Chapter VII : Hell

'' Chief wake up, c'mon already we might have a little problem ''-Cortana's voice filled the Chief's head as he tried to regain his balance, after all that trip by the portal like thing sent his head spinning. How he wished for a few aspirins now.

Those thoughts were quickly pushed apart as he saw just what Cortana meant, rivers of lava, huge skeletons and my favorite floating rocks that defied the laws of gravity known by men.

'' See what I mean ''- Cortana said to the Chief as he surveyed this new environment for any hostile, then he realized his weapons and grenades were gone.

'' Just like in the dream… ''

'' Did you say something, O well never mind we better get moving to try to find the others, as well as the BFG you lost, after all It costs a pretty penny ''-Cortana said to the Chief as he acknowledged ,with that kind of firepower someone could do a lot of damage.


After some minutes that seemed hours, the Chief and Cortana were unable to find any of their fellow team members, it seemed strange but the Chief felt more and more weak by each step he took over the burned ground, even the rock he grabbed as weapon was beginning to slide from his hand.

'' This doesn't make any sense, I cant contact any of our teammates ,but our com system can reach miles long, and how come its getting darker with all this light glowing from the lava pits ''- Cortana said to the Chief as she activated herself the armor's night vision only to be surprised that it didn't had much effect on the dark .

'' Leave it like that , I don't think our normal rules even work in this strange place ''

'' Maybe, but I've been thinking, those demons appearing in the base, the zombies and now this, don't you think that this place is…well ,Hell ''- Cortana said to the Chief.

'' Frankly I don't know much of religion or anything similar to that place, but I've heard a few thing's about that place so lets hope it's not ''-The Chief said as he spotted an entrance to some sort of cave.

'' How cute, they put a huge skull in top to lure us inside, don't you think'' –Cortana said as they looked at a horned skull in top of the cave like structure. Deciding to enter since it was the only way no sooner half way there a scream echoed the cave. Recognizing it as human the chief ran double time, but the low visibility delayed him as the voice kept screaming pleading for mercy, when he finally reached his destination he found some strange beings eating the remains of a fallen ODST, the beings sensing the newcomer turned to greet him leaping on top of him and biting him with their two mandibles. The chief kicked it off as the other two circled him ready to attack their prey, the Chief saw this and grabbed one as it jumped and toss it over his companion, he then grabbed his rock from before and slammed it in the nearest monster head, the remaining maggots continued their relentless attacks ,but the personal shields deflected their claws long enough so that the Chief slammed his fist in the maggots chest ,then he grabbed the remaining one and beat it countless times until it mysteriously burned down.

'' Strange ,they didn't do that in our world ,we better get moving, something tells me that they aren't dead ''-The Chief acknowledged Cortana's words and approached the fallen ODST to retrieve any weapon he carried. A combat knife and a M6C pistol half loaded,-'' better than nothing''- he thought , he stored the knife in one compartment of his armor and for the first time he cursed himself for not keeping one himself on any mission. Finally he retrieved his tags.

Proceeding trough the dark corridors that seemed to be more and more sophisticated as he continued, he stumbled upon his assault rifle in the center of the room .

'' There is your rifle, but something's wrong don't you think ''-Cortana said as the Chief looked around the room, it was obviously a trap.

'' Maybe we should just leave it there and…''-Before Cortana could finish ,the Chief grabbed the rifle and drew his pistol, he fired 5 times from his pistol to the left and unleashed half clip of the rifle to his right, then the other half to his front. As the chief reloaded the 5 imps fell to the floor filled with bullets.

'' Pretty cool, but next time you should listen to me'' – Cortana said as the Chief reloaded and proceeded his way further on.

The corridors seemed more like a maze luring unfortunate guests to their doom, the Chief decided to turn his mounted lamp as well as the one in his MA5B assault rifle, It was a tactical mistake to let his position be revealed to his opponents but, it seemed that they already could see him no matter where he went.

'' You feel it too right, someone's watching us ''

'' Not someone, something…''- Those words didn't make Cortana feel any better, was it fear , impossible an AI as herself was far complex but not enough to feel fear, but then again something in this place made her rethink that idea. The Chief was also beginning to feel a bit of fear, but having Cortana with him made him feel he wasn't alone in this, not like that time he went to search for captain Keyes alone only to find the Flood, he was sure glad this time she accompanied him in this mission.

A sudden growl made the two of them stop thinking and began searching for the source of the sound, the chief aimed his rifle to each passage unaware of what side would it appear.

