Chapter 28: Phone Home

Robles

The inside of the radio station was a mess. Broken furniture lay everywhere, and the walls and doors were badly damaged. Blood covered the walls and floors, and the glowed weakly and constantly flickered.

"Hell of a place you've got here." Paccone remarked.

"It's not much, but it keeps those damn zombies out."

The man eyed Sam and the injured civilian suspiciously though, as if they were about to turn into zombies at any given moment.

"What's your problem?" Leo asked.

"My problem?" The man glared at Leo. "My problem is, that every injured person we took in turned into one of those fucking zombies!" He pointed to Sam and the civilian.

Paccone and Leo glanced at each other, unsure whether to believe this man or not.

"Understand that we don't agree with you." Paccone grunted.

"Your funeral." Muttered the other man.

"Now, we were here for the satcom. I believe you know what it is. A small communication console-"

"I know what it is." The man said. "We tried using it, but it didn't work."

"That's why we have clearance codes. Keeps anyone from making prank calls."

Omega

"That's it." Karla said, standing up. "We're getting out of here. All teams, get back to the elevator."

After hearing everybody's acknowledgements, Karla and Jacobs both made their way out the door. As they moved down the hall however, Karla caught something moving off at the side. She turned to see what it was, Karla was surprised to see somebody standing there. She relaxed a little, which turned out to be a big mistake, when she noticed that half the person's face was missing.

The thing groaned loudly and swung a huge, meaty arm with inhuman strength. Karla was knocked off her feet, and her rifle was sent clattering across the floor. Jacobs, meanwhile, didn't notice as he was trying to hold off two more of the things. Karla scrambled back to her feet, pulled out her pistol, and fired at the oncoming figure. The thing flinched as the rounds hit it square in the chest, but remained standing. Karla backed off in surprise, in too much shock to even try and reload her pistol. All she could think of was this undead creature inching slowly toward her…

Robles

"Well?" Leo asked.

"Shut it, Leo." Said Kumi as she tried to work the satcom, "these things aren't exactly like radios. You can't just press a button magically talk to a ship."

"Yeah, well someone should make one like that." Leo complained.

"Can you please be quiet Leo? Your shouting is giving me a freaking headache." Sam moaned as she checked her bandages.

Kumi momentarily lifted her head from the satcom. "You okay, Sam? I thought I told you to take those pills I gave you."

"I did," said Sam, "but they don't seem to be working very well, not well at all."

Kumi shook her head and went back to trying to work the satcom. It probably would've been easier if Paccone were here, but he was out with Siler and Mann patrolling the hallways. The other guy, who hadn't bothered to give them his name, retreated back to where he and the other survivors, about thirty of them, were holed up. And that strange girl Colette was at Sam's side, asleep on her shoulder. Kumi wasn't quite sure why, but that girl just gave her the creeps.

"Are you finished yet?"

"No, Leo. And if you ask that question again, I'm going to rip your fucking skull out and beat you to death with it."

UNSC destroyer Valiant

Ensign Walter Ryan sighed as he sat at the communications console. So far, it had been a routine day on the ValiantThere was the occasional Covenant ship that flickered in and out of the edges of the system, and a few pesky Seraph fighters that had to be chased away, but basically, nothing was happening. Suddenly, the satcom buzzed to life.

"This is Marine Unit One, is there anybody out there? Repeat, this is Marine Unit One, does anybody read?"

"Marine Unit One," Ryan answered back, quickly sitting back up in his chair, "This is the Valiant. We read your signal loud and clear."

"Thank God, we've been trying to work this damn thing all day!"

Ryan ignored the statement. Those damn Marines could never get anything right. He suspected this was some sort of prank call they were cooking up. "Marine Unit One, what is your current situation?"

"Situation is FUBAR down here, I repeat, situation is FUBAR. We need reinforcements and air support down here ASAP."

Ryan checked the signal, and noticed it was originating from Robles, one of the larger towns on the planet's surface. Unfortunately, Ryan had no idea what FUBAR meant. Damn the Marines and their jargon.

"I need you to clarify that statement a little more." Ryan replied through the comm.

"Uhhh, It's kind of hard to explain here, and frankly, I don't think you'll believe me if I tell you."

Ryan sighed. Two years in the communications chair, and this was the strangest call he had ever received. He keyed the comm. And answered, "A data disk or file would be fine. Just insert it into the side of the satcom and press the TRANSMIT button."

The comm was silent for a few minutes, until the voice finally came back.

"Alright, transmitting."

Ryan glanced over at his console and saw that a file was in fact being transferred. He opened it and looked through the contents. The things he saw in that file were things that would make even Helljumpers gag. He quickly closed the file and called for the captain to get to the bridge as soon as possible.