Chapter 25: Hopelessness

The heat from the sun ached their joints as they slowly trudged along on the hard ground. Grif checked his ration bag and felt a great sense of satisfaction for they managed to escape their malnutrition somehow. Along the way, they came across many more abandoned bases, yet filled with food. The group felt a certain breeze in the air filled with the smell of salt. Tucker ran on ahead while careful not to trip over the jagged rocks. Right now, for any of them, a trip could be fatal due to their severe condition from before. Tucker ran up to an edge and peered down to the land below. His eyes widened with relief as he heard the gentle back and forth motion of the water. "I don't believe it, we made it."

Others quickly followed upon seeing his joy manifest with his arms rising in victory. They all knew what this meant, and a satisfaction enveloped them whole for their suffering was not for nothing. Mike felt his communicator vibrate just as he finished taking in the breathtaking sight. On the screen was the commander they first encountered on the planet, and he wore a most concerned but serious expression. "What is the status of your mission and the team?"

Mike promptly explained the situation, and as expected, he was met with both sadness but also curiosity from the elder man. "Care to tell me why you are all at the evacuation site? You are not assigned to one."

Grif felt a nerve pop as he leaned in close to Mike and spouted. "Look, I don't give a fuck if we are or not assigned to one. We are getting off this planet."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed as he leaned in from the other side, squeezing Mike out to the back. "We don't care about this war anymore. We just want off of this place, and we will do anything we need to make that a reality."

The commander quietly observed the anonymous faces as he felt the intensity of their glare raise the very hair on his skin. "Fine, but you should know that there will be severe consequences for this choice."

"From you?" asked Simmons. The commander shook his head as he pointed up. "It will be from the higher ups from the space stations."

"We already know," Mike answered as he waited patiently for someone to talk. The commander looked to his right where he noticed their positions on the map. "Head to the bottom of the cliff and go to the right, you will find one of the shorter lines of soldiers for the evacuation."

The others looked at the screen a little surprised. But pleasantly they all thanked him with gratitude. Grif leaned a little back from the screen and asked in a very defensive position. "Why the sudden change of heart to help us?"

"I don't like seeing soldiers fall and be killed," the commander looked to his left, off-camera where a book of dead soldier names under his command rested. The others nodded in respect as they turned and cut the communication. Quickly, the group had descended to meet the soft mushy sand beneath their feet. Tucker ran out to the front nearing the edge of where the water flowed in to. "Let's take five here before we get in a line."

A rest was very evidently needed as everyone took the opportunity to try and refresh. Mike's helmet floated beside him as half his body was covered in the nice cool feel of the ocean. The gentle waves pushed the helmet back further to the shore everytime, but pulled it back towards him as the waves retreated. He cupped a large amount of water in his hands and splashed it with much enthusiasm on his face. The water that stuck against his once sweaty skin acted as a coal shield in the wake of the sun's heat. He took in a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh. Almost as if driven by an urge, he immediately dunked his head into the ocean and felt the pressure hit him from all sides. But when he resurfaced, a wide smile painted itself across his face. He felt freedom, and victory in having survived this long so far for this one moment felt like a much needed reward.

Simmons stood as still as a rock as he stared out at the grown man playing within the water. Simmons watched the helmet slowly float back towards the shore by his feet. Mike waved his arms to him, no doubt asking him to keep it safe. The maroon one looked past the ODST as he felt heaviness in his heart. The horizon that seemed to stretch with the seemingly endless ocean left a feeling of deep contemplation in him. As if distant like the horizon, a dampened noise, with a low pitch exploded around him. He felt his body shaken from the impact in his mind. Noises of explosions triggered all around him, his breaths deepened as his mind slowly grew blank. With every new explosion, his body shook and very visibly so. He nearly tripped over his own feet onto the sand when he just rebalanced himself, he and noticed the scenery. It was calm, and just the same as it was when they arrived. But to his right, Grif lied still, with his back turned to the maroon one. Like an alarm triggering off, he immediately lessened the distance to his friend and kneeled down to study his condition. Before he could touch him however, he heard the gentle snoring, only to be disturbed by his presence. Grif looked back up and tilted his head in a most curious manner. "Why are you leaning over me like that?"

Simmons smiled himself silly as he shook his head. "Nothing, it was nothing."

Just as he had leaned down to relax his muscles he felt a chill travel up his spine at the familiar voice of the red leader. "Are you sure?"

