Always eliminate a threat before it eliminates you...
McArthy pushed himself past a tree, tired beyond belief. He had been walking all day, and the sun was slowly beginning to set again. This time, he still had no shelter, though it seemed it wouldn't snow much at all. Still, the freezing cold was what worried him more.
The worst part was that he had no idea where he was going. Everything looked the same, a white, snowy forest. For all he knew, he could've been walking in circles for the past hour.
His legs were aching, and he was on the verge of giving. Maybe he could just dig a burrow in the snow and sleep there. He chuckled at the thought. Even if he actually wanted to do that, the snow wasn't high enough for that, and he didn't have a shovel or trowel.
Any hope of finding a safe place was slowly disappearing as McArthy's legs began giving under him. He leaned against a tree for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to rejuvenate himself. He knew he had to keep moving, if he gave up now, he'd just freeze and die out here.
After a minute of breathing, McArthy shook his head and continued moving forward. He swung his sack around, then grabbed his jug of water and drank some. Water wasn't a huge concern for McArthy, there was plenty of snow he could melt and boil, food was the issue.
He put the jug away, then stumbled forward through the snow as he was putting his sack on his back. He landed face first in the snow, then grumbled and sat up. He brushed the snow from his visor, annoyed, then saw something past a bush sitting in front of him. It was some kind of glow.
Excitement filled McArthy's body as he shot off and ran towards the glow. He pushed past the trees as he neared the glow, hopeful.
As the trees disappeared and the snowy ground turned to snow covered rock, McArthy stopped just short of a cave. The inside had a low glow in it, and took a moment for McArthy to determine how dangerous this was. Cave's don't naturally have light on the inside, and now McArthy was on edge.
He lifted his smg up, then slowly made his way into the cave. It might be dangerous, but he had to take the risk. He needed somewhere to stay the night.
As he slowly entered the cave, he noticed it curved around out of view, which was where the light was coming from. McArthy walked deeper into the cave, and as he approached the bend, he heard a crunch under his feet. He whipped his head downwards, only to see he stepped on an empty MRE bag.
McArthy froze, confused as he stared at the bag. He crouched down and grabbed it, wondering how it got here. He was staring at it, then he looked off deeper into the cave. As he looked, he noticed more. A few were scattered near the bend, and maybe there were more around the corner.
A thought struck McArthy as he stood up. Maybe there were surviving marines! Maybe he wasn't alone after all!
He threw the MRE onto the ground, then continued forward, now at a quicker pace. He rounded the corner, but the sight was not was he was hoping for.
There were more scattered empty MRE's, but there were also dismantled guns, random bullets lying around, and in the very back of the cave, there was a skeleton. The skeleton, scarily enough, was not human. It was a brute.
McArthy stared into the cave, more questions now than answers. Why were their human weapons and rations, but no human bodies? Why were all the weapons partly dismantled? Why was a brutes skeleton here? What was responsible?
McArthy slowly approached the skeleton. The cave ended right there, and there was an artificial alien looking lamp hanging on the wall. Whatever was responsible, it wasn't some kind of beast. It was smart. Smart enough to properly eat the MRE's, smart enough to dismantle human weaponry.
What was difficult to tell was how long has it been since whatever did these things was here. Maybe this cave was long abandoned, and this lamp simply hasn't run out of power, or maybe whatever roamed this cave was simply away at the moment.
His best bet of figuring that out was the skeleton. McArthy crouched down next to it, carefully observing it. The only reason this would be here is if it was a food source. It did seem to be old, looks like it's been free of flesh for a while now. If whatever lived here before didn't leave, why wouldn't they throw the bones away?
McArthy was honestly desperate, so he took that theory as a fact. Whatever was here, wasn't here anymore. Though he had more questions, he was happy to leave them unanswered. Right now, he just wanted rest.
One thing that made his desperation to simply rest even stronger was the warmth the lamp was giving off. McArthy looked down at the skeleton, which was sitting directly under the hanging lamp.
He grunted, then kicked one of the bones and said, "Guess I'll have to move it."
McArthy grabbed a hold of some of the bones and began walking out of the cave. Once he reached the exit, the temperature difference hit him. It was far colder out here, his body instantly beginning to shiver. The sun had disappeared now, leaving the landscape only lit by the moon above.
McArthy tossed the bones around the mouth of the cave, then turned around to grab more. As he approached the cave's mouth with more bones, something caught his eyes in the forest. He quickly tossed the bones out of the cave, then pulled out his pistol and aimed into the forest. Whatever caught his eye, it couldn't be anything good.
He moved his body to hug the mouth of the cave as he kept his eyes locked to the forest ahead, then he noticed some movement. Soon, he could see clearly what caught his attention. Strutting through the forest came two jackals, both holding onto beam rifles. They were softly chattering to each other, and luckily, they hadn't seen McArthy.
