Chapter 11

Beep, Beep, Beep.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. Without opening my eyes, I picked up my knife and threw it across the room. It embedded itself in the wall right next to the alarm console.

"Every single time you do that, I'm terrified you're going to hit the console," Deja's voice came from the speakers.

"I would never actually hit the console, Deja," I replied chuckling. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.

"Are you up yet, Beth?" Carter's voice came through the comm.

"No, I'm still asleep," I replied sarcastically.

"Come on, time to go. The Pelican is waiting for you," he said.

I really wasn't looking forward to fighting the Covenant in less than 5 hours. We were so lucky to have gotten a break from the war, but now it was time to get back into the fight. I sighed as I stood up and showered quickly, then suited up and got going.

I jogged down to the Pelican and was really grateful for the fact that my armor was comfortable, maybe i could get some z's on the flight.

Everyone was waiting for me and we boarded the plane. It was a decent flight back to our old base, so once we were airborne I slipped out of my flight harness and slid over to Jake so i could fall asleep against him while we waited to arrive.

"Okay everyone, strap in, I'm preparing to land," Kat spoke over the comm. We all sat down and I shivered with excitement. It had been ages since we had seen our old base and I was excited.

"Oh my god," Kat said. She sounded horrified. "Commander, you had better come forward and take a look at this."

As soon as Kat set the pelican down, we all jumped off to see what she was so horrified at. When I jumped down, I immediately stopped in shock, and slumped my shoulders with depression. Carter put a hang on my shoulder and asked, "Do you want to stay in the Pelican?" I shook me head.

I walked around. Corpses from the people who had been taking care of the base lay everywhere, and the scary thing was that the corpses were fresh. The stench of death hung thickly in the air, making everyone feel sick. Whoever, or whatever did this was probably still around.

"Well, talk about a warm welcome," Jorge, said, gulping.

I groaned and doubled over as I turned a corner. The room was full of body parts. Arms, legs, heads. It was horrible. Jake put his arm around my waist for support. I buried my head into his armored neck. He put his other arm around me as Carter passed us.

"What did this!?" he yelled, infuriated. "All of those good people. Dead. There were so many young marines here, too. They're all gone!"

"Carter!" Kat hissed. "Keep your voice down! Whatever did this might still be here!"

A growl answered her. "Emile! Stop growling! This is a serious situation, you know," Kat said harshly.

"That wasn't me Kat," Emile whispered. Another growl, much louder this time cam from the back room.

"Jake? What was that?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know, babe, but just stay with me," he said protectively.

Emile walked up beside me and shoved me forward. "Stop being so afraid! You are a super soldier! A Spartan!"

In anger, I took out my pistol and shot his foot. The bullet only grazed his skin, but I knew it stung. The sound of the gunshot only seemed to anger whatever was out there.

Carter walked over to punch me. I deserved it, but Jake wouldn't let him past.

"Now is not the time to be punching people, Carter," Jake said, placing himself in between Carter and me.

"Don't question me!" he yelled. A monster emerged behind him from the back room. It was HUGE! Bigger that three Hunters, but the way it moved was similar to one. It had an arm that came down into a club. The other hand had four long, clawed fingers on it. The creature had transparent skin, and raw red muscle pushed against it. It had red eyes and a huge mouth that gaped open. Rotting gums gave way to horrific fangs that crowded it's mouth. It's appearance was similar to that of Wendigo on steroids. It stood up straight and it growled again and it sounded like thunder. Blood came out of its mouth as if it had just eaten something. The monster swiped its clubbed arm at Carter.

"Commander!" Kat screamed. She rushed passed us and pushed Carter over. She fell heavily on top of him and rolled off to fight. The creatures club had missed Carter by a centimeter. Jake ran forward and chucked a grenade at the creature. The grenade just made the monster angrier. We all opened fire, I concentrated on its head. I saw Emile and Jorge go around behind the monster and shoot its back.

I will supply you with extra shielding. Go!

Deja, you are a lifesaver. Literally.

I ran over to the monster and used its clubbed arm as a sort of ladder. Jorge and Emile continued firing its back as I climbed up to its head. Unsheathing my knife, I jumped and brought the knife down into the flesh of its neck. The monster screamed and stumbled around, using it's clawed hand to try scrape me off it's back. I jumped through it's fingers and climbed higher, swinging down around its neck and slicing it's neck open. Blood poured out of it's throat, all over my armour. Shaking off like a wet dog, i walked forward as the monster gave a final groan and collapsed on the ground. We all crowded around the thing with puzzled expressions on our faces.

"What on Planet Reach was that!?" Jorge asked.

"Whatever it was, it was extremely unclean," Jun said. He then pulled out a huge bottle of disinfectant and started pouring it over the monster.

"Jun," I called. "It's dead. There's no point."

"We need a new base. This one is wrecked," Carter said as Jun came up behind him.

"First, I think we should name the monster," Kat said. "What about we call it the Berserker?"

"Great name choice, Kat," I said, swiping my fingers across my visor in a 'Spartan Smile'.

"Well, NOBLE, now might be as good a time as any to tell you that we are getting a new member. The higher powers decided our little team needed to do some more fighting, and so they are sending a new member to help us out. We should go meet him now, there's no use sticking around here in this depressing hellhole."

"Sweet, new member, maybe I can have a friend for once..." Jun whispered as all walked back to the pelican to meet our new team member.