AN: I SHALL FINISH THIS STORY!

Ch 14

Say Hello

Deep beneath Covenant occupied island

2 months before Reaper invasion

With a resounding low toned moan, the door before Church and his squad opened. The large, but thin, door split apart at the middle. Both sides started vanishing behind the wall next to the door, as they were dragged inside by unseen mechanisms. It seemed to move with such ease and speed that one would think the door and facility was brand new. Amazing considering its actual age of over a hundred thousand years.

As the door slid open, Church, Manny, and Sam were bathed in a white blinding light. Shielding their eyes, it took them a moment to adjust to the light. Once the blinding effect had subsided, Church opened his eyes. The sight before him was almost breathtaking.

The doorway led to a large walkway, with no rails on the side to protect people from the seemingly endless drop below. The walkway led to a large open room and straight to a small terminal, with several symbols and buttons. However, it was in the center of the room that caught the squad's attention. In front of the terminal, floating over the bottomless pit below them, there was a massive holographic representation of the Halo ring. Surrounding the hologram was the metal walkway, which wrapped around the floating ring in a circle.

Walking forward, Church lowered his gun to his side, completely aw struck by the sheer size of the underground facility. His squad mates followed, attention totally focused on the room and its hologram.

"Right, three guesses as to what this is," Sam said, while reaching out for the terminal.

He had expected a sarcastic remark from either Church or Manny, but it was EDI who responded over the radio, "'This' is a highly advanced system, designed to pinpoint locations on Halo, their uses and functions, and translate it to the user using a highly advanced formula to determine their native tongue."

Smiling, Sam said, "So it's a map?"

"For lack of a better term, yes a map. If you allow me to access the controls, I should be able to start tapping into the ring's computer and functions."

Eager to finish and leave, Manny stepped forward and activated his omni-tool. After connecting to the map's computer, he allowed EDI to upload part of herself into the system. Within a moment, her hologram appeared before them.

Looking over the terminal, Church asked, "Now how did you do that?"

Shrugging, Manny responded with sarcasm, "It was very technical, wouldn't want to get into any details."

"The computer allowed him complete access," EDI said, ruining Manny's humor.

The squad watched as the hologram before them started turning and twisting. The picture started zooming in on a small speck of land on the inside of it, the island where they stood. Next came a small burst from the island. Little green lines traveled from the island all around the ring, until they met on the far side. As they went, little dots appeared with a holographic red label floating next to each one. At the location of the island, there were only three dots, and at the map showing of their base camp, there were several all jumbled together into one large bright light. Another burst came from the island, this time it was a blue similar to the color of EDI. After it went by, several of the lights turned to blue instead of their original red, including the three representing them on the island.

"Is that, every life form on Halo?" Sam asked, while pointing to the ring.

"It is," answered EDI.

"And what are you looking for?"

EDI's hologram vanished from the console's projection, "What the Covenant is currently looking for, the control center for the Halo." As she spoke, the holographic ring spun around. Eventually, the entire hologram zoomed in on a large piece of land on the surface of the Halo. Switching to a side view, the hologram started splitting the ring into different sections, revealing several levels below the surface.

Curious, Church spoke up, "EDI, talk to us. What are we looking at?"

"My apologies, the vast network of information stored here is, well remarkable. The Covenant seem to think there is something of value here. I can not pin point the control room. There appears to be something else in the system."

"What like an anti virus program?" Manny asked half sarcastically. "You are snooping around in their computers, EDI."

"Send me the coordinates, EDI. I'll get Cortez on the radio," Church said, interrupting Manny.

Before any of them could move, EDI's hologram reappeared, "Actually, I may have found a better way to travel."

Suddenly, all three men were surrounded in a bright golden light. As the light spun around them faster, their view of the map room grew darker, until it was gone completely. Replacing it was a bright blinding white light, that vanished as soon as it appeared.

The light and the map room were now gone, replaced with a far more natural view. White metal walls were now massive trees covered with moss. A thickening fog could be seen in the air. Below their legs, the squad now had a murk filled water up to their thighs.

"What the hell, EDI?" Sam yelled into his radio.

