The Longest Hour
Posted By: Tyler Infinger
Date: 31 August 2004, 2:25 AM
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Private First Class Konway screamed as the armored Pelican he was riding in plumeted to the surface of the rock planet Suave. It was all he could do was scream, scream and close his eyes. A sudden jolt forced open his eyes the ground was 100 meters closer than before and he screamed louder. With a deafening crash the Pelican slammed into a montain, hard. The tiny ship bounced four times before stopping abrubtly at the edge of the tallest cliff. I'm dead he thought as he blacked out with the mangled bodies of his friends all around him. He awoke to someone pounding a red hot needle into his head just behind his ears. he let out a moan and looked around. Fist sized holes were punched everywhere from the impact on rocks. He noticed on had missed him by an inch, the others weren't that lucky. He remembered suddenly out of nowhere that he had found crashed ships on many missions before and tried to remember why this ship had crashed. Then it all came hurrying back to him. The explosion, the sight of a dead cruiser in space, The Herald, and the bright flash of a plasma bolt and the impact on the ship. If this was anything like the others the Covenant would soon be coming. Somehow he stood and found a military issued MA5B assault rifle and a pistol in a smashed crate in the back of the mutilated ship. A stack of grenades and a couple of extra clips later and he peered out the one of the holes. Two Covenant dropships were circling overhead looking for a safe place free of debris to land. The wreck that had almost cost him his life saved it, for a minute. As soon as the dropships turned away he ran from the ship to a big rock. There he sat waiting for the obvious, a dozen Covenant coming down at taking the life he just earned. He wasnt goin to let that happen. He spotted a Jackhammer launcher not to far away and knew what he had to do. He burst from cover and in one graceful motion he grabbed the launcher, aimed, and fired at the two ships. There was an immediate popping noise as the missle impacted on the two dropships, engulfing half of each in a ball of flame. The ships explded into two massive fireballs but then something happened. A dozen or so pods flew from each ship. They landed with a crunch and immediatly soldiers poured from them like ants to a picnic. Grunts, Jackals, and a pair of Elites stepped forward and stared hungrily at the human. Screw this thought Konway and he ran like a coward as far as he could before he was hit in the leg. Screaming he fell down and knew this was it. He pulled the pins on 5 grenades and hurled them at the approaching enemys. Thunderous claps went off and brought down half of the squad. That would have to be enough. He opened fire with the rifle into a group of grunts. A meat slapping sound came to his ears as he blew chunks out of arms, legs, and faces. One shot hit a methane breather and a hissing sound erupted from the nearest grunt as it fell to the ground clutching its throat. But the jackals were a different story. He played hid n' go seek for an hour before all the bird-like creatures were all dead. Before he could celebrate this victory a sound behind him distracted his thoughts. Without turning around he fired blindly as he ran to the nearest cover. A howl of pain echoed through the air as a lucky round penetrated an elite helmet. The creature looked helpless as it grabbed where its bottom jaw used to be. The marine felt pity for a moment, but only for a moment. He once again opened fire and killed the elite. One left. A roar behind him made him instinctantly duck. Just in time. A fist slammed into the rock where his head had been moments before. He dropped his empty rifle and pulled the pistol. Four clips came and went as he ran from cover to cover and finally his ammo was spent. No place left to run. He had one more plan. With all his might he managed to climb into a bit of a cave and he waited. Suddenly the elite appeared with his back to the Marine. This was it. He leapt forward and with one crack on the back of the head combined with the weight of the jump the elites neck snapped and his head hund helplessly at his shoulders as he fell. The Marine sighed and the looked up. Anothe Pelican swooped down and landed beside him. Finnaly he would have some rest after the longest hour of his life.
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