The Flood were continuing their unstoppable drive across Halo, killing every human and Covenant they came across. The sentinels were doing their best to stop them. Even though Juggernaut had ordered all the sentinels on the ring to find and kill Wally and Eve, most of the machines had been attacked by the Flood and were engaged in battles with them.
One major battle on the ring was taking place at the Truth and Reconciliation's crash site. After the raid by Eve and the ODST's several days ago, the Covenant continued the repairs on the ship. However, when they were about to leave, the Flood began launching their attacks on Covenant forces around the ring. This caused most of the Covenant needed to pilot the ship to be sent across Halo to combat them. Eventually, the Flood broke through the defences and disabled the ship as it was leaving. The Truth and Reconciliation crashed several miles from where it was when the raid took place. After that, an immense battle broke out between the Flood and a Covenant strike team sent down to neutralize the Flood and repair the ship. It was amazing how none of the sentinels had managed to find their way here.
In one of the corridors of the Truth and Reconciliation, a gold light appeared. It grew bigger and bigger with each passing second. Finally, it disappeared, only this time Eve was standing in where the light was.
"We're here," Auto said.
Eve scanned the corridor she had just arrived in. It was a complete mess. Huge chunks of the walls on both sides of the corridor had been literally ripped out, there were holes in the ceiling, sparks were flying from destroyed lights either on the ceiling or on the floor and there were dead Grunts and Jackals scattered all the way down the corridor with their blood
thrown everywhere. Eve looked behind her and saw that a door had closed and was most likely to be locked.
"Whoa," She said. "The fighting has really screwed up the ship,"
"It's worse than that," Auto replied. "The ship has crashed in a canyon a few miles from where it was when we launched the raid. The fighting and the crash have created massive pools of reactant coolant that has leaked out from the ship. And everywhere in this ship or in the canyon, the Covenant and Flood are trying to rip each other's heads off. Now this place is what you would call a war zone," Auto concluded.
"Let's just hope we can find the captain and get out of here in one piece," Eve said.
Eve walked down the corridor towards a door at the end. As she got closer to the door, she could see sparks flying from it and more dead bodies. One Flood combat form and two Grunts. Looks like the Flood were going to win this battle. Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.
"Eve…" a voice said. It sounded like…Captain McCrea! "Don't be a fool…L…Leave me,"
"Captain? Captain?" Auto exclaimed, desperately trying to make contact with him. "I've lost him,"
"We have to hurry," Eve said.
Eve ran down the corridor toward the door. It beeped loudly before opening. Eve ran down a smaller corridor towards a large one at the other end. Suddenly, she screeched to a halt.
A Grunt ran out from behind the left side wall across the corridor and disappeared behind the right side wall. Behind it, a combat form chased after it. This combat form had lost both of It's arms and the flabby part of It's head, so it was going to have a hard time killing the Grunt once it caught it.
Eve took out her plasma rifle and ran down the large corridor. She looked right down it to see the corridor end in small a circle shape area with two large purple pillars with holographic switches up against the wall. However, there were also a squad of four Grunts in this area armed with plasma pistols. As soon as they saw the combat form they fired on it, killing it.
Then, the Grunts turned and fired blasts from their weapons down another corridor leading left from the circle area.
"Looks like a fight is going to break out," Auto said.
Eve looked left down the end of the corridor where the Grunt and combat form came from. There was a broken open door, with pieces of it scattered across the floor, which revealed two dead Grunts and a dead Elite lying in front of another locked door. What was also in front of the door with the dead bodies was a small triangle shaped object with a light blue aura inside it. It was an invisibility cloak.
"Yes," Eve whispered, running over to the device. "We can use this to sneak past them."
Eve rested a hand on the device. All of a sudden, it disappeared. Eve looked at her hand and saw it fading away. Then, the rest of her body began fading away as well. Within a few moments, Eve had fully disappeared into thin air. Now sneaking past the Flood and Grunts was going to be the hard part.
Eve crept down the corridor towards the fighting. The scene up ahead was full of chaos. Two of the Grunts were lying on the floor, dead. Near them was a dead small combat form. Then, a carrier ambled out from the next corridor. One of the Grunts fired at it, causing the carrier to explode and throw five infection forms across the circle area. Eve reached the circle area. Pushing her back against the wall and breathing in, she tried to sneak past a combat form as quietly as she could. The combat form was too busy firing blasts from It's plasma rifle at the Grunts, but It's tentacles were waving around in the air. If they so much just touched Eve's suit, the combat form would attack and kill her.
"Almost there," Auto whispered. "Just a few more inches,"
Eve had almost made it past the combat form. Just another two inches…now one and a half….one, almost there! She was going to make it.
Suddenly, one of the tentacles hit Eve on the arm. The combat form shot round, aiming It's plasma rifle at where he felt Eve. Eve breathed in and kept as still as possible. If she now so much moved an inch, she was dead. The combat form moved It's plasma rifle from side to side, facing towards a turning at the other end of the corridor. Seconds felt like hours to Eve. She could not stay still for long. Time was running out. She had to save the captain! Finally, the combat form turned round and resumed firing on the last Grunt, which was hiding behind one of the pillars and was desperately trying to hit the infection forms with It's plasma pistol. Eve breathed a quiet sigh of relief and crept down the corridor towards the turning.
"That was close," Eve muttered.
"Yeah, it was," Auto replied. "Now let's just get to the captain,"
Suddenly, Eve felt her suit's shield light up. Then, the invisibility wore off, making her fully visible again. The last Grunt had fired a shot at the combat form. Unfortunately, it missed and hit Eve. With Eve fully visible, the combat form turned round and spotted her. It let out a ear piercing roar and charged towards her.
"RUN!" Auto yelled.
Eve ran down the corridor towards a door at he other end. It beeped loudly as she approached it. It opened. Eve ran through the open doorway.
"Whoa!" Eve exclaimed.
