Guns, Explosions, and a curious plant

Put mildly Geoffrey Dees was furious. Most of his day he had been alone in a forest full of Covenant and the only reason his nerves had not been completely frayed was he had run into Mixer and the rest. And now it was getting harder to think and focus on the firefight he found himself in. It wasn't fatigue, he knew his limits and he was no where near them not to mention the adrenaline rushing through his veins was having very little effect on whatever was clouding his mind. With some effort, though, he could get his head back in the game and bring death to some brutes.

Which was exactly what needed to happen instead of worrying too much about something other than staying alive. He and Mixer's platoon were standing knee deep in water and muck, shooting at camouflaged brutes that were running between the tightly packed trees. A couple of the massive alines had already gone down, one in a hail of gunfire and another taken down by the platoons sniper who had found a good perch. Now the tree the marine had been in had been felled and the marine was sitting in the water staring up at one of their attackers. But it was visible at the moment and Dees fired two bursts into it's chest, dropping it to it's knees, but pulled back his finger from triggering a third as the sniper unsheathed a combat knife and drove it through the brute's left eye.

That was three down but there was no telling how many were left, at least four judging by the flashes from their spikers. He aimed his battle rifle at the source of another stream of spikes and must have nicked it because a fuzzy shape came into sight. He quickly pulled the trigger again and three more bullets buried themselves into it's armor, bringing it's shape even more into focus as the camo generator reacted to each impact. But again he was denied a third burst as a full squad of the marines poured fire on the brute like a monsoon of bullets. It was torn to bloody shreds in seconds.

He glanced at the readout on his hud and noted he only had fifteen rounds left in his magazine, five more bursts. He leaned out from behind the thick group of trees he and two of the marines were behind and saw spikes heading right for his visor and duck back. Most of the glowing red rods passed in front of his face but a handful hit the trees with fairly audible thumps and two or three flew strait into the water in front of him, sending up a small amount of steam. He pulled a frag grenade from his harness. Hey, I may have a better bucket than everyone else out here but I am not going to stick it out there again without tenderizing the area first.

He tossed the smoking explosive underhand around the tree and readied his rifle. The grenade exploded with a little more muted bang than usual and the ODST swung around and took in the sight in the blink of an eye. The frag had landed closer than he had expected and had gone off under the water, water and mud was still raining back down. But Dees smiled at his luck as clumps of dark brown mud landed on their invisible enemies and left floating brown dots leaving three of the aliens somewhat visible. Dees picked out the closest of the three and buried six rounds in it's armor and flesh before a column of fire flew behind it and hit a tree near the center of the three. The rocket exploded and engulfed all three of the brutes in a fireball. How the hell do they keep beating me to the kills?

He scanned the area in front of him again but saw no more spikes flying, no wakes in the water and no-. The air in front of him rippled as if he were looking at a broken mirror. Instinctively he jumped backward and landed in the water with his but touching the bottom as he fired a wild burst that went wide. But as the shimmering air moved closer to him one of the marines took a step closer to the edge of the trees and waited for the brute to pass. The PFC suddenly jammed his MA5C forward and up and held down the trigger as dozens of 7.62 armor piercing rounds tore, point blank, into the brute's head.

Once the big ugly had fallen the marine took one look at the mess he had made and offered Dees his hand. He took the hand and the marine helped him to his feet and the two of them ducked back behind the trees. Reloading he checked his motion tracker and was surprised two see four red dots mixed in with the blue ones, but he didn't hear any of the distinctive sounds any Covenant weapons made. The apes must have gone into that berserk fury of theirs and would do anything to kill with their hands, both a blessing and a curse really. They were stupid when they charged in like that but extremely dangerous if they get in close. And judging by the screams at least one had gotten close.

With a full magazine again he pointed his rifle at a ripple that moved with one of the red dots closer to the marines and pulled the trigger. The three rounds pinged off of the thing's head and it stopped in it's tracks, fully deactivated it's camouflage and wheeled around to stare at Dees. At first it bared it's glistening fangs then roared as it charged straight at him, hands and feet digging up clumps of mud and throwing them into the air as it ran. He judged the distance to be about twenty meters and decided to stand his ground and fired repeatedly. His first burst hit it in the left shoulder and brew blood, one or two of the next three hit one of the side of it's helmet and tore it off. The third burst, which he fired from the hip because it had gotten so close, left a tight grouping around it's right eye and exploded out the back of it's head.

