There was a metallic hiss as the door shut behind them. After the battle at the Ships Bridge, there was relatively little resistance for a while. Either the team sent to Earth was pitifully small, or, as the Chief worried, they were walking right into a trap. It didn't take long for the original Chief to notice that one of the doors was partially open. Which was weird; the Covenant either opened doors, or closed them, they didn't leave them half-open.
"What do you suppose is in there?" Cortana asked him, as if reading his thoughts.
"I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to find out." He replied, and summoned the other Chief. "Let's get this door open, I want to take a look around. This area is suspicious."
The future Chief seemed reluctant to open the door, but it was soon evident that the original Chief wanted passage into the next room. When they managed to part the metal, neither the cyborgs nor the AI's could believe what was there. Four jars stood alone in the middle of what looked like an elongated table. Inside three of them were motionless green orbs. The last jar was broken.
"What the hell...?" they both said in unison, and stepped forward to take a closer look. One of the orbs started moving, and the original Chief automatically raised his plasma rifle.
One word came to mind: Flood. Somehow, the Covenant had gotten hold of a specimen of the flood. This species was partly responsible for wiping out an entire Covenant armada; why on earth, or in this case, why in space, would they want to let even one of these horrifying creatures live?
Wait a minute: what had happened to the last jar?
As if to answer the lingering question, a green deformed body lunged out, and hit the future Chief on the back. Instantly, the suits audible alarm went off, as he fired on the creature. Each of the plasma bolts hit the creature with a sickening hiss, and green blood flowed out. But still the monstrosity continued forward, making gurgling sounds as it progressed, with deliberate slowness.
The plasma was dealt out generously, before one of the hits penetrated the chest, and thus the infection form buried there. There was a pop as the parasite burst and the host slumped to the floor.
It was only then, that the original Chief noticed the claw marks on the inside of the door. The fate given by the Flood was worse than any death.
The silence was broken only by the sound that was all to familiar to the infection forms, and it occurred to the future Chief that it must have had time to multiply.
"Well," said the future Cortana; "at least now we know why there is such little resistance..."
"Whatever happened, we need to move fast. We all know how quickly the Flood can multiply, and we need to get to the reactors, now."
All of a sudden, another warrior form jumped out from behind them, and was about to attack the original Chief, when he instinctively whirled around and brought his fist to where the form's head was.
Well, it would have been, if the flood didn't have the horrifying tendency to emulsify the heads of the Covenant. As soon as the Chief realised that the attack had no effect, he brought his fist back, lower down, with more force that he had before. There was a disgusting crunch, as his fist snapped a few ribs, and ran through the liquid innards, and broke a few more ribs before exiting. The being hit the floor, with a last gurgle.
"We should really be going, now." He said, and the two hurriedly left.
*********
"Where the hell are we, Private Lament? I want some answers!" Sargent Johnson said in a low voice, as his squad moved through the multiple corridors. "Come on, keep up, ladies, we haven't got all day!"
"Hey, sarge, what just happened back there?" came a voice in return. The Sargent didn't reply; he had just as much of an idea as the rest of his mismatched team did. A few minutes after the Master Chief had sent them on their way, there had been an explosion, and everything changed. When they went back the way they thought they were meant to go, the Spartan had disappeared.
For about five minutes, they had been trying to trace their way to any possible exit. They turned one corner, and found a door that looked like it had been prized open. The Sargent made a series of hand movements to tell the marines to make sure that the area was clear, and what little chatter there was, although mere whispers, abruptly stopped. They slowly approached the door.
The first few marines to look through the doorway were rewarded with a sight that made them turn away in disgust. Through the doors, two green figures lay on the floor. The heads of both were bent back at abnormal angles, and one of them had a gaping hole in its chest. The other seemed to have been cut in half. The stench that the rotting corpses caused, though, was sickening, and one marine had to move out of the room.
Suddenly, the top part of the corpse that was cut in half got up, and tried to take a lunge at the closest marine, who was thrown back by the sheer strength of the creature. Seven SMG's, and four battle rifles fired in unison at the horror, and it was finally put down, accompanied by a pop.
"What the hell are those things, Sargent?"
"I have no idea, but we had better move our asses out of here, on the double!"
Finally, it was time for the good news, and it came from Private Lament. "I have some bad news and some good news, Sarge. The bad news is that I haven't been able to find out where we are, but I have been able to locate the Master Chief, and he isn't too far ahead of us. There must be something wrong with his signal, though, I'm picking up two of him."
"Two? Well, we'd better haul ass up to his position. At least then, we'll stand some chance against these...things..." He kicked one of the corpses. "Lament, lead the way. And stay alert, we don't know what these things are, or what they are capable of."
********
"Did you hear that?" came Cortana's voice after some gunshots were heard back where that came from.
"Oh, no. Not here." The original Master Chief murmured. "We need to go back. I left a squad of marines back there, but I didn't expect the time travel stuff to affect them, too."