"I found a teleportation system, capable of sending you to any location on Halo. Far faster than waiting on Cortez to fly you."

Still upset, Sam continued, "A little warning next time, damn. Where are we anyway?"

"The system was supposed to send you to another Forerunner facility. Obviously it did not, I must have miscalculated. Hold on while I try again."

Unwilling to risk another failed teleportation, Church spoke up, "Nope, no, not happening. Just tell us how far and we'll start walking. Don't want to risk another miscalculation."

"Miscalculation!?" Manny cried, "She could have miscalculated us into a damn tree! Isn't anyone a little bit concerned about that?"

Ignoring him, Church continued, "Right, it's just under a klick north of us. Come on, we got some walking to do."

"I think I may have lost part of my brain on the way here," Manny continued, slightly hysterical.

Sam laughed, "You lost that a long time ago," he said, before starting to walk through the thick murky waters. "Now come on, let's get through this swamp."

Grumbling to himself, Manny started after Church and Sam. Pushing through the filth infested waters was challenging. Though there wasn't any animal life to speak of on Halo, Manny's fear and imagination started to take over as his boots and leg armor dipped farther into the murk.

Suddenly, Manny jumped and pointed his rifle at the water. "What was that?" He asked, his voice terrified."

"What was what?" Church asked, his tone irritated.

"Something just brushed past my leg!"

Church glared at Manny, "Nothing touched you, now come on!"

"Yeah, yeah okay I'm coming."

Continuing to trek through the swamp, Manny continuously mumbled to himself, "Find a happy place, find a happy place." All the while he kept his rifle aimed high, jerking it from tree branch to tree branch. Jittering his teeth in fear, he kept his feet jumping around as he walked, hoping to avoid what ever he had felt before. Turning around, he continued to walk backwards, not wanting anything to sneak up behind him.

"Find a happy place. Anywhere but here."

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Uh, Manny."

"WHAT!?" He shouted, whipping his head around violently. After a brief moment of fear, he saw that it was Sam who had touched him.

"We're here," Sam said, pointing to a small metal door behind him. It led into a decent sized bunker that was partially buried under a massive hill.

Manny's cheeks blushed, "Oh, yeah right."

Sam looked at his friend, puzzled he asked "Are you alright? You seem more on edge then normal." As they spoke, Church walked up to the door, searching for a way to open it.

"Yeah, I just have a really bad feeling about this is all."

Chuckling, Sam replied with a light slap on the shoulders, "Come on then. You're starting to sound like a bad cliche."

They walked over to the door, which Church had just finished opening. Unlike most of the other Forerunner facilities the squad had been to, this one wasn't brightly lit or completely spotless. Instead darkness filled the interior, the natural light from outside only illuminated a few feet into the door way. Though it was enough to show an ominous sign. Right at the entrance, the light glossed over a freshly made pile of purple blood.

"Well that's creepy," Church said. Activating his omni-tool's flashlight, he took a step inside. Unflinching, Sam followed his squad leader, though predictably Manny hesitated.

"I know I say this a lot, but maybe we shouldn't go in there."

Letting loose a sigh of regret, Church spoke to Manny without turning around, "Just stay out here and radio if there's any trouble."

"Yeah I can do that."

Now alone, Church and Sam went deeper into the bunker. Along the way, they found several more piles of blood of varying colors, and even a few fallen weapons. Eventually, they reached a large empty room, with four doorways. Only two were opened, the one they had entered and the one across from them. The other two had been welded shut from their side, apparently trying to stop something or someone from getting out of the facility.

Stepping next to Church, Sam spoke in his ear, "As much as I hate to say it, maybe we should listen to Manny on this one. Doesn't it strike you as odd that there are no bodies for all this blood?"

Continuing on, Church spoke in little over a whisper, "No, they probably had some sort of incident and came to retrieve their dead. More than likely, they already have what they were looking for in here. I'd just like to know what it is they have."

