Date: April: 19:42pm
Location: Voi, Kenya
"What is it, Evelyn?" the Arbiter, concerned over her sudden spurt of worry. "Is it more Brutes?"
Eve shook her head and turned to look at the Elite. He saw the terror in her eyes. Whatever this was, it had to be something important…and bad if it was scaring Eve this much. She replied with one word:
"Worse,"
The sky began to turn dark, not pitch black like it normally would when night came but a dark green colour. It was like a shadow had swept over the land and covered it completely. It was like in films of good against evil. The shadow was always known as the evil side and it wanted to cover everything. Eve had never even thought that this shadow would ever become a reality, but now that 'they' were here, there was no stopping it.
Eve looked back at where the CCS battle cruiser had crashed. They were here. The one enemy Eve, humanity, the Arbiter, the entire Covenant and even Truth, who the Covenant had seen as not scared of anything, truly feared and even the enemy that had been at war with the Forerunners millennia earlier.
I… It was t-the…
"The Flood!" Mary's voice said worryingly, which Eve heard through her ear radio. "I-It's spreading all over the city!"
"How do we contain it?" Hood's voice asked.
"Find the crashed Flood ship; overload It's engine core," Mary replied. "We either sacrifice this city, or risk losing the entire planet,"
"Do it," Hood said.
"Eve, make your way to the crash site," Mary ordered.
Eve ran up the pathway with the Arbiter towards the side of the hill. They had their orders, but would they succeed? This was not the Covenant, this was the Flood. They were not going to be as easy to defeat but what if they spread too quickly? What if they managed to get away from Voi?
It was then Eve was stuck by a terrible thought. What if they spread out to quickly across the country to be contained? Or the continent? Or worse, the planet? If they destroyed the UNSC forces on Earth, then there was pretty much no hope left for any other surviving Human colonies across this Sol of the galaxy. If the Flood won here, then mankind was finished.
No! Eve was not going to let that happen. She had lost too much in this war with the Covenant. The rest of the Human race was not going to be taken as well. They were to defeat the Flood and destroy them, or at least drive them from Earth. Eve was going to make that happened, even if it meant she had to go down with the Flood.
She and the Arbiter ran off the pathway onto the hill. Out of the squad that had fought with Eve and the Arbiter to the turret, there were now only four left. One had been blown off the side of the hill by the wind. The rest had either struck their heads on the rocks when the wind had blown them over or, at least one died from this, were crushed by large chunks of the Covenant AA turret's remains.
"You guys okay?" Eve asked them as they ran over to her and the Arbiter.
"We're fine," one of the marines replied. "Could you believe what just happened? I've never seen anything like it,"
"Neither have I," Eve said. "But we'll have to talk about it later. Right now, we have to get to the other side of Voi and destroy the ship that crashed. The Flood were on it,"
A few of the squad members exchanged confused looks but before they could either of them Eve and the Arbiter were running down towards the way into Voi. The squad members decided it was best to ask them later and followed.
As Eve and the Arbiter reached the start of the pathway that led into Voi, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.
"All squads report!" came a marine's voice.
"Multiple contacts, sir," came another marine's voice. "Unknown hostiles,"
As the two ran down onto the path, a loud growl made the shudder. They looked up just in time to see something fall onto the roof of the rectangular building to their left. Eve gulped. That was most likely a Flood combat form, and that was only one. There was no doubt going to be many more of them throughout Voi.
The two turned left and ran down the pathway towards the turning that led right. The squad had managed to catch up with them and were following close behind. Scattered up and down the path were the remains of one of the crate moving vehicles. The front had been crushed and torn in two. The back, for the crate, had also been crushed and almost compacted into a cube. The body of one of the Brutes was lying on the ground nearby. The wind or the crash must have blown him away from where he had been killed.
"There! Over there!" a marine's voice exclaimed, which Eve heard through her ear radio.
"We're surrounded, sergeant!" another marine warned.
They sounded close. They had to be nearby as Eve and the Arbiter had just seen a combat form. If the marines sending the transmission were near then they had to hurry squad ran to the end of the pathway and turned right towards the road that led from the warehouse to the gate. The fire that had been raging in the small cube shaped building had been put out. Some of the remains of the vehicles were now scattered everywhere, as were the bodies of those who had been killed.
"Sergeant! C'mon!" a female voice shouted.
A marine ran out from the remains of the cube shaped building. He waved at the squad as they approached.
"Hey guys," he shouted. "C'mon, we need to get inside. Something's chasing u-AAHHH!"
Suddenly, a wave of brown descended over the marine. He screamed loudly and fell to the floor, shaking violently.
Eve ran forward towards the marine. She fired a few blasts at the wave of brown. Small explosions, which sounded like balloons popping, erupted over it. Like a wave of bugs scattering in the light, the wall broke apart. Eve saw them to be infection forms, the creatures that infected hosts and made the Flood hordes grow.
However, it was the marine that was drawing Eve's attention. He was lying on the floor shaking violently as if he were having a fit. The squad, along with two other marines who were standing outside the now closed blast door that led into the warehouse, fired on the remaining infection forms, making more popping sounds fill the air. Eve ran over to the shaking marine and knelt down beside him. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. As if she had a magic touch, the marine stopped shaking immediately.
"Are you okay?" Eve asked the marine as he stirred and looked up at her.
He was about to reply when…
"AAAAHHH!" Eve screamed.
She scrambled backwards away fro the marine as a huge brown growth grew on his shoulder. The sound of skin and flesh tearing was enough to make her retch. She watched in horror as another bulge grew on the marine's back and his arms became horribly mutilated and grew long tentacle-like fingers at the hands. The head was even pushed out of It's place and a new, more horribly monster/mutant-like one grew out of the torso. The marine stood up and looked at Eve. She went wide-eyed at the sight before her.
The marine was now a combat form and a new addition to the ever growing army of Flood.
The combat form growled and charged towards Eve. She grabbed her plasma rifle, which she had dropped when she darted away from the marine, and fired a few blasts at the creature. The blasts took of one of the arms and hit the creature in the chest. The combat form fell backwards onto the floor, dead. As Eve stood up, she fired a few more blasts at the creature, just to make sure it was not going to get up again.
THUD! Eve gasped and shot round. Standing in front of her was another combat form. However, this was one she had never seen before. It had a huge growth over the upper part of the body that was so big that it looked as though it were all tipping towards one side, a short stubby arm sticking out of one side and a long one sticking out of the other side of the torso. It's legs were a dark brown colour and were covered with a small amount of visible armour. They were a Brute's legs.
So now she knew what a Brute looked like when it was infected.
The combat form growled and swung It's arm at her, striking her in the chest. She fell to the ground. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was empty! If the combat form hit her again, she was dead.
