A loud, electric squeal pieced the air for but an instant, starting as an explosion of sound and quickly fading back to quiet. John and the Marines instinctively looked around, though it was a fairly useless act since there were no windows.
"That was a MAC shot." O'Donnell said needlessly, as all of them save perhaps the pilot had heard that sound before. "The Flood got to the MAC gun!"
They all knew that no UNSC ship could survive a direct hit from a MAC. It was the equivalent of a shotgun to the head at point blank. If the Flapjack took the shot, it was plummeting towards them at that very moment.
"Oh that's great, just great, now we're gonna have a whole STARSHIP fall on us!" Richards exclaimed. "Just when we couldn't be any more fucked now the huge guy in the back wants his turn!"
Walsh buried her face in her palm at this comment.
"If the Flapjack took the hit there's going to be a rain of escape pods soon." O'Donnell said. "We have to move."
"…I'll check. Wait here." John said.
"Like HELL we're just gonna wait for-" Richards began, but immediately stopped talking once John opened the door. Any sound now would attract Flood.
John raised his MA5B and cautiously stepped out into the world of brown fog. Once outside he gently pushed the door closed, and stepped away from the structure to get a clear view of the sky.
The Flapjack was several miles long, but it was so high up a penny could cover it up. Nevertheless, even from this range it was apparent that the ship had taken a MAC shot, as the back portion had broken off from the rest and was slowly drifting away. Though not visible at this range, escape pods surely had already left and would be there within a few minutes. John knew that given the height of the ship and the distance to the mainland, the only place the pilots of the pods could 'safely' land was right there on UNSC-11.
Suddenly, a single infected human stepped into view. John aimed at it, not wanting to fire and alert more Flood to them. So he stood motionless as the infected human slowly lurched towards the pod. It seemed to be looking for survivors.
The infected human walked right up to the pod. It stopped in front of the pod and just stood there, motionless save for the twitching of its' skin. John stared at it, equally motionless, reluctant to open fire.
After almost a minute of this, John reached behind him and slowly turned the knob. Eyes locked on the infected human, he opened the door, sidestepped inside, and quietly closed it.
"…what-" Richards began.
John hastily held up a hand to silence him. Richards closed his mouth, and John listened carefully for the infected human outside.
Once he was sure that the infected human hadn't come any closer, John lowered his hand.
"The Flapjack took a MAC shot; it's been cut in half." John said. "The escape pods will be landing here soon, so we have to rescue any survivors before the Flood get to them."
Even Richards didn't have any argument here. Men are not left behind. The pilot, however, buried her head in her arms at this news.
"…maybe one of us should just stay behind with her and a shotgun and wait for rescue?" O'Donnell asked.
"No. We've already lost half our team, so we need everyone." John replied. "You have small arms training, right?"
The pilot looked up and nodded.
"Good." John said. "Everyone suit up, we're taking all of this. Use the shotguns and M6D's first; MA5Bs just annoy these things."
John wondered what kind of rescue or new orders would be given now that UNSC-11 had a hostile MAC. Hornets and Pelicans could be there from the mainland within the hour, though in terms of the escape pods that meant nothing. Pelicans from Erebus could be there in much less time, but would the UNSC risk even more aircraft when everything sent so far had been shot down? Unlikely. Once they got to one of the radio towers the order would probably be to go into UNSC-11 and shut down the MAC so reinforcements could safely be sent.
The squad, now suited up, stood at attention. Richards, O'Donnell, and Walsh had shotguns, the pilot had an M6D, and John kept his MA5B. The rest of the weapons were slung around someone's shoulder.
"Don't speak unless absolutely necessary, we can't afford to draw attention to ourselves." John said.
With that, John slowly opened the door and walked outside. The infected human that was poking around the crashed Pelican had gone, and nothing else was in sight. John slowly stepped out into open view, with the squad following.
The escape pods were in clear view now. They had already completed re-entry and would impact in just a few seconds. John was able to count five, though there were probably more approaching at an angle obstructed from view by the surrounding structures.
