New Addie, Providence
November 30, 2557
"Okay, here's the plan." Austal said, gathering himself, Adrian and the two teachers at the front area of the grocer. "Fowler's on his way with a large bus and Bowman's taken control of a hostile wraith to act as an escort. There's no doubt that the Covenant are going to be curious and charge straight at us guns blazing. Once we're all aboard, we only have one shot to blast through the highway up to a UNSC outpost in the mountains."
"What can we do to help?" Katie asked.
"Get all the kids on in a quick but orderly manner." Adrian replied, "Do they have instructions on what to do during a field trip?"
"Yes. They know to keep their heads down and seatbelts fastened."
"Okay, they should both be back in less than ten minutes, so get everybody ready ASAP. Fowler said that there are seatbelts inside this one-"A dull snarl cut off Austal, failing to escape his attention. His HUD flashed with one large blip just outside the wall. He held up a hand to silence the women.
"I got a contact." He whispered. "Head back."
"I got your six." Adrian responded as she unslung her own rifle.
Giving a nod, he checked his rifle; empty.
"Shit." That meant his M6. Up against a Brute, he'd have to rely on more stopping power than a measly pistol. As he exited the store and started scanning the surrounding area, he suddenly wished he had asked Meredith for her BR.
If it was a brute, he wished it wasn't wielding a gravity hammer. Many times, he'd seen footage of chieftains and even some of the lower ranking captains charge recklessly into a hailstorm of UNSC brass and deliver bonecrushing blows that would send Marines and ODSTs flying into the air. Their voracity and ability to tolerate huge amounts of punishment made them one of the most formidable Covenant troops to fight against and their spine chilling roars added to their fear factor.
The large blip was to the store's left so he crouched down and crept forward, feeling the armor's camouflage module kick in.
Sunrise wasn't for another two and a half hours and the sky had yet to show the red-orange glow. His eyes easily saw through the cover of darkness.
The snarl sounded like it had come from a brute, but his motion tracker had a hard time identifying what it was.
Proceeding down the side, he eyed the tracker again. There were several huge chunks of concrete that had fallen close to the wall during the initial occupation of New Addie and he spent ample time clearing the entire block, suspecting whoever was trying to ambush him was behind the rocks and aware of his approach. The contact registered itself directly in front of him and he had yet to clear all the dozen chunks.
Movement had caught his eye as the slab directly in front of him shifted again.
"Merde." Marcus cursed as the figure unlimbered itself and stood to its full height. Compared to the enormous twelve foot hunter that stood up to confront him, he suddenly would have rather it be a crazy hammer wielding chieftain. He deactivated his camo, being useless since the creature had already detected his presence.
The titan's gaze focused solely on Austal and it let out a rumble that was more felt than heard. Wielding a devastating fuel rod gun that incinerated just about anything in one hand and the other was a super-dense shield that probably accounted for a third of the hunter's total weight. Hunters were known to pose little care to lesser Covenant species like grunts and jackals being the worst victims of the shield attack. When they retracted from a blow in such scenarios, there was usually little more than just a bloodstain smeared against the wall or floor.
Any good UNSC soldier knew that where there was one hunter, a second one was close by.
Snarling again, the hunter suddenly lunged forward with surprising speed. Austal was hit by the shield in his chest and the blow sent him zooming backwards. His motion was only stopped when he impacted a concrete slab. It was remarkable when he hit the side that it didn't shatter, but to him, the feeling was like taking a hit from a rifle butt and getting winded. Tears began to cloud his eyes as the sharp pain decided to strike his upper right chest area like a hot fire.
Gunfire suddenly erupted from the store's front and he heard the rattling of Adrian's battle rifle moments later.
"Marcus! We're under attack! Where the hell are you?"
The hunter gave an unimpressed snort and raised its arm cannon to finish it off. It glowed a luminous green as it charged up the lethal bolt. If Marcus didn't act fast, he'd join those pitiful grunts and jackals in their death by hunter.
