-Zach-
I have no idea why I keep following her, but I do. But this time seemed to be alright. She wasn't in any real danger, and neither was I at the moment. At least I thought so. Man what I wouldn't give to have my phone with me to look up these episodes. Wait a minute, my phone!
"Jenn, hold on a second," I said, stopping in my tracks and started digging in my chest piece cavity where I think I put my phone when I had first put my armor on.
"What is it now? Don't you know what's about to happen?" she groaned, throwing her head back in frustration.
"No, well-wait, here!" I cheered, pulling out my old slightly cracked iPhone 4S.
"Is that your phone? What're you doing with your phone? If you're wanting my number that won't really work all that well out here. I don't think we have service," Jenn chuckled.
"Yeah it's my phone. I put it in here because I didn't have pockets when I first put on this armor when I was getting ready to go to RTX."
"And what does that mean exactly?" Jenn asked, annoyed at such a trivial thing.
"Well I'm not sure, but I think that we..."
"Hahaha! You foolish fools have fallen right into my hands! Only now do you realize the folly of your follies! Muhaha! Prepare for an oblivion, for which there is no preparation."
"Oh crap come on, O'Malley's already starting. This is it, come on," Jenn said, running to join the rest of the Reds and Blues who were at the bottom of the canyon aiming their weapons at O'Malley who was sitting up there ranting and cackling.
I quickly shoved my phone into my chest piece and ran to catch up. I nearly slipped a few times in the thin snow and ice until I came to stand next to Jenn alongside Tucker and Sarge with my pistol pointed up at O'Malley and waited as it all began. O'Malley/Doc stood defiantly on top of the ledge in his purple armor, holding a plasma pistol looking scanner thing. On his back was O'Malley's signature rocket launcher, waiting for its use against us. I knew that he'd turn that thing on us very soon, so I planned a route to the nearest cover, and waited.
"O'Malley, the Reds and Blues are working together now, you can't hope to beat us," Simmons defiantly called up.
"You fools! My metallic friend is the only ally I need," O'Malley then turned to Lopez, who was out of sight from us down at the bottom of the snow and ice covered canyon, "Lopez, activate weather control routine."
I could barely make out the robotic, "Okay," from above us and then I saw a bright blue light and then numerous symbols started swirling around Lopez and I realized they actually did look pretty cool.
"Are those runic symbols or signs of some ancient technology?" Simmons shouted up in curiosity.
"No, I use to draw them on my binder during study hall. I've always wanted to use them for something," the voice of Doc called out, "Aren't they cool?"
"Shutup!" O'Malley cried out to his host.
I couldn't help but chuckle then before I could stop myself I also joined in the dialogue, "They actually are kinda cool."
"Shut it Red Romeo," Sarge barked at me.
"Oh hey there, I didn't notice your fine figure come on down this way," Tucker said, his voice moving into flirtation mode as he finally set eyes on Jenn.
"Not now!" Jenn growled without paying Tucker any mind.
"Oooh playing hard to get, I like that."
The air was now buzzing with electricity as the clouds overhead were now beginning to darken and rumble ominously, far off lightning began to light up the sky as it drew nearer to us and the now activated Lopez.
"Oh Samson's backhair, they discovered our secret weapon. I was developing a weather control device but I was missing one critical piece of technology to make it work," Sarge moaned, realizing what was happening.
"Yes, and now that I have located those D-Batteries, the universe will be mine! Hahaha!" O'Malley cackled, and every single one of us turned to Sarge.
"Are you serious? You couldn't find D-Batteries?" Tucker groaned.
"Only at gas stations, and they're just so darned expensive there."
Then I heard boot steps crunching the snow underfoot and a low ticking noise. I spun around, weapon in hand and saw the cobalt armor of Church himself, the Alpha, standing right in front of me.
"What's going on? And who the fuck are these two?"
"You want the long version or the short?" Sarge asked, but kept going anyway, "Basically you've got a fifteen mega-ton bomb in your gut-"
"Ten sir," Simmons interrupted.
