Chrmmm !

Adam's head lifted upright in a half second, as a new sound reached his ears.

Chrmmm, rmmmm !

That head- his whole body, in fact- shifted and pivoted around in the direction of that sound. It was one he recognized at once, one he'd become very familiar with over the past 6 years of riding the network.

The doors were opening.

Already, a sliver of sunlight had poured through the narrow, bur rapidly widening gap, that the doors had left as they slid further and further apart. Adam was far enough down, so that he couldn't see the doors themselves, but the band of sunlight that had fallen down the concrete, litter free steps was something he had definitely noticed.

Outside, the explosions and screaming hadn't died down, not at all, but the echos of them had somehow, shifted, as if exactly who and what was causing them was moving around, getting closer but also moving away.

More adrenaline was pumped into his veins. His pulse sped up, his palms became cold. It was the old response to danger and a threat that he'd experienced already, when he'd first heard of the Covenant, and at the moment in time where their assault on Arcadia had become known to everyone.

The kind of response that had him thinking of his father's words yet again. He sprang to his feet, as the beam widened further. There were a handful of seconds left until the doors were fully open.

Did he run this time ?

Did he stay, again ?

Fear, his old specter these past few years, reared its head again. He could feel it, gripping him, as he stood, poised to either run back down the step, further into the tunnels, or sit/lean back against the wall.

Who was there ?!

Was it-

" Hello ?! Anyone down there ?! "

A man hollered into the depths of the subway.

A deep voiced man, not even 40 from the sound of it, and who spoke with a commanding tone.

Like a soldier's.

Adam experienced a strong ebb in his fear levels. They didn't fade altogether, but they'd weakened. He felt his fists un clench, along with the other fear markers slowly leaving him.

Someone had found him, and it wasn't the Covenant.

" Yes ! ", he shouted back, raising his own voice and hoping it didn't sound too scared. " There's someone here ! "

" What the- ? Is that a kid I hear ? Are you by yourself ?! "

The man's shouted inquires were met by the sound of military boots, sounding out a pattern as they were walked across the floor, and descending the steps. A steady noise, that quickly got louder. as the unknown man drew nearer to where Adam was.

Tightening one hand around his backpack strap again, Adam took a few steps up the stairs, not rushing, but not dragging his heels either. Only little children ran up stairs, after all. And he wanted this solider, whoever he was, to know he was dealing with someone who was a bit more grown up than that.

A few steps further, and the head and upper torso of the man in question came into view, along with the rest of him, as he reached the landing above Adam.

He was imposingly tall, even to Adam, who knew he stood at roughly 5'10. At over 6ft, he was at least a head taller, and to boot, also quite a lot bigger, with the physique of someone who'd spent years routinely building his body into top fighting shape. His head was shaved down to a 1, and the lower half of his weather-beaten, strong boned face was carpeted by a 5:00 shadow, which seemed to be there by choice, not accident.

The solider stopped, eyebrows rising in clear surprise to find he was indeed facing a teenage down here, in the subway system of a city currently under siege by the Covenant. His eyes, brown and the the piercing gaze of someone who had a instinctive knack for being aggressive, riveted on Adam.

" Good grief, son. How'd you get down here ?! "

Adam blinked. His mouth had come open, but he didn't speak.

Partially, because he hadn't ever seen a solider fresh off the battlefield before, let alone one against an alien enemy. The man standing in front of him had purple liquid- purple blood- splashed and stained over his interlocking, sand shaded body armor plates, only partially dried. In his hands was a angular, steel grey shaded assault rifle, a few wisps of smoke still rising from its barrel.

He looked, well, dangerous. Even without the appearance of a veteran.

The solider must've mistaken Adam's silence, and expression, for fear of him, because he quickly slung the rifle over his back, and extended a gloved hand, palm out.

" Hey, easy, easy. My name is John. Sergent John Forge, of the UNSC. I came to get you out. "

UNSC ?

