A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE TITLES LISTED HERE. I just enjoy them.

Chapter 3: Packing Up

Makie awoke in a tent, with Anthony laying his head on her stomach, asleep. It was night time, and all she could remember was loud screeches coming from behind her. She felt weird that he was laying on her, but she did not want to wake Anthony up, so she stayed on her bed, stroking his hair for fun, until morning three hours later. When Anthony woke up, he realized what he was laying on, and quickly jerked himself up, hoping Makie was still asleep. Of course, she was not.

"My apologies, I was out of line." She smiled back at him

"Its fine, when did you go to sleep?"

"Not sure, I stayed with you for about 6 hours, then I think I crashed."

"6 HOURS??? WHAT HAPPENED???" Makie screamed surprisingly.

"Calm down, its OK. The covenant sent a deploy team to see what dropped. They found us."

"I don't remember anything."

"You got shot in the back. You had a seizure, and your heart stopped." The explanation scared her, especially the last part.

"M...my heart...stopped?" She said, as she was shaking.

"Unfortunately, yes." He held her hand to stop her shaking, much to her embarrassment. "You have a third degree burn on your side. The medic said you can't walk, so I'm going to carry you for today." The fact that he was going to be carrying her made her really nervous. She had never held hands with a boy aside from Anthony, and now he was going to carry her. She turned deep red.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to be a burden, just leave me behind." She got more scared as those words slipped her lips, she wished she could take them back, or she hoped Anthony would say no.

"What? No, your not a burden. I will be happy to. I know it may be a little weird, but it'll be OK. I'm sorry it has to be this way though." Makie was happy, and embarrassed at the same time. She was glad he said no, but nervous that he was going to be carrying her the whole day. She hoped this would go well.

"Thank you" Makie looked at him and said, as small tears dropped down her cheeks.

"Good, your up." Both of them looked up to see Leon at the entrance of the tent. "I'm assuming you already know what happened and what's going to happen?"

"I told her, sir" Anthony replied.

"I told you..." Leon said, "Call me Leon."

"I told her, Leon" Antony started.

"Good, then lets get packed. We leave in 2 hours." Leon left. Anthony looked back at Makie, as she examined her bandaged side.

"I have another shirt for you, its gonna be cold"

"Thanks. She looked up at him, smiled, then made a weird face. "It hurts."

As she spoke, the medic walked in. "Looks like I'm just in time, then. Here, I'm going to give you some morphine. Trust me, you'll want it." He gave her a shot and walked out. As he did, a drop shock trooper came in.

"Hey, I've been sent here to pack up for you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, we'll get out of the way, then." Anthony picked up Makie and walked out with the trooper, who started to undo the Velcro. Makie noticed three blankets laying on the ground, with large objects under them. She tried to look away but could not.

"Are those dead bodies?" Makie asked, knowing the answer.

"Yea, the team that came managed to pick off three people coming out of their pods." Makie looked down, sadly. "Makie, I'm going to put you down here so I can help with some things. Will you be OK by yourself?"

"I'll be fine, go help." She said, wishing she could too. Anthony walked towards Master Chief, exchanged a few words, then ran towards where Master Chief pointed. After about half an hour, Makie laid down on the rocks and fell asleep. And woke up an hour later on Anthony's back. The team was traveling through the woods, silently to avoid any further attention from the covenant. They probably already knew they were there. Makie looked up, to get a view of her surroundings and where she was. It reminded her of the woods behind her house.

"Hey" Anthony said as he realized she picked up her head.

"Where are we?"

"Tracking the footsteps of the team that was sent to our camp yesterday. In theory, it should lead us to their base. Or somewhere that can." Makie laid her head back down on Anthony's shoulders, nuzzled his shoulder, and smiled.

"I'll watch your back." She said, blushing.