Chapter 4: 13 Devils... Monsters
As the Chief approached the commons area, he noticed that something seemed amiss, as red lights winked on and off of his motion tracker, almost like it was moving in and out of range.
"Cortana, are you reading this data?" the chief asked.
"Yes, it's almost like its coming from the ventilation shafts." At that moment a grating for the ventilation system crashed to the ground with a loud crash, the chief spun about and leveled his weapon at the grate. When he locked himself into place, a red blip appeared on his motion tracker shortly before the chief was knocked onto the ground. His helmet hit the ground HARD. The chief attempted to move but was incapable of moving, something was on top of him and it was strong.
The creature attempted to claw at the chief's back but his shields flared and frightened the creature, giving the chief the advantage he needed to push the creature off of him. As the chief stood up he took a moment to size up his attacker, it was humanoid, it had lanky limbs and looked like it could stand roughly seven feet. The chief looked desperately for his rifle, as the creature stood up, the chief found it; the creature was standing between him and his rifle.
The creature leaped forward, attempting to pin the chief to the ground. The chief grasped the monster's hands, their fingers interlocking as they struggled. Despite being clad in half a ton of armor the creature was pushing the chief back towards the wall. The chief braced and pushed back, after getting the demon to move he uses all of his strength to throw the demon down the darkened hall way. Rushing forward he grabs his rifle and levels it. His motion tracker showing all clear, he enters the darkened hallway he switches his helmet to night vision mode.
As the night vision came up the chief looked for the body and found nothing. Preceding slowly the chief kept his rifle leveled his finger on the trigger, ready for combat. As the chief approached a corner he pressed his back up against the wall, peeking his head around the corner, the chief, quickly ducked back around the corner as hot plasma flew by where his head was, followed by a loud screeching hiss. 'Why didn't that thing show up on my motion tracker?!' he thought as he prepped a frag grenade and tossed it down the hallway.
As the grenade tinked down the hall, the demon moved closer to inspect it, the demon's curiosity getting the better of it. The grenades detonation forces the creature against the wall as the explosive force tears through the demons body. The shrapnel pinging off of the walls and tearing through the flesh of the demon, causing it to screech as it dies its body slumps to the floor as the cloud of smoke settles.
The chief quickly turned around the corner and leveled his rifle at the remains of the creature. Taking up a defensive position against the wall, the chief accessed his diagnostic utilities and ran a complete diagnostic of his suit.
"What are you hoping to find" Cortana asked him.
"Why my motion tracker didn't pick up his movement." The scan came back and it displayed the problem on his screen. The system reported that the radar and IFF system had become damaged. He pulled his helmet off and inspected the damaged area. There was a crack running along the side of the helmet.
The days of fighting on earth and on the Ark without regular maintenance were hell on his suit. The hard landing on the floor and that plasma must have been the final straw for the helmet. Placing the helmet back on his head after he takes one final look at it, making sure nothing else could be wrong with it. The helmet slipped back on, with the hiss of air as it sealed itself from the outside. The chief readied his weapon, hopefully he wouldn't encounter anymore of those things on his way to the marine command.
Walking down the hall he approached an open room that had two exits. Placing his back against a wall, the chief scanned the walls of dimly lit room, looking for anything that could be considered out of the ordinary. As he proceeded into the room, his rifle at the ready, he enlarged his mini-map of the area.
His map showed the two paths leading to marine command and the other leading to the commons area. His need for ammunition and a secure base camp prompted him to take the shortest path to marine command. With any luck, his trek to the command post would be quick and free of those things that attacked him.