Chapter 3- Sickness

Tone and Paradox hurtled over a small mountainside and down its steep slope, running as fast as ever.

Paradox jumped off near the base and landed on the ground followed by Tone. "How many kilometers do you think we ran?"

"I'd say about eighty kilometers." Tone kept pace. He noticed the powder looked a bit more fresh. "What if we're going the wrong way?"

Paradox felt pressure on her body. "Tone, your armor tightening on you at times?

Tone panted a bit. "Yes, not working as well on maintaining my stamina."

Paradox felt it again, this time worse than before. "An armor malfunction?" She tried to contact her ancilla. "Reconfigure the armor, think its the eighty kilometer run doing it." No answer. "Something else?"

Tone nearly tripped and dropped Shadow onto the powdery desert floor.

Shadow had a look of fear. "My armor, its-!" Shadow's armor was visibly tightening on his entire body, becoming tighter very rapidly. "Get it off of me!" A second later, he screamed in agony while his tissue was squished. Shadow started to scream like no Forerunner should. His bones were crushed, before finally his armor violently constricted inward. Purple blood flew out of his mouth and nose. His eyes exploded. What was left was crushed mush.

Paradox was in shock before quickly coming to her senses. "Take the armor off!" She ripped her armor off quickly, tossing it away from her. She looked at Tone and saw he had done the same.

Under the armor, Forerunners wore an undershirt and underpants, in case if they had to remove armor around others. Tone had the same fuzz down the nape of his neck and back of his hands. While Paradox lacked the fuzz on the neck or hands.

Riser had a look of alarm. "Paradox!"

The female Forerunner spun around, and saw that her armor was writhing around, kicking up ashy dust. It lunged at her but she jumped to the left. "It's like our armors are possessed!" She noticed the armors weren't their usual colors, the hardlight parts were glowing sickly green.

Tone's armor had lunged at its wearer and missed, joining Paradox's armor in picking their next target, Riser.

Riser jumped back while the armors writhed, slithering along like snakes. "Bad armor!"

Paradox quickly rushed in to pick up Riser. "We need to get out of here!"

Tone quickly followed. "First we crash into the middle of some Flood cursed wasteland, then our armors try to kill us...we really should've stayed with the Warriors and Lifeworkers."

The two ran fast, armor-less and only in their underclothing. Feeling naked and more vulnerable.

Paradox and Tone stopped at a flat expanse of powder covered land, and saw how fresh it was. Something foul caught their noses, and they looked in the direction of the oncoming night.

Tone gasped. "Oh no..."

Off in the direction, many, many kilometers away, were mountain like structures. Tall, round, and expelling brown material.

Riser looked at the mountains. "Volcanoes?"

Paradox shook her head. "Spore-peaks." Her voice was laced with fear. "They're how the Flood spread their spores." She turned to Tone. "We need to go, now!"

The two took off running, away from the spore peaks, away from where the wind would blow the spores.

Day became sunset, and eventually night, clouds covered up the stars, and flood spores drifted in the air.

Paradox coughed and wheezed. The damn spores, we'll choke! She felt her lungs and throat burning. She could no longer run, it hurt too much to do so. She noticed Tone was in a similar state of distress.

Tone coughed violently. "We need to get somewhere, somewhere away from this." He coughed worse and staggered.

Paradox staggered as well and Riser felt too heavy. Her voice was weary with sickness. "Walk alongside us." She let him onto the ground, and continued walking.

Paradox walked in front, Tone behind her. And Riser behind the two of them.

Riser walked beside them, looking at them with a solemn expression. Sad. They seemed so strong, now they're without armor, afraid, just like people. He noticed that with passage of time, Paradox and Tone became sicker and sicker. They were walking like their legs were very heavy.

They were violently coughing and wheezing. Their skin looked very gray and pale at the same time. And they walked slowly, unable to walk straight.

The air had the smell of mold off old fruit, disgusting, and the color of the dusty-green clouds were foreboding, an aura of misery.

Paradox wheezed and coughed violently, and almost tripped on her severely weakened feet. We can't die like this! Not after going so far! Her lungs felt like they were filling up with the powder. It was clinging to the inside of her throat, nose, and airways as well.

Rain started to fall. Raindrops containing powder carried over from the spore peaks. It begun to shroud everything and even moved in the puddles.

Paradox caught some raindrops on her hand and saw that it was more of the powder inside, which clung to her skin. She coughed again and saw Tone coughing violently, stagger, and fall before picking himself up again with great effort.

Tone saw a rock overhanging. "We should take shelter." He tried to take another step but staggered.

Paradox caught him, and wrung his arm around her neck to try to support him. "Let's get under there, maybe we'll get through this." She wearily made her way to the overhanging and laid Tone against the rocky wall. She sat down beside him.

Tone started coughing violently once again and wheezing worse. "Can't-" he struggled for breath. "Breathe!"

Paradox saw to her horror that every time Tone coughed, powder flew out. And it was dripping out of his nose too. Tone started to gag, unable to take a breath, and clutched his throat, the powder having filled it up along with his airways. He fell back against the rocky wall, dying. Soon, the life left his eyes.

Paradox coughed violently and felt the powder fill up her longs, and now filling up her throat, and airways. So this is how it ends? She gagged and tried to cough the powder out but it stayed, some did fly out. And it dripped out of her nose. She felt herself unable to breath. She felt the powder writhing about inside while her vision faded. Paradox fell back against the rocks, last seeing Riser laying on his back, hands covering his face, and she breathed no more.

Riser went to sleep to get away from the fear, to die unafraid.

Riser awoke the next morning, and realized he wasn't dead.

He stood up and the powder fell off his skin, it was dry, crusty and dead. The same color as the 'desert' they had originally crash landed in. And smelled of old dung in deep caves.

He looked to where Paradox and Tone were the night before. And they were dead, clotted powder that tried to merge over the night. Their flesh and bones had dissolved. Riser felt sadness within. The good ones die. He thought of Paradox and Tone. Go missing. He thought of Bornstellar, who was last seen being held prisoner by Faber. Or exclusive, refuse to be found. He thought of the Lady, the Librarian, the Lifeshaper herself.

Riser quickly moved onward, determined to get out of the graveyard-desert, lest the powder figures out how to kill him as well.

Six times the night swept over. Rain would fall nearly constantly. And during the rare moments of clearness at night, shooting stars passed, most likely starships.

After more than a week, he managed to leave the desert. He looked back, and saw, more than a week's journey back, the same foul clouds coming from the spore peaks he had fled.

A/N

Constructive Criticism is appreciated!

And thanks to Hawki for giving constructive criticism, which is why I updated the fanfic to improve it, or at least tried.

And two themes I tried to go for was "one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole barrel" and "don't paint a whole group or race or etc. with one brush", both I feel like really good themes to include considering the current situation of things…

For those who didn't read the Forerunner trilogy, Riser survived due to the Flood's ability to chose to infect or not.