As it slid in the mud Dees swung his rifle up to take on the last few, but every time he aimed at one it was already being torn apart by the marines. The last one fell as it charged away from his position and he watched through his scope as an extremely pissed off looking marine put two eight gauge shells int it's chest. Then there were no more shots being fired, no more Covenant weapons and no more alien roars of anger and pain. But someone was still screaming as most of the marines peered through the trees for any sign of more hostiles.

"Spread out and make sure we're alone." Lieutenant Mixer sounded cool and calm and once again he found himself admiring the officer. "Who's hit?"

"Banigan has a broken arm!" The man with the shotgun called as he pushed through the trees and out of Dees' sight.

"And one of the bastards bit Childers' shoulder." Someone out of sight said

"How bad?"

"It went deep, he's bleeding pretty bad."

"Anyone else?" No one said a word for two whole seconds and the ODST smiled behind his visor again. Yet again they amaze me. First they hold a city and now less than two dozen beat off an ambush by camoed brutes? Shock infantry indeed. "Ok, Barnett, pull out that black bag of yours and take care of Childers, Banigan will have to wait. Squad leaders, and that includes you Dees, I need a word."

…

"Ok, I'm not going to ask how we walked into that but I am curious why twelve brutes with active camouflage were out here. Ideas?" There was nothing unreasonable about the question but her tone said it all, she was pissed and killing the brutes hadn't hadn't take all the anger out of her system.

"I have a few." Donnelley said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I know it may seem unlikely but someone may live out here and these guys were looking for stray human to 'cleanse'" He practically spat out the last word and Mixer felt the same bolt of anger course through her as he used the Covenant's word for genocide. "Or it could mean we were spotted and they laid a trap for us. In that case we have a lot more problems than clearing the area. And there is always the chance they were on one of those relic finding missions everyone talks about. But if that is the case why the camo?"

"Who the hell would live out here? And I don't see any signs of mystical archeological... things either." Kostoff was turning red as he said this. "It was an ambush."

"But it was a sloppy one." The Gunnery Sergeant Dees cut in with his level voice. "If they had been ready for us, they would have surrounded us completely and opened up at the same time. Best as I can tell one spotted us and took a pop shot at your sniper. It honestly looked like we surprised them just as much as they surprised us." He's right, she thought, a broken arm and a laceration along with some cuts and bruises are not what we would have ended up with in a full ambush.

"Speaking of surprised, was I the only one zoned out when we entered the swamp?" They all looked around nervously and she had her answer. "Was everyone out of it?"

"I don't know ma'am. But the only way to find out would be to ask, and anyone with a brain would never say they did." Donnelley said then smiled. "But I will tell you that it is getting hard to think clearly."

"Same here." Dees' voice was still level and controlled. And even if he hadn't been wearing his helmet his face would still probably been the blank mask he always wore.

"Something very strange is going on here." Ryan muttered shaking his head and looked at her with worried eyes. "I wish we could call back and ask for at least some info."

"Ahhhh, but we can." The Gunny said wagging a finger. "Before we left the farm I had Childers and Lutz set up and hide a coms relay set to our frequencies. It won't do much if the Covies have someone watching the airwaves but It'll help."

"Donnelly, I love you" She said boosting the signal strength of her radio, switching to the command frequency, and keying the mike. "This is Lieutenant Eva Mixer, First Shock Infantry looking for Iocale Actual, come back" There was a second of silence and she was about to try again when a burst of static came through her earbud. "Say again, your signal is very weak., over"

"Lieutenant, Iocale Actual at your service, over." The voice was still fuzzy but she could hear him clearly enough.

"We're scouting the woodland west of Cumberland City." She started, taking out her tacpad and opening up the satellite image. "So far we have prevented the Covenant from setting up a forward base at reference one one seven point two by four three point one nine and run into two patrols the last of which was comprised of brutes with active camo at my current coordinates"

"I'll be sure to send that up the chain. Where are you now?"

