The Ark

by Cossacks250

The Covenant controls Earth, the UNSC is scattered and almost completely annihilated and the Flood is preparing to spread outwards. Our only hope to save us and the galaxy is Eve. It's time to finish to the fight! Some OC's.

3. Back home

Eve rejoined the squad a few metres up the path as they stopped in another clearing in the middle of the undergrowth.

"First squad, you're my scouts," John was saying. "Move out and cover the path ahead as quietly as you can,"

Two marines nodded and raised their battle rifles and ran around a large tree that seemed to be morphed with a large boulder that was well over fifteen feet tall and God knows how wide it was. Another boulder was just visible a few feet ahead of the tree and most likely formed some kind of passage or canyon with the other wide boulder. The two soldier ran behind the tree and disappeared.

"Move up and keep quiet," John whispered as he led the squad forward, his pistol raised.

The squad followed John around the tree, their weapons raised and fingers on the triggers. Eve raised her battle rifle and followed the squad. As she went around the tree, she saw that the rocks did form a passage but only a small one, about four metres long, and it turned right at the end.

Eve followed the squad down to the end of the passage and turned right into a small but wide valley which the two boulders became fifty foot high rock walls and almost touched each other from their tops. Trees and a variety of jungle plants covered the tops of the rock walls the bottom of the small valley was covered with water that was about ankle height. At the other end of the small valley was another passage that led back into the jungle.

The squad ran out of the narrow passageway into the valley. Suddenly Eve skidded to a halt.

"Stop! Stop!" she said.

The squad stopped in their tracks. The Arbiter turned off his active camouflage and became fully visible.

"What is it, Eve?" John asked.

Before Eve could answer, a loud whirring sound filled the air. It was instantly recognizable. Then, the light coming into the valley was blocked out all of a sudden. The squad looked up and saw the bottom of a Covenant phantom fly overhead. The Arbiter took out a large weapon with purple sides and a silver interior. A Covenant carbine. He was ready to fire on the phantom if it spotted them.

One of the marines gulped.

"The Covenant are probably looking for us," John said as the phantom disappeared behind the trees from where they had just come.

A loud faint howl filled the air. It was coming from up ahead. The squad darted their eyes in that direction.

"That sounded close," one of the marines said.

"Yeah, too close," another replied.

"We best split up when we get into the next part of the jungle," John told the squad. "If we stick together, we'll get spotted. Eve. You and the Arbiter head towards the river. Everyone else, your with me."

The Arbiter nodded and walked towards the opening at ahead of the squad. Eve, sighing in frustration, walked past John towards the passage out of the valley.

"And try not to kill each other, Eve," John added as Eve passed him.

"I don't think It's him or me you need to worry about," Eve replied, just loud enough for John to hear.

Eve joined the Arbiter as they walked out of the valley into the undergrowth. A small pathway led up a small hill to the left of the two and disappeared behind into a small cave. The main path continued on from the valley into the undergrowth up ahead. John and the marines ran out of the valley and ran up the pathway and disappeared into the cave.

The Arbiter went to step forward but was stopped. Standing in front of him was Eve.

"What are you doing?" the Arbiter asked her.

"Why are you here?" Eve asked him in a dangerous tone, raising her battle rifle and pressing it against the Arbiter's stomach. "Why are you helping us?"

"This alliance between me and your commander was formed out of necessity," the Arbiter told Eve. "We had to join forces to kill Tartarus and his Brutes. But I will be truthful with you, demon. I do still want to hurt you for what you have done to me. But right now your world and my race are both at the mercy of the Covenant. We will have to fight alongside each other, no matter how much you and I loathe each other."

Eve glared at the Elite and lowered her battle rifle.

"Alright," she said. "I will accept this alliance between you and John. But not me. As far as I'm concerned, you and I are still enemies after you tried to kill me, John, Mary and Wally on Delta Halo. And I will let you know this, Arbiter. If you even try to turn against anyone here. I will kill you!"

Eve turned and walked away up the path. The Arbiter sighed and followed.

After a few minutes, the two found themselves in an open area which was shaped like half a bowl and had a small river flowing out from a rock wall at the left side of the bowl. A fallen tree, as well as a few boulders, blocked part of the river and what was left of the water that could not squeeze through the gaps went around the side of the fallen tree through a large gap and joined up with the river.

Eve and the Arbiter stepped forward into the open area, their weapons at the ready in case the Brute that made the howl was nearby.

"Spread out, you whelps!" a deep voice shouted.

The two stopped in their tracks, frozen like ice.

"Find them!" the voice shouted again.

"They must be close," the Arbiter said.

Eve grabbed the side of the fallen tree and lifted herself up. In front of her was a great view of the jungle. About forty feet away was a cliff where the river flowed over. Scattered along the river were several large boulders and fallen logs. Coming out of the left side of the cliff was an enormous pathway that was covered with trees and plants. On the right side of the river, near the edge, of the cliff, was a small cylindrical shaped building that looked to be made of concrete. It looked like a small bunker with a rectangular shaped gap around the front of the building. A small doorway was on the left side of the building.

Then, eve saw a large figure standing in front of the building. It was a Brute. It had some kind of gold green armour on. It was much like that of the Brute that had been defending Truth when Eve was on his ship above Earth. A Brute shot was attached to the back of the armour. Standing in the shallow water of the river were three minor Grunts. All were armed with plasma pistols.

The Grunts turned and began to lumber off in different directions. The first walked over to the edge of the small cliff and looked out at the jungle. The second Grunt walked off towards the enormous pathway that came out of the left of the river. The last began walking up the river… right to where Eve and the Arbiter were.

Eve ducked down from sight as the Grunt approached the fallen tree.

"One of the Grunts is heading over here," she said to the Arbiter.

"I will deal with the creature," the Arbiter replied.

The Elite ran past Eve to the other end of the fallen tree. He ran around the gap and disappeared.

"Just make sure you kill it, not convince it to fight the Brutes," Eve added, muttering under her breath.

A second later, a loud thud, loud to Eve, erupted in the air. Eve grabbed hold of the fallen tree and lifted herself up. The Brute was looking away from her and so were the grunts so she was safe, for now. The thud had come from the Arbiter. He was hiding behind a rock about ten feet away. Behind him was the body of the Grunt.

Eve hoisted herself up onto the top of the fallen tree and jumped down. Her boots splashed loudly as they hit the water of the river. Eve quickly dived behind a nearby rock and went quiet in fear that the brute had heard her.

A few seconds went by. Nothing was going on. Maybe they had not heard her hit the water. Wait! No! They were probably creeping up on her or acting like they had not heard her and waiting for her to reveal herself so they could kill her. Either way, Eve could not wait here. John and the rest of the marines were most likely to be waiting for her and the Arbiter.

Eve breathed in and slowly stood up. To her amazement, the Brute, nor the Grunts had even turned to see her. The second Grunt was standing guard at the enormous path that led left. All were unaware that their two mortal enemies were behind them.

Eve raised her battle rifle and aimed at the Brute. She rested her finger on the trigger…

Suddenly, a carbine shot filled the air. Eve looked at the Arbiter and saw him stood at full height from behind his rock. His carbine was raised into the air. Eve looked and saw the body of a large green insect lying in the river. A Drone. Unfortunately, the Brute and the Grunts heard the shot and turned to see their enemies.

"THEY ARE HERE!" the Brute roared.

The Brute whipped out his Brute shot and fired a grenade at Eve, which she dodged by diving out of the way. The Grunts lumbered forward and fired on Eve. She ran forward and hid behind a small rock, narrowly avoiding another grenade from the Brute. Eve fired two bursts of ammo at the Grunts, killing them both. That was the Grunts take care of. Now they had to deal with the Brute.

