Yes, I know it's been awhile since I updated my story, but here is the next chapter. Enjoy! Two more chapters will end this story, including the epilogue. The Final fight part 1 begins in the next chapter, thus continuing with the final Fight part 2. My next story will include Master Chief in it. More details to come.

Chapter 8: A Close Call

As Alberto looked in the sky, he noticed the fireball was speeding toward them. Tex noticed it and scanned it at the same time. "No," she said, "It can't be." She turned toward the others and yelled, "Ok everyone in the base, NOW!" Stacie helped out as well. "Come on people, move it." Sarge looked at Alberto and thought, Activate the lock down. Alberto nodded and did what Sarge told him to do. He and Ariana jumped down through the roof and then Alberto activated the lock down. "Security lock down active!" the base said. Everyone was accounted for except Jenny. She was still the only one and halfway across the canyon. "Aw shit, she's not going to make it," Simmons said, pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how to get her and someone in the in the base at the same time. Alberto knew what to do: sacrifice his life for another teammate. He looked at Sarge for the ok. Sarge looked at him and said, "GO!" Alberto ran out of the base. Ariana tried to stop him, but was too late. Alberto scooped up Jenny and ran toward red base as fast as he could. Only five meters from the base and Alberto saw a problem: the door was almost closed and only enough room to get one, not two, people into the base. Alberto and Jenny looked at each other.

"Toss me in," Jenny said.

"What?"

"You heard me, toss me in" Alberto nodded and did what Jenny told him. The door slid closed. Ariana ran towards the door, and pounded on it. She turned to Sarge and yelled, "Open the fucking door now!"

"I'm sorry, Ariana. But there's nothing I can do. The base won't open until the danger has passed." Ariana turned and pounded on the door, crying now. There was an explosion large enough to shake the entire canyon. "NO!" Ariana said, crying and pounding on the door. Sister pulled her back and said, "There's nothing we can do now. He's gone." The base then said, "Security lock down complete." Ariana ran out of the base first and looked around. No sign of his body anywhere. Simmons heard a moaning and looked on the right side of the base. "Aw shit. Jenny, come help me with this," trying to pick Alberto up. As they entered the base, Ariana ran straight to the infirmary. She grabbed his hand, something she hadn't done before. It didn't matter. She loved him and always will love him. No, she thought. He can't leave us when we need him. I need him. Doc then said, "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to leave please. You can watch from the glass window if you want." Ariana nodded and walked outside. "Sarge," Doc said, stepping outside. He motioned Sarge over. Ariana, impatient for news ran up to Sarge. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll let you know how he's doing." Ariana nodded and sat back down. Doc had closed the door. "He'll be ok, but….." Doc said.

"But what, Doc?"

"Well, how can I put this, over the last ten minutes, his flesh and tissue has been repaired."

"Repaired? Repaired by what?"

Doc said only two words: "Flood tissue"

Sarge looked at Alberto's burnt body and prayed that he survived. "Son, we'll need you if you survive." Sarge walked out of the infirmary. Ariana jumped up and ran towards Sarge. Before Sarge could tell her what he learned from Doc, he heard a beeping form the infirmary, followed by another beep one minute later. No! Sarge thought. "Aw I'm losing him!" Doc yelled. Sarge, help me! Alberto thought to Sarge. Sarge walked up to Doc and said, "Shock him." Ariana ran into the infirmary and held Alberto's hand. Sarge, Keyes, Tex, Church, and the others came into the infirmary. Doc tried everything to bring him back, but nothing worked. Doc placed two pads on Alberto's chest. "Clear," he said. Doc ended up doing this five times. One minute later, there was a long beep from the monitor. No, this can't be happening. I didn't even get to marry him yet, Ariana thought, squeezing Alberto's hand. Everyone left the infirmary; all but Ariana and Doc. Ariana saw something in Alberto's chest. She called Doc over and told him what's happening. Ariana watched as Alberto's body was lifted into the air, and transformed. He turned into a Combat form, then back to normal. Alberto was breathing again. He looked at Ariana and said, "Miss me, honey?" Ariana threw herself at Alberto. "You lucky son of a bitch," she said, crying. Sarge came in and leaned on the wall. Alberto looked at Sarge and said; "Thanks" Washington and California had already left for their time along time ago. The newcomer stepped into the infirmary. "What happened?" she asked. Before anyone could answer her question, she looked at Alberto and said, "Nice work back there. You saved your teammate before saving yourself." "Thanks," he said. Keyes had walked out of the base, with Church right behind her.

Keyes P.O.V.