" Me ? Adam. My name is Adam Hadren. I, ah, I just didn't think anyone had come ", Adam finally spoke. He hated that he'd appeared all nervous and intimidated, even though he hadn't actually been.

So much for keeping up appearances.

Swallowing briefly, he hurriedly continued.

" I was down here when the aliens attacked. Everyone else ran outside, because that's what the evac plans said we should do, but they opened fire on us. I thought I'd be better off if I stayed. "

Great. That was babbling. Adam berated himself.

Fortunately, the soldi-Forge, didn't seem to mind. He nodded slowly, with a ' Hmm ' sound, of being vaguely impressed.

" Not bad, kid. No plan survives contact with the enemy anyway. "

It seemed to be Adam's nature to remember what seemed to be pieces of advice, spoken to him by men who followed a career in the field of law enforcement, or the Military. His own father, Benjamin, had been a policeman, and Adam still remembered how tough and brave he looked while in uniform. He still remembered what he'd said, about the nature of fear.

Adam missed him every day. He'd hadn't had someone like that in his life after Benjamin had died.

Until now.

Great minds really do think alike, don't they ?

Forge glanced back up the stairs. The shaft of sunlight filtering down into the tunnel where they stood had grown pale, as if clouds had drifted in.

" Well, Adam, I think its time you left town. And the planet, while you're at it ".

He beckoned, and turned toward the stairs.

" Come on. We got to roll now, if we're going to get you to the Evac zones. They're still loading everyone up and hustling them out. "

He pulled the rifle off his back, and began to walk back up the stairs.

" Let's go, Adam ! I ain't leaving you here, so I hope you can walk ! "

Adam followed.

He couldn't help himself. Forge, this solider who really did look like the one he was, had a natural command presence about him. It wasn't just how tough and capable he appeared to be; it was how he carried himself. He was confident, in control, and he seemed to have a plan. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Just like Adam's father. Just like Benjamin.

Laceless shoes striking the concrete, Adam ran up the steps behind Forge, as they ascended the flight of stairs, heading for the opened felt a new sensation, rising and manifesting in him now, something other than that gnawing fear- for both himself, and his mother-, or cold apprehension over how he was supposed to survive.

Something else was there too:

Hope. Not a branch to hold onto, but real hope.

" Sergeant ?! ", he called out. " Weren't you busy fighting the Covenant ? Why'd you stop to check down here ? "

Without slowing down a beat, his own boots producing that pattern again, Forge turned his head to face Adam, and with a note of conviction, answered him.

" Because, you're not ever too busy to do something worthwhile. "

BRSSH! BRSSSHH ! BRSSSSH !

A trio of especially loud detonations assailed Forge and Adam's ears as they emerged topside. The explosions weren't on their position, or even adjacent to it, but they didn't need to be, for their echo to easily be heard for a wide range, pretty much all over the city.

Speaking of the city-

" Wh-What have they done ?! "

The moment Adam stepped through the doorway of the subway portal, and back into the outside, he immediately saw what effect the Covenant assault had on Pirth City.

It'd have been impossible not to: Pirth City was burning.

Towering columns of oily black smoke were rising into the sky from one end of the sky to other, spanning the length of the city, filling swathes of it with roiling, puffy dark clouds. Amid the columns and clouds of smoke, flocks of alien flying craft- the ones Adam had glimpsed when the doors to the subway had first opened- were roving around in the sky, though weather they were wandering, or following patterns, Adam couldn't tell. Streaking bolts and streams of plasma and energy were fired from them, down into the city, setting off more explosions, and raising yet more smoke.

A portion of the many fleets of cars and trucks that usually plied the city streets had been caught out in front, and none of the vehicles had come through unscathed. Most were nothing but mangled, severely twisted, and burned out wrecks, impossible to tell what kind of vehicle they'd been. Thousands of tiny fragments of metal debris were scattered all around the still- smoking husks, along with patches of glass. The aliens' plasma had turned the ground to glass.