"I'm standing in a reference one one nine point seven by four two point oh six."

"Gotcha." There was a pause then He came back. "Be advised Lieutenant, that area is known to be the habitat for a flower that releases... I don't know how to put this."

"Releases what?"

"It releases a chemical that acts like an opiate when you breath it in."It sounded like he was reading the information and was a little skeptical about it himself. Mixer though just couldn't believe her ears.

"So you're telling me that my platoon is high right now?"

"If you're feeling a little tipsy or it's hard to focus then yes. On the bright side this chemical is larger than oxygen and masks have been proven to reduce it's effects."

"I see. Over and out."Mixer said then cut down the strength again and sighed. Why is nothing ever simple? She sighed and shook her head before turning back to her NCOs. She smiled at their curious looks and pulled up her balaclava. "Masks on boys, you are just not going to believe this."

…

After the word had been spread to put on their masks, which made it harder to breath in this muggy environment, the Lieutenant had them beat feet on to the north west, still hoping to reach the river. That was really starting to get to Kray, each time they ran into an enemy the had to flee the area fast. Honestly he was tired and so, everyone was in need of another ten minute break at the least necessity dictated their actions so far today. So he kept his mouth shut and kept his eyes open as they trudged through the swamp, even though focusing still took some effort.

Even tough Mixer hadn't said what the plant looked like every so often he would smell something akin to a orchid and he would start to drift. It was kind of funny that something that smelled so sweet could spell out death, though that had more to do with the situation than the plant itself. And he still marveled at the strength of the drug, only a little bit went a long way in affecting the brain. I wonder what kind of plant it is. Is it a flower? Smells like one so it is a possibility. Maybe it's like a rosebush, but it grows in an area that floods often so maybe its a vine. Shit, I'm drifting again. Focus!

This time it hadn't been too bad, he had only moved a couple of meters so only a handful of seconds had passed. Still, as he was learning to fight through the fog in his mind it was getting denser and denser. Maybe they were nearing a large patch of the plant. That made sense since the platoon was walking almost directly into the gentle breeze that occasionally blew through the trees. He shook his head, he still wasn't focusing on the job. The Covenant was his concern right now even though no one had seen a sign of the alien's since they ran into the brutes. That didn't mean they were alone, not with a phantom armored group between them and the highway to the north.

He would have felt better if they were on real dry land. Not only was the water that filled his boots annoying, it meant that Lazlo couldn't work his magic looking for tracks. Though that in itself was a little helpful since the door swung both ways and anyone who found the brutes couldn't tell which way the marines had gone. But the farther west they went the less UNSC air coverage they had which meant more spirits and seraphs were liable to fly overhead.

The sound of a twig breaking snapped him out of his mental journey and he snarled because he had drifted again. The balaclavas helped but some of the powerful aroma still got through. Wait, twig? He looked down and was surprised to find himself on dry ground once again, oddly enough he was not as happy as he thought he would be. Looking back he could see the water's edge about three meters back, it ran straight into a rise in the earth that looked too steep and too straight to be natural.

Man made rise and leveled ground? So someone does live out here. I hope those dammed apes didn't- Focus! It was getting much harder to stay alert now, and his mind was cloudier than ever. Then he realized that instead of smelling a whiff or fleeting scent of flowers it was all he could smell, almost like he walked into a wall of orchids. He shook his head and pushed on taking the shallowest breaths he could. And as he worked on focusing he noticed something else, the trees were beginning to thin out, and in a few more meters they were gone.

As everyone stepped out of the treeline and onto bare dirt a collective gasp, or murmur depending on who was listening, ran though the group. The land in front of them was bare dark brown, almost black dirt that lead right up to plowed rows in the soil with just enough space between them for a man to walk. In these rows stood light wooden terraces that stood just a little above his head and each of these wooden frames was covered in vines sprouting dozens of yellow flowers. Peering down one of the empty spaces Kray could see a building in the distance.