Eve skidded to a halt, just in time. On the floor in front of her was a massive hole that looked like something big must have blown it open, probably the crash. If the floor was still there, it would have led Eve into the hanger. On the hanger floor, on the other side of the hole, Eve could see two Elites firing blasts from their plasma rifles at a swarm of infection forms. One of the blasts hit an infection form, causing it and two other to explode. However, more would just appear. It was like an unstoppable wave of destruction.
Then, Eve heard a growl behind her. It was then she remembered why she was running. The combat form! Eve shot round to see the combat form walking towards her, It's plasma rifle aimed straight at her. Death lingered in It's eyes. Eve took a small step back, only to find that there was no more floor space.
"Eve," Auto said. "This is going to sound absolutely crazy, but you'll have to jump."
"Are you being serious?" Eve asked, worryingly.
"I'm afraid so," Auto replied. "Just jump! We'll another way back into the ship."
Eve looked down the hole. Thousands of feet below was the canyon. There were also enormous pools of reactor coolant visible. They lit up the night sky as if the sun had turned a new colour. Eve did not want to jump but even if she killed this combat form, more Flood would arrive to take It's place.
Eve breathed in and jumped.
One thousand feet. Now five hundred. Now two hundred. It felt like forever. Eve was worried that this jump was a fatal mistake.
"What if I get killed?" Eve shouted to Auto.
"Don't worry," Auto shouted back. "Your heading for the pool of reactant coolant. It should cushion your fall."
SPLASH! Eve landed legs first into the pool of reactant. Eve held her breath and did not dare to open her eyes. Covenant reactant coolant was very dangerous. It could cause people, even Covenant if they got some in their eyes, to lose their sight. Eve just swam upwards, like she was in a swimming pool, towards the surface.
Eve gasped for air as her head broke the surface of the coolant. She wiped away the coolant on her face before opening her eyes. When she opened them, she found herself in a wide open canyon. The continuous flow of reactant coolant was still falling down from the ship. On the ground around the pool, however, it was a scene of chaos.
Covenant and Flood were fighting each other into submission. All over the canyon's ground, in or near the poll or between rocks were dead bodies, both Covenant and Flood.
An Elite firing at two combat forms was hit repeatedly until it fell into a nearby smaller pool of reactant coolant, dead. Three Grunts, near the reactant coolant pool Eve was in, were firing at a small swarm of infection forms that had just fallen down from the ship. A carrier fell down in a big reactant coolant pool nearby and ambled out towards the battle.
"Jesus," Auto whispered. "It's like a world war down here,"
"Let's just get out of here before we get torn apart," Eve replied.
Eve swam to the land nearby. As she reached it, the body of a small combat form fell down onto the ground with the upper half of It's body in the pool next to her. Eve stood up and ran through the fighting Covenant and Flood. Even though she doubted she was going to need it, Eve kept her plasma rifle ready. Just in case any Flood or Covenant saw her and decided to take her down.
Eve jumped over the body of a dead Elite that had combat forms attached to the head and chest and were squirting the creature's purple blood everywhere. It was sickening just looking at it. Eve ran down a small pathway in front of her. She turned right into a short pathway and then left into another. After another right turning, Eve found herself in another pathway, only this time it was slightly longer than the last two and it led to another large open area. Eve ran down the pathway towards the open area.
When she reached it, she was greeted with a scene that was no different from the last open area. There was a large pool of reactant coolant dripping down from the ship and there were Covenant and Flood fighting each other. However, this time that land that the Covenant and Flood were fighting on was a small hill that looked like it had been part of the original ground but the location of the reactant coolant pool was probably where a bomb had gone off and pushed up the land, thus making the hill. There was also a thick rock column that stretched up towards the ship, only stopping several hundred feet short of the craft.
Just then, a light blue explosion lit up the area. It came from the hill. Eve looked and saw the bodies of several combat forms and Covenant Elites fly through the air and land either in the reactant pool or on a path, on the other side of the reactant coolant pool, that led up onto the top of another path that disappeared behind the side of a canyon wall.
"We better be careful here," Auto said. "These guys are really trying to rip each other to pieces."
"You got that right," Eve replied.
Eve ran towards the battle raging on the hill. As she approached it, she saw several dead Grunts lying on their backs or sides. The body of a Jackal hit the ground in front of Eve as she passed the dead Grunts, causing her to fall over onto her back. Eve was about to get up when she suddenly gasped and stopped dead.
A swarm of Infection forms had come up the side of the hill and were making their way towards the battle. Eve held her breath. She went wide-eyed as the creatures of death slithered over her body. It felt horrible. Eve was so panic-stricken that she almost wanted to get up and run, but if she did, the infection forms would attach themselves to her and kill her.
Seconds ticked by. The infection forms continued to come over the hill.
Come on! Eve thought. Stop already!
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the infection forms stopped coming over the hill. Eve breath a quiet sigh of relief and slowly rose up from the ground. She looked towards the cannon wall several metres away. Two major Elites and a squad of Grunts and Jackals were firing at a massive group of combat forms, both armed and unarmed, and infection forms. Four infection forms jumped onto one of the Elites. The Elite screamed and tried to pull them off it, but it was no use. After a few seconds, the Elite fell to the ground dead.
"That was horrible," Eve said.
"That'll happen to us if we don't hurry," Auto said to Eve.
Eve got up and ran across the top of the hill towards the path. When she reached it, Eve looked up the path. She skidded to a halt. At the top of the path were two tall combat forms and a carrier. The combat forms were armed with plasma rifles, MA5B assault rifles or M90 shotguns. Ones was even armed with a sentinel laser, only it was partly destroyed so it was most likely not going to work.
Before the group of Flood spotted Eve, she raised her plasma rifle and fired at them.
BOOM! The carrier exploded. The force of the explosion threw the two combat forms clear off their feet through the air. They landed with a loud splash in the reactant coolant lake. Eve then fired at the infection forms thrown from the carrier, killing them as well.
"That's one more group of Flood out of the way," Auto said.
"I just hope the captain's still alive," Eve said.
"He will be, don't worry Eve," Auto replied, trying to calm Eve. "McCrea's been through a lot of situations in his life."