The Arbiter fired another shot at the Brute, hitting him in the gap on his helmet. The Brute roared in pain and placed a hand on his head as purple blood began to seep through the gaps and tricked down the helmet. Eve quickly took the opportunity and fired a burst of ammo at the Brute. However, when the bullets hit the armour it lit up. Eve could not believe it! They had armour like the Elites! No wonder the UNSC were being pushed back!

The Brute growled and reached onto It's back. It took out a small dome shaped device with a small sphere that was about the size of the Brutes' hand. The Brute pressed down on the side of the device with his middle finger and threw it onto the floor. As soon as the device hit the ground, legs sprung out of the bottom of it and the dome went a gold colour. A large gold bubble-like haze expanded out from the object until it covered the Brute.

What the hell was that? Eve thought.

She fired a burst of ammo at the enormous haze. However, the bullets did no effect at all. They just fell to the ground like dead flies being. The Brute laughed at Eve's failed attempt to kill him.

"The shield is impenetrable, demon!" he shouted to her.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. It was impenetrable. There was no point wasting ammo on trying to disable the shield, but they could not leave the creature. They had to kill the Brut-

Wait a minute.

The Brute said it was impenetrable but that did not mean it was not impassable. Maybe a melee attack would kill it. Although she had her doubts, Eve could not wait her forever. More Covenant forces were probably on their way and if they got here then this was going to get out of hand very quickly.

Eve sprinted out from behind her cover towards the Brute's shield. The Brute saw her coming but made no attempt to fire on her. Probably because he was waiting for her. Eve got closer and closer to the shield. The only thing she had to worry about was the shield being impassable or dangerous on the outside.

Suddenly, Eve felt like she had gone through water only she had not. She was inside the shield.

Then, a terrible pain filled her. Eve fell to the ground, her head narrowly missing the dome shaped object. Eve groaned as she rubbed her side with one hand. A tall figure stood over her. The Brute. Eve's eyes travelled up the creature from It's heavily armoured and muscular knees to It's steel like torso and finally the head covered with armour. However, a small trail of purple blood had trickled down the front of the helmet. The Brute raised It's foot. Eve went wide-eyed. It was going to crush her!

Suddenly, the Brute was thrown sideways. Eve gasped. Who, or what, the hell did that? The answer came when the Arbiter stood in front of Eve and fired two shots from his carbine down at the Brute. The first shot caused the shield on the armour to light up. The second broke through the armour and drove into the Brute's chest. The Brute let out a groan before he went quiet and lay still.

The Arbiter turned to eve and held out a hand to help her up. Eve knocked it out of the way and stood up. She was still mad about the Arbiter joining them. Besides, she could have taken care of that Brute herself anyway! She did not need his help!

Suddenly, the dome object broke apart, causing the shield to disappear into thin air. An electronic sizzling noise followed for a few seconds before it died away.

"LOOK OUT!" the Arbiter yelled suddenly.

Eve and the Arbiter dived to the ground as a barrage of red blasts flew over their heads. Eve looked up and saw the enormous shape of a phantom hovering down towards them. Then, when the phantom was about fifty feet above then ground, it banked right and hovered down until the side of it was level with the river. Then, the side of the craft opened up, revealing the enormous room inside the craft. The view was suddenly blocked out by a swarm of figures that lumbered out of the craft. Grunts. The group numbered five. Then out came the squad leader. A Brute wearing the same kind of armour the Brute the Arbiter had just killed was wearing, only it was blue instead of a golden green colour.

The Brute roared and pointed at the Arbiter and Eve, who had got up from the ground when the Covenant troops starting coming out of the phantom. The creature took out a Brute shot and fired at the two. Eve and the Arbiter dived out of the way. The grenade exploded where they had been standing. The Arbiter stood up and fired a few shots from his carbine at the Brute. The shots hit him and broke through a section of the armour. The armour then, all of a sudden, began to spark violently. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle, hitting the Brute in the chest. They broke through the armour, most likely weakened by the Arbiter's carbine's shots, and embedded themselves inside the creature's chest. The Brute groaned and fell to the ground, dead.

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The Grunt that screamed turned and went to run towards the enormous path that led off to the left. However, his comrades stopped him, picked him up and threw him over the edge of the cliff. The Grunt screamed, only to stop abruptly after about two seconds.

Eve gasped. Not that the cliff was not as high as it looked but at what the Grunts had just done to one of their own comrades. She had never seen anything like that happen before. Usually when the leader of a squad of grunts would kill, they would run for their lives. The Brutes must have done something or the belief in this 'Great Journey' being so close to becoming a reality must have made them braver.

"Kill the demon!" one of the Grunts squeaked as they raised their plasma pistols but eve and the Arbiter were too quick for them.

A barrage of gunfire and blasts filled the air, followed by the screams of dying Grunts. Within just a second, all four Grunts lay dead on the ground.

"We must move on before more patrols arrive," the Arbiter said.

The Elite ran ahead towards the wide pathway; Eve followed. As the two passed the cliff, Eve saw that the river formed a small lake, that had another waterfall on another cliff, about twenty feet below. The body of the Grunt was visible just above the water. It must have broken It's neck when It's comrades threw it over the cliff.

Eve snapped back into reality and continued after the Arbiter. As they came closer to the trees, the two saw a large cave built into a rock wall about sixty feet ahead. Scattered around the trees were several boulders. The perfect places for any extra Covenant to spring an ambush. Eve and the Arbiter slowed to a walk and raised their weapons. They had to be ready to fend off any ambush by the Co-

"DIE DEMON!"Eve and the Arbiter dived behind some nearby rocks as a group of Covenant sprang out from behind a few trees and rocks ahead of the two. Eve quickly peeked her head out from behind her rock to see three Grunts, a Jackal with a shield and a Brute in dark blue armour that covered his chest, legs, arms and had a helmet, with two horns with flat tops protruding from the sides of the helmet, on.

"Kill them!" the Brute shouted to the other Covenant soldiers as he took out a plasma rifle.

The rest of the Covenant squad obeyed and fired on Eve and the Arbiter. The blasts hit the sides of the rocks and fizzed away as if they were eating them. The Arbiter blind fired a shot out from behind his rock. One of the Grunts yelled as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The Brute growled and took out a small dark blue ball shaped device with an orange lightning bolt going down the front of it. A plasma grenade! The Brute pressed down on the thunderbolt and threw it at the rock where the Arbiter was hiding.

BOOM! A light blue flash filled the air. The grenade had exploded. The worst thing about it was that it came from behind the Arbiter's rock. Eve went wide-eyed. They had just killed him. Even though she hated the Arbiter, she knew she needed his help.

"One down, one to go!" Eve heard the Brute say, causing the Grunts and the Jackal to cackle. "Let's kill the demon!"

The rest of the Covenant squad resumed firing on Eve's cover. A few plasma rifles came close to hitting her feet. She could not move behind the rock much more. It was not very big and the blasts were hitting both ends of the rock. Another blast hit the ground just an inch from her hand. Eve began to panic. The Covenant had both ends of the rock covered. If she tried moving out from behind it, she was dead.

"AAAHHHH!"

The barrage ceased immediately. A loud screech filled the air, followed by the screams of panicked Grunts What the hell was going on? Eve slowly stood up and saw the body of the Brute lying on the ground in a pool of It's own blood. The Jackal also lay dead nearby. The two Grunts were running towards the cave built into the rock wall up ahead. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired at them, killing them both.

"The traitors must pay for destroying the Covenant," the Arbiter said as Eve walked over to him. "We must hurry and link up with your squad."

The Arbiter ran towards the cave; Eve followed. When the two entered it, they saw the path turn right slightly before leading to a hole that led back outside about forty feet away. The two ran down the cave towards the end.

