Red Letter Days

by The Pink Panzer

Private Schaeffer just wants to do what's right and get out of the marines as soon as possible, but he soon finds himself caught up in the beginning of a massive war, will he survive?

6. Chapter 6: Holding the Breach

Authors Note: Sorry this took so long! The delay is my fault, for I slacked on the last three chapters and had to catch up with this one if I wanted to end the volume where I wanted to (all the last chapters were originally meant to be in chapter 2!) I want to thank the halo fanon user Lieutenant Davis for helping edit this thing with me, and Anonymous ONI agent for emotional support or something.

Chapter Six: Holding the Breach

Rhoade saw one of the frigates hangar crew get onto a knee and make some movements with his hand, his yellow vest and helmet making him stick out like a sore thumb. In responses, the Pelican lowered its bay door and turned on its engine.

"First squad! Hup to!" He ordered, the marines had been waiting in the hangar for an hour now, on standby in case the marines on the ground needed help. They were ready to drop at a moments notice, some hardened from combat and some practically had their mothers milk still on their lip. Some were black, some were white, some were tall and some were short, but most of all, they were his.

The marines all jogged into the back of the Pelican, quickly finding seats and strapping themselves in. First Lieutenant Roberts was soon after them, Rhoade didn't like the man too much, but the man was an officer and his word was gold. The lieutenant's brow was furrowed in concentration.

Rhoade looked at Corporal Radke, the veteran marine sitting across from him, a white skull and crossbones stamped onto his helmet. Rhoade disapproved of the modification, and had been pressuring him to get a new helmet for weeks, but they didn't have time to worry about small things such as that right now. They had a mission.

"What's wrong, Radke?" The sergeant was genuinely curious, Radke only showed emotion when he had to, and he certainly never brought his personal life into the workplace. If he thought there was something wrong, it was probably important. The corporal looked up at him, there was a look in his eyes that Rhoade couldn't quite place. Was it fear?

"I have this feeling in my gut... something is going to go awry, sergeant." Rhoade rubbed the back of his neck. This was unlike Radke.

"You aren't one to get spooked by nothing, corporal." The statement was innocent enough, but he immediately felt regret for it, realizing that Radke might take it the wrong way. The corporal didn't seem to notice.

"A combat drop with practically no warning, that comes after Captain Pisenti tells us there is a hostile ship in atmosphere. Not to mention no one is telling us nothing, none of the crew can explain what's happening, and we can't get a comm with the ground." The corporal's voice was quiet as it always was, making Rhoade strain slightly to make out the words, he sensed a hint of desperation in the mans voice. That too was new. But Rhoade had seen too much in his career to make this scare him, some of the things he had seen made this look like a training exercise. Still, Radke being scared of something was bound to be a poor omen.

Rhoade was about to open his mouth when the bay doors shut with a whine of hydraulics, a weak red light shining over the cockpit door to help them make sure their gear was in check. The conversation was over he could see, the corporal deep in thought. A private's in the back told another a joke and him and his friend both laughed, the sounds of their laughter helped set his mind at ease.

The Pelican flew for several minutes, the pilot told them there was something 'fucking huge' in the sky and that theFurious had just retreated. Rhoade's fears returned, he glanced at the corporal who still sat in the same position, thinking. It wouldn't matter much really, the Furious had dropped off about its entire crew, sans crewmen, to go down to the planet. No explanation was given on why they needed to drop so many men, the corporals prophesy was becoming more and more real.

The Pelican shook violently, a marine cursed as his head slammed into the back of the seat. Rhoade yelled an order for them to don their helmets, and those who had been relaxing without the metal items quickly slid them on.

"Ah fuck! Rebel AA... I think!" Rhoade grabbed his seat and wondered what 'I think' meant, the Pelican shook again. The pilot sounded Australian to Rhoade, though the names of Earth countries tended to mash in his mind, he quickly reopened the Pelican intercom, "What type of AA is this!?" the pilot asked, panic sliding into his voice, "God damn it, it's coming from the inside of the city. I am getting orders to switch LZ's to a construction yard in the outskirts, hold on!" Rhoade felt the Pelican bank hard to the right and Rhoade could hear the sound of explosions mix with the sound of the rain as they got closer to the ground.

"Squad! Get ready!" Shouted the lieutenant, signaling them to check their ammo. Rhoade made sure there was a clip in his assault rifle, the rest of the squad did as well.

"We are going in hot, watch-" the pilot was screaming when he said it, a sudden bang cut him off. The bay of the Pelican shook and then slowly began to rotate, Rhoade heard another bang from the cockpit. "AH! AH! AH! FIRE!" the marines could all hear the pilots cries through the cockpit door, they exchanged worried looks and murmured questions. Rhoade felt them going faster.

Another explosion, the bay door of the Pelican creaked as the hydraulics began to fail, and then they flew open. Rhoade's eyes widened, the construction site was one of the stupidest LZ's he could imagine, the rain had turned the loose dirt into pure mud. A crashed Pelican, half buried, flashed in view as they flew over the site, the ground getting closer and closer. Blue and green beams of energy were flying out from wherever their Pelican was pointing towards, and he saw the shapes of marines being cut down.

"We are going down!" He screamed, the marines all began cursing and making sure they were buckled in.

Another explosion, the Pelican shook and tipped. Rhoade watched as the front half of the bird was engulfed in energy, the metal twisting and screaming as the front twisted and exploded. He heard his marines scream in pain and fear, Rhoade felt burns forming from the blast.

The remains of the Pelican didn't have its engines and fell in a free fall the remaining forty feet. Rhoade felt a jerk and his hand went to check his rifle. Another, he lowered it to the buckle, he would need to get out in a moments notice when they land- another jerk, his hand slipped and he clicked down.

"Fuck." Was all he got to say as he flew from the back of the vehicle and to his death.

---

Schaeffer watched the plaza as it became a distant memory, the husk of an APC and at least thirty bodies filling the area in front of the bank. Flames burned throughout the building and the grounds, undeterred by the rain which had grown steadily stronger since it began, around a half hour ago. Schaeffer reached up and found his collar, before buttoning it together, hoping to keep his neck warm. The rain still froze him to the bone despite his attempt to defy it, and he raised his balaclava up to cover his mouth.

Looking around the transport Warthog, he looked at the faces and tried to identify who exactly he had gotten in the hog with. Red sat next to him, frowning at some thought in his head. Hooch and Cameron sat next to each other across from them, next to Cameron, who sat across from Red, was Masih and two marines from third platoon who identified themselves as Busy and Shmoe. Leaning in, he saw that two marines from his own platoon sat next to Red. One had a sharp nose and small, beady eyes, Schaeffer judged him to be about five foot five, easily the shortest man he had seen all day. Next to him was a very tall, lanky figure, his helmet had scratches in it to denote three kills, he seemed normal besides his large buck teeth, him and the marine next to him chatted like old friends.

Red glanced over to see Schaeffer leaning out to watch them and leaned in until his helmet clanked against Schaeffer's, he whispered into the private'ss ear so no one else could hear him. "Tall one is Rat, shortie next to him is Mouse. They are best friends or something, I hear Mouse was in a gang back on Earth before he joined up." Schaeffer nodded and was about to turn away when Red continued on, "don't fuck with Rat, man. He sometimes brings in some illegal shit for the guys, drugs, hollow points, you name it. No one has told the lieutenant yet, don't want to risk him coming for us." Schaeffer glanced at the tall marine again, he seemed harmless enough. But Red looked worried so he nodded, hoping to appease him.

The Slavic marine sighed and leaned back into his seat, going back to his own devices. Schaeffer wrung his hands, wondering what he could do to pass the time. Masih spoke up, loud enough so they could all hear her over the sounds of rain and war.

"He was a green marine and he surely shook with fright, he topped off all his ammo and made sure his pack was light." It took Schaeffer a minute to realize she was trying to sing, Masih didn't have much of a voice, and the rest of the Warthog just looked at her confused. Schaeffer felt bad, knowing that no one would help her try to restore morale. As she began to continue on, he decided to go on with her, having nothing else to do besides take pity.

"He had to sit and listen to the first sergeant roar, you ain't gonna fight no more!" Schaeffer remembered singing in the choir at his church, he never took to the religion, or the singing, but he tried to remember the lessons he had received on how to sing. Red and Busy began to pick up after them.

"Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory what a hell of a way to die," Mouse punched Rat on the shoulder and the taller marine shrugged, they both added their voices, "gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die! He ain't gonna fight no more!" Cameron muttered a curse and then began singing with them lightly, their voice was carrying now, he heard some one in the Warthog behind them sing with them. Schaeffer thought it sounded like Venendez.

"Is everybody happy?" cried the sergeant looking up, our Hero feebly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up; he ran into the bunker, his combat boots untied, he ain't gonna fight no more!" The entire Warthog column had picked up the tune, some part of Schaeffer wondered how safe or appropriate singing was, but he told himself he didn't care, continuing to sing instead. The verses came easily to them now, those who didn't remember simply mimicked those next to them, the sounds of their voices filled the street and echoed off the buildings. Verse after verse passed.

"His laces tangled, his rifle gone, his time drawn to an end; the gun was aimed, the innies laughed, "A hell of a way to die!" they shot him full of holes and shot him just some more, oh he ain't gonna fight no mo-" they almost finished when they heard a screeching noise. Schaeffer looked up to see one of the Banshee's fly by in a blur, marines cursed and shouted and he heard magazines enter their rifles.

