CHAPTER 2
When the other two left, the staircase was eerily quiet. I took several deep breaths before I continued onward. I despised the quiet. I could hear my own heart beating and my own slow, steady breathing. Ever since I could remember I hated silence. Normally I'd just turn on music to tune out the silence, but that wasn't an option now. I needed silence to hear movement other than my own. I mounted the stairs one at a time, focusing on the top step in my field of vision. I moved with slow, calculated steps, waiting until I knew I had sure footing before lifting myself up to the next step. I heard strained voices emanating from above me. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but I figured it wasn't good. I heard a deep, gruff voice bark out some order in an alien language. My translation chip in my helmet worked quickly, though, and almost instantly after his voice subsided, a computerized voice, sounding eerily like the original, barked at me in English.
"Cover all the entrances. I don't want a single Demon reaching here!"
Demons. That's what they called us. They had no idea we were nothing close to a demon. All we were was regular people. Regular people with enhanced senses, reaction time, pain tolerance and not to mention the MJOLNIR armor we all wore.
I froze. I heard movement from above, but nothing came down towards me. I quickly peeked around the nearest corner and saw two grunts conferring. I stashed my assault rife by leaving it to the magnet imbedded in the back of my armor and drew my pistol. There was no reason to waste valuable rifle ammo when I had the trusty M6G Magnum. I stepped around the corner and fired a single shot. One Grunt fell dead, a hole through his skull. The second stared at me a moment before letting out a surprised yelp. Due to his twitch, my shot was slightly off, but it severed a methane hose that lead to his life support pack. He fell, clutching his throat. It was surely a painful death, but the little bastard deserved nothing less.
As I stepped over the squirming body, I replaced the pistol at my hip, and once again pulled out the Assault Rifle. I checked the magazine, was satisfied my the bullet count, and replaced it, enjoying the small clicking noise it made when it slid into place.
The hallways were bare and sterile white. I expected that, seeing as how this used to be a hospital before this group of Covenant seized it.
I took slow, careful steps down the middle of the hall, listening as the sound of my boots echoed off the walls, giving it a very spooky feeling. It was like that moment in a haunted house. The one right before you knew something was going to pop out at you, but you don't know quite when. My heart began to beat faster, awaiting the horrors that waited behind every door, every nook and cranny, just waiting for a chance to scare me to death.
I was coming to the end of the hallway, a door standing ajar in front of me. I crept closer, keeping my boots as quiet as possible when I heard the slight whirring from my translation chip.
"The Devils fight ferociously, my commander." It was the voice of an Elite. I couldn't hear a response, but I kept inching closer, hoping I could hear the other voice.
"We shall overcome them sir." A pause. "No, I did not mean to—" His voice was silenced. I was only a few inches from the door when he spoke again.
"Yes, commander, I will do so."
I slid to where I could see through the crack in the door, and stared into the room. It was an operating room that was turned into a command center. My eyes scanned the scene, looking for any other enemies, but the only bogey was the single, gold-clad Elite talking to a hologram of another Elite.
"Make sure you eliminate all the Demons, Garlak Dramaree. Reinforcements should be arriving in one standard day," the hologram said. I cursed mentally and had to restrain myself from punching something. Garsham had either escaped or he had never been here, but he was still our target. I had been given a name, and it was that name I meant to erase. I eased the door open slightly, attempting to gain more visibility, but stopped when Garlak started speaking again.
"As you wish, O Garsham Foramee." He bowed deeply, and I got a clear view of the hologram. It stared back at me, a hated brewing in its eyes. It began a gesture that looked like a goodbye when Garlak's head snapped around to look at me. His plasma rifle was trained on my head.
"It seems as though you have a visitor, Garlak," the hologrammed Garsham said, a pleased tone in his voice. Garlak only nodded at me. "I shall take my leave. Dispose of this Demon," he said, before the hologram failed. Then it was only me and Garlak.
He took a few steps towards me, his firing point never leaving my faceplate.
