- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Chapter Three
0430 hours
June 14, 2553
SPARTAN-III Training Center, Tampa, Florida USA
Earth
Marines run through the eerily white hallways of the top floor. Echoes flooded the hallway, which alerted the SPITs that the Marines are there. The kids scramble to get out of bed and get into their clothes. They wore slightly baggy jungle camo pants, black waterproof boots with tan colored waterproof socks, a gray shirt and a jungle camo jacket. As the Marines walked in, cattle prods at the ready, the last kids hurried to get their boots on and tie them very tightly as not to twist their ankle. The Marines stepped to the side of the door so the kids get out in a single file line, Joshua, Matthew and Drew, a good friend of Joshua, being the first three.
The SPITs got into three groups at the end of the hallway and went to the ground floor. The Marines exited first, “Follow me SPITs, today is special.”
The Marines head towards the mission briefing room, when the kids see lightning and hear thunder. There was a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, a class three hurricane called Phoebe. It was very close to Florida, but none of it was over land so it didn’t weaker. Most of the east coast was mildly flooded except the everglades, which was pretty badly flooded in the swamp area.
The kids entered the large briefing room with the three Spartans, John, Fred and Linda. The SPITs quickly got into seats to listen to the Spartan briefing them on their mission. Master Chief speaks, “As you know you are going to go on a mission, where you are going to go on a mission, where you are going you do not know and I will tell you. You are going to go to the Florida Everglades to find something.”
Linda starts, “You need to find this beacon.” She pushes a button and a hologram of a cone shaped object with the top cut off. “A Pelican crashed, in an area with a lot of trees, and we need you to see if there is any survivors. There is a light that shines really bright so even if it is underwater you should still be able to see it.”
“If there are survivors bring them to the LZ on the map we will give you on the Pelicans if there aren’t, still go to the LZ.” Fred inquires.
“You got it!” Master Chief says.
“Sir, yes, sir!” The SPITs say in unison.
Everyone in the room heads out into the storm and into the nearby larger version of a Pelican. It lifts off, accelerates forward and is soon in the air at max speed.
“SPITs you know what the mission is. Right”
“Right!”
“We will give you the map when we are closer to the ‘glades and we got a new weather report and the hurricane is now a class four.”
The rest of the fifteen-minute flight is quite until they reach the Florida Everglades. Joshua spots a big hill probably one of the biggest in Florida and tells the rest of the SPITs that that is their rendezvous point as the Master Chief hands out pieces of the map. “Joshua, Matthew you get off here.” The Pelican hovers and doesn’t land because it is flooded and as the two SPITs jump off Linda says, “Good Luck.”
“Thanks.”
“They jump into the water feet first and see it was flooded to their chest the Pelican lifts high and accelerates away as Matthew and Joshua making their way to the rendezvous point by swimming
0533 hours
June 14, 2553
Florida Everglades, USA
Earth
Joshua and Matthew were running through the swamp water that was up to their knees and getting higher and higher from the hurricane in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was raging and the SPITs had to summon all their strength just to reach the point where they were all going to meet that Joshua had picked minutes before Matthew and him were dropped off being the first ones off the gargantuan dropship. “Matthew, how far do you think it is to the rendezvous point.”
“About one-hundred meters.”
“It sounds like Michael, Israel and Nicky aren’t too far away I’d say about fifty meters to our left. You are louder than I am, call them.”
“Ok; Israel, Michael, and Nicky run cornerwise to the right to meet up with Joshua and me.”
Israel, Michael and Nicky had just became good friends about two months ago when they set aside their differences so they could work together out on a training course.
Kevin, Giana and Catriana, who also recently became good friends with Joshua, were running along in a muddy area to reach the rendezvous point that was a hill not to far away. Then all of a sudden lightning hit a nearby Banyu Tree; they heard a loud roar of the thunder milliseconds after the lightning struck. The easy-to-climb branch of the Banyu bent and the kids heard a loud ‘snap’. It came down at tremendous speed, it was going to fall on them but they managed to dodge it but the debris thrown up from the impact cut Catriana along her cheek, stabbed Kevin in the left forearm and gored Giana’s right outer thigh. Kevin quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her wound. Something all the SPITs learned from Charlie. Kevin picked her up and slung her over his right shoulder, this made him run a lot slower from not only the weight of Giana but the pressure put on the mud making him sink and he would have to bring his feet up higher, afterward they were on their way. “Giana are you ok?”
“Yeah, thanks for helping me you little midget.”
“No problem, and your welcome.”
They make their way up the rendezvous hill, he looks out on to the valley below. “Looks like most of them are down there on that patch of land heading for our position on the rendezvous.
“Hey Kevin, Giana and Catriana.” The stealth ness of Joshua spooks them. They look around and see Joshua, Matthew, Israel, Michael and Nicky. “Tell me what happened.” The six-year old demanded who was going to turn seven on the 28th of June.
“We were running when lightning struck a Banyu Tree, we managed to dodge the falling branch but the debris perforated us.”
“OK, and good job wrapping your jacket around her wound. Go to where the others are and give them your piece of the map; the cave will shield you from the rain and wind. I’ll stay out and wait for the others.” They headed over and gave their piece of the map to Matthew. They now had three of the thirty-three pieces, since there is ninety-eight SPITs three per group and one group of two.
Drew and the eighty-nine other Spartans make their way through the neck high water. They swam in the storm, which was very risky in a semi-open area because lightning could strike the water and fry them all but luckily they didn’t get shocked. They quickly ran up the steep rocky side of the hill as fast as they could. Unexpectedly, Drew heard a kid yell in pain and heard Nino call Drew, “Drew, Justin is hurt.”
“What happened.”
“He twisted his ankle.”
“How, you can’t twist your ankle in boots if his shoes are died tight.”
“They were, but a sharp piece of wood cut his shoe lace and it got lose and then he twisted it climbing.”
“OK, tie his shoe very tight.”
“Doing now.”
They finish making their rugged journey up the rocky hill and saw Joshua at the top waiting for them, he was glad.
Joshua saw Drew, his good friend, climb the few last rocks and finally see a lot more Spartans come over the hill. Drew was everybody’s good friend, no one hated him and he didn’t hate anyone except maybe the Marine that shocked him in the ass on the last training mission. “Drew, good job now we have all the pieces of the map. Are there any injured?”
“Yes, Third Petty Officer Joshua.”
“How many times do I have to tell you just call me Joshua. So who?”
“Justin, he twisted his ankle, you know why.”
Justin sometimes twisted his ankle because he has semi-weak ankles. “Did you wrap his ankle?”
“Yes sir.”
In about five minutes they assembled the map and head off to the wreck to the North.