'' Sorry to bring you the bad news but… ''-Cortana couldn't finish as the Chief was tossed from behind as he turned to see the source of the growls. The Baron of Hell. Wasting no time he unloaded his assault rifle on the behemoth, but it only made flesh wounds that didn't even made the demon flinch. The chief tried to maintain his distance from the demon, but he suddenly felt something solid behind him, some sort of wall he couldn't see very well due to the low visibility. The demon approached him with every step beckoning in the tunnel.

'' If you kill it now ,It would be really nice ''- Cortana said as the Chief unloaded his assault rifle and pistol until he heard the familiar click , he was out of ammo. The demon lunged his claw to attack but the Chief avoided it and slammed his rifle to the demon's back barely moving it, a sudden blow sent the Chief backwards as he saw his shields were half full, the demon turned and fired his red plasma completely draining the chief's shields and blasting part of his armor.

The Chief had no choice to retreat ,seek cover and wait until his shields were up again, the blast from the demon managed to burn him in the chest but he held the pain as he ran ,or else the demon would catch up with him. After a while the Chief seemed to lost the demon behind him as he leaned in a nearby wall knife in hand, when Cortana saw something interesting in front of them.

'' Look what could that be, my sensors detect a massive energy emanating from it '' –The chief looked at what Cortana had seen, a small blue orb somehow floating on top a pedestal, normally it would be a trap, but the Chief felt lured to it , as he grabbed the orb after who knows how much of Cortana's complains not to, he quickly felt the pain go away and strangely his armor began repairing itself.

As the Chief saw the orb he suddenly let go of it as it returned to its pedestal.

'' We just didn't saw that ,didn't we''- Cortana said as the Chief only nodded, souls, human and covenant were inside of the orb ,almost as if they were suffering , the Chief grabbed the orb once more and slammed it to the floor releasing his prisoners, that's when the Baron found him.

The chief made a fist turning his fingers white beneath the armor, inside the orb were the souls of the marines and covenant killed in the attack of the base, on top of that he could see his fellow Spartans as well 120 and 159, maybe this wasn't the same demon that killed them but, it was the one that was going to receive the unleashed fury of the Chief.

The demon attacked from afar with his red plasma ,but the chief narrowly avoided the blasts with a refreshed speed due to the orb, the demon saw that he was getting closer and tried to slash him but the chief severed his right arm with the titanium alloy blade he picked up, as the demon cried in pain the chief jumped to his back dived the blade to the demon's neck and quickly with effort he cut the throat open, the demon tried to avoid his blood from spilling out of his wound but at the end he fell on the floor lifeless. The chief saw his blade bent due to the hard demon's skin, he wished that the ODST carried with him one of the new vibro blades that ONI design recently, he sighted and dropped the blade in the floor.

'' Guess that we'll need to find another rock ''- Cortana said to a tired Chief, however the Baron was still alive and tried to bite the Chief from behind, but a sudden shout warned the Spartan of the danger.

'' Chief behind you ''- 125 yelled as the chief quickly elbowed the weak demon as he stumbled back as 125 unleashed a plasma cell of the BFG blowing the demon to pieces. The Chief saw three quarters of his shields go down due to the proximity of the blast radius as 125 helped him to his feet.

'' Good to see you sir, it's been hours here without any familiar faces, you don't mind that I used this baby a while don't you ''- 125 said as he handed the BFG to the Chief .

'' No problem if you used it to blast some demon's with it ''-The chief said as he reloaded the BFG with plasma cells from his belt as 125 simply nodded and switched to his BR55 battle rifle. They advanced more efficiently now with a companion to watch their back, a few imps and maggots so far as they walked to what appeared to be a crematorium.

'' By the way 125, did you found the BFG in the middle of a large room ''

'' Yes I did Cortana, It was obviously a trap but those damn demon's didn't count with the destructive power this weapon had, I fried them in one shot.'' -125 replied as gunshots could be heard close by. The two Spartans quickly reached the origin of the battle to find 3 ODST's fighting waves of wraith, the ODST's kept firing but the new demons transported themselves more faster avoiding some shots.

'' O thank god ,Spartans ,we could sure use your help sir ''- An ODST said as he approached the Spartans only to be stabbed half way there by a hidden wraith.

'' Quickly drop down ''- The Chief yelled to the ODST's as he fired from the BGF into the dark, countless screams and green flashes filled that area as the demons died down. The Chief and 125 approached the two battle fatigued ODST's ,their armors showing a few scratches and some flesh wounds.

