Author's Note: This would be my first legitimate fan-fiction that I've posted here, but not my first time writing stories. My plot line diverges slightly from Halo ODST, and it's got completely new characters. Hope you like it. Constructive criticism is more than welcome! (Also; I wrote this on my iPhone and I didn't notice it changed all the UNSC's to USMC. I'm fixing it all. Thanks for your patience)
Halo: ODST
-Entreri's Sonnet-
Chapter One
-Long Walk-
Muffled, rhythmic thumps echoed through the red-wood forest as Eric charged across the moss covered floor. He'd been running for the past ten minutes, and it wasn't getting any easier. He felt as though his veins were pumping battery acid, and his lungs were filling with liquid fire. His entire body begged to just collapse and take a break. 'If I do, I die.' Eric mumbles to himself through ragged gasps for air. 'Quitting isn't an option.'
Eric slowly rounded a large red-wood tree, it's branches seeming to stretch up into the blackened sky. He slowly looked up at the sky and his eyes locked on a bright red star, far out in the cold reaches of space, "Tyler..." He mumbles aloud "You're out there somewhere..." His brother Tyler, an ODST himself, was stationed in the Zeta Quadrant aboard the U.S.S. Aurora. Though every person in the UNSC agrees that the Aurora was the safest ship in the entire Galaxy, Eric still couldn't help but feel a slight pang of fear deep in his stomach when he thought of his brother. He was all Eric had left.
Just as Eric's mind began to wander, he felt his boot connected with a thick root protruding from the base of a tree. Before he knew what was happening, Eric was face-down in a pile of earthy moss. He grunted slightly as he pushed himself up off the ground and up against the nearest tree, he may as well take break now... It had been nearly twenty minutes since the last gunshot. He slowly scanned the forest around him, the trees glowing a sickly green from his night-vision visor built into the black helmet encasing his head. A dark green marker flicked on inside his visor, a small number under it read 500M. Everything around him seemed so peaceful and still. He should have known better.
Just as his heart rate began to slow, and managed to get some breathable air in his lungs, a plume of brown dirt erupted in-front of him. 'Sniper.' The word immediately snapped into his mind, and sure enough, a second later, the snap of the high powered bullet breaking the sound barrier rang through the forest. Eric jumped to his feet, his steel-toe boots digging into the soft earth under him as be rips through the forest once more.
Suddenly, they decided to ditch secrecy all together. All around him, dark shapes began to shift through the forest, easily matching his speed. "Fuck..." He mumbles, forcing his already screaming legs to propel him faster. The flash of muzzle fire erupted from all around him, bits of bark being stripped from the trees as the steel core bullets narrowly missed their targets. Not far ahead of him, a large chunk of red-wood vaporized before him, the sound of a high powered rifle sounding soon after. 'My luck won't last long' He repeats in his head, looking for any sort of way out. The marker was closer now, but not close enough. 400 meters till he reaches the landing zone. A female voice sounds from his com speakers, "Gunshots reported in your sector, be advised."
"I'm taking heavy fire! Multiple hostiles at unknown locations! The LZ is going to be hot, ETA two minutes!" Eric nearly yells through the radio. He was barely able hear himself over the cracking of gunfire, let alone think.
"Copy that Bravo team. Over and out." The female voice chimed calmly.
Bravo team, what a joke. He was the only one left. The other men in his squad were cut down by a mounted machine gun in an ambush much similar to this one. The only reason he managed to get away is they sent him several meters ahead of them as a scout... It was whole sale slaughter. So much for a recon mission.
His lungs felt as though they were being ripped from his chest by the time he was a hundred meters from the landing zone. More gunfire popped as they tore through the air around him, smacking into nearby trees and bushes. "Where the fuck are you?!" Eric screams into his helmet, taking cover behind a large tree, bullets peppering where he stood seconds ago.
"Inbound. ETA thirty seconds." The voice chimes.
Thirty seconds, that should be enough time to sprint across and make it to the LZ right as the Pelican arrives. Letting out a sharp yell, Eric pulls out his Glock 17 and charges around the tree, sprinting once more towards the dark green marker on his heads up display.