"Ok, so let me get this straight." He said looking at Sergeant Ryan. "We are standing in man made fields of a drug plant, correct?"

"That about sums it up, Kray. We found a plantation."

"Listen up." Mixer said just loud enough for them to hear. "I know we have been moving fast all day but we can't stay in this field. We'll stop once we're away from these plants and take a rest. But move slowly and be careful, I doubt this place is legal."

So in groups of two or three the started moving down the rows of flowers and Kray did his absolute best to stay focused and quiet. It was slow going but they were still moving faster than in the woods despite their cautious pace, ah the glories of open ground. As for focusing that was hard, if the flowers created an actual haze his head would be the equivalent of crossing through the layer of clouds as you climbed a mountain. But he kept his mind on the building ahead and was watching for any movement on his motion tracker, that was until he heard some snickering from the row to his left. Curiosity, and maybe the flower took a hold of him and he popped his head through a gap between two of the terraces and saw Bradley, Nasri, and Childers picking the flowers and stuffing them in their packs.

"What the hell are you doing?" He whispered. Bradley, the tall woman that some had taken to calling Amazon, turned to him he could just imagine the massive grin she must have had under her mask.

"Are you kidding me man? This shit is great."

"And free." Childers said

"And free" Amazon repeated and grabbed a few more flowers. "Just imagine what it would be like to smoke this stuff. Its too good an opportunity to pass up."

"I'm not going to stop you, just don't. Get. Caught." He pulled his head back and shook his head in response to Lazlo's curious glance. Though he had to admit that she had a pretty good point, if the mere scent of the flower did this to a person it could turn out to be a great relaxant. No doubt some of the others were stuffing their pockets with the blossoms too and maybe Mixer wouldn't mind as long as they were focused during missions. He was tempted but duty took hold more than anything. This is not a time to be picking flowers, someone has to stay focused.

And stay focused he did, mostly, as they passed through the field. He estimated they had gone over two hundred meters before they walked out onto open ground again. Looking around he saw that Ryan had been right, this was a plantation with a field to his left and right each one hundred meters by two hundred. In front of them stood a group of buildings, each built cheaply out of steel and wood. The main one was long and low with a flat roof and several square windows, and as he walked around the building's edge he saw that a small dirt road ran between even more of the fields and ended in front of the building. There were two rickety looking buildings built closer to the fields that seemed to be large tool sheds and something that looked like a car port that formed an L with the main building.

Mixer Made a broad waving motion then held up three fingers and pointed to the main building, then she held up two fingers and pointed to each of the sheds. And as seven of the marines moved to the building closest to them she made a spinning motion with her hand for everyone to spread out and look around. Lazlo took off to the front of the main building with a purpose and Kray decided to stick with him and check out the car port. As it turns out that was exactly what it was, there were large tire tracks in the dirt and there was easily enough space to park several civilian model warthogs. There had even been space for trailers and save one that was missing it's rear axle everything was gone.

Lazlo whistled and waved him over and as he approached the other private pointed at the ground, or more specifically at an impression in the dirt. "Another track? You know I don't know shit about tracks."

"I know but look at the size of it. Whatever made this was big and heavy, much heavier than a human."

"Brutes?"

"More than likely and I've seen a few partial hoof prints so maybe jackals as well."

Just then Donnelley banged open the front door of the building and stepped out shaking his head. The marines who had entered the sheds emerged and gave the negative sign as well. Mixer put her hands on her hips and looked around the compound for herself before heaving her chest in a massive sigh. "what did we find?" she asked in a voice seemed too loud to ears used to near total silence.

"Tools and the like in the north shed."

"The same in the south."

"We found stoves, racks, and packing equipment inside as well as some bunks, a fridge, a TV and a phone with a landline." Donnelley reported.

"There were trucks and trailers here but they are long since gone." Kray put in.

"So everyone just picked up and left?" Mixer asked.

"No ma'am" Donnely said "There were shell casing inside and a few plasma burns on the walls."

"There are boot prints too large to be human and some hoof prints allover the compound." Lazlo added.

"So the Covenant take prisoners now?" The Lieutenant shook her head. "Lets get back into the trees but we'll follow the road."