O'Donnell raised his arm and pointed at the escape pod that would likely land nearest to them. It soared above the structures, the airbrakes broke off, and it crashed behind a distant structure to the deafening sound of smashing concrete against tortured metal. This was quickly joined by similar crashes from the other pods that had begun to land.
The ever present slow gurgling of the Flood infestation grew much louder and more hostile. Every Flood form on the surface and the floor directly below would likely be drawn to the noise.
"Move." John said, quickly having realized the futility of trying to keep quiet.
John ran for the crash site of the nearest pod, the squad following suit. Infected humans and spores had already begun coming out of structures, so drawn to the loud noises that they either ignored or didn't notice John's squad right there.
Richards, O'Donnell, and Walsh raised their shotguns in unison and rivaled the noise of the pods crashing as they blasted apart the nearest infected humans. The pilot had also begun to open fire on the nearest Flood.
"Keep moving!" John yelled, slowing his pace to a walk so he too could open fire.
The Flood now took notice of the more pressing threat of John's squad, and charged for them, tentacles flailing and gurgling angrily.
"Up high!" Walsh yelled, alerting the squad to Flood forms leaping at them from the top of structures. Shotguns went off and ripped through the Flood as they fell, creating a rain of burnt, rotting flesh. John held the trigger down and somewhat lazily waved at an oncoming wave of spores, creating a chain reaction that 'popped' them all in one big wave.
Flood forms were closing in on the pod's crash site.
"Move!" John yelled, but the Flood forms were unending. They continued to come out from around corners, pour out of structures, and seemingly just appeared from nowhere. From the direction of the crash site, John could faintly hear gunshots and screams. Most of the Flood advanced from that direction, seemingly aware of their desire to rescue the survivors.
"Reloading!" Richards and O'Donnell yelled in unison.
The absence of the two shotguns allowed the Flood forms to come that much closer. The pilot screamed in terror, backing away from oncoming Flood as she dropped them one by one.
"Down!!" Walsh yelled, throwing a grenade at the Flood between them and the crash site.
A delay of a couple seconds, then a deafening explosion. The frail Flood forms were reduced to small chunks and a wet mucky dust that joined the rest of the brown atmosphere, while Flood forms further away were simply torn apart.
Richards and O'Donnell finished reloading, and the oncoming Flood seemed to be thinning. John continued to rip apart Flood forms with his MA5B, the pilot had begun to reload, and the three marines killed one or even two forms per shot.
The screams from the crash site had stopped.
"Run!" John yelled, and took off for the pod. A few individual forms tried to mount an attack, but were quickly blasted away by a shotgun.
John came around the corner and found the crash site. The pod had apparently bounced off the concrete, marked by a small crater in the ground, and drilled into one of the structures. The pod had set something in the structure on fire, as the main floor of it was emitting black smoke. There were no survivors in sight, and several spores and infected humans stood there, seemingly waiting for John's squad to arrive.
John and the squad quickly dispatched these few Flood. They turned around to face where they came, and about a dozen Flood forms were still in pursuit. These Flood were just as easily blasted apart, and finally all was relatively quiet.
John quickly looked his squad over. Aside from being more or less covered in bits of rotting flesh from the Flood, they were fine.
John turned his attention to the pod. The back end was still sticking out of the structure. John looked inside the structure through the gaping hole the pod created. Inside were the bodies of three Marines and five officers of various ranks. John slowly stepped inside the structure and motioned for the squad to follow.
The fire had come from some computer terminals that the pod crashed into. The structure was entirely concrete though, so once the fire ate through the wiring it would put itself out.
"That one's been infected!!" The pilot yelled.
One of the dead Marines had suddenly begun to violently convulse as the Flood infection took him over.
Walsh raised her shotgun, fired one shot, and the body once again fell silent.
"No survivors, sir." O'Donnell said, having turned over the last of the bodies. "The Marines all had side arms, but nothing else. I guess they didn't think they'd be dropped into this situation."
"Take them and let's go, we can't waste any time." John replied.