Thanks for all of the reviews so quickly!
Just to let you know, the book from last chapter is going to influence a lot of interactions for the next couple of chapters. So knowing the basic story is kind of helpful, it's a really great (and short) book if you haven't read it.
On a sidenote: I have a question for other MC/OC writers out there, what's with all the horses?
Day five of mandatory rest was a hot still day that seemed to drag on longer than usual. Having spent so much time moving so quickly through an hour, an hour of free time was hard to manage for John. Thankful for the book he'd borrowed from Marya, he set himself down to read but stopped and picked it up again several times. She was right, the subject of the book was hard to handle.
He felt like he must have known at some point that people like Charlie, the POV character, existed but he'd been truly surprised by it. It seemed like such a vulnerable life to live, not understanding the world around you. Trying to imagine it made him feel uncomfortable and he put the book aside.
After a trip to the gym he returned to his quarters and dressed into fresh clothes, only to realize that he still had the whole day to fill. He was out of his element not training, not working towards something- just simply waiting. Frustration began to bubble up inside of him but then he remembered he'd made a promise. He picked up the book again and settled down on his back to read the book on his bunk.
As he read over the next few journal entries he realized, as the reader is meant to, that Charlie was going to undergo some sort of augmentation. Something that may make him more intelligent, but there would be risks. That was what Marya had been referring to when she'd cautioned him about the story seeming a bit too close to home for him. He set the book on his chest and held it with one hand as he starred up at the ceiling in thought.
He was never afraid, even though he figured he aught to be, he just wasn't. Perhaps it was his childish ego at that age but the thought of the negative effects, disfigurement, disability, death- none of those things put any fear in him. Not for himself at least and what he did feel was more of a worry, what if he lost some of his friends? Dr. Halsey had been very explicit that a margin of failure was unavoidable. It made him think back to that pelican, when he'd made sure every one of his friends made it back. Every one of his Spartans made it through then, but this was out of his control and made him uneasy.
The outside air was disappointingly humid when he went out for a breath of fresh air, hoping to clear his head. On a day like this the grounds were expectedly empty, the heat forcing everyone but the least fortunate to the comforts of indoors. Yet many of the barracks lacked air conditioning of any kind and the stiff air in the large buildings were more of a lesser degree of discomfort. The heat radiated in visible waves from the asphalt farther off, distorting the view of the ball courts and training yards.
He took in a breath to still the complaints in his mind, this wasn't so bad, with his eyes closed he focused on his breathing for a few beats. Doing this pulled him away from complaints his body may be reporting yet sharpened his senses to his surroundings. He could hear somewhere off to his 2 o'clock a stern voice drilling some marines about the fields, weather like this was a good opportunity for training. He approved but was thankful he wasn't training today, the heat here made him feel slow and he'd much prefer the controlled environment of his armor.
The sounds of the gym floated down the hall to his six and spilled out around him, dissipating as it collided with the curtain of heat in the yard. The pool sounded very busy, understandably, but the usual grunts and clunks of the work out room were absent, not a surprise that if he felt the heat dragging him down his fellow soldiers were probably feeling a great deal more.
Inhaling through his nose he hoped to get hints at what was in the mess hall, but the air smelled of more of hot dirt and on his exhale he felt like he could taste the gravel in the French drain around the barracks. Opening his eyes he took another look at the heat radiating over the ground in the distance then set out walking.
He'd gone past the buildings of the main base and followed a trail into the forested training ground without any real plan for where he was headed. His mind kept returning to the character in the book and how he strangely empathized with him. He certainly wasn't lesser than his peers, but quite the opposite, still there was something there in the way he seemed to lack agency in his situation.
Control had never been something John had been able to fully grasp. He'd had command certainly, but he'd always been within the chain of command, always someone above him pulling the strings. That was until the Halos, the Forerunner, the Flood, Requiem. He'd called the shots in many cases, and even went as far as insubordination on Requiem, but always for a greater cause. Similarly, this poor character had been moved around and placed into situations by the people around him, did he really even have a choice in the matter of the experiment? Wasn't it taking advantage of a person like that to offer them a golden apple?
