Author's Note: Once more unto the breach. Chapter 6 is up for your reading pleasure, I hope you all enjoy it. Cause if you don't, why the hell am I writing this?
Chapter 6: Gun Run
Nathan hoped to catch up with Wesley and tear the traitorous fucker apart with his own hands, but for the moment, his main concern was getting his surviving marines to safety.
Flood warriors were already abound in the trees above them. Hank took quick aim with his battle rifle, and fired a single burst. The bullets tore the arm off of one of the infected elites. It spun on the branch it was running across, and fell off. It slammed into a branch below, crushing it's chest cavity and killing the controller within. The creature fell the remaining distance to the ground, where it laid still.
The marines ignored the spectacle however, and continued to run, ducking low branches, and scratching their faces on twigs sticking out from the trees and shrubs all around them. A flood warrior leapt down in front of them, and Amy shot it with her shotgun, not even stopping to ensure that it was dead. Jim stomped on his chest when he passed it though, just to fulfill his frustration at the misshapen freak.
Another elite ran from within the trees, Mike empties a clip from his SMG into its chest. The bullets tore chunks and flesh, and sprayed the tree's bark with the monster's yellowish blood.
Another warrior leapt from tree to tree, but Nathan shot it with his rifle. Its shields flared, but its trajectory had been thrown off, and it smashed into a tree trunk. It fell to the ground below, destroying its legs. Amy shot it in the chest to put it down for good, then followed the group.
Hank was starting to pant. Since he was a sniper he wasn't used to so much prolonged running, and it was catching up with him. Nathan grimly wondered whether it would be better to leave the man behind to save the rest of the squad. Nathan never liked to sacrifice those under his command, but sometimes it had to be done for the greater good. He knew he would command his troops to leave him behind if the situation called for it, and without hesitation, but he couldn't bring himself to play with other people's lives.
Then a creature emerged from the foliage ahead of them that shook Nathan from his thoughts. It was bloated, like a giant gas sack. It waddled towards them slowly on short stubby legs, and two short twisted arm hung uselessly from its side. There was a small lump of flesh on the front of its sac which may have been its head, but Nathan didn't care, as long as it could die.
Four combat forms came up behind it, and Nathan was about to aim at them when an idea came to his head. He aimed at the bulbous sack, and fired a burst, remembering how the infectious controllers had popped, and destroyed other controllers around it.
The three bullets punctured the thin layer of flesh that made up the sack. Though Nathan expected a larger pop than before, he did not expect the violent explosion that ensued. The four warriors were thrown away, two smashing against trees, a third crashing into a bush, and the fourth flew backwards into a deep puddle. Nathan himself was thrown back, and he hit his head on a rock. He felt liquid from the sack splash on him, and heard someone yell something about a 'carrier' possibly Mike.
The other marines had stopped and were again fighting a vicious battle against the flood as Nathan collected himself. His vision swam, all he could see were blurs, all blending together. It was a few seconds before he could make out shapes again, and the first thing he saw was a controller propelling itself towards him.
"Shit," Nathan muttered, feeling around for his rifle, more out of instinct than thought. His fingers could only feel the soft cool mud of the ground, he couldn't find his gun. After what seemed like years to Nathan he felt something solid in his palm. He grabbed it.
It wasn't his gun, it was a rock, but beggars can't be choosers. Nathan threw the rock at the controller that was getting too close for comfort. The rock sailed directly over it.
"Fuck," Nathan said, his head clear now. He immediately reached out for his gun again, and again he couldn't find it. The controller leapt at Nathan, though he couldn't figure out how it would be able to do that. He rolled out of its way, and it landed where he had been just a precious few seconds before. The controller skittered a few paces past its landing spot, then it turned back to advance on Nathan.
The Sgt. frantically searched for a weapon. Finally his hand came into contact with something solid. Though it wasn't his gun, it had the rough texture of bark. As the controller leapt again, Nathan swung with all his might. The stick he held in his hand sliced through the air like a knife and smashed violently with the controller.
It popped on contact with the wood, but as Nathan followed through, bits of flesh still clung to his makeshift weapon.
Nathan struggled to catch his breath, remembering how those things had crawled inside of Danny and curled their tentacles around his spine, and throughout his body.
Nathan shook the images from his mind. He managed to get to his knees. He looked around, and saw his gun laying in puddle a few feet away. He walked over to it, trying not to draw attention to himself. His muscles screamed for rest, but Nathan couldn't do that yet, there was still a battle being fought.
He knelt down, and picked his BR55 rifle. The cool metal felt good in his gloved hands. Though the dark gray metal was covered in splotched of mud, it was still in good working order.
Nathan turned, and fired two burst into the back of the first Flood warrior he saw. This one had shields, which flared bright blue when the projectiles hit it. The monster turned, and let out a growl. It charged Nathan, who fired another three bursts. On the second its shields flared out, and the third burst went through flesh. Nathan fired again, but his rifle clicked empty.
"Oh shit," he said urgently as the elite charged at him, flailing its arms. Nathan took a chance and turned his rifle so he held the butt towards the creature. He charged forward. Against a normal enemy this would have confused it, which Nathan had been hoping to do. But the Flood don't care about themselves. It didn't even flinch when Nathan yelled out his challenge.
Nathan ducked his head under the first swing, and dodged the second, then drove the butt of his rifle into the thing's chest. The bullets from Nathan's shooting had damaged the ribs, and so when Nathan hit it, the ribs collapsed, and the rifle butt crushed the controller.
