- Hal0zAng3l
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- Honorable Member
(As instructed I will use 1st person perspective, I'm more used to 3rd person)
I guess my eyes probably widened a bit when the Captain told me to take point, don't know if the others saw it before I darkened my visor while listening to the rest of the Captain's speech.
My heart beat alittle faster as I moved out slightly ahead of the others, moving carefully through the maze of steel and concrete, using the piles of rubble and burnt out vehicals for cover. Distantly I could hear the sounds of speratic weapons fire and the sounds of far off explosions.
The air was smoky and ash filled from the fires all over the city... The ashes had been falling around us since we landed, like snow... Only snow is white and pure, the falling ash was grey and black the soiled remainders of battle and bloodshed.
I kept my weapon ready, tracking the blasted landscape and rubble for signs of the enemy, occasionally using the scope on the silenced SMG to scan the shattered buildings for signs of jackel snipers.
It felt very lonely and vulnerable being out there in front of everbody else. I guess I was... I guess I was scared.
We were coming up now on a small open square. There had been a statue there, hard to tell what it was though most of it had been blown away by a explosion. Looked to be some sort of momument.
That's when I saw them, my first real look at the enemy up close and personal. Smoldering shattered alien bodys in the rubble, shattered armor and weapons scattered about everywhere. The smell of death and burning flesh was strong, whatever happened here hadn't happened long ago.
Putting my hand up I signeled the squad behing me to halt, then to take cover. I advanced cautiously a few steps to the edge of the square and took cover myself behind a dumpster at the mouth of a alley. Using the smg's scope I swept the area, looking for signs the Covenant were still around, studying the scene of carnage in front of me.
It felt... Wrong somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it at first, then it hit me. There weren't any signs of our people anywhere. No shell casings from UNSC weapons, no spent mags, no bodies of dead marines or other humans... Just those armored alien forms lieing silent and still.
"Captain Winters," I spoke into my comm softly, "Something up ahead in the square, looks like there was a heck of a fight, only it's all Covenant KIAs, no sign our people were ever here. Even the weapon impacts and placement of the bodies it looks like... Well sir it looks like they were killing each other, sir. Maybe you'd better see for yourself sir I---"
I was cut off as Commander Roger's transmission came in about his situation and his plan to re-group with other straglers. When he finished I paused for a moment to give Captain Winters a chance to take in the Commander's transmission.
"Sir," I finally finished, "Holding postion, awaiting orders."
With that I went back to scanning the odd scene in front of me for additonal clues as to just what had happened, and for any sign that living Covenant might still be lurking in the area while waiting for the Captain.