Suddenly, when the two were about ten feet from the other end of the cave, a swarm of large green insect-like creatures flew into the cave. Drones. There were four of them and they were all armed with plasma pistols. The Drones charged towards their two enemies. One of them managed to grab Eve round the ankles and lifted her high into the air, causing her to drop her to drop her battle rifle. Eve struggled to break free of the Drones' grip but it was hard. The Arbiter was having no luck either. He was wrestling one of the Drones for his carbine. Even though the Drones were weaker than the Elites, it was putting up a hard fight. Finally, after a few seconds, the Arbiter swung his fist at the Drone. The creature screeched loudly as it was thrown against the wall of the cave. The body slid down to the ground, leaving a trail of green blood, and lay still. The Arbiter then fired a shot up at the Drone holding Eve. Another screech filled the cave as the Drone, along with Eve fell to the ground.

"OW!" Eve shouted as she hit the ground, landing painfully on her arm.

The last two Drones fired on the Arbiter and Eve. The Arbiter's armour shield lit up. One blast hit Eve's suit, causing her shield to light up and the holographic meter to appear above her wrist. Eve grabbed her battle rifle, spun round and fired two bursts of ammo at the two remaining Drones. They screeched loudly as they fell to the ground, dead.

"Thanks for hurting me," Eve said to the Arbiter.

"It was not my fault," the Arbiter replied trying to defend himself.

Eve glared at the Elite before she turned and walked on towards the cave's exit back outside. The Arbiter sighed and followed.

When the two emerged from the cave, they found themselves on the edge of a small swamp where the surrounding rock walls formed a bowl. Covering most of the bowl was a small lake that had dark green water, probably because there was no sunlight to show It's actual colour, and jungle plant life spouting out of any gap. Scattered around the lake and on the ground were several trees that rose high out of the water and blocked almost blocked out the sun completely. A small hill on the left side of the lake led up to a small pathway that went along the edge of the rock wall at the back of the bowl about fifteen feet above the water. At the other end of the lake was another cave that looked as though it was dug open.

The Arbiter scanned the area for any Covenant. Eve went to step forward when the Arbiter pushed her behind a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?" Eve hissed at the Arbiter.

"There are Covenant here," the Arbiter replied, whispering.

Eve slowly peeked her head out from behind the tree and scanned the area. She could not see anything. She was starting to think the Arbiter was planning on doing something to her. Maybe exacting revenge on her for humiliating him on Delta Halo's library. Well, she was not going to fal- Wait! He was right! A figure walked out from behind one of the trees that was blocking view of part of the pathway. It was a Jackal. In his hands was a long silver weapon that had a purple light at the front end of the weapon. A beam rifle. Great! Another Jackal walked out from behind another tree further up the pathway. It was also carrying a beam rifle. At the moment, both were patrolling up and down the pathway, waiting for any UNSC that they knew were somewhere in the jungle.

Eve moved her head back behind the tree. She slowly turned it towards the Arbiter.

"You were right," she said quietly as if she were a child admitting something they had done wrong to their parents.

The Arbiter heaved a heavy sigh.

"I know I may have been an enemy to you in the past, Human," he said to Eve. "But I will promise to help you and your race. I will admit I was also, like you, not happy with this alliance but Your sergeant and I both shared an enemy. We had to stop Tartarus and then the Forerunners we did. If we had not, then the prophets would have already won."

The Arbiter was right. Even though they were enemies, right now the Humans and the Elites, or most likely only the Arbiter, had to band together to fight the Prophets. If they only continued fighting each other then, like the Arbiter said, the prophets will have already won. They were not going to let that happen-

"DIE!"

The Arbiter was suddenly knocked to the ground from behind. Eve gasped and almost stumbled backwards. She saw a large figure standing over the Arbiter. It was a Brute. This one, however, had teal-green armour on It's chest, knees and had a teal-green helmet on. From the shoulders to the elbows and the torso to the knees were dark blue almost skin-tight pieces of armour. The Brute had a strange weapon in his hands. It was shaped partly like an M6C pistol but had four sharp points sticking out of the front end of the weapon, two above a glowing orange silo and two below. Two large curved metal spikes stuck out of the bottom of the weapon. This weapon was new in use against the UNSC. It was called the Type-25 Carbine. The UNSC soldiers called it the Spiker.

The Brute growled as he saw Eve.

"Your pathetic race will soon be destroyed, demon!" it said, raising It's weapon,. "Prepare to see the damage of my spiker!"

The Brute placed It's finger on the trigger of the weapon. All it had to was press down. The sight of whatever would be coming out of the weapon was the last thing Eve was going to see.

"AAAHHH!"

Suddenly, just as the Brute was about to press down on the spiker's trigger, the Arbiter, who must have regained consciousness, swung his legs into the Brute's. The Brute roared as it suddenly fell to the ground. However, It's finger inadvertently pressed down on the spiker's trigger, causing hundreds of orange glowing objects to come shooting out of the weapon and flew off in every direction. Several leaves and branches fell to the ground as the objects cut them to pieces like scissors cutting through paper. Eve dived to the ground as a few zoomed over head, narrowly missing it by inches. When she looked up, she saw that one of the spikes had got stuck in the trunk of the tree. It was a spike and it was only about an inch long, but if one of those embedded themselves into you, then you were in for a world of pain.

The Arbiter stood up and brought his foot down on the head of the Brute. A loud crack filled the air. Eve winced. That was horrible watching the Arbiter break the Brute's neck.

"The prophets are liars!" the Arbiter growled to the Brute corpse. "But you are the fools who do their bidding!"

So he still believed in the Covenant, in a way, only he no longer believed in activating the Halo rings or destroying the Human race. The Arbiter knelt down and picked up his carbine and turned to face Eve.

"We must continue on," he said. "The Brutes will have alerted more of their patrols to our presence,"

"What about the Jackals?" Eve asked.

The Arbiter did not answer. Instead, he pressed his back against the tree trunk and slowly peeked his head out from behind his cover. Suddenly, he jerked his head back as two purple lasers shot past the tree, one of them scraping it and taking off a huge chunk of bark, and slammed into the ground. The Arbiter growled.

"They know we are here!" he said. "It will be difficult getting past them,"

"Not really," Eve piped up, causing the Arbiter to turn his head to look at her. "I have an idea. When I say now, I'm going to run towards the pathway. The Jackals will have to fire on me. Then use your carbine to kill them,"

"It is dangerous, Human," the Arbiter warned Eve. "You do realise that even your suit cannot withstand the lasers of a beam rifle."

"It is better than staying here waiting for more Brutes to come kill us," Eve replied.

The Arbiter nodded slightly in agreement. It was better then waiting here for anymore Brutes to show up but Eve could get killed. The Arbiter knew John would not be happy with him if he had to tell him that mankind's only hope was dead.

Eve turned away from looking at the Arbiter.

He reminds me of Auto. she thought.

The Arbiter's words were stuck in her mind. They reminded her of Auto. He would always tell Eve of the dangers of a suicidal idea. Just like when they were on the first Halo, it was the first time he told her she was suicidal. Eve missed him. She had promised to go back to High Charity for him, but he was right. You should never make a promise… if you knew you could not keep it. She could not keep hers, at least, it looked that way because of the Covenant on Earth.

Eve snapped back into reality. Behind her, the Arbiter checked his carbine's ammo. It was full. Now they just had to hope Eve was not hit by the lasers and the Arbiter could hit them. Eve stepped closer to the edge of the tree trunk. She took a deep breath. She felt as if she were the Jackals watching the tree, waiting for one of their two enemies to come out from behind it so they could kill them.

Eve breathed in and ran.

No sooner than a microsecond passed before two lasers flew at Eve. They missed her head by an inch and hit the ground. Eve ran faster towards the pathway, ducking slightly to avoid another laser that hit a nearby tree. Suddenly, her feet made a loud splash. Eve looked down and saw that she was in the lake. Oh no! It was not that she was in the water that was bad. It was…

Eve almost fell forwards as one of her boots tripped on a large rock on the lakebed. The Jackals fired at her again. Thankfully, both lasers missed and hit the water, creating to loud splashes. Although they had missed again, they would get her eventually.