"-And Lopez is about to kill us all! And worse still our reinforcements have fallen in love!"
"That doesn't make any sense, what's the long version?" Church asked.
"That was the long version, the short version is 'we're boned,'" Tucker groaned, "Those two literally."
"Hey why you..." Jenn growled, not too pleased with the extremely lewd comment Tucker had just made.
I grabbed, Jenn's wrist before she turned loose on Tucker and then pulled her close to me, just to keep it safe. And another feeling felt like it was welling up inside too: anger and resentment. Had I really just gotten mad at Tucker for saying that about me, about us?
"Hey Grif, you okay?" I heard Simmons ask, and then turned to see that Grif had walked up to him with a seriously fake ghetto swagger.
"I've done hard time Simmons, I'm not the man you used to know," Grif said, his voice low and foreboding.
"Hard time?" Simmons asked, "We were only separated five hours."
"Time moves slower on the inside Simmons, it felt like seven or eight hours to me."
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a rocket came streaking over our heads and then hit the ground not fifteen yards away. Everyone ducked down instinctively as dust and bits of rock and ice fell down from the explosion. Every muscle seemed to stiffen as I heard O'Malley cackle once again and saw his rocket launcher squarely aimed a us.
"You foolish fools will never defeat me!" O'Malley cried out.
"Come on!" I yelled, grabbing Jenn by the wrist and started ran to one of the trees close to the canyon wall.
"Alright," Jenn replied, and quickly fired off a few rounds at O'Malley/Doc as he jumped down to ground level.
Everyone scattered and took off running towards any piece of cover they could find. Church and Donut went straight for some of the rocks near Sarge and Grif. Simmons and Caboose took cover behind one of the trees where I remembered that he would be calling out for Sarge and Grif to hold off O'Malley. Lightning now began to rain down all over the canyon. Dark clouds rumbled and convulsed angrily as the battle raged. Gunshots rang out from all the Reds and Blues trying to fight back but doing so all so poorly. I ran towards the rocks with Jenn in close proximity until I looked behind to see if Jenn was still behind me.
"Zach!" Jenn yelled as she pointed at something.
I had no idea what she could have been pointing at, no clue. But then for one split second I saw the tell tale smoke trail from a rocket arcing right towards me with it leading all the way back to the cackling O'Malley. I just managed to pick out the rocket itself and its yellow flaming motor right before it hit the ground four feet in front of me between me and Jenn. I looked at Jenn, not really scared, but shocked. I had no inclination as to what would happen to me. My concern, oddly was for her. She too was close to the rocket's point of impact, but not nearly as close as I was.
"No!"
The explosion was loud, very loud. I felt the concussion equivalent to getting hit by a truck on every inch of my body. I felt myself magically lifted into the air as red hot burning sensations ripped through my chest, arms, and legs. My visor seemed to crack once then nearly shatter as a piece of shrapnel more than three inches long wedged itself inches from my right cheek bone. The sudden flight I had taken ended unceremoniously with a simple hard slap on the back as I crashed onto the snow and sent it pillowing out like dust. I knew the armor had been punctured, but how bad I had no idea. But worse still, I couldn't feel anything but hot burning pain. No cold air hitting skin, no feeling in my fingers of toes. All that seemed to exist was pain crawling through most of my chest my thighs, and my arms.
I began tasting the metallic taste of blood seeping through my lips, attempting to escape. My vision began fading rapidly in and out as I unconsciously moved my head side to side. I saw a green doorway open and a dozen red and blue forms run through it all at once weapons raised. But I couldn't hear them. All I could hear was a high pitched ringing screeching uncontrollably through my head. A lower pitched voice cried out through the din, and then my vision was blocked out by a single blue and black figure kneeling by my side. I felt my head raise up off of the snow in someone's arms as I tried to strain to see through the cracked visor and the piece of metal sticking into it. But as my eyes finally began to close with an exhaustion I'd never know I was able to pick out words that I knew, from someone I now knew I loved.
