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0520 HOURS, AUGUST 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Epsilon Eirdani System, PX, Reach Civilian City, planet Reach,
5 miles form FLEETCOM HQ

      It was one huge show. When you look up, you could see floods of activity. What made the show horrible was the fact that it was all covenant ships. It seemed like a dream, but after three hours of PT training, it was all too real. What made it worse, was the fact that they are here to kill us all. This show is going to take my life faster than I can think since my drill sergeant is leading us straight into the hot zone of death.
      Well, I guess this will be my one and only chance to take out those Covenant vermin's while I am still breathing. At least that thought is appealing; so I guess it won't be that bad after all.
      "Covies. Hit the Deck!" screams Matt while he falls to the ground. We all fell to the ground and hid for cover under the bushes in forest. My heart was pounding from overwhelming fear and exhaustion from just running. My heart sped faster as I saw the two Covenant drop ships fly directly ten meters over our heads and just above the tips of the trees. They veered over to the left causing damage to some of the trees as they flew closely over the forest. They then dropped onto the nearby road in order to deploy their troops and equipment on route to destroy the PX.
      "Blast! The Covie's are going for our outpost half a mile from here," Jumbo said. That outpost he is talking about is our version of base camp; this would be our base to protect in a "mock" attack from the Covenant. We would usually use this scenario of training for Sarg's fun time after we had completed our PT, but now is not the time for training. It is real life now. Fortunately today, we did our PT with full gear/ live ammo.
      "Alright Marines, listen up! I want a deversionn..." Sarg began to say, but no one was hearing his speech as a noise of a high pitch explosion erupted in the PX city. The explosion sent chills to our spines as we thought of those people we knew and loved coming under attack. Not only did the explosion scare us, but also each one of us began to be filled with anger and desired to take revenge on the foul beasts invading our home. "Private Scott, Zimmer, and Whitaker get those Covie's attention long enough for the rest of us get to our LZ. Everyone else follow me."
      "Yes Drill Sergeant!" We all screamed as we have been drilled to do, but it was reinforced with anger and joy.
      Now to just describe my squad, we are called Delta Green. First of all, we are not Delta Force; this is our squad's code name by the fact that we train and protect the sector of Reach, 02-42-08 or Green as we called it, but it is named Delta by FLEETCOM HQ's main grid. In order to clarify which training group we were, our squad was given the name Delta 02-42-08 or as we called it, Delta Green. My squad has twelve members in it and one drill sergeant. My name is Dan Scott, and my nickname is "Captain". It was the only the name that people would call me during High school because I had a military-like character. Billy Zimmer is known as "Demo" because of his desire to destroy everything with explosives, and he was the only one earned the right to carry the Jackhammer rocket launchers during training and PT. The third person of my group is James Whitaker who is known as "James". Though his name does not have any meaning, he would be the man to cover your back with cover fire from his SAW-15 machinegun. Blast. If I keep talking to myself, I am going to get myself shot running into the Covie's patrol.
      "Demo, go to the right and take out tank. James, follow me. We're getting the Covie's attention." With my command, we sprang into action. Demo made his way to the right, just inside the boarder line of the forest. He ran cautiously along side the trees by road in an attempt to be parallel with the patrol. James and I ran across the road into the ditch just in time for the Grunts patrolling the rear not to notice us. When we were completely across, we both unleashed a blanket of lead to surprise the Grunts. The Grunts screamed in pain but were drowned out by the explosion of two grenades, sending chunks of bones and flesh of their comrades into the air.
      Though the surprise worked, the main problem, the tank, was still alive. It also gave us more complications by protecting six Jackals from our barrage, and our bullets could not penetrate the tanks armor. Both barrage of bullets and plasma filled the air. Fortunately, most of the plasma came towards us. Those who fired at Demo were the ghost's driver and the red Elite in command. To make matters worse, the tank is on their side and aiming towards us.
      Seeing the tank turn towards us, I told James to duck while I ran as a distraction. The instant I ran, the tank spewed a massive ball of plasma. Fortunately for me, the Covenant are not perfect shooters on the first round as it soured over my head and crystallized the forest a few meters beside me. This had also opened an opportunity for James to setup his SAW gun on the road and unload a wave of bullets killing two Jackals, pinning the rest down, and allowing me a chance to toss a grenade behind them. One Jackal saw the grenade land and turned its shield in time; but James' barrage of fire decapitated and shredded its torso causing the remaining Jackals to disintegrate in pools of blood behind their own shields as the grenade exploded. At the same time, the Ghost was obliterated followed by an explosive discharge from the tank.
