Chapter 24: Deeper Down

Omega

After having Holy heave the elevator doors up again, Karla and 2nd squad attached ropes and harnesses to themselves. Because the base was running on minimal power, the elevators were nonfunctional, so they had to rappel down the elevator shaft.

"Which floor?" One of the Marines asked.

"The deepest." Replied Karla, "That's where they tend to keep all of the most sensitive stuff."

Then, she, the Elite, and the twelve other Marines dropped down into the darkness awaiting them.

Robles

"Clear." Leo said as he looked down the street. "Lets go."

Leo, with rifle raised, moved swiftly down the street. Paccone, the civilians, Siler, and Mann followed close behind. Kumi was last, helping the injured civilian they had found.

"Hey Kumi," Leo called, "How's the guy doing?"

Kumi was half carrying, half dragging the injured man along, and frowned. "Not too well. Until we can get this guy into a decent aid station, I don't know if he's going to make it or not."

True to her words, the man seemed to be extremely pale, and was constantly shivering and twitching. Despite his symptoms, he still found the strength to move, though it seemed as if he had lost the ability to speak.

"Don't worry, it's not that far now."

Paccone smiled. "Yeah, the only thing that can go wrong now is if that dirtbag pilot chickens out on us."

"Uhhh, sir?" Leo said. "About that…"

"What?" Paccone ran up to where Leo was, looked at the pad and shouted, "Sons of bitches! They left us behind!"

Where the Pelican was supposed to be was just empty concrete.

"Maybe they just went off to find help." Siler suggested.

"In any case," Paccone glanced over at the injured man, "Any sort of rescue party won't be here for hours. So we're basically on our own."

Then, as if in response, there was a loud, collective groaning sound on the other end of the landing pad, though the fog obscured anything that could've been standing there.

"I suggest we find cover quickly then." Said Leo.

"Good idea."

Omega

The bottom level of Omega was not quite as inviting as the top one. Blood was spattered along the walls, and there were blood trails all over the floor, suggesting bodies had been dragged around and moved. Along the length of the hallway were numbered doors, though all of them were opened. Holy peeked into one of the rooms, checked the one across it, and then moved farther down the hall to check another room.

"They are all exactly the same." He called out.

One of the Marines said, "So these were either rooms…"

Karla finished the sentence. "…or cells."

There was a collective clicking sound as safeties were turned off.

"Lets go, Marines. There's more to check out." Karla said as she crept farther down the hall.

The rest of the squad was reluctant to follow.

Robles

"You carry him, Kumi. You're the medic."

Kumi pouted. "I've been carrying him for a half-hour already. All you did was take point."

"Trust me Kumi," Leo sighed, "taking point is something you really wouldn't like to do. Besides, I don't even know what half the stuff in that damn UNSC medpack does."

Kumi was about to start on a retort when Paccone cut her off.

"Quit whining, Marine," Paccone grunted as he scanned the area where the groaning noises were coming from, "be glad that you're not taking point. I've seen a lot of good men die that way."

"Then what do we do now, sir?" Kumi sounded more anxious, agitated. It sounded as if being stuck in this town was beginning to get at her. "We're stuck in the middle of zombie-fucking-central, with no support, and now way out!"

Paccone looked at her, keenly aware of the edge building in her voice. "We still have a narrow chance. A few months ago, a previous squad left behind a SATCOM relay. Maybe it's still here."

"Or maybe the locals pulled it apart and trashed it." Mann interjected.

"Or maybe they kept it around for situations like these." Paccone glared at Mann. "I seriously doubt these yokels are dumb enough to destroy a piece of UNSC equipment like that." He glanced at Leo and Kumi. "No offense."

They both replied. "None taken."

"Anyways," Paccone continued, "The relay was last seen at the town's radio station, at the south end, where things get really hilly, and its not hat far either. I suggest that's the first place to look."

There was sudden skittering sound. Paccone stopped and looked up. The other Marines did so as well. The sound was coming from the rooftops and walls around them, but the fog hid anything that might've been there.

Finally, one of the civilians spoke up and muttered, "What the hell is that?"

Unfortunately, that outburst turned out to be a fatal one. Out of the fog, three shapes suddenly leapt from the fog with unimaginable speed and ferocity and piled on top of the man. He didn't even have enough time to scream before they tore him to shreds.

Mann screamed, "Holy shit!" and started firing his battle rifle. The other civilian joined in with several shotgun rounds. Two of the ghouls shrieked and fell over, dead. The third leapt away from the fire, landed on the roof of a nearby building, and bounded away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Several more moments passed, and Leo finally asked, "Is that it?"

More shrieking emanated from the fog.

"Looks like that things got friends!" Paccone yelled. "Lets move it!" He picked up the inured civilian, slung him over his shoulders, and started carrying him away. The rest of the group began to follow him.

Then, there was a soft whisper, almost inaudible, but Leo managed to catch it. "Leo…"

Leo skidded to halt, and Kumi, who was right behind him, nearly smashed into his back.

"What the hell are you doing!" She screamed. "Those things are right behind us!"

Both Marines turned to see a wrecked Warthog and a Marine leaning against the wall. It took a few seconds, but realization suddenly dawned on Leo.

"SAM!"