McArthy couldn't just hide, they'd realize he was there soon enough, he had to kill them. He took aim with his pistol, leveling the sights onto the closest one's head.
With a quick pull of the trigger, he sent a silent round drilling into the first jackals head, it's body immediately slumping and falling down. The second jackal squawked in surprise at the sight, but it quickly met the same fate before it could process what happened.
McArthy stared at the two corpses, his hands shaking as he held the pistol. One thing he didn't tend to make himself out as was a great shot. Good enough to be an ODST, but still. If he missed even one shot, those jackals would have either been on top of him in a heartbeat, or they would've bolted for backup, forcing him to leave his new shelter.
He slowly backed up into the cave, lowering the pistol as he continued staring at the bodies, then he turned and made his way back in. Perhaps those were the ones outside that outpost? Maybe they've been tracking him this whole time. It was possible, but if they were actively following him, wouldn't they have approached the cave with more caution?
McArthy groaned as his mind whirled in a circle of questions. He needed to put everything aside and simply get some rest, his body had begun declining again.
Hunger pangs began nipping at his stomach, but he was too tired to care. He'd eat in the morning, right now, it's time to get some rest.
McArthy kicked the rest of the bones away from under the lamp, then laid down under it. He was not comfortable in the slightest, simply laying on the cold, hard ground. But, he had to make due. He wasn't exactly in a comfortable situation.
The only upside was the low but comforting warmth given off by the lamp. That was enough for McArthy as his eyelids slowly became heavier and heavier, until it took energy to just keep them open. He happily accepted the darkness as he curled his legs into his armored chest, then drifted off to sleep under the lamp's warm light.
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McArthy's eyes lazily fluttered open, only being able to see a dark wall directly in front of him. He was stirring, letting out a yawn as he stretched his legs, then paused. Why was the wall dark?
He spun onto his back and looked up, only to see the lamp above him had gone out. As this realization set in, the cold once again began biting at him. It was colder than yesterday.
McArthy continued stretching his arms, wondering if the lamp ran out of power, then he turned and looked at the bend in the cave. He could see the natural light pouring in, it was very bright, which hopefully meant there weren't too many clouds out. Less chance of snowfall.
As his eyes adjusted to the light at the cave's end, he sighted something lying around the bend, which ran his blood cold. He could see a hand around the bend.
He grabbed his pistol from his thigh and instantly jumped up, hitting his body against the cave wall. He slowly crept towards the cave's bend, his eyes glancing from the clawed hand to the bend itself.
His hands slightly shook as he held the pistol, then he took a deep breath, raising the pistol to his chest. Once his hands were steady, he spun around the corner, his gun trained forward.
Nothing was there.
McArthy let out a sigh of relief, then turned his head down to see two jackal bodies sitting in the cave. He stared at the bodies, his stress running high. These were the two he killed last night, and now their bodies were in the cave. Something moved them here, something knew he was here, but for whatever reason, he was left alone.
McArthy turned and stared back out of the cave. The forest was bright, and there was far less snow than yesterday. Right now, he couldn't see anything unusual outside.
One thing that was unusual was the two beam rifles sitting next to the two corpses. Like the rest of the scattered weapons, they seemed to be dismantled. So whatever was here stayed around long enough to dismantle those weapons. There was a small chance they simply never rounded the corner and saw McArthy, but he highly doubted that.
He held his pistol forward, then slowly walked out of the cave. As he left the cave, he noticed something off out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the right, pistol raised, only to see three brute bodies, laid on top of each other.
McArthy's fear was growing. He shuffled his feet, gripping the pistol even harder now. He approached the bodies carefully, seeming to recognize them. Then it hit him, they were the three brutes from before, the ones that chased him.
McArthy kept his pistol trained on the bodies, then heard a pile of snow fall onto the ground behind him. He spun around in a flash, seeing a new small pile of snow sitting in front of the cave entrance. McArthy knew where to look next, but his body was almost fighting him as he crept his head upward.
Standing on top of the cave entrance, feet shifting, their eyes narrowed in on him, was a red armored skirmisher. They had no weapons on them, but that didn't make them any less threatening.
McArthy let out a yell, then opened fire on the skirmisher. A round struck the skirmisher in the chest armor, but they quickly dove out of the way in silence, then completely disappeared from his sight.
McArthy was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Should he give chase? He knew a skirmisher would outrun him easily, so he should run away instead. The skirmisher was probably making their way back to their commanders, his location was going to be made aware.
The best place for him to go was the complete opposite direction of the skirmisher. McArthy was quick to jump up over the cave, then he bolted in the other direction.
He ran through the forest for almost half an hour, wanting to put as much distance between that skirmisher and him as quickly as possible. As he ran, he thought he heard the sound of snow being kicked up behind him. He simply believed it was himself doing it, but his paranoia got the best of him and he finally spun his head around without stopping.