"Stand, Demon," he ordered, and I obeyed. There was nothing I could do at this point. "Sit," he began, rather calmly, "we will talk." I hated listening and obeying, knowing my team was under fire, and at one point I thought about sending a distress signal to them, but realized it would be misinterpreted. I wanted them to run away from here, not to it. As I walked to the table to sit in one of the chairs, I kept a close eye on my team's vitals on the bottom of my HUD. Everyone was green, except Nexus, who was barely in the yellow. Luckily, the only time I had to panic was if any of their vitals flat lined, and even then it could be remedied.
I sat across from the Elite, my hands palm down on the table. He stared at me with interest.
"No one has ever captured one of your kind before. We do not believe in captives," he said, speaking nearly perfect English. "To disobey an order is severe, but image the praise I will get for bringing my leader a living Demon." His mandibles twisted into what I guessed was an Elite smile.
Nexus's vitals dropped into the red, shortly followed by Ice, Dingo and Razor falling into yellow. The situation was getting desperate. I needed to figure some way out of it.
"You know," Garlak continued, his eyes never leaving mine, "your people should be very grateful that we have, how you humans put it, turned a new leaf." I didn't bother to ask what it was because I was sure he was about to tell me.
"Harkran is a very generous being. He believes in being fair to other races. Instead of killing you all, he has decided it would be best to let you live." He paused, a look of glee filling his eyes. "As slaves," he concluded. I was about to let some alien slang fly when I noticed Cobra Lynx and Hawk's vitals drop, followed quickly by Ice and Razor's vitals decline to red.
"You," I began before a red flashing caught my attention. Nexus had fallen and his vitals flat lined. I prayed someone would be there to save him. Garlak just stared intently. I was helpless at the hands of this alien as I watched my troops slowly die just a few floors below me.
I heard a slight crackle, like a voice on an intercom, and Garlak pressed his right hand to his head as if listening. I took that chance to act, and prayed it worked.
In one fluid motion, my left hand batted away Garalk's rifle and my right drew my pistol and began systematically firing into the Elite's head. He fell, his purple gore lining the wall behind him. I stood and stared at my adversary before turning to leave to help my squad. Ice's heartbeat had stopped, and Nexus wasn't looking too good, from what I could see. If his heart didn't start beating soon, he could sustain brain damage.
Lynx dropped to red, followed by Razor flat-lining and Cobra jumping from yellow straight into the same death-like state as the others.
"Sir," I heard a voice from over my intercom. It was Hawk. "Sir, what the hell is going on? The hostiles just suddenly up and left. Not a single one left. Maybe heading to your position, sir," he suggested. I knew he was right.
I searched Garlak's body for anything useful before I needed to leave. My fingers flew over his armor, pressing on areas that looked like pockets of any type. The only thing I found was a small key and a large, cylindrical object. I grabbed them both and began to run to the door. Footsteps pounded down the hall, coming towards me. I froze. My eyes darted around the room, searching for any escape. The only thing I could find were windows. I raced to the nearest one and looked out, my heard sinking. It was at least eight stories to the ground. I couldn't fly, so I was stuck. True, my armor might have been able to save me, but I wasn't willing to take that chance.
The door whipped open, and in the doorway stood a single Brute. I had never officially seen one that close. I had seen them in news videos but never like this. They were even more intimidating in person. It hesitated for a second, then charged me. I couldn't think fast enough, but all I could do was put my hands up. I punched with my right, the one holding the little cylinder. The Brute stopped and stared down at my hand, a stunned look plastered on his features. My eyes wandered down to where my hand was pushing into his stomach, and my jaw dropped. From the cylinder came a large, light, beam of light in the shape of a two pronged sword. I pulled it from the Brute and pushed him over, his dead weight slumping to the floor. Behind him were Grunts. Too many for me to take by myself. Even with the beam sword. I pulled it backwards, and the beam shot back in. I looked at the window again, every passing moment making that escape plan more sane. By the time the Grunts had fired, it seemed like the most normal thing to me.
I raced towards the window and jumped, breaking the pane with my right shoulder. It was time to test if gravity was still working.