Kowalski was on the ground, his face towards them, blood covering it. His weapon was lying on the ground next to him. The corpse Rae had seen was kneeling over Kowalski. Its flesh was hanging off, and looked like it was rotting. Its overall form was human, but a human that had been chucked in the ground, buried, and dug up two weeks later. One piece of flesh was so damaged, its right kidney was literally hanging out, trailing on the floor behind it. It was bent over, its head on…or rather in Kowalski's chest. It was making loud crunching noises, and the tearing of more flesh. Rae raised his rifle, and aimed at the creature.
"Don't fucking move." He growled. The creature stopped eating Kowalski, and slowly turned around.
"God in heaven." Jack whispered. The creatures face was horribly mangled, like someone had attacked I with a hammer. Its left eye was hanging out, dangling around. Its distorted moth was covered in blood, a piece of meat stuck in its razor sharp teeth. It hobbled forward on broken ankles.
"Don't move or I will blow your…head…off." Rae ordered. The creature didn't stop.
"Don't say I didn't warn you when we meet in hell." Sergeant Rae pulled the trigger, and bullets spat out from the MA5B, and tore into its head. Brains and skull were displayed on the wall and ground behind it, the creature itself falling to the ground. The other soldiers all moved around the corner, weapons raised at the ready.
"What the hell is that?" Chuck MacGilly asked, one hand holding the rocket launcher, the other holding a pistol.
"I don't know, but it's dead now." Rae said, turning around. Before anyone could say anything, Jack raised his pistol and fired. Everyone looked around, and saw the creature on its feet, standing with no head. One of the Marines stepped forward, pumped a round into his M90 Shotgun, and fired. The things chest exploded, dark brown blood, the same colour as the mist around them, was blown outwards, covering a large area in front of it. The soldier stepped forward, pumped the shotgun, and fired another round into its chest.
"Now it's dead." He said, spitting on the corpses' corpse.
"Good work, Jones." Rae said, his hands shaking slightly. Only Jack noticed it, who had looked away from the two bullet holes in the wall just over where the creatures shoulder had been. Chuck put the launcher against the wall, next to the corridor entrance, and walked over to the edge over looking a large cavern, extending down further than his light allowed him to see. He unzipped his fly and attended to his business.
"Private, what are you doing?" Rae asked, seeing this.
"Taking a leak, sir." He replied. Rae laughed a bit.
"Take your time." He said.
"We'll break here for a while." Everyone slowly lowered their weapons, and placed them on the ground.
"You okay?" Adam asked Jack.
"Yeah, a bit." He replied slowly.
"Have you got ay family back anywhere?" Adam asked, leaning against the wall and pulling out a cigarette from his pocket, and a match. He lit it and took one in. He opened his mouth and let the smoke slowly drift out, taking the form of something in water, instead of formless smoke.
"Yeah, I got a wife and two daughters." He said.
"No shit?" Adam looked surprised.
"Three and five." Jack said.
"I don't have a picture on me right now. In fact, it's probably back on the Autumn. What about yourself?" Adam laughed.
"Never had a family, except for my brother, Connor. He died on one of the outer Colonies a few years ago." He explained. Jack looked into Adam's eyes, and saw no sadness, or anything.
"I'm…sorry." He said quietly.
"Don't be, I was glad. Bastard deserved everything he got. Killed both our parents when I was only five. He was fifteen at the time." Jack slowly looked around the room, seeing other Marines also lighting up. Jones, the one with the Shotgun, put his weapon on the ground, not far from Jack, and walked over to Chuck to go over the edge as well.
"Fucking stupid…" Adam muttered.
"What?" Jack asked.
"Going over the edge. God knows what's down there." He explained. Rae came up next to him.
"Not even God would know in this hell hole. In fact, he probably can't even see this place." He stated, taking the cigarette from Adam's mouth, and sticking it in his own lips. He blew three successive smoke rings. Jack looked over at Chuck and the man who had the shotgun. Chuck finished, nodded to the other Marine and walked off, moving for his rifle.
"Hey, you better have it." The other one called out to him, facing away from the edge. Jack felt his face drain of all colour as he saw three long tentacles reach up in front of the man.
"Look out!" He yelled. The man turned back, his hands still guiding himself, and nearly screamed. He never finished, the tentacles wrapping around him and snapping his neck instantly. The ma was pulled forward over the edge, being used as leverage by a giant ball of flesh as it flew over the edge and stood where the man had been, his dead body fallen over the edge, probably splattered across a few meters of ground miles below. Jack raised his pistol, aimed and fired. The new creature was similar to the first one, brown, rotten flesh hanging off, organs hanging out, and an elite head at the top, pushed backwards, its neck protruding through skin, which was slowly peeling away.
The creature made a loud gurgling noise as the bullet ripped through it. Jack hit every shot, almost impossible to miss at the range he was at. All the other men raised their weapons and fired. The creature flew back over the edge, howling as it went down.
"Look out!" Adam yelled, firing down the corridor. More of the creatures were running up the corridor, running faster than anything Jack had ever seen.
"Fall back!" Rae yelled, seeing Chuck being grabbed and ripped apart by a creatures tentacles.
They were literally growing out from where the arm had once been. The creatures consisted of Human and Elite corpses, all mutated and rotting. The stench filled the room, and didn't improve as the men ran towards the entrance they had came through. Two more marines went down, as three creatures appeared from behind a wall, biting into the men's necks and devouring them. The men made it to the entrance, and there was no sign of anything ahead of them.
