Chapter Twelve

A/N I am writing this story to see if you people like the storyline, laterI will redo the chapters.

Jerusalem, Earth

0755 Hour, November 17,2552 (Military Calendar)/

"Hey, Roy did you see that!" Exclaimed Lance, pointing at the end of the horizon, which happened to be the end of the street.

"See what?" Asked Roy cautiously while keeping his glare at the long stretch of road in front of them. Roy and the surviving crew of the pelican flown by Malcolm had secured the other pelican only to find that six marines survived. Now they silently marched towards the LZ they were supposed to clear, but the strange thing was they had not ran into any enemies.

"That purple thing," Replied Lance with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Roy cursed under his breath; whatever Lance saw he knew it was out there. Lance had always been the one with better vision. That's why he made an excellent sniper and quite frankly Roy didn't care long as Lance killed it.

Roy strained his eyes over the horizon. Something moved but it was lost within the haze that surrounded it. As it came into a view Roy quickly realized that this was something new.

"Get into this street now!" Roy pointed at a street that ran parallel to their left; the marines and soldiers ran full blast and skidded to a halt when they reached the street. Here the buildings were in close proximity, most of them were apartments.

Roy moved to a building near the edge of the main street. He peered over the corner. The objects were much closer now, and they baffled Roy. They were the usual Covenant purple but they look like buses with mounted plasma turrets fixed on top.

"Lance and Seth what do you think of this?" Asked Roy trying to hide his curiosity that arose in his voice. The other two Spartans jogged to the corner and glared.

Seth's back stiffened and he looked around at Roy.

"I did a little studying on the first attack on Earth, and I found out that the Covenant had used several new vehicles. That there is a shadow, they are ground transports and those turrets atop are very powerful. We don't have the firepower to stop those Shadows so I suggest we find a empty building nearby and wait until they passed." Said Seth as he checked the rounds for his SMG.

"I see, Alright find an unlock door to one of these apartments." Announced Roy as he stared at the oncoming vehicles.

"Door locked," Said a marine as he tried to open a door.

"Same here," came the voices of several other marines as they frantically searched for an unlocked door.

"Got one!" Yelled Lance as he ran into the building. The building was right on the corner of the intersection.

Roy frowned; if the covenant saw them they would mostly likely search the closest houses. He cleared his mind and ran into the building last. The marines ran around setting up points of crossfire, in case the covenant found them.

Something thumped outside the thin walled apartment. Again and this time it was forming a rhythm. Roy glanced at the room; apparently it was a living room. The couch sat in the center of the room, the TV in front, the walls flaked off paint, and last the humidity of the place was making the walls peel and turn a nasty yellow or brown.

Thump, Thump, they were right at the window. Roy dived down and rolled underneath the window still. He pulled his legs onto his chest and waited.

"I thought I saw humans," The creature sniffed loudly and continued.

"Smells like them,"

"You! By the window quit your whining there are no humans here, now come and get back into the shadow." Shouted another voice.

A shadow came across the window as the creature peered in. Roy's heart beat like an assault rifle. Adrenaline rushed through his body increasing his awareness of his environment.

Suddenly a pot of rotting flowers fell and broke into a thousand pieces. The creature grunted and intensified his stare and then shaking his head walked away.

As the sound of the covenant vehicles died, the soldiers got out of there hiding spots. Roy slowly arose and stretched and grabbed his rifle.

"Were those Brutes?" asked Roy

"Yes they were," Replied Seth as he helped a nearby marine out from under a table.

"We are coming up on the LZ we are supposed to clear."

Roy stopped dead while rounding a corner. The LZ was heavily guarded with Wraiths, Ghosts, and a few of those Shadow things.

Roy froze his blood ran cold he had just now seen his first brute. It appeared like a hairy- gorilla like and rhinoceros creature. Its arms gripped the controls of the plasma turret.

Roy motioned with his hand to stop the squad. They stopped and the massive LZ too took them back a few paces.

"Hey, man we don't have enough firepower to kill those things," Said the marine that was freaking out during the ride down in the pelican.

"Shut up," Whispered Lance keeping an eye on the Brutes.

"We are going to die!"

"You hear me covenant come and get---Roy moved and put his gauntlet around the marine's mouth to silence him.

"Hey you need to quiet down."

The marine reached for his pistol and aimed. Before Roy could react Lance grabbed the gruff of the marine's neck. With the speed of a god threw the marine's body into a wall. A loud crack came from the marine and his body felt limp.

Roy studied Lance for reasons Lance just didn't go around killing people.

"He was going to shoot at you," explained Lance.

Before Roy could respond a voice came over the COM.

"Come in Spartans backup is on its way, just hang tight."