Sky Hunter:
Human Encounter
As I drive down the hill of the valley I look back forward from the breath-stealing view. I speed down the road, looking around for anything that could help Kyle.
"Please, please let there be someone." I say to myself as I look around. Sadly I don't see anything for awhile and pull over to the side into a patch of trees. I hide the Ghost behind some bushes and pull Kyle off of it. I make a make-shift bed from some leaf piles. I yawn and look around,
"Looks like I've had quite a bit of excitement for awhile. I should probably rest as well." I lay my head down beside Kyle and slowly drift off to sleep.
I wake up slowly, forgetting where I am. I sit up and reach for my alarm clock to see what time it is. I don't feel my alarm clock, but instead a hot liquid. I wince and pull my hand back, then I slowly open my eyes. It is really bright and I still squint as my eyes try to adjust to the whiteness. When my eyes finally adjust I look around slowly, but its not where I should be. Now that I am more awake I remember where I should be, but as I look around I'm somewhere that is not where I should be. It is very brightly lit and there is white everywhere. I look at the bedside table and see a tray with food.
"What the...? What's going on?" I ask out loud and then suddenly a door at the other end of the room opens up and I quickly look that way. I see a young woman walk in and come over to my bed,
"Finally awake young man? Please eat and then just sit tight when you're done. I'll come back to collect you after. Don't worry, we just want to ask you some questions." she tells me.
"Where's my brother?" I ask, wondering what they've done with him.
"He was sent to the medic's station when he first arrived. He should be in his own room resting right now, so don't worry." she tells me and I nod slowly. They are human, so I'm more inclined to believe them, not to mention their not holding me against my will or threatening me.
"After you get done eating tell the guard that your finished and he will bring you to the Briefing room. My commander would like a word with you." she says in a soft voice. I smile a little and nod again,
"Sure." I say and pick up the tray, slowly starting to eat.
When I finish I set the tray down and go up to the door. It opens and I look at the guard. He is a large and tall me, even with my own height being above average, he still towers me. He wears the UNSC marine armor but it looks old and worn. He looks down at me and me up at him
"I-I'm done." I stutter, his face covered in battle-scars, he looks at me, but strangely enough, his smile is kind. Kinder than I thought a man like him would have.
"Hey kid!" he said happily, his deep voice really out of place with his tone, "Glad to see you awake. If you'll just follow me I'll take you to the Briefing room." I just nod, in awe of his good nature despite his appearance. I guess what they say is true, looks really can be deceiving. I think to myself. I follow the large man down a long hallway. As we walk we pass many open doorways and I see men and woman alike, either working out, reading, or something else in front of some sort of monitor. Before long we end up in a very large room with a large table glowing blue. On it, a ruined city was illuminated by bright blue lights that looked like a videogame. I recognize it as a hologram from what I've seen before. I continue to follow the large marine past the table to a man with two other marines on either side of him. The large man stops and I stop beside him,
"Sir! I have the child with me." he says to the man in the middle with a salute. The man turns around and salutes back,
"At ease, you can go." the man replies and the marine who led me walks away. The man looks at me and I look back at him, "So kid, my scouts tell me they found you when they were doing their routine routes, sleeping under some trees. You're lucky they found you and not the Covenant." he tells me and I nod. He continues, "I want you to tell me where you've been and how you've gotten past the Covenant." I stand there a moment as I have no idea how to tell him we were basically transported here from some unknown entity into a ruined building where we killed a scavenger squad and made off with a Ghost.
"Well sir... you wouldn't believe me if I told you..." I say finally and the commander looks at me,
"Kid, I think I'll have to be the judge of that. If it'll make you feel any better, we can go speak privately." he tells me but I shake my head,
"No... I guess I'll go ahead and tell you." I take a deep breath and begin from when I was in my room when Kyle interrupted me to the point where I fell asleep. He looks at me and paces around after I finish and he stops,
"Son, that's the strangest thing I've ever heard... but if it weren't for the fact that this planet has had some strange things happen to it, I can't put it aside. I'll believe your story unless something convinces me otherwise, alright?" he asks me and I nod,
"Yes sir." I say and he smiles,
"Good kid. Would you mind telling me your name son?"
"I'm Sky Hunter. My brother is Kyle Hunter." I tell him and he nods,
"Ah, the young boy found with you is your younger brother. I'll go ahead and take you to the infirmary where we are taking good care of him." He says and starts off back past the hologram table, "Theodore, you come along as well. You're looking after the boys after all." the man commands another. I look to see the same man that was guarding my door. He smiles at me,
"Hey again kid. Looks like I'll be your personal bodyguard. Is that ok with you?" he asks and I nod, smiling as well,
"Yeah, sure is." I say and we follow the commander silently until he brings me to a room. He puts in a code and walks in. My brother is on a hospital bed with a cast over his arm and a bandage around his head. I go up to him and look him over,
"He'll be alright, right sir?" I ask and look up at the commander, who nods,
"He'll be quite alright Sky, don't you worry. Just a broken arm and minor concussion, nothing serious." he tells me and I sigh in relief.
"Good." I say. The commander takes my shoulder and nods,
"Well, I gotta get going. Theodore here will take care of you and provide you with anything you need." he tells me and then leaves. Theodore smiles at me,
"Well, like you heard, my name is Theodore. I'm a corporal in this army. That was Commander Silver. A real hard-ass to all us marines," he chuckles, "None of us figured he had a soft spot for kids." I smile and laugh a little as well.
"Yeah, I thought he was a bit to nice." Theodore leads me out and we walk down the hallway.
"Well, we don't have much in terms of play grounds, but the obstacle course isn't being used right now. How about we go there?" he asks me and I nod,
"Yeah sure! Sounds like fun." I say and he leads the way down the hall, a left, down another hall, through an empty locker room, and into a large room with many different obstacle.
"The starting point is over there at those tires over there." he tells me and I nod,
"Ok. Hey, I wanna be timed. But first let me do a practice." I tell him and he shrugs.
"Sure. You go ahead and I'll get a timer." he tells me and I head off to the start of the course. I ready myself then I start it, first the tires, then a series of slanted inclines, to a wall with a rope, under a barbed fence, across a rope grid that hung over water, and finally a single rope that I jump to that swings across another large area of water to a platform on the other end. I make it, having taken it slow and easy. Strangely enough though, I feel like I can do it so much faster. I go back to the beginning and the Theodore is standing there, waiting for me.
"Alright, are you ready?" He asks me and I nod. He looks at the stopwatch and holds up his hand, I get myself ready. He throws down his hand shouting 'Go.' and I dart through the obstacle course much faster than my practice run. I hop, duck, swing, and curve my way through. It feels so easy, so natural. I enjoy it so much that before long I'm already on the other side on the platform.
"No way..." I hear Theodore say as he slowly makes his way towards me, staring at the stopwatch. I hop down from the platform and look at him, confused,
"What is it?" I ask him and he looks up at me,
"You did it in under a minute and a half... and on your second go..." he says slowly. I tilt my head slightly, still confused,
"Is that... good or bad?" I ask,
"Its not just good... its amazing! You did in your second try what others practice for months to get!" he tells me excitedly and I just stare at him,
"You're kidding..." I say and he shakes his head,
"Not." he tells me.