"We are halfway there! Gunners! Hold the fuckers off!" A woman shouted over the radio, the gunners of the hogs with turrets spun the machine guns around, the magnetic plates under their feet swiveling with them. One of the Banshee's slowed and lowered, hoping to aim straight for the transports.

Three different turrets spewed bullets, the Warthog's chain gun was commonly used for infantry combat but was built to shred aircraft, the Banshee never stood a chance. The bullets tore through the vehicles purple and green hull and tore off one of the wings, smoke drifted up from the back as the vehicle shook and tried to evade. The other wing broke off and the aircraft lost control, it spun into an apartment building to its right, the Banshee tearing straight through the wall and exploding somewhere inside. The marines all cheered. Red laughed and screamed out,

"He ain't gonna fight no more!" The marines smiled, another Banshee lowered and attempted to go faster than its partner, the Banshee's bomb flying out at Schaeffer's Warthog before it broke off. It was shot down before it could gather enough speed to avoid the bullets, and the Warthog swerved out of the way of the Banshee bomb. Schaeffer thanked god that the bomb flew out wide, or else they would be dead.

The next one didn't take any chances, simply firing as it flew by at full speed, spraying the convoy with blue energy. The marines all pushed into their seats, Schaeffer heard a man scream in the convoy in front of them. Another two slowed down, one flew out of control from the Warthog bullets and its partner followed, but not before it launched off its own bomb. A Warthog with a turret in the back of the convoy exploded.

"God damn it, reroute to 46th avenue, we are going through the tunnel" the captain shouted over the radio, the lead Warthog took a left turn and the rest of the convoy followed it. The Banshee's still flew by overhead but they didn't risk slowing.

In front of them, the road tunneled under the next level of the city. The mountainous terrain didn't allow a flat layout, so they broke down the slopes and flattened the slopes into walls, then built tunnels into them to bring people to different levels or to some other part of their own. It made the city rather defensible if they decided to lock down the tunnels, though he doubted anyone was around to lock them all.

A larger alien vehicle flew overhead, two large prongs coming out of a cockpit and some sort of energy shooting between them. The shape reminded him of a fork, which he found amusing. It was less amusing when the sides of the two prongs opened up, doors flipping up as creatures hopped out of their hidden seats. Most of them were short and Squat, but were made taller by what looked like some sort of pointed backpack. There were around twenty of them, the other two would be taller than a human if they weren't hunched over. Their dark blue armor reflecting the rays of the sun. As they got closer, he could see that their mouths were split into four parts.

They all ran to the railings of the above level and aimed strange weapons down at the convoy, Schaeffer had raised his rifle the moment they hit the ground and fired a burst into one of the smaller ones.

The creature let out a scream and stumbling backwards before dying, the rest fired energy at the Warthog's. Two people in the back Warthog screamed as the energy impacted them, Cameron yelped as a small green bolt slammed into his body armor. Schaeffer smelt burnt metal as he screamed for help and tried to pull his ballistic plate off. Masih had a dagger in her hand in an instant and sawed through the straps. Schaeffer leaned forward with Red to help tear the ballistic plate off.

They grunted and then pulled with all their might. The remaining strap snapped off and they fell back into their seats, Schaeffer raised the plate he held in his hand until he was looking through the melted hole in the center, Schaeffer saw that Cameron's fatigues had a large black burn mark. Cameron tried to cough and then cried out in pain. When he opened up the front of his fatigues, Schaeffer saw his skin a deep red.

"Oh god! Oh fuck it hurts!" Masih held him down, trying to calm him.

One of the turrets fired, and another one of the short creatures fell just before they entered the tunnel. Schaeffer heard a scream from Busy and he saw why when his eyes adjusted to the dark light of the tunnel. The alien creature, for it could be called nothing but alien, had fallen over the railing and into Busy's lap. Bright blue blood left four large holes in the creatures chest and dripped over Busy and the Warthog. The marine quickly shoved it off and onto the floor.

"What the hell... is that thing?" Gasped Mouse, it really was an alien. Some kind of gas mask was wrapped around its face and its eyes were squeezed shut in the pain it had felt in its final moments. The pack was made of some sort of metal, and the flat top of it, slanted up, had a cap for whatever it contained. Its skin looked leathery and dark blue, and his armor was an orange.

Busy and Shmoe asked the two marines across from them to aid in getting rid of the creature, and all four of them leaned over to lift. With a heave, they pulled it up and tossed it over the side, it splattering somewhere in the tunnel. Busy groaned, his entire uniform coated in the blood, the older marine pulled out his canteen and tried to clean away some of the blood.

"Not a good idea man, shits gonna get cold... saw it on the news." Busy shrugged and poured more water before bottling it and sliding it back into his pack, Shmoe sighed and leaned back into her seat.

The convoy had been going down the emergency lane of the tunnel, normally reserved for police, ambulances and maintenance workers. The lane had been clear of vehicles, unlike the regular lanes which were packed with abandoned and crashed cars, Schaeffer was hoping the rest of the lane would be clear when he felt the Warthog's slow down.

"Everyone dismount, we got a blockage." Everyone in the convoy groaned and cursed but followed the captains order, hopping from the vehicles and onto the cement of the tunnel. Pain jolted through his shoulder as the biofoam began to wear off. He was glad they were going to a hospital, he had heard too many horror stories of biofoam being left in a wound for too long and leading to infections.

"Form up into your squads and get moving, we need to get out of here, now." Words were yelled out as the men all found their squad mates and began walking down the tunnel. Venendez waved to him from up the column, the marine standing next to a tired looking Mackenzie. Schaeffer was happy to see Mackenzie had made it through the convoy... and Venendez too.

The two walked ahead of him, forming a small line as the entire company made their way through the tunnel. There was a loud rumbling and a boom and all the lights in the tunnel went dark. The company froze in place, Schaeffer gripped his rifle even tighter Dust and dirt fell from the ceiling as the tunnel shook.

Shortly after, the emergency lights flickered to life, the red lights casting an eerie glow on the marines as the slowly made their way through the tunnel. Someone remarked that the bank must have just collapsed on top of them, but no one else said anything.

They continued on in silence for another few minutes, Schaeffer had began to phase out the sounds of the tunnel. The dripping of a punctured tank, the buzzing of the lights, the lieutenant listening to his constantly blaring radio, the occasional muttered sentence of a marine. He listened to the muted sounds of the city outside, distant booms and gunshots. Something about them kept his attention, and every new noise put a new edge to his anxiety.

The sounds of the tunnel came flooding back to his ears when something tapped his shoulder. Schaeffer squeezed his eyes shut and then glanced over to see Masih walking alongside him, offering him a cigarette.

Schaeffer had seen the pictures of blackened lungs and holes in throats, the horror stories about tobacco killing people and ruining them from the inside and out. The emotional issues they were supposed to cause, the ruining of lives.

And Schaeffer wanted it. Badly.

It took him everything he could to shake his head 'no', Masih simply shrugged and lit it before sticking it in her mouth. Schaeffer watched the cigarette's progress when Masih caught him staring at her mouth. A smirk played across her lips.

Schaeffer was about to try and play it off when she spoke up first, a mischievous look in her eyes.

"So are your Skopje girls pretty, Newbie?" Schaeffer gulped, looking around nervously.

"A-as pretty as e-everywhere else I guess." Something about the way she was looking at him made him nervous, he didn't want to be talking to her anymore.

"Oh? So I am just as pretty as your nice Skopje girls?" Schaeffer didn't know what to say.

"Y-yes?" He wanted to smile, but his mood didn't permit him, currently consisting of fear matted with confusion with a hint of pain and the need to piss. Masih moved a bit closer, her hands finding her breastplate. The armor had no shape, but it had the desired effect on Schaeffer, who felt like a child.

"Oh Newbie, what a great compliment." Schaeffer was growing sick of the nickname, but he had no idea what to do.

"Masih, stop messing with the poor kid." Schaeffer glanced behind himself to see Busy walking behind the two. Schaeffer wondered why he wasn't with his fireteam when he remembered the losses they had taken, he chose to remain silent. Next to Busy, Cameron and Hooch walked. Cameron looked like he was trying to ignore the incident while Hooch just looked at his feet awkwardly with the face of a man who was wishing he was anywhere but there.

Masih was about to say something when Hooch spoke up.

"Yeah Masih... come on, now isn't the time." Masih looked slightly annoyed but quickly smiled, showing what she felt about their complaints.

"Oh I am just teasing the kid, that's all." Busy looked annoyed by her statement.

"Masih, you're hardly twenty. He's barely less of a kid than you are." Schaeffer noticed the wrinkles around his eyes.

"Please. Just look at Newbie, he-" Masih's retort was cut off by Hooch, who now looked at her, his voice dripping with venom.

"Don't call him Newbie you bitch. He doesn't. Like. It." Schaeffer was surprised at the sudden outburst, and Masih looked amazed that he had said that. After a moment of silence as they walked, Masih smiled again, though her eyes sang a different tune.

"Oh? So Schaeffer replaced Wilson now? You two gonna go off into some corner and practice kis-" she was interrupted yet again as Hooch grabbed the back of her armor, pulling her back. Schaeffer heard the marines rifle clatter on the floor as his fist swung at the side of her head. Someone in the back of the column yelled "OOOOHHHHHHHHHH!"

Masih stumbled off but recovered faster than Hooch expected, her leg swinging around and connecting with his ribs. The marine stumbled back with a gasp as his hand fell to his holster, but Busy grabbed him before he could draw and restrained him.