The combat form raised It's tentacle arm high above It's head. Eve went wide-eyed. This could be it for her.
Suddenly, the combat form flew sideways onto the ground. The Arbiter ran over to the dead creature's body and swung his plasma rifle at it. The body broke apart, ending any threat of the combat form getting up to fight again.
"Are you alright, Evelyn?" he asked Eve as he helped her up.
"Yeah, thanks," she replied.
"Look out! More of 'em!" one of the marines shouted.
Eve and the Arbiter looked towards the blast door and saw another wave of brown descend over the marines that were near the squad. Following close behind were a group of combat forms. The marines screamed as the infection forms attached to them. The female marine fell to the floor as one of the infection forms attached itself to her chest and began to eat away at it. Then, after a few seconds of burning and unimaginable pain, the female marine fell to the ground, dead. One of the infection forms drove into her body and disappeared. The marine's body shook violently on the ground before the retching bulges and growths grew on the body. The marine stood up, now another monster in the Flood army.
The other marine scrambled away from the infection forms towards the squad. The new combat form ran towards him. The marine yelled and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The combat form was hit and let out a shuddering roar as it fell to the ground, dead.
"What are you doing?" one of the other marines shouted at the marine as he ran over to them. "That's the sergeant!"
"That was the sergeant!" the marine replied.
The wave of infection forms moved across the ground towards the squad. They raised their weapons and fired on them. The infection forms popped like balloons. Eve and the Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts from their plasma rifles at the combat forms as they charged towards them and the marines. One of them, however, managed to get through the barrage and, with a swipe from one of It's tentacle hands, hit one of the marines in the chest and head, killing him. One of the remaining marines swung his battle rifle at the creature, breaking it apart and throwing the remains onto the floor.
When the last of the combat forms had been killed, the remaining infection forms scattered. The squad lowered their weapons.
"That was tough," one of the marines said.
"Stay alert," Eve said to the marine. "They'll be more where they came,"
ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!The squad raised their weapons and aimed frantically at the surrounding buildings, expecting another wave of Flood to come charging out and attack them. The problem was; where was the roar coming from? One of the marines began breathing heavily frantically as if he were running a marathon. Eve and the Arbiter stood back-to-back and kept their fingers on their plasma rifles' triggers.
THUD!
"LOOK OUT!"
BOOM! Something big exploded a few feet from the squad. Eve and the Arbiter looked towards them just in time to see a group of five infection forms attack the squad. One of the marines managed to shoot and kill one of the infection forms but was quickly set upon by another. The infection form drove deep into the marine's body, killing him. Then, the fit kicked in, followed by the growths and bulges appearing on the body. After a few seconds, the marine stood up, now another member of the Flood. The rest of his former comrades quickly suffered the same fate.
Eve and the Arbiter fired on the combat forms. Eve hit one in the side, shooting off It's arms. Another blast hit the combat forms in the head, throwing it to the ground where it lay still. The Arbiter fired a barrage at another two combat forms, killing one of them. The other, however, charged towards the Elite and swung It's tentacle hand at him. Luckily, the Arbiter ducked and swung his weapon at the creature's body, breaking it apart and throwing the remains onto the ground.
When Eve killed the last combat form, the Arbiter lowered his weapons and ran towards a small doorway that had been opened in the side of a small cube section of the warehouse sticking out of the right side of the door.
"Evelyn, this way!" he said.
Eve went to follow but quickly stopped and looked at the remains of the combat forms they had just killed. She felt horrible. Even though they were monsters, she was killing fellow marines. Ones that had helped her through Voi and destroy the turret and free dock workers taken prisoner, and now she had to kill them. She just wished she could change them and make them Human again. It just was not fair for these people, having to die a horrible death and to be brought back again a monster hell bent on killing everyone around him that was not one of his own.
"Evelyn!" the Arbiter, who was a few metres from the doorway, called, drawing her gaze. "There's no time! We must find their ship! Make short work of this abomination!"
Eve sighed and ran over towards the doorway after the Arbiter. When they reached the doorway, they ran through it into a small square shaped room with another door on the wall ahead of them that led to another square shaped room. Another door was on the same wall in the next room that led to a purple/violet coloured floor.
"AAAAHH! HELP!"
A marine, armed with a battle rifle, ran towards the doorway leading into the room Eve and the Arbiter were in. Following him was a swarm of infection forms. One of them jumped ahead of the swarm and attached themselves to the marine's shoulder. The marine screamed as he dropped his battle rifle and tried to pull the infection form off him. The rest of the swarm were moving in for the kill.
Without thinking for her own safety, Eve ran forward and grabbed the marine and pulled him into the room to the floor. She then grabbed the infection form and pulled it off the marine and squeezed tightly. The infection popped, throwing bits of flesh everywhere. The Arbiter fired at the rest of the swarm as they came through the doorway, hitting one of the infection forms and causing it to pop like a balloon. The rest of the swarm quickly followed.
"Are you okay?" Eve asked the marine as she checked the wound.
A growth quickly popped as Eve touched it as if she had some kind of magic touch. The marine winced slightly as he looked at the wound. A brown/dark green liquid over the wound. The marine went wide-eyed and looked at Eve.
"Am I gonna be okay?" he asked her.
Eve did not answer directly, but was he going to live? The infection form had not been able to get into his body but what about this liquid? If that had Flood spores inside it, then they could quickly infect the marine and turn him into one of the Flood. Eve sighed. She felt like a doctor having to tell a patient that he/she was going to die. She just silently prayed that the marine was going to live.
"You should be alright," Eve finally replied. "C'mon, we need to go,"
Eve helped the marine to his feet handed him his battle rifle. They then joined the Arbiter and ran out onto the purple/violet coloured floor, which was actually the walkway they had seen when they passed through the warehouse earlier on. The big blast door that was on the left wall of the warehouse at the other end of the pathway had opened, revealing a dimly lit tunnel that led to another closed blast door about fifty feet away. About ten feet in front of the closed blast door at the end of the tunnel was a sandbag wall which two marines were standing behind. Ahead of the sandbag wall was a group of combat forms, made up of beings that had once been Humans and Brutes. There were more of them scattered around the rest of the warehouse.
"These things just keep coming!" one of the marines shouted.
"Don't let them get you!" the other marine, who was a female, shouted back. "If they catch you, you're dead!"
The combat forms standing in front of the sandbag wall charged towards the marines. The two fired on them, killing one of them, but the combat forms were too quick. One of them jumped over the sandbag wall and swung It's tentacle hand at the two marines, hitting and killing the male marine. The female marine backed away from the combat form was stopped by the wall. Another combat form jumped over the sandbag wall and let out a growl as it walked towards the female marine.
