Hello all. This is my first halo fan fiction, my first entry on and my first fan fiction soooooooI hope its a good start. All comments are appreciated, advice even more so. I've read all three books andsohave tryed to keep as true to the haloverse as possible. I personly think that my writing in this getts better asthe storyprogresses. The second chapter is nearlyfully written, so there won't be much of a wait.

This is the first of my two chapters bacedon the events of "the flood". Hope ye enjoy.

Non of "Halo: combat evolved"or the three officialbooks baced on itbelonges to me yarda yarda..

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Sub-Chapter 1: A hasty retreat

The Elite screamed in agony as lead projectiles mercilessly tore apart his stomach, in seconds he hit the floor, dead.
"whooraaaa!" shouted PFC Adam smith, pumping his arm into the air.
"Don't get cocky now; we've still got to find that damn grav lift" Growled Sergeant Johnson. The marines viewed the aftermath of what had just been a tremendous fire fight, it was a scene of relentless gore; pools of purple and orange blood, elites torn clean in half by fragmentation grenades, grunts riddled with bullet holes and jackals with missing or mangled limbs. The sight that chilled them the most, however, was the smouldering corpse of Private Fitzgerald. The human squad of six had ambushed and annihilated a covenant patrol of almost triple the size, with only one man K.I.A. Had they not lived it, they would have not believed it possible.
"What are we gonna do about Fitz?" said one of the two heavily armoured ODST's: Jerry Reid. "Poor bastard didn't stand a chance, grenade strait the face".
"We're behind on the mission time as it is…….. But he was one of us, he deserves a proper burial" Johnson said more to himself than any one else, lost in thought. "Ok. Damien, Harold, drag his ass over to a nice patch of dirt, dig a hole and toss him in". "Sir" complied the marines in unison "Jerry, Adam, make a defensive parameter."

A few hundred meters away high Major Sarek 'Sunee and his squad of restless grunts also set up a temporary camp. This was to be 'Sunee's final mission as a mere front line lackey, after this mission he would have completed enough operations to become a spec. Ops commando; an honour that only a mere 1533 (he had researched each one with pride) had been gifted with. Yes, this mission would be a success unlike any other.
"errrrrr your greatness?" enquired glorp, the major grunt of his squad "sir……….. Our orders?".
'Sumee clashed his mandibles to awaken himself from the daydream, his visions of the ceremony seiced to be and where replaced by a cold dark and rocky surrounding. How could he let himself lose focus like that? never mind, I won't have to wait to long, he thought. He turned to the squat red grunt and motioned him away with a flick of his wrist. The truth was that he didn't know their orders either, the squad had been thrown together and sent into action with worrying haste.
A few feet from the main position lired and gregt sneakily shared a ration bar, guard duty far from their minds.
"Captain split chin seams a little distracted, he's gonna get us killed if carries on like this" squeaked lired, with a mouth full of methane rich gruel.
"I know what ya mean slurp glorps talking mutiny and I think he's serious" said gregt.

"Mutiny? He's crazy!……….though he has a point, the stupid lizard's had us walking in circles for quad moons"
"But only the five of us against a highest ranking red, he'd eat us alive"
"It's been done before…"

Damien was fast getting sick of this mission. He and the rest of the squad where lost in a maze of canyons and valleys, they where low on ammo, the grav lift they where supposed to start guarding over an hour ago was nowhere in sight and he was shovelling rock and soil onto the only person he really knew on the squad. Maybe if he had some of that armour the ODST across from him, Harold Neway, was wearing he'd feel a little better, Damien thought. But he knew he was stuck with his shitty anti-ballistics suit. "Hay Harold wanna try digging a lil faster, seems I'm doing all the work" Damien moaned.
"Will you please shut the hell up complaining, that's all you've done since the beginning of this op and I'm starting to get tired of it." The ODST threw down his shovel threateningly, he had a reputation for being a very violent person.
"Calm down you two, I know this missions getting stressful, but that ain't no excuse for going at each others throat, save it for the covenant, or I'll have to kick both your sorry hides!" Johnson was well known for both his light attitude and brilliant commanding abilities. Purely out of respect the two men fell back to their duties, though a definite grudge could be felt between them. Johnson was about to say something about kissing and making up when Adam shouted from behind. "We've got aload of Jackals moving up from the south, if they get to the hill, we're screwed!" He reported.
"Shit! Haul ass marines, we're leaving." Johnson said with a commanding decisiveness in his voice "Everyone head through that small crevice the last patrol came from, Jerry, Harold cover our retreat".

