Survivor
Anastasia sat in the overly cushioned chair, feeling uncomfortable, the exact opposite of how the chair was supposed to make her feel. She didn't like how small the room was and it made her feel trapped, though that seemed appropriate. She wasn't here by choice really, she'd been ordered here because of a recent incident, one she didn't really want to talk about. Anastasia looked to the man sitting in the fair across from her. She didn't know this man but she hated him, she hated all of them. None of them ever understood, they just heard words and nodded their heads, writing notes about things they couldn't fathom. This man would be just the same, tell her the same things and just sit there and judge her, like always.
"So then, Spartan Novara, how are you today?" The man asked.
"I'm stuck in a room talking to a shrink, how do you think I'm doing?" Anastasia shot back. She wanted to be training with Crimson or reading, not sitting in a room with some guy that thought he understood her head just because he'd been to some collage classes. To her anyone that had gotten a degree when the war should have been their main focus pissed her off, thus the psychiatrist pissed her off by existing.
The man smiled and it only ticked Anastasia off more. "Do you know why you're here today?"
"I broke a guy's nose," Anastasia answered, crossing her arms. "Just get to the part where you ask me what happened so we can get this over with." The psychiatrist nodded and Anastasia summarized the events. "Crimson, Shadow, and Majestic went to the training deck to play a new game type that one of the techs made. I figured it would be like Grifball or Ricochet, but it wasn't. We spawned with shotguns and pistols, and then the enemies arrived. That dumbass tech had the idea to make the enemies look like these freak infected humans, Flood. I panicked a bit and was taken out quickly. When I respawned I was one if those infected forms. Roland realized I was having a panic attack and removed me from the game. When the others came to help me I broke a guy's nose."
"And why did you have a panic attack because of the simulated Flood?" The doctor asked.
"Not for a reason you'd understand. If you have to ask you've obviously never been around the Flood. It consumes everything, takes over the bodies of the dead and the living, making them enemies. My team was on the ground in Africa near the crashed cruiser that was infected." Anastasia felt her skin crawl at the memory. She could still remember the sound of infection forms moving over the ground and the heavy steps of tanks as they approached. She felt a spike of panic, like if she turned around the wall would be covered in Flood growth.
"Why don't you tell me about what happened in Africa?" It was where all these sessions went, straight to that day and all those memories Anastasia hated so much.
She sighed, knowing he wouldn't accept no as an answer and eventually she'd have to tell the story. She just wanted this to all be over as soon as possible so she just gave in. "We were in Africa, I don't care to remember the name of the city or the facilities we were checking. There were Covenant reinforcements that were heading to the city and we were beating them back. By the time they retreated Glass and Volt were injured, fighting on pure will power."
Volt Wolf winced as Timber patched up the cut on his leg. "Stupid pigeons and their damn rave weapons." Volt refused to call any alien by a proper name, or ever address the weapons correctly. Timber only shook his head and Anastasia knew that he was smiling, he always was. Volt was a seasoned soldier who hardly ever smiled, always quickly to lash out at people who annoyed him though it hardly ever had much of a bite. Timber was different in every way. He was young, just about Anastasia's age but only a year and a half younger, and he seemed to always smile, even in the darkest of times. It went well with his boyish look that, Anastasia wasn't afraid to admit, made him look kind of cute.
"Just be glad it wasn't a Brute? Better a cut leg than a crushed one," Mud reasoned. He sat on a truck that had been tipped on its side, looking down at the others. The man smiled, showing the crooked teeth in his mouth. Anastasia still wasn't sure if they'd named him Mud because he was ugly as mud or because of a mission where he'd inventively used mud as camouflage. The man looked up to Anastasia and Snow, their current team leader. "Any new orders, Boss?"
Snow basically ignored her soldiers, as she seemed to always do. She gave orders to Anastasia and she had to relay them to the rest of the team. Despite all efforts Snow seemed to have placed Anastasia in a second-in-command position. There wasn't any real authority, just the job of being an in-between, so Anastasia didn't fight it. "When there are orders you'll get them," Anastasia responded.