He managed to execute a roll to his right, just as the hunter fired its weapon, blowing the concrete chunk into powder. It emphasized its frustration at the second failed time to kill him and swiped its shield arm at a second concrete block, tossing it effortlessly as a gravball.
Austal dodged it just in time.
"Bowman where the fuck are you guys?"
"We're en route back now. What's the situation?"
"Under heavy fire!" Adrian shouted, "At least a dozen brutes closing in on our position!"
"Add two hunters!" Austal ducked another swipe from the said enemy, this time the shield struck the side of the building and the force was enough to strike a large hole in the stony wall. A moment later, he heard a chorus of the children inside screaming from all the commotion.
"Hang tight! Fowler! Step on it!"
Now Austal understood. It was all a brute ambush. They knew that the Eon had come to the humans hiding in the market and left to locate transport capable of fleeing the settlement. Bowman was smart to leave at least one Spartan; Austal to hold guard the civilians while they were away. The brutes knew that and must've sent the hunters to keep him occupied while they dealt with their primary assault.
He wasn't about to continue being this overgrown overpowered worm can's punching bag. He made his temporary escape into the hole and looked around. Now he was over in the backstage area of the store. There were several crates strewn about and a ton of shelves that had a couple packs of food. He spotted a large metal door and went up to it. The digital temperature read level four out of seven, meaning that the big freezer was only about half as cold as it possibly could get.
An idea popped into his head. He had no explosives and a pistol with eight rounds left inside. There was no direct way he could tango with an enraged hunter.
His idea would get him one of the two things. One; would be killed and having frostbite as the least of his worries and two; would be survive and reprimanded by Bowman for a dumb-ass idea.
He hoped it would be the latter.
Opening the freezer, he adjusted it to the coldest setting and looked around. There were a lot of beverage products stored here. He grabbed a case of water and opened the bottles, spilling them onto the floor. The liquid pooled into the freezer's center and by the time he was done, he stood ankle deep inside.
Now for step two. He pulled up his temperature monitor and saw that it was already beginning to drop. The water was beginning to freeze already.
A child's scream got his attention as he saw the hunter make its own entrance into the store's side by barging straight through. It turned its head and spotted the group of kids huddled at the back, the two teachers protectively trying to keep them as calm as possible.
It wasn't working very well. The grim hands of death were hovering ever so near.
"HEY!"
The hunter turned at the shout. Just as Austal ran at top speed and used his body to tackle the beast twice his size. Although he could see them, he knew that Katie and the rest of the civvies had just gasped at his move. The hunter crashed into the storage area just outside the freezer with Austal on top. Although he had a clean shot at the hunter, he couldn't stay there long or he'd be hit hard again and he fondly remembered the first encounter minutes ago.
Instead, he brought his pistol to his left side and fired four bullets into the mounted arm cannon. The first two shots glanced off the heavy armor, but the next ones dully buried themselves into the fleshy section of the arm.
The hunter was not happy about this and grabbed Austal's back, tossing him off. He landed awkwardly, feeling the impact partially deplete his shields, but quickly scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain that flared in his side again.
The creature stood up, charging forward again. Austal easily dodged the blow, since they were hard-hitters, but not necessarily fast.
He threw open the freezer and baited the hunter who charged straight at him. This time, he moved backwards, slammed the metal door shut, essentially locking himself inside with the beast.
Not a smart move. Anyone who puts themselves in a confined space with close proximity to a giant Covenant soldier that was known for their devastating melee was not a very smart or sane idea.
This is why Gabrielle is going to live longer than I am. Austal wryly thought, all because of the hold my beer and watch this moment that had come to his mind. He had no idea if it was even going to work.
The hunter paused, perplexed at what the little Spartan was up to, before raising its cannon. Austal heard it sputter and it popped with a loud bang, leaving a mangled heap of metal on the arm.
"Oh look what happened to your gun!" Austal raised his own pistol and fired the remaning rounds up above, at the overhanging water pipes above the freezer. The rounds hit and burst them open, droplets of below-zero liquid spilling out.