The duo continued walking. They went through several other empty rooms and corridors, all the while traveling deeper into the facility. After passing through a malfunctioning door at the end of a particularly long stretch of hallway, they came upon the first piece of intrigue in their search. They entered a new room, this time filled with different kind of machines. There, along the walls, were several large clear cylinders that contained some type of green bubbling liquid. As the pair progressed, the bubbling liquid in the tanks went from empty, to containing some sort of disgusting blob.

It was at the end of the row of tanks, that the two stopped and starred. Before them was a mass of flesh and puss. It appeared suspended in its small prison, remaining still as the the liquid frothed around it.

Shinning his light over it, Sam questioned Church, "What do you suppose that is?"

A hissing scream prevented Church from answering. Turning around, they both noticed a container on the other side of the room had been shattered.

Suddenly, a small shadow scattered through the darkness, followed by another round of yelps and screams coming from another room.

"Now we can go," Church said, backing up to the broken door.

The shadow moved again, unbeknownst to the humans. It twisted through their flashlights, avoiding their line of sight. Though it did not go completely unnoticed. The disgusting sound of a greasy pitter patter could be heard as the shadow went, which only caused the duo to back up quicker.

A flash of black crossed Church's field of vision, before vanishing right behind one of the containers. Suddenly, another one seemed to appear, quicker than the first. Begging to panic, Church turned to run, grabbing Sam by the arm as he did so. Yet it was as he grabbed him, that Church noticed Sam was convulsing erratically.

Focusing his flashlight on Sam, Church watched in horror as a pale green blob dug itself into Sam's neck. The blob's tentacle face, if you could call it that, dug at Sam's flesh into it had seemingly buried itself into him. Unable to look away, Church could only retreat in fear as he watched his friend fall to the ground, still shaking and digging at his neck.

Once the blob was safely nuzzled into Sam's neck and shoulder, Sam's entire body took on a grotesque change. Green plant like flesh ejected itself from Sam's back, and turned around to cover his head. His arms turned into large trunk like appendages, and the rest of his body seemed to have random points of puss ejecting from it. And at the center of the new creature that was Sam, sat the blob that attacked him, protruding a pink whisker like appendage from Sam's body.

"Ho-holy shit," Church stammered. He was shaking in fear, his rifle pointed to the ground as his left arm hung loose. "Sam, are you..."

Sam charged Church madly, swinging his arms madly about. Church turned to run, his flight instinct taking full command of his legs. Jumping through the broken door, he chanced a look back at Sam. The creature went without stopping, only smashing the door away with its flailing arms. Behind Sam, there came more of the small monstrous blobs, all scurrying after him.

Sprinting at full speed now, Church practically jumped through the open door at the end of the hallway. Once he was through, he turned around and physically shut the door. It slid easily closed, allowing for him to smash a small holographic control panel on the wall. Backing away from the door, Church hit the a wall behind him not more than six feet from the door. Sliding to the ground, Church kept his eyes ahead of him, not even blinking away the picture of the door.

A loud thud could be heard as Sam tried pounding the door down form the other side. Church flinched as a small dent was put into the metal, and then another, and another, before finally Sam gave off a defeated moan and let the door be, retreating back into the facility.

Silence fell over the slumped Church, as he cradled himself and his rifle. He was utterly alone now, nothing but he and his weapon. Rocking on the floor like a small infant, Church was unable to stand or compose himself at all. The only thing he could see was Sam's body twisting drastically out of proportions, until it was something else entirely.

Unable to stomach the mental picture he held, Church leaned over and vomited on the floor. His heaves were soon accompanied by sobs of tears, as both fell to the floor in a small puddle. He was unable to contain himself, one of his squad mates had just been zombified, and then had tried to kill him. His friend had been turned into some sort of thing. He wasn't even sure Sam was still alive.

Maybe he's alright. Maybe this is some kind of bad dream, yeah just one bad dream. Sam is fine and probably keeping Erin company right now, He thought to himself.

"Just one bad dream," He said aloud, trying desperately to convince himself that it was truth.

AN: I'm not going to say much here, expect that I hope you like this chapter and will of course leave your reviews! The only real update I have to say is that I made a new cover for the story using some simplistic posters form both Halo and ME. I hope you all like it.

As always thanks for reading.