Halo: Combat Devolved

1. The Pillar Of Autumn

0300 Hours

Master Chief John-117 looked down at the man dressed in yellow with a massive scar across his face. He looks like that bad guy in my dream I just had… and I didn't like him. But before Master Chief could do anything to the ugly man, he ran off towards a door to the left.

Chasing after the man, the man turned and ran off down a corridor to the right. "This way!" he shouted.

What is this? Master Chief wondered. A game of tag?! "Come here!"

He followed the man for about three meters when the man reached a hatch which abruptly exploded and sent the man flying towards Master Chief.

"Oh… oh my…" Master Chief looked around for any help. "Help? Anyone?" Turning to the right Master Chief spotted some piping he could climb over. As he straddled the piping he noticed a flashing red light. "Pretty colors!" Master Chief said to himself before he looked back and forth at the many hatches. He saw a bloodied body on the floor to the right and headed in that direction.

When all of a sudden a hatch opened. "Oooh!" Master Chief admired the sight ahead. Some type of gas was filling the air and he walked towards it. It caught of fire. "WHOA! HOLY CRAP!"

There was a hatch that he ran through and saw a partially opened blast door. He spotted a man in red ahead carrying a M6D pistol.

But when he walked up to the man he hit the partially opened door. "Dam'mit! I shoulda' ducked," Master Chief said as plasma fire streaked at the man.

"Sweetness!"

"Secure those blast doors!" a soldier said, running toward Master Chief.

Master Chief turned to see the doors closing. "Whoa! Watch it now, buddy." He stepped out of the way just as ahead of him some man was blown apart by some big blue explosion.

He looked down and spotted an arrow pointing towards a hatch labeled: BRIDGE.

Shrugging his shoulders he went through the hatch. It was dark ahead, but there was a faint piece of light and he headed in that direction. He turned left, and then turned right at the next corner. There were two men in red ahead and a guy in a grayish colored uniform.

"Contact." The Marine said, pointing off in the direction of the Covenant troops.

Master Chief walked up to him.

"Sir! The Captain needs you on the bridge ASAP."

"My name is John," Master Chief said politely. "But you can call me Johnny for short."

"You better follow me."

A man behind him cried out, and Master Chief turned to look, just as the Marine took off running.

"Hey wait up for me!" Master Chief cried.

Master Chief followed the Marine through a room where injured marines were lying against walls. They reached a hatch, where there were three men, two of which were in red and the other in orange jumpsuits.

The Marine pointed to the right. "You can't hide from me," he said, just as a plasma blast blew the guy dressed in orange away.

The Marine then turned and ran left.

"Help me!" one of the remaining men cried.

Master Chief paused to help. But the Marine didn't stop—so neither did Master Chief. They went through another hatch, with another arrow with the word: BRIDGE. They ran down the corridor and turned left. The Marine stopped ahead and turned to face Master Chief.

"Captain Keyes is waiting for you, sir." He said sharply.

"I told you already, my name is John."

Something caught Master Chief's eye on the left, and he saw a billboard. There were several pieces of paper on it, but the one that caught his eye was the sign that said: LOST: CALICO CAT ANSWERS TO: JONESY.

But obeying the Marine, Master Chief turned and went into the bridge. There were more red lights, and there were a lot of people on computers. Master Chief had never seen so many computers in one place.

He stumbled across an old man who was looking at this massive screen. The man turned. Master Chief looked at his name tag that said: HELLO MY NAME IS KEYES.

"Oh! Captain Keyes!" Master Chief exclaimed.

"Good to see you, Master Chief. Things aren't going well," Captain Keyes said.

Master Chief heard a beeping noise being him and looked.

"Cortana did her best, but… we didn't stand a chance."

Suddenly a holographic image of a lady not wearing anything appeared above a trash can. She started to say something, but Master Chief wasn't listening to her, he was just staring at the image.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. I had this one dream about—"

There was a massive blast, and the entire ship shook.

"Report!" Keyes said.

"It must've been one of their boarding parties. I guess the anti—"

A man started shouting. Master Chief couldn't believe the confusion as Cortana began talking too. Then Captain Keyes began talking.

"Which is where you come in, Master Chief…"

Underneath his helmet, he raised an eyebrow. There was an awkward moment of silence.

"Earth." Keyes finally said.

It made perfect sense now. "I understand," Master Chief said.