"NOOO!" she screamed. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"
She went to fire a burst of ammo at the combat forms but one of them wrapped It's tentacle fingers around the weapon and pulled it out if her hands and threw it against the blast door, where it broke in two. The female marine gasped and shrunk down against the wall as the combat forms stepped closer.
"C'mon, we have to help her!" Eve exclaimed.
She jumped down from the pathway onto the floor. The Arbiter and the marine followed her, firing at the other combat forms scattered around the room. Eve ran over to where the open blast door had been and fired a burst of ammo at the combat forms. One of the creatures was hit and flew forward onto the ground, dead. The rest of the combat forms in the tunnel turned to face her. One of them growled and charged towards her but Eve fired another burst of ammo at the creature, killing it.
The Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts at a Brute combat form as it charged towards him and the marine. The creature let out a loud shuddering growl as it was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, fully dead. Another combat form ran towards them, hoping to do better than the other combat form, only to be hit in the face with a barrage of blasts and bullets.
Eve ran towards the sandbag wall and swung her battle rifle at a Brute combat form, breaking it apart and throwing the remains to the floor. She then ran over to the female marine, who had her arms covered by her head and was shaking slightly. Eve rested a hand on the marine's shoulder. The marine moved her arm slightly and looked up t see her.
"Oh, Eve!" the marine said in a whimpering-like voice as she embraced her. "Thank God you showed up! It was horrible!"
"What happened?" Eve asked the marine. "I thought there were more of you guys in here,"
"There were," the marine replied as she stood up. "But when something big crashed outside, these things just came in from everywhere and started killing us. You should have seen what happened to the bodies when these…things attached themselves to them! Oh, God, it was horrible!"
"You'll be okay," Eve said to the marine softly. "We need to get out of here and try and find a way to get transport."
The female marine nodded and ran behind Eve as they ran out from behind the sandbag wall and out of the tunnel into the room. The Arbiter and the marine had killed the rest of the combat forms. Eve and the female marine ran over to them.
"We need to find a way out of here," Eve said to the two as she reached them
"The dock workers would have most likely sealed the doors to stop these things from spreading," the marine warned.
"We'll go back through the aid station," Eve told the squad. "Whilst we're there, we'll try and look for a radio and see if we can contact any pelicans and evacuate everyone,"
The Arbiter nodded in agreement.
"It is settled then," he said. "Stay alert. The Flood will have more of their monsters ahead waiting for us,"
The squad ran on towards the blast door that led into the next square shaped room. When they reached it, Eve and the Arbiter saw that the room had changed completely. Most of the crates that had formed piles were now scattered everywhere. Also, there was a large hole in the ceiling, giving the four a good view of the dark green sky. A small cloud of brown hovered in the air of the room. The Flood had only been here a short time and, already, they already preparing to make Earth a new home, one that no other form of life would survive.
Eve raised her weapon and crept forward towards a large crate had been broken in two. As she reached it…
HIIIIISSSSSSSS!A wave of brown suddenly fell onto Eve. She screamed out and inadvertently fired a barrage of blasts in all directions. Two pops filled the air and the wave quickly scattered. Eve saw that they were infection forms. At least eight of them. One of them jumped towards her but as it hit her suit, it popped, causing her shield to light up. Eve's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was in the yellow zone. Another hit by an infection form and her shield would be down and she would be done for.
As the rest of the infection form swarm moved towards Eve to attack her, a barrage of blasts and bullets, suddenly, flew at them. The infection forms popped like balloons. Eve looked at where the barrage had come from and saw the Arbiter and the two marines run over to her.
"Thanks guys," she said. "Alright, let's move on,"
Eve ran down a small path that led into the short rectangular section of the room. The squad followed. They ran down the rectangular section to the large blast door that led into the next room. As they approached it, they could hear gunfire and what sounded like shouting and loud growls. The Flood were obviously in the next room, but how many of them were there? More importantly, what kind were they? If there were too many Flood in the next room, then the squad would be stuck in here for a while. They could not afford to be pinned down. If they were stuck here, then by the time they fought their way past the Flood, they would have escaped Voi and would soon be spreading out across the country and, eventually, the continent.
The squad came to a halt as they reached the door. Eve peeked her head out from behind the wall to see the many metallic crates scattered everywhere, mostly in two piles at the sides of the room, leaving a path and a clear view of the rest of the room, and the metallic bridge that went across the middle of the room from the two large blocks, half destroyed. A large chunk of It's left side had been blown off but there was still part of it left to allow someone to get to the end. The room was dimly lit as the lights had either been smashed or fallen off the ceiling.
"These things just don't die!" someone in the room shouted.
A wave of fire suddenly shot down from the left end of the bridge at a group of figures at the other end of the bridge. One of the figures caught fire and seemed to explode as It's remains fell to the floor. A combat form. Another of the figures fired a barrage of light blue blasts at a marine that was holding a large weapon. The blasts hit the marine in the chest and face and he fell to the bridge's floor, dead. Another marine ran down the steps, which were on the blast door's side of the metallic block, to the ground floor, only to be set upon by a group of Human and Brute combat forms. The marine yelled and ran behind an overturned crate moving vehicle. The combat forms, including the one that had been on the bridge and had jumped down from it, chased after him.
"C'mon, there's someone in trouble," Eve said to the squad.
Eve ran through the doorway into the next room. The squad followed. When she was about half-way down the path, she stopped and fired a few blasts at a combat form as it tried to jump over the crate moving vehicle to attack the marine. The bullets hit the creature in the arms, shooting both of them off the creature. The combat form growled and charged towards her. Eve fired another blast at the creature as it came near her, hitting the creature in the face, fully killing it.
"Eve!" the marine trapped behind the crate moving vehicle shouted in relief. "Thank God you're here!"
The marine swung his battle rifle at another of the combat forms as it landed next to him. The combat form growled and fell sideways to the floor. The marine quickly sprinted out from behind the vehicle over to Eve. The rest of the squad reached her and fired on the remaining combat forms, fully killing all of them.
"Thanks so much!" the marine said, relieved, to the squad. "You saved my life!"
"Are there any more of your troops here?" the Arbiter asked the marine, who shook his head in reply.
"No," he said. "Me and Halls managed to get a flamethrower but they killed him. We're the only survivors from the aid station and we had to close the main doorway to stop them from getting through." the marine concluded.
HIIIIISSSSSSS!
Suddenly, two large figures jumped out from behind one of the crates and landed next to the squad. One of them swung It's tentacle hands at the marine with the wound on It's shoulder, killing him. The Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at the combat form, breaking it apart and causing the remains to fall onto the floor. The other combat form, who had knocked Eve and the other marines to the floor, charged over to the Arbiter and knocked the weapon out of his hand and pinned the Elite to the floor. It raised It's tentacle hand and went to bring it down but a burst of ammo from the marine's battle rifle hit the creature in the side, loosenig his weight on the Elite. The Arbiter punched the creature in the face, throwing it onto the floor. He then grabbed his plasma rifle and fired two blasts at the combat form's head, fully killing it.