His heart sank as he saw the skirmisher tailing him from a distance. McArthy turned away and picked up the pace, probably running faster than he ever has before. His legs felt like they weren't even touching the ground at a point, though he blamed the cold for that.
Suddenly, he heard a loud squawk behind him. He turned to see the skirmisher gaining on him, seemingly preparing to leap at him. McArthy was about to let out a yell and shoot at it, but then his foot landed on nothing in front of him, then his whole body went flying forward. He crashed into the snowy hill, flying down a hill he missed as he was looking at the skirmisher.
He rolled down the hill, his eyes blinded by white snow flying into his view. All of a sudden, his rolling descent was stopped as his body crashed into something solid. McArthy groaned, slowly lifting his head up and giving it a shake.
Snow fell off his body as he raised himself, then he shot his head upward to look up the hill. At the top, he could see the skirmisher, but it wasn't looking at him. It was looking behind him. It let out a quiet squawk, then disappeared back into the forest. McArthy was confused, then he heard loud humming come from behind him.
He lifted himself up to his feet, then spun around. Behind him was a Covenant base. His body had crashed into a piece of cover that sat along others. They lined a loose perimeter around the base, and it was the only thing keeping him hidden from the Covenant inside.
McArthy pressed his body against the piece of cover, his breathing becoming erratic as he began silently panicking. He slowly pulled himself together enough to peek around the cover. He saw what made the humming sound as a ghost hovered in the opposite direction of him, a grunt piloting it. The base was a substantial side, he seemed to be near the front entrance. Two elites were standing in front of a door, each watching grunts roam around the front in patrols.
McArthy holstered his pistol and took out his smg, then continued to watch them, unsure of what to do. If he ran, they'd see him and hunt him down. If he crawled up the hill, they'd easily spot him and kill him.
He was clueless, and could feel the fear creeping back, then he watched the ghost reappear, hovering past the front of the base, slowly heading in his direction. He silently watched as the ghost passed the barricades through an open space, completely missing him.
An idea popped into McArthy's head as he watched the ghost pass him. He knew how to operate a ghost, and it was only a grunt in it. Not only would the ghost give him the firepower to kill the elite's and grunts around him, but he'd also have a quickie escape option.
He needed to do it now, because that ghost wasn't going to miss him the next time it came around. He shifted his body to hide better away from the ghost as it slowly turned around and headed back to the base, not letting the grunt see him. McArthy made up his mind. Like he said before, these Covenant bastards though all the humans were gone, they thought they would have it easy now. He was more than ready to prove them wrong.
His blood began pumping as he prepared himself. The ghost approached him, then it was about to hover into the base. Like McArthy thought, the grunt turned it's head and saw him crouching between the cover and the hillside. The grunt squealed, but before it could move the ghost, McArthy sprinted forward.
He shoved his smg into the grunt's face, filling it with lead, then promptly kicking the corpse off the ghost. He could hear confused grunts coming from the elites, then he jumped onto the ghost itself and grabbed the controls.
Grunts were roaming the open space in front of the base, unaware of what was happening, while the two elites were on guard, having heard the sound of silenced bullets. Suddenly, the ghost sped forward, ramming into the blissfully unaware grunts as it went.
The elite roared and began opening fire on the ghost with their plasma rifle. McArthy spun the front of the ghost at the two elites, then watched as the two froze for a single second, realizing their mistake.
McArthy opened fire, drilling into the two elites with plasma as they attempted to back up into the base. He tore through the first one's shield and melted them in seconds, then the second elite's shield broke just as it made it safely inside. McArthy wasn't going to let them recharge, then maneuvered the ghost right next to the door and dove off. He ran right to the dead elite's corpse, grabbing a plasma grenade from their waist. He activated the grenade, then tossed it through the open door and jumped back into the ghost.
He heard a loud roar come from inside, but it was quickly cut off by a loud explosion. McArthy sat on the hovering ghost, taking in deep breaths as the adrenaline pumped through his veins. He scanned the area, looking for any obvious hostels, only to see none.
Satisfied with the work he had done, McArthy spun the ghost towards the open space in the barricades and sped forward. As he went, he heard loud squawking and roars come from the base entrance. He shifted his head as he passed to see two jackals with beam rifles and a gold armored elite exit.
McArthy sped past them before they could open fire, and McArthy could feel almost a smile as he escaped the base. Even though the Covenant now knew there was a human left, he made it clear he was a threat. He was going to make sure they didn't have an easy time hunting him.
His celebration was short lived, however, as a beam shot ripped right through the underbelly of the ghost. It immediately stopped working, and crashed into the ground. McArthy was sent flying off the ghost, yelling as he crashed into the snow. Before he could even try to stop himself, his head crashed against a tree as he rolled, and he blacked out, the world around him disappearing.