Author's Note: I do not own Halo or any content from Halo, including weapons, vehicles, etc.
Secondary Author's Note: This is my first story on this site, but not my first story. I used to post stories on a different website under the name Nick Kang. I realize this story may become somewhat confusing, what with all the rule breaks and everything, but please R & R.
City of Demons Chapter 1: Three Lives, One Battle.
2367 HOURS (HUMAN MILITARY TIME)-MARCH 24TH, 2553 (HUMAN MILITARY CALENDAR)-METRO LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.-78TH INFANTRY BATTALION (MERGED)-DEFENSE OF L.A.
The sky was overcast, dominated by an endless field of gray clouds. Rain continuously poured from above in buckets, turning the dirt-filled, crater- ridden streets into mud. Lightning occasionally flashed across the sky and illuminated the dark silhouettes of 'Pelican' dropships as they soared across the sky in a never-ending flow to re-enforce the frontline. Thunder crackled overhead, and added even more drama to the sounds of gunshots that echoed from miles away.
As he stood at his post along the south wall of the UNSC fort CASTLE III and surveyed the broken, battered sea of brick and metal buildings, Corporal James Tolk wondered why this Godforsaken city was called the 'City of Angels'. The chipped and battered structures looked more like Hell spawned Devils rising from below than former business offices and residential tenements. There wasn't even a fucking Angel in sight, mentally or physically.
The Covenant had landed in Japan, brushed aside the island country's defenses in a single week, and had set up a Headquarters there. Similar operations had been carried out on Hawaii, Madagascar, and the Fiji Islands. Islands were the perfect places to set up major military strongholds, as the enemy would either have to travel by water or air, two positions that were easy to fend off.
Once the HQ in Japan had been set up, the bases deployed huge Hoverdecks, similar to aircraft carriers, except five times the size of one. The Hoverdecks glided right over the water, bringing an entire division of infantry with them, and several squadrons of both Banshees and Phantoms. The Hoverdecks also had carried dozens of vehicles, ranging from light vehicles such as Ghosts, to heavy ones such as Wraith mortar tanks. Four such Hoverdecks had landed off the coast of California, right inside outer L.A. From there they had deployed thousands upon thousands of Covenant warriors into the city.
Tolk watched the Pelican dropships flit through the dark sky for several minutes before retrieving a cigarette from his side pouch and closing his teeth around it. He lit a Strike-Anywhere match against the stone wall of CASTLE III and shielded the flame with his free hand, touching the warm orange glow to the paper end of his cigarette. He flicked the match away and stepped on it to smother the flame before inhaling deeply from the cigarette and blowing out the gray smoke. The smoke was short-lived, however, as a fat drop of rain splashed onto the cigarette, putting out the front embers and bringing Tolk back to the current situation. He hated this goddamn place.
Private Nicholas Remear sat down on an empty supply crate and rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes. He had been on patrol around CASTLE III for five hours...and had wasted five hours of his two year-long military career. The only thing that he was looking forward to now was the quick two-hour sleep he would soon get before going back on patrol. There was a shortage of men, since most of them were up at the frontline. That meant that each soldier had to pull three times his or her weight, an attribute that Remear wasn't too fond of.
Stretching his worn-out legs, Remear stood up and continued walking, his MA7B 'Battle Rifle' hanging limply from his shoulder by its leather strap. He stepped into a sodium-powered streetlight and squinted against the sudden surge of ghostly yellow illumination. He stood for a moment and listened to the battle that was taking place place two miles away, towards the outskirts of Metro Los Angeles.
Once the Covenant had landed inside L.A., they had spread out in a three- pronged offensive, and had totally and completely wiped out the outer cities. Contact with STRONGHOLD I, II, and III had been lost, as had contact with FORTRESS II and IV. The rest of the bases were busy either attempting to fight off the alien invaders, or were falling back across the state border to the bases in Las Vegas. CASTLE III had sent the bulk of its forces up several miles to soften up the 2000-Warrior Covenant Cell before the aliens reached the base, where the defenders would be able to chew them out before taking their wounded to Las Vegas and fortifying another base there.
As rain spattered the ground and bounced off Remear's ballistic helmet with tinny clicks, the young Private asked God why he had been stationed in this Hellhole of a city.
FRONTLINE: TWO MILES FROM CASTLE III
Lance Corporal Ashley Bennet swiveled the steering wheel of the Warthog, bashing into the skull of a surprised Grunt. Bright blue blood spattered the windshield. "There's one way to save ammo!" Private Lindon yelled from the gunner platform amid the screams and gunshots; "Nice one, ma'am." He finished. Bennet grinned and swerved to give Lindon an angle to take down a Cobalt- armored Elite. The gunner squeezed the firing stud of the LAAG and ripples in the creature's shield marked the bullets' impact sites. The silvery barrier popped seconds later, and the Elite bellowed a battle cry right before taking four bullets in the face. Purple blood spurted from the pockmarks as the alien's near-headless body flopped into the mud.
A wall of Jackals had formed up around a small convoy of slow-moving Covenant Creep transports. Bennet plowed into the living barrier and felt the 'Hog shake as the LAAG rapidly spat out round after round at the buses. She caught a glimpse of the turret on one of the Creeps swivel around to face her, the Grunt manning it lining the LRV up in the targeting stud. The Corporal frowned and was about to point it out to Lindon when a rocket screeched out of nowhere and blew the turret off the transport. The Grunt screamed and fell beneath the Warthog. Seconds later, two more rockets screamed through the rain and pounded into the back of the rear Creep, totally destroying it. A blossom of fire ballooned inside the vehicle and the entire outer hull exploded, showering the Warthog with body parts and hot metal. Through the smoke and dwindling flames of the wreckage, Bennet made out the figures of a pair of Marine PFCs saluting from behind a boulder, SPNKr SSM Jackhammer rocket launchers hanging from their shoulders. She returned the salute and swerved to have another pass at the Creeps.
Lindon had been able to destroy one of the anti-gravity pods mounted under the lead transport, and it fell backwards and carved a gash into the soaked ground, which quickly filled back up with mud. Lindon opened fire on the disabled bus and was rewarded as it exploded and sent debris over a ten- yard radius, trapping a dazed Grunt beneath a red-hot chunk of metal.
The two launcher-toting Privates quickly destroyed the third and last bus with a salvo of rockets and ran off to tackle a Brute that was crusading through a line of Marines. Bennet watched them run through the rain and mud, and when she looked back out the front window, a pair of Hunters stood hunched, blocking her path, their fuel rod cannons already charged and ready to fire.
Chapter 2 coming soon!