I walked out of the base, so I could contact my ship. Church followed me out of the base.

"Hey"

"Hey"

"So, you are leaving?"

"Yeah" Church looked sad. He apparently didn't want me to leave. It's been almost 10 years since we've seen each other. He then lifted his head and asked, "Can you stay for one more day?"

"Well, I guess so. I mean it's not going to hurt anyone. Hold on," I said. I need to make a call to my ship. Church happened to hear what I was saying.

"Thunder Storm, this is Commander Keyes speaking. Send in a pelican dropship to pick me up tomorrow ASAP."

"Roger that, Commander," one of the radio staff aboard the Thunder Storm said. "Ma'am, Bravo 572 will come by and pick you up at 0600 hours tomorrow. Thunder Storm out" As I turned around, Church walked up to me and kissed me on the lips. I returned his kiss. We walked in the base together. I walked back to the hall where the infirmary was at just in time for the newcomer to introduce herself. "My name is Georgia. Agent Georgia." Sarge stepped in and asked, "Just how good is your aim?"

"It's ok I guess."

"Show me. Grif stand right here," Sarge said. Church stood where he was at. Grif was behind Church against the wall. Sarge handed Georgia a pistol and told her to curve the bullet. She had her back facing Church, spun and fired at the same time. The bullet curved in the air, barley missing Church by a couple of hairs. Grif on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He collapsed and got back up two minutes later. Sarge snapped to attention and barked, "Officer on the deck!" Everyone snapped to attention, all but Grif, who was still trying to get up. "At ease," I said. Everyone went back to what they were doing. By night fall, the blues stayed downstairs that night. Church asked me if I wanted to sleep with him tonight. I said, "Sure," and followed him to his room. After I got ready for bed and was just about to climb in bed, Church came up behind me, turned me around, and kissing me. I twined my fingers behind his neck. We ended up falling on his bed. The entire base was quiet, except for the moaning that I was making. Caboose ended up waking up to see what the noise was. He shrugged and went back to sleep.

Normal P.O.V

Keyes woke up to see what the time was. It was 5:30. "Fuck. My ship will be here in thirty minutes." She woke up Church to help her pack her bags. With twenty minutes to spare, Church laid on his bed while Keyes climbed on top of him and kissed him. They remained like that until they heard Bravo 572 come in. Keyes went outside with her bags and faced Church one last time and kissed him. "Go, there's someone else here that you need to love," she said, referring to Tex. Church stepped back and watched Bravo 572 take off and leave the canyon. He went back into the base and sat in a chair in front of Tex. She woke up to see Church looking at her.

"Morning"

"Morning"

"Bravo 572 came and picked her up just now"

"Keyes?" Church nodded.

"You sad now that she left?" The question hit Church like a train.

"A little bit. Besides, I have you." Tex smiled. Church went and checked on everybody. The reds were in the rooms, so no need to check on them. Sister was ok, along with Tucker, Stacie, Caboose, and Sarah. When he went to check on Ariana, she wasn't in her bed. Wondering where she went, he checked on Alberto and found his answer. Ariana was sleeping with Alberto, who had his arms around her. Tex caught up with Church when Ariana woke up. Ariana turned her head and hit Alberto hard enough to wake him up. When Alberto saw Church and Tex staring at them, he said, "Uh…..this isn't what it looks like." Busted! Ariana thought. "Oh, I think I know what this looks like," Church said. Alberto and Ariana grabbed each others hand and squeezed. Tex started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You guys are trying to hide what's normal. I mean, Church and I were the same way when his parents found us."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You remember right, Church?"

"Yeah. You two get dressed." They acknowledged him and got dressed. When Alberto and Ariana had gotten dressed and stepped out to what looked like the living room, Tucker said, "Bow-chicka-bow-wow!" "Alberto felt like hitting him. He was going to when Ariana held him back. "Not now, baby," she whispered. "But honey, he's starting to get on my nerves."

"He's probably getting on everyone's nerves. Besides, when are you going to tell them?"

"Soon" Apparently, Ariana had said that a bit too loud and the others heard it. Church stepped forward and said, "Your right. He is getting on everyone's nerves. And tell us what?" Alberto looked at Ariana, then at Church and said, "Ok, I'm a Gunnery Sergeant 1st Class."

"Prove it, then," Church said.