'' Good to see you sir , It's been Hell , literally since my squad arrived here ''- The ranking ODST said as the Chief noticed his hands were shaking.

'' Calm down soldier ,we need to stay focus or we wont be able to get out of here''

'' But don't you get it , those damn demons are invincible ,worse than the covenant, our squad was of 12 ODST's and now look in less than an hour one by one has been killed or disappeared , were doomed , doomed I tell you '' – 125 grabbed the ODST by the collar and pinned him to a wall.

'' Stay focus damn it ,you're a leather neck ,so stop whimpering and get working with us, do you prefer to stay here and let those damn things kill you, or would you prefer to give those damn demons hell before they even get a chance to dig their claws to you ''

'' Sir ,I prefer to give those fucking things Hell for it ''- The ODST said as he reloaded his shotgun.

The newly found group advanced trough a new hallway with some strange cocoon things hanging with rotten meat stored inside them, an eerie light emanating from who knows where illuminated their way, the Spartans and ODST's advanced with caution to not let any of those cocoons alert of their position.

'' Chief you better get a look ahead of you ''- Cortana motioned the Chief as the group saw one of those cocoons with ,what appear to be a human corpse store in it. As the Chief approached to examine the body ,the corpse began frantically moving trying to set itself free.

'' O shit, what exactly did that to him ''- An ODST stumbled backward and vibrated a cocoon nearby, screeches and pointy things could be heard approaching their position, as the team readied their weapons for incoming hostiles the chief caught from the corner of his eye countless spider like things rappelling from upside, these creatures appeared to have an inverted human head and leaped to bite their prey.

The team fired on every direction killing countless of these abominations but the numbers seemed to be increasing instead of lowering down.

'' Fire a charge to the ceiling Now''- Cortana yelled to the Chief as he instinctively obeyed , the BFG charge killed who knows how many spiders from the ceiling as well as illuminating the room, the spiders appeared to be coming from nearby holes and they didn't gave the team time to rest, The Chief fired another round to clear a way out and ordered 125 and the ODST's to run trough it, the team run like hell firing a few rounds behind them to keep their pursuers at bay, as they entered a narrow passage, they throw a few frags as the chief fired to the top of the tunnel to seal it .

'' Man this sucks, when I get home I'm gonna buy tons of bug spray '' –The ranking ODST said as the team reloaded its weapons and proceeded onward.

'' Hang on, I'm detecting a signal nearby ,Its 133 ,lets move east from our position ''- Cortana said and the team headed there ,especially the ODST's having a third Spartan in the team would increase their chances to escape there alive.

The Chief leaded the way as 125 guarded the rear , as the Chief advanced to a new Hall he received a few shots.

'' Those were bullets ,probably there are more survivors ''- The Chief acknowledged Cortana and called to the new contacts.

'' This is Spartan 117, any UNSC force respond ''

'' Hold your fire Douglas, he's a friendly ''- The Chief walked to the Hallway to find 3 more ODST's , the one that called out seemed to be a sergeant.

'' Thank god sir, we thought that we were the only ones alive here ''

'' Sergeant we detected the presence of Spartan 133 nearby, was she with you''- Cortana asked the sergeant.

'' Yes she was with us but she headed forward a bit to secure the area a while ago, she must be returning shortly ''- And by the sergeant words Spartan 133 returned but not as he thought ,instead something from the dark hall toss a Spartan helmet with a head still occupying the place, all weapons turned to the hall as from it 3 Pinkies appeared and rammed their prey, the fires from the soldiers didn't slow them down however suddenly the 3 mechanical demons flied to the air as the Chief fired a level 2 Charge from his BFG. 125 kneeled the lifeless head of 133 as he punched the floor in impotence of not being there to save yet another of his teammates , the Chief saw this , these new Spartans were very united as he was with his old team, he approached 125 and put his hand on his shoulder.

'' Don't worry son, we'll escape here alive and we'll bring a lot of pain to every single bastard responsible for this ''- 125 nodded and held a grip on his battle rifle eager to unleash a wide burst on any damn monster that appeared in his way.

The growing team proceeded onward, two of the new ODST's had the experimental plasma rifle and advanced with the Chief in front, now with these weapons the other members felt a bit more secure, however a few screams startled the tired soldiers, the team advanced double time once again hoping to find more survivors of the infiltration mission on the covenant ship, however they stopped as they saw a few elites grunts and jackals barely handling countless imps that crawled from the dark to attack them.

'' Sir lets leave these covenant bastards to be ripped apart by those demons, they deserve it '' – an ODST said however the Chief had other ideas, he jumped down from his position and approached them.