C'mon, Arbiter! Eve thought angrily. Kill them!

As if on cue to Eve's thought, one of the Jackals suddenly screeched loudly as it was hit by a green shot. It fell backwards onto the pathway, dead. A second later, the other Jackal was hit and fell forward over the edge of the pathway and landed with a loud splash into the lake, dead.

Eve stopped in the middle of the lake and quickly caught her breath. That was lucky. Although it was not the first time she had almost been killed by the Covenant, that was probably the closest she had ever come to death. The Arbiter ran out from behind his tree towards the hill that led up onto the pathway; Eve followed. The two ran up the hill and across the pathway towards the cave at the end. However, when they were just ten feet from the cave…

"FOR THE GREAT JOURNEY!"

"LOOK OUT!" Eve screamed.

The next thing the two knew, a Grunt carrying two lit plasma grenades came charging out of the cave. The Arbiter and Eve raised their weapons and fired at the Grunt. The creature screamed loudly as it was thrown back several feet. BOOM! Both of the grenades exploded, lighting up the swamp and throwing dust and rocks everywhere. When the dust settled, Eve stepped towards the Grunt and stared down at it as if hoping it would come back to life. "I have never seen a Grunt do that before," she whispered.

"Their new-found courage is but fear," the Arbiter said as he walked over to Eve. "The Brutes have most likely threatened to kill all the Grunts if they do not serve the prophets,"

Eve was about to reply when a loud whirring sound filled the air. Oh no! Most whirring sounds in this area were definitely going to be Covenant phantoms. Eve scanned the sky in search of the enemy ship. After a few seconds, her eyes rested on a large moving shape she could just make out above the trees, but it was not a phantom.

"This is pelican Echo 51. We are calling from the Mombassa river ferry building. Anyone receiving, over?" a voice said from Eve's ear radio.

It was a pelican.

"Roger, this is sergeant John," came John's voice. "We're approaching your location now. Be advised, Eve and the Arbiter are headed this way as well,"

"They must be close," Eve said. "We better hurry,"

Eve ran into the cave; the Arbiter followed. About fifteen ahead was another cave opening that led back outside. The two ran down the cave towards the end. When they emerged, they found themselves on the left bank of a wide flowing river about forty feet across. On the other side, it was very rocky and covered with trees and jungle plants. Further down the river, on the left bank, was an enormous cube shaped building that had a small pathway going along the side of it. The pathway carried on to the end of the building, so it was just above the water, before turning and heading down the front of the building. Next to the pathway, as it went down the front of the building, were several large rocks that seemed to block the river. Next to the building was the remains of a boat that was half-submerged by the water. Along the left bank of the river were several small and wide cylindrical shaped bunker-like buildings. Hovering a few feet from them were two large shapes. Pelicans!

Eve and the Arbiter ran from the cave towards the pelican. A marine on the nearest pelican saw them coming.

"Hey sergeant!" he shouted into the pelican. "Eve and the Arbiter are here!"

Another marine walked to the end of the pelican. It was John.

"Glad you guys could join us," he said as the two reached the pelican. "Hop on, we're heading back to base,"

"Sir!" a voice shouted from the cog pit of the pelican. "We've picked up something on our radar,"

"What is it?" John asked.

"Banshees!" the female pilot of the other pelican shouted. "Fast and low!"

"Break off, now!" the pilot of John's pelican ordered.

Eve and the Arbiter looked down the river and saw two large shapes flying up the river. They were banshees. About two of them and they looked like they were… going to do a strafing run!

When the banshees were about fifty feet from the nearest pelican, one of them fired an ion blast at the pelicans. It missed John's but hit the other pelican. The craft immediately began to spin around in the air. An explosion erupted on the engines. Fire raged on the craft.

"I'm hit! NOOOOO!" the female pilot screamed.

The female pilot's pelican spun round wildly in the air. Suddenly, it crashed into a large rock on the other side of the river and fell into the water, where it sank and disappeared from sight.

Another explosion erupted on the pelicans, only this time it was on John's. Eve and the Arbiter were thrown to the ground. John was thrown backwards as the pelican began to spin around erratically in the air. Eve got up and watched helplessly as fire raged on the pelican. The two banshees banked right and disappeared behind the trees and rocks on the other side of the river.

"We've lost the thrusters," came the pilot's voice.

"Can you get a hold of her?" came John's voice, shouting.

"Negative sergeant!" came the pilot's voice again. "We're going down! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

BOOM! The pelican crashed onto the top of one of the boulders, but it did not stop there. The pelican was forced back into the air again, where it hit a tree and then another rock wall, that was almost completely concealed by the trees, and disappeared on the other sight of it.

"C'mon!" Eve exclaimed to the Arbiter. "We have to help them!"

Eve ran down the river bank towards the cube shaped building at the end; the Arbiter followed. However, when the two reached the building, a barrage of spikes flew in front of them and hit a nearby rock. They came from the pathway Eve looked down towards the river and saw two large figures charge around the corner after a third large figure. Brutes! They all had teal green armour on their chests, knees and had a small teal green helmet covering the top of their heads. Behind them was a squad of eight smaller figures. Grunts.

The first Brute fired another barrage of spikes at Eve and the Arbiter. The two dived to the ground, the Arbiter narrowly missing one that skimmed over his head. One of the Grunts shouted something and lumbered forward. Eve, however, saw it coming. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The Grunt yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead.

One of the Brutes growled and took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw it towards the two. Eve saw the deadly device coming towards them and shot up from the ground and held her battle rifle as if she were holding a baseball bat. When the grenade was four feet away, Eve swung her weapon at it. The grenade was hit and thrown back into the air, heading straight for the Brutes and Grunts.

"RUN FOR YOU LIVES!" one of the Grunts screamed as the grenade came towards the squad.

BOOM! The screams of Grunts and Brutes filled the air as the grenade exploded. Five of the Grunts flew through the air and landed with a splash in the river. The last three screamed and ran down the front of the building waving their arms in terror. One of the Brutes had been thrown against the wall of the building, which followed with a loud crack. One of the two remaining Brutes was roaring in pain and had a hand on the side of his chest. Eve and the Arbiter could just see purple blood beginning to seep through the gaps between his fingers. The last Brute was trying to keep his footing. His head was spinning slightly. The grenade must have made him dizzy.

"Quickly. Let us kill them!" the Arbiter, who had stood up from the ground, said.

The Arbiter ran onto the pathway; Eve followed. When the Arbiter was about half-way down the pathway, he raised his carbine and fired a shot at the injured Brute. It hit the creature in the chest. The Brute roared with pain and stumbled backwards into the other brute. Both fell backwards over the edge of the pathway into the river below and lay still as they floated on the surface of the water. The Arbiter ran to the end of the pathway and watched as the Brutes flowed towards the rocks. After about ten feet, they fell down and disappeared from sight. Most likely a small waterfall.

Eve ran past the Arbiter down the pathway that ran along the front of the building. Ahead of her was an enormous dug out area between two rock walls. The area was covered with trees that stood over twenty metres tall with thick branches big enough to flatten a warthog completely. Paths that went along both sides of the rock walls. Some were only inches from the ground whereas others were about twenty to thirty feet above the ground. Also along both rock walls were several flat surfaces. It was quite dark in this area as the trees blocked out most of the sunlight.

Eve raised her weapon and walked down the pathway towards the dark area. A rock pathway was joined onto the building's pathway. It went along the left rock wall for about thirty feet until it stopped above a raised bit of ground which had a rock in front of it. Eve walked onto the rock pathway; the Arbiter followed, his weapon also raised. The two were aware this was the perfect place for Covenant to hide and ambush them so they had to be extra vigila-

"AHHH!"