Masih was about to send another punch when Schaeffer grabbed her arm, trying to calm her down. Someone watching must have mistaken his movement for an attack because Schaeffer felt a fist connecting with his face a moment after. He stumbled off and fell on his ass, blinking away the stars.

When his vision returned, he saw Riley grab whoever struck him and lift him off the floor in a bear hug Behind him, Rat swung at Shmoe.

There was a crack and the commotion died down immediately. Red grabbed him from behind and helped him to his feet, Schaeffer could see the captain standing in the center of the tunnel, smoke rising from his magnum. A bit of dust came down from where the bullet met the ceiling, and Schaeffer could see the scowl on the captains face.

"We are marines..." he intoned, his voice was straight and even but Schaeffer could feel the tension in it. "It's about damned time that we started acting like it." Schaeffer's eyes widened when the captain pointed the magnum at him. Their eyes met, and the words caught in Schaeffer's mouth. "No more fights, no more trouble. We are all marines, and we fight and die together. We don't kill each other in the process." The tension could be cut with a knife, and the captain let it draw out for a minute before he holstered the weapon.

The lieutenant cleared his throat and told everyone to keep going, everyone began walking again, including the other platoons. Silence had truly engulfed them this time, and not a single person made the slightest whisper.

They continued in silence, Schaeffer didn't know how but he had ended up in the front of the formation, the third person down from the front. He heard something squish and glanced down to see red blood pooled at his feet, to high right, a man lay on the floor with several bullets in him.

"Oh shit..." he gasped, the man in front of him glanced back as he slammed to a stop. His hand went towards his radio when a bullet flew out from the end of the tunnel and slammed into an abandoned car to his right. Every marine dropped to the ground, Schaeffer groaned as he landed in the pool of blood.

More bullets flew out, but the marines were all sliding into cover in an instant. Schaeffer gripped his rifle tightly, someone screamed over the radio that there were innies in the tunnels.

The person identified as 3rd Company.

Schaeffer's eyes widened at the realization, and he began shouting into his radio before anyone else had the chance.

"Friendlies! We are friendlies goddamn it, stop shooting!" The shooting continued for a second and then stopped, the captain repeated the message over the radio. After another minute, there was a confirmation and the captain was ordering everyone back up.

Schaeffer was reluctant, but the captain ushered them forward, his magnum in hand again. Schaeffer raises his rifle slightly, just in case As they got closer to the parked Warthog's, Schaeffer was able to make out some details. It looked like one of the barricades that was put up around the bank, and consisted of two Warthog's with mounted machine guns and two metal barriers facing the outside.

That would be what it was in a perfect world, though the reality was different. Someone had decided that they needed to get through the barrier and fast, and had driven straight into the tunnel, through the barricade. One of the Warthog's was shoved to the side, its flank dented and torn where the car had impacted it. One of the barriers was laying on its back as well, and only two ragged looking marines were holding the area.

A dark skinned corporal greeted them as they walked up, he was leaning into the driver seat, his rifle flat against the front of the hog. In the back, an older but just as shaken looking private's squeezed the grips of the turret, smoke slowly rising from all three barrels

The captain stormed up the formation.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded, the corporal looked up.

"Sir... they've been swarming us for the last hour." Schaeffer looked out towards the tunnel they came from, there were bodies everywhere. Mostly human, many clutched old rifles or other weapons, blood was pouring down the sides of the road.

To the side, five other marines lay dead, shell casings were lying all across the ground. None of the dead marines had bullet marks. He looked back to the captain and the corporal, the corporal looked ready to cry.

"They just kept coming, whenever we killed one, so many more came at us." Schaeffer looked back down the tunnel.

"There aren't that many, sir." He said, the captain looked sidelong at him, then glanced back down the tunnel. "Only about twelve on my count." The corporal shook his head when they turned back to him.

"Not them... it wasn't the innies. It wasn't them." Schaeffer frowned and walked towards Hooch, he wanted to thank him for standing up to him. Hooch was gathered with half of the company on the other end of the tunnel, all of them were staring out the tunnel.

He walked up and squeezed between him and Busy to see what the commotion was.

The pavement outside went into a ramp, meeting the raised area outside. The city stretched on outside, Schaeffer could see several buildings, burning in the distance. Schaeffer's view went down from the skyline and to the pavement, and what he saw was a killing field. There were three Banshee's, their husks scattered across the pavement. Among the bodies of vehicles were the bodies of the creatures that had attacked him on the bridge. He lost track at forty, the Squat's blood poured out and pooled around their bodies, bright and blue.

Among them were the taller hunch backed ones, their mouths were four mandibles with teeth facing in. They reminded Schaeffer of some sort of Squid, around twelve of them lay in various states of mutilation. There was also some sort of long nosed creature, they almost looked like some sort of bird of prey. On their dead arms were shimmering discs of energy, Schaeffer assumed they were some sort of shield.

"The- they came at us like a wall, the shields were up front... they were swarming us." The lieutenant seemed confused.

"How did you survive this?"

"The car that took out our other Warthog came in the middle of the fight, crushed a whole bunch of them before smashing into us. It had some civies in it, but they were killed when the car crashed down there."

"And the rebels?"

"They came before, we were warned that the rebels were up and about right before comm's went out. Then they hit us." The captain sighed.

"And who are you?"

"Corporal Vanderfeld sir, private's Arrington is on the gun."

"Vanderfeld, Arrington, you're coming with us."

"Sir?"

"The cities gone to hell, you've probably noticed already. Those... things are swarming all our positions, so says the radio. We are all pulling back to the medical center for evac, if you stay here you won't last much longer." Arrington hopped off before the corporal could speak, he looked relieved, his hands shaking slightly. The corporal glanced at his rifle.

"Was on my last mag anyway, don't think the Warthog had much left either. Lead the way sir." The captain nodded and began walking towards the exit, stepping over bodies as he went. Schaeffer glanced at the dead marines before sighing, no time for the dead.

The marines picked their way over the bodies and to the hospital, the mood was terrible.

The hospital was a large tower, surrounded by parking lots. There were two different lots, one took up about two thirds of the building and the other managed the remainder, they were split by two other buildings. The parking lot was empty besides a comparatively small area outside the entrance had been surrounded by vehicles, trucks, cars, civilian hogs. Everything was piled up in a circle, with some other large objects added to the makeshift barrier.

There was an opening in the center of the barricade, Schaeffer saw movement, green armor, blue GCPD uniforms, the colorful styles of civilian clothing. Two Warthog's pointed their weapons outside, and Schaeffer could make out the profile of a Scorpion. The captain ordered them to fan out as they approached.

"Bakers" someone from the barricade demanded over the radio, the captain quickly gave the counter sign.

"Dozen" the captain said into his own radio, the voice came back on and instructed them to get in quickly. Schaeffer noticed movement on the rooftop and saw what must have been a sniper team, he wondered how many hidden rifles had been pointed at them as they approached.

There were bodies in the lot, but surprisingly few for how major the fortifications were. Some of the aliens lay in pools of their own blood, along with a few humans, but there were almost as many dead aliens as there were for the small barricade they had grabbed Vanderfeld and Arrington from. He kicked a Squat in the head as he walked by, something about the crack made him feel a bit better.

They carefully made their way past the piled vehicles, the barricade was hasty and unorthodox. If the UNSC was planning a stand here, whatever was choosing to attack them could knock the entire thing out with a good airstrike. It seemed more time effective to just block the door and use the windows. He had a feeling they just wanted to make use of the tanks.

They slowly filed through the opening, several people stopped to watch them enter. Marines, police officers, civilians, all armed. He saw a few people in uniforms that he did not recognize, he guessed that they were colonial militia. He wondered how many were on the other side of the barricade, and how many were helping the innies.

A short marine in a field cap walked out to greet them, his hair was a dark brown with some streaks of iron. He approached the captain, who saluted immediately. Schaeffer heard the word major thrown out, the major gave a lazy salute back and the two exchanged some quiet words as the marines slowly gathered in the courtyard. After a minute, the two saluted again and the major walked away. The captain turned to them.

"Right, looks like we are making camp here. Second and third platoon are to aid in evacuation efforts, first is to help secure the front this area, we've been working hard all day... despite some slight problems." He glanced at Hooch when he said it, Schaeffer guessed that he had been filled in on the march. "So make sure your men get some rest, rotate out a squad every once in a while. Snipers are saying that the area is clear for a while, though the enemy is swarming everywhere else, so don't rush it." The lieutenant's all ordered their men around, Atterson told them to lay low for a bit.

The lieutenant yelled something to the sergeant, and Atterson turned to them with a sad look.

"Second squad, we're on leave for a bit. Hang around or mill through the hospital, but keep your radio on. And try to make your selves useful." Schaeffer sighed in relief, the knowledge that he could rest for a bit was great news.

He glanced around the 'courtyard' seemed a bit bigger on the inside, two Scorpion tanks sat idle, their drivers sitting on the armor and sharing cigarettes. Marines, militia, police, civilians, everyone was armed and everyone had something to do. Crates full of munitions were dragged to firing positions, vehicles were repaired, wounded were dragged into the building and people stepped over stacked crates to watch over the barricades.

The building rose up high, and he could barely see two barrels sticking out above the courtyard. Pelican's flew overhead constantly, landing in the back parking lot, picking up the civilians swarming the area. The other parking lot was connected by a tunnel, just to the right of the double doored main entrance. Huge glass panes gave the lobby light, the ceiling reaching nearly three stories. Rather extravagant, and not very good tactically. Some effort had been made to block the lower windows, but there was no way to get all the way up to the top ones in the time they had.