"Yeah, but I doubt he's been through one like this," Eve said to Auto.
ROOOAAAARRRR!
Eve shot round. She gasped.
At the top of the canyon wall behind where the battle was raging between the remaining Covenant and Flood, a massive group of at least ten unarmed combat forms jumped down from the top of the canyon wall into the battle. Eve watched in horror as one of them wrapped It's tentacles round one of the Elites' mandibles and began pulling hard. Then… well let's just say that the Elite was one mandible shorter and the combat form's skin had turned purple around where the head and upper chest was.
"That was horrible," Eve gasped.
"The same thing could happen to us if we don't run," Auto replied.
Eve turned and ran down the path that led behind the canyon wall. Within a few seconds, the noise of the battle disappeared. Eve turned right into another path, that was almost Eve's width and she had to turn sideways and shuffle down this path until she reached the end, then left into another path, that had several bulges sticking out from both canyon walls which made the path thinner at some points, before going right into another path.
When Eve was half-way down the third path, she stopped suddenly. She sniffed the air. It smelt like rotting corpses. And it was strong. That could only mean one thing.
Without warning, a loud thud behind Eve made her jump. Eve turned to see a carrier form lying on the ground. Another thud behind her indicated that another carrier had hit the ground. Both began swelling up as if they were being inflated by some invisible bike pump. Eve jumped over the carrier behind her and continued running down the path. Two booms behind her indicated the carriers had exploded, meaning that a swarm of infection forms would soon infest this entire canyon.
Eve continued on down the path, hoping to put as much distance between her and the Flood as possible.
Suddenly, she skidded to a halt. Just in time as well. Eve stopped on the end of a path about fifteen feet above a pool of reactant coolant. Eve scanned the scenery around her.
In front of her was a large wide open space that was kind of shaped like a circle. In the middle of the open space was a large area of ground that looked like some kind of newly formed island. The pool of reactant coolant surrounded the island-like part of the ground. Also about half-way down the island-like part of the ground was an archway that was connected from one canyon wall to the other. Right underneath that archway were two hunters and a squad of Jackals and Grunts. What was bad about this was that there were no Flood in sight.
"Great," Eve muttered to herself. "We finally meet Covenant with big guns and they aren't fighting any Flood,"
"Let's just hope some Flood will arrive and distract them," Auto replied, muttering quietly to Eve.
Just a few seconds later, fortune seemed to smile on the two. Two carrier forms fell down from the right canyon wall into the reactant coolant lake. A quiet boom, but it was loud enough for Eve and the Jackals, then erupted from the pool. Then a second after that, a swarm of ten infection forms came out from the pool and headed straight for the group of Covenant.
"Alright," Eve muttered under her breath. "Now we can continue towards the ship,"
"Remember, don't open your eyes," Auto said to Eve
Eve looked down at the coolant pool. Lucky Auto reminded her of it.
"Right," Eve said.
Eve closed her eyes, breathed in and jumped off the end of the path. She fell down towards the pool. She braced herself for the impact and had one thought going through her, and probably Auto's, mind as well. Don't open your eyes
SPLASH! Eve hit the pool. With her eyes closed, she was virtually blind to any danger in front of her. Eve swam forward. As she went further forward, her hands touched the hard surface of rock, meaning she was near the part of land that was an island.
Eve let out a loud gasp for air as her head broke the surface of the coolant pool. She wiped away the coolant from her eyes and stood up. She shook herself of the coolant and walked forward onto the island. Somehow her suit also managed to repel anything that would stick to it. No wonder it was always clean and clear, apart from the small tear where Eve was hit in the arm when she was at the control centre mountain range.
"LOOK OUT!" Auto yelled all of a sudden.
Eve dived forward. A green light flew over her, narrowly missing her head.
BOOM! Eve was thrown forward several feet by the blast of the green object exploding. She landed on the ground. Thankfully, it was not very painful. Eve looked up and saw one of the Hunters with It's cannon aimed at her. It had spotted her when her head broke the surface of the pool. Then, the cannon began to shine light green. Eve went wide-eyed. The cannon was charging up for another shot! Suddenly, another explosion behind the Hunter threw it to the ground. Eve looked behind where it was standing and saw the other Hunter lying dead on the ground. Two infection forms jumped off it and attached themselves to the other Hunter. The Hunter squirmed and shook as it tried to get them off it. Finally, after a few seconds, the Hunter lay still on the ground.
"The Hunters are dead!" one of the Grunts squeaked. "Run away!"
Eve saw her chance and ran forward. However, one of the Jackals spotted her and fired on her. The blasts hit Eve's shield, causing the holographic meter to appear above Eve's wrist. The level was blinking red and was in the green zone. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at the Jackal. The Jackal held It's shield in front of It's body to protect itself, but the shield could not stay activated by the barrage of blasts hitting it and deactivated, exposing the Jackal. Eve then fired three more blasts at the Jackal, killing it.
"Leave the rest," Auto said to Eve. "Let's just go,"
Eve ran on past the remaining Covenant soldier, who was firing at the infection forms. Eve ran down a path that led through the open area's back wall. As she ran down the path, she could see another open area at the end.
Eve ran out of the path into the open area. This open area was different than the one she had just come out of. The path she was in looked like one big circle-like open area, except that there was a massive gap at where the front canyon wall would be if this was a circle open area. In that gap was another open area that was slightly larger than the one Eve was in, that led to a canyon wall. There was a path that went up the side of the right wall to a small opening on the wall at the back of larger open area. Below that was a massive pool of reactant coolant.
In the part of the open area Eve was in were several other smaller reactant coolant pools. On a small hill next to one of them was a Covenant shade turret. Inside that turret was an Elite. On the ground around the turret were several Grunts. They were all on alert, especially since there were two dead Jackals and another dead Elite lying on the ground nearby. Suddenly, the Elite let out a roar and aimed the cannon at the pathway. Eve could not see what the Elite was targeting at first. Then, she saw them. Four tall combat forms and three small combat forms. One of the small combat forms was armed with a needler. It fired a barrage of purple, needle sharp projectiles at the Elite. The projectiles easily broke through the Elites' shield and embedded themselves in It's skin. The Elite roared in pain and tried to pull them out.