"Zach! Zach! I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
-Jenn-
No no no no no no, not like this. Not him, please for fucks sakes, don't take him away from me. For Christ's sake, why did O'Malley aim for us?! Why did it hit him? I don't know what to do! I had no clue, I wasn't a soldier, or a cadet or anything! All I am is a fangirl who writes and draws, and I didn't know how to help him! Everything looked bad, his visor just shattered, there was blood, I felt sick and….and
'No…no not now, I can't have an anxiety attack now…'
I took several quick breaths of air, summoning all I could to calm myself. If Zack could do it for me, I can do it for him. He looked worse than me when I got shot, and now he was dying in my arms and I could barely make out the others starting to notice us and I can't breathe. MY arms hurt, my head hurts. Where was…
'STOP! Stop it! I will not have a panic attack now! H-help him dammit, do something!'
Were they talking to me? Was Sarge pointlessly trying to disarm Church's bomb? Was I seeing things that Tucker and Donut were running at me? I don't know, everything was so fuzzy and unrecognizable. Was Tex free, did Tex make it?
"Oh my god, Zach! Blue girl, what happened?"
Donut? Donut, you're supposed to be with the others. Who was pulling me up? No! No, put me down I need to help him!"
"GET OFF ME!"
"Relax, new girl! We need help over there alright?"
"Tucker, what the hell, I needed to save Zach! I wasn't going to let him die here! I will not be Juliet in this situation! Let me go!"
"I'll get Zach, new blue girl okay? Tucker, try to keep her calm" Donut instructed, getting Zach from the ground and putting him on his back.
"Let me…Tucker, I need to help him! LET ME GO, stop touching me! I need to help him…."
"Well we're all about to be blown to smithereens, so it'll have to wait!" Tucker argued back. "I don't want to miss Church being blown up from the inside out!"
Please Tucker, let me go. I need…what do I need?! How the hell did this happen?! Please, for fucks sake let this end! I didn't know what was going on, where I was taken, all I know is that I heard was a sniper rifle shot, Tucker cursing and then some ringing and beeping like something was ready to blow up. Were we near Church? I don't understand…
'Stop! Church is about to-'
Nothing, it was just….nothing at first. The bomb in Church's stomach must have exploded. IT was all white and serene, though my ears were ringing. I felt….calm. Nothing felt wrong. I felt peaceful because I could just make out Zach. Why was he here when we went back in time?
It all changed when we were suddenly thrown into spirals and stars and warping objects, and the blood started to spill.
It was everywhere, the coppery smell fermenting everything I could touch and smell. It made me want to vomit, it made me scared. Pinwheels of white and black whirled around in open gravity around me, sending me everywhere. I was floating along a stream of blood and it soaked into me and my hair, all I could make out was the feeling of it on me. It was a nightmare time travel. I could see the others in the background of my horror. I had to bear with just floating around in my time traveling nightmare, hitting a random grandfather clock that broke as it hit me, shattering it into pieces of oak and numbers. I curled up, trying to think and suddenly it clicked. What the blood was. It made me remember that I was about to lose Zach. Zach?! Where was here, all I can see is black and white and blood!
"ZACH!"
I screamed for all I was worth, to see if Zach was here. It was his blood, I know it. Where was everyone again?! Where was Zach, how'd I get here?!
'It hurts….to breathe again. Stop thinking about it, it hurts….'
"... whoa no! Heads up boys, prepare for impact!" I could hear Sarge shout, and suddenly it was like a long hallway in front of me, and I was slowly sucked into the middle of it, the little shining dot at the end. It was all black and dark again. I could still smell blood and feel it on me. Where was I?
I could make out the feeling of something sandpaper-y on my back and arms, even through the undersuit. Did we make it? My eyes burned and watered at the same time, the bright sunlight hitting my eyes like spears and daggers. Carefully I looked up at the sky, seeing blurry rocky formations in the sky, similar to a cliff. The sky wasn't blue or cloudy, but brown and tan, hazing dark brown clouds leisurely crossing in front of the sun. I didn't know the name of the map, but I recognized it from Halo 2. We really made it to the future.
