This is to replace my other story "Halo: The Chaos of War". This story will take place during the same time frame and in the same place, but the plot has changed and i have a new cast of characters. I hope you'll like this one just as much!!! :D
A large explosion boomed overhead, prompting the pinned ODSTs to duck for cover behind the destroyed warthog. A shower of dirt rained over them as their ears rang in the middle of the raging battle.
Captain Shane Bekker jumped up and fired several rounds into the swarming covenant mass. The turret let loose several molten hot bursts in reply. "Shit!" Shane shouted to his team. To his radio operator, he screamed, "Where's that backup?!"
Sergeant Robert Craig ducked instinctively as another explosion boomed close by. "They said it could be about five minutes, sir!"
"Five minutes?!" screamed PFC Brian "Rook" Walker. "We'll be dead by then!"
"Shut your mouth!" yelled the captain in response. A plasma grenade flew from the Covenant mass and exploded near the group of five ODST, again showering them in dirt. The destroyed warthog they were hiding behind moved abruptly as another grenade exploded near it.
We're gonna get killed here, thought Shane. He switched his battle rifle from his right hand to his left and peeked over the warthog. There were three brutes and ten or so grunts, one manning a turret. He swore silently and looked at the four marines next to him.
"Guys! We need to fall back to that shop back there!" he yelled as he pointed about fifty meters behind them to what had been a shop, but was now a half-collapsed pile of rubble. "From there we'll set up defenses and wait for reinforcements. Read me?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" they shouted back.
"Let's move!" Shane shouted as he blindly threw a grenade over the warthog and stood to run.
Almost immediately, the turret belched out several bursts of plasma before being overturned by the grenade. The other Covenant though, continued to fire.
"Keep moving!" yelled Shane over the noise. Then, a marine in front of him, Corporal Rodney "Coop" Cooper, stumbled as a spike embedded itself in his calf muscle. Shane quickly caught the marine and wrapped his arm around the back of his neck. "Move!"
As they neared the destroyed shop, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him and his injured friend. With a grunt, he roughly pushed Coop through one of the windows and then jumped in after him. Unfortunately, he landed on top of his friend, who yelped loudly.
Shane focused on being careful and staying below the window, through which several kinds of Covenant projectiles were flying and hitting the back wall. Looking around frantically he spotted the team medic: Sergeant Richard "Ricky" Bond.
"Ricky! Get over here!" Shane yelled. The medic glanced over, and then shuffled over to his friends. "I'll cover you!" Shane shouted.
He then got on his knees and jumped up over the window frame, searching for enemies. The street before him was almost completely littered with debris from the surrounding buildings and vehicles. A chopper carcass rested the right, half buried in rubble from a collapsed building. The destroyed warthog sat in the middle, a large crater was where the ODSTs had been hiding earlier. Every building on the block showed scars from the countless fights carried out on these streets.
A brute then jumped up from the behind the warthog, shaking Shane from his trance. His lightning fast reflexes automatically aimed his gun at the monster's head before it could fire the spiker in its hand. The brute stumbled back as its helmet flew off. Shane pumped another three rounds into the monster's head, exploding the monster's head in a shower of blood and brains.
Several grunts appeared crawling over the rubble. Shane watched his marines dispatch them before they could near any further. Their lifeless carcasses joined the rest of the debris.
The other two brutes appeared quickly, jumping over the debris as if it were a bump in the road. The marines immediately fired at them as they moved on either side of the street, ducking behind cover. Robert pulled the pin on a grenade and screamed, "Fire in the hole!"
The black object landing only inches from one of the brutes. The monster didn't even have enough time to scream before the explosion completely mangled him. Rook laid down suppressive fire on the last brute as the other was killed. Then, from a building on the left, several weapons let loose on the lone Covenant soldier, killing him quickly, if not viciously.
Silence then filled the street as the reinforcements started coming out of the building. Shane listened to the distant gunfire and explosions. The silence seemed so out of place nowadays.
He shook his head to clear it as his ODSTs exited the shop, except for Ricky and Coop. Coop looked up at his captain with gritted teeth as Ricky put in the biofoam. "I'm good Cap. I can fight."
Shane knelt next to him, "You sure? We can call a pelican…" he trailed off as Coop got to his feet, using the window frame for support.
"No, they're probably all too busy fighting. I'm good," to prove it, he hefted his assault rifle and limped out of the building.
The captain shook his head and looked at the reinforcements. Three marines and four ODSTs. One of the Helljumpers removed his helmet, revealing a large cut on his left cheek. Dried blood had hardened to his face and on his neck.
"Sergeant Connor Triten. They call me 'Guns'," he said with a smile.
"Captain Shane Bekker. They call me Shane," he replied with a laugh.
Guns pointed back behind him to the seven newcomers. "Found all these guys running around. We could use some help…" he trailed off as Shane looked to the sky, sheer terror etched in his features. Every man present turned to face the single biggest explosion any of them had thought possible.
The explosion cause by the Prophet of Regret's jump into slipspace.
Shane acted first, looking behind him back into the shop they'd just come from. "Come on!" he screamed over the growing noise.
Without looking back to see if the others had followed, he jumped into the shop and looked all over the building for safety. Looking at a gaping hole in the floor, he shrugged and glanced back at them. They were just now running into the shop and jumping into the hole as the explosion hit the end of the long street.
Instinct then took over as the ODST captain jumped into the hole with his men. It was small and didn't offer much protection, but it had to do. The ground shook violently and dust poured on the soldier hiding from the fiery wrath outside. Shane dropped to the ground with the rest and covered his head in a last desperate attempt to save himself.
As the entire building shuddered yet again, Shane then worried about its structure. As he glanced up at the ceiling, the shop collapsed atop the hiding troops, burying them…
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