There was a groaning and a screeching and heads all turned outwards, and they watched as the Garmed City Bank collapsed into itself. Floor dropping on floor, dust and ash flying out in all directions, a militiamen remarked to his friend that it looked like a plane had flown into it, the ash flew into the sky and he could hear screaming. Though people had been screaming everywhere for hours.

He felt a hand tap his shoulder and saw Hooch standing with his hands stuffed in his pockets. His balaclava was gathered around his neck and his face looked grimy, though he saw a hint of a smile on his lips. How anyone could smile at a time like this was beyond him.

"Hey pal," Schaeffer grimaced, Hooch didn't seem like a bad guy but he had caused far too much trouble for Schaeffer so far. "We were just going to go visit Hooch, got one of the nurses to tell me where he was, wanna come?" Schaeffer saw Riley, Red, Mackenzie and surprisingly enough, Masih standing there.

"I don't even really know him..." he said, he honestly didn't want to. He wanted to go and catch some sleep in the lobby, maybe read a magazine, Hooch looked like a child who was just told he couldn't have a new toy.

"You're the one who saved him, he'd be dead if it wasn't for you." Schaeffer opened his mouth again but decided against saying anything and closed it again. He didn't want to save him, he was going to say, but instead he just started walking towards the entrance. Hooch clapped and jogged in front of him, leading the way.

"Apparently they are putting all of our wounded on one floor with a bunch of people they can't organize, so the nurse knew where to point us." They pushed through the front door, the heat hit him instantly. He hadn't really realized how cold the pouring rain was until he walked into the hospital, the water dripping from his helmet and clothing and pooling on the floor. He carefully unbuckled it and tucked it under his arm.

"Shouldn't you guys be guarding the front?" He asked, Masih looked over and winked.

"We wanted to have a little fun." Schaeffer was sick of her games and just glared at her, her smile faded.

"What the walking STD is trying to say is that we asked really nicely." Hooch growled, Mackenzie gasped, Masih clenched her fists and Riley grabbed both their shoulders.

"Come on guys, now isn't the time." Masih glanced at Riley and then Hooch before sighing and adjusting the strap of her marksman rifle. They walked through two double doors next to the reception desk and into an even warmer hallway that smelled of blood and lilac. He heard something go splash and realized he stepped in blood, it was everywhere. No one to clean it he guessed. They turned and began walking down a hallway, offices to either side, an elevator sat at the end of the hall.

Marines walked up and down the hallways, some limping. Schaeffer recognized none of them from the morning in the base, and neither did the other he guessed, as no hellos were exchanged. A corpsman brought a bleeding police officer into the elevator and went up, they waited outside.

"Wonder why cops are here, thought they were innies." He said to himself, Mackenzie glanced over, yawning a bit.

"Not everyone rebelled I guess, surprised there are this many though." Masih looked thoughtful and then answered it.

"They don't want to rebel now that the aliens are here." Something about the statement made Schaeffer laugh, rebelling is perfectly acceptable as long as alien's weren't invading. No one else found it funny.

There was a ping and the elevator doors slid open, they all stepped in, Hooch pressed the button for floor ten, someone shouted for them to hold the doors.

Schaeffer's eyes widened when he saw two ODST's stumble down the hallway, holding up a limping third. The wounded ODST had the red stripe of an NCO, and one of the men holding him up had a red cross on his shoulder armor and the other had the white stripe of an officer. Schaeffer slammed his foot between the sliding doors just before they closed, and the ODST's finally reached them, gasping for breath.

"You guys alright?" Asked Riley, the white striped man asked them if they looked alright. Schaeffer had to answer no as he stepped to the side to let them in, the NCO had blood staining his ankle, his foot at a bad angle.

"We... ran here... for six miles... only stopped for them... to let us through the gate." Schaeffer glanced at Hooch, who looked equally confused.

"You didn't link up with friendlies? You seemed a bit far awa-"

"Everyone's dead." The white stripe said, Schaeffer's eyes widened again, ODST's were legendary. Stories of their training might be a bit exaggerated, but their list of accomplishments were huge and any man or woman willing to do what they did needed a certain level of bravery and strength.

"Dead?" Was all he could ask, the corpsman nodded, sliding off his helmet as the NCO leaned against the wall and slid onto his ass.

"The northeastern part of the city... it's gone. All gone." The dark skinned man didn't look like he would say more, the third ODST took off his helmet as well, showing a young woman wearing a balaclava He hadn't realized she was a woman until she took off the helmet, it made him feel uncomfortable all of sudden He straightened his breastplate.

"They dropped us in to help secure the marines LZ when they landed to support you guys, we didn't know we would be fighting aliens. Or that they would have anti air." Schaeffer wanted to groan, a quarter of the city was already gone?

"You couldn't blow it up?" He asked, she glared at him.

"We were told we would be fighting revolting innies with some light armor, not alien tanks," she rubbed a hand through her shaved hair, the glove coming away with a bit of fresh blood. She frowned at her glove, but continued on regardless. "We dropped across the northeast, mostly in parks and other places there wouldn't be people running around. Comm's went down, along with UAV's and my platoon dropped blind. Lot of us had bad landing and didn't make it past the crash, we hardly made it out ourselves.

"How'd you manage that?" He asked, the corpsman shook his head and knelt to check the NCO.

"Killed a lot of aliens, killed a lot of innies. Both were shooting at us and each other, some marines managed to link up with us too. They had it worse, had to land in a mud field while getting fired at by machine guns on all sides. Less than two platoons made it out I hear, it was a regimental drop." Schaeffer crossed his arms, they would need every person they could get if it was that bad.

"Well I'm glad you made it out" he said, she raised an eyebrow at this and Masih smirked from the wall she was leaning on.

"N-no, not like- I mean we are going to n-need ODST's here." The eyebrow lowered Masih giggled from a corner, Schaeffer felt ready to slap her as he felt the flush in his cheeks.

"Well thanks for the concern." She said, the door opened before Schaeffer could reply, and she and the corpsman picked up the NCO and dragged him out. Schaeffer watched her go.

"Someone has a crush." Said Masih as she walked out, Hooch glared at her but said nothing as he followed. Riley looked uncomfortable and glanced at Schaeffer as he passed, Mackenzie just looked bored. He waited a moment before following. He wished he was sleeping for the tenth time that day.

The hall was even messier than the bottom ones, two marines lay in the halls with doctors checking them, he heard crying from somewhere in the opposite direction, and as they walked past rooms, he saw operations and amputations taking place.

Hooch stopped them at a room with the sign 53B10, the drapes were shut and the door closed. Hooch pushed it open and gave a sigh in relief, Wilson was laying in a hospital bed at the end of the hall, pale but otherwise intact. His armor was piled on a chair in the corner.

"Hey guys..." he said, his voice sounded weaker than it had in the morning, but he wasn't dead, so that was something. Hooch ran over and hugged him, then stepped back, embarrassed

"So what was the diagnosis?" Schaeffer found an empty chair and fell into it, finally giving his aching legs some rest. The rest crowded around Wilson.

"Four crushed ribs, snapped femur, punctured lung. Nothing I can't handle... docs said I wouldn't have made it if I waited a second longer." Hooch smiled and pointed to Schaeffer, who sat rubbing his shoulder. The bandage was soaked red now, I should check with a doc... he thought to himself.

"Newbi- Schaeffer dragged you out from under the hog, all while getting shot at." Wilson nodded at him.

"Thanks kid, come on over here." Schaeffer looked at him, glancing around. After a moments hesitation, he pushed himself to his feet and walked over.

"It's no problems, innies are the least of our worries." He said.

Wilson raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? What happened? The grounds been shaking for an hour now, but the nurses left and I can't push the curtains open. No one comes when I press the button either..." Hooch coughed into his hand and looked away, no one wanted to say anything.

"Guys, come on, what happened? Someone else get hurt? I heard McFly got his head taken off in the ambush but nothing about anyone-"

Schaeffer didn't let him finish, he walked towards the huge windows. There was more glass than wall, a stray bullet could take him out right now.

"Schaeffer, don't-" Hooch started but didn't get to finish as he gripped the curtains and threw them open. Wilson gasped, even Schaeffer stepped back in surprise. It was worse than it looked from the ground. He realized that the room was facing the northwestern side of the city.

Tracer rounds flew up from at least thirty different locations, so did the balls of energy. Hundreds of Pelican's, Hornet's, Shortsword's and Longsword's flew around, going over the hospital or into the distance, dog fighting with the purple fighters of the aliens. Green energy flew up into the sky as well, streaking up and striking Pelican's and other fliers, taking them down with ease.

Artillery flew in from out of view, and occasionally a bomber would get close enough to the ground to drop its payload. From far up in the sky, he saw a Vulture firing down with its howitzers.

Tons of buildings were on fire, or blackened husks. Many more were slanted. Before their eyes, one skyscraper toppled over into the one next to it, buckling the other and causing both to collapse onto the city. His radio was giving a quiet blare and he reached down to turn it off as he stepped back and watched, every eye was on the window. As he reached for the power button, his hand slipped and he dialed the sound higher.

"This is Tango two-two, we need help god dammit, I got wounded and-"

"Uh... X-Ray Actual, this is Alpha Actual, I got some sort of hostile mortar firing-"

"Iceman this is Breaker Actual, I read your distress signal, but we are all tied up. Try and hold your crash si-"

"For fucks sake Assassin, we need help NOW! My lieutenant's dead, my sergeant's dead, my corporals dead. Everyone is DYING."