Judging by his HUD, the temperature was extremely cold and starting to slow its cooling pace, meaning it was close to the coldest possible option. He leapt upwards, fingers outstretched found purchase on the pipes and aimed two of them straight at the hunter.
The water was cold, but he hosed the giant beast and the water instantly froze solid upon impact with its armor at the much lower temperature. A layer of ice was beginning to form on Austal's armor as well, but he kept the stream of water on the hunter. It was starting to feel the effects of the increased weight and the cold had slowed down its movements. It sluggishly tried to break free, but the cold and rapid buildup of ice was just too much.
Austal's hands were beginning to get numb from the cold pipe and he slipped free, landing on a solid layer of ice on the floor with a dull crunch. He approached the now-still hunter and tapped its orange midsection, the area where the worm colony resided in a rather large gap in its armor. The feeling was solid like a rock.
He was genuinely surprised it had froze so quickly.
Exiting the freezer, Austal shook off the ice buildup on his armor and jogged back out where a full blown firefight was happening.
It was completely lopsided with Adrian using the store's front wall as cover and he could already identify a half dozen brutes on the street, taking potshots at her. She remained well in cover and fired controlled bursts from her battle rifle. It had been ten minutes since the attack and she continued to hold her own, scoring three grunts and one brute in the time being.
"Took you long enough!" With her foot, she lashed out at the ground and Austal scooped up the brute spiker she had kicked to him. "I'm getting dry."
Marcus sprinted to the other end of the store entrance and sighted his first target. He squeezed the trigger, easily controlling the weapon's notorious recoil as it sent a stream of spikes towards the brute. The barrage overloaded its shields and a dozen more into its neck area caused it to collapse with smoke coming out of its wounds.
"Eon Lead, where the hell are you? We are in immediate danger of being overrun!"
"We got a hunter!" Adrian shouted.
"Aw shit." She was right as the hulking spiky creature lumbered into view and had centered itself with its shield in front to protect it from any retaliatory attacks. Its arm cannon glowed and it discharged an explosive bolt that impacted the entrance. Austal and Adrian both ducked as debris rained down on their heads, causing the Spartan's shields to flicker.
A whistling sound instinctively told Marcus to take cover and he saw a white comet in the sky arcing down in their direction. A wraith had joined the party.
The mortar directly hit a cluster of three brutes in a blue explosion, clearing to show that the gorilla warriors had been completely vaporized. The familiar beetle-like tank pulled into view before locking on to the long hunter and delivering a second shot directly impacting the chest. The creature had tried in vain to bring its shield up as a viable defense, but it had proved futile and it collapsed to the ground in a smoldering heat. Austal and Adrian then cleaned up the survivors.
At the wraith's gun turret, a figure leapt out and sprinted over to them. Ross.
"We don't have much time," He pointed out, where Fowler was pulling up with a large blue colored transit coach. "The brutes are likely mounting reinforcements to our position."
The bus' door opened up and Fowler stepped out, "Good god. Maybe I should just apply for a school bus driver when this is all over."
"If I let you drive the wraith," Bowman cut in, "Will you shut up?"
"I might." Fowler retorted, "Get the fuck on the bus."
Katie and Emily, the other teacher had gathered up the kids at the front of the store to be moved to the bus. They all looked shaken and scared from all the events of the Covenant attack. It took some words from their teachers to soothe their worries as best possible. They were the last leader figures they had left and even Katie and Emily found themselves questioning their survival, even with the Spartans around.
Eon and Adrian began escorting the kids in groups of two and three, wary of Covenant coming to kill the unarmed when they were most vulnerable. Pine set up overwatch some distance ahead to scout out enemies.
"Nothing in sight."
"Alright." Bowman said, as he helped both Katie and Emily onto the bus. "Fowler, you're on the wraith. Clear us a path to the mountains and deal with all armored targets. Do everything you can to keep these civilians alive."
"You got it." The Spartan leapt atop the hatch and climbed in. A second later, the wraith's engine growled to life and the repulsor pods on the bottom caused it to hover just above the ground.