"Wretched parasite!" he said as he kicked the body. "Rise up and I will kill you! Again and again!"
Eve scanned the room just to make sure there were no more Flood. They were none.
"Alright," she announced. "Let's keep moving,"
Eve ran over to the stairs that led up onto the top of the metallic block. The squad followed. They ran up the steps and down the bridge, passing the body of the marine with the flamethrower and having to go single file past the hole, to the end. They turned right towards the doorway that led into the building built into the wall. They ran into the room, which was, or had been, an office with a broken desk and computer lying in the corner of the room. A single light on the ceiling lit up the room. A large hole had been blown into the floor, probably making the office what it looked like. The hole led into another room below that was almost completely pitch, save for the light in the office.
The Arbiter jumped down through the hole to the floor below, followed by the two marines. Eve quickly looked over her shoulder to make sure no Flood were following them before she jumped down into the next room.
"Ah! W… What's going on?"
Suddenly, she felt drained. Her mind was racing, her vision was blurry and she was finding it difficult to stand. She ended up having to rest against the wall of the room to stop herself from falling over. Then, the entire room seemed to go pitch black. Eve placed a hand on her head as she felt as if something was crushing it.
Then, a purple light appeared in the corner of the room. Eve, through her blurry vision, looked and saw it was beginning to take form. It shifted and grew until it was in the shape of a figure. The figure stepped into the light. At once, Eve's pain and blurry vision all faded from her as if it were an un-curable disease going like a miracle. Eve looked at the figure and gasped.
It was Auto.
"Auto!" Eve exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Suddenly, Auto fell to his knees and placed his hand on his forehead. Eve ran over to him and knelt down in front of him.
"Auto, what's wrong!" Eve almost shouted.
Auto looked up at her, revealing a look of pain on his face to her.
"Eve…" he managed to say.
"I'm here, Auto," Eve said calmly to him as if she were a mother tending to a frightened child. "What's wrong with you? Why do you keep appearing?"
"I… I can-… Can't tell you every…" he said to her. "It's no-… safe. The G… Gravemind, it knows… I… I'm in… The sys-"
Suddenly, Auto began to fade away. Eve tried to grab him but her hands went through him like he was a ghost.
"Auto! No!" Eve exclaimed. "Don't leave! Please! Don't go!"
Auto disappeared into thin air. Eve yelled angrily and pounded a fist on the floor. She had let him go again. What she wanted to know was; why was he tormenting her? This was the fourth time he had appeared to her or she had heard him. Something was going on and Eve had to find out what the hell it was.
"Evelyn?" a deep voice said.
Eve looked up at the doorway on the wall to her left to see the Arbiter standing there. He had a concerned look on his face.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. "I heard you shouting,"
Could she tell him? No. The Arbiter would not believe her. He would just probably think she was crazy. Perhaps, for the moment, it was best if she just kept this to herself.
"I'm fine," she said to the Elite as she stood up. "Have we found a way through to the aid station?" she asked him.
"Yes," the Arbiter replied. "There's a corridor that will take us there. Follow me,"
The Arbiter turned and ran down the corridor; Eve followed. When they reached the end, they turned left and ran down the next corridor, which was longer. Ahead of them at the end were the two marines who were waiting for them.
"Are we close to the aid station?" the Arbiter asked them.
"Yeah, It's not far now," one of them replied. "Just down this corridor. C'mon,"
The squad ran left down the next corridor to the end. When they reached the end, they saw a smaller corridor leading off left to an open doorway. The squad ran down the smaller corridor and through the doorway. They found themselves back in the square shaped room that was outside the aid station, with four corridors leading off in different directions. They had come out from the left corridor. On the wall to their right was the corridor that led to the aid station. The squad ran down this corridor. A large room packed with tables and medical equipment was ahead of them.
However, as they neared the room, they could hear something. Eve skidded to a halt.
"Wait! Stop!" she hissed at them. They obeyed. "Stop!" she added when one of the marines had not heard her.
"What is it, Eve?" one of the marines asked.
"Listen," she answered.
The squad kept quiet like mice. Very quickly, they heard the noise what made Eve stop. It sounded like someone was talking but in a mumbling manner. It's one was also quite high pitched and sounded scared. Maybe there was a wounded marine up ahead. Well, if there was then he/she was lucky as they had medical equipment.
As tey reached the room, they saw who had been mumbling. It was a marine male crouched in the top right corner of the room. Lying on the floor in front of him were the bodies of two marines. Eve could see a Flood tentacle arm lying next to one of them. On the floor around the two bodies were also a few tiny pools of dark green/brown liquid.
"I… I didn't have a choice!" the marine was saying in a traumatized manner. "T-T… The L.T… The sergeant!… They were all infected!"
The two marines and Eve ran over to him. The Arbiter ran over to the doorway that led to the next room and kept watch in case any more Flood appeared.
"What happened?" the female marine asked the traumatized marine.
"I… I could see… it crawling!" the marine was saying. He grabbed hold of the female marine's arms and looked at her wide-eyed. "I saw it sliding around beneath their skin! A-And then they got up!…" the marine let go of the female marine and broke out into sobs. "A- and they started to talk! O-Oh God! Their voices!"
The marine buried in face in his hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. The female marine embraced him and tried to calm him down.
Eve felt horrible. She could not believe how this sudden arrival by the Flood was affecting this marine. She felt really guilty because she was used to it, but he was not, and now he was most likely going to be mentally scarred for the rest of his life. He would never forget what he had seen because it would never leave him, not matter how hard he tried.
"There is nothing more we can do for him," the Arbiter said to Eve.
Eve just wished there was.
"You two go on," the female marine said to Eve and the Arbiter. "He'll be alright with us,"
Eve wanted to protest but stopped herself. After a second, she nodded and stood up. She and the Arbiter ran down the corridor to the room at the end. When they reached it, the room was now abandoned and the turret was lying on the floor next to the knocked over stand, Eve stopped and took one more look at the aid station. The guilt and sadness rose through her again, and she felt as if it were her fault. Eve sighed through gritted teeth.
"It's not fair!" she whispered to herself. "It's just not fair!"
"What is it?" the Arbiter asked her.
Eve looked up at him.
"What is it?" she repeated, stepping close to the Arbiter. "I'll tell you what it is! It's the fact that I'm stuck having to see marines getting killed, wounded and turned into… into monsters. And seeing someone traumatized is pretty much the one thing that dwarfs all of that!"