Eve jumped about a foot in the air as her foot hit something. It was the body of a Grunt. Two other dead Grunts were lying dead nearby. They had burn marks on their armour on their chests. The question was; who, or what, had killed them?

"Stay sharp," Eve whispered to the Arbiter. "I think there's Covenant here,"

The two walked down the rock pathway, scanning the area for whatever killed the Grunts. Whatever had killed the Grunts, there had to be more than one of them. It was probably Jackals using beam rifles. Yes that was probably what killed the Grunts. All they had to do was find them or sneak past them.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"Eve…" came John's voice. Eve's eyes lit up. He was still alive! "If you can hear us-(static)-the pelican's down about half a klick-(static)-from your position. Please hurry,"

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Don't worry, John," she said. "we're on our way. Just hang in there,"

Eve lowered her hand.

"C'mon, we have to hurry," she said to the Arbiter.

Eve went to walk forward when…

"GET DOWN!"

The Arbiter pushed Eve to the ground and dived down next to her.

"What did you do that for?" Eve half-shouted at the Elite.

The Arbiter replied by pointing up at a nearby tree. Eve looked where he was pointing but saw nothing. What the hell was pointing at? There was nothing there-Wait a minute.

Eve's eyes rested on a long silver object on one of the branches of the tree. It was… moving? What the hell lived in the jungle that was silver and moved? Then, as the object moved through a ray of light that had managed to penetrate the tree tops, Eve saw a figure holding the silver object. Suddenly, the figure stopped. No sooner than a second passed before a purple light appeared on the silver object. Eve went wide eyed.

"RUN!" she screamed.

At that point, the jungle seemed to explode all around them. Eve and the Arbiter ran down the rock pathway as a barrage of purple lasers flew at them from all directions. They dropped down onto the raised bit of ground. Another purple laser shot over their heads and hit the rock wall. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot onto the branch of where they spotted the first Jackal. A loud screech filled the air and a figure dropped from the branch to the ground below. That was one dead, but God knows how many more of them were waiting.

Eve slowly stood up from the ground and ran over to the trunk of a nearby tree. The Arbiter hid behind the rock in front of the raised bit of ground. As Eve reached the tree, another purple laser shot out of the trees from somewhere up ahead. Eve dived behind the tree trunk and pressed her back against it. That was close. At least she was behind cover but now they had to find a way of getting that sniper.

"Can you see the Jackal?" the Arbiter whispered to her, keeping his voice low so the Jackal would not hear him.

Eve shook her head.

"We need to draw his fire," she whispered back.

The Arbiter growled and looked towards the branches from behind the rock as if he could see through them. They had to kill that Jackal so they could get to John. If they did not, then by the time they got to him he could be captured… or worse.

Eve was feeling the same way. They had to do something. Eve pounded the tree trunk in anger. They were wasting time standing here trying to kill the Jac-CLANK! What the?Eve looked behind her and saw a long thin silver weapon with a large mouth-like opening at the back of it and some kind of silver circle about half-way down the weapon. It was the Jackal's beam rifle!

"Yes!" Eve whispered as her eyes lit up.

Eve grabbed the beam rifle. Now she could take out the Jackal and they could continue on towards John.

Eve stepped towards the edge of the tree trunk. She was no more than an inch from exposing herself, and most likely getting killed. The Arbiter looked back towards her and saw the beam rifle in her hands.

"How did you get that from the tree?" he asked her.

"It fell," Eve replied. "Anyway, I need you to draw that Jackal's fire so I can kill him,"

The Arbiter went to reply but he stopped, then nodded. There was no point in trying to protest in making himself bait. Eve had done so in order for him to kill another Jackal earlier on, now it was his turn. The Arbiter moved along the rock until he was almost at the end of his cover. He breathed in and ran.

Another purple laser lit up the jungle as it flew at the Arbiter. It only just missed his shoulder. The Arbiter ran towards the trees where the Jackal was supposedly hiding, but the creature had exposed himself so now Eve had to kill it before it got the Arbiter.

Suddenly, another purple laser flew into the air. This time, however, it was not heading for the Arbiter. It was heading for the trees. Eve had fired a shot but it was it going to hit the Jackal?

As soon as the purple laser tore into the leaves of the trees up ahead, a loud screech filled the air. The Arbiter skidded to a halt and watched as the body of a creature fell down from the branches onto the ground a few metres in front of him.

Eve ran over to the Arbiter.

"You alright?" she asked him.

Suddenly, the Arbiter's carbine rose and fired another shot into the trees near the area's turning about thirty feet away. Something was hit and fell out of the trees to the ground below.

"Let us hope that will be the last of them," he said as he lowered his carbine. "We must hurry and get to your sergeant,"

The Arbiter ran ahead towards the turning; Eve followed. When they reached it, they saw that the two rocks walls that formed the area almost came together but left a ten foot gap between them forming a small passageway. The passageway led to an area where the sunlight had managed to claim. The Arbiter and Eve ran over to the passageway. Eve ran down the narrow gap with the Arbiter right behind her. When they emerged from the passageway into the area, which was about twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide and was a half cylinder shape with another opening, that was wider, the two skidded to a halt. The reason:

About ten feet ahead of them was a Brute with dark blue armour on It's chest, arms and legs. It had a dark blue helmet on with two horns with flat tops sticking out of the sides of the helmet. The Brute was holding something out in front of him. It was struggling like mad. It was a marine!

"You are finished, Human!" the Brute growled. "You will join your dead brethren!"

"You think I'm scared of you, bear face?" the marine replied as the Brute clutched down harder on his chest.

The Brute growled and lifted the marine higher off the ground. By the looks of it, he was going to kill him by throwing the marine as hard as he could into the ground. Someone had to do something!Eve charged forward and swung her battle rifle at the Brute's back. The Brute roared in pain and released the marine, who fell to the ground. The Brute placed a hand on his back as he fell onto his knees. The marine got up from the ground, ran over to a nearby plant and picked up his weapon. An MA5C assault rifle. The marine fired a few shots at the Brute. They easily tore through the Brute's skin and the creature slumped forward onto the ground, dead.

"You alright?" Eve asked the marine.

"Yeah," the marine replied as he ran over to her. "Covenant phantom flew over earlier, killed my men. The Brutes got rid of the bodies. I managed to hide in here but when I heard the pelican crash, I went to help and they found me,"

"Is the pelican nearby?" the Arbiter asked the marine.

"Yeah. It's just at the other end of the pathway," the marine answered, pointing at the passageway. "Follow me, I'll take you to the crash site,"

The marine ran towards the opening; Eve and the Arbiter followed. The three ran into the pathway and turned left. They ran down the pathway which was covered with rocks and a few logs. At the end of the pathway was another opening. The three emerged onto the top of a small cliff with about a ten foot drop to the ground. Ahead of them was an enormous open area that was shaped like a bowl with rocks and a few trees scattered everywhere. Two large raised bits of ground, about fifteen feet high, were near the entrance into the open area. They were spaced about ten feet from each other, forming a narrow opening into the open area. A small metallic bridge had been constructed over the gap. The back of the right hill was flat, creating a wide pathway onto the hill. On the top of the left hill, which was alongside a rock wall that formed the open area, were a few rocks. At the end of the left hill was a cave that led into the left rock wall of the area.

"There it is," the marine said, pointing to the back of the open area.

Eve and the Arbiter looked to where the marine was pointing. There, at the back of the open area, was the remains of an enormous craft. The pelican. The wings had been bent, one had been torn off the craft completely. The cog pit windows had been smashed and the cog pit itself looked as though it had been placed in a car crusher. The resting area's floors had massive holes in them and part of the left wall had been crushed.

"Come on, you dumb apes!" a voice shouted.

The three instantly recognized the voice. It was John's. Suddenly, three marines came running across the bridge from the right side. One of them was John. He was holding a battle rifle. The other two marines were armed with assault rifles.