He finally found the off button and clicked it, the radio had become damaged in the bank somehow, and kept switching from area broadcasts to everyone on the channel. When he looked back, Wilson looked pale, and everyone looked some mix of scared and angry.

"W-what are those things..." he said, pointing out at the landscape.

"Aliens..." said Riley, the big marine looked suddenly small.

"You're kidding me." Wilson responded, looking at all of them, he saw no joke in their eyes.

"Wilson... a lot of people are dead." Hooch seemed sad, he sat on the bed with his friend.

"Who?" Hooch gave a laugh that didn't show any sign of humor

"Fuck man. Everyone. Second platoon is gone, most of them died when the bank collapsed. McBee lost his entire squad, besides Butcher and Barbosa. Rachel and Spencer are gone, Correlo lost an arm, so did Wendell and Deleon Cameron has burns in the third degree all along his chest, and Kelano, Rocha and Greenville won't walk again." Wilson played with his hands, he looked like he didn't know what to say. Masih decided to add in.

"Kormen, Miller, Jorgsen and Zheng got hit too. Monroe is dead, Bulhart and Schuhart got caught in the rubble and had to be dragged here. Soldern has been carrying the mortar by herself. And if I overheard the captain right on the march here, innies got a nuke in town hall." Wilson shook his head and tried to get up, gasping from the effort. Hooch tried to grab his shoulder but Wilson pushed him away, Schaeffer went over to help.

"I can fight damn it... I'll get some payback..." Schaeffer gripped his arm too, pushing him down. The marine continued to try until Riley grabbed his shoulders, the man couldn't budge. He seemed too pained and tired to, regardless.

"W-hat are the purple ones called..." Wilson said when he was settled, the question seemed out of place.

"What?" Hooch asked, Wilson shook his head.

"The alien ones, with two wings..." He sounded scared, Schaeffer continued pressing him down.

"I call them Banshee's." Everyone looked at him, Wilson continued on.

"Oh... cause there's one coming right at us." Everyone turned to the window.

"Get down!" Schaeffer yelled, diving to the floor and gasping as he slammed onto the floor. Masih and Riley followed, Hooch grabbed Wilson and pulled him to the ground, who cried out in pain as they fell to the floor.

The purple vehicle flew by, unleashing a torrent of energy and one of its bombs before banking hard.

The energy slammed against the window and flattened against it, they weren't bullets and Schaeffer watched as the window didn't shatter. Instead, the energy burned through the glass, melting it and disappearing on the other side. Parts of the window fell out and smashed as the rest was melted.

This all happened in a second, because a second later the bomb hit them. The entire wall exploded, green energy flying out in all directions. The room was around sixty feet across, the energy bomb hit at the complete opposite end, almost between theirs and the room adjacent.

Schaeffer felt extreme heat play across his face as he looked up, he quickly squeezed his eyes in response, but the blast had burned his vision white, his eyes screaming in pain. He realized that he was screaming too.

The chair he had been sitting on flew away, half of it charred black.. The curtains caught flames from the heat and the stone tiles turned molten, their edges turning to glass.

A lamp that was in the corner disintegrated, so did a poster of the human body. The counter and the sink melted and was torn apart, and the floor above theirs creaked and sagged a bit at the edge. Someone in the other rooms were screaming, he guessed it was from the ones to their left, the bomb would have killed the patient and any doctors with him.

There was relative silence after, the light fixture had short circuited as its wires burned away, and the drapes were slowly spreading flames. Schaeffer kept his eyes shut as he heard shuffling and moving and Wilson groaning again.

Hands gripped the back of his armor and pulled him up. He steadied himself as he rose and slowly opened his eyes, his retinas stung and everything seemed pale. Masih was standing in front of him, shaking him.

"Oh Christ he's burnt, his eyes look real red too. You alright Schaeffer?" He squeezed his eyes shut again, people were running down the hallways.

"They got past the air defenses.." Masih frowned and then realized what that meant.

"They can start landing troops now..."

He squeezed his eyes shut again and switched the radio on.

"All squads! First platoon! Get the hell out into the front! They're here!"

"How the hell did they sneak up on us!?" Yelled Hooch, picking the hospital bed back up and helping Wilson back into it. Schaeffer stumbled over to the window and leaned out, a good slip and he would be done for. Shaking his head, he walked to the other side and pulled open the hallway curtains, people were running in every direction.

"We gotta get downstairs." He said, the others all glanced at each other

"Just help me move Wilson first, I don't want him getting hit by one of those bombs." He grabbed the side of Wilson bed and with the help of Riley, pushed. The bed slowly moved, the wheels turning into place. The bed squeaked as they went.

Schaeffer opened the door for them, and they carefully moved him into the hallway.

"Right here... don't worry, they won't forget me here." Said Wilson, and Hooch nodded, pressing the bed against the hallway wall. "Now go! Go!" He yelled, they ran back to the elevator.

The two ODST's were already in there with a handful of marines. The two slid their helmets on as a marine chose a floor, the door closed.

"Hold the door!" Schaeffer yelled as they ran, the ODST officer put her foot down and Schaeffer sighed in relief when the elevator doors didn't squeeze shut. He didn't have another trip on stairs in him after the bank.

The three slide in, the elevator starting to get a bit packed. The doors slid shut behind them and they breathed in some air, a marine corporal leaning against a wall in the back glanced at them before continuing his conversation. The corporal seemed sad, his notched helmet had a skull and crossed bones on it.

"They were shooting plasma someone said, I didn't think much of it. When communications were reestablished, they somehow got into our local frequency. Began shouting drivel into it, kept saying Covenant."

"What's the Covenant?" Asked the other marine.

"I think that's them." Schaeffer shook his head, the Covenant were shooting plasma, that was news. He turned from the conversation and looked at the ODST's.

"Thanks." He said, nodding to the officer, she shrugged. He looked around, there were four disgruntled marines from the northeast, a dejected Hooch, Mackenzie who looked to be asleep on the wall, Masih who was checking her finger nails and Riley who had somehow managed to weasel his way into the marines conversation. Not good talking company.

"I never caught a name..." he said, she seemed surprised he was talking, and glanced over.

"No, you didn't." Schaeffer shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"I'm Schaeffer." He said, pushing out a hand, her visor was depolarized and he could see her raise an eyebrow. She slowly gripped it and shook.

"No first name?" He took a moment to answer that,

"Leonard..." he said, she seemed unfazed and nodded.

"I'm First Lieutenant Mey-" there was a shaking and the lights flickered, she stumbled as her words were cut off. The elevator slowly began its descent again.

"What the hell was that?" Hooch asked,

"Bombardment. They got mortars everywhere, must of just moved them in range." Said the corporal. This was it then, they were about to get attacked.

Before he could turn back to the lieutenant, the elevator stopped and the doors opened to the hallway they had gone up previously. Everyone left, pushing past him. Sighing, he followed.

The lobby was different now, marines were sitting behind metal barricades and sandbag walls. He hadn't noticed the sandbags before, and he knew the barricades were new. Otherwise, they used flipped over tables and counters, for what little good they would do. There were only a few marines in the lobby, and Schaeffer guessed the main defense was outside. The area seemed clear of civilians.

They jogged outside and he almost slammed straight into Atterson, the sergeant breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them and pointed him towards some stacked crates that he claimed was Schaeffer's post. He didn't want to argue over the validity of calling stacked crates anything other than stacked crates and ran over.

The 'courtyard' was buzzing with even more activity. Marines all stood on some form of steps in order to see over the barricade, a Scorpion pointed its cannon at the opening and another sat in the tunnel to the back lot. The steel doors behind it were shut, and the lighting off. He guessed they were hoping to sneak up on anything that breached.

There was a horn blaring and then a truck slowly moved into the gap, when it was suitably blocked, the driver hopped out and ran over to his position.

Warthog turrets were raining hot shells over everything, trying to take down the Banshee's who constantly tested the building. Among them was something they couldn't stop, the bombardment of the alien mortars, huge blue balls of plasma slamming into the side of the hospital and killing anyone that happened to be in those rooms.

Finding his spot and climbing up, he stood straight and was able to see over the barricade of... stacked crates, fairly easily. The parking lot seemed clear, but the snipers kept yelling in the radio that something was coming. He checked the ammo of his weapon.

There was a long minute as he waited, sitting on the crates, when he saw what the snipers saw. Purple and blue flashed from the windows of a building down the street, and another, and before he knew it, blue and green plasma was lacing at the barricade. He ducked down, though the fire was inaccurate, and felt the crate he was leaning against heat up as the other side melted.

One of the Warthog gunners circled around to fire when a blue beam flew out, the man let out an animal screech and toppled over, his right arm gone and the stump melting and blistering from the heat. He fell off the hog and broke his neck.

"Sniper! Sniper!" Schaeffer yelled into his radio. There was another moment and he heard a loud crack, and he realized that it was their own sniper firing in response. Pelican's were still flying in and out, despite the Banshee's. Either landing on the roof or the back parking lot where Schaeffer guessed the main evacuation was taking place.

"Oh shit." Someone said into the radio and Schaeffer leaned out again to see a tide of aliens come pouring out of the buildings. From down the street came small purple vehicles, piloted by Squat's. They let fire roar from twin cannons as they flew up to the barricade alongside the infantry. Above the alien wave, the fork like transports circled like ghosts... Phantom's. Unloading infantry into the parking lot or flying overhead to harass the evac sites.

