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Dangerous Liasions
Posted By: Commander Demitri Wolf<evo_343@hotmail.com>
Date: 17 March 2005, 9:59 AM
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A.N. This is the next instalment in a story I have already started, called Unsuspecting Victims. Unfortunately I originally intended for Victims to be a one off thing so the series will be posted in three parts.
You're off the edge of the map; here there be monsters...
The murky marshland beneath the dropship slowly receded into the distance, the craft's engines whined and it prepared to leave the area.
Suddenly there was a large explosion, the man in the holding bay opened his eyes slowly and realised where he was.
"What was that?" the semi-conscious passenger raised his head and spoke to one of his rescuers.
Inside Pelican Echo 419, another man glanced over his shoulder and out the back of the bird; the crashed Pelican Echo 206 had exploded, leaving a fireball in its wake.
"The wrecked Pelican, I think the fire hit the fuselage." He turned back to his passenger but he was unconscious again.
Fifty-One Minutes Later / Pelican Dropship Echo 419 / In flight
Rawley glanced back into the bay, "Frye, get up here." Her co-pilot unfastened his restraints and clambered into the cockpit.
"How's he doin' back there?" she asked, Frye looked over at her and shrugged, the poor man in the bay had been wrung out.
The Pelican had long since left the dank marshlands and was now shooting across a desert area; its thrusters blew sand from large dunes all over as it sped past.
After finding Lester another call came in, a contingent of Marines went to scope the desert land two days ago and no word had come back from them since.
"I'll set down for a minute and see if there's any trace of them." Rawley said and fiddled with controls, the Pelican's thrusters twisted vertically and slightly powered down; the craft sunk.
It touched down and Frye hopped over into the bay, Rawley made to follow but her eyes brushed over the makeshift cup holder she had fitted in the cockpit, it was occupied by two water bottles filled with coffee.
She picked hers up and her heart sank as she took hold of it; cold. Popping the top she peered in, all that was left was a small amount of coffee and a large amount of dregs.
She kept hold of it as she followed Frye in to the bay and jumped down to the ground, her boots left imprints in the sand as she raised a hand to her face and squinted through the billowing sand.
"I don't see anything; keep looking?" Frye asked and she nodded as she raised the bottle to her lips.
Sculling the cold dark liquid quickly she put the lid back on and tossed the bottle over her shoulder, it sank in the sand and shook slightly in the wind.
A gift for the Covenant garbage patrols, she thought with a sly grin.
"Lovely thing to leave our gracious hosts Ma'am." Frye joked and Rawley chuckled softly.
They re-entered the bay and brought the ramp up, getting back in the pilot's seat Rawley brought her craft airborne.
The thrusters blew the sand everywhere and sent the empty bottle flying; it rolled down a dune and was covered by sand, eternally forgotten.
One Hour Later / Alpha Base / Artefact 'Halo'
"Very well Flight Officer, dismissed." Rawley saluted her superior, Major Antonio Silva, and left his makeshift office in their makeshift base.
No news of the Marines, Silva wasn't happy.
She made her way down the corridor and entered the improvised mess hall and grabbed a mug of instant coffee, warm, a welcomed change.
Sinking into a chair she took a sip of the coffee, at the moment it felt like the best thing she had ever tasted, after three sips she felt her tired muscles stimulated again.
A ragged Marine stepped into the hall and caught Rawley's eye, it was Lester.
The pilot noticed her and limped over, pain registering on his face every few steps, he sat down next to her and let out a few murmurs of discomfort.
She offered the coffee to him and he graciously accepted, though he downed the whole mug but Rawley didn't mind, after what he'd been through she felt obliged to accommodate him.
He kept the mug held tight in his hand and turned to face her, "Ma'am," he begun but she interrupted,
"Call me Rawley." She smiled and extended a hand and he shook it, quivering.
"Lester. I just want to thank you and your co-pilot for rescuing me; I couldn't possibly imagine how I could have escaped without your help."
"You're more than welcome Lester." She paused for a second, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
He bit his lip and nodded, "Best to talk to someone about it, huh." He opened his mouth to start but the words didn't come, instead a spasm of pain tore across his face and he collapsed, the mug fell to the ground and smashed.
He fell of his chair and started what looked to Rawley to be an epileptic fit, "Get a medic in here, now!" she hollered and knelt down by Lester, "Don't worry, you're gonna be fine."
Ten hours later Lester lay in a sterile 'hospital' room, his body had lain still since the medic had tranquilised him and put a sudden stop to his spasm.
No one had been in the room in seven hours and no one had noticed the change in Lester' face.
The handsome young pilot's face had been ravished by veins and his blood had clotted in places making his face a pale red.
A whisp of cold air blew through the door and over Lester, his body shivered and then suddenly, as if someone had thrown a switch, his bloodshot eyes opened.
He reached down and tore off the blanket over him and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
No! Leave me, I must rest!
His legs moved him forward towards the door, though it seamed that he did not want them to.
He placed a veined hand on the door and tightened his grip before moving forwards into the corridor.
As he entered the mess hall heads turned but there was only one person in there who knew he shouldn't be up; Rawley's co-pilot, Frye.
He stood and approached the disoriented man, "Lester, what are you doing?"