The hot AI appeared again. "The Pillar Of Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers…" It wasn't long until Master Chief wasn't listening again.

"Excellent job, Cortana," Keyes said. "Are you ready?"

Maser Chief scratched his bottom. This place was really starting to get boring.

"Yank me," Cortana said.

Keyes fiddled with the trash can and retrieved a small box shaped thing. It looked like a Gameboy game. Master Chief took it and looked at it strangely. What kind of person gives someone a game for a handheld device that doesn't even exist anymore? Master Chief wondered, as he stuck it into his helmet.

"Hmm, your body structure isn't much different from the Autumn," the female's voice said in his head.

"WHOA!" Master Chief shouted, holding his hands up in protest. "What are you doing?"

Captain Keyes held out a M6D. "I don't keep it loaded, son. You'll have to find ammo as you go." He turned.

A pistol. I actually just got a pistol! Master Chief was delighted. Now… how does this thing work? He began turning the gun around in his hand.

"Get movin' Master Chief," Captain Keyes said annoyed. "There's nothin' you can do here."

"Oh, I know that. I'm just trying to figure out how this thing works."

"You what?!" Captain Keyes asked incredulously.

Master Chief saw the trigger of the M6D and pulled it. The 12.7mm x 40 M225 Armor Piercing, High Explosive bullet tore through Captain Keyes's head.

The man fell to the floor.

"OH MY—!"

Gun fire sounded behind Master Chief.

He ran.

He went back the way he had come. The Marine that he had followed was gone.

A weird sound spoke ahead of him. It sounded like a guttural bark. He went through the open hatch and saw three one-meter tall creatures running around in circles with guns that glowed green.

"Pretty."

They shot at him. He fired twenty rounds at them. One of the Grunts threw a plasma grenade, but it exploded behind him.

"I have got to get one of those," Master Chief said to himself after the three Grunts were dead. The long bar, that was usually blue, which wasn't now, on the top right flashed, and he had three yellow smaller bars of health below that.

A hatch ahead of him opened. He went into the room, and recognized it as the mess. There was a big blue alien shooting at the marines that were also in the room. I guess they couldn't share the same food. Master Chief decided as the alien was shot dead.

He went over to examine the body, when he spotted two plasma grenades. "Sweetness!" He exclaimed picking both up. There was more firing behind him as more of the big aliens appeared with Grunts.

"Those are the bad guys!" A Marine told Master Chief. "Kill them!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Master Chief chucked a grenade. It hit a wall, and bounced on top of a marine. The marine ran in circles. It didn't make sense to Master Chief why the Marine didn't just take the grenade off and throw it at the aliens. The grenade exploded.

Master Chief exhausted all the ammo in his M6D, but he picked up an MA5B assault rifle and shot long bursts at the aliens. They dropped more plasma grenades, and within a few seconds the mess was cleaned out of alien presence.

Master Chief went through one of the open hatches and saw a Grunt. It was unaware of his presence, so he held down the trigger of the MA5B and the Grunt was torn into pieces. This military stuff really isn't that hard. Master Chief thought to himself. I don't why people send them through weeks and months and years of training. I really don't. I mean, I've been doing this for the past five minutes and I'm just as good as those Marines back there.

He found an ammunition cache and stocked up, but didn't know how to reload the MA5B. But among the cache was a health pack. The yellow bars now were full, and were back to blue. He went down a corridor and went left, when the Pillar of Autumn began to shake.

He turned right and was facing the back of a blue Elite. Marines ahead were shooting at it, but Master Chief tossed a plasma grenade and it stuck to the Elite's butt.

"SA-WHEATNESS!" Master Chief shouted in triumph, punching his fist in the air as the Elite ran toward the marines. There were three marines, and one brushed past Master Chief and unloaded a clip of ammo at the dead Elite.

"Hey," Master Chief asked the Marine. "How do you reload your rifle?"

The man looked at him in amazement. "You're kidding… right?"

"No, no. I'm serious guys. How do you reload your rifle?"

The marine did a demonstration. "Thanks!" Master Chief shouted as he stuck a new clip into the MA5B, before he ran off. He ran around and saw two marines standing by escape pod hatch 31. There was a big explosion and the marines were thrown into the bulkhead across the hatch.

Master Chief stood there dumbfound as some Grunts came out and fired plasma at him. He chucked a plasma grenade at them and it bounced into the hatch. There was a loud growl before the plasma grenade went off.