"Shoot! Open fire! Gun them down! Don't let them get to the damn wall!" Came the lieutenant's voice, up until now, the man had showed no fear or anxiety. His voice on the radio sounded desperate and scared. Schaeffer didn't feel much better.

The infantry in the front bore the strange alien shields, jogging up with them raised. Bullets deflected off of them and protected the aliens behind, as Schaeffer watched, he saw ones shield take a Warthog's burst and turn red before popping. The next bullet took out its bearer, and the rest moved to cover the area. The tons of Squat's and the Squid's leading them came up behind the Jackals, firing on the barricades as they went.

It was like something out of a book on ancient Rome.

"Mortars!" Someone yelled into the radio, and he heard a pop from somewhere in the back lot. There was a screaming noise and then the mortar shells slammed into the ground, taking out large swathes of Covenant infantry. They charged on, undeterred They would be at the gates any minute now, and more kept swarming from the buildings. The small vehicles came up to the barricade and broke off, he saw a mortar come down right on top of one and the thing exploded in blue. Another Phantom flew in and dropped troops straight into the wave.

One tried to land in the 'courtyard' and was deterred when the Scorpion pointed its turret up and fired at the Phantom, followed by every Warthog and two different rocket launchers. The side of the transport tore open and it banked off, its infantry toppling out the left prong where they were stored. Schaeffer thought it would fly away but it seemed to have taken too much damage and after a moments hesitation, slammed into the parking lot. Crushing any Covenant unfortunate enough to be beneath it.

Another broke off when it saw the fate of its friend, and opted to just land troops in the parking lot instead. Schaeffer felt his rifle kick into his wounded shoulder as he shot, the rain was causing the bandage to get wet and he saw the water come down a bit red. Lighting struck down and the huge, overcast clouds made it seem later than it was.

Banshee's harassed them constantly, but none of them wanted to risk getting in range of the Warthog's AA turrets and only fired the occasional potshot as they flew past. Hornet's were in the air as well, mostly hovering around the back lot and defending the constant stream of Pelican's.

He kept firing, everyone on the line was firing now. Marksmen rifles, automatic weapons, it didn't matter. Every gun was popping the round shields of the Jackals or the personal ones of the Squid's, Squat's were dropping left and right and the bodies were piling in the lot as they got closer and closer.

When they got within a hundred feet or so, they began lobbing grenades into the 'courtyard.' Blue balls of plasma landing among the marines... or on them. They seemed to stick to surfaces by some alien mechanism, and he saw a marine scream as he couldn't tear it off before violently exploding.

One of the grenades landed on a Warthog, which detonated as its crew attempted to bail. Schaeffer lay on the crates behind the barricade, firing blindly over the defense and keeping his head down. The bodies on both sides were piling.

"There are too many!" Someone shouted into the radio, and he saw an officer hop off his spot and run into the tunnel with the Scorpion, probably finding some side door to retreat through.

"Hold your places god damn it!" Someone yelled, Schaeffer recognized the voice as the major they saw when they first entered, he didn't see him on the line.

Guns from the windows were firing, as were the snipers and the Warthog's. It didn't seem to be enough, and the aliens just kept coming. The shield bearers lowered their shields and the Squat's ran forward, screaming and roaring in blood lust. Schaeffer's eyes widened.

Oh shit. Was all he could think.

They had no actual entrance, so they climbed. Hundreds of Squat's finding footholds in the piled crates and vehicles and trying to pour over. Schaeffer tried gunning them down as they ran up, but he was too busy ducking from their fire to get a decent shot, there were too many of them regardless.

He fell down to reload, he only had two magazines left, he realized. Looking up, he saw black shapes in a window, one of them had a white stripe.

There was a snarl behind him and Schaeffer gasped as he caught a Squat coming over his portion of the barricade as he slammed in the mag, a bullet flew from the window and topped off the creatures head. Schaeffer glanced up for a second before turning back to his post.

Another one clambered up and Schaeffer swung the butt of his rifle into its face, its jaw cracking as it toppled over the side. They all had a stink to them, like methane, and he wanted to gag as the hundreds of Squat's filled the air with the scent.

All the more reason to kill them he told himself, pointing the barrel of the rifle down, he fired in full auto at the climbing Grunt's. Three fell over and took down the six under them. Their places were quickly filled.

He fired again, taking out two more climbing Squat's and took his hand from the trigger. Reaching down, he pulled the frag grenade form its place on his belt, clicking the red button on the side and dropping it over. A blast later and a squads worth of Squat's were screaming in pain.

To his left, he saw the blue tide topple over the side of the barricade and into several marines sitting on a car. A Squid somehow found himself on top of the truck they blocked the barricade with, and more of the right was slowly giving. The tank was firing its coaxial machine gun, and the Warthog's were spraying their munitions into the Squat's as they came over the lip. It wasn't enough.

The Scorpion gunner must have panicked, or maybe got a bad order, or maybe was just stupid, because his next action doomed any chance of holding the line. The main cannon fired into the left, which at this point had mostly given to the alien onslaught. The crates, sandbags and the car which made up the portion of the barricade exploded outward. The blast and debris killed at least thirty Squat's, hundreds poured through the gap.

The line collapsed right then, marines, police, militia, armed civilians. All of them broke and ran when they saw that. Schaeffer kept firing, kept trying to hold the Squat's off. The butt of his rifle was dented in now, and covered with blue blood and a bit of brain. He would have kept shooting too if his rifle didn't begin making the sound every marine fears.

Click. Click. Click.

"Fuck me." He said as another Squat came over the barricade, he jabbed the barrel into its beady eye and shoved it over, another came in, he broke the side of his head with the butt. Another, shoved him off with the side. Another. Another. Another. Schaeffer was crying as he desperately tried to hold them off. They were coming over in pairs now. Someone in the radio was screaming for them to retreat to the lobby.

He missed the Squat he swung at and received a punch from the creature, gasping, he stumbled back. He almost recovered when another one tackled him off, the air flying from his lungs as he slammed into the concrete. He thanked god he didn't take off his helmet.

The creature began punching, scraping, screaming. When Schaeffer punched it back, it swung its head down and bit into his wounded shoulder. Schaeffer screamed let out an animal cry as it tried to tear the flesh and uniform off.

His hand fell to his holster, and he remembered he had a sidearm. Sliding it out, he pressed it into the side of the Squat's head and fired, fired, and fired. A bullet went through the left side of the head and brains came out the right, proceeded by two more shells. The Squat looked up and coughed blood into his face before toppling over.

His hands found the ground and he pushed up, hardly finding purchase in the slippery concrete. When he was on his feet, he broke and ran towards the lobby. Gasping in pain from his arm.

The door was closing when he collapsed into the wall, slipping in the water. A hand reached out and pulled him in, the door slamming shut behind him. He coughed as he hit the ground, blood dripping from his shoulder.

A corpsman ran over and dragged him away, he groaned from the pain as the man hooked his arms, but didn't resist. He was pulled against a table and his bandage was removed, showing a slightly black scar with deep holes where the Squat's teeth had ripped into his flesh. The corpsman took out a canteen and poured it into the wound, bloody biofoam pouring out.

"We need to get this debris out of your shoulder..." he said, Schaeffer nodded, he could feel it digging into his flesh.

"But there isn't any time, here." He pulled out a vial of biofoam and shoved it in the wound, Schaeffer cried out in pain. He quickly bandaged it, and ran off.

"You prick." He said, he knew he read correctly. Biofoam wasn't meant to be a permanent solution, it stops constant pain for a few hours and helps seal it, but it didn't prevent infection and got dirty if left in the wound for too long. He would lose his arm at this rate.

Atterson ran over to him and patted him on his good shoulder before telling him to get ready to shoot. He watched the man run off towards someone else. Career military, mid to late forties, would gladly die for his nation. Schaeffer had to admit, he would be glad if Atterson died for his nation too.

Slowly he leaned over the pile of sandbags they had dragged him behind. It was the second in a line of six or so semicircle barricades. Marines, some ODST's, militia, police, the usual, all camped inside. All guns were pointing at the steel double doors which were locked electronically and had been blocked with as many misc items that they could find. The Squat's kept beating against it.

"The hospital can not hold, repeat the hospital can not hold. All units are to hold their designated positions, any units tasked with evacuation duty are to continue to do so. All patients and civilian personell are to be moved to Pelican's on either the roof or in the private's lot, no exceptions." The major's voice was crisp and calm, the lieutenant was shouting orders to them in the middle of the lobby, assigning marines that were his and weren't his to where he saw fit.

That was more like what a leader should be. At the front. The lieutenant seemed like an uncaring dick, but he was one who wasn't afraid to be an uncaring dick in the line of fire. That was something.

Mackenzie fell in next to him, and so did Venendez. Their little fireteam.

"Glad to see you made it." Said Venendez, Mackenzie nodded too. The words surprised him, he guessed that the Smike incident had been forgotten in all of this.

"Glad myself, we lose anyone?" The words hurt his face, the burns stretching with his mouth, under his balaclava, Venendez shook his head.

"Don't know really, I think first squad got torn up bad. Most of them were on the left flank with the cops, got ditched when everyone ran. The tankers got knocked out too I think, didn't see them get out when we closed the doors." Mackenzie nodded again, before adding his own two cents.

"I accidentally tuned into the second platoon frequency, LT Galbraith got hit. Whiskey's in charge now, god help them all. Galbraith lost his arm apparently, and things are looking grim for him."