"You want breakfast, you gotta catch it!" John shouted as he fired a burst of ammo at the right hill, which was blocked out by the right rock wall that formed the bowl.

A loud roar erupted from behind the rock wall. Then, a large figure wearing teal green armour came charging out towards the bridge. A Brute. He was holding a spiker, which he raised and fired at the marines. Luckily, the marines dived to the bridge floor, narrowly missing the spikes as they flew over them and hit the rock wall behind them.

"Frag 'em!" John ordered.

The two marines threw a few spherical shaped devices at the Brute. BOOM! The objects exploded. They were fragmentation grenades. The Brute roared in pain and fell off the side of the hill to the ground, dead.

"John!" Eve shouted, drawing the three marines' attention.

"Eve!" John shouted back, waving a hand at her.

Suddenly, three light green blasts flew at them. One of them narrowly missed one of the marines' foot. John ran across the bridge onto the left hill; the two marines followed. Chasing after them were three Grunts armed with plasma pistols.

"Eve!" John shouted. "Get over quickly! We'll try and hold them off in the cave!"

A few seconds later, John and the marines ran into the cave and disappeared from sight. The three Grunts ran in after them.

"C'mon, we have to help them!" Eve exclaimed.

Eve jumped down from the cliff onto the ground and ran down the pathway into the open area. The Arbiter and the marine followed. Eve ran under the bridge. Suddenly, a barrage of blasts flew at her. Eve dived behind a nearby rock and looked up. Two Jackals with shields, were lined up along the side of the left hill and were firing down at her.

The Arbiter and the marine ran underneath the bridge and dived behind the rock with Eve. Another set of blasts flew at them, narrowly missing their heads and hitting the bottom of the right hill behind them.

"We must get past them," the Arbiter said as he sat up.

Eve nodded in agreement. The problem was; how? Even though there were only two Jackals, if they tried to get past the Jackals, they were dead. There had to be something to destroy their shields.

The beam rifle.

Eve looked down at the weapon. Even though it was a sniper rifle, it had the power to break through the armour of a Brute so surely it could easily break through the shield of a Jackal. It was worth the try.

"Fire on them and keep them pinned down," Eve whispered to the Arbiter and the marine.

The two nodded and quickly stood up and fired a barrage of bullets and carbine shots at the Jackals, who brought up their shields. One of the carbine shots almost broke through the shields of one of the Jackals but the creature stepped back a pace, making him a harder target to be hit.

After a few seconds of keeping the Jackals pinned behind their shields. Eve stood up, raised her beam rifle and fired a shot at the Jackal that was standing on the side of the hill. The Jackal screeched loudly as the laser easily broke through the shield and drove deep into the Jackal's chest. The creature fell to the ground, dead. That was one down, now eve had to kill the other Jackal. Wait a minute. Where was it?

A large shape to the right moved but did not escape Eve's eyes. She looked and saw that the second Jackal was running across the bridge with It's shield placed over the side of It's head as if it would protect it. However, it left the side of It's body completely exposed. The marine next to Eve raised his assault rifle and fired a few rounds at the creature. They hit their target, causing it to screech loudly. The Jackal fell over the side of the bridge onto the ground.

"Good work," Eve said as she looked over towards the crashed pelican. "We better check if there's any survivors,"

Eve ran over towards the downed craft. The Arbiter and the marine followed. When they reached it, Eve ran into the resting area. Two marines were laying dead on the floor. One of them had his head at an awkward angle. Looking away from the horrible sight, Eve walked into the cog pit, or what was left of it. The pilot was lying dead with his head against the control panel. The radio of the craft was still working.

"Echo Five-One, this is Crow's Nest. Echo Five-One, please respond! (pause) Hocus, Five-One is down. Divert for emergency evac, over."

Eve grabbed the radio and held it up to her lips.

"This is Eve, over," she said.

"Eve?" the voice from the radio gasped. "Your alive! We… we thought you were dead!"

"No, the Covenant still haven't got me yet," she replied. "Crow's Nest, I'm in the crash site of Echo 51. The pilots and two marines are dead. John and two other marines are still alive. Me and the Arbiter and another marine are going to rescue them. We'll call for evac when we have them,"

"Roger that, Eve. Good luck. Over and out," the voice said.

Eve placed the radio back in the control panel and ran out of the cog pit and through the resting area to the Arbiter and the marine, who were standing outside the pelican's resting area.

"I've just talked with someone on the pelican's radio," she said as she stepped out of the pelican onto the ground. "Is there a base nearby called Crow's Nest?" she asked the marine.

"Yeah, there's a base about half a mile away," the marine answered.

"Alright," Eve said. "We need to find John and call for evac so we can get to the base."

Eve ran past the two up the left hill towards the bridge. The Arbiter and the marine followed. When the three reached the bridge, they ran across it to the other side. Ahead of them to their right was the cave at the other end of the hill. All they had to do was get there and they could call for evac. Eve ran towards the cave, the Arbiter and the marine right behind her. As they approached it, two large creatures suddenly flew out of the cave and charged towards the group.

"Drones!" the Arbiter shouted firing a shot at them, which missed.

The Drones retaliated by firing their own weapons at the three. Although the Arbiter's armour shield and Eve's bodysuit shield saved them from being killed, the marine was not so lucky. One blast ripped into his leg. The marine yelled in pain but before he even fell over onto the ground, one of the Drones dived down and grabbed the marine and threw him head first into the rock wall. The body hit it and fell down onto the ground and lay still.

Anger filled Eve's heart. If there was one thing she hated, it was seeing Covenant forces kill marines. She raised her battle rifle and fired at Drone. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the ground, dead. The other Drone fell next to him from a carbine shot by the Arbiter.

As Eve lowered her battle rifle and looked down at the marine's body on the ground. She felt sorry for him, as she had done with all the other marines who had fallen in combat with her on Earth or the Halo rings. She just wished that this war was not happening, but wishing was not going to help her or anyone in this war.

"He was a brave warrior," the Arbiter said, snapping Eve back into reality. "But your sergeant and his marines will follow the same fate if we do not hurry."

Eve nodded in agreement and ran with the Arbiter towards the cave, when they reached it, they ran inside. The cave was dimly lit but there was another exit about twenty feet away. Scattered up and down the cave were a few rocks.

"John?" Eve called, hoping for a reply.

She waited for a few seconds. No one replied. Where was he? He had to be here… unless the Covenant had captured him. No, how can that be true? There were only three Grunts chasing him and he had two other marines with him. Besides Grunts never took prisoners unless they had Jackals or Elites, or in this case Brutes due to the change in leadership, with them. So if the Grunts had not captured them, then where were they?

Eve and the Arbiter raised their weapons and walked into the cave. As they walked into the cave, Eve's foot suddenly hit something. She stopped and aimed her battle rifle down at it. The object her foot had hit was a Grunt. It was dead. Light blue blood covered the ground, creating a tiny patch of light. Nearby were the other two dead Grunts. So the Covenant troops chasing John and the marines had been killed, but where was they?

"Where the hell can they be?" Eve asked the Arbiter as she scanned the cave in front of them. "They can't have just disappeared into thin air,"

"Maybe they are waiting for us at the other end," the Arbiter answered.

The Arbiter was probably right. Maybe they were waiting at then other end of the cave. Probably so they could call for evac. Eve just hoped they were okay.

The two ran down to the cave to the end. When they emerged, they found themselves on a small pathway that overlooked an enormous open area. Ahead of them they could see a huge concrete wall, most likely reinforced with steel inside, that stretched over in front of an enormous lake. It was a dam. The dam was about thirty feet thick and a pathway about half as wide went over the top. At both ends of the dam were a few tall towers with holes in both sides large enough for a warthog to fit through. At the left end of the dam was a long rectangular structure that ran along the side of the rock wall. It had several large square shaped holes in It's sides, probably a parking stop for warthogs. A small cube shaped building was stood about fifteen feet in front of the left end of the long rectangular structure. About fifty feet below the pathway where Eve and the Arbiter were was a small river, at the bottom of a ravine, that came out of a few dug out holes in the side of the rock the dam was built over.

