Chapter 20: Parallel Paths
Boots slamming into the frozen water,
Will sprinted across the open ground to take cover on the concrete
wall opposite of where he was just at. Staring up, he could see
rounds from both sides flashing back and forth illuminating the scene
in bright flashes of gold as tracer rounds arced overhead. Back on
the other side the rest of his squad dropped drown to the river and
came across, taking up positions to his left, rifles at the ready.
Splitting them into two teams, he kept Matt and Kayla with him,
sending Chris, JJ, and Linda to the other side of the bridge. Taking
his back off of the concrete, he primed a grenade and just barely
lobbed it over the wall. Two seconds went by before it exploded,
showering them with debris from up above. In front of him landed what
looked like the shredded arm of a Forerunner, small wisps of smoke
trailing into the air from the point at which it was torn away.
Preparing to jump up, he crouched down a little before thrusting
himself into the air, getting a hold of the newly formed ledge from
the grenade. Pulling himself up with one arm he kicked the body of
the Forerunner who's arm he had seen. Looking to his right, the
creatures were focused on the entrance to the bridge, taking little
notice to the Spartan. Putting his arm over the ledge he helped Kayla
get up with him. Taking aim, she fired off a grenade from the
underslung grenade launcher, hitting one of them dead on and
shredding it's torso. The others, alerted by the sudden attack,
turned around, all the while being peppered by rounds from their
rifles until the creatures fell to the ground in a puddle of their
own blood. Over to their left a little, more Forerunners were coming
to reinforce the bridge.
"Is your team up?" Will radioed to
Chris.
"We're all here, tangos down."
"Good, get to the
buildings, we need to try and stay out of sight." Sprinting across
the street, the Forerunners missed them completely as they sent a
hail of fire back down towards the Marines. Taking cover in a the
remains of a lobby that was a shell of it's former glamor, they
waited in darkness. Sliding in a new clip for his rifle as silently
as possible, Will kept his eyes on the enemy, doing everything by
instinct. Satisfied no more were coming, he radioed Chris.
"Move out, stay
low and watch our backs in case the Marines are too good and force a
retreat." An acknowledgment light winked onto his HUD and Will
moved his squad out of the lobby. Heading down the blown out streets
his head was constantly swinging back and forth, always on the look
out. Checking his maps again, he was finally able to get a decent
idea as to where they were at based on buildings that were appearing
on both maps after being cross-referenced. Stopping at an
intersection, he motioned for Chris to cut across and start heading
perpendicular to their original direction. JJ ran across first,
taking cover in a stairwell that led up to another building's lobby.
Chris then went across as Linda aimed her sniper rifle down range
looking for targets.
"Go, we've got
you covered." Lowering her rifle she ran full sprint into the
street. About halfway across, a stream of anti-matter started to fly
all around Linda. At first it was inaccurate but it quickly zeroed in
on her, flaring her shields up blue before they blew off. Heading
over towards Chris's squad's former position, Will saw that a squad
of Forerunner had come around the corner but were in their blind
spot. Opening up full auto, his rounds impacted caused the shields
their shields to flare up as they ducked behind the cover of the
abandoned vehicles. Turning around he saw that Linda was lying the
street unmoving. Glancing back for a split second, he ran back
towards her position, waving Kayla off and then pointing to where he
had just been. Coming up to her, he could see that she had been hit
at least twice, once on the inside of her left thigh and a second on
her right shoulder. It was also obvious, from looking at the burn
marks and portions where the active camouflaging had malfunctioned,
returning to the default white metal, that she had been hit more than
once. Positioning himself so that he could face the Forerunners, he
brought up her vitals on his HUD and saw that, despite her wounds,
nothing serious had happened. "Chris, JJ, I want you to move up and
help them out, I'll take care of her." Two acknowledgment lights
winked on and the two Spartans ran past him, taking cover behind an
empty truck on the opposite corner. Moving Linda into a better
position to lift, he finally had to sit down and drag her up and over
him before he could easily get her onto his shoulder. Grunting loudly
as he got onto his knees and then stood up, one leg at a time, he
walked slowly towards the stairs and walked up to a large open area
above the street. Setting her down gently, Will removed her helmet to
let her breathe a little better. Flirting with unconsciousness, her
eyes rolled back and forth as they lazily scanned the area. "Hey,
hey, stay with me alright?" Reaching down to her leg he undid the
armor that covered her thigh revealing the black under armor, gel
from the crystalline layer oozing out. Gingerly reaching up at the
top of her leg, he tore a large section of the layer away just as a
few small geysers of blood sprayed across his armor before falling to
a steady, but manageable rate. Pushing down with his arm, he kept the
bleeding contained as he grabbed a can of biofoam. Sliding the nozzle
into the wound, he injected the chemical, withdrawing the nozzle as
the foam expanded and stopped the bleeding. Moving to her shoulder,
he removed the armor plate and peeled away a little more of the
undersuit before inserting the nozzle and sealing up the wound. "You
alright?" he asked her.