BOOM! A small explosion threw the Elite off the turret and even managed to push the titanic weapon onto It's sides. The Grunts squealed and ran in all directions.
Eve ran forward and fired a barrage from her plasma rifle at the Flood combat forms. She hit and killed the combat forms. However, her plasma rifle stopped firing all of a sudden.
"It's out of juice!" Eve exclaimed.
ROOOAAARRRR!
Eve looked up and saw two carrier forms and another three big combat forms jump down from the top of the right canyon wall into the reactant coolant lake. Eve looked around her frantically to find a weapon to use against the Flood. Apart from the weapons the Grunts had in their hands and the needler that was on the ground, which Eve would not be able to use against the Flood in time, the only other weapon was the turret.
"I know what your thinking," Auto said. "It's not a good idea,"
Eve did not listen to him. She ran over to the turret and, with all her strength, pushed it back onto It's legs. Eve looked down the path and saw the group of Flood just coming out of the reactant coolant pool.
Eve jumped into the turret's seat. The sphere in the middle of the turret broke in two. The top half of the sphere rose up several feet from the lower half. Eve pressed a small dark blue button on the turret's control panel near her knee. Eve jolted in the turret seat as the weapon fired three purple blasts at the group of Flood. The blasts hit one of the carriers, causing it to explode. One of the combat forms was killed by the carrier's explosion. It flew through the air over the turret and landed in one of the small coolant pools.
Eve fired another set of blasts at the group of Flood. The other carrier was hit and it exploded. The other two combat forms were thrown through the air and landed on the ground near the turret. "NOOOO!" one of the Grunts, that had been hiding behind a rock next to one of the small reactant coolant pools, yelled.
"We're gonna die!"
The Grunt ran out from behind the rock, waving It's arms wildly in the air. The reason was that most of the infection forms were heading straight for Eve and the turret. About two of them were heading for the Grunt.
"Leave them! Run!" Auto said to Eve.
Eve jumped off the turret and ran past the infection forms, narrowly missing one as it jumped up to try and attach itself to her. Eve ran down the path as fast as she could. She was determined to put as much difference between her and this area before more Flood arrived.
Eve skidded to a halt as she reached the end of the path. The end of the path was actually like a small cliff. The path was about a fifteen feet drop below her. It led further into the canyon wall but disappeared as it turned right behind the canyon on the right side of the path.
Eve held her breath and jumped off of the edge of the cliff-like path down towards the path below her. She landed with a thump on the ground. Luckily, it did not hurt a lot.
Eve stood up and ran down the path. She turned right into the path hat led behind the canyon. When she reached the end of this one, she turned left into another path, only this one ended as soon as she turned into it. Eve gasped.
In front of her was another wide open area in the shape of a circle. However, this time there was a small hill right in the middle of the open area. Around the edges was another pool of reactant coolant. However, what made Eve gasp was that there was a purple light shining down on the top of the hill. That light was coming from the massive shape several hundred feet above the open area that was the Truth and Reconciliation.
"We made it," Auto said. "Now we just have to get inside,"
"Only there's a few Covenant guarding the entrance." Eve replied.
Eve was right. On the top of the hill, where the light was shining down onto, were two Elites and four Grunts. What was bad about this was that they were all major and were armed with either needlers or plasma rifles. For the moment, they were aiming their guns around the open area, just in case any enemies tried to get inside the ship.
"Well, this is going to be fun," Eve said sarcastically.
"You can just go up there and kill them, can't you?" Auto asked her.
"Yeah, Auto, one problem," Eve replied. "I don't have a gun,"
ROOOAAAARRRR!
The roar filled the air around the open area. Eve dived back behind the path and hid behind the canyon wall. She poked her head out from inside the canyon and watched the scene unfold.
A massive swarm of combat forms, infection forms and carriers were coming at the hill from all directions. A few combat forms even jumped down onto the ground right in front of where the path led into the canyon. Eve watched as the wave of Flood charged the Covenant at the top of the hill. Those that were armed with weapons fired on the Covenant, who retaliated with their own gunfire. A few Flood combat forms fell and a few infection forms and carriers exploded, but the rest just charged on towards the Covenant.
Then, one of the Elites fired a barrage of projectiles at a tall combat form armed with a plasma pistol. The projectiles embedded themselves in the combat forms' skin.
BOOM! The projectiles exploded. The explosion was so powerful that it threw the combat form several feet into the air. The plasma pistol the combat form was wielding flew through the air and landed at Eve's feet.
"Okay, are you like a magnet or something for weapons when whoever's holding them gets killed?" Auto said.
Eve ignored him. She knelt down and picked up the plasma pistol. She stood back up to her full height and looked back up at the hill. One of the Grunts was dead, which Eve could see lying at the feet of one of the Elites. However, there were many dead combat forms scattered on and around the hill. It was surprising that even the Covenant had the superior technology and troops, they were being slaughtered everywhere. It's like in the films where a powerful is annihilated by an unstoppable enemy and then one unit is all that stands between the enemy and total defeat.
Eve ran towards the hill. Blasts and projectiles flew towards and from behind her as she neared the hill. Eve even narrowly missed an explosion by a plasma grenade thrown by one of the Elites. Eve ran up the hill, firing a barrage of light green blasts at the Covenant forces at the top as she neared the gravity lift at the top of the hill. One of the Elites and two of the Grunts fell to the ground dead. This was enough to make the last Grunt flee down the other side of the hill, only to get attacked and killed by an infection form.
The last Elite threw a punch at Eve. It missed, but knocked the plasma pistol out of her hand. The plasma pistol slid down the side of the hill to the bottom. The Elite threw another punch at Eve, but she dodge the attack and responded by pushing the Elite backwards, causing it to drop It's weapon. The alien stumbled backwards and rolled down the hill to the bottom. It groaned as it lifted itself up from the ground. Suddenly, two infection forms jumped onto the Elite. The Elite screamed in pain as the infection forms ate away into It's insides. Purple blood was thrown everywhere. Finally, the Elite lay still on the ground. The infection forms jumped off the carcass and followed a combat form up the hill towards Eve.
