High Ground: Windhover

A/N: Well, I got a pretty good response there. I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying this as much as Obsidian "Dante" Thirteen's original. Hope you enjoy chapter two.

Chapter Two:

Origins

Joseph smiled and shook his head as he ran along the side of a relatively unused path; he and Sergeant Wood had been talking for the better half of ten or fifteen minutes now, just bullshitting about past glories and adventures, women they'd hooked up with and so on. The night seemed to have grown darker somehow as he neared the outpost as though nature herself were trying to warn Windhover of a coming danger. It seemed as though he had been running for miles, and that was probably close to the truth; Joseph's feet ached and his legs burned from their use and he knew he was nearing the limits of his abilities...but was still so far out. Frustrated with his own abilities, Joseph climbed a nearby tree and took a break. He radioed Sergeant Wood to update the other man of his situation. The gruff voice on the other side replied with a gruff 'alright' and they began talking again. It wasn't long before Wood asked Gunny Windhover what his story was. He replied that it was a long story, but Wood wouldn't hear it; he wanted to know. So, Joseph launched into his tale.

Three days earlier. Jackson City.

It had begun as another boring day in Jackson, the capital city of the UNSC colony dubbed 'Cimmeria' for the Marines charged with defending the planet. Joseph had awoken to the sound of his alarm clock, gotten out of bed, showered and shaved. He remembered looking over himself in the mirror; tanned skin, high cheekbones, dark brown eyes and short black hair. Those features were common nowadays as humanity's genes mixed and dominant features such as darker skin rose above the others. Today was a rare off-day for the gunnery sergeant and he was going drinking with Corporal Montreal and Lieutenant Jones, two men from his platoon. Joseph left his apartment wearing his uniform and body armor and M6G which was required by the military higher ups in case the Covenant attacked the planet. The other two men were waiting outside in a warthog, blowing the horn rather impatiently. Joseph sighed and gave the pair the finger before hurrying down the stairs and jumping in the passenger's seat. The Lieutenant always drove and Derrik was always standing at the turret. That's just how things went. They were headed for a local pub named O'Charley's that wasn't located too far away; it was on Main Street and they were on Fifth Street. Down the road a little ways and to the right was all the distance they needed to travel.

The three men disembarked their vehicle and headed inside, laughing and shoving and pushing like a group of teenagers. The pub itself was old-fashioned. The floors and tables and chairs were made of authentic oak from Earth, which must've cost a fortune to get here, and the bar served just about anything a thirsty Marine could possibly want to drink. All three men simply ordered beer and headed to their favorite spot; a table in the back corner of the bar next to the large window that looked out into the street.

"So, guys, check this out," said Jones, looking around the bar, "I hooked up with Captain Raymes the other night."

Derrik nearly spewed his beer all over the table and looked over at Jones. "No fucking way! Was she good?"

Jones nodded smugly and took an unnecessarily long swig of his beer, making Derrik wait before he got an answer. Joseph could see Derrik almost shaking from his impatience and it looked like his friend of many months was going to kill his Lieutenant of several weeks unless he spilled. After a couple seconds, Jones smacked his lips with an 'ah' and smiled at Montreal.

"Yeah, she was."

"I knew it!" exclaimed Corporal Montreal. "I fucking knew it! Didn't I tell you, Joey? Didn't I tell you?"

Joseph was laughing hysterically as the two marines continued their bullshitting, going all over the place from Raymes to other girls they'd slept with or wanted to sleep with to the Covenant to how badly they were kicking their asses and then back to Captain Raymes again while Joseph just sat and listened, shaking his head occasionally and taking a drink of his beer. This went on for several minutes until a woman's shriek from outside caught their attention. All three Helljumpers snapped their heads from the table and each other to outside; a man had pinned a woman to the ground and looked as though he were trying to rape her. Joseph reached for his sidearm and sprinted outside, giving the man a swift boot to the gut that caused him to roll off of the poor woman. At first, he only gave her a quick glance because she had stopped screaming...but looked again and saw something he would never forget; the woman's eyes were rolled back into her head and rather large chunks of her throat and upper torso were missing. Joseph heard Derrik and Jones cursing behind him and then heard someone vomit. His eyes, however, were locked on the offender who was struggling to push himself to his feet. Something about the whole situation just struck Joseph as odd; something felt wrong, other than the fact that this man had practically eaten a woman.

"You!" he shouted at the offender, bringing the M6G to bear on him. "What the hell is your deal?" Joseph heard safeties being flicked off behind him as the man turned in the Gunny's direction. He immediately wished the man hadn't. The first thing that struck the three men was the man's physical condition; his clothes were torn and bloody with parts of his intestinal tract hanging from beneath the tattered fabric. His skin was ashen and pale, and coagulated blood dotted his face, but was mostly along his chin and jaw. Then came the smell...that terrible, awful smell that was so overpowering that Joseph's eyes watered and he heard someone vomit behind him again. The killer slowly stumbled forward, moaning eerily as he drew near Joseph. The closer he got, the louder the moans became. The Helljumper backpedalled slowly, his weapon trained on the man's forehead and he issued several warnings. After the third, he fired. The bullet slammed into the man's head, causing it to snap back violently and the back of his head exploded into a mist of blood and gore as the body limply crumpled to the ground in a heap. Jones spoke up next.

"Uh...uh, guys? Is...is it just me, or is she moving?"

Joseph and Derrik gave Jones a confused look, and he pointed to the woman's mutilated corpse that was stirring slowly. Her skin had taken the same color as the man that had attacked her and she looked as though she was dead...but...she was dead, wasn't she? Those wounds were mortal! There was no way she could have survived them. There was no blood flowing through her veins, otherwise it would have been flowing from her body. Joseph raised his magnum again as the woman rose, her eyes rolled back into her head and she began staggering toward the three men, moaning in the same fashion the her attacker had. Windhover was the first to realize what was going on and raised his weapon again with a shout of "fucking drop her!" In a flash, bullets were pelting the woman's reanimated flesh, but nothing seemed to be affecting her. Wounds that would have even killed a SPARTAN did nothing to even slow her down...so Jason repeated what he'd done to the man. He shot her in the forehead and she collapsed, never to rise again. No one spoke for several moments, their eyes transfixed upon the scene. They exchanged confused and frightened glances as Joseph nudged the now twice dead woman with his booted foot and nodded back to them, confirming that she was well and truly dead.

"What...what just happened here?" Derrik asked, glancing between Jones, Joseph and the two bodies and back again. "I mean...she was dead. Not moving...dead. There's no way anyone could survive the wounds she had. Or him! He should have been dead too!"

Lieutenant Jones shrugged; it was obvious that he was still in a state of shock as well. "I...I don't know. Maybe...no, that's stupid. It's impossible."

"What?" Derrik said.

"Well, maybe we're dealing...dealing with zombies here."

"Oh come on, El-Tee." said Joseph. "That's ridiculous."

"Well, think about it Gunny. He," said the Lieutenant gesturing toward the dead man, "attacked her. Bit her. Tried to eat her. She," he gestured to the dead brunette, "got back up and tried to take a chunk out of you. Besides, you saw the amount of damage we did; a headshot was the only thing that killed her!"

Joseph and Derrik glanced at each other for a moment, and slowly nodded. "Well," Derrik began, "maybe this was an isolated event. Maybe...maybe we put an end to it." That hope was quickly dashed by a panicked voice on the 'Hog's radio.

"All personnell, return to base immediately! We have a riot in progress!"