Johnson and the other two leathernecks ran through the large split in the near by cliff face, while the two ODST's Steadied their MA5B assault rifles on rocks close the retreating paths entrance. Within secondsthe energy shield holding, bipedal bird aliens known as jacklasrained super heated green energy on the marine's position. Of all Covenant Harold hated Jackals the most; though these shields made them hard to kill, butin his mind it also made them cowards.

"Deflect this!" shouted Harold, priming then throwing a grenade, soon followed by Jerry. The Initial blast of the two grenades killed five of the ten, while shrapnel shredded another three. But before the ODST's even considered celebrating the surviving aliens where joined by a mixture of elites and grunts. Now blue plasma joined the deadly lightshow that took place above the human's heads. They had been pined down; they could no longer retreat. Had they have been able to see each others face they would have been able to see that they both shared a look of sheer terror. Harold heard an alien command and affirmative squeals, then the fire seized, the marines didn't know why but the fact that it had stopped was good enough for them. Both men jumped to their feet. Once above the rock they fired. The Covenant soldiers had been caught in the middle of trying to sneak up and flank the humans, the blue coloured elite who was leading the flanking operation barked in surprise, before feeling the force of bullets against his shield. The aliens where almost lined up on the ODST's right, dangerously close to Jerry. The elite in charge was turning round to give a scattering order when his shield died in a shower of blue sparks and bullets ate through his spine. The smaller aliens screamed in fear, their leader, a great warrior had just fallen by the hands of two humans, all was lost. Knowing that it would be a waste to take down each scurrying creature, the ODST's triumphantly rose from their cover and marched through the crevice.

Sub-Chapter 2: Living Death

The sent of flesh, blood and life hung in the air. The promise of feeding and spreading, the promise of for filing their hunger. From the smallest cracks to huge gashes in the earth they emerged. Their hunger driving them, they swarmed. The lifeless void approached, the flood drew near.

"Harold, hurry up with those goggles." Hissed Johnson . The ODST moved up font and made a detailed sweep of the area with the "eagle eyes 340.
The crevice had lead to a small opening high up in a canyon, above was a starry sky broken only by a ghostly line- the other half of halo. Below, was what must have been 2 platoon's worth of covenant soldiers and a daunting display of armour. There was no real need for the goggles, all 5 humans could see clearly what was set out below them, it was as-if the gods where using this canyon as a giant pallet. Johnson cast his trained dark eyes over the mess of colour. The dark purple vehicles where on what seemed to be the back row, followed by hundreds of grunts- from yellow to black. Then a few lines of constantly jerking heads in a mixture of colours (the jackals) which crowded behind a single line of spiky behemoths (hunters). At the very front of the formation where the combat leaders, the muscle, the iron hearts: the elites. They stood tall, but seemed to have a strange uneasy atmosphere about them. Nothing about this formation made sense, thought Johnson, it was no attack formation………. it could be a defence formation, but it's set up was very sloppy………. And the elites looked almost scared, they usually knew no fear in the face of any enemy. This whole thing made Johnson feel very worried.

"holy shit" whispered Damien "a force that size could wipe out a small country………". He waited for acknowledgement, but received none as usual. Sgt. Johnson reached into a breast pocket and withdrew an old half chewed up cigar. To Johnson this little stub preformed two vital roles: one it helped him think in less than ideal situations, two it served as a reminder that regardless of how many "less than ideal" situations he'd been in - he was still living. "It seems that our old friends have a welcome party all nicely set out, but I've got a feeling it ain't for us……." Stated Johnson "Now we're getting out of here before….whatever the hells happening here happens". Harold motioned over to small rocky pass to their left that lead to an exit out of the canyon.
"Hand signals only from now on men".

