The bullet had tore through Shi'ae's abdomen, leaving a gaping wound. She was struggling with trying to stop the bleeding, and she could feel her strenght being sapped away as more blood left her body.

She was running, into the woods that was beyond the exit she had taken out of that concrete hellhole.

Something else was hurt aswell. Not as bad as the bullet wound, but it hurt a bit. She knew their species were at war. She knew that billions had died because of her species, but she couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed, as if her good deeds had not mattered at all.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that the human, Oliver had more reason to shoot than not. Like what if he had been caught by one of his superiors?

When she had helped marines before she had always thought of the consequences of being seen by a superior. She shuddered at the thought of the such severe punishments that she would have to endure.

Another question that cropped up was why she kept meeting Oliver. The few other marines she had helped, or tried to, had shot at her or had been extremely hesitant, some outright refusing to associate with her. She never saw them again. That still didn't answer her question though. Her pondering was put on hold when she heard the sounds of UNSC forces not too far behind, and realising she was not in the clear yet she quickened her pace.

Oliver was unmoving besides the gun he held shakily, still pointing towards the spot the friendly sangheili had been, or was she even genuinely being friendly?

Either way he had done what he had done, and he couldn't keep standing still as the marines would catch up to him soon. He put the magnum back into it's oringinal spot at his waist and reloaded his assault rifle.

The questions that had flashed through his mind right before he had pulled the trigger returned to him once again.

Those questions aswell as other new ones lingered in his mind and would not go away. His mind was so distracted that he didn't notice that the marines he had been with were not too far away and were rapidly getting closer.

He looked towards their direction and waved at them to signal he was a friendly. The group was now considerably smaller than the original size but was still a sizeable force of fifteen.

Someone from the group, Oliver wasn't paying attention and really couldn't care to see who it was, asked, "Did the elite get away?"

Oliver nodded and told everyone in general, "I managed to get a shot in before it ran away, towards the woods I think."

Before anymore discussion could continue, a sergeant who had been strolling down the long corridor rather than jogging like the rest of the marines, had caught up to the marines he was supposed to be leading.

He didn't even say a single word or make any sort of loud noise but his presence was clearly perceived among the soldiers.

While he placed a cigar in between his lips and lit it, slightly chewing on the end as he was holding in place with his teeth, he had gained every marines attention.

He repositioned the fat cigar at the corner of his mouth and spoke in a strict tone saying, "Mission's not done yet marines. Orders are in, and some covies we didn't know about aswell as some ghost drivers are fleeing into the forest. It's mainly grunts and jackals, but still keep your wits about you, as those snipers have no trouble capping anyone dumb enough to walk into their sights."

He walked through the marines and took a step outside the fortress. Looking back expectantly at the unmoving group of marines, he said, "Let's move!", in a irritated tone.

The marines begrudgingly began to move out of the cold building. Once Oliver had stepped outside, warm rays of sunshine hit him. He basked in the relaxing sunshine, and it seemed to take away all of his worries, if even just for a moment.

It was just a very short moment indeed as the sergeant wasted no time in getting everyone running towards the woods to fulfil their duty.

They had been running for what felt like hours, although it had only been twenty minutes. With no sign of any covenant, the marines began to feel like the search was pointless.

The vehicles had to go the long way around the base and around the sections of forest where the trees were in much denser quantity, but they were catching up to the soldiers extremely quickly and would meet with them once the trees thinned out.

Oliver's lungs were burning and his legs aching, he wanted nothing more than to stop and give up the chase. The others were also feeling like this, and the sergeant, determined as he was, was not stupid and knew that now the warthogs would probably be the only ones fast enought to be able to track down any covenant.

He was not fully prepared to give up though as the grunts even with a large head start, had most likely been passed out them without knowing it.

A compromise between the two ideas was reached, the troops would instead scan the surrounding area in search for any hostiles. They were to immediately report it if they did, but they were not expecting to find anything.

Most went in groups of two or three, but Oliver was just glad to be alone without anyone looking over his shoulder to make sure he was doing his duty.

He found a quiet spot, away from the starting point but not too far in case he actually was caught out unexpectedly by some fleeing covenant.

He sat down at the base of a thick tree trunk, his back pressed up against the rough bark. It certainly wasn't the most comfortable, but at that moment in time, Oliver could almost sleep on anything, so maybe having a piece of bark wood sticking into him wasn't the worst thing for him.

He sat like that for a while, he didn't know for how long, but it was peaceful. He took in the scenery around him, noting just up ahead was a small clearing, with dew soaked grass covering the empty space, along with some odd, colourful wild flowers dotted around.

He was getting ready to leave his quiet sanctuary and return back to the sergeant, telling him he hadn't seen anything, presumably like everyone else, when he saw a thin stream just behind some trees. It was only the tail end of what he assumed was coming from a larger lake higher up somewhere, but he couldn't be sure.

He decided it would be good to freshen himself up, by throwing some cold water on his face. It would wake him up some more aswell, and he certainly didn't want to look like he had just been taking a nap while in the presence of the sergeant.

With no hurry, he calmly made his way over to the thin stream. He took off his helmet and placed it down at his feet. He knelt down on one knee and leaned forward, cupping some water in his hands and throwing the liquid over his face. He shuddered at the sudden cold reaching his red cheeks, appreciating not feeling like an oven.

Everything was going swimmingly, until he heard the sound of heavy feet impacting the ground behind him. He twisted his head towards the direction of the noise and was slow reacting, taken a few seconds to hide himself behind a tree.

What he had seen was a lone sangheili staggering across the small clearing, walking aimlessly and clearly disoriented. From Oliver's view point of view, the elite could be seen clutching it's side in pain before it went out of view. He then heard a soft thud, and peeking slightly around the other side of the trunk he saw the elite on the ground, lying on it's stomach, facing Oliver with it's eyes closed.

That's when it clicked for Oliver. After seeing it's, or rather her face, he realised it was Shi'ae. She had gotten weak from blood loss and exhaustion and passed out.

Oliver felt more unsure than he had done before around Shi'ae, wondering whether he would be treated as a hostile or not.

He though the first option would be most likely, so he drew his assault rifle and held it forward, in the rough direction of Shi'ae. He slowly started moving forward in a crouched position, careful not to make a sound.

He could tell Shi'ae was beginning to stir, and it wouldn't be long till she was fully awake. At this point Oliver was right beside Shi'ae. He took a deep breath, hoping to clear his mind in an effort to help him make a huge decision for the second time in just one day.

Will he help or kill her?

Anyone wondering, I pronounce Shi'ae as 'Shy ay', but it's a name I made up so you can pronoune it how you want.

Guests:

Nophlast: Thanks for the advice, cause I haven't given Shi'ae a second name yet. I will refer back to this review went chosing one though. Never originally intended for there to be different povs, but I like the idea and decided to start the chapter off in Shi'ae's perspective solely. If people like the idea I might occasionally do some more differant povs.

Goodnight everyone!