Eve frantically looked round, hoping to find a weapon. She would not have time to run and grab her plasma pistol as another combat form was running towards her from the direction where the pistol was. It was then she realised the Elite had dropped It's weapon when she pushed it. The Elite's weapon, a plasma rifle, was on the ground at Eve's feet. Eve grabbed it and fired a barrage down at the combat form and infection forms in front of her. The combat form was hit repeatedly until it fell to the ground, dead. The two infection forms exploded when they were hit. Eve then shot round and fired four blasts at the other combat form, fully killing that one as well.
"Alright," Auto said. "The area's secure. The Covenant have locked the gravity lift's door. I'll try and open the door to let us in."
"Okay," Eve replied.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and scanned the area. It would not take long for Auto to unlock the gravity lift door but it would also not take long for any Flood to show up. Eve needed to make sure no Flood would be lifted inside the ship with her.
ROOOOAAARRR!
The loud roar filled the air. It came from the back of the open area. Eve shot round to see an army of combat forms jumping down from the open area's rear canyon wall onto the ground.
"Auto, hurry up!" Eve almost shouted at him.
"I can't go any faster!" Auto replied.
The wave of combat forms numbered thirty. Even for Eve, who had killed enormous squads of Covenant and Flood, this was out of her hands. Eve looked up at the gravity lift's doors. A look of plea came across her face.
Come on! Eve thought tensely. Please open up! Please!
Then, fortune seemed to smile on Eve. The door opened. Eve looked back at the combat forms to see them about to run up the hill.
Suddenly, Eve felt a lifting feeling. It felt like as if though some invisible hands had come down from above and grabbed her. Then it hit Eve. She was slowly hovering into the air. The gravity lift was pulling her up towards the ship! Eve was lifted up higher and higher into the air towards the ship. She looked back down at the ground. The combat forms had just reached the gravity lift. She had escaped from the combat forms literally just in time.
Then, Eve realised that the combat forms were not changing size. Usually, they would begetting smaller and smaller. It was then Eve realised. The combat forms were being hovered up to the ship as well.
"Auto!" Eve exclaimed. "The combat form's area coming up here as well,"
"Don't worry, I'll disable the lift when we pass the lower bay door." Auto replied. "That'll slow them down, I hope,"
Oh Great! Eve thought.
Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. It was coming from the ship. Eve looked up and saw the lower bay door opening. That was one good thing but, hopefully, Auto will close them to stop the Flood from following her into the ship.
In the blink of an eye, Eve found herself go from being outside in a war torn canyon to a landscape covered with metal and steel.
Eve hovered in the air for a few seconds. She looked below her to see the shapes of the combat forms hovering up towards the lower bay doors.
"Auto, come on!" Eve growled.
"Hang on," Auto replied. "Almost…there,"
In an instant, the lower bay door shut with the combat forms no more than ten feet from entering the ship. As soon as the door shut, Eve fell down onto the closed door. She scanned the room. A lot had changed in this room since she and ODST's raided the ship just days ago.
Huge chunks had been ripped out of the wall and pieces of them were scattered across the floor. Some of the small doors were open to reveal masses of dead Covenant in the small corridors behind them and some of the vehicles in the room had been either torn apart or turned on their sides. At the back of the massive room was an open blast door, the same that the squad went through in the raid. Eve could just see a destroyed wraith burning in the massive pathway that led down to the next large room.
"Whoa," Auto said. "The Covenant and the Flood have really been battling each other,"
"Let's just hope we're not going to be caught in the middle of their fighting," Eve replied.
Eve ran over to the small door near the open blast door. She remembered the way since she went through the same door to free the squad from the pathway behind the blast door. Eve ran up the corridor to the large corridor at the end. When she reached it, she turned right through the torn apart door, then turned left into another long corridor and then right into another corridor that led to the small door. It beeped loudly and opened. Eve ran through the open doorway.
This was it. Eve found herself in the large room with walkways, going about thirty feet up, along the side of the walls. Below her were several Covenant vehicles. However, she could also see Flood. There were several carriers and combat forms walking around on the room's floor. They looked like some kind of dark creatures that were waiting to pounce on their next victim.
"Eve, look in the corner of the room," Auto said.
Eve looked in the corner. She gasped silently.
There were bodies! Many of them! There were Grunts, Elites and Jackals. In one corner of the room there was even a dead Hunter. Their blood was thrown over the walls and floors. These Covenant were probably the carcasses from a battle that must have raged in this part of the ship.
"The Flood are gathering bodies here," Eve said quietly.
"They're going to make them one of them," Auto said.
"We need to get the captain, quick!" Eve replied.
Eve stood up and ran to the end of the walkway towards the door. It beeped loudly as she approached it. Eve kept her plasma rifle near her. She did not known how many more of the Flood could be waiting in these corridors, but it was most likely to be a big number because of the bodies of dead Covenant.
Eve ran down the corridor behind this door, then turned left into the next and ran down that one. When she reached the end of this corridor, she turned right into the next corridor. At the end was the doorway that led onto the large room's floor. Eve tightened her finger on the plasma rifle's trigger. She knew that the Flood would attack her on sight, but she did know how many more of them were in the room.
Eve breathed in and ran down the corridor. When she reached the doorway at the bottom of the corridor, she raised her plasma rifle and fired into the room, hitting and killing a combat form. She also caused a carrier to explode, which killed another combat form.
Eve ran into the large room and frantically looked round. She needed to find a way out of here quickly before more Flood arrived. She looked left and right. Then, she found a way out.
There was an open small door on the left wall of the room. Eve could see massive chunks from the walls blocking most of the corridor behind the doorway, acting as though the Covenant had placed them there to stop the Flood but failed. Maybe there was a way further into the ship and, hopefully, towards the captain.
"Warning, a blast door is opening!" Auto exclaimed.