"Get in there, scum!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve and the Arbiter looked over towards the cube shaped building. A Brute dressed in golden green armour was pushing someone along. It was a marine. Eve and the Arbiter recognized the human instantly. It was John!

"See how they bait their trap?" the Arbiter asked, pointing at the Brute as it pushed John to the ground in front of the entrance into the cube shaped building.

The Brute roared at John, most likely telling him to get up. John hesitated on his hands and knees for a second before suddenly turning and throwing his hardest punch at the Brute, hitting the creature right in the stomach. The Brute scoffed at the sergeant, his punch obviously having no effect whatsoever. The Brute then kicked John in the stomach. John screwed up his face in a look of pain before he stumbled backwards into the building. Eve and the Arbiter then saw another two figures drag John further into the building, disappearing from sight.

"I will help you spring it," the Arbiter said.

Eve nodded and scanned the area for a way to get down to the dam. After a few seconds of searching, she found one. A small pathway led up the side of the rock wall behind Eve and the Arbiter and joined onto theirs. Eve looked down and saw a small rectangular shaped building with a huge chunk of It's roof missing about fifteen feet below. She could see a Jackal armed with a beam rifle standing on the top left corner of the structure, gazing out at the dam and the river below.

"Arbiter, " Eve said. "I need you to cover me from here. I'll try and clear this side and then we can go across the dam and rescue John,"

The Arbiter nodded and walked past Eve over to the edge of the pathway and knelt down. Eve ran down the pathway to the ground below. When she reached it, she ducked behind a small boulder and peeked her head out from behind it. Other than the Jackal standing guard on the roof of the rectangular structure, Eve could see two Grunts sleeping nearby. Another Jackal with an activated shield was patrolling up and down outside the enormous hole in the tower that led onto the top of the dam from the right side. Although she could not see them,. There was bound to be more Covenant troops nearby.

Eve raised her beam rifle-wait, where was it? Damn! She had left it behind the rock in the last area! She was stuck with her battle rifle. Eve raised her weapon and looked up at the edge of the pathway. Above her, she could see the Arbiter knelt down with his carbine aiming down at the Jackal on the building. He looked down at Eve and nodded. She nodded in reply.

A second later, the sound of a carbine shot filled the air. The Jackal on the building screeched loudly and fell forward over the edge into the river below. The two Grunts instantly shot up from their sleep and ran towards the tower, waving their arms in the air in panic. The Jackal that had been standing guard screeched loudly and ran into the opening. Eve got up and ran out from behind the rock past the Grunts towards the tower. The two Grunts were hit by more carbine shots and fell to the ground, dead. As Eve reached the tower, the Jackal suddenly ran out from the opening, only this time a Brute dressed in teal green armour and carrying a plasma rifle followed the creature out. Eve skidded to a halt and quickly fired a burst of ammo at the Jackal. The bullets hit the creature and it fell backwards onto the ground, dead.

"The demon is here!" the Brute shouted.

Eve dived behind the side of the tower as the Brute fired a few light blue blasts at her, narrowly missing one of them. The Brute growled and ran towards the side of the tower, determined to kill Eve. Suddenly, three carbine shots flew at the Brute. One hit the chest armour, denting it slightly and stopping the creature just feet from Eve's cover. The second struck the Brute in the stomach, causing a teal green/white colour to light up on the armour and disappear. The third hit the Brute's leg. The Brute roared in pain and fell to the floor. Eve looked out from behind her cover and saw the injured Brute. She fired a burst of ammo at the creature, hitting and killing it.

Eve ran out from behind the side of the tower and through the opening. Ahead of her was a small room with the other opening leading out onto the dam. Through the next opening, Eve could see the remains of several crate moving vehicles scattered along the sides of the dam's top. A dead worker lay nearby among a pile of boxes just outside the tower on the dam. Anger filled Eve's heart once again. Innocent civilians who had done barely any harm to the Covenant were being slaughtered. All because of a religious belief to the prophet. Eve and the Arbiter had to stop Truth. Soon they would. Right now, John and the marines had to be rescued.

Eve ran down the dam towards the end. When she was about half-way down the structure, a large figure ran out from behind the side of the tower to the left onto the dam. It was the Brute dressed in golden green armour. In his arms was a tall spire-like object with a sharp metal piece on one side of the spire and a small rectangular metal block attached to the other side. It was the gravity hammer. Eve had had a close encounter with one of these with a Brute on the prophet's ship above Earth. Eve went wide-eyed at seeing the deadly weapon again. Last time, she barely escaped getting killed. This time, she might not be as lucky.

"Prepare to be destroyed, demon!" the Brute shouted to Eve.

The Brute charged down the dam towards Eve so quickly that it was just feet in front of Eve in about two seconds. Eve dived away from the Brute. The air where she had just been standing seemed to explode as the brute swung his gravity hammer at her. Eve stood up from the ground, only to dive out of the way again as the brute swung his gravity hammer again.

As Eve got up, she saw the Arbiter waving at her. He was pointing towards the other end of the dam. Probably signalling her to go down towards the other end of the dam so he could fire on the Brute-WHAM! Eve was thrown through the air with bone-crushing force. Her battle rifle was thrown over the edge of the dam into the lake. Her body landed on the ground ten metres from where she had been standing. Eve groaned as she lifted her head up from the floor. Her body was hurting as if a car had slammed into her at full speed. Her suit's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The shield was completely empty! All it would take now was about one or two blasts and she was dead.

The Brute walked over to Eve, laughing evilly with a sneer on his face.

"You were weak demon," he said as he stopped two feet from Eve. "Now you shall die!"

The Brute raised his gravity hammer over his head. He was going to enjoy killing the wretched Human who had caused so much damage to the Covenant. Now it was time for payback. Eve went wide-eyed. It looked to be the end for her.

Suddenly, the Brute roared in pain as a shield on his armour lit up and disappeared. Eve saw a trickle of purple blood leak out onto the ground behind the Brute. Whatever had hurt the creature must have been powerful. The Brute fell backwards onto the ground, dropping It's gravity hammer. Eve looked up at the pathway and saw the Arbiter with his carbine aimed at where the Brute had been standing. He fired another shot at the creature, hitting it in the head and killing it. The Arbiter then stood up and ran down the pathway towards the ground.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. That was close. She had almost been killed, even though it was not the first time but no one's luck never lasted forever, even if they had managed escape death a hundred times in war. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist again. The level in the bar rose, turning from red to yellow to green. When it hit the top, the meter disappeared. Her suit was fully recharged.

"KILL DEMON!"

Eve looked over her shoulder to see two Grunts, both armed with plasma pistols, lumber out from behind the tower. Eve dived forward as the Grunts fired a few blasts at her. She hid behind the body of the Brute. The blasts hit the flesh of the dead creature and fizzed away as if the body was disintegrating. She had to kill them of she was to get to John.

Then, Eve noticed something next to her. It was the gravity hammer. She could use that to kill them. Eve grabbed the gravity hammer and managed to only just lift it off the ground. Man it was heavy. Eve stood up and spun round with the gravity hammer's metal piece and metal rectangular block end sticking out from her. Eve then let go of the gravity hammer. The weapon flew towards the Grunts, who screamed and turned and ran to get away from the weapon.

WHAM! The gravity hammer crashed into the two grunts. The blow was so powerful that both of the Grunts were sent flying off in opposite directions. One flew over one side of the dam into the lake, the other flew over the other side of the dam into the ravine below.

"Nicely done," the Arbiter said as he reached Eve, who was getting up from the floor.

"Thanks," she replied. "Let's go free John."