Breathing frantically Nathan looked at the corpse at his feet, then he swung his gaze across the small battlefield. His marines were fighting amazingly well, but he knew this wouldn't last forever, fatigue always won in the end. Nathan's own limbs were already groaning against each movement and only the adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him on his feet.
The other marines were all great fighters at close range, especially Amy, whose shotgun was making a fair sized pile of corpses around her. Jim stayed mobile, firing his rifle into the chests of Flood warriors. Mike though wasn't still ever. His SMG spat bullets into the Flood like a hose, and he would often finish them with a well placed kick to their chests. As Nathan watched the veteran marine kicked out a Flood Warrior's knees, causing it to fall to the ground, where he then stomped on its back, snapping its spine, and severing the connection to the remainder of the body rendering the host useless.
Hank however was a sniper, and not used to fighting in such closed spaces. That was how the infected Elite had gotten behind him with the marine noticing. While he shot two warriors down the one came behind him, and grabbed him. Hank screamed, snatching Nathan's attention. The creature climbed a tree holding Hank, who was screaming a pure terror, hitting the creature's back with his fists. His rifle was laying on the ground, where it wouldn't do him any good anymore.
"Fuck, let him go you prick," Jim yelled up to the creature firing a few bursts before another warrior attacked him, hitting him with a tentacle, sending him flying five feet backwards. The Flood warrior growled and jumped through the air to crush Jim beneath it's feet, but the marine rolled out of the way. The creature landed on the ground, sending mud into the air. Jim fired his rifle directely into the things chest at a range where it was impossible to miss. Nathan shouldered his own rifle and fired a few bursts to help the marine.
The monster was killed, as were the others, nothing was left. Amy calmly reloaded her shotgun, slipping shells into the weapon while gazing up into the tops of the trees looking for Hank. Mike walked over to the battle rifle Hank had left behind, and pulled the magazine out, and promptly tossed it to Nathan. The Sgt. caught the magazine, and pocketed it. Then they heard Hank's screams.
"NNNOOO! OH GOD NNNOOO! SOMEBODY HEL-," he was saying before being violently cut off. Blood began to fall from the trees above, splattering across the muddy ground. Then an arm fell, then a leg. The surviving marines watched in disgust as limb after limb fell from the tree tops. Especially when the torso, which had been ripped apart exposing the shining bone of his ribs, fell to the ground followed by the head.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Jim said, his voice sagging with disgust. Mike shook his head, then stepped forward and began fishing through the dissected corpse's pockets. Jim stepped forward.
"What the hell do you think you're doing. Don't desecrate his body just leave it alone," the distressed marine said. Nathan watched the private, he was reaching the edges of his endurance. Physically he was fine, but mentally…
"We need the ammo, and the rations that he carried. We don't have enough supplies to just leave him here," Mike said, pulling a few battle rifle magazines and a candy bar from the late sniper's pockets.
"No, he's gone through enough, leave him alone. Leave him alone!" Jim screamed reaching for Mike's throat.
"Jim, settle the fuck down. This isn't Earth, we don't have the equipment to be fucking around here," Nathan snapped, and Jim immediately calmed down, his Sgt.'s voice bringing him back to reality. Jim looked apologetically at Mike, then backed away, leaving Mike to loot the remains of Hank's body. Nathan looked into the trees hoping to see the Flood that did this to one of his men.
"Strange," Amy muttered. Nathan looked over towards her, seeing the puzzled look on her face.
"What's Strange," he asked, curiosity overtaking him. That and the fact he needed to know what his marines were thinking.
"I was under the impression that the flood took people to become potential hosts. I wonder why they just killed Hank outright instead of infecting him," Amy responded, glancing up into the trees then over to her Sgt.
Nathan though about it, pondering the statement, and all that he had seen over the past hour, and decided that it would be best not to think about it at the moment.
"Don't dwell on it, let's just get out of here. We should set up camp somewhere. We all need the rest," he commanded.
The other marines nodded, grateful that they would be able to rest soon. They continued their march, leaving the mass of torn flesh that was once Corperal Hank Thompson behind.
Walking at point, Nathan couldn't help but feel guilty about the thoughts he had about leaving Hank behind. The man had been more than a soldier, he had been a friend, he had a wife, two children. He looked at the rest of the squad. He couldn't make any promises, but he would do his damnedest to make sure that they got out of these god forsaken swamps alive.
In the trees above, a single misshapen elite covered in fresh blood followed the group. It gripped a plasma rifle in its right hand, it left was a brutal claw that it had used to tear Hank apart. On its back thick green tentacles waved around, helping to move it along in the tree tops.
"Be ready to die foolish humans, my time to listen is over," it said in a deep grating voice.
Wesley stumbled through the jungles, tears running from his eyes. Why had he shot that bitch. He knew she deserved to die, they all deserved to die. His superior had said so. But now he had acted to soon, and he was alone in the swamps, being hunted by the flood. Why had he been so stupid. Then Wesley stumbled into a clearing with a ancient concrete building in it. At the entrance two normal elites stood guard.
"Oh thank god," Wesley said, stumbling towards the aliens.
The elite looked at each other. Then one shook its head and said something to its comrade in the elite tongue. Then it raised its carbine, and aimed it between Wesley's eyes.