Meanwhile,the city was burning, and its inhabitants were dying.

Strewn all over the ground immediately in front the entrance , and on the 6 lane street that ran past it between it and the now-smoldering 5 star Admiral Lysander Hotel, were bodies.

Dozens of bodies.

Unmistakably most of, or perhaps all of them, were the same ones who'd ridden the train with Adam when the attack on the city commenced. He'd watched them stream and cascade past him, out into the storm of the plasma barrage that the Covenant had lavished upon the entrance, easily spotting such a tantalizing target.

Adam had watched them die. It'd only lasted a fleeting moment- he was already on his way back into the depths of the subway by then- but he'd still seen more than one of them turned to ash and vapor, right in front of him. One second they were there, and the next they weren't. Gone. Wiped out.

The ones who lay on the ground still were there, though.

Face down. Face up. On their sides. They all lay dead, right where they'd fallen, apparently. In bunches, and alone, they lay there, motionless.

There wasn't even any blood, splashed everywhere, as there should've been for a collection of corpses. There was debris- bits of half melted concrete gouged out of the road, for example- but, there was an absence of blood. The bodies, they were just lying there, sprawled and flopped over, with charred craters burned into them. The plasma had sealed their wounds, even as it snuffed out their lives. Perhaps that was a form of dignity, in some grotesque fashion.

" Adam ?! Hey, Adam, we can't stay here ! "

Hhhh !

Finally, Adam inhaled. He blinked, stepped back a few feet, and suddenly felt very cold.

So many, dead. They were all, just dead. The folks here, and the ones who were no doubt under those columns of smoke. They were all dead, or being killed. The aliens, the Covenant, they were eradicating them !

There were so many dead. Just ordinary folks, who wanted to live. The Covenant didn't care. This wasn't collateral damage. This wasn't conflict.

This was straight up genocide. How could anyone survive this ?

Adam felt his eyes getting wet around the corners.

Mother. Mother, are you still out there ? Please, please, please, they couldn't have-

A hand fell on his shoulder.

Adam wasn't alarmed; he was all numb now. Instead, he slowly looked over at who it was, thought he already knew.

" Son ", Forge gazed down at him, simultaneously grave, but also sympathetic. " Nobody's gonna judge you if you cry. "

" I won't at least. "

In truth, Adam did feel like weeping. This was all like a ocean wave falling on him, all at once. Such, annihilation, such literally alien savageness, was so much, perhaps too much, for anyone to face and not be affected. Why, why were the Covenant doing this ? Why were they so determined to destroy the city, and massacre everyone in it ? They were targeting the civilians. They were hunting them. It was genocide, plain and simple, no ifs, maybe, or ' possibly 's about it .It was their mission, to slaughter every human in Pirth City.

And, the rest of Arcadia. And, then they'd move to another colony, and repeat everything again. An enemy with this kind of firepower, wasn't going to stop with one city, or one world. No way. They wouldn't stop. They wouldn't slow down. They were out to wipe Humanity from existence.

Which, technically, included Adam. And his mother.

" I won't. ", Adam whispered. He spoke as numbly as he felt. " I don't even know if I can. "

Forge nodded, understanding.

" But, I might, if I don't find if my mother's ok. "

" I hear you, kid. If she's anywhere, it has to be at the evac zone. The fighting's gotten spread out, so now's our best bet to get there fast. "

" Come on. I hid my vehicle nearby. We'll ride it out of here. This way. " He took Adam by one shoulder, and led him along.

Adam didn't want to look at the remains of his fellow dead colonists one last time, but he forced himself to.

Brsssh ! Brsssh ! Brsshh !

More plasma blasts, echoed out, as they atomized more of the city, and more of its inhabitants.

Like that while hot energy, something hot now sparked in Adam.

It was that hope, or, rather, it'd been that hope. It still was, but it'd morphed, grown, and changed into another version of itself. Something that made Adam feel heated inside, and had him biting his lower lip.