With the area clear Master Chief went inside, and saw two boxes that contained squid looking things. When he picked it up his shields turned green.

He left and followed the three marines that he had seen earlier, and that's when Master Chief saw a green arrow that said: STAIRS. And if there was anything that Master Chief liked, it was stairs.

Ahead was a Elite and a Grunt, but Master Chief rushed past them. He had to get to those stairs. He turned right, then left, then right. Left, right, same thing. Master Chief thought to himself as he shot a Grunt in his way.

There was a little engagement as he came face-to-face with a Elite. He came out winner, but the green status bar was gone and he was back to the three yellow bars of health. He waved to the marines behind the blockades, and turned to leave. One pointed at him, and exclaimed: "Wow, there he is!"

Master Chief blushed.

But as he rounded a corner he spotted a health pack.

He continued on, shot the Grunts and Elites that stood in his way. It was getting easier by the second it seemed to him. He reached a dark room lighted only by a flame. He spotted a partially opened blaster door, which was held open by a box. He headed for it and...

Hit the door.

"DAM'MIT!" He cursed aloud.

He ducked underneath and picked up the M6D ammunition from a dead midshipman. He marched on, and found the staircase.

Finally something good showed up, Master Chief said to himself as he jumped three steps at a time up the stairs. A marine followed him and they took out the Grunts and Elites. One Elite was blown off the top landing by a grenade and hit the bottom floor face-first.

Master Chief walked into a dark room again, and spotted two Grunts that hadn't detected him. He tried sneaking up on them when something jumped out in front of him.

"HOLY CRAP!! CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!" he opened fire on the Elite.

Cortana, the naked holographic lady finally spoke to Master Chief.

"Hurry! The launch pads are launching!"

Master Chief ran to the first one, just as it launched. He shrugged his shoulders and went to the next one. It too had just launched. "Dam'mit." He muttered going to the third and last one… just as it launched.

"OH COM'ON!" he cried, and opened fire at the escape pod.

Cortana being kind led him to the maintenance hatch. It was a tight fit, and Master Chief's MJONIR armor scraped the walls. It was really dark.

"Turn on your light," Cortana told him, irritated.

He turned it on and instantly there was light.

"And God said, 'Let there be light—'" Master Chief started to say.

"Just shut up and get moving." Cortana snapped.

"Bossy!" Master Chief muttered to himself as he turned left, went down a ways and turned left again. The ship shook more violently now, and he turned right, followed by another left. He went right and saw an exit and a Grunt scanning the area.

He knew what he was going to do. He snuck up, his last plasma grenade in hand—and tossed it at the Grunt's exposed arm. It stuck and the Grunt cried: "Help get it off of me!"—running to its friends.

When he reached the hatch the grenade had gone off and had blown up most of the Grunts there.

"Turn off your light! Or it'll wear out!" Cortana told him.

He continued on and shot down a Elite that wore red-ish colored armor, and found another maintenance hatch. This time he remembered his light. Master Chief went through it expecting to turn left. It was right this time.

A Grunt cried and ran left. Master Chief shot him down, and heard something behind him. He turned and nearly peed in his MJONIR. A Grunt was standing there, shocked to death by the massive form in front of it.

Then Cortana's voice came into his head. "The damage is extensive. I don't know how much more the Autumn can take."

"That's reassuring," Master Chief said as he turned and ran quicker through the hatch.

He came out and found another hatch. He ran through that and came out facing escape pod hatch 61.

"There's one last lifeboat. Get aboard it quick!" Cortana told him.

Master Chief picked up a marine that had tripped and threw him into the pod.

"Now would be a very good time to leave," Cortana suggested.

The escape pod was launched and a marine sitting down in one of the many seats asked "We aren't gonna die out here, are we sir?"

He was about to respond they weren't, when Cortana interrupted him.

"Look!" she cried out.

Master Chief went to the front of the escape pod. For the first time for a while, Master Chief was frightened. Ahead of the pod was a massive ring. "What is that?" he asked.

No one answered; because, no one knew the answer.

The escape pod was falling faster.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a seat?" Cortana asked.

Master Chief scanned the pod. There were no seats remaining. "We'll be fine."

"If I still had fingers," Cortana whined. "They'd be crossed."

"What happened to your fingers?" he asked.