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The Fall of Reach: A Marine's Story of Survival
Posted By: The NEW Zak<hardy10091965@aol.com>
Date: 14 June 2004, 9:01 PM


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      Everywhere in the military complex was bustling with excitement. Everyone was busy........except one lone marine, Private First Class Johansen. Johansen had fallen asleep on his break.....again. Just then, Sgt. Andrews saw Johansen slumped over in his chair with his helmet over his eyes. "WAKE UP, JOHANSEN!" The Sarge yelled as he shook Johansen violently. "I'm up, I'm up." Johansen said as the Sarge took his hands off him. "This is the third time this week, Johansen."

"I know, I'm sorry, it'll never happen, sir." "Well, see that it doesn't." The Sarge finished as he walked off. Yeah, it'll never happen again 'till tomorrow, Johansen thought. Just as Johansen was about to doze back off, the alarms started flashing. "Oh,....." Johansen was about to say but was cut off by the intercoms. "Scanners show incoming Covenant craft, all Spartans Charlie through Sierra, stand by to repel boarders, Covenant craft Battalion too large to calculate exactly how many ships there are, request immediate evacuation of Reach.

Too many to calculate? Johansen thought. He got up and started running towards the armory when a giant explosion tore through a wall ahead of him, killing 5 marines. "What the crap was that!" Yelled Johansen as he ran by the newly blown-opened hole in the wall. But he didn't take the time to look. He rounded a corner and saw a battle between 3 spartans and a group of Covenant rage. Johansen ran by without looking back. He heard one of the Spartans yell:"Fire in the hole!" As the grenade's explosion rang. Johansen had always had a grudge against the spartans. They made all the marines look like useless bags of dirt. They acted like they were better than them.

Well, they are, but that's not the point. Johansen thought. He ran down the last corridor up to the armory door. He punched in the access code and the door hissed open. "Oh, no....." Johansen moaned as he looked at empty rack upon empty rack. "Come on, there has to be at least one gun in here...." He turned the armory upsidedown looking for a gun until finally, he found a MA5B Assault Rifle under a rack. "Yes!" Johansen cheered.




"So, Toso'lee, how is our takeover going?" "It is going great, master, our forces are systematically destroying the humans and their "Super-Soldiers." "Good," The Prophet said, "Very good, now, destroy their hangars so none may escape." "Yes, master." The Elite said as he bowed and walked away.




"Now," Johansen said, "To get out of here." He ran out of the armory and started toward the hangars. As he rounded a corner, he almost slammed into a huge door. On the front of the door, the words:Vehicle Containment hangar, were written across. He also punched in the access code for this door. As the door hissed open, battles were raging everywhere in the Vehicle hangar. He ran over to a group of marines fighting Covenant.

He ducked behind an overturned metal box like the other marines just as plasma rained by him. An unlucky marine lifted up to fire at the wrong time and got his face melted off. His body fell backwards and his smoking face hit the ground. As the plasma fire stopped, Johansen lifted up and fired, killing 3 grunts and 1 jackal. "Nice!" A marine beside him praised. As the giant group of Covenant was slaughtered, Johansen and the other marines heard an extremely loud explosion above them.

The intercom blared:"Attention all remaining personnel, our Orbiting Defense Platform has just been destroyed, you must make it to a ship in 10:00 or we will launch off without you." "Oh, no!" All the marines said in unison. Just then, a warthog pulled up, driven by a spartan in green armor. He yelled "Get in!" and me and the other marines clambored in the 'hog. Johansen manned the LAAG on the back. "Hold on!" The Spartan's deep voice said. He rammed the petal all the way down to the floor and sped off down the middle of the Vehicle hangar. As the Warthog sped by groups of Covenant, Johansen let loose with barrages of bullets from the LAAG and tore through them. Up ahead was a large, metal grating rampway. The Spartan drove up it at full speed and busted through an offline door. "Hangar's 1 Kilometer ahead." The Spartan yelled.

Just then, an Elite busted down the hangar door ahead and threw a plasma grenade at them. The Spartan tried to swerve but the plasma grenade landed right below the passenger door. The Spartan leaped out of the Warthog and out of harms way. Johansen jumped out of the 'hog and dived away from it. The grenade exploded, sending white-hot pieces of metal in all directions, including Johansen's. Johansen screamed in pain as the shrapnel pierced his body. He rolled all over the floor trying to put out the fire in his body. How can my body take all this pain? Johansen thought. Johansen used all the energy invested in him to get up. He grimaced as he walked into the 8- mile-long hangar. He had lost his MA5B in the Warthog explosion, and was defenseless. He walked up to the 500ft. suspended walkway door that led into a ship named The Pillar of Autumn.The automatic metal slab door opened to reveal a quarter mile long walkway. He had 2:00 left.

As he started sprinting down the walkway, the pain that had before burdened him left him. He was getting more tired by the second. Hot sweat formed on his face as his heart beat faster. He was nearly there when.......BOOM, an explosion appeared in front of him and shot him back. His vision faded as he saw the Covenant fighter fly by. So this is it, I'm not going to make it. Johansen thought. But before Johansen's vision completely blurred, that same green Spartan stood above him and hoisted him onto his shoulders. Then the Spartan bounded the hole made by the explosion in one leap. As the Spartan walked through the automatic access door into The Pillar of Autumn with Johansen over his shoulders, Johansen thought, Maybe I was wrong, Spartans are alright. Johansen then closed his eyes.





"You FOOL, you let one escape!" The Prophet yelled. "I'm sorry, master, please do not, no wait, PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSE.........AAAGH!"





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