- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
The elevator slide to a halt, the squad swaying to keep their balance as the thing came to a stop. They had abandoned the formations; there had been nothing now for a while. They jumped from the elevator and landed on the metallic floor of the structure. They could hear the whir of machinery around them, but nothing Covenant even now. Slowly they moved forwards, rounding a corner to see a locked door flanked on either side by energy shields. Again, the traces of blood were covering the floor and walls, something seriously wrong had happened here. This time it was Jackal and Elite blood that stained the floor, and still no bodies to account for. Vicente got to work on the door, putting the lock splitter against the electronic door and punching in the commands to override the locks. It slide open grudgingly and a foul smell poured from the room on the other side. The squad held their hands over their mouths trying not to gag in reflex, even Avery turned away from the smell. It smelt distinctly like dead bodies, coming from the room ahead.
They moved in, holding their breath. Inside the room was a war zone. Consoles and covenant crates were thrown around the room; the whole floor was covered in a sticky residue that reminded Jenkins of sick. They could now see where the smell was coming from. At the other side of the room was a stack of bodies, Grunts, Jackals, Elites all piled high against the wall. They moved forwards, covering the exits from the room, the green lights flashing invitingly. On the ground before them was the body of an Elite, contorted in terror. It didn’t look burnt, and bore no signs of being hit by human weaponry. The only wound was a giant gash they stretched from the top of its chest to its stomach, spilling its guts around it.
Vicente kicked the body “This is weird…right, something scrambled the insides.” He bent down and examined the cuts along the edges; it did look like something powerful.
Avery grimaced. “What’s that…plasma scoring?” He looked to Cortez across the room who was leaning against a bloody wall.
“I dunno, maybe an accident, friendly fire or something?” He looked at Johnson who seemed puzzled by this. He understood why, the Covenant didn’t usually make mistakes, and friendly fire shouldn’t have occurred in a small patrol squad.
“What do we have Sergeant?” The entire room stood to attention as Keyes made his way through the open door, flanked by his own squad of marines. He had shunned the captain’s uniform for a bullet-proof vest and his pistol holstered at his side.
“Looks like a Covenant patrol, all bad ass Elite units, all KIA.” Avery looked down at the corpse again and then motioned to the wall behind them.
“Real pretty” Keyes knelt next to the corpse and examined the wound before looking up at Vicente. “Friend of yours?” He chuckled lightly. The squad laughed nervously; there was something eerie about this place.
“Nahh, we just met.” Vicente said under his breath. He looked up at Jenkins opposite him; they were both feeling the same thing. There was something down here that that was either not Covenant or Human, or a rebel element of the former. Vicente knew that the Covenant had energy swords, maybe this could have been it, and maybe they had fought each other over the prize in the structure?
Keyes moved off with Johnson, talking feverously about something. They spoke in whispers, obviously it was something of importance that the rest of them couldn’t or shouldn’t know. Vicente stepped over the corpse of the Elite beneath them and stood next to Cortez and Jenkins. “What do you think they are talking about?”
Cortez swallowed and looked up from the sickening scene of the Elite. “Probably the Chief, I heard he was sent to find the control room to this ring world.”
Jenkins nodded. “Yeah, I’d imagine its some information of how it’s going for them. After all, Chiefs got Cortana with him. We can’t have anything happen to her.” He shut up quickly, Johnson and Keyes had turned round and were coming back, the Captain pulling his pistol from the holster and loading a clip into it.
“Right lad, we’re goin on down. We are to find the source of the disturbance and secure the position, before Covenant forces are able to re-group.” He signalled for the squad to move out, past the pile of bodies in the corner of the room and through the green lighted door. Keyes followed, his squad surrounding the captain as they moved through the tight tunnels.
They moved through move of the same, room after room of corpses. Sometime however they would find rooms with no bodies at all, just trails of green slime that covered the walls and floors and mixed with the blood of the Covenant. The structure was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. As they passed through a large chamber that held a science lab of some sorts the lights shut down completely sending the entire room into pitch blackness. The entire team froze and switched on their lights. A strange noise echoed in the darkness, but nothing showed up as they passed the lights around the room. Jenkins was sure he saw something jump quickly away as he passed the light over the way they had just came, but as soon as it appeared it vanished.
The lights slammed back on again a moment later, the room was the same, and nothing had come through. Johnson reached into his pocket and pulled out the cigar, now bent awkwardly a shoved it into his mouth. If he was going down, he was going down with the sweet taste of tobacco in his mouth, he didn’t smoke them anymore, he just enjoyed the taste. They moved on, slower than before, going deeper and deeper into the facility towards the source of the energy that had spiked on the readings. It seemed more trouble than it was worth down here, whatever the Covenant had stored down here better be worth the risk, something had certainly burst its way through here and killed the resisting Covenant between it and the source.
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