Civilians have so much power over their lives, their decisions were their own alone. What would life be like for someone like Charlie if he became normal? Would he be able to simply live like anyone else, would he even know how? John expected that he'd have to learn, and that through that there would be darker elements of humanity revealed through his experience.
He tried to make himself stop short at this comparison when these questions could easily be turned towards him. He understood his own surroundings, the rules and organization of a military life seemed simple and comfortable to him. The thought of civilian life seemed unstable and disorganized and suddenly he felt very certain he needed to be placed back in the field urgently.
The Spartan had listened for water while he let his thoughts wander and found a stream. Curious about the watershed above, he began to follow the stream uphill. A few hours later he stopped and pressed his back to a maple growing precariously close to the creek bed. Coming up on his right were voices, two male marines from the sound of it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to interact, this far away from the security of the base, and decided to lay low and wait for them to cross his path before moving on. Some would say it would be their funeral if they were to pick a fight with him, but the guilt he felt for hurting his fellow soldiers in his past made him hide away for their sake.
As they passed he recognized one of them to be the PFC from the mess hall, figured him friendly enough and began to approach the pair. When he got within earshot he called out to them and added a shout of"friendly" when the two jumped in surprise. Vec beamed when he recognized him and clapped his friend on the back.
" Shit Yellow,this is the Spartan I was telling you about." Vec said to a his friend whose name read: Willis on his forced himself to smile, even if it wasn't the truest it would be an appreciated gesture. Willis did a double take between his friend and John and them sprung into a smart looking salute.
" At ease soldier, no one's in uniform here no need for formality." John said casually as he came to a stop in front of his attention to Vec he looked about 25 or so, maybe younger and Willis beside him looked even Vec had sandy colored hair shaved down in the usual fashion and deep brown eyes, Willis had a dark completion and shaved his head clean.
" Have you been telling more stories Vec?" He asked, accepting the water canteen Willis had thrust out to him in a gesture of hadn't realized he was thirsty until he drank and was thankful for happening upon them.
" Yeah man, that story never gets old." The marine shrugged.
" You called Willis here Yellow, why is that?" The Spartan asked, taking another glance at the PFC in question. Willis threw up a hand in exasperation, "It's a stupid nickname.." He complained as Vec chuckled. "Go on, tell him then.." He said, feigning annoyance and taking a swig from the canteen himself.
Vec let his laughing die off and began the story, a broad smile playing across his face as he told it.
" So when we were all green behind the ears, training here on base before the real deal. We were all taking bets about who would chicken out on our first simulation training. At the time, Willis was real squirrely, hadn't really grown into the place yet if you know what I mean."
" It ended up that a lot of those yellow belly bets were on Willis, but somehow he found out about it right before our first simulation. He was so pissed I think we aught to have called him red,and went into cryo chomping at the bit. When we came out he was first to gear up and first out on the turf, we reached our first checkpoint as a group and located our opponents. While we were busy planning our strategy Yellow here was just getting angrier and angrier, but nobody noticed because Yellow never said anything most of the time. When it got to be too much for him he just took off running and made a beeline for the other team."
Vec broke his story and let out another burst of laughter, a perfect signal for John that he should smile at this part of the story. Willis folded his arms and turned away, though a smirk played across his lips plainly.
"He ran out there like some Rambo movie and took every single one of those team members down. In fact, the last guy, he tried to run, actually turn tail and run away from Yellow. Yellow jumped on his back and put him in a sleeper hold, knocked the guy right out. Then he stood up and looked us all in the eye and yells, " I am not.. Yellow!" He laughed and then shrugged, " So obviously we call him Yellow from then on."
John looked to Willis and then back at Vec, " Good story Vec. That is certainly a way to earn a reputation."
Willis nodded in acknowledgment and the spartan recognized he was also more of the quiet type, perhaps he hung around Vec so he could do all the talking for him. Willis' eyes trained downstream then back to John's eyes.
" What're you doing out here Chief?" He asked cooly.
" I'm not sure," John admitted, " killing time I suppose." He realized standing still might seem odd and added a shrug as an afterthought. Willis seemed to notice that but said nothing about it.
