Charley stared at a sleeping marine lying on the floor in front of him. They had given Dan a sedative because of the pain. Charley was only just beginning to understand. Understanding the pain, the blood, the war, the sacrifice. He looked at where Dan was missing his left leg. He quickly turned away; it was too gruesome to look at.

Charley looked beyond Dan, where Sarge was sitting. Sarge was popping a couple of pills into his mouth again. He looked back to Dan. His sedative should be wearing off soon. All three had barley spoken since they had left the swamp.

Charley looked at Dan's face just as his eyes were opening. His mouth opened and he spoke in a weak and dry voice "You okay?" Charley nodded.

"And You?"

"I feel like my leg was cut off with a blowtorch." He looked at Charley and smiled. "Other than that I'm just dandy, thanks to you." Charley smiled too, until he saw that Dan had spotted his bleeding arm. He pulled his sleeve over the blood.

"It's nothing." He said hastily. Dan smiled again. Charley was doing just what he was; covering a wound, although his was much easier to hide. The bleeding from Dan's broken rib would soon lead to his own painful death. Dan let out a hoarse breath of air that led him to start coughing and wheezing. Charley hooked him to a portable nebuliser that he kept in the Pelican for his asthma.

Another hour passed. "Hey Sarge." Charley still had some unanswered questions. "What was that thing you killed; the one that shot Dan?"

"Can't be to sure private. I looked it up in our database and it identified them as 'Jackals'. I fought them in a mission a few months back. Nasty little things; took out four of my best men." He looked at Dan. "He's one of the lucky ones."

"I don't feel to lucky Sarge." Dan said aloud. Charley chuckled.

"Hey Dan."

"Yeah?"

"I never thanked you." Charley stalled. "For saving my life."

"No need to thank me Charley. Remember, you saved mine. I was just returning the favor."

"If you ask me you over-returned it. So I still owe you."

"Fine. You can by me a drink when we get back to Earth. After that we're square."\

"Done."

"Sarge, what are you doing?" Sarge was once again taking his pain medication. "Are you sure you need to take all those pills?" Sarge just stared at him, confused. Then he seemed to be recollecting.

"Well, maybe I mumsfddgs…" His voice trailed off.

"I think your becoming an addict Sarge. One of my friends got addicted to those once."

"It's none of your damn business private!" It was now terribly obvious that their commanding officer had developed an addiction to the pills in his pocket. But he saw that discussing it wouldn't help them right now.

They were now heading for another island; this one would hopefully be safer. This time, when they landed they were on fine sand. Charley and Sarge hopped out. "Charley and I are heading out to see if we can get high enough to contact anyone. You stay here."

"No!" Dan sat up.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you."

"Damn it man, you can't even walk."

"I'm coming with. If you leave me here, I'll come find you. Even if I have to crawl." Sarge saw that there was to be no change in Dan's mind.

"Charley, help your partner up." Charley walked over to Dan, grabbed his arm, and hoisted him up onto his good leg. Dan stood for a moment on his own power before Charley had to support him. So, with one arm draped over Charley's shoulder, Dan hobbled along with them on his one leg.

"So Charley, you gotta girlfriend back home." Dan had never thought to ask before. For all he knew Charley could be gay.

"Actually, I'm married."

"Really?" Dan was surprised at this. "Any kids?"

"Six." It was now definitely clear that Charley wasn't gay. Unless…

"How many are yours?" Charley seemed confused by this question. The look on his face changed as he seemed to understand.

"Four of them at least. I have no idea what she does in her spare time." Waddaya know, Charley has a sense of humor. Dan let out a laugh of kudos. He grasped his chest with his free hand. This broken rib was killing him, causing him internal bleeding and pain. Soon the blood would find its way to his lungs and he would die a slow and painful death. His hours were numbered.

After the pain numbed he drew his side-arm, just in case. It was a long, difficult journey up the steep hill of the island they intended to climb. Dan had stumbled and fallen more than once on the way up, one time proved to be fatal.