Austal and Adrian then boarded the bus, both of them carrying armfuls of scavenged Covenant weaponry of whatever they could find.
"Pine, you're driving." A green light blinked back at him as he settled into the driver seat and eased the bus forward.
"Inventory?"
"Two plasma repeaters, three spikers, a brute shot and a plasma cannon." Austal hefted the last item and went to put it at the back of the bus.
"I found a half dozen spike grenades too." Adrian pointed to the pile in the corner. "I know they'll come in handy."
"They will." Bowman agreed, "You, me and Austal are going to remain on the bus and provide protection. We'll reach the NOCTURNE base within three hours tops."
"Mind if I catch some shut-eye?" Adrian asked. "I'm dead on my feet."
Bowman nodded and she made her way to the back of the bus. Fowler moved forward and used the tank's size to push cars out of the way. Pine pressed on the accelerator and followed closely behind as they took a ramp nearby up on the highway that circled the city.
Austal remained by Bowman, strangely rigid.
"Austal, at ease." He nodded, but didn't change his posture in any way. "What's on your mind kid?"
He muttered something under his breath and turned to face Bowman, "I made a big mistake just before you got here."
Bowman remained silent and waited for him to continue.
"I had no resources available and was confronted by a hunter just outside the store."
"Well obviously you killed it. Right?"
"Yeah, but I froze it in the store's freezer, all in a risky environment. I still remember that you told me not to take a risk if it wasn't required. I trapped the hunter inside the freezer and hosed it until it was solid and dead."
"Is this what you're beating yourself up about?" Bowman asked, "If the circumstances demanded such action, I wouldn't have hesitated to take the risk. Especially when you have civilian lives on the line. You diverted the hunter away from harming the innocent where you contained and neutralized it."
"Understood sir."
"I think you should get some sleep. I'll wake you in ninety."
"Understood."
The bus and wraith had now traveled north for a while, eventually coming to a large highway intersection that connected to the path up to the mountainous area. Looking back over the city, Bowman saw a trio of Covenant cruisers and a handful of phantoms clustered over the taller skyscrapers. Flames billowed out of the tips of some towers while others looked mangy and pockmarked with burn holes.
New Addie was sacked by the brutes in a matter of hours. The longer they fought, the less morale Eon found themselves having.
Austal found an empty seat and crossed over. Many of the kids were sleeping, allowing some rest in this nightmarish turn of events. Meredith had kept her gear on and was lying in the corner of a seat, already fast asleep.
"Hey."
He turned around, coming face to face with Katie. He relaxed slightly and frowned, seeing that she was in a similar mood. Of course, the visor prevented anyone else from seeing his expression, but the mystery was something he enjoyed.
"Doing alright?"
"Yeah." She settled in a seat next to his and looked at him almost as if she could see directly past the visor and stared right at his eyes. "How old are you?"
"Twenty two." What an icebreaker. "You?"
"Twenty six. What made you join the Spartans?"
"Mostly because I didn't see a civilian life happening for me. Lot of unfortunate events happen and I suddenly have nowhere to go."
"You don't have a family?"
"No." Not true. He had Gabrielle, but she didn't need to know that. "Hey, listen." He slowly reached out and touched her hand, clasping it between his gloves. "You lead a group of young bright students and I can see both you and Emily's composure starting to break."
"I know." She whispered, "But I can't."
"You're right. You can't. What you need to do is stay strong for them. They all have dead parents, brothers, sisters and countless other family members. You need to stay as a beacon of hope for them. Trust me when I say that I've seen civilians die because they lose that hope."
"They do have hope." Katie quietly replied, "You and your team are what we all believe in."
Marcus let go of her hand, "Thank you."
Katie saw the armored giant relax in the seat as Marcus drifted off to sleep.
"Marcus!" He heard a female voice. "Marcus!"
A jostle on his shoulder snapped him awake and he was staring directly up at Adrian's face. Whatever her expression was, it told him one thing; trouble.
Is it me or does trouble seem to follow Eon wherever they go?
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.