She turned and started marching across the hard packed dirt to the north as the marines pulled back together and cut through one more field of blossoms in order to reach the woodline. Kray lost track of how long they had been moving through the trees to the north of the plantation but little by little it became easier to focus and think without having his mind wander. After some time he was actually beginning to actually feel upbeat and even the prospect of climbing up another hill didn't bother him. At the top of the rise the trees grew thinner and Mixer stopped and looked around. Finally she pulled down her balaclava and beamed.

"Sit down and have a drink. Hell take a nap, one hour down and I mean it this time."

That had to have been the best three words he had heard all day, one hour down. Kray pulled down his mask and took a deep breath, holding the unblocked, unfiltered fresh air in his lungs. Letting out the breath he chose a tree, pressed his back against it and slid down blissfully. He was taking a long drink when Nelms and his spotter sat down across from him. He thought back to the day only a few weeks ago that he called the sniper's skill into question and couldn't help but smile.

"Well if it isn't the dynamic duo."

"Hello to you too." Nelms nodded to him. He only seemed to crack a smile around Bailey and that had been part of the reason Kray got to arguing with him. Honestly if you didn't get to know the sniper he seemed distant in that superior kind of way that most marines found down right insulting. That's why he had questioned Nelms' skill and been shown that he really was a good shot as well as decent at CQB. But he had realized that everyone, himself included, stuck much more closely to the people they had been with on Brakenor. He had Lazlo, Ryan, and Vik while these two only had been with each other. All of them had just been coming out of that shell when they shipped out. "Spare some water?"

"Didn't you fill up at the farm?"

"I did, but Bailey drank it all." The big, sheepish grin really threw Kray through a loop.

"Hey, I'm bigger thus I need more water." Bailey came to his own defense.

"And food." The sniper said "But that has nothing to do with size. You're just a glutton."

"No I'm not" He said pouting theatrically. "But in all seriousness I'm parched."

Kray shook his head. "I'm nearly out too, everyone is. It's hot and we've really been working up a sweat. But I bet you can find a solution to the little problem."

The sniper raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"Come one you've already proven you can find water if you fall out of a tree."

Bailey laughed and a few of the closer marines chuckled but Nelms sat there silent for a moment. Kray began to think he had struck a nerve but noticed he had cocked his head to the side and was listening, he'd taken the hint. A smile slid across Nelms' face as he stood and walked over to the west side of the hill and let out a laugh of his own. Kray had been sure he'd heard the river and now the sniper had confirmed that there was water aplenty to be had. But the laughter stopped abruptly and Nelms came back, picked up his sniper rifle and went back to the west slope. Curious, both he and Bailey followed.

"What do you see?" He asked as Nelms held the rifle to his shoulder and peered through the scope. The sniper didn't answer for a long while but neither of them felt like pressing. Finally he lowered the rifle with a sigh, turned to Kray, handed him the rifle and pointed to the north west.

"Take a look. You too Bailey. Follow the river to the north and you'll see it."

He wasn't comfortable holding an S2, it was just longer than anything he was used to and it was off balance as he shouldered it. But once he got a good grip in the forward portion he put his eye to the scope and put the river in the center of his sights. He shifted his aim to the right and still saw nothing but trees and water so he kept going farther and farther right until he found the difference. In a narrow opening between two branches he could see a permacrete structure at the water's edge then he realized he was looking at the damn nearly a klick away. He clumsily found the zoom button and the imaged got closer and now he could see individual structures along the eastern shore. But what really caught his attention was the wraith tank parked between two of the structures and the group of brutes lounging around it, eating. He couldn't bare to look anymore as one of the beasts raised a human leg, from foot to knee, to it's mouth.

"Lieutenant!"

…

Thanks for reading.

Sooooooo ya, I added some drugs just to spice things up a little. Really I was taken with the humor of it but I honestly think it does add a little bit more to the characters' humanity. Also Sorry to any of those who are squeamish when it comes to humans being eaten, you really can't tell a story with brutes unless there is a little carnage.

So I hope you enjoyed it and a new chapter will be out soon.