Halo: Betrayal of the Spartans

By: Natination

He coughed up blood as he hanged upside down in the warthog by his feet. Or at least he thought it was his feet that were keeping him up. Spartan – 145 Aka Nate looked down… He was thirty feet off the ground. Coughing up some more blood, he spit it out as he attempted to do undo his shattered helmet. The visor had broken and he was only able to see half the data he needed.

He undid the seals on his helmet and let it clatter to the ground a second later. He did the quick calculations of the math and came up with 31.5 feet off the ground. Close enough. Grabbing the dashboard he swung his legs free and was able to put them on a steady branch that had smashed its way though the windshield. The Driver had gotten his face mashed in by the massive branch. Nate looked in the back, No one was there. To be exact, the removable troop transport section was GONE. Ripped off by the nuclear shockwave, it must have tossed the warthogs in the air like a toy and plopped his warthog right in a tree that survived. The Tree was above a meadow of some sort the long grass concealing part of the bodies.

He began the long climb down the tree, he had to get out, he didn't know when the warthog would come crashing down from the weight. The Warthog still weighed at least 3 tons without the back section. Hopping/Hobbling down each tree branch, he missed a branch 7 feet from the ground and fell to the ground.

He walked over to the nearest body that was partially crushed by a warthog. Expecting an ODST, it wasn't. A Spartan, the camo painted armor was slicked with blood. The Spartan was Michael; He was basically the average soldier, carrying a battle rifle and Magnum pistol as weapons. He was handy with grenades and savored them for when the situation got sticky. A little trigger happy but a good comrade and friend nevertheless. Beyond his chest cavity was a bloody mess as he tried to stay alive. The Warthog had cut his legs off when it slammed into him. Nate sat on his knees as he tried to treat Michel's wounds. There was nothing that could be done, Nate had never heard of anyone surviving surgery this extensive. Michel tried to raise his head to speak to him. His hand grasped Nate's shoulder. Nate leaned in to hear him.

"I didn't want to die like this." Michel said. "Not alone. Not. Like. This."

"You are not alone in this." Nate said trying to comfort his friend. "I don't know if I'm the only survivor."

"I know now that I'm will not die alone." Michel eyes squeezed in agony. His upper body convulsed as he went into a seizure of sorts. He muttered something again and again as he shook.

"Mommy. Mommy. Dr. Halsey… please... help... me..." Michel said as he arched his back and neck in pain. His body stopped moving as it slowly arched back the way it came.

"Ah shit." Nate muttered as he lay down on the ground moving his head. He glanced at Michel before cursing again. Angry flowed though his veins as he wanted to hit out against something. Rising up he looked around some more and seeing no bodies near the warthog he put his hands where the warthog had crushed Michel's body. Lifting it up into the air he threw it into the tree that Nate had climbed down from. The other warthog stuck in the tree fell out and struck the other warthog on the ground.

The wind picked up as a ship landed nearby. Nate walked over to the warthog and pulled out a pistol. He didn't turn around. The ship landed and opened as the ramp hit the ground. If it was covenant, he wouldn't stand a chance, his shields were out and he didn't have any cover in this meadow. He reached down slowly pulled out the magnum on his thigh.

He wasn't going to go down without a fight. Not before he had some of the bodies of his enemies lying around him dead; and empty bullet cases around him with empty handguns. Nate gripped his pistols as he swung around and crouched to face the threat. He would go down in a hail of plasma if he had to.