Eve looked towards the other end of the room. Auto was right. The blast door, that she opened for the squad during the raid, was opening. What was bad about that was as soon as it opened, a wave of Flood combat and infection forms charged out of the corridor into the room. They spotted Eve and charged straight towards her.
"RUN!" Auto yelled.
Eve did not need telling twice. She ran towards the open small door, the Flood hot on her heels. Eve began to panic when she saw the combat forms gaining on her. She urged all her strength into her legs. Eve ran through the doorway, almost tripping over on a small hole in the floor. She slid down the gap between the wall and the huge chunks of the wall really quickly. Eve took another look behind her to see the Flood at the doorway. Even though the Flood were not fast at going through small gaps, it would not be long before they reached Eve. Eve ran left down a short corridor. Suddenly, she skidded to a halt.
There was another door several metres down the corridor. It was closed, most likely to be locked. However, that was no what caused Eve to stop. Just a few feet in front of the door were four combat forms. They were armed with battle rifles. The combat forms walked towards Eve, who began to step back away from them.
"We're trapped," Auto said to Eve. "There's no way out of here,"
Suddenly, Eve felt like she was falling. That's because she was. Then, she landed hard on a metal floor. Eve groaned as she stood up. She looked up to see a circular hole in the ceiling, which was where the floor of the corridor she had just been in was. Eve looked ahead, in the direction of the locked door on the corridor above, to see she was in a long corridor. Eve decided to get out of this part of the ship before the Flood came down here.
Eve ran down the corridor as fast as she could. When she was half-way down the corridor, she heard a loud growl. The Flood were trying to get down through the hole into the corridor! Eve ran faster towards the end of the corridor. When she reached the end of it, she turned left into another long corridor. However, there was a battle going on in this corridor. Dotted down both sides of this corridor were smaller corridors that led to locked or blocked doors. Blast and bullet fire was shooting from one side to the other. There were even many Flood and Covenant fighting each other in the middle of the battle.
"We need to get through this," Auto said to Eve.
"Don't worry, we will," Eve replied.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and ran down the corridor towards the battle. When she was just metres from the first wall of blast and gunfire flying across the corridor, she fired a barrage of sky blue blasts in front and to the sides of her. Several enemies fell but they would arise again to be Flood, no matter if they were Covenant or even if they were already Flood.
"Get down!" a Grunt, in the midst of the fighting, squeaked.
BOOM! A blue explosion lit up the whole corridor. The explosion killed several Covenant and Flood. Eve was thrown to the floor. She groaned as she got up. Eve saw the many bodies lying on the floor, never to rise again. She picked up her plasma rifle, which had been dropped in the explosion.
ROOOOAAARRRR!
Eve shot round to see the wave of combat forms running up the corridor towards her and several visible Covenant.
Time to go! Eve thought.
"WE'RE GONNA DIE! RUN AWAY!" a Grunt yelled.
Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. Behind her, she could hear the shuddering roars and growls of the Flood and the terrible screams and yells of Covenant Grunts and Jackals. Eve took one quick look over her shoulder. She saw a combat form with It's arms tight around a Grunt and it holding the helpless creature several feet above the floor. The combat form then released one of the Grunts' arms and grabbed Its chest. After that, Eve had to look away as… well let's just say the Grunt no longer had any inside in It's chest.
Eve skidded to a halt as she reached the end of the corridor, which a circle shaped area. She frantically looked round to find another way out of this corridor before the Flood overwhelmed and killed her. There was no way out of this circle area, except through the way she just came.
ROOOOAAARRRR!
Eve shot round again. The Covenant were lying dead across the corridor's floor. Light blue blood and purple blood stained the corridors walls. What Eve could also see was the wave of combat forms running up the corridor towards her. They were just four metres away…now three…now two. Eve closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. If she was going to die now, she wanted it to be quick and painless. But if there was one thing she really wished for, it was not to be one of the Flood.
CRASH! Eve shot upwards as something big smashed through the floor and crashed right through the ceiling. Eve was clinging onto the side of the object near the bottom of it. She pressed herself against the object as much as she could s she would not have her back sliced open by anything sharp from the floors and ceilings when the object crashed through them. Eve did not know what the hell this thing was, but she really wanted to let go. But she was scared that if she did, she would end up breaking her neck by hitting a ceiling or floor.
Finally, the object crashed through the floor to a large room. Then, it hit the ceiling and fell back towards the floor. Eve saw this and jumped off the object. She landed on the floor, narrowly missing the object as it crashed down just mere feet from Eve. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she just narrowly missed being crushed. She took a look at the object. It was a massive cannon from a Covenant drop ship. It was burned really badly and even had massive chunks of the top of the weapon missing. By the looks of what happened, an really powerful explosion must have thrown it up from well wherever it was and caused it to go crashing through the floors and ceilings.
Eve stood up and looked round the room she was in. It had two trench-like holes that went down about her height. Above the trench holes was a large circular platform. Around the edge of the platform were several small pillars that had holographic. There was a small ramp that led from the floor up to the platform. The room had four small doors scattered around the walls. Two on the left wall in front of Eve and two on the right wall behind Eve. She was in the ship's control centre.
However, there was something different about the control centre this time than when Eve was here during the raid. On the platform was an enormous dark green thing that had an enormous body that was probably twenty feet in height and nearly the same in width. The body was round and the skin looked extremely thick. In a way it kind of resembled a carrier form, only this thing was much bigger and was a different colour and had a different purpose, and it had had long, thin pipe-like tubes that stuck out from the thing's body and attached themselves to either the ceiling, walls or platform floor. There was one even attached to the holographic symbols. By taking only one look at this thing, it was not hard to tell that it was part of the Flood. But whatever it was called and whatever It's purpose was unknown.
Eve took out her plasma rifle and, slowly and cautiously, walked up the ramp towards the platform. When she reached the platform, she saw kneeling down on the floor several feet in front of the thing. There were many wire-like things sticking out from the thing and seemed to be attached to the person's back, chest and head. As Eve neared the person, she saw it was a male and he was wearing a UNSC navy captain's uniform.