"You guys hear anything about the evac? How it's going?" Venendez shook his head.

"Nothing I could catch, Pelican's are coming in constantly, though I heard Hornet's are starting to drop, and without those hogs..." Schaeffer sighed, it meant that the LZ might suddenly be filled with crashed Pelican's and dead bodies.

"I'd say it's a good day to die, but the weather is terrible." Said Mackenzie, Schaeffer wanted to laugh but couldn't find it in him. Venendez looked hopeful all of a sudden.

"Last stand's don't always end in death... I mean, I read about this place called the Alamo once-" Schaeffer stopped him.

"I did too, they were all killed." Venendez cursed.

"Hey guys... they stopped." Mackenzie said, confusion in his voice. Schaeffer looked up suddenly, the metal door was no longer shaking.

"What the fuck is that." Someone on the upper floors said into the radio. This had to be good.

"Here we go." Venendez sighed before leaning over the sandbags. They were just a bit to the right of the door, slightly off center. Around eighty feet or so back.

There was a pause, and after a minutes wait, something slammed into the door.

A dent appeared, the crates pushed in front of it moved back at the force of the slam. Another strike, the door screamed in protest as its motors tried to hold on. Another, the hinges broke, the double doors went flying. One of them knocked over the crates and the other took out a militiaman.

The alien that charged in almost made Schaeffer wet himself, it was almost ten feet tall, breaking the frame of the door as he smashed through. It was covered in heavy purple armor and carried a huge metal shield that nearly went from floor to head. Its other arm was a large gun, and its body under the armor showed pulsing orange worms.

Its cannon fired, Schaeffer watched in horror as it obliterated four marines, including Atterson, and their fortifications in the center. The men simply disintegrating at the massive beam of plasma, which carried on and burned through the wall at the back of the lobby. It charged out and swung with its shield at the closest humans, three militiamen and a marine, who were crushed as the metal slab broke them.

Another one slammed through the back, firing and taking out another fortification. Squat's and Squid's ran in after, firing all the way.

The last stand was ending quickly, the humans screaming as they tried to fight to survive. Everyone aimed for the tanks. The creatures were unfazed as bullets pinged harmlessly off their armor like stones. One bullet landed between its hip and body armor, slamming into the orange worms in its gut. The creature groaned in pain and killed another four men.

A man came up from behind the receptions desk with a missile launcher. He aimed for a moment and fired, the missile streaking out at the tank and smoke flying out from the back. The missile slammed into the exposed area of one of the tanks before exploding violently. Orange worms and blood came flying to the floor, and the alien toppled over, a decent sized hole in its gut.

The other one let out a guttural roar and began swinging wildly as his friend went down, taking out one barricade and then another The rampaging beast smashed through friend and foe alike, crushing Squat's and Squid's underneath its boots as it ran to murder the marines.

"Shit! Run! Run!" Someone yelled and this time, Schaeffer agreed with the sentiment. They were getting nowhere fast, and the Covenant were already outnumbering marines in the lobby. He grabbed the shocked Venendez by the back of his collar and ran after Mackenzie who had already began to retreat.

Plasma flew after him, one flew past him, around eight feet away and he felt the burns across his cheek flare and worsen.

They flew through some double doors, at some point they had managed to pick up some other running marines and three militiamen. The major was telling them to hold, the lieutenant was ordering a tactical withdrawal, everyone was running.

They passed the elevator and the stairwell when the doors to the stairs flew open and someone ran out, directly into him. He toppled over with the person and grunted as he slammed into the ground.

As he looked up, he realized he had toppled over with the ODST lieutenant, and the two looked at each other before Mackenzie ran over and yelled for them to get a move on. Marines and ODST's were streaming out of the stairwell and the hallway was getting full.

"Come on! Come on god damn it! Let's GO!" He grabbed Schaeffer's arm and pulled him up, and Schaeffer grabbed the lieutenant and did the same. They caught up with Venendez and the four ran out together.

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" Someone screamed from another hallway, and Schaeffer saw a black gloved hand waving over the crowd. The lieutenant patted him on the back and broke off to meet with the other ODST. Schaeffer hoped she would be alright.

They kept running through hallways until they found an exit exit door, two double doors which led to the back parking lot. They shoved past a marine who was ushering everyone through and burst through the doors. There was a stone overhang and fat pillars down the side of the building, in front of him, there was a moderately sized parking lot. The lot was encased by buildings, and the only way in besides the doors was the tunnel from the other lot.

The tunnel had been sealed by large blast doors. Schaeffer wondered why exactly a hospital needed those, was it built with defense in mind? He didn't think about it long however, he had more important things to worry about.

"Hey! Hey you guys!" Red and Busy ran up to them, clutching rifles in tight fists. Red was panting, but continued, "what the hell is happening? Why aren't you holding the front?"

"Red we-" Venendez started but Schaeffer cut him off.

"The front is GONE god damn it. There is huge tank monsters made of fucking worms and hundreds of Squat's and Squid's and..." he trailed off, realizing he sounded insane, Venendez continued.

"We are getting out of there, we just lost half the company in three minutes." Red paled, Busy rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"We don't have enough Pelican's to get all the civilians that were here, we don't have enough for the entire building." Schaeffer looked over to see crowds of civilians being moved onto the Pelican's like cattle, occasionally a Hornet would drop down and pick up some people, or a man in a stretcher would be ran out of the building and thrown into a Pelican. Whenever a Pelican lifted off, it seemed to leave an even bigger crowd.

He looked behind him, there were sandbag fortifications set up facing the doors, and a few marines aiming their weapons at the building. The Scorpion also sat in the lot, though it was completely surrounded by running civilians and the driver was leaning out of the hatch, shouting for them to get out of his way.

"We need to get fortified." Everyone looked at him, confused.

"The LT is god knows where, the major is a prick, I don't even know what happened to the captain after we got here and Atterson is dead. We need to take charge of this shit because it doesn't look like anyone is.

"I don't think we should-" Busy started, but Venendez cut him off.

"McBee, you're a first sergeant. You're the highest ranking person I can see, unless Summers can come out of nowhere." Busy glanced at them, a worried look in his eyes. Galbraith really was dead, he realized.

"Alright. Alright. I'll take over until someone gets here. What do you guys recommend?" This gave them stall, Schaeffer recalled some book he read. Whether it was military history or psychology he couldn't remember.

"The second they start shooting, these civies are going to stampede. We gotta get them out of the building and away from those doors when the Covenant take them down. We gotta bolster defenses too, those sandbags won't last, especially if they have more of those... things we fought." Busy nodded quickly, Venendez piped up.

"The radio is tons of pilots screaming about how fucked the situation is, and our air cover is collap-" they ducked down as a Hornet flew past, being strafed by two Banshee's. One of its propellers exploded and the helicopter spun to the ground before violently crashing, somewhere just beyond the lot.

"Speak of the devil, our air cover is going to hell. Someone needs to organize it before pilots start trying to bail." Mackenzie took his turn.

"Everyone is disorganized as high hell. They're like chickens with their heads cut off. You should try and meet up with everyone else, the other sergeant's. The sooner this is in order, the sooner we get out of here." Busy continued nodding.

"Alright. Alright. Mackenzie, track down the other sergeant's, or corporals if the sergeant's are dead. Tell them to meet up with me." Mackenzie gave a mock salute and jogged away, grabbing Red to help him out. "Venendez, one of the Pelican pilots had to land his Pelican a block or so away when he took too many hits. He's over there," he pointed over to an area in the corner, where a man in pilot fatigues was helping some civilians towards the Pelicans, "have him tell you the pilots frequencies, try to talk them around. This will go a lot faster with someone on the ground."

"Aye, aye." Said Venendez who began pushing through the crowds.

"Schaeffer, get to the front. Try to see what you can do with our defenses, and try to get as many people through as you can." Schaeffer's eyes widened, and he threw his hands up.

"No, no, no. I'm just a private's, I can't lead anything. Ever." Busy put a hand on his good shoulder, reassuringly.

"Schaeffer, you've done good today. Most of the company seems to like you and you know... some things. My squad was given the front, and the highest person left beside me is Lance Corporal Butcher. Just tell him I sent you, help me out here." It was hardly orthodox, and Schaeffer didn't know where to start. But he had a feeling he didn't have much choice.

"Alright. Alright I'll do it." And he broke off to the sandbags.

There were five marines holding the area. The name tape showed a Barbosa, Lowe, Ortega and Butcher, there was also some marine from the northeast helping. He ran up to Butcher and tapped his shoulder to get his attention, the marine turned and scowled.

"What do you want?"

"McBee sent me, wants me to organize this." He swept his hand through the air in a dramatic gesture, showing the meager defenses

"Busy sent you?" The scowl faded, "alright I guess. What do you need us to do?" Schaeffer breathed out in relief, he was afraid he would have to fight for it. He turned around and scanned the area,

"There are some crates in the corner back there. They don't have any use just sitting there, and we need to block these doors to funnel them through..." he looked around some more, and saw an abandoned Warthog sitting in front of the tunnel, its turret abandoned and pointing at the sky.

"Pull that hog up, get the turret pointed at that door and block the rest... if you manage to do all that, try and get the civies out in a line." Butcher nodded and jogged to the other marines, giving orders. Schaeffer looked around and his eyes found the Scorpion, he ran over.

The people were swarming all over it, and the tanker was screaming from his perch for them to get out of the way. Schaeffer climbed the Scorpion until he was with the driver.

"I'm going to need that!" He screamed over the roar of the crowd and the engines, the tanker looked over, confused.

