Chapter 8: Sniper Games

Aeolan Wilderness

Zizit was now terrified for his life. Right now, he was stuck in the middle of nowhere on this god forsaken planet, with dirty humans crawling all over it, and absolutely no support from the Covenant Armada. Not a good place to be. What made it worse though was that his patrol had stumbled upon several patrols on their route, or at least, what was left of them.

Zizit shuddered. Those patrols were filled with Covenant troops armed to the teeth and prepared for anything. Well, almost anything, considering how they were torn apart without so much as getting a shot off. Their patrol leader, an Elite named Malazee merely wrote off their deaths as "death by human", though Zizit knew whatever killed those soldiers was anything but human.

Unlike most other grunts, Zizit was a veteran of at least four battles, which was rare since most grunts barely lasted two. Any that would survive the first assault would immediately be thrown into the second wave, where they would inevitably meet their demise.

With his battlefield experience, Zizit had seen human weapons in the field, and knew what they would do to a hapless grunt. The Biter was the most commonly seen, made the most noise, and made the messiest wounds. The Boomer fired huge explosive shells, and could take out entire squads of grunts if they were packed closely enough. But what scared Zizit most of all was the Cracker. There were many instances where he had seen fellow Covenant get gunned down by it. Usually, there would be no proof of any shooter around, except for the fact that one of them was lying on the ground with about half of his head still connected to his neck. And then slowly, they would be picked off one by one. It was a very scary weapon to go up against, since there was no effective way to counter it. The standard response was just to spray the area where you thought the Cracker was with plasma fire and hope you hit, though that usually just made you a more obvious target.

Zizit compared his past experiences with the bodies they had seen just now, and knew that human weapons didn't kill them. They would've been riddled with bullets from the Biters, blown into charred pieces by the Boomer, or headless from the Cracker. These patrols were literally torn to pieces. Arms and legs were ripped out of their sockets, bodies totally pulverized, necks broken so severely, it was as if someone tried to twist their heads off. Also, there was blood and gore spattered all over the place, and closer examinations of the bodies would reveal that most of their vital organs and flesh was missing.

Clearly, Zizit and his patrol were on the edge, and most didn't even bother to try and hide it. Malazee included.

"Zizit."

Zizit almost shrieked in surprise and fright, but managed to reduce it to a nervous twitch.

"What do you want, Kakat?"

"Can you cover me? I really have to go. Nature calls."

"Sure, but hurry up. Malazee looks like he's ready to go again soon."

"Yeah yeah."

Zizit watched Kakat waddle off the edge of the clearing towards a tree. He then turned to look at Malazee. Clearly, they were lost again, and Malazee was having trouble hiding it. The Elite sifted through map after map trying to find their bearings. Well, they would be here for a while. Zizit settled down to rest, but a sharp and painfully familiar crack filled his ears.

Everybody else also heard the sounds and quickly stood up. Zizit counted everybody up. Nine of them, including him, were all standing. All that left was Kakat...

Zizit turned and saw Kakat, still standing at his tree. Zizit dashed over towards him.

"Kakat! Get down! There's a Cracker here! Get down!"

But when he got closer, Zizit realized it was a mistake.

Kakat slumped over on the tree and slid down to the ground. As he did so, his body twisted around, revealing the clean, penny sized hole right between his eyes. Zizit screamed and ran for cover.

"One down." Sam whispered to herself. Obviously, the Covvies hadn't discovered her position yet, so she took the liberty of taking down a couple of more Covvies.

Crack. A Grunt fell to the ground without a neck.

Crack. A Jackal took a round in the face and toppled to the ground, knocking over his other Jackal companion.

Now the Grunts and the Elite started to fire in her general direction. Even though it was unlikely that they would hit her, she didn't want to take any chances. She quickly stood up and dashed over to one of her backup spots, under a rotting log.

Crack. Another Grunt spun around and hit the ground.

Crack. A second Grunt had the honor of seeing his shoulder explode in a cloud of his own blood. It fell to the ground screaming until the Elite finally shot it in the face.

Crack. The last Jackal, which thought its shield would provide adequate protection, had its hopes shattered when it toppled over and saw his foot disconnected with his ankle. A second Crack finished it off before it even had a chance to scream.

Sam got up and dashed to her third backup spot. A slight rise covered in low brush. She ejected the spent clip in her sniper rifle and slammed in a fresh one.

Crack. Two Grunts, standing back to back, realized their mistake as soon as they both noticed that there was a hole where their heart should be.

Sam finally got to the final Covvie. An Elite that was still firing into the forest. It probably would have worked if he was facing the right direction. She slowly put the crosshairs of her scope just above its head...

Crack.

Zizit had managed to crawl away from the killing field. If there was one thing he had learned during his last four battles, it was that cowards were survivors. Once Zizit thought he had crawled a safe distance away, he got up and started to run.

"I cannot BELIEVE you have got the GUTS to disobey a DIRECT order, Private! I ought to have you and your friend court marshaled and shot for gross insubordination!"

Sam and Leo both stood there. Leo was totally petrified, while Sam just trying to hide a laugh. Not only at Leo's apparent frightened state, but the fact that she could tell the Sarge was not totally serious.

"But you're DAMN lucky you've chalked up nine Covvie kills! Not many green replacements can do that!"

Before any of the Marines had a chance to speak, the Sarge spoke up again.

"Okay, ladies! Lets move out! We've got a three mile march ahead of us!"

Unknown Alien Structure

"Well, El-Tee, looks like you've just set up a new outpost here!"

"Uh huh. What makes you think that, Williams?"

"Well, there's the fact that they're starting to build permanent structures, rather than just the flimsy little tents they seem to like. Maybe I should suggest they name this outpost after you."

"Would you like my boot up your ass?"

"Uhh, no ma'am."
"Damn right. Now gear up and get the other squads moving. We're going out on a patrol."
"What, again?"

"Yeah. Command wants to make sure the surrounding area is secure. Plus they're shorthanded right now."
"Are you fucking kidding me? They've got the entire regiment down here!"

"And most of it is in THAT thing." Wellings pointed to the alien structure. "Clearing it out in case the Covvies left any surprises behind! Now get moving before my boot REALLY DOES go up your ass!"

The Marine shuddered at the thought.

"Yes ma'am!"