" Until what?" Vec asked, Willis and John exchanged glances before John turned his attention back to Vec.
" You tell me.." John said.
He'd decided to walk back to the base with the two, walking in silence and taking the back. Vec trailed up ahead a bit and Willis stayed back, a few steps ahead of the Spartan. Vec seemed eager to explore the area and lead then away from the stream, which John allowed while keeping note of their location in relation to the water in case they got lost following Vec's lead.
Willis turned back to John and offered him the canteen again.
" Seen a lot of action in your day huh?" He asked while John drank.
John nodded once and handed the canteen back, " You say that like I'm retired.." He pointed out.
" No disrespect sir. I just mean, you been seein' it for a long time." Willis corrected and John nodded in acknowledgement. He liked this soldier, and found himself wondering how it is he seemed so green to him before.
" I have..." John said, his deep voice rumbling as he trailed off. They walked in silence for a bit longer, John observed Willis look tentatively back at him a few times until he finally spoke to him.
" What is it private?" He asked in a tone that commanded an answer but quiet enough to not tip off Vec up ahead of them.
Willis slowed his pace and walked abreast with John. The PFC sighed and turned to look at him, his eyes showing uncertainty.
" It's not everyday you meet a living legend..." he began, " and I.. I always wondered, I know it must have been bad but... I wondered what fighting the flood was like."
He looked relieved to have the question off of his chest, though John felt uncertain about how to answer. Unraveling his own memories about the flood seemed difficult as well as uncomfortable but perhaps he had a duty to his fellows to let them know what it would be like, if they were to ever face them again. The thought brought chills up his spine despite the temperature.
" When I first encountered the flood..." He thought back to the swamps, " I was all alone, on a mission to rescue a captain I thought I'd just rescued once already. This was when we were crash landed on the first Halo the UNSC had ever interacted with. I didn't know what happened to the Captain, all I knew was he dropped out of contact but his signal was still up. I'd had an AI back then, but not for this mission, I'd left the marines I'd come with up at the opening of this structure to provide cover in case it got hot."
" I found a few of ours, tags gone so I knew that scuffled had left some alive. I moved on and found a soldier alive and in total shock, I couldn't get any sense into him and ordered him to join the soldiers waiting up above. I don't know if he did or not... I kept moving, and the quiet began to really bother me. No covenant, none of ours.. just the occasional body from either side."
" When they hit me it was all at once, seemingly hundreds of these balloon-like creatures with tentacles scuttling in hordes towards me. They were small and controlled bursts worked well on groups, but spread out they could flank easily. Then out came the combat forms, reanimated bodies of covenant elites and human soldiers. Twisted into grotesque monstrous bodies, they smelled like corpses. Some could handle weapons, some had replaced their hands with a clawed or tentacled arm."
Willis wrinkled his nose and drew his lips into a thin line and John stopped, wondering if he'd said too much but Willis shook it off and urged him on.
" I had to fight my way out, while I had no idea what it was I was fighting. I learned and adapted as I went, getting plenty of time as a lift sent me the wrong way, deeper down into the facility." He said and trailed off, remembering that sinking feeling in his stomach as the lift sent him down deeper into the halo.
" Did one ever, you know, grab you?" Willis asked, looking away out of respect, though a spartan would never let his face betray his emotion anyway. He took a long pause, pondering if he should answer truthfully, he'd never included that little scare in his report. It had put him in shock for long enough for him to know he didn't care to re-live it.
" Yes..yes once, an infection form jumped on my back, managed to cut through to my skin and almost had me when Cor- my AI sent an EMP through my suit and knocked it off." He said for some reason.
They were silent for a long while after that, both pondering the story John had just shared. When they reached the base the three of them went to the mess hall and before John could pull away from them Willis reached out and firmly held his shoulder, a gesture meant to communicate camaraderie but made awkward by their height difference.
" Thank you." Willis said resolutely, and John gave him a curt nod realization dawning on him that he'd managed to do what Tanner and Dr. Newhart had been trying to get out of him. He felt like maybe he'd let his guard down, letting down a wall like that, but he couldn't help but also feel a bit of relief.