Anastasia was standing on the broken remains of a wall beside their Sargent as she stared through a pair of binoculars. "Slip space rupture," Snow muttered. Anastasia turned her gaze to the sky where a Covenant cruiser had appeared in the sky and was falling toward Earth. It looked to be on fire but even from here Anastasia could see that there was something weird about it. "Get down!" Snow shouted as she lowered her binoculars. Anastasia dropped down to the pavement below and moved over to take cover behind the fallen truck. Timber pulled Volt and glass behind the vehicle with a bit if help from Snow. Heat washed over them as the ship crashed into the ground, shaking the earth below them.
Anastasia waited a few heartbeats before she moved, standing up and examine the area around them. There ship had hit hard, parts flying far and wide across the city. Anastasia looked to a new hole in the side of a building, the dust still settling and smoke rising. "Damn my ears," Mud complained loudly.
"You should have been wearing your helmet," Glass scolded. The man gripped his bandaged arm as he moved to stand. Mud grumbled but slid his helmet on. Snow moved a bit closer to the smoking building, looking over the scene. Anastasia looked around them, feeling an odd, nervous feeling, like something was watching them.
"We need to make contact with HQ, get new orders," Snow decided. Anastasia nodded, acknowledging the instructions.
"There's a small outpost just a bit south of us that should have working equipment." Anastasia pulled her assault rifle from her back. "We can get there in a quarter hour dragging those two." She motioned to Glass and Volt.
"Get them on their feet, we're moving out." Snow turned away and moved over to Mud, grabbing his arm and forcing him to his feet. Timber slung Volt's arm over his shoulder to support him and the group moved out.
Snow took point with Timber and Volt in the middle, the others arranged to the sides and Anastasia bringing up the rear. The air seemed to be thick with smoke and choking, though Anastasia was aware her suit kept her air clean. They moved down the roads, weaving between cars and checking allies for enemies. They had made it almost a block when something moved. Anastasia watched from the back of the group as a figure walked toward her team. It looked human but there was a large sickly growth on the man's left shoulder and his left arm was mutated into a grotesque clawed arm. Snow shouted for the man to stop but something primal had kicked in in Anastasia's system and she felt a rush of adrenaline. Her grip tightened on her weapon and the world around her changed, her senses stretching to their max with the arrival of a threat. The figure ahead of them started to run and the air filled with gunfire. The enemy fell and the only sound that could be heard was the fires in the city still consuming whatever fuel they could.
There was a thump behind Anastasia and she turned to see a monstrosity behind her. Maybe at one time it had been an elite but now it was a mutated creature, made of the same puce flesh as the growth on the man but it was almost completely covered with one great arm, pulled back and ready to strike. Anastasia looked the creature over but she couldn't figure out where to aim as it didn't seem to have any sort of head. The thing struck forward and Anastasia moved her gun to block. The force sent the weapon flying from her hand and Anastasia colliding with Glass. Her teammate cried out in pain as he landed in his injured arm while the others opened fire. Anastasia moved her body over the injured soldier keeping Glass down on the ground and away from accidentally getting hit by a stray shot.
When the shooting stopped Anastasia looked back and saw the monster dead on the ground. "There are more of them. Move it!" Snow shouted. Anastasia could see that there were at least half a dozen similarly mutated creatures heading toward them at a fairly fast rate. Anastasia scrambled to her feet, yanking Glass to his feet. She didn't even check to see if he was running, just took off down the street. She could hear the creatures behind them and from the growing sound they were not only growing closer but growing in numbers. A window broke to her right and Anastasia looked over just as the sharp spikes of one of the monster's arms pierced through Mud's chest. There was something different this time, a small shape moved up on thin legs, climbing over the monstrosity and to Mud like a skittering spider. The smaller alien life form looked like a small balloon, two antenna sticking out topped by tuffs of red. The balloon thing moved to Mud's neck and he screamed as it seemed to attack him. Snow and Timber fired, killing the form that had busted through the window but it was too late. Mud's body started to shake and twitch and the puce flesh that covered the other enemies started to grow along his back and legs, quickly spreading. The balloon form had buried itself into his shoulder so only the antenna were still visible. Mud, or what was once Mud, took a step back, pulling itself free of the dead form.
