Sorry this update took so long. I'm so overwhelmed right now. Anyways, here's the new chapter!!!

The sun was beginning to set over the abandoned city. The rain continued to pour over the city, and as darkness fell, lightning was the only thing illuminating the city. Nothing would've noticed the man hole covering that just started moving.

Shane grunted as he pushed up and moved the heavy metal away from the mouth of the hole. Fresh air… beautiful thing. He took a deep breath as he stepped out and let the rest of his group exit from the sewers. The walk through them had been short, only a hundred feet or so. At the first sign of an exit, they'd unanimously voted to take it.

One they were all out, the group then jogged over to a small shop, and sat down to rest. Shane sighed and closed his eyes momentarily before saying, "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah," was the reply from most of the men.

Shane walked over to Rook and sat next to him. "You okay?"

The man nodded and looked at him for the first time in hours. "Yes, sir." He looked down again and sighed. "It's just that… being trapped in there… I thought I'd die." His voice cracked a little. "Like… Rascal."

Shane nodded and patted the man's shoulder. "It's okay, Rook." He shook him to get his attention. "You alright now?"

The rookie nodded vigorously and looked at his captain with an intense look. "Yes, sir. I'm ready to kick some Covenant ass and avenge my friend."

Shane wasn't about promoting the hunger for revenge, but there seemed to be no other way to draw Rook from his depressive trance. He nodded and smiled. "Well good. 'Cause I need every man I've got."

"Well, you got me for sure."

Shane nodded again and stood to address the rest of the men. "Okay, boys. I think it's about time we made some real progress here. Let's move out!"

The rain had finally stopped, and the men moved swiftly now. Crossing over the terrain as though it wasn't even there and the farther they got from the center of the city, the less Covenant there were.

Shane climbed up the tall debris and stood at the top of the massive pile of destruction. From the top he could now see he was standing atop two buildings that had fallen against each other, and were barely holding each other up. He hoped they would stay standing for just a little longer.

As the rest of his squad climbed up after him, he looked out over what was left of the city. There wasn't much more to go. The crashed ship could be seen just a little ways beyond the city limits. The crashed rings were spaced out a bit more now, and could be seen for hundreds of miles. He looked down into the city around him and looked around. From his position, no Covenant patrols or outposts could be seen. Good. There would be fewer Covenant.

Behind him Rook appeared and also surveyed the desolate city. He looked at Shane as the others appeared and asked, "How's it look?"

Shane nodded, mostly to himself, and said, "Good. There's less Covenant and the elevator debris is more spaced out so we can move faster. Hopefully, if we move fast enough and don't get stopped, we can get out of the city before sunset tomorrow."

The men behind him nodded to each other. Rook motioned to the ring around them, "What about this?"

The pile of debris they were standing on was a good fifty feet away from the ring, and they were thirty feet above the ring. As the pile sloped down, it would drop too far beneath the edge of the ring debris. Shane shook his head as he tried to look for another way on top of the ring from somewhere else.

Snipe, of course, found it first. "Sir," he said as he pointed to their left. "See that apartment complex over there? I think that's close enough for us to jump over on top of the ring."

Shane squinted to see the distant buildings right next to the massive debris. He nodded and clapped Snipe on the shoulder as he looked at the rest of them. "Let's move out, guys!"

They all sprouted smiles as he ran past them and down the pile of the debris. He didn't slow as he ran across the street to several large buildings. "Let's get to the tops of these buildings. We can run across them and get to the apartment complex and avoid Covenant."

As they neared the building he stopped at the entrance to the complex and waved them all inside. Meanwhile, he watched for Covenant patrols. As his troops filed past him, he saw none and finally ducked inside the building. He shouted up to them, "To the roof!"

They ran through old homes that had been destroyed and came out on the dirt covered roof. Shane came out last and looked at the massive ring right in front of them. "Find a way on, guys!" he shouted to them. He and Snipe ran to the left and further down the rooftop of the complex.

The sniper pointed to several large beams lying on the ground. "We could make a bridge."

Shane picked up on them and laid it down on the edge of the railing so it was at an angle. He then stood on the wood and jumped up and down to test how strong it was. It held firmly, to his delight. He walked over toward the elevator debris and set down the board to see if it reached. It did, barely.

The rest of the men by now had seen what their leader was up to and started setting up other boards next to it and on top of it to make it stronger. Shane went first, slowly he inched across the board and felt to see if it was safe. As he went, he saw that the edge on the ring was slipping. He turned calmly and said, "Hold the bridge in place. It's slipping."

"Yes, sir," said someone.

As he moved along again, he felt steadier and finally made it onto the ring. He surveyed the area in front of him and watched as his next teammate started across the bridge. Shane looked around in front of him for a place for them to get off the ring. A couple feet down he saw an open window and got an idea.

Coop walked up next to him and looked at what Shane was looking at. He scrunched his face in confusion and looked at his leader. "The window? You want us to jump into that little window?"

Shane held up a grenade with a grin. "O' course not," he said smugly.

Coop looked at it and nodded his understanding. With a smile he said, "I'll take care of it."

Shane smiled back and turned around to see most of the men had crossed their little bridge. They looked at him in confusion, and then jumped as they heard an explosion. Shane turned to see that Coop had thrown the grenade into the open window and he blown away most of the wall. As the last man crossed, Shane wasted no time. "Jump into the next building! We will head down through there and back through the streets!"

Coop jumped first and landed roughly inside what used to be a bedroom. He stood and looked around him before waving for the next man to jump. Next was Rook, and he had a harder time making it completely into the room. He landed close to the edge, and almost fell out, had it not been for Coop. The man grabbed the young soldier by the collar and hauled him inside quickly, before waving the next soldier in.

Several minutes later, they were all running down the stairs of the building and sprinting across the street to the safety of another building. As Shane ran inside, he looked around at the panting, filthy men. He should give them a break, it'd been a hard, fast-paced day.

Snipe walked up to him and said, "Can I talk to you?"

Shane was slightly confused, but nodded. "Of course. Come." He led them outside to the street and looked at the sniper. "What?"

Snipe glanced back inside the building and asked, "How are we going to save those people in the ship? There're only a few of us and they most of the garrison here focused on attacking that ship."

Shane sighed. "I know. We'll just have to find a way to get around them or something."

Snipe moved in closer and whispered, "I've already thought of something."

I know. Boring chapter! I'm sorry! But this next chapter should start to make it interesting!