Anger. Bitterness.

Rage. White hot like the plasma. It was burning in him now, eclipsing the shock and dread of finding the results of the Covenant's handiwork. It was hotter than that. These, creatures, these Covenant, had come to his home, his world. They'd massacred his fellow colonists, desecrated the land, and burned it. They'd come here, and they'd just erased, everything and everyone, as if they hadn't ever existed.

Well, he wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of finishing the task. They wouldn't get away with annihilating Arcadia's denizens, not today at least.

He'd survive. And he'd get his mother offworld as well.

They'd both survive, and that would be their victory.

For now.

"- flight of Banshees, coming in ! 10:00 high ! "

The radio set into the dashboard of the 4x4 All Terrain, light recon vehicle known as a Warthog, blared out the latest report of the battle that was raging around the evacuation transports. They were under persistent, vigorous attack by Covenant combat fliers, and squads of Wraith tanks, all enthusiastically aiming to reduce each of the hulking Hamilton 797 Civilian Transport Flier craft that were being loaded with Arcadians, ready to ferry them offworld.

Said reports, didn't sound promising. Tanks and ground attack aircraft generally had a big advantage over unarmored, unarmored, slow craft. The latter tended not to last very long.

Seated in the passenger seat of the Warthog, Adam had to keep one hand firmly around the door handle, gripping it tightly, as Sgt. Forge drove with what could only be called a McGarret level of abandon, keeping the Warthog's engine revving at full RPM as they traversed the deserted, plasma scarred streets of Pirth city.

As if the radio wasn't proof enough of how the Covenant were still laying into the place, actually driving through its streets was. They'd once been a sparkling shade of coral-white, with blue tinted windows lining the strucrures that lines each street. Palm trees helpfully provided shade, and most of the city squares were adorned by majestic, looming statues of toga and armor clad men, and robe and dress wearing women, that hearkened back to Arcadi's namesake; the Greek city state of Arcadia, of Earth's ancient past ( This may not be Earth, but Arcadians understood that Earth was the origin point for Humanity's galactic empire. They wouldn't ignore their heritage ).

Above all else, it was Adam's home. He'd been born here. He'd lived here all his life. He knew no other home than this, and that's how he'd come to love it so.

Adam loved Pirth City. He was a city boy, through and through ( countryside's too quiet, and too many bugs ), and understood the rich history of Pirth City. How it'd become the glimmering jewel of Arcadia, the most sought after tourist destination in the Outer Rim. It was a place of enjoyment, warm welcomes, and hospitality. It was a city to be lived in, not just riddled with overcrowded high rises, and burdened by the faults of a failed city. It could convince even the most mountain loving country girl to understand the appeal of cities.

For any of its faults- admittedly rather heavy rain during the winter, a tendency of its drivers to be a bit too zealous, and not enough parking garages- Pirth City earned its worth.

Now, it was literally crumbling. Also, slagging, melting, and burning, right before Adam's eyes.

Its all burned. Its not a city anymore. Just a tomb.

The Warthog jolted, taking a corner with a piercing scream of its big, solid state tires. Adam was pushed against the door.

" Hang on, kid ", Forge grunted, centering the vehicle, letting the automatic gearshift do its work ( because, really, who can be bothered with fiddling around with a manual ? That's what automatics are for ) " ' Bout halfway there ! "

" Covvies have concentrated their forces around the 2nd Hamilton, so we're headed to the first. They seem all bent on that one. Not sure why, and not that it matters. Eh ? "

Adam nodded slowly.

" Still with me, Adam ? "

" Yes ", he responded. Shortly, and without any emotion.

It wasn't to put the Sergeant off. It was just, how he was now.

