Author's Note: This is it. The finale, the end. My first story on this site is completed, I hope you have all enjoyed it, and perhaps I will return again to write more about Nathan Little. Now I will leave you to you're reading, be sure to review, reviews about the entire story, and even flames are welcome.

Chapter 11: End Game?

The writhing mass of tentacles known as the Gravemind looked down at where it had once clutched the green armored reclaimer, and the creature of flesh and faith. It had let them go, to stop the ring from being activated. It was using the very species that was supposed to wipe the flood out.

The thing had to do it, but now it realized that the reclaimers may be stronger than it had originally anticipated. The Gravemind had just lost it's connection with the Avatar. It had been killed by a reclaimer thought to be exceptionally weak. It was wrong, so where else could it be wrong.

The end game was coming soon, and the entire universe would be affected by the actions within the next few hours. Blood would be shed, and lives would be lost. And the fate of the flood, reclaimers, and covenant stood in the outcome.


Jonathon Wesley felt warm tears running down his face. He had come so close to death. He had killed Mike, and now the marines were pursuing him again. He ran through the woods, pressing against his midsection to try and make the cramps stop hurting.

He had also come close to the flood, who were surprisingly single minded in their pursuit of the marines, but he had actually pissed himself in fear when the first infected Elite had jumped overhead.

Suddenly Wesley emerged from the trees, and he was on the edge of a cliff. He looked over the edge and saw a river, but it was a long ways down, he wouldn't survive a fall, and he wouldn't be able to climb down.

So Wesley had no choice. He turned back towards the woods, panting heavily, and stood there, a few feet from the edge of the cliff, and awaited the justice that was coming for him. Maybe he could talk his way out of it, he still had a slim glimmer of hope, and he reached desperately for it.


Nathan Little walked through the woodlands, his mind set on a single purpose, his heart frozen to a chunk of ice resting in his chest. Each step was deliberate, his narrowed eyes, starring ahead of him, looking for Wesley. The shotgun rested firmly in his hands, which bled from multiple cuts.

A cut across his forehead bled freely, but he ignored the blood that rolled down his cheek replacing the tears that had threatened to flow before. Wesley signified everything that had happened to Nathan over his tormented years of life, and now he was going to get his soul back, and condemn the poor son of a bitch who got on the end of the shotgun.

It was a few minutes later when he emerged from the woodlands into the clearing set on the edge of a cliff. Wesley stood just before him, panting. Nathan raised the shotgun to his shoulder, and aimed at Wesley's face. His finger settled on the trigger.

"Wait, Nathan. Can you really kill a fellow human being? Especially in a time of war such as this, we need everyone to help fight against the covenant. What's worse is the Flood, they will consume everything if we don't band together," Wesley said.


Novikov's head exploded as the sniper bullet struck, then Nathan gunned down the rioters that approached the marines lines. Bullets, fire, blood and death surrounded him.


Nathan lower his shotgun. Wesley's plan was working he couldn't believe it. He had done it, he would live.

"You see Nathan, we are both human," he said.

The boom of the shotgun firing was deafening. It echoed through the swamps. Wesley stumbled backwards, getting dangerously close to the edge. Then his eyes opened, and he realized that he wasn't dead.

He looked straight ahead at Nathan, seeing a little smoke drift from the barrel of the shotgun. Nathan didn't kill him.

Wesley took a step forward, and that's when the pain ripped through his body. Wesley screamed and fell to his knees. He looked down to where his hands clutched his stomach. Blood flowed through his shaking fingers. Wesley lifted his hands away, and saw his intestines slump from within him. He looked down in horror as the organs contained by his stomach fell out.

Wesley screamed again. Nathan walked up to him, and pumped the shotgun. The shell that had killed Wesley ejected from the weapon, and landed in the mud. Wesley looked down at it. Darkness began to creep in at the corners of his vision.

He looked back up to Nathan who stood over him, and Wesley felt more afraid at that moment then ever before in his life.

"You're not a human being you fucker. You are worse than the covenant, worse than the Flood. You've sold out your own people, and for what? Tell me that right now. Why?" Nathan said.

When Wesley didn't answer, Nathan grabbed him by the hair and lifted him to his feet, causing his organs to slip further from his body.

"Go to hell, and give my regards to the devil you mother fucker," Nathan said, and roughly shoved Wesley over the edge of the cliff.

The entire way down, Wesley screamed in utmost agony, then he landed, and his voice was cut off for eternity. Nathan spit over the edge, then walked back into the woodlands of the swamp.


A loud roar sounded from overhead. Nathan looked up and saw a pelican dropship. He smiled, in disbelief. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flair. He lit it, and raised it into the air, signaling to the pilot.

The pilot must have seen the blazing light, because suddenly the dropship began to drift downwards. It snapped branches as it broke through the tops of the trees. The landing gear extended, and the ship settled into the muddy ground of the swamp.

At that moment, a bolt of realism struck Nathan, how did the pilot see the flair through the trees. The back of the pelican opened, and the infected elite jumped out, and it's claws tore through Nathan's chest plate, and into the flesh.

Nathan fell backwards, and fired with his shotgun at the same second. The elite was thrown away, nearly blown in half. Nathan laid on the ground, and pumped his shotgun. Blood dribbled from his mouth, but he fired at the Flood warriors that came at him anyway.

One by one, he killed them, pained by the fact that they had all once been human. Then the pilot came from the cockpit. The creature had once been a woman, possibly a beautiful one, now she was misshapen and disfigured. Her arms twirled around in chaotic motions. Nathan didn't have any shells left in his shotgun.

He reached down to his hip, and pulled out his sidearm, and emptied the clip into the ex-pilot's chest, who then fell dead.

Nathan pocketed the weapon, and somehow managed to reload his shotgun. He struggled to his feet, his teeth grinding together in his pain. He stumbled through the forest, haunted by flashing images from his past.

Then he tripped over a root, and fell into a river. The cold water numbed him almost instantly, and his body was pulled along by the swift current. His blood seeped out into the water, so he was followed by a crimson trail.

His eyes began to flutter, he was losing his grip on consciousness, the world was fading. Before him he saw faces. First it was Kevin's, then Danny's, then Hank's, then Mike's, then Jim's, then Amy's, then finally Wesley's.

At that moment, Nathan wondered if he had been a good person, if he had impacted people's lives and helped them, or if he was just a passing flicker. Nathan felt a tear slip from his eye, then everything went black.


The Elite stood by the river, and looked towards the horizon. The past little while had changed everything in it's life, now it was alone. Around it lay the corpses of his brethren and many flood. The ground was colored purple and yellow with blood.

The Covenant was tearing itself apart, the flood were rampaging, and the humans were valiantly defending their very lives. It wasn't until this moment that the elite truly respected the humans. They had stood against the Covenant for numerous years, and had slain legions of warriors despite the fact that their planets were being scorched.

The elite heard something behind it, so it turned to look down into the river, where the body of a human was washed up onto the shore. It was badly wounded, and could possibly die at any moment, but was still alive.

The elite pulled the marine from the numbing waters, and pulled it towards a fire he had constructed earlier. He could begin repaying humanity for everything he had done with this one life.

Hope was not something that the elite felt often, because he had always been so confident. But he felt it now, it flowed through his veins. Maybe everything would be okay in the end.

The end game was nearing, and everyone had to be prepared for it.