Sergeant Vick: Part 4
Posted By: Helljumper<Pittklipse@aol.com>
Date: 7 May 2004, 5:26 PM
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Lance Corporal Singer slid from the door to the opposite wall of the small room. He leveled his MA5B at the door as the sound of footsteps became louder somewhere outside of the room. He hadn't heard from the rescue team in five minutes but was sure that whoever or whatever was moving around outside was not them. The footsteps were not normal. They were uncoordinated and slow and fast at different rates. Singer couldn't tell how many there were but was almost positive that they weren't Human or Covenant.
The Helljumper accidentally brushed up against his Grunt prisoner. It inched away from him while letting out a low volume but high pitched sqeek. Singer poked the alien with his elbow signaling for it to be quiet and it did, but continued to shake and cower away from the Marine. Whatever was outside the door must have heard the Grunt because the footsteps started to get closer.
Sweat began to pour under the Corporal's ballistic helmet and down his face. He nervously held the assault rifle against his shoulder, aimed at the door. The footsteps stopped outside the door. The silence was broken by loud "Thuds" hitting the door. Singer and the Grunt both started to panic. The Grunt screamed out, "We're going to die!" The Marine tried to use his legs to move him backwards as if there wasn't a wall behind him.
The "thuds" resulted in huge lumps being formed in the door. Singer didn't know how much longer the door would last but he was confident that whatever was on the other side would receive a chest full of 60 7.62 armor piercing rounds. The "thuds" continued for a good minute before suddenly stopping. The fucking door held. He nervously lowered his assault.
Large tentacles erupted through the door and grabbed a hold of it. Singer bought his weapon back to his shoulder and aligned the targeting circle on his Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) with the center of the door. The Grunt was speaking incoherent words that the Marine could only assume was a prayer. Singer had never been religious but started to wish he was.
The tentacles pulled on the door and it gave away. Light raced into the dimly lit room and washed over the occupants. The large figure standing in the doorway threw the door as if it was a sheet of paper. Singer squeezed the trigger of his weapon. Bullets raced from the barrel and entered the chest of the creature. The Marine took the recoil of the full automatic rifle before he released the trigger.
The creature fell backwards and sprawled out on the floor. Green blood and pieces of flesh were left all over the walls and floor. Singer noticed that he was not breathing and had to force himself to do so. He started to get up from the floor. His muscles were weak and he slipped on the still hot, empty bullet casings. Once on his feet he inched his way towards the door.
The Helljumper stood over the body of what was once an Elite. Its physical build was the same but the body had been mutated. Singer kicked it once to make sure it was dead. He checked the ammo counter on his rifle. It read 29. He hadn't realized that he had fired 31 rounds into the creature and it took all of them before going down.
Staying in the room was no longer a good idea. The Corporal changed his magazine and signaled for the Grunt to come out. It did so nervously. Singer pointed at the dead body and asked if the Grunt knew who it was?
"Yes, that be Ship Master."
"Shit, it was Ship Master." The Marine replied. He felt more confident. "Take me to the docking bays."
"No, Flood be in docking bay."
"They aren't in the one I came in so lead the way."
The odd couple started their walk down the corridor. Singer's leg had stopped bleeding but he was sure that he had lost a lot of blood. With luck they would link up the rescue team and they would have bio-foam.
Platoon Sergeant Vick led Fire Team Charlie through the alien hallways. They walked in two tactical columns with Vick and Private Chisman on the left. On the right were Private First Class Gordon and Private Grey with Warrant Officer Jones bring up the rear. The rescue team moved with their weapons shouldered except for Jones who had his M6D in its hostler to show his disagreement with the mission.
Vick was on point, that's the way he liked it. He believed that a leader should be willing to do anything that he would order a subordinate to do, even if it meant being on point. Lieutenant Sanders had always hated when Vick did this, but he understood the Sergeant's philosophy.
Fire Team Charlie approached an intersection. Vick signaled for the team to halt and slowly crouched up to the beginning to the next hallway that started to the right. He leaned into the hallway quickly and backed out. He moved away while keeping his M90 Shotgun pointed in front of him. Once back to the unit he gathered them in a circle.