Mud swung at Timber but Volt suddenly pushed him out of the way. The still mutating arm of their former teammate slammed into the incurred marine and sent Volt crashing into the side of a car. Mud moved toward him and Anastasia charged toward it, drawing her knife. She still didn't know where to aim so she just stabbed her knife into the place she'd seen the balloon go. Her blade found its mark between the two antenna, stabbing at the area over and over until the mutated body fell to the ground. Anastasia moved over to Volt, pressing two fingers to his throat, searching for a pulse. She found none. A hand tugged on her arm and she looked up to see Timber trying to pull her up, Glass and Snow already running.
Anastasia forced herself to her feet and followed after them, Timber beside her. The remaining soldiers made a dash for it; though with the things following them Anastasia was starting to doubt that getting to a radio was their biggest concern. Snow suddenly turned to move down another street and Anastasia realized why as she could see the collection of Warthogs parked, or crashed, at the corner ahead. Snow reached it first and slid into the driver's seat, trying to get the jeep to start. A great mass of the alien flesh moved forward and it took Anastasia a second to make heads or tails of what she was seeing. The puce figure was a hulk of flesh, though it almost seemed impossible that it could even stand. Its legs were think like tree trunks, its arm and torso large and bulky, and its waist seemed to be a trip of thin lines that were only inches around. The great figure moved toward the Warthog and Glass shouted a warning to Snow but it was too late. The large creature swung one of its massive arms, bringing it down on the hood of the jeep, causing its back wheels to rise up off the ground before the second arm struck like a bat, sending the car flying. The Warthog slammed into the side of a building, the twisted, smoking wreckage falling to the road.
The large creature moved forward, moving to the fallen Warthog. Anastasia checked their system but could see that there were no bio-signs of Snow and it was almost impossible for her to have survived inside the ruined Warthog. She noticed the monstrosity moving, not directly to the wreckage but moving out of the way to avoid a fire as it advanced. Anastasia snapped into action, knowing that once it was sure Snow was dead the thing would come after them. She grabbed a grenade from Glass' belt, pulled the pin, and threw it. The grenade landed near the nearly destroyed Warthog and blew, causing fire to wash over the large figure. It flailed as the sickly flesh went up in flames.
"What do we do?" Timber asked. Anastasia looked to him and realized he was asking her. A quick glance at Glass told her he was also looking to her for answers. Anastasia cursed Snow at that moment for dying, for leaving her with the soldier who were looking to her for answers. She wasn't supposed to be leading them, ever, but here they were waiting for her to give orders, a concept that seemed crazier than asking her to sprout wings and fly.
Anastasia looked around and realized there were more of the combat forms heading toward them, like every dead body had stood up and became these monstrosities. "Warthog," Anastasia snapped her gaze to the remaining Warthog that the large form hadn't bothered with. "Glass, see if it's still working." Anastasia wanted him out of the way. If they were going to have to fend off any enemies a wounded soldier was only going to get in the way. Anastasia motioned to Timber to follow as they moved around to the back of the Warthog. Anastasia pulled off one of the cans of gas from the rear bumper and handed it to Timber. "Make a line across the road." Timber nodded and moved away to do as instructed. There was a sound like a shot singing through the air and a dull thud from the front of the jeep. Anastasia moved up and could see Glass hanging over the side of the vehicle, what looked to be a yellowish needler round sticking out of the side of his helmet. Anastasia cursed and pulled him out of the vehicle. She moved into the driver's seat and tried several times before the warthog came to life and she felt like maybe they would catch a lucky break.
