In the last episode: Grunty got hit by a rocket launcher! Grunty stepped up to the driver's seat of a Ghost! Stuff happened!
'This is awesome!' I screamed as I sped across the ice, mowing down humans and firing the plasma cannons for the fun of it. 'Whoooo hoooooo!' I was having the best (and only) Ghost ride I've ever had! Sparks were flying out of the engine and the Ghost was smoking with leaking plasma, so I jumped off. It sounds stupid, but it blew up half a second later. You couldn't see it past my mask, but I had the biggest grin on my face. The biggest grin soon turned around as angry Covenant crowded around me.
'Eep,' I squeaked.
So there I was five minutes later, hanging by my armour from a plant limb.
'Well, it was fun while it lasted,' I said, trying to sound happy.
Right at that moment, Torbei, Dlaeni and Rinyo walked up to the tree and looked at me.
'Disappointing,' said Torbei as he shook his head.
'Oh, man, that was so cool! You were like "eeearrrgghh! Bkkkhhh!"' said Rinyo.
'Rinyo,' said Dlaeni without looking at him.
'Piw piw piw! Boooom! Oh my God, my eyes!'
'Rinyo,' he said a little louder.
'My eyes! Ahhh! Look at that stupid dead--'
'RINYO!' screamed Dlaeni.
Rinyo froze and said, 'Yeah? Did you say something?' Dlaeni smacked himself on the head and walked off. 'Now do see what you've done?' Rinyo said to me.
I shot him a mean look, unhooked my armour and we followed Dlaeni into a cave. As we got further into the cave, we noticed strange growths on the walls and floor. We stepped around them, afraid they would be poisonous or something like that.
'Hey, what's that?' said Dlaeni, his voice echoing around the cave. He was pointing at a small...thing. It was a pale colour with tentacles underneath.
'Careful, it could be dangerous,' I said.
'Don't be a wimp,' said Dlaeni as he bent down towards it. 'How could something so tiny be any harm to--AAAARRRRGGHHH! Get it off! Get it off! It's trying to eat my arm! Take it off! It hurts!'
The thing was latched firmly onto his arm and it didn't look like Dlaeni was going to last much longer.
'Quick, go for help!' I said to Torbei.
'No, there's not enough time,' he said.
Suddenly an Elite chief on a Ghost came speeding through the cave to our location.
'How'd you find us?' I said.
'This cave's echoes can be heard anywhere,' said the Elite.
'Quick! Mr. Elite!' yelled Rinyo.
The thing was still on Dlaeni's arm, but he was turning pale and not breathing well. The Elite punched the thing and it popped, splattering green blood everywhere. Everyone cheered, but Dlaeni was still not okay. There was a weird mark where the thing bit him, and his eyes were rolling back in his head.
'Dlaeni?' said Rinyo. 'Dlaeni, are you okay?'
With that, Dlaeni's chest got bigger and tentacles seeped out of his neck and hands...
What is happening to Dlaeni? Find out next chapter.