It was McCrea.
"Captain!" Eve exclaimed.
Eve did not care what happened to her now. She and Auto had found captain McCrea. However, as Eve ran over to him, the two did not know one thing. Was he alive? Eve knelt down next to McCrea when she reached him. She grabbed his cheeks and held his face up. He looked horrible. He had cuts and bruises all over his face, a black eye and he even had dry blood stains over his mouth. What was worst though was that one of the wire things, that was attached to McCrea's head, had gone over one of his eyes, making it look like his skin had covered it. It was horrible.
"Is he dead?" Eve asked Auto.
McCrea suddenly stirred. Eve breathed a sigh of relief.
"There's your answer," Auto replied.
McCrea gasped for breath and looked up to see Eve.
"Eve…" he managed to say. "You came back…I told you to leave me,"
"We're not leaving you behind, captain!" Eve said. "I'll free you from this…thing,"
Eve got up and aimed her plasma rifle at one of the wire things that stuck to McCrea's back. However, McCrea stopped her.
"N… no!" McCrea gasped.
Eve lowered her battle rifle and kneeled back down next to McCrea.
"Why can't I free you?" Eve asked the captain.
"Because I'm fused with it," McCrea replied. "If any of the wires are cut or that thing dies, I die with it,"
"No," Eve replied weakly.
This could not be true. Not to McCrea. Eve had fought alongside him, she had rescued him and helped him fight through the army of Covenant sent down to kill them and the crew of the Axiom. But now it seemed that the captain had finally been taken down, like some warrior who was unbeatable on the battlefield but had finally been overwhelmed and defeated.
"Captain," Eve said. "Me and Auto are planning on destroying this ring."
McCrea looked up at Eve.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because it is actually a weapon," Eve replied. "It's actually a super weapon designed to destroy all life in this galaxy. Auto had said we need to detonate the Axiom in order to destroy the ring, but we do not have the code,"
"It's 2552," McCrea said. "The same numbers as the year,"
Suddenly, McCrea let out a grunt and fell forward onto the floor. Then, the wires began pulling him towards the thing.
"Captain!" Eve exclaimed. Eve watched helplessly as the captain was dragged nearer to the thing. He was most likely going to be changed into one of the many Flood soldiers.
"Eve," McCrea managed to say. "Please…cut them,"
A tear came out of Eve's eye and rolled down her cheek. She did not want the captain to be one of the Flood, but she did not want to kill him either. Maybe now, killing him would be the best thing than leaving him to become another Flood soldier intent on killing or infecting anyone who was not already Flood.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and aimed at the wires. Her finger tightened on the trigger. She let out a small sob.
"I'm sorry, captain," she sobbed.
Eve closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
The barrage of blue blasts cut through the wires as if they were paper. When the wires were cut, McCrea was stirring. His life was slowly slipping away. However, he had one more thing to do.
"Eve," he managed to say as his life drained away bit by bit. "Thank you,"
Finally, McCrea smiled and closed his eyes. He was dead.
Eve sniffed and wiped away another tear from her eye. She had just killed her captain. She felt horrible inside. But in a way, she felt glad as well. At least the captain died painlessly and did not become one of the Flood.
"Eve," Auto said. "I'm so sorry,"
"It's okay," Eve replied. "Let's just go. We have to get to the Axiom."
"Let's go back to the shuttle bay and find a ride there," Auto suggested.
Eve nodded and turned to walk back down the ramp. Their main purpose now was to get to the Axiom, meet up with Wally and then destroy the ship. Eve was wondering about Wally. Wondering if he was alright and he was having a safe journey to the Axiom.
Suddenly, a loud beep filled the room. It came from one of the doors on the left wall. Eve looked down at the door as it opened.
There was Covenant behind the door. Not just one or two, but a huge squad of Grunts and Elites that numbered probably twenty. However, these were different than the normal Grunts and Elites Eve had fought before. They had black armour on that was shiny like silver and some of the Grunts were carrying enormous weapons. These Grunts and Elites were the Special Ops Grunts Eve had learned about during the training on Reach.
The weapons the Grunts were carrying looked like the shape of a wraith, only it was much smaller so it could be held on the Grunts' shoulders and it was much thinner. The handle was massive, about the size of a computer screen. There was gold armour that covered the entire weapon. Through that armour were several small green lights. This weapon was called the Fuel Rod Cannon. It was probably the most destructive weapon used by the Covenant soldiers on foot. It was able to fire plasma projectiles, much like those of a Hunter only not as powerful, up to at least one hundred and sixty five metres away. The Covenant squad ran into the room. Then, one of the Elites spotted Eve and let out a roar and pointed at her. One of the nearby Grunts charged up It's fuel rod cannon. It was ready to fire.
Suddenly, another beep filled the room. Only this time it came from one of the doors on the other side of the room. It opened to reveal a massive group of Flood combat forms. The combat forms charged towards the Covenant, who were taken completely by surprise.
A combat form at the front of the group whacked the Grunt with the Fuel rod cannon, killing it. However, the fuel rod cannon suddenly exploded, sending the Grunt, the combat form and a nearby Elite flying through the air. They landed on the floor in different places around the control centre, dead. A small combat form, armed with a plasma pistol, fired two shots at an Elite, causing It's armour to shine up. The Elite growled and fired a barrage of blasts at the combat form, killing it.
Within a few seconds, a massive gun and hand to hand battle had erupted in the control centre between the Covenant and the Flood. Eve watched all this unfold from the platform. She ducked a plasma projectile from a fuel rod cannon flew over the platform and exploded.
"We need to get out of here," Auto said.
"Hopefully we will in one piece," Eve replied.
Eve ran down the platform and ran over to the walls, since if she tried going right through the heart of the fighting she would most likely end up getting killed. Eve ran as fast as she could along the walls to the door. It beeped loudly and opened. Eve ran through the doorway. Behind her, she could hear the fighting becoming more and more intense. Explosions and gunfire lit up the room and even the corridor which still had light coming from the ceiling.
