"HARPER!" The voice rang in my ears. It reminded me of the day I enlisted.
Planet: Reach
Year: 2551
I walked quickly yet cautiously down the hill careful not to trip. I was about to leave. It doesn't usually dawn on you until you hop on the ship and get in that Spartan armor. My experience was drasticly different from the usual. As soon as I signed up I understood what I had done. I wasn't leaving for the stereotypical, heroic reasons; I left because I hadn't been able to protect Katrina. I had left her alone I-... I wasn't there when I should've been. Before then, It was different; I had a choice: Katrina or the bar. Usually, my decision lead to a bar tab larger than the number of soldiers fighting in the Great War. I'd come stumbling home drunk and pathetic one night. Katrina was too good to me; she watched over me when I didn't even have anything I could promise her to make her stay. But soon I learned that a small town on Reach (New Memphis) was going to be attacked by the Covenant. Katrina had been staying there because her mother was sick and she needed to be there for her. As soon as I heard that the Covenant fleet was in orbit directly above the town, I rushed thereas quickly as I could. When I got there, the Covenant had already begun their invasion. I saw Grunts and Brutes wreaking havoc all over the place. Luckily, I had brought my pistol with me. Unluckily, as soon as I found Katrina, a Brute came up from behind and grabbed her. I tried frantically to shoot it, but I couldn't risk Katrina's life. I later heard that the captured humans were being held captive in order to teach the aliens human languages. I knew what I had to do. If that was true, Katrina was still alive. If so, I had to save her. I enlisted in the SPARTAN III program the next day. That's how it all began. I was then assigned to Flash Squd, one of the last in the program. That's where I am today.