"Your sidearm!" The tan skinned man glanced around before he reached into the the hatch and slid an SMG from somewhere inside before handing it to Schaeffer. He didn't respond when the man asked what he was going to do with it.

The bullets flew out from the SMG and into the air, the crowd screamed and ducked, he took the following moment of silence to shout out his orders.

"Everyone is to move away from the Scorpion immediately, if you do not move, you will be crushed. Please get away, this is for YOUR protection." The civilians seemed nervous but he hopped down and used the SMG to shove them towards where they needed to go. He grabbed a passing officer and militiaman and enlisted their help while he was at it. With the three shoving and yelling, a path was cleared for the tank.

He turned and faced the tank, waving it forward. The driver saluted and slid into the vehicle before slamming down the top, the lights blinked on to help them see through the rain and fog, then the treads began to move. Schaeffer pointed them towards an empty area in one of the corners of the lot, it wasn't in the way of the Pelican's and it had a decent angle on the door. It would do.

As he looked over, he saw the marines start dropping the crates in front of the doors, two marines carrying at a time. The crates were big, about five feet both ways, the marines stacked them on top of each other and completely covered the doors. Schaeffer hoped the tanks would decide to go through the open one.

He saw headlights flicker on and Butcher steered the Warthog in front of the door, around a hundred feet back. Crates were pushed over in order to completely block off everything besides the turret, Barbosa. quickly slid into the machine gun. There were still some crates left.

"Bolster the sandbags with those crates! Come on!" He yelled, and Butcher quickly relayed it to the marines. Schaeffer shoved through civilians and into the doorway. He began to shout.

"If you wish to get onto a Pelican, move calmly and quickly in an orderly manner. Those who rush will be left behind." Scattered gunfire came from down the hallways, the civilians were finally slowing down...

Then he heard the alien tanks cannon fire and an explosion, smoke flying down the hallway the civilians were coming from in a plume. Everyone screamed and panicked, the civilians in front not being allowed on the Pelican's by the marines and the civilians in back trying to get away from the carnage behind them. The civilians in the middle were crushed.

Plasma streaked from the side halls, people were rushing, trampling. Schaeffer found himself swept with them, out of the building.

"Everyone get READY!" He screamed, then again into the radio. They would be there any minute. The few marines he had with him dispersed behind the sandbags and crates, aiming at the door. When he saw them, he grabbed armed civilians or militiamen and tried to drag them to the barricades. Most broke off towards the Pelican's, but four of them nervously moved into cover.

Then they were there, the last of the civilians screamed or ran out as Squat's swarmed over them, the men opened fire immediately. Cutting down four of the short creatures and a civilian who didn't' move in time. A Squid ran through the entrance and the Warthog's turret and the Scorpion's coaxial machine gun both spat out everything they had, the creature screamed as its shield popped and it died.

The enemies bodies were piling onto the concrete, their blue blood mixing with the rain puddles and running in rivulets across the concrete.

"Hold the breach!" He screamed, "hold the breach for Christ's sake!" Squat's jerked and twitched the second they stepped out of the doorway, Squid's shields popped before they could aim or direct their forces. Some of the Squat's tried to run back inside at the carnage but ran straight into their allies and were cut down. It was a massacre.

Then he heard a roar and the tank slammed through one of the crate barricades, chunks of wall flying out as he broke through. Schaeffer fumbled with his radio.

"Tank! TANK! FIRE!" He screamed it into the area broadcast, anyone in a mile radius could hear the order.

The monster fired its cannon and tore through the side of a retreating Pelican. People fell out the hole, screaming as they burned and fell and the bird swung wildly out of control, barely avoiding a second one before flying into the distance. He heard it crash.

The next moment it turned its gun on Schaeffer and the firing marines, he was dea-

He heard a crack of thunder, or what he thought was thunder, and the side of the monster was completely blown away. Its shield was twisted and black, the orange worms of its flank were blown away and its armor tore into its body where the shell impacted. It screamed in pain and stumbled over, trying to use its shield as balance. After a moment, it swayed and collapsed, orange blood pooling around it. The driver of the tank leaned out of the hatch and gave a thumbs up before falling back inside.

The monster was finally dead, but the damage was done however. More Covenant streamed through the breach it had created. A police officer next to him, firing with his magnum and screaming in rage, dropped as plasma disintegrated his skull. Lowe shouted a warning and cried out as plasma slammed into her and burned through her breastplate. She squirmed as she died.

Schaeffer fired a burst into the enemies coming out of the right side, and another in the left, slowly walking backwards in his crouched position. Looking behind him, he saw a small number of civilians still waiting for Pelican's, most of the ones who had been waiting were now dead in the crossfire.

"Get them in those Pelican's! Go! Go!" He shouted to the other fighters, they looked at him and nodded before running off. Schaeffer was alone.

"Come and get me god damn it!" He screamed, he was dead. He was doomed. He wasn't a hero, but if he was going to die, he wanted to be remembered as one. He clicked his assault rifle from burst to full auto and cut down the two Squat's who got too close. The Scorpion fired again and blasted a crowd of them, and the Warthog turret was still going.

A shot laced out and nearly hit him, Schaeffer barely avoiding it by sliding to the ground as it flew overhead. He rolled out from behind his cover and continued firing from the prone position, hoping to kill as many as he could.

"Schaeffer, we got room for everyone, get on!" McBee screamed in the radio, he glanced back, the civilians were all inside and the marines were running into the waiting Pelican's.

"Shit." He said, and turned and ran. The tankers pushed their vehicle forward, trying to push the Covenant back when a banshee flew overhead, dropping its bomb. The plasma slammed into the Scorpion's flank, the turret sagging down at an angle as smoke rose up.

The driver climbed out of the hatch and pulled out the gunner as he did. The two fell to the ground and came running to the Pelican's, Schaeffer fell to a knee as the two dived into the bird, being pulled in by the waiting marines, Barbosa followed them shortly.

"Schaeffer come on!" Someone screamed, and he got ready to run inside when he saw her.

Four ODST's running on the top floor, plasma flying out the broken windows as they were chased. One of them was hit square in the back and dropped like a sack of rocks, the other three turned to fire and realized they were trapped.

They looked out at the evacuation site and after a moment, ran. A corpsman was hit in the side and tripped, falling out and breaking his neck. The other two fell more squarely, he heard a snap when one of them screwed up her fall.

It was the ODST from the elevator.

The other turned to help her but ducked down and ran to the Pelican when plasma fire raced at him. Looking back, the last of the Pelican's were lifting off.

Schaeffer was never a brave man, he never claimed to be and never saw himself as one. All day he had been doing stupid things that people had called brave, because other people told him to or because he had no choice. This time, it was his choice.

He chose.

"Schaeffer god damn it!" McBee screamed as he ran towards her, his legs aching from a days fighting. The rain whipped at his face and soaked his balaclava even more, he felt chilled to a bone, it had to be below zero, and the rain wasn't helping things.

He slipped on a puddle and barely recovered, he heard gunfire behind him but he ignored it, and instead tried to focus on ignoring the pain in his face as the plasma whizzed by. He fell to his knees and slid.

"Hey." He said, her visor was polarized, but he could tell she was confused. He pushed his arms under her body and with all of his strength, lifted. Groaning in pain as his shoulder flared and the wound opened further. Ignoring it, he slid her over his back in a fireman's carry and began running.

Some marines had abandoned the Pelican, Red, Mackenzie, Masih, Hooch. He saw a door gunner blasting the turret on full auto, and McBee was leaning out, picking the encroaching Covenant off with his magnum.

He ran into the Pelican, slamming through the door gunner who stumbled to the side but continued gunning. Hands were grabbing him, stopping him from tripping as he fell inside.

The marines outside quickly broke and ran, plasma was slamming into the hull of the Pelican, and he saw what looked like some sort of alien rocket launcher carried by the Squat's. The door gunner did too, thank god, and tore the creature apart before it could aim.

The Pelican slowly began to lift off, McBee was shouting into his radio about something, and Schaeffer heard the term danger closed be thrown around. As they flew over the buildings surrounding the lot and away, he saw two Shortsword's fly in, black dots dropping from the bays.

The hospital exploded as they flew off, the back collapsing on top of the Covenant forces, the rest being dragged down with it. By the time their view of the hospital was gone, the only remaining part was the front.

The doors slowly closed, and they were enveloped in darkness. Schaeffer was laying on the floor, pinned by the ODST's body. He looked over at her.

"I never... got that... name." He panted out between breaths, her visor depolarized and she looked at him like a madman.

"Meyers." She said, and slowly pulled herself off of him.

"God damn Schaeffer. You really are a hero." He heard McBee say as someone dragged him into an empty seat. Most of the faces here were unfamiliar. There were the tankers, the ODST, Butcher, Masih, Red, Hooch, McBee and Barbosa. Otherwise, there was a decent number of militia and police men, and two doctors who nervously sat in the back.

"Sweet Christ." Said Red, Masih glanced at him and then back at the woman.

"You sure you don't have a crush?" The whole Pelican glared at her and she coughed nervously.

"We'll be flying to the rally point at Clive Industrial, so we got a half hour or so till we get there. Sit tight." The pilots voice came crisp over the radio, Schaeffer looked around again.

"Get some sleep, you deserve it." Said McBee. He looked at Meyers, who smiled at him.

Sighing, he lowered his balaclava and closed his eyes. His burns screamed in pain, as did his arm and his legs and his lungs. Schaeffer decided he didn't care anymore.