Everyone fired their weapons, picking their own targets. The covenant soldiers slipped out from behind the Wraith tank to wreak havoc. Plasma and bullets filled the air, heating up the atmosphere around me. I picked a small group of grunts and squeezed the trigger. Three out of the five grunts fell to the ground before my clip ran out. I was reloading when a rush of intense heat rushed over my head, followed by an explosion. A huge glob of plasma had flown right over my foxhole. The tank was hitting the hospital with its mortar rounds, trying to bring the building down. The plasma created a lot of damage, leaving a big flaming hole on the building. After the lob struck its target, the tank followed it with another round. All I could do was to focus on the ground forces. While I was aiming for an elite, the tank suddenly burst into flames. Half of the vehicle's body had been blown off. Mickal's team had hit it with a rocket. However, the tank was still operational. It could not fire anymore, but it must have been stuck on the throttle. Covenant moved out of its way as it glided towards a small clay building. The tank crashed into it, almost bring the whole structure down. The ground below my feet rumbled from the blow. Of course, I could not see this real clearly, because I was pinned down by heavy plasma fire.
Without the tank, the covenant on the west side of the courtyard had no heavy support. Or, at least, that's what we thought. The squadron of banshees came in for a strafing run. It's fuel rod cannon powered up and sent a devastating bomb down towards the earth. The plasma hit directly in the middle of an occupied foxhole. When it hit, I saw dirt and body parts fly up into the air, only to be brought down by gravity. Soldiers started to concentrate their fire on this new enemy. The banshees moved fast, though. It was difficult to hit them at the speed they were going. Taking this distraction as an advantage, the covenant ground forces pushed forward harder.
The third tank entered through the northern part of the courtyard, barraging the human soldiers with artillery. Everywhere I looked, men would get splashed with plasma, burning their flesh off. But still, we fought. I had managed to kill three elites and a squad or so of grunts before my partner, private Hozaro, was struck in the face with a plasma grenade. I had no time to think. I jumped out of the foxhole. The grenade went off and Hozaro's face erupted. I was pushed away by the blast. It took me a minute to regain my bearings. All I wanted to do was to lie there on the ground and never get up.
I lifted my head up slightly. I watched as a plasma mortar hit the building occupied by Mickal's group. The whole structure exploded, sending debris flying everywhere. I watched as Sergeant Thomas was hit in the face by a plasma bolt and slumped dead to the ground. I watched as a damaged banshee collided into the ground, killing four more marines. I watched as the remaining soldiers tried to retreat into the hospital, as the last remaining tank managed to collapse half of the building into burning rubble. A massive dust cloud ejected from the building. I could barely see the last tank through the fog.
The last tank. My SMG wasn't going to be much help. There were no more rockets either. I rolled onto my back so I could see the sky. Then I sat up. A yellow truck was in front of me.
A truck.
I slowly got up and entered the passenger side of the vehicle. Either the covenant did not see me, or they were more concerned with the last of the marines. Either way, the covenant were not bothering me. Lucky for me, the keys were still in the ignition. It took a couple of tries to start the vehicle up. When it did start up, it gave out a sickly noise. I thought it was going to stall, but it kept running. I put it into drive and slammed my foot into the gas pedal.
I pointed the car in the direction of the tank. The dust cloud was now drifting away from the battle, so I could see the menacing hulk clearly. Flying at sixty miles per hour, I ran over four grunts. Blue blood splattered against the front window. I turned on the windshield cleaners. The tank was approaching fast. I gripped the wheel. I pressed harder on the pedal. Seventy miles per hour. I opened the driver side door slightly. Eighty miles per hour. The tank filled the window. I jumped out, hitting the ground and rolled violently. Searing pain shot up my leg. I stopped rolling and managed to see my handy work. The car hit the tank dead on. The vehicle must have hit a gas line, because the whole tank was engulfed in a blue fireball. The last tank was done.
After the explosion, I examined my leg. A large steel rod had managed to pass through my left leg, allowing blood to pour out freely. I could not feel any pain, though. However, that was not my main concern. What did concern me was that there was no more noise. Absolute silence. No machine gun fire. No more explosions. Only the crackling of fire could be heard. I slowly sat up. Looking through the haze of smoke and dust, I saw groups of aliens standing around…staring.
Staring at me.
They made a big circle around me. I could hear the charging up of weapons. All of the marines had been killed. I was the last one alive…and there was nothing I could have done to stay that way.
---
After removing the chest plate from my body, I raised myself to my feet, trying to ignore the sharp pain in my leg. I became dizzy from that excruciating feat. My body wobbled around for a moment. Keeping eye contact with my enemy, I straitened my tie with both my hands. Then, I ran my hands down my suit jacket, brushing off dust and rubble. I never broke eye contact. I turned my head slightly to spit out the copper tasting fluid in my mouth, only to realize that it was my own blood. One of the elites looked like he was enjoying this show. His mouth curved up into a smile. He brought out a small device, in which he activated it. A sword was produced. He walked towards me, still smiling. I did the only thing I could do. I smiled back, showing my bloodstained teeth. The elite stopped in front of me. He was at least three feet taller than me. We stood there, staring at each other.
Until…
I didn't feel the blade as it made a clean cut through my neck.
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In a matter of two days, the covenant had captured the surrounding cities of Mombassa, making a defensive perimeter around the major city. The battle of Lushoto was barely a battle. Out of the 1.2 million people who lived in Lushoto, only 150,000 people managed to escape. 500 doctors and patients managed to escape from Nabotuk hospital. Only 174 of those doctors and patients escaped the city. Lieutenant Gregory had 33 men under his command, including civilians. Not one soldier survived.
THE END
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Okay! I know this is a bit more violent than my other writings, but I promised something a bit gritty in my library. Yes, I wrote this at an early age, so it is a bit short. Thanks for reading though! I hope you liked it. Please, review.