The wind howled through the window. A girl was there, huddled in the corner waiting for the storm to pass.
boom
Another strike of lightning, another crash of thunder. Or artillery. The sound blended together after an hour in this torrent.
I came up to the girl, the floodlights on my helmet flooding the room with light instead of the water that had already snuck itself into the building. I slowly knelt down next to her, snapping my rifle onto the magnetic holster on my back.
"Hello there, are you okay?" I asked, though the very deep tone of my voice through my visor did nothing to soothe the scared girl.
I wish Grace was here, she was good with things like this. I stood and walked a few steps away, placing my finger to the button on the side of my helmet to turn on my radio.
"Ken, Grace. I have a survivor over in Echo section, I need one of you two to come over here to comfort her. Not exactly my strong point." I said into my visor. I waited for a response.
"Yeah Chief, I'm on the way." Coming from an exhausted Ken.
I leaned against the wall nearest me and knocked my head back against the sheet-rock. I sighed. It had been forever since I had actually been back to base. I had been just outside the walls for days scrounging the outskirts for survivors. I looked down at the girl in the corner, hoping Ken would just hurry up. To pass the time I studied my armor, looking for flaws in design. Satisfied that my drab green armor was almost pristine, Ken walked in.
"Hey Chief, what's the problem?" Ken asked, the local squad medic.
I nodded towards the girl in the corner in which Ken walked to.
"hey, it's alright. My name is Ken. What's your name?" he asked, the girl slightly peaking up.
"My name is Rachel." Said the small girl.
I drowned out most of the conversation and floated around in my thoughts, occasionally hearing a word or two.
My name was John, though most knew me as Chief, Master Chief or 117. I had saved the world three times and lost my A. I. and best friend, Cortana in one of those missions. Now, since then I've been assigned to work with Sigma Squad for how much longer I didn't know. It was strange trying to get accustomed to actually working with other Spartans on a regular basis. I was more of a "I work alone" kind of guy.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ken stand up and let the girl up onto his back. He motioned to the door signaling it was time to go. The small little girl shied away from my visor as I walked to the door, rifle raised. The covenant had struck this planet with such a force, and with little to no resistance from this planet's minuscule military power, the planet was in all but ruins of what it used to be.
Sweeping the area outside with the muzzle of my rifle I motioned Ken to move on. Grace, the squad's engineer, was waiting outside. She pushed off of the wall she was leaning against and hoisted her rifle up onto her shoulder.
"Well?" She asked expectantly, eying the girl clamped to Ken's back.
"Only survivor we've found, head back to base." I said, pointing off to the west.
She only nodded and began to march off, followed by Ken, and then me. The other member of our squad and the only well versed demolitions specialist, Luke, was already on the way to the base. He would meet us there soon. The desolate and ruined cityscape before us was humbling to say the least, making even me a little bit uncomfortable if not more anxious about this mission altogether. I learned all too painfully that a slight mistake could cost you your life… or someone else's.
I didn't know why but I had a pressing feeling on my shoulders. It was strange, I got that feeling usually when I thought enemies were around, but the covenant hadn't been seen on this planet since they terrorized it a month or so ago. The scars hadn't even begun to form upon the planet's surface yet. Still I had that dreaded feeling weighing me down. It was just a subconscious little voice telling me what should be done, could be done, or has been done. A voice that once was the voice of an old friend, now replaced by my own.
crack
The unmistakable report from a rifle was heard through the crash of the rain as a purple and green stream of plasma struck the ground by Grace's feet.
"Get Down!" Was the only thing I remember before hearing the battle erupt around us. it was no longer a single rifle piercing through this world's cold atmosphere, but several cutting through the already piercing frosty air. What happened next almost was completely out of instincts that had programmed into me not by the UNSC, or the Spartan program. But by myself.
As Ken dove to get behind a huge slab of concrete from one of the destroyed buildings, the small girl, Rachel, slipped from his back, sending her sprawling onto the ground in the middle of the rain soaked street, and in the same breath, the crossfire. I sprung towards her with inhuman speed and slid on my side, scrambling to place myself in front of the screaming girl. I was hunched over her already kneeling form, the water droplets on my visor giving me a slightly distorted look at her, taking several shots of plasma, needler crystals, and any other types of projectiles they could send my way. With my shields crackling, I grimaced and wrapped the girl up in my arms and brought her tightly to my chest, standing slowly, keeping my back to the onslaught of covenant fire. I dove towards the slab ken was behind and rolled onto my back, kicking up gravel as I landed behind the panel. I layed her down, pushing her behind Ken and snapping my rifle up with him and Grace to combat the enemy forces.
10 spent magazines and half an hour later the final covenant rifle ceased firing as it's user was flung from the top story of a building as a bullet pierced it's leg. I looked back at the girl, who in a most surprising gesture, put two fingers up to her face. A Spartan smile. I returned the gesture and she actually smiled this time.
"Since when were the covies here?" asked Grace, clearly frustrated with the situation.
"I don't know but they set up an ambush for us. That definitely can't be good" replied ken, nervous of how they'd known that they would come through that path.
"Right now, we get back to base. Understood?" I asked.
All I got were two nervous nods and another smile from Rachel.