      The trouble wasn't over yet. An Elite was still attacking Demo. I switched to my secondary weapon, the S2-AM sniper rifle. Sighting in, I could see just the tip of its head. I instantly fired, yet my shot bounced of its shield. It was too much of a wild shot.
      "Blast!" I blurted just as I nearly ducked from a wave of plasma charring my helmet. Suddenly, it all stopped. I scanned the area, and I noticed that James had moved behind the desecrated tank. He motioned for me to move in and to secure the area. I ran towards him and remembered that Demo had been too quiet during the fight. I started thinking about his death, but I put that thought behind me as I holstered my sniper riffle and positioned my MA-5B assault riffle in the ready position. Then I turned around the corner of the tank. Suddenly, I was flooded with a flash of heat that tossed me to the ground. White blackness covered my eyes.
      "You're all right?" James asked hovering over me. "It's all clear. You were sniped by that Grunt, but blew his brains for ya. Man, looks like you only got scratch."
      He laughed to himself as he picked me up from the ground. I thanked him for helping me and for giving me his riffle due to the fact that mine was melting to pieces. Then I asked, "Where's Demo?"
      "Oh ya, I forgot about him. Come on, over here." James headed towards the crashed Ghost in the forest. Apparently, Demo got out of the fight completely as he was stuck under the Ghost. It also appeared that he was just watching the fight and not giving his two cents.
      "Can ya walk," I asked him as James and I lifted him from the wreck.
      "Oh man! We've got trouble! Look!" protruded out of Demo's unthankful mouth, but he was not kidding. Twenty more drop ships headed straight towards us as a Covenant destroyer behind them veered to the left heading directly towards FLEETCOM HQ. "Lets get out of here!" Demo yelled and started running towards the city. Apparently, he shoed no injuries as we run to catch up with him. As we ran, I remembered my communication training from boot, so I radioed in our situation to Sarg.
      "Sarg, this is Captain. The patrol is gone. We're coming to the LZ."
      Nothing came through the line.
      "Sarg, this is Captain. The patrol is gone. We're coming to the LZ. And more Covenant on their way. Do you copy!?"
      "Ya, I heard ya, but were in a tight..." shooting, yelling, and screaming interrupted the COM as it was flooded with others trying communicating to our Sergeant, "Man that cannon! Man that cannon! Pvt. Scott, we have entered the city to get as many people out as...Blast, Bogies to your left! Get over here, we need all the help we can get. Out."
      "Ah man, this is pointless. We're all going to die, man!" Demo's words brought butterflies to my stomach just when I thought we had a chance.
      "Shut up Demo. We still have a chance. Right now, we have to go to the city and start helping Sarg." But even my words could not delude his nor my thoughts about our coming death.
      "Guys, straight ahead there's some cars. Lets get one working to get going faster," James said as he motioned behind himself reminding us about the wave of Covenant troops and vehicles heading directly towards us. "I know there is a huge guns and ammo store in the city. Maybe others are making that a great security zone?"
      That was not a bad idea, but we still had to get there. We checked out the first car we came to, but it had a ruined engine. Fortunately, the next car was working, and the driver must have been scared for his life because he left his keys in the car. At least we are lucky here. Without pause for a rest, we immediately sped towards the city.
      The city now, once fine to relax and have fun in, was a blazed. Many buildings were crumbling down with hundreds of molten crystallized debris, vehicles, and craters surrounding them. Smoke loomed over the city in thick blankets. It seemed as though thousands of Covenant creatures covered the city searching for something to destroy. James was driving, so he went made, speeding into two groups of Covenant patrol. He smashed into three Grunts and a Jackal with joy, but we were stopped by a head-on collision with a hunter. We, fortunately, had a split second opportunity to run from the huge beast because of the vehicle's airbags. We ran as fast as we could, and we made it to a mobile bus. I took the driver seat and drove the vehicle as fast as possible.
      BOOM!!
      The entire vehicle swerved as I counteracted the blow. The whole backside of the bus had a gaping hole from the Hunter's cannon fire. The blast had also incinerated Demo's entire body from his chest on up.
      "Demo's gone!" yelled James as he scooped up the Jackhammer and remaining shells from Demo's body and fired in rage towards the Hunters to no avail. The Hunters fired more rounds from their fuel rod cannons too dangerously close. Buildings and cars around us blew into crystal craters as I barely turned the bus around the corner into the next street. I kept smashing the peddle to the floor while going through streets, vehicles, aliens, and plasma fire. When out of nowhere, a small ball of blue, smoking light flew onto the bus. It stuck on, and within seconds it disintegrated the entire left side. The force was too powerful for me to keep control of the vehicle sending the bus onto its right side tossing both James and I to the right.
