Chapter 31: Apostate
Covenant Home World, Xenocide commencing by Forerunner forces…
"Will, it's good to see you," Linda said, her voice was quiet and weary. She popped her helmet off and walked over to Will. She brought her face close to his and spoke into his ear, her warm breath tickling it.
"Did John try and talk to you?"
"Yeah, some spiel about being more than just warriors, and how we're greater than we could ever imagine," he replied, clearly annoyed.
"Alright, "she said and swallowed hard, "We need to try and get out of this place before those other guys find us. We watched them fight and they tore an Elite apart in no time." Will shook his head slowly and watched as Linda stared at Kat and Chris. They were both holding each other in their arms, whispering to each other.
'C'mon, we need to move now," Linda said loudly. Will bent down and picked up his helmet and put it on. The four Spartans walked back into the brig and out onto the landing platform.
"Man did we luck out," Linda said. The group walked to the rear and into the Phantom. Will and Linda sat down in the two pilot seats and, by pure intuition, started the Phantom up. The craft lifted off the platform spraying water in all directions, a low rhythmic pulsing speeding up as the engines warmed.
"One thing, how exactly are we supposed to get off the planet, let alone to Earth?' Kat asked.
"Whoever said we're going to get away with this thing. There is a perfectly good capital ship waiting for us," Will responded as he threw his hand forward on the holographic throttle. The Phantom lurched forward and settled into a low hum as it zipped past tall white stone buildings and through the heavy rain. He sifted his hand on the control orb and put the Phantom into a steep climb and up through the rain laden clouds. Heavy turbulence rocked the craft as it slowly poked through the clouds. Suddenly the gray-black clouds parted and they were blinded by the bright sun light streaming in through the holographic forward view ports. The Phantom surged over the clouds as the group was silent. Something had fallen over them when they left the city, not the fact that the Covenant might be gone, but that two of their closest friends were now to far gone to come back.
"Hey look, I see it," Chris said, pointing ahead. Up in the distance was a monstrous purple craft hovering in the sky, "Nice flying Will." Will wasn't listening as he opened up the Spartan roster. He found John-117 and stared at it for the longest time. Instead of the mandatory MIA, he listed it as AWAL and put in a note:
Has fallen into the hands of the enemy and is now a traitor.
He scrolled down to Kelly and looked at hers for the same amount of time before putting in AWAL as well, listing her as an accomplice to the Chief.
"No, don't, give them some dignity. They deserve it," Linda said as she put a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her but said nothing.
"I won't give him that honor," Will stood up and walked to the rear of the Phantom and then turned around, "He won't get away with what he did! He was the reason that Fred isn't here now and I will not stand for that! You don't know what he said to me it-," he suddenly stopped as a tingling feeling surged through his veins. His mind started to go blank but he resisted. Suddenly the Chief's words rushed back into his mind.
We are the most powerful soldiers in the galaxy.
Authors Note: Well, that's the end, I know that it's not that great but there is going to be a sequel soon and it should finish the story, so look for it soon. Then again I might edit this story and add more so keep an eye on it. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it.