The Arbiter went silent and stared at her. Eve saw him and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Arbiter," she said as she sat on the sandbag wall. "I just… Can't stop thinking that everyone who I see getting killed, or wounded, or traumatized is my fault. I mean, I'm the last super soldier and yet when they needed me the most, I was up on High Charity trying to kill Truth."
"We have all done foolish things in war," the Arbiter aid to Eve as he walked over to her. "But you coming to Delta Halo and on High Charity was not your fault. Many things can go wrong in war. But all of that has passed, Evelyn. You are needed now by your people."
Eve looked up at the Elite. He was right. Many things can go wrong in war, but all of that was in the past now. She was needed by everyone now in they were to win this war.
"Thanks, Arbiter," she said after a few seconds, smiling a little.
The Arbiter went to reply when…
"Hail, Humans, an take heed!" a voice said from the Arbiter com built into his armour.
"What the…" the Arbiter gasped. "How could they get here?"
Before Eve could ask what he was talking about, the Elite turned and ran out of the room through the doorway that led outside. Eve stood up and followed.
The two found themselves on the large concrete pathway that ran along the rectangular building in the last dock area. However, other than the sky turning a dark green colour and the air being filled with clouds of brown, it had changed much. The dark green/born coloured ground at the bottom of the ramps had mostly been blown away. The large half ship was gone along with the scarab remains, the tops of both cranes and part of the rectangular building at the other end of the area. Large rocks and pieces of rubble were scattered over the remaining parts of the ground.
As the two ran onto the elevator and looked over the side at the ground, which had several combat forms walking about, a large shape in the air flew towards the building. The two looked up and went wide-eyed at what they saw. It was an assault carrier. Before it flew over the area, completely covering their peripheral vision, they also caught sight of three CCS battle cruisers.
"This is the carrier, Shadow of Intent!" came the voice again.
"Vadumee!" the Arbiter exclaimed.
Suddenly, four large cryo-tube shaped objects shot down from the back of the carrier to the ground. One of the combat forms growled as it turned to face one of the objects that crashed near it. Then, the side of the object opened with a crash. A barrage of blasts flew at the combat form, hitting it in the chest and head, fully killing it. A large figure ran out of the object. It was an Elite minor.
"Clear this sector," came Vadumee's voice. "While we deal with the Flood!"
The rest of the objects crashed open and the Elites ran out and fired on the combat forms. The combat forms charged towards the Elites and began attacking them.
"Your brothers have come here to help?" Eve asked the Arbiter. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I did not know myself, Evelyn," he replied. "But that does not matter, they are here and we could use their help! Come,"
The Arbiter ran off the elevator and down the pathway towards the battle; Eve followed. The two ran down the ramp that led to the ground and fired on one of the combat forms as it went to strike at an Elite from behind, killing it. The Elite turned and saw them.
"Praise!" he shouted. "The Arbiter is here!"
The Elite then saw Eve. His attitude quickly changed.
"The demon!" he exclaimed. "What is she doing here?" he demanded.
ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!Suddenly, a large group of combat forms jumped up from below the cliff line onto the ground. They immediately set about attacking the Elites. One of them struck a minor Elite near the cliff in the back with It's tentacle arm, killing it and sending the creature over the edge of the cliff to the ground far below.
The Arbiter and Eve ran into the battle, firing a barrage of blasts at the combat forms as they went. The Arbiter managed to hit a Brute combat form, causing it to break apart and fall into pieces on the ground. Eve swung her weapon at another combat form, breaking that one apart as well.
When the Elites had killed the last combat form, the Arbiter ran up to a major Elite.
"My brothers," he said. "I am glad you are here."
"We bring grave news, Arbiter," the major Elite replied. "High charity has fallen! It has become a dreaded hive of the Flood!"
"And what of the fleet?" the Arbiter asked. The Elite did not reply. "Has quarantine been broken?" he asked desperately.
"A single ship broke through our line," the major Elite replied. "And we gave chase. It is unfortunate that it landed here,"
"B… But," the Arbiter stammered. This was the first time Eve had seen him really panicked. "I thought we had a fleet of hundreds to protect the city!"
"Alas, brother!" the major Elite told the Arbiter. "The Flood. It has evolved!"
"So we need to keep moving," Eve, who had stayed completely silence through the talking, piped up.
The Elites looked at her. The major Elite let out a deep breath in surprise.
"I did not expect to see you here, demon!" he said.
"The same for you," Eve replied.
"She is right," the Arbiter quickly cut in before the Elite could reply. "We must continue on. The Flood will no doubt be trying to flee before us,"
The Elites nodded and followed the Arbiter and Eve towards a large piece of the concrete pathway that had been blown off from the main pathway and now made some kind of ramp from the end of the pathway to the ground. A large blast door was open on the end of the rectangular building to the right of the squad. The part of the other rectangular building that connected to the one going across the back of the area had been blown off completely. Looks like they were going to have to take an alternative route to get through the building.
As the squad reached the bottom of the ramp…
ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!They skidded to a halt and aimed their weapons out at the enormous dug out area, expecting a wave of Flood to come an attack them. Second later, their fears were right.
Suddenly, a large group of figures seemed to shoot up from the ground and head straight towards the ramp the squad were on. As they began to descend towards the squad, they were revealed to be combat forms.
"Fire on them!" the major Elite shouted.
A barrage of blasts flew at the combat forms. One of them was hit and hit the side of the ramp before falling to the ground thousands of feet below. However, the rest were able to get through the barrage and landed all over the ramp and began attacking the squad.
One of the combat forms swung It's tentacle arm at a minor Elite, narrowly missing it. The Elite retaliated by swinging his weapon back at the combat form. It hit the creature in the torso, breaking It apart. The major Elite fired a barrage of blasts at two combat forms as they ran down the ramp towards the squad, killing them both. The Arbiter and Eve stood back-to-back and fired at another group of combat forms as they landed near the top of the ramp. The combat forms were hit and fell to the ground, dead.
When the last of the combat forms had ben killed, Eve stepped forward towards the top of the ramp. She looked ahead and saw a large spire sticking out from behind the remains of the building ahead. Smoke hovered into the air from where the spire was sticking out from.
"That must be where the remains are," she said. "That's where we need to get to,"
"Then we must hurry, demon!" the major Elite said to Eve. "We seek the same prize. But our shipmaster will sacrifice all to stop the Flood."
All. By the sound of it, the Elite meant not just Voi, or Kenya, but probably Africa, or probably even the entire planet. If the Flood spread too far then there would be nothing to stop them apart from glassing the planet, sacrificing Humanity to prevent them from leaving Earth.
Eve snapped out of her senses. She would have to worry about what the Elite meant later. Right now, they had to stop the Flood before it spread too far.