Simmons looked to his front where Sarge sat on his knees. In front of him was a pool of crimson red, dripping like a river. Simmons noticed a streak of pink by his right. Much to his horror stood Donut, giving a most ghastly glare. All around him were those who died at his hands due to his failure as a leader. Behind him was Iowa, and to his left was Lopez, each with their injuries evident clearly under the light. Simmons felt his balance weaken as he noticed their unmoving glare towards his eyes. He felt his heart race, and not necessarily in a pleasant manner.

"You let us…die," they all spoke in unison and caused his panic to eclipse. He covered shut his ears as he gently shook his head. "No, you are not here."

"You let us die!"

"Stop."

"You let us die!"

"Please, stop."

"Why do you get to live and not us?!"

"Stop!" Simmons screamed to the surprise of the others. Tucker quickly rushed over to shake his friend out of what the aqua one could only describe to be an episode. Tucker stared at Simmons who leaned with the support of his hands against his thigh armor. Looks like Mike's deductions were spot on. I didn't want to believe it, but it really is bad. The others looked worriedly as they did their best to cover up their surprise. Grif turned around and lifted his head with one hand. "Are you okay Simmons?"

Quiet to the concerns, he simply eyed the evacuation point and began to drag his feet leaving a trail in the sand. The others quickly got up, dried themselves off and followed the maroon one. It wasn't long before they caught up to Simmons. Each of them did their best to support Simmons and Caboose as best as they could. Grif always remained by his best friend's side, and Tucker by Caboose's. Mike took the lead and studied the lines of soldiers coming closer with every step.

As far as they could see, there was no end to the multitude of lines of desperate soldiers, looking for a way off just like them. Grif looked ahead and pointed out to the shortest line. "We can go to that one."

"Are these all for the evacuation?" wondered Tucker as they reached the line and quickly made themselves comfortable. Tucker gently patted the soldier in front of him and motioned towards the front. "Hey man, where are the ships?"

The red soldier pointed out to the ocean, where a lone platform with a launching tube was fixed against the ocean floor. Tucker gave a look of serious confusion as did the rest of the BGC. The soldier simply shook his shoulders as he spoke in an equally tired and a voice devoid of hope. "I guess they don't want the enemy to raid them by land."

"Yeah, so they make themselves an easy target on the water," Tucker mused as he shook his head in disbelief. "That's just dumb."

"Tell me about it," Grif laughed as he sat down in the sand and stretched his limbs. Mike stood beside the orange one questioning his metabolism. "You just had a rest, and you are sitting down again?"

"I gotta make up somehow for all those missed naps."

"You can do that when you get back home."

"I somehow doubt I will be able to," Grif replied as he looked towards Simmons with a pain filled expression as he knew that his best friends bore the same scars as him through this experience. "I imagine that there will be a lot of sleepless nights."

"You never know," Mike bent down by Grif's side as he took note of the little movement in the line. Grif shook his head adamant to any other conclusion. "No, I know, I know all too well."

As Caboose was lying down on the ground, he felt a change in pressure behind him. The aqua soldier looked down to his right at his once innocent friend and looked out towards the ocean. "Hey Caboose, top five things you like about the ocean, go!"

After a few minutes, Tucker looked back down to his friend for only silence had greeted him. "Caboose?"

Once more there was only silence. Tucker sighed in fatigue himself. I think Grif has the right idea by wanting to rest as much as we can right now. It will be a long trip home. Mike watched the rest of the group as Simmons stood still like a rock again. The ODST watched the line move and prompted for the others to move with him. "You know, it was a short while but I'm going to miss you guys."

With the whole of BGC now up, they looked at him with varying feelings. But Tucker felt the same. "Yeah, we got off to a shitty start, but here is hoping to a better tomorrow for all of us."

"A better tomorrow," Mike echoed with a kind gesture of a gentle grip on Tucker's shoulder. The soldiers around them began to look up in curiosity. The BGC initially did not understand why, but when they noticed Mike slowly turning his head, they too did so. As thunder began to roar in the sky, they saw one of their many fears realized. It was an enemy assault. Banshees swooped down from the sky, leaving a sound of thunder in their wake. The BGC reacted fast and spread out in various directions. They jumped forward only to hit their stomachs hard against the ground and released a grunt. Grif saw Mike standing in confusion, having failed to react fast enough. "Get down now Mike!"