"Ok, I will prove it to you," and with that, Alberto left the blue temporary base. The reds came down to check on them. Simmons looked at Ariana and asked, "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend! We're just……very close friends," Ariana said, blushing. Simmons rolled his eyes. Alberto stepped into the shadows quietly, only Simmons heard him. Simmons snapped to attention and barked, "Officer on deck!" Everyone but Sarge snapped to attention. "What the hell are you doing? There's no officer here." Sarge heard the words "At ease," and turned around. Alberto stepped out from the shadows. Sarge then snapped to attention and saluted. Alberto returned the salute. "Sorry, sir. I didn't know that you were a higher rank than me."

"At ease. Sarge, what's the status on Gravemind?"

"Five months, sir."

"Thank you, Sarge. Red team, dismissed!" The reds headed back upstairs. Sarge went to the monitor and heard a beeping from the screen. There was a red circle on blue base. "Aw shit!" Sarge said, running down the stairs. "Sir, you may want to look at this," he said, panting. The blues headed up stairs, while Alberto climbed the ladder to the roof. "Shit, he's attacking early!" he jumped down and said, "Ok, we go by my rules now. Tex, Church, Girf you guys are Alpha squad. Sarge, Simmons, and Tucker are Bravo squad. Sister, Stacie, and Sarah are Charlie squad. Ariana, Caboose, and I are Delta. Dakota and Georgia, you two is Eagle squad. Alpha, you guys have the caves. Bravo, you guys have red base sniper hill. Charlie and Delta, stay with me. Eagle, up top. Move it!" Everyone moved to position. Ariana opened a COM link to the rest of the squads. "Everybody knows what to do?" Three acknowledgement lights winked on. Ariana faced Alberto and gave him a thumbs-up. The first wave of Flood came and fell. "Ok, after five waves, we form up to Omega team formation." Alberto fell to the ground. Before he blacked out, he heard Ariana say, "fall back! Leader is down!" Alberto was having a vision six months from now.

6 months from now

Alberto surveyed the battlefield. "NO!" he yelled. Omega team was almost down. He was the only surviving member left. Everyone else was dead. "Commander Keyes, come in!"

"Commander Keyes here, who is this?"

This is Gunnery Sergeant 1st C. Alberto"

"What the hell is going on down there?"

"Ma'am, you wouldn't believe me if I told you"

"Spare me the details. Just tell me"

"Ma'am, Sarge, Tex, Church, Ariana……" he paused at her name, "Everyone is dead."Keyes tried hard not to cry.

"Commander, fire a MAC blast at blue base."

"Set a beacon at blue base so I can fire."

"Roger that" He ran for blue base. Damn he thought within one hour this place looks like a blown up power plant. Five meters from blue base, he heard a sound. He turned around and saw ten combat forms. He recognized then automatically. Alberto lifted his assault rifle and fired, taking Sarge, Simmons, Tucker and everyone else out. When it was empty, he discarded it and looked at the only combat form alive. He recognized her. It was Flood Ariana. Alberto pulled out his dual SMG's and fired at her. Ariana dodged the bullets. Alberto heard a click! from the guns. "Damn," he said, dropping them. Ariana ran at him and hit him against the wall. Alberto fell to one knee, in pain. Ariana picked up the energy sword and struck Alberto with it. As he fell, he dropped the beacon he was carrying. The last thing he felt was the heat from the blast.

Alberto woke up from his nightmare. Ariana, who was with him at the time, sat next to him. "Baby, you ok?" Ariana asked. Alberto nodded, panting. There was a bang at the door. "Come in," she said. The squads came in. Tex asked, "What did you see?"

"Six months from now," he said looking at the ground.

"What happened?"

"Everyone died, except me. You guys turned to the Flood. I killed you all except for….."

"Except for who?"

"Ariana. We fought and she ended up killing me"

The base was silent. Ariana couldn't get up. "I don't believe it."

"Yeah me either. But that doesn't have to happen. We can take a first strike to them. But first….." Alberto walked over to the computer, turned to Ariana and said, "Color?"

"Red with black trims" Five seconds later, their armor came in. Tex helped Ariana into hers. Church did the same for Alberto. Alberto had just gotten into his orange with red trims when Ariana pulled out her weapon from the box. It was the energy sword. Alberto looked in the box and smiled when he saw his weapon. He pulled it out to produce the machine gun turret. He held it and said, "Everyone to your positions." There was a scram from blue's former base. "Get ready." Alpha and Bravo hit the Flood first. Alberto looked up and saw two shortswords come in and dropped their bombs. "Bombing run complete," one of the shortswords said. "Sergeant, this is Commander Keyes. I thought you could use the help." When she said that, Alberto dropped his gun. He couldn't control the Flood in him any longer. Ariana saw this, ran to him, and tried to help. "Move!" he said. Ariana didn't move in time and Alberto hit her aside.

Hell had arrived.