Eve and the Arbiter ran down the dam to the end. They turned left and ran across the ground past the rectangular shaped building built into the side of the rock wall. When they reached the cube shaped building, the Arbiter stopped outside the entrance.

"I shall keep watch," he said to Eve.

Eve nodded and ran into the cube shaped building. The building' inside was one large room with a few Covenant weapons placed on some large boxes along the walls. At the back of the room were three marines, who were sitting against the back wall. Hovering about six feet in front of them was a light blue haze. A shield of some kind. There was a large diamond shaped object hovering above eight seven feet off of the floor. It was a shield generator.

"Eve," John said as he lifted himself up from the floor. "Thanks for coming to rescue us,"

"It's okay," Eve replied. "Are you guys alright?" she asked them worryingly.

"Yeah, we're okay," one of the marines replied as John helped him to his feet. "Thanks sergeant. The worst they did was wind us so we couldn't make a run for it,"

"Oh, good," Eve said, breathing a sigh of relief.

She tried to stop smirking as she looked at John, who was waiting for her to deactivate the shield.

"This isn't as fun as it looks, Eve," John replied in a disappointed tone, folding his arms as if he were a teacher who was unimpressed with a student's work. "Can you please cut the power?"

Eve rolled her eyes and placed a hand on the diamond shield generator. At once, the object lit up a light blue colour. Then, the shield disappeared and the diamond hovered to the floor and lay there.

"Looks like the Brutes have managed to capture you again," Eve said to John as he and the marines walked over to the Covenant weapons scattered around the room.

"We're even," John replied as he picked up a plasma rifle. "As long as we're only counting today,"

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"This is Crow's Nest to Eve, over," a voice said.

Eve placed a finger on the radio.

"This is Eve," she replied. "Me and the Arbiter have just rescued John and two other marines,"

"Good work, Eve," the voice continued. "We're sending drop ship Kilo 23 to your position. ETA three minutes,"

"Thanks," Eve said. "We'll see when we get back to base,"

"Sergeant!" the Arbiter shouted as he appeared in the doorway. "Phantom inbound!"

"Alright, get ready," John said. "We have to hold out long enough until Kilo 23 arrives. Come on,"

John, Eve and the marines ran outside. The Arbiter was right. Flying about sixty feet above the rock wall on the other side of the ravine was a Covenant phantom. Inside was probably a squad of Covenant troops ready to fight and kill their enemies.

"We'll hold them off at the dam," John said.

The squad ran over to their end of the dam. When they reached it, they all took up positions. Eve and one of the marines hid behind a still mainly intact crate moving vehicle next to the right tower. The Arbiter took cover behind a pile of boxes with John and the other marine near the left tower. The squad waited with their weapons at the ready. They could hear the phantom descending on the other side of the ravine. They were ready to ambush the Covenant as soon as they were close enough for them all to be killed.

One second passed… two seconds, three. Where were the Covenant? Or was maybe was the phantom pretending to drop troops to lure them out. Ten seconds have passed. Still no Covenant soldiers! Eve was about to stand up and check to make sure there were Covenant troops coming towards the dam.

Suddenly, a large figure appeared from around the corner of the tower opening at the other end of the dam. It was a Brute dressed in teal green armour. It was carrying a Brute shot. Following the Brute were three Grunts and two Jackals. The Covenant soldiers ran up the dam towards the end, determined to kill the Humans and the Arbiter traitor.

"Get ready," John whispered, raising his plasma rifle slightly.

Closer and closer the Covenant squad came. They were just ten metres away. Eve could see them coming through a small gap between the driving seat and the holding section for the crates. She gripped her battle rifle tighter. Suddenly, the Brute stopped where he was and fired a shot at the boxes. One of the marines yelled out and fell to the ground. Blood was pouring from the side of his chest.

"THEY ARE HIDING BEHIND UP AHEAD! KILL THEM!" the Brute yelled.

The rest of the Covenant squad ran for cover behind any large pieces of what were crate moving vehicles or boxes. The Arbiter grabbed the marine and pulled him behind the boxes.

"Open fire," John ordered.

Eve, John and the other marine stood up and fired at the Brute whilst the Arbiter tried to stop the bleeding from the marine's chest. The barrage of bullets easily broke through the brute's shield and armour and embedded themselves in the chest and stomach of the creature. Finally, the Brute fell to the ground, dead.

"Kilo 23, where are you?" Eve shouted over the noise of the barrage into her ear radio.

"We're just over half a klick away, Eve!" a voice replied. "ETA one minute!"

Eve breathed a worrying sigh and quickly peeked her head out from behind her cover to see the Jackals with their shields placed in front of them to protect them. The Jackals were bad enough but the Grunts had not fled when the Brute had been killed. This was getting bad. She was starting to think that by the time Kilo 23 arrived, they were all going to be dead.

John fired a shot from his plasma rifle at the Covenant squad. It missed the Jackal, who he intended to hit, but hit a Grunt, that was standing behind the Jackal, in the head. The Grunt yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead.

"We can't hold them much longer," Eve shouted to John. "Let's just hope Kilo 23 get's here quick," John shouted back as he fired another blast at the Covenant squad.

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. Eve heard it clearly over the noise of the battle. It was probably the pelican. Yes! It's here! Now they could get out of here-oh no! The whirring sound was not coming from a pelican. It was coming from the worst thing when you hear a whirring noise. It was a phantom. The enormous craft hovered over the centre of the dam a few feet behind the Covenant squad. The circle on the bottom of the craft opened up. It was going to drop more troops! This was very bad, but there was nothing the squad could do to stop the craft. Eve braced herself for more Covenant troops to join their comrades in killing their enemies once and for all-

BOOM! An enormous explosion brought the fighting to a halt. The Covenant squad shot round to see the phantom swaying in mid-air as a huge fire erupted out of the front of the craft. One of the plasma turrets exploded and fell off the craft onto the dam. Eve, John, the marine and even the Arbiter and the injured marine watched the craft as it tipped on It's side and flew off into the rock wall on the other side of the ravine. BANG! The phantom exploded in a fireball that lit up the entire open area. The remains fell down into the ravine.

"What the hell…?" John said, completely aghast at what had just happened.

"This is Kilo 23. I'm here to pick up some stragglers," a man's voice said as a loud whirring sound filled the air once again.

One of the Jackals screeched loudly and pointed up at the sky above the lake as the shape of a pelican flew out from behind the rock wall that formed the lake and hovered won towards the dam.

"Mop up the rest!" John ordered.

John, Eve and the marine quickly fired on the remaining Covenant soldiers. The Jackals screeched and the Grunts yelled as they were hit. After a few seconds, all of the Covenant squad members were lying on the ground, dead.

When the pelican was ten feet from the dam's top, it turned so the resting area was facing the dam. The Arbiter picked up the injured marine and placed him over his shoulder and ran with the squad over to the pelican. The Arbiter handed the injured marine to John, who had already climbed onboard, and climbed into the pelican.

Eve was the last to reach the pelican. However, just as she was about to get in, the Arbiter grabbed her and pulled her into the pelican, causing her to land painfully on her side. Eve was about to yell at the Arbiter when…

BOOM! Something on the dam exploded. Everyone in the resting area looked and saw it was the turret. A fire quickly fought It's way to the surface of the turret's remains. Eve stood up and gazed wide eyed at the burning turret, then turned to the Arbiter.

"Thank you," she whispered, shocked that the Arbiter had just saved her.

The Arbiter nodded and walked away to the back of the resting area. The pelican hovered up away from the dam and flew off into the sky. Eve looked down at the burning remains as the pelican flew off into the sky. The view of the dam disappeared as the craft flew behind the hills.

"Thanks for rescuing us, Eve," Eve heard John say as he approached her.

"It's okay," Eve replied, looking over her shoulder at John. "Where is Crow's Nest?" she asked John.

"Not far from here," he replied. "Mary will glad to see you,"