The enemy opened fire. To Simmons, the explosions seemed blurred and distant, but the reality spoke differently as they closed in, and many bodies went flying from the impact. Sand flew up, and with it, so did their thin sense of security. Before Tucker was able to make sense of it, he had seen an enemy attack directly hit their ODST friend who failed to jump out of the way fast enough. Tucker wanted to reach out in time, but his body itself was frozen by what he might have felt to be an impending death. Ultimately, Tucker was left with the sight of the Banshees where he once saw Mike's body. The mass disintegrated into atoms which flew with the waves of air created from the impacts around the beach.

The aqua soldier balled his hands and gritted his teeth as he closed shut his eyes in respect. God dammit! He looked up towards the Banshees turning around for another round. They circled above like hawks on a hunt who eyed their prey. There was nothing to see but terror where Mike once stood. Tucker dug his helmet into the sand as all he could see was darkness. Even though our time was short and shit happened, I know we could have become good friends…why, why is it that everyone is dying?!

Another round of bombing began. Tucker felt the sand shake and blow atop them. The explosions again began to come close and this time their hearts pounded harder as Caboose did his best to hold his wince in. The reds of the BGC looked at one another as they were the closest together and were relieved to find the other still lying belly flat. Tucker felt his hands dig into the warm sand as his fingers trailed through their resistance. His parents and his brother's kids will now have to deal with another loss. Is there no happiness to be found? Clearly not here.

As soon as the sound of the Banshees quietened, Grif and Simmons slowly lifted their heads out of the sand and felt chunks fall of their back. They slowly stood up on their knees to the eye opening scene of horror. The land looked no longer the same, and neither did the number of the soldiers. As panic quickly broke out and the intensity arose in the air from the growing violence to escape, the two reds looked to one another and nodded in silence. But their similar thoughts were not as private as they had believed. By Tucker's side appeared a very blocky Church, worrying both the blues. "Hey badass, you may want to stop the reds."

"Why?"

"Their fragments tell me that they are about to lose it themselves, like the rest of the soldiers here."

Tucker's eyes widened at the message as he saw them stand up and make a break for the water line. Tucker however ensured his positioning between them and the rest of the soldiers. He landed a firm blow with his palms on their chests and pushed them down to the ground on their backs with a loud thud. He felt their squirming bodies, making every effort to stand up, but to his benefit, he had made sure to regain his strength by conserving whatever energy he could and finish his survival portions in preparation for this evacuation. His strength, while weaker than the average man, it was still stronger than the rest of the group, even stronger than Caboose for now. Grif held Tucker's arm tightly, to the point the aqua one felt as though he was going to snap it. The desperation is making him crazy strong. Just how can he get this much energy? Tucker pondered as he pushed down harder until the two reds began to feel the air leave their bodies. "Just stay down will you?!"

"Shut up!" Grif exclaimed to the surprise of the aqua soldier as he felt the resistance increase. "You may not want to, but I'm getting off this fucking rock!"

"Oh yeah, and that's by creating even more disorder?" Tucker asked as he rested a knee atop Grif, the sensation ached strongly as it was almost piercing his chest. Simmons smacked Tucker's chest a little further up only to then meet the same treatment as Grif as he too felt the very life be squeezed out of him. "If you guys keep this up, there will be no order. Disorder only reduces our chances of survival. You want to survive, don't you?!"

Both the reds slowly nodded as they continued to resist against the knee. Tucker leaned in close as he looked down towards the sand without a single blink. His eyes shone with clarity, but at the same time a hint of fear vocalized in his tone. But in the face of this overwhelming infighting, he maintained a clear enough head with some help of Sigma and Church to be able to try and keep the peace. Tucker slapped away their hands just as they were about to hit his thighs again. "Then quit this and behave. Believe me, the sooner there is order, and calmness around here, the greater the chances of our survival."

"Muffins," Caboose mumbled prompting others to follow his gaze. The sky captured everyone's attention as the thunder broke through their ear drums, a familiar and horrifying noise that forced them all to hit the ground. Tucker released the two reds as he let out a surprised gasp at the flying vehicles. "That is Muffins, how the hell was he caught onto by the enemy?"

Behind the Pelican were three enemy fighters, all tailing the German pilot quite closely, and no matter the twists and turns, he could not shake them off his tail. Caboose gently gripped Tucker by the arm and looked up towards his friends in the sky. "Will they be okay?"

