombosa. Stationed in front of it were a good number of Covenant troops, and one wraith tank. Several ghosts were parked nearby the cluster around the entrance to the tunnel, and several elite officers were talking.
He tried to reach someone on the medium range comm. channel and finally did.
"Who is this?" Cochran asked.
"This is 1st Lieutenant Rander. I'm an ODST. What is your name and rank?" the voice replied.
"Sergeant First Class Cochran. I've got five other Marines with me and we are trying to get to New Mombosa. What is your position?" Cochran asked the ODST.
"We are located in a building overlooking the entrance to the tunnel to New Mombosa. I have two men with me. We are in the diner, try to get here but do not get seen." Lt. Rander ordered.
"Understood." Cochran switched off the comm. "Let's move, gentlemen."
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