"Road covered," Timber announced as he moved back toward the vehicle. He'd made it almost all the way when Anastasia realized there was something behind him. The new form looked like a sack of flesh with just legs, stumbling toward her teammate. One of the combat forms left forward and knocked Timber's feet out from under him. Anastasia jumped out of the driver's seat and knelt down, grabbing the pistol from Glass, holster and opened fire on the combat form. The monster jerked back with each shot but didn't fall. Timber scrambled to his feet and ran toward the Warthog where Anastasia was standing. Anastasia moved to a nearby building and broke off a piece of burning wood from a chair and tossed it toward the gas tank Timber had dropped when he'd fallen. The gas lit up quickly and the fire spread back toward the creatures and the line that Timber had made in the road. The combat form was engulfed in flames, finally killing it. The bulbous form behind it fell to the ground and burst open. Anastasia turned away from the blast and felt something land on her back. A sharp needle stabbed into her shoulder and she realized what was happening. Just as the infection form had stabbed and buried itself into Mud now it was on her. Anastasia turned around and slammed her back into the side of the Warthog, causing her head to smack into the metal as well but there was a slight pop as the form was destroyed. Timber screamed beside her and Anastasia looked over to see one of the infection forms latching onto her. She swung her arm and the balloon like parasite broke easily under the force. Timber had collapsed to the ground and didn't seem to be moving so Anastasia picked him up and set him in the passenger's seat before sliding into the driver's seat and taking off.
"I just drove as fast as I could out of the city," Anastasia explained. "We found a Pelican evacing soldiers and caught a ride with them. Timber could barely move, just his arm a little and his head. On the ride back he stopped breathing but I knew CPR and kept him alive." Anastasia's gaze dropped to the floor. "The medics said he was mostly paralyzed, legs and right arm. We didn't find out until much later what we fought was called Flood."
"Have you seen Timber since that mission?" the Psychiatrist asked. Anastasia shook her head. "Why not?"
"I don't remember his name," Anastasia admitted. "His name is Timber Wolf but the UNSC doesn't know him by that name. As members of the Wolves our true names are those we earn. The UNSC may know me as Anastasia Novara but my name is Fire, and it always will be."
"What if I got his name for you? Would you be willing to visit him?"
"Would then make you happy?" Anastasia grumbled. "If it will get me certified as not crazy then I'll do it."
"I don't think you're crazy," the doctor assured her. "You were faced with a terrifying event in your life, with being infected by the Flood. Nothing crazy about that."
Anastasia scowled, knowing he was just trying to keep her calm. She wouldn't be here if he didn't think there was something wrong with her. "If you get his name I'll go." The doctor smiled and Anastasia fought the urge to smack him.
Anastasia stood in the doorway, watching the man sitting at the window. She'd already been standing there for several minutes and she didn't want to move. She couldn't run, that wasn't a choice for her. If she moved she had to move forward. She took a deep breath and moved into the room, pulling up a chair beside her former teammate. He didn't look at her, didn't say anything, just stared out the window. Anastasia didn't expect a reaction; she knew she'd never get one. She had gong to visit the man after the attack of the Flood and he had just sat and stared, no reaction to the world around him. Still she hadn't lied to the doctor. This man beside her might bare Timber's original name but it wasn't him. Timber was dead, only his body seemed to live on like the walking dead they'd seen on that mission, only missing the ugly growths.
Anastasia looked to the man beside her, not really having a name for him. The plaque outside his door said Barry Barton but there was obviously no one home. His gaze was unfocused, his face slack without emotion, and his body was thin, unused. He was like a stuffed wolf: made to look alive but the life was gone from him, and it wasn't coming back. The caring energy of the man was gone and Anastasia almost missed it. "Timber?" She almost hoped for some sort of response, anything, but there was nothing. "I should have let you die on that Pelican." She meant those words more than anything. He was the reason why she wasn't suited to be a leader, she couldn't handle being responsible for the lives of others. Because of her mistake this ghost sat in the world of the living, just waiting until even medical science couldn't keep it alive.
Anastasia stood, no longer able to stand sitting there with him. She knelt down, pressing a light kiss to his cheek like a family member saying their final farewell to a loved one. He was the last person in the galaxy that knew her name, her true name, and he'd never say it again. "Goodbye, Timber." She left the room without another word. This had changed nothing, hadn't helped at all. She still had the same fear of the Flood, still felt the guilt for Timber's fate, and was still the lone wolf left of her pack. Still, she'd done as she'd been instructed and the nurses would verify she'd been there. As long as they cleared her that was all that mattered, as long as she got back to the fight.