Tucker looked from his dark blue friend to the fighters in the air with uncertainty. The rest did the same as every soldier felt the chills travel down their spine. Even in a place of what they thought was to be peaceful, they were proven wrong today once already, but now once more as they witnessed how badly the Medical Pelican struggled. Many soldiers grew angered over the gall of the enemy to attack a medic ship. This one sight killed all infighting, and instead turned their hatred back in the direction it was in originally. But the enemy cared not for they had the upper hand in firepower.

Muffins tilted the stick to the left as he took a hard curve back and then to the right. In the passenger area, Doc did his best to tie down the patients and bodies. Sister aided him, but quickly found herself in need of help thanks to the rough flying. The Pelican arched upwards as it did a loop-de-loop and left the enemy confused. Just as they managed to regain their senses of the surroundings, it was too late as the German pilot was behind them all. It didn't long before panic settled in for them. One Banshee went down by the dance of bullets through the air. Then quickly another followed. The soldiers on the surface all cheered in unison as they could taste the victory. As hard as the enemy tried, the tables had quickly turned and so was their confidence. With a final few shots, the final Banshee descended deep into the ocean with its now fearful occupant, who was left to die a lonely death. The human soldiers all cheered louder than ever before and so did those conscious aboard the Pelican. "Ja, ja, praise your almighty sexy German pilot people."

A loud, violent and thunderous noise echoed from the stratosphere. All looked up at the very horror that raised their hairs. From the outline of the large battleship above, the BGC knew of the culprit, and they feared the worst. From the ship, three large plasma blasts released. Two of which Muffins barely dodged as one grazed by the hull. Sister could feel the heat itself from the energy melting through the metal. The third plasma ball was hurling down with no time for Muffins to dodge with. He eyed the shields on his Pelican. They were all drained from the previous attacks. The ball was inches away as the German pilot felt his heart freeze for a moment. The ball broke through the glass and melted the metal all around. The shards flew straight for the pilot as they pierced through his armor and sent a sensation of sharp pain all throughout his body. His eyes widened at the feeling as his mind felt it be too much. Within seconds his body went numb, and his mind cleared as he no longer felt any control, only that darkness closed in on his vision. With the turbulence increasing with the broken cockpit, his body shook all around until it leaned forward on the flying stick. The occupants felt the sudden change in pressure, and the BGC looked in horror to see the cruiser from before having pierced the Pelican. As the ship went down to the many gasps of the humans, the BGC followed it and did their best to guess its trajectory. The occupants of the Pelican looked around in a panic as Doc checked in the cockpit. He nearly cried out the German pilot's name, but it was all too late as Muffins had already passed on. He tried to take the stick, but his speed failed him for he was too slow against the strength of gravity. The Pelican hit the ground with a loud impact and slid against the sand, spinning out of control until it hit a few sharp and jagged rocks along the way that slowly ate away at the ship. The occupants flung inside the passenger area as their restraints came undone, or broke. Many met their final unfortunate moments, but those who died quicker were the lucky ones for those still alive, their suffering was to continue towards a more painful death.

The BGC felt their heart race with worry as they all quickly abandoned their spot. Led by Grif, they all ran in the direction of the crash, they needed to only follow the wreckage to find the sight of horror as Grif and Simmons got there first. Grif felt his legs grow shaky just from what he saw inside of the ship from the damage holes on the outer hull. Simmons quickly motioned for him to help him open the back door. As the two men gritted their teeth with all their might, they pulled the door down and looked up inside only to find their bodies freeze a moment, and process the scene. This is fucked up, thought the both of them.

"Are they okay?" shouted Tucker as he and Caboose caught up, but he was quickly prompted to stop by Simmons and so was Caboose. Tucker held the dark blue soldier back and gave a look of question. Simmons simply shook his head, and warned them. "Don't come any closer, keep Caboose away from here."

But even though I say that, Simmons felt his stomach churn as he noticed that Grif fell on his knees. He quickly removed his helmet as he felt the bile travel up his throat. It could no longer be contained. It escaped the only passageway it could and left most a sour, foul, and persistent taste behind. Grif leaned forward to rest on his hands as he pushed his legs upwards. "Kaikaina…"

As Simmons wiped his mouth clean, he looked ahead and slowly walked towards the cockpit. Inside he saw Muffins' body, but his eyes widened at seeing Doc as well. Both bodies left his mind scathed. Doc's body sat halfway out of the window, clearly affected by the violent crash as he missed his left arm. None of them moved, and Simmons could only presume them to be dead. Grif looked down from the string of limbs flung about in the area as he did his best to avoid disturbing the bodies. He noticed the yellow suit of armor however and rushed to her side. His lungs nearly went empty at the view now deeply engraved into his mind. "Kaikaina!"