'' I know what you're thinking but It wont work ''- Cortana said almost knowing what he was going to do.

'' Maybe but lets hope it does, because our team alone doesn't have much chance to survive by our own '' –The Chief said as he charged the BGF and fired to the wave of Imps, the first lines vaporized as the remaining ones leaped to escape of the new threat. As the remaining Covenant saw 'the demon' ,they raised their weapons, the remaining ODST's and 125 joined the chief and did the same, they stood there for a long time not firing until the elites lowered their weapons and said something in their alien language.

Seeing how the grunts were the only race of the covenant with translators by the moment the Chief asked the grunts just what those elites said.

'' Masters say that they fail great journey, and that this is punishment for them ''- The small grunt said as the Jackal remained indifferent still aiming his Particle rifle to the newcomers.

'' Look we're on our own in here ,there's no covenant army in this place so there's no rescue coming for them, also I don't know what they think of the great journey but this place isn't related to it or any of their religion, It's another world of some sort and the only way to escape its if we work together , tell them that ''- The Chief said to the grunt as he retold the same words in their language to his elite leaders. The elites made some barking sounds showing their discontent.

'' Sounds like they didn't like the idea, don't you think '' –Cortana said to the Chief.

'' Then tell them this, they can either come with us or stay in here to be killed ,your choice but don't choose to fight us, we outnumber you ,as well as in firepower ''

The grunt told his elite leaders the message and once again the were furious ,however they told something to the grunt.

'' Elite master say ,we join you but after we escape ,we'll be enemies again ''- The grunt said to the Chief , after all the covenant only had 2 elites ,3 grunts and 1 jackal, they had to accept.

'' I still think this is a bad idea sir, maybe we should kill them and take their ammo and weapons, we'd be better of in our own ''- 125 said by a private com to the Chief.

'' No, we need all the help we can get, besides we easily out power them, so don't worry , any wrong move and they're dead ''

The elites draw their plasma swords and pushed away the Chief so that they could lead the way, the grunt didn't matter were they where, in front or in back, they just felt more secure with these 'demons' as allies.

'' Chief I sense a power source similar to the one that brought us here, it's a few clicks to the north ,maybe it's a way out ''- The Chief acknowledged Cortana and motioned the group to advance north, the elites opposed and wanted to head west, however after telling the grunts that the way out was probably north of there, they changed their minds and headed there. The team stopped as they saw an energy column formed with like it seemed souls.

'' That's the way out ?''- The Chief asked Cortana.

'' We'll one thing's for certain ,it's the power source that I detected, as for where it lead us well that's still a mystery''

Save us…

The same voice filled the Chief's mind once more, last time it leaded to this place ,but this time it sounded more deeper, the Chief felt more close to the source of the voice, but he was still uncertain to enter the energy column.

'' Chief It's a dead end we better return and find another way out '' –The sergeant said to the Chief.

'' No, this is the way out, I know its strange, but you must trust me on this one ''

'' Chief I've seen stranger things since I came here so what the heck lets enter it ''- And so the team advanced at the same time , once again the revolving feeling sent their minds spinning ,as they reappeared , they looked at their surroundings.

'' It's the same mausoleum from my visions…'' -The chief whispered as the team aimed their weapons to their surroundings in fear of hostile forces hidden in the dark.

Fear Is what drives you to find a way out of here…

But there will be no salvation for your souls…

A gothic voice filled the walls of the mausoleum as the team searched for it's source. The Chief didn't recognize this voice, It wasn't the same that called him before.

You have come far and almost retrieved it…

But now your fears will consume you before you even touch it…

A squeamish sound began moving it the darkness. The elites and the Chief recognize it but ,they couldn't pinpoint what was it. A frightening scream turned their attention to an ODST as countless blobs latched onto him. The others watched in horror at their new opponent . The Flood.

'' Open fire damn it''- The sergeant yelled and so every one fired to their surroundings, the grunts ran in fear as more and more infection and combat forms appeared from the darkness. The Chief looked for an escape route but the place was sealed and their team was being forced to a tighter arena.

Save us…

The Chief turned around and found the origin of the voice, a strange golden cube with spikes coming out of it, the Chief decided to try and grab it however a huge horned demon appeared from the shadows, just like the dream.

'' The guardian ''-The chief said as the massive demon blocked the way to the cube. More and more flood appeared and continued their relentless attack to the group, the Chief saw no choice, the only way to escape was with the cube in their power, but first he had to eliminate the Guardian.