"Yeah, can I have
a gun?" she asked, still weak sounding. Unsure as to where her
sniper rifle was, he handed her his rifle, pulling out his pistol and
moving towards the other set of stairs. Looking out into the street,
a fierce gun battle had developed with both sides firing small bursts
before taking cover. The Forerunners were ducking down behind cars,
that, when shot with JJ's SAW caused a shower of sparks to spray all
over the place. Noticing one of the enemy seemed to be lacking
shields, he took aim with his pistol and fired off four shots, two of
them connecting with his exposed head, two clouds of purple blood
spraying out onto the road.
"Grenade out!"
Someone yelled. A few seconds later a golden explosion flashed in the
street, pushing one of the cars a few feet away before it's hydrogen
cell exploded in a brief burst of flames, tearing the rear of the car
apart and sending even more shrapnel out. Out of the smoke and flame,
Will could easily spot the remnants of some of the Forerunners while
the last two moved away from their dangerous cover and headed towards
somewhere a little safer, finally using an information kiosk. Running
down the stairs, he watched as Chris and JJ repositioned so that they
had a better view of the kiosk, moving ever closer until they were
fired on, then pulling back a little and waiting. Coming up next to
them, Will put a new magazine into the pistol before grabbing a
grenade. Pulling the pin, he held the safety trigger.
"Once they come
out, open up on them." Chris and JJ nodded as Will stood up and
lobbed the grenade next to the kiosk. The explosion ripped the small
building apart and sent the Forerunners flying into the wall and out
onto the street. The two Spartans were already waiting and unloaded
full automatic, Chris with his rifle and JJ with the SAW. Once they
were finished, both of the bodies had been almost completely ripped
open, portions of their bodies sprayed across the road.
"All clear,"
Will reported.
John paced back and
forth impatiently, his eyes focused on whatever was immediately in
front of him. Off to his right he could hear someone enter through
the large stone doors into his private chambers. Looking up, he
pivoted on his heels and put his arms behind his back.
"Our fleet has
just arrived at Testerossa. First reports are saying that the orbital
defenses were easily overwhelmed and troops are now making their way
to the planet's surface." John grunted in approval as he stood
contemplating his next move.
"Is there an
estimate to the amount of ships jumping towards the planet?"
"Yes, we have
discovered twenty-three individual jump vectors towards the planet.
Most are coming from nearby systems, one from Thandon. I'll return
when we have a more comprehensive report."
"Thank-you."
Look out a window as the soldier left, his mind focused on everything
that was happening, constantly analyzing it from different angles to
try and determine what the outcome would be.
"Oh...sir, I
almost forgot to inform you. You told us to tag any communications
that had the word "Spartan" in it. There were a few that got
picked up that had requests for air support as well as a Slipspace
jump. The others were for evacuation orders, but the group referred
to in those communiques was killed on their ship." Looking down at
a data pad, the Forerunner quickly read more of the report. "It was
determined that the ship that the surviving Spartans were on board
was the UNSC Tigre, the same ship that jumped to Testerossa."
Suddenly alert to this piece if news, John stepped forward slowly.
"You're sure of
this?" he asked, his voice low.
"The information
seems accurate, although I have not verified-"
"It's good enough
for me. Prepare a ship for Testerossa." The soldier nodded and
began jogging away. "One more thing...find an unused communications
channel so I can have a little chat."
A/N: I know some of you wanted me to move away from the paragraph format but it causes problems when there are splits in the story (as there is here) and so I'm just going to stick with this format, sorry.