Simmons eyed the back of the Pelican as he heard his orange friend's voice. He quickly rushed over and past the still worrying sight to only see the big brother sitting on the floor as he cradled his little sister. Behind them was Donut, now having met the same fate as the others. Many metal pieces impaled him on the various points of his body. Sister had a large metal piece of the hull going through her stomach. Grif could feel the shortness of breath affect his brain as he felt his vision dizzy. "No, no, not you to, this isn't happening. No, this can't be real!"

Simmons bent down by the two and gently placed a hand on his friend's shoulder as he picked up the crumpled gift Grif gave to her once. It was a silent sign for Grif. It was a sign for him to release the emotions he was doing his best to hold back. Like a swirl of emotions slowly boiling up out of a volcano, he felt his energy reach its highest in his vocal cords. "Kaikaina, you can't do this to me, please!"

Simmons looked away as he heard the loud sobbing. He himself held back the tears as he could very well feel the presence of all his friends around him, staring at him with a scowl and slowly disappearing as they point out his guilt to him in the form of this tragedy. Grif looked at Simmons as he then looked back to his sister. He took off her helmet and gently stroked her long blonde hair. "What am I going to tell mom, what am I supposed to do now that you are gone? Don't do this to me, please…Kaikaina!"

Tucker fell to his knees at hearing her name repeatedly. He knew the meaning, and he knew the pain that invaded his chest, yet another family member gone. As the crying intensified, Simmons gently lifted Grif up who was forced released the body and began to pull towards the door. Grif struggled with all his might, only wishing to remain by the body. "No, let go of me. I can't leave her here!"

Quiet, Simmons continued to pull and finally after fighting against Grif's growing strength, the two were able to leave the Pelican. The orange one struggled some more until Simmons pinned him down to the ground. "There is nothing we can do now, they are dead Grif. Donut, Sister, and Doc are all dead. We need to get to the extraction now!"

"Does their deaths mean nothing to you?!" Grif shouted in furiousness as he then saw a trail of water drip down from the little crevice between the maroon helmet and his chin. The orange one quickly went quiet as he simply looked towards his sister's body. "I'm not leaving her here!"

As Simmons was knocked off, Grif tried to rush back inside, but was stopped by the combined efforts of Tucker and Simmons. "No, let go of me, Kaikaina! Kaikaina! I can't leave her! KAIKAINA!"

"We are leaving, now!" Tucker shouted as he eyed a few set of boats approach the beach with a loud alarm ringing from the launch station. "The evacuation boats are here. These will be the last ones before they shut this evacuation point down. It's now or never!"

In space, multiple UNSC battleships escaped the various slip space portals, and managed to surround the Sangheili battle cruiser. The Sangheilis looked at the ships all around and felt a growing sense of pressure to surrender, and yet their admiral would not allow it. There was only survival now, no negotiation for peace in the Admiral's mind.

Simmons pulled harder as they finally managed to drag the orange one aboard. As the boats left, Grif leaned towards the edge to reach out to her, only held back by his family. Tucker looked down at all the dog tags he had collected when Simmons pulled Grif back to the boat. He rubbed each one of them clear of the dust and gave a sigh of anger, yet grief as well. Simmons held out the gift towards Grif who looked at it with new tears welling up. Simmons looked towards the beach crash site as he said. "To remember her by."

Grif silently took it with shaky hands as he secured the gift close to his chest. It wasn't long before they reached the sea platform and were quickly loaded up onto the Pelicans. Together, they felt the tremble of the ship as it launched vertically into the air like a rocket. The sight of the crashed Pelican grew smaller until it was now just a memory to be repeated in their heads. Tucker stared at more and more of the destroyed lands as he recalled the death of each of his family members. It signified pain, loss, and growth for them in one way or the other. But at the same time, he as well as the other soldiers felt relief for they finally managed to leave the blasted war torn lands. Now, they could finally go home.

A/N: So they finally get off the planet and the war for them is over. What did you guys think of the whole adventure and the death routes this story took?

There is still a bit more to give the story a sense of closure, so stay tuned!

Constructive feedback is appreciated!

Music Suggestion: When Caboose says "Muffins", personally I find that the soundtrack "The Oil" from Dunkirk film OST sets the mood well for the scene. Imagine that whole OST playing up until the Medical Pelican is shot down.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read, I appreciate your support!

~ Monty