Author's Note: Don't have time to edit this, I'll come back for it in though! [Brackets are supposed to be in italicks.]
Screaming, Mason frantically backpedaled, every fiber of his body telling him to MOVE! He stumbled, tripping over a large unsecured power cable. Falling to the ground, Mason tried to roll to his stomach so he could gain traction, but to no avail. The flood infection form pounced, leaping onto his chest. Mason tried to bat it aside, but the parasite had a painfully firm grip on him. Immediately the parasite began to burrow through his chest. It broke through his rib cadge, taking up residence in the center of his body, next to his still beating heart.
In agony, Mason tried to scream, but all that surfaced from his lips was blood. The feeler-stalks of the infection form punched back out through his chest, quivering. He felt his head push back, his upper torso bulging and expanding, with the waving feelers of the flood form directly in the center of the chest. The bones in his right arm shattered and were pushed aside by a large flood tentacle, which emerged from his palm. Large boils, about four to five inches across formed across his back and sides, filled with an unknown material, likely his internal organs.
Against his will, his now-mutated body rose to its feet, and began shuffling down the corridor. The pain had receded, as he guessed their wasn't much left of him to feel pain. A couple UNSC marines ran through an intersecting corridor ahead, firing blindly behind them. Noticing him, the marines stopped, bringing their weapons around to bear on him. Only one marine managed to get a shot off before a dozen flood combat forms overwhelmed them from behind. The shot went directly through the 'face' of the infection-turned combat form that controlled Mason's mangled body, right about where his heart would normally be. Mason's body stumbled then collapsed, losing all motion. He lay on the grime covered metal floor, writhing in renewed agony. He tried to shift his legs, and found that control had once again been returned to him.
Rising shakily to his feet, he slowly lumbered away from the other flood infection forms, unaccustomed to the weight and balance of his mutated body. He twisted, looking behind him, wondering if the other flood would notice if something was amiss. They did not.
About two days prior, Mason had been part of a team working on a forerunner structure, and unwittingly released the flood. It had moved quickly, wiping out about 75 percent of the original crew in the first day. He had been hiding in the armory when a group of flood had cornered him. He destroyed most of them with a well placed explosive, but had been forced to flee the survivors. He was no soldier, he was a scientist! He escaped into the hallway, tripped on a cable, and this was the result.
He sighed, the sound coming out as an erie moan. Then, he stopped, foreign instincts kicking in, making him listen closely. A whimper. His body turned, feelers twitching, looking in the direction of the sound. A door, he moved towards it, all awkwardness forgotten in the rush of instincts. He pounded on the door, hissing audibly. Smashing his fists against the door, again and again, the metal beginning to buckle. Once more, and the door collapsed, falling backwards into the room. He stalked malevolently forward. Stopping in the center of the living chamber, he waited, listening closely. The sound of breathing reached his ears. He turned sharply towards the source. A closet. Reaching out, he tore the flimsy wooden door from its hinges hurling it behind him.
In the confines of the closet, a human, a host, lay in the corner. He walked forward into the closet, then stopped. His eyes, or whatever passed as such on a flood combat form, now clearly saw the human. A small girl, tears running down her cheeks, whimpering in fear. All but the barest trace of what had compelled him to find this girl, and use her as a host to propagate the parasite he had become, disappeared.
Attempting to force words out through his mangled wind pipe and mouth, left him producing a low, frightening moan. The girl sobbed uncontrollably now, any louder and she would attract flood other than himself.
He wanted to help, his human side told him it was the right thing to do, but how was doing that even possible? A thought came to mind. He awkwardly turned around, raking the room with his gaze, searching for the object he needed. He located one that would suffice, a data pad on the nearby shelf in the room. He grabbed it with his less mutated hand, and, struggling with his malformed digits, typed in as quickly as he could, "I don wnt tp hurt yu don be afrad"
He turned to the girl, who he noticed had stopped crying and now looked semi-hopeful, but still very afraid. He handed her the tablet, gesturing with his arms towards the text he had clumsily written. Please let her know how to read... She glanced at him, wiped a tear from her eye, and looked back down at the tablet.
"You-, you want to help me?" The girl warily asked. Mason nodded as best he could.
Surprising Mason, the girl jumped up and hugged his torso as well as she could, around his tentacled arm and boils. She began sobbing once more, this time from relief. Through her tears she forced out words, "I-, I thought I was going to die. I thought, that-, that there was no one left."
Hugging her as best he could, he tried to comfort her the only way he could think of. Unable to speak, he produced a low rumbling deep in his throat. Surprise showed on the young girl's face as she looked up at him giggling. "Are you purring?" He paused, thinking. I guess I was. Interesting.He shrugged an affirmative. He typed into the data pad once more "what i yor nam?" Reading it she replied, "Anna."
A loud clang in the outside hallway alerted him to the presence of others. He tried as best he could to motion her to be quiet. He typed hastily into the tablet she still held. 'Wait momet I go chek outsid mayb dangrous' She looked down, read it, and nodded.
Mason exited the closet, moving as quietly as he could. He prowled over to the entrance to the room. He cautiously poked his head out into the corridor. At the far end of the hallway, five small shapes poked through the wreckage. He could make out sharp yips and barks as they communicated, indicating Covenant Grunts. They slowly meandered down the hallway.
