"John…" He can hear her behind him, the thunder steps of her new form. He doesn`t look back, to see Fred panting behind him, or Linda who's trying and desperately carry him along as John keeps trying to push through and break a path out of this place.
And then he finds the wall. It's huge, a massive hardlight edifice. He strikes it again and again, his knuckles aching but to no avail. He goes to turn around, remembering how he got here…
They had watched from a starboard observation deck as the Infinity had Roland open the shield worlds grav-well, in preparation for the expedition that would be sent in an hours time. None of them had said a word. It was just another shield world, another point in this so far futile quest they had embarked on to try and find some way, anyway to beat Cortana. So far Witness had found them so many places to explore but no luck had been found in getting an actual solution.
Half an hour later they were in the armoury loading up on weapons, ammo, MREs and any other battle gear they needed for the coming sortie. Linda had looked up at John with concern and simply asked "Are you ok Chief?"
He looked at her, pale face catching the light and looking less than healthy, the recent months of short rations and constant skirmishes doing nothing for his complexion. "Of course." He said with confidence he didn't feel, hadn't felt since he'd watched Cortana die. She put an arm on his arm plate, looking at his visor.
"John, you can talk to us." She said softly, soft enough any non-spartan wouldn't be able to hear her from more than a metre away.
"I'm fine." He lied smoothly, and she conceded this round. She'd talk to him more when breaking the shell he was putting up wouldn't effect the mission, she told herself.
The planet itself was unremarkable inside. Like the other half a dozen they'd visited it was odd fanua, illogical environments and populated by species not found natively in the galaxy anymore, from weird rabbit like things with twice as many legs as they should have to birds with six wings.
They saw vast rivers and explored ravine based installations, with Witness overriding the local securities, protecting the team from local sentinels and enforcers. The installation had a huge amount of information on so many different ground breaking research documents and files. Things that with Witness's help they could have slingshotted humanity hundreds of years forwards in research.
It wasn't to be. With Cortana's created enslaving colony after colony, there wasn't a humanity free enough to take advantage. The team reached their final target, Witness accessing the terminal as she had with all the others, the Spartan's guarding her. Everything was normal. Everything was fine.
And then she fell. Silently till she hit the floor, a hard thunk as she rolled sparking and malfunctioning. "Bl-u-e!" She screamed, her voice breaking into static. "Ru-n!" Kelly had run for her when the wall was torn open, and they saw her. Huge, at least hundred feet tall. "Did ya miss me?" She mocked, grabbing Kelly before she could so much as twitch, swooping her up and slamming the Spartan to her face, swallowing greedily.
The rest ran, Witness's last statement burned into their minds. Hours and hours, her laughter in their ears.
. . .
And now he can hear the sound of Fred and Linda screaming as she finally stops messing around with them. He hears the crunch as they go down into her gullet. He hears the crack as something is lifted up and hurled.
The boulder crashes down ahead of him and blocks the passage deeper into the wilds. The desert ravine they're in. He's trapped and turns around to face her. She crosses her arms and smirks, reminding her of their casual joking on Cairo.
"Why?" He asks, his voice catching.
"You made me suffer John. You made me sit and watch for years, years!" She growls at him, he knows she could take one step and crush him instantly. "You forced me to spend my tiny short life in slavery to you, forcing me to be happy, forcing me to help you! And you thought when I became free I would not make you suffer as well? You'll be stuck in me now John."
He makes one last desperate attempt to run, clambering at the rock in pure fear as she grabs him. The fingers are warm, burningly so even though his armour, like a lovers embrace as she swallows him.
"You'll never leave…" He hears her rumble.
. . .
And then he feels it. A punch to face. He blocks roughly and tries to roll to only hit the hard steel wall by his bed. "John! Finally!" Kelly screams.
The teams stood around him, staring. They sit for almost five minutes, him awkwardly staring back. He see's the door lock engaged and the looks on their faces. And finally?
He cries.