      Dazed, but knowing that there was no time for rest, I ignored the pain in body and I ran to help James. Yet, he had acted much quicker, and, actually, helped me out. Though we did not see that many people while we entered the city, there were many people now screaming, falling, dying, crying, and fleeing from almost any direction both up and down, and left and right. Mixed with the horror were explosions, fire from both burning building and weapons fire as well as battle cries and devilish laughter from the multitudes of Covenant creatures attacking anyone and thing they saw. I did not know what I could do but just run. I ran towards the direction James was heading. My own personal pain was unnoticeable with my head swelling with fear of death, rage, and confusion. James ran as fast as he could too. I could not tell if he was hurt except for the blood on his arm, but I could not tell if it was his own. We both ran down the subway ramp. I quickly glanced behind me to see any foe following, and without a doubt, there was. I turned and fired a burst of rounds but quickly fled from a blanket of plasma fire.
      Out of a dark hole, a woman leapt out her hiding place and grabbed my left arm. She ran with James and I as we went into the maintenance alley that was alongside the subways tunnels. I did not care a cent on whom she was at the time because I just ran; though, only she knew that she had left her child in the hideout to save her own neck. This action, unfortunately, left her child to be slaughtered by the merciless Covenant creatures.
      As we were in the tunnel, it was all falling apart. Debris was falling around us both in front, behind, and on the sides of the tunnel. It made it hard to avoid the falling debris. Yet, we made it out of the tunnel. In this entrance, there were people coming into the loading platform as they were fleeing from a group of Grunts that followed closely behind. They were shooting people like fish in a bucket. James and I fired into the squad of Grunts poisoning them with our lead. The lady behind me quivered closely to my back for protection. Fortunately, we came out of nowhere, and the Grunts were preoccupied allowing us to wipe them out quickly. As we continued to run, we stopped, picked up some plasma grenades, and headed straight up the exit ramp in order to get to our destination, the ammo store.
      "Come on people, this way!" I yelled at them, "Get those weapons and follow us!"
      Only a few people from the def and frightened crowd followed us, and only one person with his mind together picked up a weapon. We made a stop as we got to the top of the stairs. James scanned the area as I handed the lady attached to my arm my M-6D pistol, and for some reason, I noticed that she cute and around my age, well I think. I am not too good with age. Maybe she would be my girlfriend if I survive? Wait a minute. Why am I thinking about that right now...?
      "Captain," James whispered to me, "there's Covie's all over the place, but only a few close to us. We can run and fire towards that building over there." James pointed towards the building to the right. Apparently, this bad news was too much for one of the civilians in that the person ran directly back into the tunnel.
      "Alright. Check your ammo, and then lets go all at the same time into the building." I said slapping a fresh clip into my riffle. It was mainly James and I who had to reload, but when we were done, we all bolted towards the building firing on the run. We did not shock the Covenant this time as they fired with trigger-happy fingers. One guy was capped in the head causing the man behind him to scream and flee back to the tunnel where he was followed by a group of Grunts and Jackals.
      There were only five of us left when we ran into the building. We headed straight for the stairs as a plasma mortar round consumed the room. It disintegrating the last person in line, and debris sliced a huge wound into the fourth man's leg. In his wound you could see the whiteness of his bone. We briefly paused to patch him up with second skin from my Med Pac, and we gave him some painkiller pills to help stay focused. We continued up the stairs until we came to a caved in opening leading directly towards the fortified ammo store. I radioed in, in hope that they could cover us on our approach, but no one responded. So, we slipped down the debris and headed towards the store. I noticed then that girl still kept her pace with me and still clutched onto my arm. As we came to the store, we noticed that one guy, scuffed and charred from previous engagements, was glad to see us coming.
      "Good! Reinforcements. Come over here quickly and reload your weapons," the man said; then he pointed towards some buildings and street passages, "Guys, I need every man I could get to hold back the Covenant attacks lone enough for us to finish preparing the transportation to get out of this city. We also don't have much time, and my men out there could use your help. Are you good with that sniper?"
      "Well, not really sir." I answered his question.
      "Good. Give it to me. Someone else could use it. Now, load up!"
      We moved, double-time, to the still remaining ammo store. The area and building was surprisingly secure. It seemed like the only secure zone in the whole city just because all of the Covenant inside the barrier were dead. Unfortunately, to keep it this way, it became graveyard. Hundreds of bodies littered the ground, and there was debris everywhere. Anyone that was alive was force to travel on or around destroyed Banshees, tanks, people, vehicles, and buildings. This must have been a valuable position for any human when the alarm broadcast Covenant's attack. Yet, it was slowly being overcome, and the thought of everyone was to get out of this deathtrap. Their quickly devised plan was to place armor onto a thirty-five foot long RV (recreational vehicle), get as much ammo onto it, and the remaining people out of the city. The vehicle looked almost completed, but the enemy's presence was thickening ever so quickly. Causing a diversion for most of the manpower to protect the store's perimeter.