Every came back quickly and I struggled to get up from my sand bed, brushing it off quickly and sprinting god knows where, desperate in my search for Zach. Who knows how bad he is now, sitting in sand and slowly bleeding out to death, oblivious to the world he would leave. I don't want him to leave, give him back!
"Zach? Sarge, Tucker, where are you?!" I screamed, my voice hoarse though. I felt weak as I slumped down to my knees, mistakenly hitting the beginnings of a slope. I slid down it rather fast, actually catapulting to my face and rolling the rest of the way down, hitting the bottom face up. My HUD was twitchy, telling me the heat index and bringing up choppy radar readings. Nothing was showing up. I was alone or so far away from the others that I couldn't pick them up. It was pointless now…..Zach wasn't in any reachable distance and my lungs hurts. I wouldn't be able to save him anyway.
I was useless. How the hell did we fall in love with one another?
"I'm sorry Zach…I'm so sorry" I started to sob, only to start coughing hard. Damn this place, my lungs hurt. Did my….my anxiety contribute to it? I can't remember. I sat up, adjusting my helmet so I could finally take it off and shake the sand out of it. I dragged my hands through my hair, pulling at constant knots and tangles-curse my curly hair-and trying to see if…if there was anything else in it. Besides what was drying on my hands, arms, breast plate and legs, I was blood free. It still stung and freaked me out that I could lose him here before we went home. Where the hell did he end up anyway, did he even end up here? Maybe he was blown into the past?!
'No, no no….he wasn't, we were in front of Church, right? Donut….had him, right?'
I reluctantly stood up again, wiping away beads of sweat already collecting on my forehead. As I reluctantly put back on my helmet, I just stared….walking anywhere. I didn't play Halo 2 much anymore so the map and anything else was almost completely unknown. I just hoped I would stumble onto someone. My side was aching again. I fingered at the healed wound, picking at the black undersuit like a lifeline. It calmed my random little burst of oncoming panic attack. It reminded me that I was saved by him. It was both a safety line and a knife in my heart each time a memory bubbled to the surface. It could all be pointless if I don't find Zach and get him fixed up.
I was diving into a depressive anxious mess when I finally saw the boys up in one of the bases, probably while they were trying to explain to Tucker what happened. I let my lungs finally have some relief, coughing out the random cobwebs building up again. It caught Donut's attention and soon the team was helping me up to their level.
"Hey there Corinth!" Caboose yelled at me. "Look at how shiny we are!"
"I can see that Caboose…" I weakly smiled behind my visor. Tucker seemed to be giving me a once-over, and that didn't start anything well in my head. I should have kicked him or something for checking me out at such a time, but it reminded me too much…..
All I could seem to do was start shaking, the slow beginnings of a panic attack.
"Y-you guys haven't seen or found Zach b-by any chance?" I asked rather meekly, my hands shaking uncontrollably. It was going to happen, I know it. I was going to break down into a hysterical, anxiety attacked mess. If they said they found him dead….
"Lucky for you, and for me, we did. He's over there a ways just-"
Before I could let Sarge finish, I was rushing over to the suddenly visible propped up body of Zach, skidding on my knees the last foot up to him. Throwing my helmet off, I took his head in my head, trying to see if he was awake or even still breathing. The teams stood awkwardly behind me, unsure of what to do. I didn't know either. He was still out of it, and shards of metal and visor glass still in his right cheek. He was pale, unbelievably pale, and I immediately started to lose it, my body taken hold by tremors and uncontrollable anxiety.
"He's not dead right? H-he can't be, he's just unconscious. Are there any med kits, Sarge please tell me he's okay?!" I screamed, my shoulders starting to curl up. Tears falling, everything suddenly dead around me, I was lost to the sudden panic attack all focused on Zach's well-being. I'm supposed to keep him alive, he did it for me. I needed to help him.
"Jenn relax…." Donut started to say but it just made it worse. I curled up into myself, hands struggling to keep holds on my sides. Everything left the floodgates as they opened for the Reds and Blues.
"HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING?! Were you that focused on Tucker's sudden mistaken memory to forgot him? Is he okay, is he still bleeding? Did I lose him?! You could have easily looked through this shithole of a base, or this endless desert to find a med kit or anything to save him! JUST TELL ME HE'S OKAY! Please just fucking tell me, it hurts! I….I…I just…"
It got no farther, and I was pulled away from him and up against blurry pink armor. I didn't care if they saw this, or even what anyone thought of it. I sobbed into Donut's offered shoulder, babbling on and on, and Donut just let me ride out my panic attack as if he was used to it. I shut out the rest of them, and focused on Donut's softly spoken words of calming and what I had of Zach. Everything just hung in the balance, hovering over an endless pit and all I had was string to keep me up. It hurt to think anymore so I let everything fade, and let myself do what I wanted.
"Donut, you traitor, what are you doing?!" Sarge demanded. Donut quickly looked up at Sarge, keeping me pressed up against him.
"Don't you understand Sarge? She's having a panic attack! She needs a shoulder to cry on and I will not stand for her to cry like this alone!"
Sarge backed off a bit, looking down at me, then to Donut, then to Zach and repeating it until he finally let it slide and signaled his team to relax for a bit, and for Simmons to find something, anything, to save the iffy new recruit. I didn't listen to the rest, unable really to. Everything started to bubble and collect up again into another harsh wave of anxious nerves.
Donut stayed with me on the ground, just keeping me close and letting me sob and scream out everything in hysterical fits of anxiousness. The others…..I didn't know what they did. My vision was slowly going from blurry to black and I couldn't make out my words. It didn't take long but I sunk out of my panic attack into the walls of unconsciousness and my own mind.
The last little thought I could remember clearly was that I hoped that Zach would never find out about this, or maybe it was for the Reds and Blues to get Zach back on his feet.
-Zach-
Pain, that was the first thing that came screaming into my mind. A sudden piercing pain unlike anything I had felt before awoke me from a pit of darkness. I'd had no idea where I was, all I sense was the smell of anesthetic and the unbearable heat of a hot dry sun. My eyes popped open, nearly blinding me from the sudden exposure to light. I instantly shut them again, groaning softly at my intense discomfort. I felt like I had been run over by a truck, and that is not a feeling you want to wake up to. I tried to bring my hand up to massage my eyes and try and block out some of the light but I then felt my arm pinned down suddenly by a strong force that felt like it was on my bare skin. I then heard voices, familiar voices.
"Whoa whoa, easy there," I first heard, it was Simmons.
"You've been through Hell dude! I'm surprised you're not dead," another voice said, it was Tucker.
"Wh-what? Where?" I groaned, finally chancing a look around me.
"Shh...shh..." I then heard Donut say, "You need to just calm down, you've been out a long time. But don't worry, we took care you."
"Donut?" I groaned, seeing a simple pink blur in my vision beside an orange, maroon, red, and turquoise blurs.
"Your injuries were fairly severe. Thankfully, the medkit we found did the job just dandy," Sarge said as my vision slowly returned to normal.
"Oh by the way, I think that Blue chick is head over heels in love with you," Grif said, "She totally flipped out when she saw you wounded like that."
"What Blue chi-" I started to say, still not entirely focused, "Jenn!"
I tried to sit up, remembering Jenn, but then a sudden intense pain sot through my chest in response to the sudden movement. I was forced down by Simmons and Sarge with their hands on my shoulders. I stayed totally still, letting the pain continue to rush through my chest. But soon enough I was able to be leaned against the dusty cracked wall of the half destroyed base we were sheltering under. I noticed then that I was completely out of my armor, and where I'd been badly wounded there were slightly red bandages, my black undersuit was perforated with the holes from my close encounter with a rocket and my right cheek also had a bandage stuck to it. My mouth was very dry, still tasting like blood, which was not a very nice taste at all.
"Where's Jenn? Is she alright?" I asked, trying to see if she was okay, they'd told me that she went crazy when she had seen me wounded and I needed to know if she was okay, and to let her know I was alright.
"Oh her? She had a total panic attack when you were hurt and passed out. Caboose is keeping an eye on her," Donut said, "She was really upset when she saw you. Man, you two must be head over heels in love!"
