An explosion shakes the ground and disturbs my sleep. I hop out of bed and grab my Assault Rifle. Danny rushes into the cave and urgently yells, "Rico, get up! They found us!" I grumble, "Already?! Why don't they just give up already? So Infinity loses a Spartan squad; we're just one team out of a hundred." Danny shrugs and says, "I don't know, man. Hurry! Larry and Ryan are holding them while Vicente is trying to find a way out of the mountains. We gotta move!"
I check to make sure my armor and shields were working and grab my weapons, which consisted of an MA5D Assault Rifle and M6H Magnum. I sprint out of the cave into the rocky mountainside. Sure enough, though the Infinity herself wasn't here, the forces she sent out to pursue us were. As far as we knew, two Spartans by the name of Alan and Lauren were sent out to either capture and return us to Infinity or kill us. They are accompanied by a Charon-class light frigate, La Bella Venezia, and every soldier, vehicle and aircraft she carried.
Right now, my friends Ryan and Larry were taking a couple squads of Marines led by a squad of Spartan-IVs, just like us. They were holding their own, except a Pelican was providing air support for the ground troops. Normally, I would shoot it down and clear the skies but I used up all my rocket ammo when a Scorpion tank column blew up our last camp a few days ago. All I could do at the moment was follow Danny and support my two friends.
I slide behind a rock and Ryan says, "Good morning! I thought about letting you sleep this out."
"And miss all the fun?" I crack. "What's the situation?"
Ryan reports, "The frigate is keeping her distance. They're not sending as much as they used to."
Thirty feet away from us, Larry shouts, "Probably because they are afriad of Rico blowing up their shit again!"
Ryan asks, "Did Vicente report back yet?" to which I shake my head.
Danny interjects, "Hey, guys! I hate to interrupt but that Spartan squad is starting to become more aggressive." Ryan says, "We'll talk after we escape these assholes." He moves to further position to begin sniping. I take his place and suppress our enemies with my Assault Rifle. I was a good shot with it; many Infinity crew commented on how I made shots that should not have been possible with an Assault Rifle. The Marines were easy to deal with. The Spartans proved to be a challenge. I'd be disappointed otherwise though. We all trained together in the same simulated combat decks on the Infinity. We all learned the same tactics and received the same training. Our firefight was dragging out into a stalemate.
That is until Vicente radioed, "Hey, guys. I found a way out of the mountains. Come to my position." A waypoint popped up and Ryan ordered, "Alright, Gamesters! Let's hustle!" I turned and bolted while our enemies and their Pelican continued to fire at us. I took some hits but soon I was out of range from the Pelican and the area was too narrow for it to follow. Alan must have ordered the Spartans to not pursue because they weren't following us either despite the fact they could easily keep pace with us.
Ryan opens a channel on the radio. "Vicente, where are you?"
"I'm by a small river down into the valley. A few clicks northeast of our camp", he replies.
"Stay put." Ryan orders. "We'll come to you." Danny asks, "What now? This the fifth time this month we've had to abandon camp and I don't know how much longer we can keep this up."
Larry nods in agreement. "Sooner or later, they will catch or kill us." I turn to Ryan and we exchange glances.
He sighs then says, "I know, my brothers. But we gotta hold out. In the meantime, we'll worry about the future later. Let's meet with Vicente and we can talk about our housing situation then." The four of us descend down the mountain into the valley, once again having evaded the claws of Venezia and Infinity.