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Hitting Home: Siege (Chapter 2)
Posted By: Shifty<cherry_bomb2000@hotmail.com>
Date: 1 July 2004, 2:52 PM
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... I glanced back down towards his rifle, the blue orb of plasma growing larger, his rifle heating. A slight motion caught my eye as I noticed his finger tighten around the trigger.
Suddenly the windows in the building across the street exploded with gunfire. I felt a burning sensation across my cheek as the blot of plasma strayed away from my face. I winced in pain and lifted my hand to face, rubbing the charred skin that now covered it. I noticed the Elite swivel around to the new target, dismissing me for the stronger enemy. I followed its horrible gaze as I stared in awe, watching dozens of strange figures in metallic armor repel from the fifth story windows. Each of the strange beings were cradling a rope in one hand and a rifle in the other as they sprayed the unexpecting Covenant soldiers below them with a hail of hot metal.
The second story window exploded, showering glass and hot lead spontaneously. The Elite's eyes widened with fear as it heard the screams of its kind, courtesy of the hot rounds that ripped through them from the tall building. The Elite's shield cracked as gunfire splashed across it.
First, the Elite lifted its weapon; arrogantly expecting his shield to hold. Its foolish overestimation of safety cost it, however, as a stream of bullets shattered the shield and plunged into the Elite. It toppled onto the rubble, its alien purple blood filling into the air. As it fell, emotionless, his beady black eyes stared upon me. The evil inside me took over as I laughed cynically at the sight of the creature dying before me.
I crawled to my feet, disoriented from the surprising attack. I watched as blood from the Covenant form a sickening rainbow in the sky. My knees shaking, my face searing with pain, I slowly scooped up my fallen rifle. I looked at the Elite slumped on the barricade and hit him in the stomach with my rifle's butt. Blood sprayed from the blow as the Elite yelled in pain. Gloating, I spun my rifle, and pressed the blood-soaked butt against my shoulder and took aim at the Elite's chest. I squeezed the trigger, and watched with gratitude as a dozen bullets ripped through the Elite's armor and flesh as its life ceased to exist. A careful smile crept across my face, I felt good about killing the creature that, not a moment before had tried to do the same to me. I tightened my lips and spit on the creature before I spun on my heels and looked at the armor clad humans that had saved my life. The figures marched through the now empty street, stepping over Covenant bodies when need be.
They wore helmets that reflected the golden sun back into my eyes. I squinted and raised my hand to my forehead to protect my eyes. One of the Marines walked toward me, his armor shifting with him. The man was about six feet tall, towering over me by a full seven inches. I wiped my face, nearly screaming when my hand brushed up against my wound that the Elite slumped beside me had inflicted. I held in my breath and shook away the pain, trying to straighten for the Marine, that had no doubt, saved my life. I squinted and noticed that the large man had a gold emblem etched onto his armor. I focused on it and saw the picture of a burning comet trailing fire. I immediately recognized the insignia as Orbital Drop Shock Troops, well known as Helljumpers or ODST's for short. I immediately straightened up for the trooper as he walked over to me and stood by the dead Elite.
"Love at first sight eh?" the ODST, asked me with a faint Brooklyn accent creeping through.
"Ya' shoulda' seen the weddin'" I told him coming up with the smartest answer I could muster for the battle hardened Marine.
He gave a hardy laugh, though it was slightly muffled through the armored helmet he wore. He stuck out a gloved hand toward me and I returned the favor by shaking it firmly.
"Hell of a thing, huh?" the Marine said to me looking over the horizon at the brilliant blue and orange explosions dotting the sky.
"Ya," I said quickly glancing at the spectacle, "hell of a thing..."
That hell of a thing was actually men and women dying in the skies trying to "fight the good fight" as the UNSC put it, which to me didn't seem to be worth fighting for at all. All of the main UNSC compounds were wiped out during the initial bombardment. The orbital cannons stationed around the planet were nearly overrun, which is the only thing stopping the Covenant from ripping Earth to shreds. In the back of my mind it felt that maybe this may be humanities last battle.
I shrugged the thoughts off as I quickly moved with the ODST and began to help the rest of the Drop Shocks look for surviving humans to help, and any surviving Covenant to slaughter. I stopped at a corpse, only identified to be a Marine by the army green fatigues that surfaced from the blackened body. I sighed and looked away from the body. I saw a burnt courtyard at the end of the street, my mind struggled to remember the place that had caught my gaze. Then a thought hit me of the golden sunlight warming my body as I walked through a path that flowed through the lush yard. I remembered that the courtyard was once a school where, a mere, four years ago I inlisted. I smiled slowly filled my face as the smell of flowers filled the air. I breathed in the heavenly sent and gently closed my eyes... it was golden
Something brushed up against my back, forcing me to catch my fall. Instinctively, I brought my rifle up and directed it towards the new threat. I soon found out that the threat, wasn't a threat at all, as a man clad in armor stood with his hands high, his weapon on the ground.
"Easy boy..." the man said. "It's Ok, I'm a good guy."
It took me a full minute for my brain to register that the man was indeed, a man.
"Sorry," I told him, lowering my rifle, unsure what had just happened "I guess that scene back there made me a little jumpy."
"It's all right kid" The ODST said to me resting a firm hand on my shoulder, "We all get scared."
"I'm not scared," I told him, my voice slightly shaking, trying to convince him as well as myself that I wasn't. "I'm not scared..." I repeated dully, more to myself then to the Marine.
The man cocked his head, unsure if I was Ok. He then nodded, patting me on the shoulder, and began to turn.