Eve ran up the ramp towards the open blast door on the rectangular building's wall. The Elites followed. When they reached the blast door, they found themselves at the front of the other rectangular building's, or what had been the rectangular building, long cylindrical shaped tunnel that led down to the square shaped room with the railing pathway going along the wall to the doorway about twelve feet above the floor. However, the squad also saw a large group of figures at the end. Combat forms.
Suddenly, one of the combat forms growled and charged down the tunnel towards them. This attracted the attention of the rest of the combat forms, who also spotted the squad and charged towards them.
"Open fire!" the major Elite ordered.
A barrage of blasts flew down the tunnel at the approaching enemy. One of the combat forms was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, dead, followed very quickly by another. However, some of the creatures were able to get through the barrage and attacked the Elites. One of them swung It's tentacle hands at the Elite, striking him through the chest and easily breakig the armour and It's shield. The Elite let out a roar of pain as it fell backwards onto the floor, dead. Eve quickly fired on the combat form. The blasts broke it apart as they hit the torso and the remains fell to the floor.
Suddenly, just as the last of the combat forms had been killed, a loud growl from up ahead drew the squad's attention. The Arbiter ran ahead of the squad towards the square shaped room, which now had a large hole in the ceiling where the glass roof had been and the pillar had collapsed, blocking the path into the tunnel slightly.
It was then something crawling up the wall caught the Arbiter's attention. He looked and went wide-eyed. The thing was a creature. The strangest, and probably the most terrifying creature he had ever seen in his life.
The creature was an enormous, at least two metres long. It was a light black/dark grey colour and had the torso of a Human body and had four huge legs, all of which looked like mutated hands sticking out in the same places like a normal Human's arms and legs. At the ends were sharp claws akin to that of an eagle's feet. Sticking out of the back of the creature was a large brown abdomen. This thing looked and even acted like a spider as it crawled fast along the walls.
"Arbiter!" one of the Elites shouted as the rest of the squad reached him. "Is the way clear-"
The Elite was, suddenly, cut off when the squad caught sight of the creature. It looked at them, revealing a circular hole in the front of the creature with red tentacles moving to and fro around it, and growled.
"By the rings!" the major Elite gasped. "What is that?"
Before anyone could answer, the creature jumped towards the squad. It's four huge legs swung round and knocked the Elites to the floor. Eve dived away from the creature, hoping to get away from it. However, the creature chased after her on It's two back legs, raising It's front, ready to swipe them at her. Eve saw this and scrambled away from the creature as fast as she could, but every time she tried to get up, her feet would slip. What was worse, she was running out of room. She would be cornered and killed by this… Thing.
Suddenly, a loud screech filled the room. The creature staggered forward as if it were in pain. Eve stopped and watched as a dark brown liquid fell from the back of the abdomen onto the floor. The creature turned to face the Elites, who had gotten up and were firing on he creature. Eve saw her chance.
The Flood creature raised It's front legs, ready to charge at the Elites and cut them down. Suddenly, the creature screeched loudly as it flew forward onto the floor. It did not rise afterwards. Eve stepped over the body. Her plasma rifle had a brown spot on it from striking at the creature's back. She wiped it off with her hand.
"Not bad, demon," the major Elite said in an impressed tone. Eve looked up at him. "You are worthy against the parasite,"
"So are you," Eve replied, also in an impressed tone.
"Quickly!" the Arbiter piped up. "We must move ahead before of these creatures appear."
The Elites ran towards the steps that led up to the pathway; Eve followed. The squad went up the steps and across the pathway to the door that led into the next room. The Arbiter halted them and stepped into the doorway, his weapon rasied in case there were anymore Flood. He scanned the entire room like a radar. It was empty. The blast door that had led into here had been closed but a smaller doorway next to it was open. Hopefully, it lead outside towards the crashed CCS battle cruiser.
"It is clear," the Arbiter said to the squad. "Come, we must hurry,"
The Arbiter ran down the pathway. The Elites and Eve followed. As they ran down the steps, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.
"Eve?" came Mary's voice. "The Elites are looking for something. We didn't believe them at first when they told us," "It's Auto, Eve,"
Eve's mind went blank. Auto was on the ship! How? She had seen him in the warehouse not too long ago. How the hell had he managed to beam himself to her when he was on that ship?
Oh, that doesn't matter! Eve thought as relief overwhelmed her once again. I can finally free him from the Flood!
"All units," came the Elite's voice had heard to be called Vadumee. "Prepare to attack the cruiser! Burn these vile creatures from their hive!"The Elite's let out a triumphant roar as they approached the doorway. This was going to be a hard fight. The squad ran through the doorway outside.
The first dock area Eve and the marines had fought through earlier had suffered worse than the last. The entire rectangular building at the other end of the area, along with part of the main one that went along the back of the area, was completely gone. Most of the ground at the bottom of the ramps was destroyed as well. Large crates and vehicle remains and chunks of the rectangular buildings lay scattered across the remaining area. This was enough to take anyone's breath away. However, what really shocked Eve and the Elites was that directly where the rectangular building at the other end of the area would have been was a large object that was covered with Flood growths and fires from the torn and shattered remains. This was it. It was the crashed battle cruiser.
Large spikes stuck out into the air where the engines, and possible even the back of the ship, would have been. A large pillar of smoke rose up from the ruins Eve found it really hard to understand how the Flood could survive a crash like that. The worst she had seen was a pelican crash on High Charity when the Flood was spreading out across the city, but a CCS battle cruiser crash? That was a completely different story. If that had been a UNSC ship, the possibility of anyone surviving it would have been very low.
"Arbiter," came an Elite's voice through his armour's built in com. "We are above the crash site. Hurry! We do not have much time!"A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up but saw nothing. Where was it coming fro-. Suddenly, a large shape began to form in mid-air. As it became more visible, Eve saw it was a phantom, but the top of it was a different colour. Instead of being purple, it was a green colour. A second later, another appeared next to the first one. The phantoms hovered forward and fired a barrage of blasts down at the battle cruiser's remains. Almost instantly, a wave of creatures charged out from the ruins of behind the large crates or vehicles scattered everywhere.
"Charge!" the major Elite shouted, running ahead of the squad and firing at the wave of Flood. "Destroy these vile beasts!"
The squad ran after the major Elite and fired on the wave of Flood. Eve fired a barrage at a group of Flood Elite combat forms, hitting and fully killing both. The Arbiter swung his weapon at a Human combat form as it jumped into the air and tried to attack him. The combat form broke apart and the remains fell to the ground.
"HAHA!" one of the minor Elites shouted as he killed a Brute combat form. "These beasts are no match for u-AAAH!"
The Elite, suddenly, fell to the ground, dead. Eve saw three dark green glowing spikes in his chest. What the hell were they?
