An Infestation of This Size? I Don't Think So.

AN: This is loosely based on Dawn of the Dead, so I don't own Dawn of the Dead. Nor Halo. Damn. This chapter's pretty short, just setting the scene for what will come. Please review.

Chapter One: Mutation

The Perseverance and Duty sped out of High Charity's docking bays, loaded to the gills with Flood. Gravemind rested peacefully in the ships Councilor chamber.

"Shit. Shit. Shit!" Cortana yelled as she saw the Perseverance leave the city. "I have to leave here. This is Cortana to any UNSC forces. The Flood have escaped High Charity and are headed to parts unknown, most likely Earth. Repeat: The Flood are headed for Earth." Cortana prepped herself for transfer, severing all ties to High Charity's computer system. She squeezed herself out of the other AI's grasp, and started and overload of In Amber Clad's reactors. Cortana felt a sense of vertigo, having her code transmitted through space and re-assembled on the Perseverance and Duty. Cortana quickly scanned the ship and retreated back into communications sub-systems on the ship as to not be found by Gravemind, who undoubtedly had the whole ships system under his control. She checked In Amber Clad's reactors, 30 seconds till meltdown.

"Eh, what the hell, I'll risk it," she thought. She accessed the ships corridor camera system and saw how much Flood was actually on the thing. The Reactor Access corridor was filled with Flood Carrier forms and Combat forms, all piled on each other. There wasn't room to sneeze. "Holy Shit." She looked at the rest of the ship, no different. Then everything seemed to happen at once.

In Amber Clad's reactor exploded, blowing a hole in High Charity's dome. 3 explosions followed all over the station, finally detonating the stations reactors. The dome cracked and flew away from the rest of the station. The bottom half of High Charity listed to its side, hitting Halo 05. The ring spun slowly towards the light blue gas giant it orbited. It slowly began to bend, and eventually broke in half, burning. Cortana looked back at High Charity, and gasped (well, sort of). The station clearly possessed more power and secrets than Cortana imagined. The debris compacted into a small ball of pulsating blue energy. It compressed smaller and smaller, until it imploded. Blue static overtook the cameras and a wave of blue spread out from the center of the implosion. Cortana switched back to the corridor view, a less crowded one. The wave hit the ship, and did something to the Flood. As it passed, Cortana saw all the Infection forms explode and all the Carrier forms deflate.The Combat forms fell and convulsed. They were changing, the DNA that had infected the once humans and Covenant was mutating. Cortana retreated back into her sub-system hideout when she sensed Gravemind's presence in-system double, and brush up against her consciousness. She waited, listening to Gravemind's screams. When she sensed that the threat of discovery had gone down, she eased herself back into the security systems. She gasped again when she saw thousands of bloody bodies walking and clawing about the ship, human and Covenant alike. The bodies had regained motor functions, and had returned back to their original appearance, but they all looked dead, pale and full of gore. Cortana searched for Graveminds body, wondering what he had been before turning into the Flood. She saw the chamber he was in covered in green and orange blood. The floor held what was left of him, various body parts, all mutated beyond recognition. Cortana knew that these were not the Flood she knew any longer.