Chapter 11
Taylor's Motion Tracker made a loud pinging noise. He glanced at it and saw seven dots circling the screen. He fumbled for another shell and loaded it into the gun.
The marines were as scared as hell. They tightly gripped their MA5 assault rifles, the bright white cones of light from the flashlights feverishly searching. Taylor kept his sight on the marines, his nerves worsening with each ping of the tracker. He noticed a shape, outlined in red, running towards them from the corner of his eye.
"Over there!" He shouted to the marines, pointing at the direction of the shape. Six cones of light fell upon it, revealing its true shape.
It was a Sangheili combat form. Its blue armor was broken and cracked. It held a plasma rifle in one hand; the other was a long diseased looking tentacle. Its head was curled back, and from its bare chest resided two flowery feelers.
A marine shredded it with his assault rifle. The creature fell to the floor. The marines were now in a circle, back to back, each one searching in the dark.
More footsteps. A marine aimed his flashlight just to see something crawl away from the light.
He fired, but instead of hitting the target, he burst open an entire flood growth pod.
It burst, and from the pod several infection forms came out rushing to them. The marines fired at them catching all but one, which latched on to another marine. He was immediately killed. There were now six men left, Taylor included.
" Run!" He shouted
The six men ran blindly, knowing nothing of what would come, just charging ahead, fueled with adrenaline and mad with terror. Taylor's heart raced, and his ears rang with screams, mostly his own. He finally stopped his berserker charge and turned behind him.
There was no one
"Hello" Taylor called out weakly. Footsteps answered him
Six human combat forms formed a semicircle closing in on him. They each held MA5 rifles in their hands. Their Marine BDU's were torn. Their heads were curled back, perpetual screams etched upon their faces. Taylor's heart leapt to his throat.
He fired.
BLAM, CHIK-CHIK! BLAM, CHIK-CHIK!
Taylor fired at his former comrades. No sound rang in his mind. All he was thinking was why the hell they didn't make his shotgun semi-automatic.
At last, the barrage of buck stopped spewing from his scatter gun. He looked at the strewn limbs and massive stain of flood spores on the ground. He absently pushed shells into the tube magazine of the shotgun. He heard a humming sound behind him.
Behind him was a circular atrium, in its center a large circular tunnel, twelve feet in diameter glowing with blue light. A gravity lift.
A sangheili combat form stood in front of the lift. It held a Type-1 energy sword in its hand. Two curved blades of hardened plasma were on either side of the handle. The sangheili was clad in white armor. Not unlike the armor of…
'Sesoon. It's Jinzo'Sesoon
"Step away from the gravity lift, parasite." commanded a deep voice. Taylor turned his head. It was 'Dosam.
The bottom of 'Dosam's helmet was torn off. His mandibles hung loosely in below his head. In his hand, he clutched the handle of an energy sword. It tensed, and with the sound of crackling lightning, two curved blades of glowing blue plasma projected from either end of the sword. A deep guttural growl emerged from 'Dosam's throat, and his body tensed. It curled into a fighting position.
The flood form twittered and imitated his stance.
Taylor could feel the raw power in the air. The fight was about to begin.