Eve ran down the small corridor that led from the door to a long corridor about twenty feet ahead. When she reached the longer corridor, she turned right and ran down that one. When she reached the end of this corridor, she turned right again into a much longer corridor. As Eve ran down this one, she could still hear the dangerous battle between the Covenant and the Flood. This corridor most likely led past the control centre.
When Eve reached the end of this corridor, she turned right through a circle area to be faced with a small door. It beeped loudly and opened. Eve walked through the doorway into another long corridor.
BOOM! An explosion brought Eve's attention to the right end of the corridor. At the right end of the corridor was a hole where a door would have been. Parts of it were lying across the floor so it was obvious it had been destroyed. Then, a special ops Grunt came running out the room waving It's arms about in the air in terror. Chasing after it were three unarmed combat forms. One of the combat forms jumped forward, landing in front of the Grunt. It then whacked the creature, killing it and sending it to the floor.
"Don't bother fighting, just run!" Auto said to Eve.
Eve ran left down the corridor. At the other end was the door that led to the top walkway in the ship's hanger. The door beeped loudly as Eve approached. It opened and Eve ran through the doorway.
Eve had been right. She was on the top walkway of the hanger. Eve turned to see the combat forms running up the corridor towards her. Then, the door slammed shut as the combat forms were just metres away. It did not open, even after a few seconds had passed.
"I've disabled the door," Auto said. "That'll slow them down, I hope,"
"Let's just find a ride and get out of here." Eve said.
Eve walked forward to the walkway edge. She looked down and gasped. The hanger was a mess! There was the remains of a crashed drop ship scattered across the floor, along with remains of destroyed banshees, and there were many dead bodies scattered everywhere, both Covenant and Flood. Even among the many dead and destroyed vehicles, the Covenant and Flood were still fighting each other. They were like two sworn enemies who vowed never to surrender until the other had been completely destroyed, no matter what the cost was.
"The hanger's completely wrecked," Auto said in an annoyed tone. "There's no way we will be able to find a way to the Axiom now,"
Eve was not listening to him. She was looking out through the hanger's right entrance. There was something big moving in the darkness outside the ship. Then, the shape came into the hanger. It was a Covenant drop ship. The Covenant drop ship descended until was about twenty feet above the hanger floor. Then, the side doors opened and a squad of four special ops Grunts and a special ops Elite jumped out onto the floor and charged into a nearby battle raging between a group of Jackals and several combat forms armed with plasma rifles.
Then, two more shapes flew into the hanger. However, they were much smaller and had iconic screams coming from their engines. Banshees! Two of them. The banshees flew over the drop ship as the massive craft hovered backwards out of the hanger and flew off into the dark sky. The banshees, flying in mid-air, turned to face the hanger entrance and descended down to the hanger floor. When they hit the floor, the hatches rose up and two more special ops Elites got out of the craft and charged into any nearby battle going on.
"That's it!" Auto exclaimed. "We can use one of the banshees to get to the Axiom!"
"Problem is; how do we get down there?" Eve asked. "We can't take the normal way because the fighting will probably have destroyed them by the time we get down there,"
Eve looked up and down the walkway to try and find a quicker way down to the banshees. There was no way down. Looks like Eve was stu-
BANG! An explosion drew Eve's attention further up the walkway. Something had destroyed one of the pillars, almost cutting it in half. The bottom half had almost broken away from the top half. The two were quickly separating from each other.
Eve ran down the walkway towards the breaking pillar. Just as she reached it, the bottom half broke away from the top half. Eve jumped over the edge of the walkway onto the bottom half of the pillar as it fell down towards the tall rectangle shaped block that came off of the first walkway.
"EVE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Auto yelled.
"It's a quicker way down to the hanger floor!" Eve shouted back.
CRASH! The bottom half of the pillar crashed onto the top of the rectangle block, throwing several Covenant and Flood in all directions across the hanger. However, that was not the end of it. The pillar fell off of the side of the block and landed with an almighty CRASH on the hanger floor.
Luckily, Eve had been on the top of the bottom half when it fell to the floor. She stood up.
"Eve, you are suicidal," Auto said.
"Hey, it was a quicker way down to the banshees," Eve replied.
"Well, can you please use another way that does not involve us getting crushed or killed next time?" Auto said.
Eve smirked.
BOOM! A plasma grenade exploded nearby, killing two combat forms. Eve snapped back into reality and ran towards the banshees. She had to get to them quickly as there was a battle raging between a squad of four Jackals and three combat forms. As she got closer to the two craft, she could see one of the small doors on the hanger wall ahead of her open. Out of the corridor behind the door came a group of special ops Elites and Grunts.
ROOOOAAAAARRRR!
Eve looked behind her to see a massive group of combat forms, infection forms and carriers charge out from behind the enormous block. Eve swore under her breath. The wave of Flood followed her, either chasing after Eve, or charging towards the squad of special ops Grunts and Elites on the other side of the banshees or they were going to assist their combat form allies in the battle raging at the banshees.
Finally, Eve reached the banshee. She literally jumped into the vehicle's seat, pulled down the hatch and started the banshee. Seconds later, the iconic screams of the banshee filled the hanger as it lifted up into the air and flew forward. One of the special ops Elites roared and pointed at the banshee. It, along with other Elites and Grunts, fired at the banshee. Thankfully, most of the shots missed. Even an Elite on the end of the top of the block jumped into a turret and fired sets of blasts after Eve's banshee as it flew out of the hanger entrance out into the darkness of the sky. In the hanger behind the banshee the Covenant and Flood engaged in another battle, determined to take control of it.
"That was another close call," Auto said.
"Yeah, it was," Eve replied.
The banshee flew off into the night sky, leaving the battle between the Flood and Covenant on the Truth and Reconciliation behind. It was as if all the troubles of the universe were being left behind to fight among themselves whilst the beings of the universe were starting a new life.
Eve and Auto were almost finished with their mission. All they had to do was meet up with Wally at the Axiom, detonate the ship and leave Halo.