Sarek 'Sunee lifted his head high and inhaled. Something didn't smell right. There was a fowl stench in the air, not that sickly sweaty smell of the vermin humans but a smell similar to that of burning rotting flesh. He turned to Glorp and was about to confirm this when he remembered that gruntshad no sense of smell.

"Your excellency?" Glorp asked, a tell tail trace of anxiety and impatience in his voice "Sir, the troops and I are wondering what your pla-"
"We must leave the holy world. Now"
"Sir?"
"Something unstoppable, something un-holy approaches."

"dose sir's promotion add to this decision?" glorp asked thinking the first reason to be a cowardly excuse. 'Sunee considered causing this little wheezing creature pain, but he then realised it spokepartlythe truth, for the first time in 30 ops he felt comradeship to glorp in some strange way.
"That is true also and if you help me escape I'm sure there'll be a promotion in it for you, no more suicide missions and ultimate respect. All we have to do is get back to a curser". The grunt answered this by raising his pistol in the air, the covenant equivalent to "lets kick ass!", he didn't really understand what was happening, but it seemed good so he decided to go along with it . 'Sunee was about to do the same when lired burst round a rocky corner with alarming speed.

"Evil! Scary! Squad…… every one dead!" screamed the small grunt, who then curled up tightly into a ball and sobbed heavily.

"All? Those human vermin! I shall personally make sure they are skinned alive"
"no….no humans…..the un-holy ones…those the forunner inscriptions tell of." squeaked the shivering ball. "So the flood are not just tales, humph it matters not. No enemy is invincible!" proclaimed the battle ready elite.
In seconds the entire canyon range was engulfed by hundreds of separate battles, plasma lit the landscape while rockets and projectiles destroyed it. At this point all covenant cruisers had lift off the surface to avoid this hell, even the human controlled Truth and Reconciliation was ascending. Halo now truly belonged to the flood, they just had to clean up.

Sub-Chapter 3: Loss

Sgt. Johnson pointed at Harold and then to what looked to be a hair pin bend in the path. The ODST moved to the spot, peered round the corner and looked back with a nod. Next he repeated the orders to Damien and Adam, who moved to the spot in unison. To Jerry he only gave a backward glance before moving to the spot himself. Johnson got into position and turned around to give the follow up order to Jerry. He was surprised to find that an elite minus head and armour stood behind him.
"JERRY!" Shouted Johnson with all his might. The armoured marine stood up sharply and surprised his aggressor, he then turned quickly to see what had got the Sarge so riled up. He was met with a wall of rotting luminous green flesh. Instinctively the human barged into the creature with all his might to get it away from him. It fell with a sickening thud

"sir? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?" Damien bellowed. The marine spent the past 4 days in a make shift med-wing in "alpha-base", no one had even considered telling him about their new enemy.

"That son, was the flood parasite" stated Johnson, cigar in mouth.

"In the brief you said that we would only be facing the covenant, you lied" Snarled Harold "you knew that this place would be crawling with the flood, didn't you"
"I did, Direct orders from Silva. He's kept us alive so far, I trust his Judgment." He calmly stated, staring Harold down. Damien was about to say something sarcastic when the flood rose again. It claspedthe copletely unawareJerry's helmet and spun it like an old plastic bottle top. A loud crack rung out through the pass, then a thud as Jerry's corpse hit the ground. The marines instinctively took up firing positions.

"Fire" Said Johnson without emotion. Then as if this word itself had pulled the triggers, 4 rifles immediately spat out a three round burst. The combat form was rendered completely useless by the bullets, it's controller terminated the spinal link.