Dan and Charley were both exhausted and needed to take a brake. On the hop before they were to rest, Charley smashed his foot on a rock. He flung Dan off and held his throbbing foot. Dan fell flat on his back and began to slide down the hill towards a cliff that they avoided climbing. Dan and Charley shouted "CRAP!" in unison.

Charley, in panic, lunged down the hill after him. Sliding at about the same speed as Dan, Charley managed to grab his foot and a tree with the other hand. They both made a sudden stop that caused Charley's grip to slide to the toe of Dan's boot. They had stopped at a place where Dan could feel the edge of the cliff.

"Wow, that was close." Charley said.

"Too close." Dan replied as he found his own tree to clasp on to. He let out a tremendous shout of pain. The fragments of his broken rib had punctured his lungs. His time was now limited to minutes. Dan had also cut his leg on a branch.

Charley dragged Dan up and they caught up to Sarge. As they continued to walk, they started to become anxious; pretty soon Charley caught the unmistaken scent of gunpowder and burnt shrapnel. As they went further on they saw traces of blood, both human and covenant. As they pressed further still, they began to hear the sounds that would also be considered as evidence of battle. The noises grew louder and louder as they drew closer to the summit of the hill.

Finally, the sounds were loud enough to make it seem as tough they were a part of the battle. They batted away a thin layer of brush and the landscape instantly opened up into a massive battle that the sounds were surely protruding from. The ground in front of them was littered with explosions from assorted types of grenades.

Dan spotted the marine side of the battle and they headed for it. The other marines spotted them and provided cover fire. They made it over to the marines, who were using a small hill for cover.

Charley gently set Dan on the ground. Once there, Dan shouted "GET ME A SNIPER RIFLE!" Dan had some sniper training. Charley ran to a marine's body, grabbed the sniper rifle clenched in his cold fingers, ran back, and tossed it to Dan. "Thanks kid." Dan turned over onto his stomach and put his eye to the scope. He caught sight of an elite, and almost instantly shot. The bullet hit the elites left eye and it fell over, dead.

He searched the battlefield for another adversary. He spotted a small grunt and took aim. The grunt surprised him and threw a plasma grenade, blocking the shot. He lowered the rifle and rolled on to his back. As he did this he saw Charley run out into the battle field, right into the path of the grenade.

He held up his hand and caught the errant grenade. He then continued to run and tried to throw the grenade, but it had stuck to his hand. He panicked and ran to the closest elite. The elite grunted as Charley charged him. While the alien's mouth was open, Charley shoved the hand with the grenade down its throat. The alien gagged and bit down on Charley's arm with a CRUNCH! Charley tried a few times to pull himself free. Eventually, he pulled hard enough to pull his body free from his own arm.

With no time to think, Charley sprinted back to the hill. He didn't stop until he reached the other side of it. Not even when the grenade inside of the elite went off. The time when the entire battle field was almost instantly coated with a navy blue blood. Dan called to him. "Good job kid!" Right as Dan finished, an elite came over the hill. Dan didn't notice until his eyes traced the bath of a grenade Sarge had thrown at it. He fell on his back. The grenade bounced off the armor that was protecting the alien's chest. Dan raised the barrel of the sniper rifle to the bottom of the elites head and fired. Then he turned around to see the finishing path of the grenade. It was going to land right in the middle of all the marines.

He looked at Charley, who looked ready to jump. The next few seconds seemed like an eternity. As Charley's feet left the ground, Dan began a cry of protest; but it was too late for both of them.

Charley hit the ground a hundredth of a second before the grenade went off. He flew a fair distance from the blast. When he landed, the marines examined the body. His torso was shredded, his organs, shattered. Dan crawled over to look for himself. Moron or no moron, this was still his partner. The first thing he did after seeing he was dead, Dan looked at Charley's arm.

There, Charley had etched something in his skin, three words WAR IS HELL. Dan smiled, coughed up a liter of blood, and died. He died right there, in battle right next to his partner of combat.