Lester looked up at him, his eyes looked dead, he opened his mouth and closed it a few times but all that escaped was some inarticulate gargling noises.
Frye took him by the arm and turned him around, starting to walk him back to the 'hospital'.
Lester kept gargling on the way back but Frye didn't know what he meant.
Get me out of here, don't take me back, it's taking over!
It was the infection in his body, after being with the Flood for such a prolonged time it was no wonder he had become infected.
While his immune system was working overtime to repel the Flood, the creature inside him still had some control over his body.
Frye placed him back in bed and pulled the doona on the ground over him and then took the needle from the medical cabinet and injected the poor man.
It wasn't long before he was under again; Frye left the room and headed back to the mess hall where he ran into Rawley.
He smiled warmly at her but the smile wasn't returned, "We've been called out again, come on, the bird's ready to go." Groaning Frye followed her outside to the Pelican, soon forgetting all about Lester.
Where was he? There was a man staring at him, he knew the face but couldn't remember who it was.
Suddenly the man was ripped from his mind and he saw a flying machine, a Pelican, he reminded himself; my Pelican.
There was a long corridor, and more faces, a horrid, decaying, misshaped human figure, why was he seeing these images!
A woman was approaching him, he fell but she caught him, he felt safe.
An explosion, his Pelican, the only thing he could rely on, bar his co-pilot, had been destroyed.
He was lying in a bed, people came in and out for a while and then there was no one; he was all alone.
But he was not alone; while it was there he would never be so.
It clawed at his memories and thoughts, trying to take over his body. He fought it for hours on end; it was an epic battle, two competitors forever at war until the bells of Judgement Day toll.
But he was slipping, his grip on reality was loosening; and it was winning.
He screamed, but nothing escaped his mouth, he pushed the creature out of his mind, but it returned as though there was a back door to his brain.
What terrible pain he felt, it could be likened to no other thing he had felt before, but he fought on.
There! That was it, the moment he needed, the creature had let down its guard; he struck.
It was done, the creature receded in the the dank recesses of his mind, physically it was destroyed, but mentally it clung on, waiting for the opportune moment.
Twenty-Three Minutes Later / Alpha Base / Artefact 'Halo'
"Look, the discolouration in his face is disappearing, he's coming to." Rawley, Frye and a medic were the only visitors at Lester's bed when he started to recover.
The medic pointed at the mans face, "See there, the veins are far less pronounced, his colour is healthy and," he placed his fingers in a grip around Lester's wrist, "his pulse is steady, give him two hours and he'll be one his feat."
The group left three minutes later at almost midnight; they were ready to catch some well needed sleep.
Rawley looked back at Lester on the way out; it was the last time she would ever see him.
"McKay told me 'bout a Marine they found the other day, Jenkins, some sorta thing had taken over his body, the Covenant call it the Flood, is that what Lester has?" Frye asked the medic.
"Could be, I'm not sure," the medic replied, thinking it over for a moment, "He has symptoms that belong to many different viruses and infections, but who knows?"
Lester's eyes opened again; though this time they were their normal pale blue colour, not the bloodshot eyes of the creature.
He remembered the struggle for his sanity and tried to remember the images that flashed before him, but to no avail.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and held his head in his hands, he was sick, but there was work to be done.
Standing up he shook a bit but managed to remain upright, he went to the door and looked down the corridor, Silva's office was at the end.
Heading down the corridor he kept one hand running along the wall to steady himself, along the way people offered him help but he said no, until he ran into a familiar face.
"Frye, hello, how are you?" he asked, Frye looked startled that he was up again, the man was at least slightly disorientated.
"Lester, I'm fine thanks, you feeling better?"
Lester nodded and took his hand off the wall, he stumbled but steadied himself, "I have to go and see Major Silva and report for duty, I wont be flying for a while but if there's anything I can do I want to do it."
Frye grinned and gripped his shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee, "I'll come with ya, make sure you're ok."
Lester thanked him, "So hows Rawley?" he asked as the walked down the corridor, the dark presence in Lester's mind twitched, it wouldn't be long.
Frye closed the door to Silva's office, "Well that went great, co-pilot on one thirty-six, I know the pilot-Cookie-nice bloke, you'll like him."
Almost time, then I will strike. And when I do, the Human's will beg for mercy.
Four Hours Later / Pelican Dropship Echo 136 / In flight
Lester was at home, back in the sky where was free to soar and glide. He mightn't be the one behind the joystick but he enjoyed the thrill of not being attached to gravity.
A memory tugged at his mind and he smiled warmly,
His Pelican was speeding across the ring and towards a section of dense jungle with its engines roaring. Music blared in the holding bay where a group of Marines sat.
"This is the life Lester, this, is what I live for." It was Lieutenant Donald 'Ducky' Chapman who had spoken, Ducky his co-pilot, and best friend.
He nodded in agreement and called back, "I hear ya Ducky."
He smiled and a tear trickled down his face, he brushed it away and gazed out the back of Pelican.
"There we are," Cookie called, "the Autumn, prepare for landing."
Lester bowed his head for a moment as the Pelican began its decent and thought of Ducky, "Rest in Peace, Semper Fi."
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