"There is a squad of Covies down that hallway. There is no way that we can sneak pass them so we'll have to engage them. Chisman and I will frag 'em. Once I start firing join in. I want coordinated fire starting with Elites, then Jackals, and then Grunts. They don't seem to be moving so I'm assuming that they are holding the hallway, so let's take it from them."
Vick and Chisman approached the intersection followed by the others. They slung their weapons and pulled grenades from their equipment belts. Chisman stood with his back against the wall by the opening to the next hallway. Vick stood across from him facing towards the enemy held hallway. He pulled the pin on the grenade, squeezed the trigger and released it. He "cooked" the frag and counted to 3 seconds in his head.
The Marine Sergeant took two leaping side steps into the opening to the hallway and threw the frag and didn't stop till he cleared the hallway. Chisman followed right behind him. Vick withdrew his M6D pistol from the holster strapped to his thigh. The safety was already off and a round was already in the chamber. Helljumpers left their bunks combat ready.
The grenades exploded followed by the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Vick stepped into the hallway's entrance, knelt, and targeted the last standing Elite. He fired three rounds into the alien before it went down. The rest of the rescue team joined in firing. The Jackals and Grunts were completely caught unaware, and with the death of their Elite leaders they were unorganized. Few returned fire and with precise three round burst, the Helljumpers killed the enemy squad.
Satisfied that the Covenant were dead, the Helljumpers took a moment to reload their weapons. Vick stood and replaced his pistol to its holster. He looked around at his men to make sure that no one was wounded. He noticed that Warrant Officer Jones hadn't even fired his weapon. It was still in its holster and he was standing in the back.
Vick ordered his Marines to secure the area. He marched up to Jones and invaded the flight officer's personal space. His left hand reached forward and quickly pulled out the M6D pistol from Jones. He stuffed the weapon into the front of his belt. "If you don't want to us your weapon then you won't have one."
Jones was scared of Vick and didn't try to resist. "What am I suppose to do to defend myself."
"I suggest you stay close to someone who does have a weapon and is willing to use it, sir." There was a certain amount of sarcasm and disgust for Jones in the Sergeant's voice.
Singer limped down the hallway following the Grunt. He kept his rifle pointed at the alien and his finger on the trigger. It wasn't because he was afraid the alien would try and harm him, but it just felt right. The Corporal kept a good 4 meter distance between him and the Grunt. He could hear it speaking to itself in its native language. "Hey hold up there."
He was weak from the lost of blood. The Grunt stopped and turned to face its human master. "We move now, the Flood are everywhere."
"Just give me a minute."
"What's a minute?"
Before Singer could even attempt an answer, an air vent in the ceiling above the Grunt broke open. A dozen Infection forms landed on the Grunt. It screamed out in pain as the green creatures stabbed at it with their knife like tentacles. Eventually the Covenant dropped to the ground from the Infection Forms combined weight and stopped resisting.
The Corporal raised his rifle and began firing. The Infections Forms popped easily but as he continued to kill them, more dropped from the ceiling. Firing in short controlled burst, Singer started to walk backwards as the creatures advanced on him. One jumped into the air towards him. He fell backwards and shot the creature in mid air. He scrambled to his feet and continued firing. He changed his magazine, cocked the bolt back loading a round into the chamber, and allowed it to slam close. He continued firing. There didn't seem to be an end to the Flood.
Singer's back hit against something solid. He assumed it was a wall until he felt it going up and down. He turned to face a Crimson armored Elite. The Elite's mandibles were open in what Singer could only image was a smile. It bought its plasma rifle down on the Marine's collar bone forcefully. Singer collapsed for the blow onto the deck.
The landing was almost as painful as the blow. Singer opened his eyes to see the Elite and three Jackals begin firing their weapons down the hallway. His vision began to blur and he tried to move his legs. I can't feel my legs. Ahhh... I can't feel my arms. He realized that the Elite had crippled him. All he could do was watch as the Covenant squad turned and ran down the hall away from him. The sound of the approaching Infection Forms filled his ears. He tried again to move but couldn't.
He felt the numerous stabbing pains along his legs, then back. He couldn't tell how many were on him. His mind began to cloud with ever stab. Lance Corporal Singer felt the life escape from him. He closed his eyes and hoped it wouldn't be much longer.
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