"Look out!" the Arbiter warned, pointing at the main rectangular building's wall. "The Flood have three creatures along the walls of the building!"
Eve looked at where the Elite was pointing. At first, she could not se anything because of the dark. Then, the silhouettes of three creatures became visible as they moved across the wall. Then they came into the light given off by the nearby fires, giving Eve and the Elites a clear view of them.
Using their legs to cling to the side of the wall, the creatures stuck out sideways/diagonally from the side of the building. They were much like the other strange creatures they had come across in the building moments earlier. However, instead of having a large brown coloured abdomen or four huge legs, they had two short and stubby ones but did have the sharp claws on them; these creatures had only a small main body that looked like the front half of the other creature. Sticking out from the top was a large flabby tail-like shape that almost looked like the abdomen of the other Flood creature. However, what made it different, apart from where it was on the creature's body, was that there were many large dark green spikes sticking out of the front of the tail-like shape. That was where the spikes had been fired from. A live creature that could fire projectiles was, no doubt, the worst thing to fight.
Suddenly, the creatures fired a barrage of spikes at the squad. Eve dived behind a nearby crate with another minor Elite. The Arbiter and the other two Elites dived behind another crate moving vehicle, narrowly missing a few projectiles as they flew past them and hit the ground.
Eve peeked her head out from behind the crate to look at the three creatures, only to move it behind her cover again as another barrage of green spikes flew at her, narrowly missing her face and hitting the ground. A large crate that had been blown on top of another was blocking any attempt by the phantoms to kill the creatures so it looked like it was going to be up to the squad to kill them.
"It's not going to be easy," she said to the minor Elite. "We need to try and cause a distraction,"
"It will be a hard gamble, demon," the Elite replied. "But, nevertheless, I will try and draw their fire at me,"
The Elite moved to the other end of the crate and looked out at the three creatures. Like what happened to Eve, he had to quickly move his head back behind the crate as another barrage of spikes hit the crate's side.
"Get ready, demon," he said to Eve.
She moved over to the Elite and stood behind him, her plasma rifle raised. The Elite took a deep breath, knowing that he could be killed by these creatures if he was too slow or something stopped him.
After a second, the Elite ran out from behind the crate towards another a few metres in front of where the Arbiter and the other two Elites were taking cover. A barrage of spikes followed him. Eve aimed her plasma rifle at the creatures and fired at them. The light blue blasts hit their target continuously. The creature let out a screech that filled the air as it was hit, but before it could so much move a final blast struck it in the centre of the main body. The creature fell from the wall and disappeared from sight.
The other two creatures screeched loudly and jumped from the building's side.
"Well done, Evelyn," the Arbiter shouted to her.
Eve watched as the two creatures jumped about to get away from where their comrade had been killed. One of them jumped onto he top of the two crates that had been protecting them from the phantoms. It growled loudly and fired a few spikes at the Arbiter and his Elites, narrowly missing them.
Suddenly, another loud screech filled the air. The other creature was hit and fell sideways over the side of the crate. A loud thud filled the air as the body hit the ground.
"That's two down," came the Elite's, piloting the phantom again, voice again. "One more to go!"The last of the creatures jumped onto another nearby crate. The phantoms' cannons and the squad aimed at the creature to kill it.
Suddenly, the creature's tail bent forward and the creature itself began to shake. Not even a second passed before brown liquid began to shoot out of the sides of the creature. Two large spiked hands came out of the creature. One of them was large than the other and, in a way, resembled the metal sword arm of a Hunter as it was a claw shaped and did end at a bit of a point. The creature seemed to grow and expand at the same time. Finally, after the squad had been watching wide-eyed for a few seconds, the creature stood up on It's two huge legs. The creature's abdomen/tail had now disappeared, the skin had turned a darker brown and the creature now looked like an unstoppable monster.
"By the rings!" came the pilot Elite's voice. "The parasite have the power to change their form!""Quickly! Kill it!" the major Elite shouted.
A barrage of blasts from the squad and even the phantoms flew at the creature. However, it only raised It's larger arm in front of itself. The blasts hit that but barely did any damage at all. Great! Not only was this thing huge and most likely fast, but now it had an arm that could withstand a barrage of any kind.
Suddenly, the creature jumped off the crate and charged towards the Arbiter and the two Elites. When it moved, it arms moved ahead of It's body and seemed to dig itself into the ground, where the creature would then pull itself forward. Within just a few seconds, it had covered at least fifty feet. When it was a few feet from the Elites' cover, it brought back it shorter arm.
SMASH! The creature swung It's shorter arm at the crate. Even though it was metallic, the crate was literally launched into the air and narrowly missed hitting the bottom of one of the phantoms. It fell past the cliff and disappeared from sight. The Elites scrambled away from the creature as quickly as they could. The creature, however, made a swipe at the Elites and managed to catch the Arbiter between It's claw. The creature held the Elite close to It's mouth as if it were going to eat him. The Arbiter squirmed and kicked to try and break free, but it was no use.
"Arbiter!" Eve shouted as she saw her ally in danger.
She raised her plasma rifle and fired a few shots at the creature. She must have hit a weak spot because when the blasts stopped hitting it, the creature growled and turned to face her. It threw the Arbiter on the ground and, using It's arms to move itself forward, charged towards Eve. She screamed and ran away from the creature as fast as she could but it seemed to catch up with her no matter how quick she was.
"AAH! OW!"
Eve found herself lying on her arm on the ground, landing next to a few activators. She had tripped over a piece of rock. As she sat up, a large creature stood over her. Eve's eyes went wide with fear and slowly travelled up a pair of short, stubby legs to a huge body with two large arms, one bigger than the other. It was the creature. It growled and rose It's larger arm. It was going to smash Eve to pieces! She had to do something.
Suddenly, the creature seemed to bend forward. It let out a growl that filled the air and shot round to face the Elites. Eve went o move but it was then she saw the activators on the ground next to her. They were energy sword activators. Maybe they could kill this thing. She doubted it, but it was worth a try.
Eve grabbed one of the activators. The deadly energy sword shot out of the activator. Eve ran towards the creature and swung it at It's back. A roar, that was so loud Eve had to cover her ears, filled the air. The creature stood rooted to the spot for a second before it fell forward onto the ground, dead.
"Nicely done, Evelyn!" the Arbiter said. "Now we must hurry,"
The Elites ran over towards the side of the ship; Eve followed. The squad ran up the side of the torn and badly damaged cruiser. After a few moments, they came to a halt next to a hole that led deep into the ship. They looked in and saw that most of the metal was almost completely covered with Flood biomass growth. Other holes leading through what were walls and floors led further down into the structure.
