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When life gives you lemons, ferment them and get drunk.
Well this is my first story, i just joined, so uh...tell me what you guys think. Post any of your short stories here where we will isue CONSTRUCTIVE criticism :D
I was 23. I had worked so hard to become an ODST. I wish i hadn't. I regret reaching my dream, because sometimes, your dream turns out to be a nightmare.
We were dropped out of the destroyer Cerebus . This baby had three MAC cannons and magnetic chargers on its belly that allowed us to fire off 3 slugs out of each cannon by the time a normal UNSC ship fired one. The planet was recently found, and we were looking for a place to start. A survailance team took a pelican down four days previous to our drop. We listened to a recording of the radio chatter. Everything seemed normal. Then we heard a scream. The channel went blank. I can't remember what we named the planet. Most likely because i don't want to.
Our squad name was Fire team Zulu. There was five of us. Me, Bradely, Jackson, Barker, and......Tom Striker. We were all in our twenties. Just a bunch of cocky kids. So anyway, when we hit the ground, our adrenaline was pumping like hydrolic fluid through a JOTUN. We had our battle rifles pressed against our shoulders. We swept the area. It was a vast field. The grass was bright green, like it was on Reach. The survailance team was deployed on a rockey hill east of us. It was a two minute walk. As we approached the top of the hill, we noticed that they had set up a small camp overlooking the land. Equiptment and supplies were scattered around the tents. It was silent until Barker discovered something very interesting. " Hey cap, check this out.", responding to his call, i moved towards him. In his hands he heald a topografical map. I looked it over, then called the rest of my men over. We looked at it, hardely amused until all of our eyes met at onne point of the map, it showed a rapid decrease in altitude. No questions or orders were needed, we all knew what to do.
We walked up to the edge of the chasm. Bradely's change in posture showed that he was uncomfortable. Along with the fact that he jumped back and yelled, " HO-LY -blam!-!". Bradely was never comfortable with hights. Ironic for an ODST. Tom was silent until he saw something interesting. " Hey guys, check this out. Are those stairs?" exitement was in his voice. Sure enough there was a spiral staircase carved into the rock wall of the pit.
The dicent took quite some time. It grew dark, so we turned the night vision on in our helmets. When we reached the bottom, i was suprised to see that the ground was not dirt, but some sort of metal. There was one halway. We walked through it for about five minutes. I dont know how deep we were in the...whatever it was. I was stairing at the cieling when i feld something hard hit my food. I jumped back and locked my battle rifle onto what had been the chief of the Servailance crew's head.
As i relaxed i noticed my four fellow ODSTs had also drawn their weapons on the target. It was good to know we were synchronized as a team. Jackson aproached it, said, " -blam!-....well tea times over lets go" and kicked the head at the wall. The walls were hollow, and made a huge THUNK sound that echoed through the whole damn place. Tom always stayed calm. There was no quiver of fear or anxiety in his voice as he said, " Nice goin dip--blam!-. Did you bring any fireworks we can shoot those off while your at it." I always appreciated Jacksons retaliations. "Burn in hell" was his weapon of choice. He uttered it silently, more absorbed in his suroundings than Toms insult. We heard a faint noise in the distance, it was...strange. It sounded like thousands of small vermine in the walls floor and cieling moving towards us. There were no squeaks of rats, or the scratching of paws. Just....a noise like rubbing and sliding mixed together...if that makes any sense. It got louder and louder until it stopped right on top of us. Silence filled the air.
All of us were still, listening for movement, Something small craweld out of the dark. We were silent until Barker asked, " What the -blam!- is that?" Jackson replied in a very very confused voice, "It.....looks like an octopus." I sensed danger....great danger. " Last time I checked, they dont have seven eyes." I looked at its delicate structure., a sickly green sac atatched to a mass of tenticles, one of which it slowely raised. On the tip was a razor sharp barb. I heard Barker let out a short GHA. I turned around and he was holding one of the cretures away from his chest as it franticly swung its tenticals in every direction. Its barbed tenticle slashed at Barkers arms. Blood was dripping on the floor. When i say dripping i dont meant like a water foucet. his arms were rainclouds of blood. The thing was smart. It didn't slash his plates, only the exposed fatigues. Tom pulled out his combat knife. It only took a slight jab to pop the little bastard. Barker wasn't going to be holding a gun any time soon.
Bradely was leaning over Barker, about to wrap his arm in gauss when the little freaks started pouring Into the hall. They began crawling down from the cieling. Thats when i knew we were -blam!-. the walls were full of these things, like insulation. Everyone but Barker was lighting the hall up like a god damn christmass tree. As brass piled up around us, a human figure stepped out of the dark. At first i was relieved, but then....its skin...its face. It was an abomonation. It looked like a walking mutilated carcass. It was dressed in a UNSC uniform. The uniform of a servailance officer.
I was...more disturbed than i had ever been before. I had seen almost every way to die in combat. I witnessed a soldiers head explode. I had seen guts, arteries, obliterated bone and enough blood to fill a lake, but this hit me like a torpedo. I aimed at it, and tried to pull the trigger, but i couldnt. It was as if the gun was on safety. It was human, but not at all at the same time. Thoughts were racing through my mind. I cant shoot a fellow man can i save him i have to shoot him he will kill me he will kill my team i cant do this i have to- then i heard the cries.
I dont know who was saying what. I heard liquid hit the floor. Somone cried, "Captain!" another, "GOD DAMNIT" I fired a three shot burst into the monstrositie's head, then turned to see Tom Striker covered by dozens of the creatures. I panicked. We were ODSTs, but this....this wasn't in the contract. Not knowing what to do, and not thinking, i opened fire on him. I killed many of the creatures, yes, but Tom heald my magazine in his body. I heard ribs crack as i fired at the wave of creatures. In what seemed like seconds, i felt something breathing on my neck. fingers curled around my neck and formed an iron grip around my throat, It's over, i thought, im dead.
I struggled, thrashed, and finally got one hand off my throat. As i turned around, right before i broke the arm of the thing, i saw eroded flesh, and the black plating of an ODST. I stopped halfway through my atack, at the point when one is facing his or her combatant. Tenticles protruding from gaps in the black armor plating. Its neck...bent at an impossible angle. When i saw its face, warped, deformed, hideous...my jaw dropped. I looked into the eyes of the beast and muttered, " Tom?"
To be continued.....possibly.