"Fire!" Ordered 'Sunee. He squeezed the trigger of his rifle and glanced over to the two grunts on the opposite high rock. Glorp also with a plasma rifle opened fire first and chose his target second- it was the grunt way. Below him was a horrific scene, 3 grunts spurted blue blood like a fountain as a small round infection form tunnelled into their chests. He aimed for the closest one hoping it was not too late. Lired did just the same, but he was armed with a spiky needler. After each flood had been successfully popped, the three solders jumped down.

"Salvage what you can, the flood will soon smell us and send another wave." 'Sunee boomed in his usual low toned voice. He looked at the dead grunts for only a moment before kicking them over and retrieving any grenades or weapons that lay be beneath them. Next he rationed the grenades, eight for himself, two for Glorp and one for lired. He needed to think very carefully about the next step, arming himself and the grunts, his choice could mean the difference between life and death. This was going to have to wait though, he could smell the flood stronger than ever.

"Defensive positions!". The two grunts jumped behind suitable cover on opposite sides of the small canyon while Suka 'Sunee stood his ground in the centre.

All at once the second wave of flood burst into the small camp. A gibbering crowd of what used to be humans seemed to come out from thin air. Glorp opened fire, he now had more to fight for than ever: not only his life (whichhe was gettigvery tired of)but also a chance to free himself from these suicidal cannon fodder missions. He sent a volley of plasma at the closest combat form, the super heated bolts burned craters in it's armour, which continued to sizzle and melt even after the initial impact, eventually causing the creature's top half to fall backwards. The pitiful thing tripped over it's own head and gave up, the forms behind it trod it to pulp. They where getting too close, Glorp observed. He continued to fire at whatever was nearest but started to back up and attempted to tell lired to do the same. But his fellow grunt seemed to be in a trance, he just fired needle after needle almost robotically, causing the un-lucky vessels to explode in a rhythmic pattern. The canyon was lit by the violent pink explosions.

"fall to my position" ordered 'Sunee over the hiss of his overheated weapon. Finally back to normal, lired spun round and waddled back to his commander, followed by glorp who finished off a human form that was crawling up over to him. More appeared. Glorp and Lired got ready to defend their master to the death; with weapons raised they held their breathes and waited to get a good shot. The grunts listened as the flood wildly gibbered with excitement and then as their noise was drown out by a deafening roar by 'Sunee. The Elite stepped forward and discarded his plasma rifle, a combat form lunged at him with a long sharp bone of an arm. The elite grabbed the arm and snapped it like a rotting twig, then impaled the combat form with it, the creature's whole body convulsed violently, then died- again. 'Sunee lifted his head, two of his fallen brothers fell towards him. He grabbed a whip arm in each hand and dragged the flood down to the ground. To the left hand elite he gave a hoof through its occupied chest cavity. The right hand elite snapped off its own arm and delivered a bone shattering blow to the living elite with it's remaining arm. 'Sunee's shield flared blue then died, he stumbled backwards completely vulnerable. A volley of plasma and crystalline needles surged passed him and turned the flood form's upper body to a molten green goo. 'Sunee gave the grenade signal to the grunts, who activated two plasmas and threw them a few meters in front of their leader. The blasts incinerated about a dozen flood while three more carried on charging. Lired squealed in horror as, about 3 dozen more flood where reviled when the plasma mist fell.

Glorp glanced over to lired then Sarek, his fellow grunt smashed his needler to the floor and once again curled up into a quivering ball. Glorp just wanted to do the same, he wanted to give up and let death take him, he was tired of fighting, screw promotion. The grunt reflected on how much he hated the covenant: he didn't believe in their stupid paradise or their gods, he fought to protect his home world, if his kind didn't fight then it would be destroyed ……… though he doubted that it even still existed, it had probably been burnt long ago. He wasn't a cowered, if he had the strength of an elite he would fight with the heart of his entire race and his blinding desperation, but he was just a grunt, a lowly Unogoy. None of that mattered now however, five walking corpses where beating 'Sunne to death and would soon turn on him. He closed his eyes and simply sat, trying to imagine his home world, he hoped that when he died that he would return to it.