"But... even the toughest men get scared," He halted his turn and faced me again, "You may not believe it, but under this helmet, past this armor," He said pointing at his chest for emphasis "there is a man, just like yourself, screaming with fear." He said, his tone low and serious. "It's just a matter of how we deal with it."
I stood there for a moment dumbfounded by the "tough as nails" ODST's speech. I always thought that "Helljumpers" were nothing more than bloodthirsty maniacs; though I was sure many of them were, the one man changed my view on them, and myself. My mind crunched on the man's words, and put them to use, as I suddenly felt like an enormous wait had been lifted off my shoulders.
I'm not scared... I thought to myself, more confident, a slight smile crawling across my face.
I straightened up and walked behind the Marine, helping him uniform the bodies that littered the war torn street. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the burnt courtyard. I smiled as the beautiful thought of that day once more and I couldn't help but think that it was in fact... golden...
Just as we finished searching the bodies, my collect thoughts were broken by the sound of three Helljumpers down the street, start fire their weapons, the noise of the fast chatter of sub machine guns filled my ears. I snapped my head toward the sound as the new Covenant patrol that had just emerged from an ally, this time with two Creeps. The long, bus-like craft hovered across fallen rubble and bodies alike as it began to rain hell itself down on the unexpecting ODST's.
The three ODST sub-machine-gunmen killed one of the Creep's gunners and several passengers before the craft managed to pass into our block. Two of the Marines that had opened up on the oncoming threat had run for cover, but the last of the three lost his footing and fell to the ground. He cursed loudly as he twisted his ankle from the fall. He faced away from the Creeps that were approaching fast on his position as he scrambled to his knees. Some of the Troopers yelled at the man, some motioned him forward and get him out of the way from the approaching vehicle.
He must have heard the hum of the machine as he turned to face the noise. Just as he faced it, the lip of the Creep slammed into the man's face, red blood painting the purple craft. I winced as the sound of his skull connecting with the vehicle churned in my stomach.
I heard the rest of the Marines that were stranded in the middle of the street open fire before ducking for cover. Most of the Helljumpers in the street had managed to run to cover, but the remaining half dozen that were firing at the convoy were slaughtered by the purple lances of plasma coming from the flanking Creep. As the each of the men fell, I crouched behind the blood-soaked boulder, which had become my new home for the past half-hour. I appeared from my cover and began firing at the new threat.
I'm not scared... I repeated in my mind as I peered nervously through a trembling scope, firing at the driver of the closest Creep. Sparks erupted and danced from dozens of impacts with the metal of the purple machine, a manifestation of my inaccuracy. They seemed to crawl over the unearthly vehicle, mocking me with every quiver. However, two lucky bullets managed to plunge into the pilot. The bullets struck the Grunt in the stomach as its limp body keeled over and fell from the its previously occupied vehicle, crashing to the ground, the alien Creep following in suit shortly after. It's nose scraped against the ground, the sound of metal grounding added to the chatter of gun fire and screams that echoed through the small street.
Disorganized Covenant panicked and leapt from their fallen APC, the vehicle still sliding along the pavement. After sliding a good thirty feet it toppled to one side, crushing almost half of its previous occupants that had decided to jump off at the wrong time.
I'm not scared... I thought again, my confidence lifting from the sight of the chaos. I continued to fire at enemy soldiers, as they wondered aimlessly, some were trying to flee while others were firing blindly across the street. One by one, they fell under the sheer firepower that had been unleashed on them.
I stared endlessly through the scope and saw a Grunt try to pull himself into the turret of the fallen Creep, which was still very much functional unlike the alien bus it sat atop of. I squeezed the trigger as a lone bullet strike, the Grunt in its fragile back. I saw blood and bits of bone erupt from its limp body as it slid down the side of the vehicle outlining his trail with a bright streak of blood.
I glanced to my right and noticed that the first Creep had crashed into a building and was burning as Covenant soldiers scrambled about, some on fire, some simply dazed from the accident. I ducked down behind cover, and quickly reloaded. The ODST beside me primed a grenade and tossed it over the metal slab he was hiding behind. I could make out the sound of the grenade hit the ground followed by the surprised yell of a Grunt. There was a large thud as the small alien's phosphorescent blood hosed the rocks around us. There was a faint second explosion as a twisted body that once formed an Elite, was hurtled over me showering me with its purple blood. The beast tumbled to a stop directly behind me, its blood pooling around its mangled body. The blood was cold to my skin, as I felt it drip from my nose and start to soak through my thin layered combats. My heart began to race.
"I'm not scared!" I yelled aloud, the words forced from my mouth.
I rose from cover and killed a Grunt that was within two meters of me, the bullets tore the Grunts apart as my finger locked on the trigger, out of pure rage, my heart pounding. I started to scream in anger as I fired into the mutilated corpse, blood and bone erupting from the small alien. My finger stayed tight on the trigger as the heated weapon ran dry. I held it for a full ten seconds, listening to the steady click of the action in response the empty magazine.
A firm hand grabbed my bicep. I swung around in surprise to see the Marine that had talked to me not a moment before.
"Snap out of it kid!" The ODST yelled at me through gritted teeth as he fired at the stray Covenant that littered the street.
My eyes widened as my mind began to settle and focus. I shook my head and grabbed for another magazine from my webbing. As I reloaded I noted that only a few muzzle flashes scattered loosely throughout the street indicated the surviving Marines. The few surviving Covenant of the crashed Creep were nonexistent, along with the flipped Creep that was closest to my position. A wicked smile played across my face and for a brief moment I thought we had won... I was wrong.
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