The future Spartan didn't need to know, he had already been through this part of the past. What worried him was what lied ahead. He had seen his own death.
The Spartans turned around, and ran towards the sound of the marines.
They weren't a second too early, the future Chief ramming his gloved hand into the midsection of an attacking flood warriors back. There was a familiar popping sound, and the Chief knew that the opponent was dead.
When the marines saw this unknown version of the Spartan, they began to get suspicious. Although intent on moving the marines onward, both of the cyborgs filled in the missing gap in marine's times on the journey to the engine room. The Chief's inferiors were sceptical at first, but the future Chief, plus the numerous flood enemies encountered on the way seemed sufficient to keep them quiet.
Although the future Chief didn't mention it, he noticed that the Flood were getting a lot smarter, welding up doors with Covenant tools, and even using Covenant weapons in some cases. The problem came when they were within twenty feet of the engine room.
The flood had welded the door into the engine room shut, and were heavily guarding another passageway. This time, everyone noticed that the flood were carrying Covenant weapons, and had some blocks on their shoulders. It was only when one of the flood attacked another, and a yellow shimmering appeared, that they realised that this block was the shield generator.
"We're not all going to be able to get through that. Your only chance is to get through that door. I'll hold them off for as long as I can." Said the future Chief bluntly. The original Spartan put his hand on the other's shoulder, and spoke in a low voice.
"I can't let you do that, it's suicide, and that's not how I want to die." The reply that came from the future Chief was surprising.
"Don't worry. You'll understand later. Just get the marines through that door. I'll meet you in the engine room. Trust me." And with that, the future Master Chief ran into the crowd of heavily armed flood warriors. This time, it was the Sargent to give out the orders, having overheard the Spartan's conversation.
"I want this door open now, men." He turned to the Master Chief. "Sir, we could use your help." The Master Chief broke out of the trance he seemed to be in, watching where he had last seen himself turn a corner, followed by the pack of warrior infections. "OK, Sarge." He said, and picked up a marine's cutting tool before applying it to the door.
It wasn't long, before the door was opened, and there seemed to be no resistance. Cortana provided them with directions to the engine room, brining up a nav-point on the Chiefs HUD. After ten whole minutes, they had not encountered any resistance at all. This was making the Master Chief uneasier as time passed.
Then it happened, a scream from one of the marines, as an infection form dig itself deep into his back, trying to penetrate his spinal cord. This was followed by numerous bursts of rifle firing and miniature explosions as many more of the flood swarmed up at the surrounded marines.
The marines fired at the flood of flood with all of their ammunition, but when they ran out, it didn't take long for the marines to fall. Screams of pain, as their bodies were covered in the wriggling creatures, helpless against the continuous waves of the green balls.
Only the Master Chief and the Sargent were left, able to do nothing but hit the bobbing mass. The Master Chiefs shields were taking the brunt of the attack quite well, but he could see from the uncountable gashes and wounds that the Sargent wouldn't last long. They needed a solution if they were to have any chance to escape, and they needed it fast.
It was then that the Chief noticed where the flood seemed to be charging from another half-opened door. Christ, these things love half-opening things, he thought.
"Stay here" he said to the Sargent, not so much of an order, more advice.
Stepping on the creatures, popping many like little balloons, as he went, the Spartan waded to the door, threw a fragmentation grenade past it, and used all of his force to pull the two sections together. He timed how long he had left.... Three....
The unknown metal was reluctant to return to its closed position, and made it as hard as possible for the Chief to close them.
Two....
Pop went another flood infection. His suit had taken as much as it could comfortably, but now the audible alarm had triggered. The doors still didn't want to close.
One....
Come on, he willed himself. Even with his enhanced strength, the doors wouldn't budge. A cry of pain signalled that the Sarge had taken another substantial wound, but kept on fighting. The Chief noticed, while using all of his effort to close the door, that the Sargent's attacks were slowing down. The alarm reverberated through the Spartan's head. Must hurry....
Zero...
The grenade's timer fizzled away, and the resulting explosion caused any creature nearby to simply vaporise. Except for the suited figure. The doors had stuck, and the blast knocked him back into the wall behind him.
The infection forms were caught in a chain of small eruptions, and soon the place was quiet. The Sargent and the Chief were the only beings to have survived the explosion.
Slowly, the Master Chief's vision blurred, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Well, there you go; another chapter. Sorry I haven't posted here recently, I've had quite a few things to do. This is the longest chapter yet, in a pitiful attempt to make it up to you, the reader. Quite a lot happens here, but there are a few loose ends, as always, that will continue into the next chapter. Hopefully the suspense they provide won't be too little:) Now, I shall leave you with my constant request for reviews, but this time with an evil twist: I shall not post the next chapter, unless I get at least, say, five reviews. That probably isn't even that many.... Oh well....