As they passed the room Mason was hiding in, he tried to hold his breath, only to find he wasn't actually breathing to begin with. They passed without incident, till one stopped, holding up a hand to stop its comrades. It seemed to be listening closely, then pointed towards the end of the hallway opposite the one they had entered. Two flood combat forms barreled towards the grunts, the grunts opening fire on the flood with their plasma pistols. Mason seized the opportunity to attack, leaping at them from behind. He quickly wrapped his arm around one's head, twisting sharply. A loud crack could be heard, and he pivoted smoothly, punting another grunt into the wall. Of the two infection forms, one had been quickly downed, the other was strangling a grunt. The grunt's comrade was shooting the flood in the back, but to no avail. The grunt being strangled ceased moving, but the second flood also slumped to the floor, lifeless. While this transpired, Mason had dealt with the fourth grunt by hitting him with a large metal pole that had been conveniently laying there. Mason grabbed a pistol from the ground and quickly blasted the remaining grunt in the face.
He double checked both directions, ensuring no enemies remained. He ran back to Anna, who had returned to her previous position in the closet. "Is that you?" She inquired fearfully. He nodded, motioning her to follow him. She rose, trailing after him closely, loosely hanging onto his side. When she caught sight of the dead covenant and flood, she gripped him tighter, almost latching onto him. He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort and reassure her.
Where could I take her that would be safe? Lets try the control room. He checked his directions mentally. Left, right, up the staircase, across the corridor, left. On three separate occasions, Mason and the girl were forced to hide in an abandoned room or closet, and wait for the enemies to pass, weather it be flood or covenant.
Almost there, almost there... They finally reached the control room door, which was locked. "Mommy says that only the important people know the password." She contributed. Inwardly smiling, Mason keyed in his pass-code The door slid open, permitting the pair to enter. They didn't need to enter the room to see that it was empty. Just about everything was untouched, the lights just now coming on. The far wall, however, was completely destroyed, dirt and rock covering a good two thirds of the room.
[This is no good.] Sensing his displeasure, Anna said "Maybe my moms room? I know how to get in". Mason considered it, then nodded and motioned for her to lead the way. It was better than nothing. They walked for about two minutes, this time with Anna leading the way. When they came to the Director's quarters, Anna stopped, saying, "Were here!" [Anna's mother is the Director? Wow.] Mason put his good hand, his left hand, on her shoulder to hold her back from entering the password for a moment. He took the tablet from her, hastily keying in what he wished to say. "if thers anyne i there, theyy migh soot at mee. Try to conince them tha im you pet, or soethig."
She read it, then nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best." Mason motioned Anna to go ahead. She walked over to the door and keyed in a long, complicated string of letters and numbers. The padlock clicked, and an LED flashed green. The heavy metal door hissed, pressure releasing, and slid open. He hid out of sight of the entryway, trying as best as he could to peer inside without being noticed.
The room had been fortified with sandbags and even a machine gun turret. Several marines all had very dangerous weapons pointed at the door. Several civilians were huddled in the back of the room. "Mommy!" Anna squealed in joy, running into the room, hugging a blue coated, dark haired woman very much resembling Anna.
"Anna! I thought I would never see you again." The woman gathered Anna in her arms, clearly relieved to see her. One of the marines yelled out "Someone get that door closed!" A high ranking officer, a colonel, Mason thought, went over to Anna, and, crouching down to her level, asked in a clear tone, "Young lady, did any one else come with you, did you see anyone?"
"I didn't see anyone. But did see some dead aliens, and I made a new friend!" She stated ecstatically. The officer looked clearly confused. "Friend?" Anna nodded, explaining, "He's still outside. I think he's afraid of you. As long as you don't shoot him, I don't think he'll hurt you." The Colonel looked wary, but allowed Anna to move toward the door.
As if she were calling a dog, Anna yelled out "Here boy, come here! They won't hurt you, I promise." She pulls this off pretty well. Attempting to adopt a more flood-like posture, not actually that hard he had to say, Mason slowly crept out of the shadows, and towards the lit entryway, feelers twitching wildly.
The marines yelled in shock, all training their weapons on him. "Wait! Wait!" Anna frantically yelled, "He won't hurt you! Look!" As Anna moved to run to Mason, he mother reached out to grab her, but the Colonel caught her arm. "Wait Espera, I want to see what she does." Anna ran up, clinging to Mason's side, him smoothing her hair in what he hoped the humans took as a show of affection. He noticed that he had instinctually begun to rumble deep in his throat once again. I hope they buy this...
"Fine. Bring it inside." Several men objected, but the Colonel waved their protestations away, saying, "I think its clear that we have to let her bring it inside with her, or lock her outside with it. Trying to kill it would only leave more of us dead. Close the door once their inside."
The men continued to watch Mason suspiciously, still doubtful of his tranquility. One civilian woman, recognizing Mason's outfit, yelled, "Oh my god! Its Mason!"
"It's not Mason anymore," contradicted Anna's mother, "Don't let yourselves be fooled. That Flood may have Mason's body, but Mason is dead, and that thing is just moving the corpse." She said derisively, shepherding Anna away from Mason.
Mason, left quite alone, retreated to a vacant corner, curled up, and promptly fell asleep.
Author's Note: Read, Review, Enjoy! Flames (In accordance with the Geneva Convention) are not permitted to be used firearms.
Afternote: Went back through, edited everything and formatted it properly.