The last two marines went first, followed by Adam, Jack and Sergeant Rae. He fired a few shots behind him, screaming British profanity at the creatures chasing them. Without warning, the soldier at the front topped, floated off the ground rapidly, and was brought to the side, his head slamming into the wall. He repeated it four times, the back of his head being completely crumpled in. He was then thrown to the floor, not moving. The second marine stared at the body, and barely had time to register to the shimmer in front of him as his throat was slit, blood spraying forward. Blood sprayed onto an invisible arm, revealing a claw. It shook itself, clearing off the blood.
"Camouflaged Elites!" Adam yelled, firing his gun forward. He was rewarded with the sound of bullets hitting shields, then penetrating through. A white Elite then appeared, falling to the ground riddled with bullet. Jack felt something push past him, moving with incredible speed.
He looked back, saw Rae being pushed to the side, and saw the creatures behind them slam into something, an invisible wall. But the wall was bending, in and out of the light. The Elite's camouflage gear was hit, and was fully revealed. It snarled and snapped at one of the human creatures heads, cracking it in two.
"Go!" Rae yelled, pushing forward. The three all ran the way they had entered the cave, hearing the fighting behind them. The Elite continued to snarl at the creatures, trying to push them back. One of the Elite creatures reached over with one claw, grabbed right two mandibles on the Elites mouth, and ripped them off. The elite reared back, screaming in pain, purple blood gushing out. It instantly reached down, and grabbed a blue ball, and ignited it. It stuck the ball to its chest, and two seconds later, just inches from being killed by a tentacle, the ball exploded, blue flames burning through the creatures.
Jack looked back and saw the flash of blue flame, and ran faster. They exited the corridor after a while, hearing the howling from the creatures behind them get closer.
"Sir, what do we do?" Adam asked. Rae looked around and could see a glow far ahead, the exit to the cave. But it was blocked by flashing lights, balls of energy flying in every direction, plasma grenades exploded, and all the while the howl of the creatures, killing Covenant, who were standing in the middle of a war they couldn't win. The two Marines and one engineer looked at the battle ahead, the howling behind them getting ever closer.
"We're not getting out of this one." Rae muttered quietly, lowering his rifle.
"You're going to give up?" Jack stared at him, knowing of Rae's reputation at not giving up. It was rumoured that Rae had once been childhood friends with the legendary Sergeant Johnson. They looked back and saw the creatures in the distance, getting closer. The creatures had won the battle at the entrance of the cave, and were running towards them.
"Great, we get to die at the hands of zombies," Adam muttered.
"But at least we won't go out without a fight." He reloaded his rifle, and racked a round into the chamber.
"Now would be a good idea to whatever God you worship." Rae muttered, getting to his knees. Jack looked around, his pistol swaying from side to side, not praying since he wasn't a religious man. Adam was standing, raised rifle, eyes moving, lips also moving, whispering a prayer. Jack heard the words 'Buddha' and 'Nirvana' mentioned a few times. Rae however, wasn't whispering.
"…When I vest my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold in judgment, I will take vengeance upon mine enemies, and I will repay those who haze me. Oh Lord, raise me to Thy right hand and count me among Thy saints." Rae slowly opened his eyes, each one filled with hatred that challenged anything. He got to his feet, and slowly reloaded his rifle, racked in a round and aimed at the closest creature coming up the corridor. Jack and Adam turned and faced the ones coming from the entrance of the cave.
"Fire at will!" Rae screamed. The three opened fire, and poured bullets down upon the creatures running towards them. One of them leapt into the air, very high. Jack traced it in the air, ad fired, the round penetrating its chest. The Creature fell to the ground with cracking of bones, and didn't get back up. Then a new form appeared amongst the creatures.
Small bulbous pods, moving on really small tentacles. They rolled ad bounced towards them. And then more appeared, large ones similar to the other new ones, but they only had two legs. Adam fired at one, and it exploded.
"Hell yeah!" He yelled, but stopped when he saw four pods fly out of the explosion, and start heading straight towards him. The firepower was slowing down the creatures, but they were still getting closer, albeit a lot slower than if hey weren't being fired upon. Jack reached over, grabbed a grenade from Adams belt, popped the pin and threw it at the creatures.
One of the human creatures had its mouth open, and the grenade slammed right in, cracking three teeth. The creature fell backwards from the force of the throw, and exploded. Fire engulfed a few creatures, and threw a few more in random directions, one slamming into Adam, knocking him down.
"Son of a bitch!" Adam screamed. One of the creatures leapt forward and onto Adam, it used its tentacle and snapped his neck. Jacks eyes widened, and his heart pulsed twice as fast. He suddenly spun around, and wrapped one arm around the creatures' neck, and twisted. Its head popped off from the lack of flesh and bone. Jack then moved and shot the thing in the back, through the chest.
He turned back and emptied is clip into creatures. He reloaded, aimed and was knocked down by one of the small pods. He looked back and saw Rae empty his rifle, reach for another clip and realise there was nothing there. He threw his rifle down the corridor, and then charged after it, going beyond Jacks vision. He could hear Rae screaming in pure rage, then pain, then silence.
Jack looked up and screamed as he saw one of the pods above him, a spike on the end of a tentacle and aiming it towards him. He gagged as the spike was rammed into his mouth, ad down his throat. He moved his hand, and aimed the pistol at his head. Like hell I'll let this piece of shit kill me, he thought.
He was about to pull the trigger when he felt something slam down onto his hand. He tried to scream in pain as another creature grabbed at his hand, and ripped the pistol away from him.
"No!" He managed to form the word, through the blood that was filling his throat and lungs. Slowly, he felt the pod move forward, and fit inside his mouth, tearing his jaw almost completely off, and then down his throat. The last thing Jack saw was a mental picture of his wife and kids, then nothing.
End