The NonCom didn't say anything at first, but after deftly steering them around a gaping crater in the street- and avoiding a line of deceased colonists, who'd been blown into the air by the same blast that'd gouged that crater- he said:

" If there's anything you want to say, you can say it. Free speech, captive audience "

He was keeping his tone neutral, receptive to if Adam did want to talk, but also understanding if he didn't. It was a clever move.

It worked.

" You probably already know ", Adam bit his lower lip again. " So angry. So confused. I don't know how we're going to come from this, if we even can, and- "

" And I have to find my mother. I have to. That's all I have left now. "

He let his head touch the back of the moderately padded seat, and felt the anger, fear, and all the rest of it burn in him.

" I know. " Forge said.

" Hm ? "

" I know the fear. The one you do not name ", the sergeant told him, in a rather somber tone, as they drove down a gently downward sloping stretch of road, weaving past more burned trucks, and a Olifant sized, bulbous, purple shaded alien machine, which was also dead and out of action with a gaping hole burned through its front.

" Hmm. Good shooting ", Forge observed. " Our boys took that one out ".

Adam noticed that big hole at once. It must lead right to where the alien machine was driven from.

Good. I hope it hurt.

" You don't have to say it. But, I know. Because, I have someone I want to protect as well. Especially from these beasts. "

Some might say Forge was just saying that to be pure sympathetic to Adam; an adult, doing his duty to clam down a child.

But, Adam just wasn't getting that impression, not from Forge. He'd only met him less than an hour ago, at best. They'd spent most of that time here, in the Warthog, careening through the streets of Pirth, headed for Evac ships that were being attacked by the very enemy who'd done all this.

He'd been hit hard by what these creatures had done. He didn't think anything could or would be the same ever again, and he'd had to face this all alone.

Not anymore. Somehow, he believed Forge. Somehow, he trusted him.

" Just got to stay alive. That's all we have now ", stated Adam.

" Its all we have. "

Brsshh ! Brssh ! Brsshh !

Rraaaaaaachhh

The echos of plasma explosions, and the roar of UNSC combat exo-atmospheric craft competed intensely for who could be loudest.

They were still a ways off- about a mile-, but everyone in the teeming mass of colonial evacuees filling the tarmac beside the bulk the Hamilton transport craft could hear them with alarming clarity. They could see the smoke columns reaching higher and higher into the sky, spreading out and forming clouds, and between that, the explosions, and the sounds and appearance of fliers, both UNSC and alien, they were all too aware that the fighting to cover their retreat was still ongoing

The same fight to kill them all, if the Covenant had anything to say about it.

You cut sever the tension over everyone's heads with a knife. Nobody was standing still, with just about everyone constantly shifting weight from one foot to the other, turning heads, or entire bodies even, as something rocketed overhead, or a new explosion blossomed. They were all already on pins and needles, to say nothing about how most of them- evac drills or not- were still more afraid then they'd ever been in their lives.

The presence of a full company of fully equipped UNSC troops, and a platoon of Arcadia Police Department SWAT poised behind sandbag barricades, the former of which had a gargantuan, twin barrelled Grizzly tank, was probably one of the biggest reasons why outright panic hadn't erupted. That, and the aforementioned Hamilton. Its side loading hatches were open, and sections of the crowd were being herded and directed on board, by shouting and waving soldiers and cops, commanding everyone not to push, shove, or move out of order. There was room for everyone, they called.

That didn't matter to Juliara Hadren. She wasn't getting on without her boy.

The entrepreneur wring her hands for the umpteenth time, and berated herself for letting Adam go out on that little excusion of his, also for the umpteenth time.

Standing in the 3rd group of colonists from the one that was currently boarding the Hamilton, Juliara had stopped counting how many times she'd called Adam's name. Or, how many folks she'd asked if they'd seen him, doing her best to be articulate and specific as her crippling worry complicated her ability to do so. Or, how often she'd searched the faces of each new colonist or group of them that arrived at the evac zone, only to find Adam wasn't among them.

It was getting close for her group to board.

Well, that didn't matter. Without Adam, she would stay on Arcadia.