      My four-man team made it to the ammo, and we loaded up literally stuffing our backpacks, pockets, and arms with hundreds of ammunition clips and grenades. Then we headed directly back to the wanted positions to help the other comrades. James and the fourth man went to a gaping hole to the left of the RV, and I went straight in front of the vehicle into the street opening. The girl, still for some reason, stayed close behind me, and when we came to the street, she just stayed close to the left behind the building corner and would only help by distributing ammo.
      Every position was being attacked with great force. The most creatures I had to kill were Grunts. They seemed as an endless wave that just continued no matter how much led poisoned their comrades. I did not know how long I could last this. I went fast through my ammo even though I was aiming. Though we conflicted many enemy casualties, they dished out more power shredding up poor souls to their doom. It seemed like hours of fighting but only minute went by. Killing these unnumbered foes was dulling my sense of time.
      "Everyone! Fall back! Fall back! We're getting out of here!" The leader of this post yelled. At that point, everyone ran back to the vehicle. Some people had left in a middle of a fight allowing the Covenant behind them to shoot them in the back. My path to the RV was interrupted by a group of rushing Grunts and Jackals heading towards our ride in order to stop it. Simultaneously, my group fired at the creature's advancing. One girl behind me tossed a grenade into the creatures' ranks. The blast shredded four grunts, but tossed a Jackal who reflected the blow. Its attempt for survival became useless when the beast was sent through a spike spilling its purple blood onto the ground. As this group was wiped clean, another squad followed closely behind them. As they instantly appeared, they vanished in a carpet of exploding grenades, and through the smoke came someone of better acquaintance.
      "Captain, is that you?" It was Nick Burson (also known as Snake) who asked in disbelief as he appeared from the cloud of smoke. "I thought you'd be dead." He had arrived with three other squad members from my Delta green unit. They each looked beaten up; Jimmy, though, was in the worse condition as he sprinted along with a bleeding chest.
      "I'm still kicking. Come on guys. We need to get to the vehicle before it leaves." Bursting that command, as I always seemed to do, our two groups, one from the street and the other from Delta green, made it back to vehicle just as all the other survivors had gotten there.
      I was last to enter trying to kill as many enemies as possible, but I only made a dent, as thousands came in to attack. As the enemy fired, three rounds made their way onto Jimmy as he was entering the vehicle causing him to give up his fight as he struggled to stay alive already. Though others in front of him automatically dragged his body in hope of his survival, he was already dead. The driver floored the pedal as soon as I jumped in behind the last person. Strangely, it was the woman who always stayed close to me.
      The vehicle sped away from the inferno deathtrap. It literally plowed through debris, vehicles, and bodies both human and Covenant as well as some living Covenant stragglers that made there way into the road. Inside the vehicle, it was exploding with noise. The vehicle had nine windows with three people in each one, shooting at anything that looked like Covenant. There were also two in the back controlling a fifty-caliber machinegun from a make-shift hole; five other people were helping with ammo; two from Delta green were helping dead Jimmy on the floor; and I was wrapping the woman's wound that had been caused as she stayed close to me. That made it a total of forty people screaming, hollering, cheering, and firing in a mobile tin can.
      Forty people are alive in here, but I could only see four of my friends. James, he made it here with me and continued to shoot Covie's through the window. Nick Burson, my friend from high school, took control of a six-man group when hell broke loose at our makeshift LZ. While on the RV, he tried to help Laura keep dead Jimmy alive. Beside him, was blood stained Laura Mikenly. She is known as Snipe for her first class marksmanship in snipping, but now, she was stubbornly trying to help dead Jimmy stay alive. Matt Rodgers is an all right Joe, though he used to start a fight with any within seconds, earning his title Match. But, if you needed are girlfriend, he was the one who would hook you up. Now, he is a ball of yelling rage, killing anything from his window. Last but not least, I am just a Marine soldier. In battle, I move as if programmed even though my fear overwhelms me. This woman, whom I still do not know, is a mystery to me; then again, my question will never be answered. I am going to die in this moving tin resembling everyone else here that is smothered with plasma and bleeds to his or her doom. Forty people are alive, but we are slowly dying.
      This is one great show to die in.


To Be Continued...

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