He was twenty meters away when a particularly loud bang sounded near him, and not seconds after, a white hot pain rocketed up his leg. The metal shrapnel from the frag grenade ripped through his leg. "Shit!" Eric let out a sharp scream, clutching his lower thigh as he rolled to a stop in a bank of ferns. "Shit shit shit!" He mumbles to himself, pressing against his shredded leg, searching for the medkit strapped to his opposite thigh. His hand closed around nothing but air. Right.. They didn't give him a medkit OR any extra ammo. This was supposed to be a 'recon mission'. Minimal risk and all that other bullshit. Gunfire continued to rain relentlessly overhead. Where the hell was his pickup?
A cold ball of fear began to settle in his stomach. What if they weren't coming? What if they were shot down before they could get here? Just as his thoughts began to roam, a thunderous roar echoed overhead. Glancing up, Eric managed to catch a glimpse of a shining metal hull, with black UNSC lettering tattooed to the side. "Thank god.." He mumbled.
Blinding flames began to emit from the landing thrusters, as the bulky metal ship slowly began to lower itself to the forest floor. Eric got up as quickly as he could manage on his crippled his leg, beginning to half-run, half-limp to the Pelican. A shadow shifted to his right, and it was coming right for him. Eric quickly raised his pistol and let loose a series of shots in the direction of the shadow. The first two went wild and struck a far of tree, but the third hit home and made a wet smack. A thump quickly followed as the figure struck the mossy floor. His thigh strained further and sent gut wrenching pain through his body. Ten meters... Nine, eight, seven, six, five-
Eric was a mere fifteen feet away when a ball of fire shot out of the trees, and struck the Pelican right in the engine. There was a slight pause, then the drop ship erupted in a ball of brilliant blue flame. The shockwave from the explosion lifted Eric off his feet and slammed him against a tree, the sound of breaking bones resonated in his metal helmet. The edges of his vision began to fade as he struggled to stay conscious.
The forest went suddenly quiet, and the sound of gunfire stopped. From a bank of nearby trees, a man began to slowly pick his way trough the fiery wreckage, his tall stature silhouettes black against the flames. As he approached Eric, the man's details slowly came into a fuzzy focus. The man was dressed in green cargo pants, with nothing but a flak jacket covering his torso. Over his left eye was a black eye patch. Eric tried to feebly raise his sidearm and point it at the man. though to no avail as the barrel hardly met the man's knees. He kicked it away easily with a swipe of his boot, landing with a clatter several feet away. "ODST my ass." The man grumbles, aiming his own pistol at Eric, his finger tightening on the trigger. There was a small pause, followed by a echoing bang, then darkness.
Seconds after, he came to in a head-splitting haze. The forest was gone, as was the ruined Pelican. In it's place was a room the size of several football fields, around twenty people standing about idly with what appeared to be guns pressed closely to their chests. Eric stood up in a fit of rage, ripping off his mock helmet and tossing it an easy twenty yards. "Recon mission my fucking ass!" Eric yells at the man who was standing over him just minutes before. The man was old, easily in his late fifties. His hair already fading to grey near his sideburns, and folds of wrinkled skin fanning his face. His grubby uniform was now replaced with a cleanly pressed grey suit, with a wide spanning variety of badges and pins.
"You must've missed the true point of this simulation, Corporal Entreri." He responds calmly, his arms folded behind his back.
"With all do respect, Lieutenant, what the hell do you mean?" Eric says, his brow furrowing in frustration.
"The mission wasn't to provide reconnaissance for Charlie team. It was to see how you would adapt to a drastic change in your mission objective and..." He pauses slightly, glancing over at Eric's four other 'dead' teammates. "You did surprisingly well.." The Lieutenant looked at a massive clock covering the south wall. "You survived for sixty-seven minutes and fourty-two seconds... A new record, Corporal. We'll make an ODST out of you yet." And with that, he turned and walked towards the hydraulic airlock at the northern end of the room.
He had to admit, he was impressed with himself. A high score, in THE UNSC academy of all places? LEGENDS have come out of this place; Reagan Duval, Marilyn Tagliavia, and Victor Kalkishnov. He was the one who took the longest survival time? Eric grinned to himself, and let out a short laugh. He immediately regretted it as he clutched his ribs with both hands. Though it was a mock training, you could still break bones. He winced in pain as he slowly made his way across the room. The med-bay was on the other side of the academy. It was going to be a long walk...