"Can you," I winced, trying to get up, "Can you take me to her? Is she awake?"
"Uh I don't think so," Grif responded, "We told Caboose to tell us when she woke up."
"But this is Caboose we're talking about, she could be having a tea party with him for all we know, or be dead. Take your pick," Tucker shrugged.
"A tea party?! You never said that they were having a tea party!" Donut gasped, beginning to get really excited.
"No Donut, it was just an example."
"Well if we were, I would throw the best tea party you all have ever seen, you're all invited if you want to come."
"No!" everyone said.
"Maybe!" Simmons said, then stopped when he saw that everyone was looking at him, "Uh, I mean no..."
"I think we need to go check on her, now that Zach's awake I don't want to deal with another Blue having a panic attack," Sarge said, and turned to go see where Jenn was.
"Oh never mind," Tucker said, seeing a shadow then turned to see Jenn come walking around the corner with Caboose by her side.
"She's awake Sergeant!" Caboose called out.
"We see that idiot," Tucker growled in annoyance.
"Zach!" Jenn practically screamed, and charged past everyone to stop right by me.
"Jenn-ow!" I cried out when she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight and painful hug.
"Sorry!" she said, and pulled back, allowing me to lean back against the wall and feel the pain die down again, "You okay? Is he okay?" Jenn asked, turning to me then to the rest of the Reds and Blues.
"I'm fine, just hurt," I said.
I could it in Jenn's eyes, she'd been crying, a lot. Her eyes were just beginning to return to normal after being puffed and red. Her hair was disheveled and dirty and her cheeks were pink from the heat. I could tell that the so called panic attack that the gang had described was real, and had happened while I was out. She was completely enamored with me, my bandages, my wounds, everything. She did really care and was showing an almost troubling amount of care to trying to be sure I was okay.
"I think we should leave you two alone," Sarge grumbled.
"Aww...but I wanna watch," Donut whined.
"Shutup Donut, he's not dying any time soon, there'll be another time"
Jenn and I looked at the Reds and Blues as they filed out, grabbing their weapons as they left. This left Jenn and I alone, for the first time since leaving the teleporter room.
"Jenn you alright?" I asked, seeing her eyes start to water.
She didn't respond, she just leaned in and pressed her lips against mine and kissed me with a pent up passion that was channeling all the hardship and stress she must have gone through since I got hurt. The kiss was passionate, desperate even, it was a totally different kiss than our first kiss. It lasted for several seconds, with her clenching her hands on my cheeks and running them through my hair. She finally pulled back and kept her hands on my face as she stared almost desperately into my eyes.
"I thought you were dead," she whispered her tears still hovering in her eyes.
"So did I," I responded, "But I guess we were both wrong."
"Zach I-I'm sorry," she said, her voice trembling.
"For what?" I asked, now my own curiosity peeking at what she'd said.
"For what I did before, after we'd kissed. I was scared," she said, running her hands through my hair, going to the back of my neck.
"Scared?"
"Yeah I've..." she said, but stopped. Her hand brushed through my hair and then I felt a very sensitive cold feeling in the back of my upper neck. She silently felt it, tracing along its cold lines. It was something that I hadn't noticed before.
"Jenn?"
"Lean forward," she quietly ordered, fear working into her voice, and I silently complied, and she shifted to be in a position for her to see what it was that she had felt. Then she gasped, "Oh my God."
Then she shot a hand to the back of her own neck and her eyes widened, the sadness and fear gone, replaced with fear.
I silently turned her shoulders and she complied, and I brushed her hair away to be able to see what it was that had made her so scared. And then I saw it, it was a piece of metal barely poking out of the back of her neck right where her spine connected to her skull. It was barely an inch long and maybe a few millimeters thick. It was steel gray, with the skin pink and tender around it. It had just been put in.
"Oh God," I mumbled, many things flashing through my mind.
"Did they do that?" Jenn asked.
"No," I replied, my own fear seeping into my voice, "Freelancer did."