"Arbiter," came the pilot Elite's voice. "We need to evacuate. Our ships are preparing to glass this area,"The Arbiter growled in disappointment. They had fought all the way through Voi to get to this ship and now they were going to have to leave. What was annoying was that they could have left earlier and glassed the area.
"I'm not leaving," Eve said, causing the Elites to look at her, aghast.
"What?" the Arbiter asked her.
"I'm not leaving yet," Eve repeated, looking at the Elite. "Auto's in there," she said. "I'm not leaving him in there. I'll contact you when I've got him,"
Eve went to jump into the hole but a hand stopped her. She looked and saw it was the Arbiter.
"Don't try and stop me, Arbiter!" she said sternly to him.
"I was not going to," he replied. He turned his head to the other Elites. "Leave without me," he said to them.
"What about when we need to pick you up?" the major Elite asked.
"Leave one of the phantoms nearby," the Arbiter replied. "I will signal it when I will be picked up. Now go, quickly,"
Without another word, and not wanting to risk an argument, the Elites turned and ran down the side of the cruiser to the ground at the bottom. One of the phantoms hovered down towards the ground and the side opened up. The three Elites climbed onboard and the craft flew up into the air. The other hovered back a few metres before it stopped.
"What about you, Arbiter?" Eve asked the Elite.
"I shall remain here," he told her, facing her and letting go of her arm. "I shall let nothing past,"
Eve smiled.
"Thanks, Arbiter," she said. "Wish me luck,"
Eve jumped into the hole.
Very quickly, the environment around her changed from a shattered town with burning metal and a dark green sky to almost completely brown/orange. The Flood biomass growth was literally everywhere. There were a few blue objects, or part of objects, most likely having been control panels or walls etc sticking out of the biomass, but because it looked so thick, which it probably was, there was no way these objects would be pulled out without destroying all of the biomass.
Eve landed on a biomass covered floor that stretched over what might have been a wall in a corridor as another opening led further into the ship. Eve raised her plasma rifle and jumped through the next opening into a large pathway that turned right. She walked down the pathway towards a large oval shaped room with large control panels and blue objects half sticking out of the thick biomass that seemed to spread over everything. At the other end of the room was an opening going through a wall of biomass into another large room.
As Eve walked through the room towards it, several large bulge shaped objects along the walls caught her attention. She looked and saw they were huge orange/light brown bulges that were shifting and moving from side to side. Eve looked at them in amazement. What the hell were they?
She walked over to one of the bulges attached to a huge wall of biomass over a control panel. When she reached it, she looked in closer to see the silhouettes of several small creatures moving about inside the bulge.
What the hell…? Eve thought.
"AHHHH!"
Suddenly, the bulge moved forward towards Eve as if it were trying to grab her. Eve screamed and almost fell backwards onto the biomass covered floor. The bulge then moved back and continued to shift and move. Eve, who was shaking slightly at being jumped like that, stood up and decided it was best to get out of this room and continued on towards the next room.
When Eve reached the opening, she saw a large hole in the ceiling, about thrity feet above her, leading back outside. At the other end of the room was a control panel that was sticking out of the biomass wall. It looked to be in perfect condition as if it had been preserved. Eve walked over to wards the control panel. As she neared it, she saw a small object lying on the side of the control panel.
Suddenly, when Eve was in the middle of the room, she began to felt drained. A quick sense of déjà vu ran through her mind. The last time this happened was when Auto appeared in front of her. Was he appearing again?
Then, everything seemed to move further away from Eve. Her vision began to go blurry. She tried to walk forward but found it hard trying to walk and she felt as if everything was shaking, even though it was not.
"Do not be afraid! I am peace…I am salvation!"
That voice. Eve had heard it before. It was the Gravemind's. Wait a minute, why was he here? There was no reason for him to be here… Unless he was here witness Earth fall and become a Flood hive.
Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, Eve's vision went back to normal and everything came back to normal. Eve was starting to get scared. Somehow Auto and the Gravemind were able to contact her through her mind, and they were both getting worse. She had to find out how they were doing this. Maybe in the object on the control panel, she could find out how they were contacting her through this form of telepathy.
Eve walked on towards the control panel. When she reached it, she saw a small button on the side of the object. She pressed down on the button. At once, it glowed purple and a haze shot up out of the object and took the form of a figure. Eve gasped. It was Auto. He was standing in his normal seven inch high avatar. Eve stepped away just in case something happened.
"Eve?" he said.
"A… Auto?" Eve inquired, stepping back towards him.
"High Charity, the prophets' holy city, is on It's way-"The avatar flicked like a light bulb for a second before it disappeared.
"Auto!" Eve exclaimed.
She grabbed the object his avatar came out of and pressed down on the button. It had to work. She had to get him out of there and find out what he was trying to tell her. She was not going to give up yet.
Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up and saw the bottom of a phantom hover over the hole in the ceiling. Eve aimed her plasma rifle at it and placed her finger on the trigger. She could not tell whether it was an Elite or a Brute control so she was not taking any chances.
The hole on the bottom of the craft opened. A figure hovered out of the craft and descended through the hole towards the floor. Eve aimed at the figure as it approached.
Suddenly, she gasped and dropped her plasma rifle. She went wide-eyed as the figure landed in front of her.
It was Wally.
"Wally," Eve whispered.
"Hello, Eve," he replied.
Then, Eve grabbed Wally and embraced him as tightly as she could as if he were a family member who had been missing for a long time but had finally returned. Wally embraced her as well. They were so happy to see each other again.
"LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled all of a sudden.
Eve shot round to see a Brute combat form charging towards them. Before Eve could grab her plasma rifle, Wally raised his left arm and fired a laser from the bulge on his arm at the creature. The combat form was hit and flew backwards against the biomass wall and lay still.
"Nice one," Eve muttered under breath.
Wally was not listening. Instead, he was over at the control panel and was trying to activate the object through a laser from the top of the bulge on his arm.
"We need to get this up to the ship," he said. "Hopefully, we can get this working,"
"Wally, wait!" Eve exclaimed, stopping him. "Auto's in there. Shouldn't we get him out first?"
"We cannot, Eve," he replied, facing Eve. "And if you worried about his safety, I assure you he will be fine,"
"Oracle!" came an Elite's voice. "Hurry, the ships are moving into position!"
Wally nodded and stopped firing the laser at the object. He picked it up.
"Here, Eve," he said as he handed it to her. "Your friend might appear again."
Eve looked down at the object in her hand with anxiety. She was worried. What if Auto was trapped in there and he could not get out? What if they could not get him out?
"Do not worry, Eve," Wally said to her softly. "He will be alright. I promise,"
Eve smiled at him as Wally took her hand in his. He activated is anti-gravity boots and flew up towards the circular hole on the bottom of the phantom as it opened. The two flew inside. The hole closed and the phantom turned and hovered off into the sky.