Chapter 8
Guess What's Back.....Back Again
Zuka 'Zamamee and Yayap led a large number of Elites in black armor to the purple vortex. They met up with the Space Pirates, who were waiting impatiently.
"Finally!" A Space Pirate yelled, "Took you long enough." They had with them two marine soldiers that they captured at their raid on the human camp.
"I will take those two from you." 'Zamamee said stepping forward.
A Space Pirate blocked his way, "Why? Do you not trust us? Is it because you think we shall eat them?"
"Yes, they are not for eating." 'Zamamee said stepping past the pirate and dragging the two marines into his pack of soldiers.
The Space Pirate took a step forward, in anger, trying to grab 'Zamamee as his back was turned, checking the marines for anything hostile, when Yayap slapped his hand away, plasma pistol charged, yelling, "Get back!"
"Move scum!" The Pirate yelled the pirates raised their weapons and so did the Covenant.
A voice came from the portal, calm, saying, "Now, now, children. Save your quarrels for another time. We have work to be done." The 'Dark Beings' stepped from the portal. Only five stepped out.
"Where are the rest of your soldiers?" asked the Space Pirate that had tried to attack 'Zamamee,
"We shall not need any more soldiers then we have here. Now come, we have ground to cover."
The Master Chief, Samus and the other marines rode in the Warthogs and Scorpion tanks. They had only covered a mile or so since they had left.
"These things go damn slow!" Samus yelled, "Go faster!"
"I'm going as fast as this thing can go." The Master Chief replied and Samus sighed, "Sheesh, for some 'Bounty Hunter' you sure are impatient."
"Ah shut it."
They reached a ridge with a large waterfall about a few meters high. Trees and bushes were everywhere; they had entered a jungle.
"Damn!" the Master Chief yelled as he hit the steering wheel with his fist. "Out of gas."
"Great, walking into a jungle on foot." Samus said with a sarcastic tone. They dismounted from their vehicles and began their walk through the hot and humid jungle.
"Hey Chief." A marine said to the Master Chief,
"Yes soldier?" he replied,
"How did we get to plains of green grass and nice cool air, to a hot and humid jungle?"
The Master Chief sighed and replied, "There are some things left unanswered marine." And they continued to walk.
They had been walked for a while, maybe an hour or two, and set down for a rest.
"Cortana, how much further until we reach HQ?" The Master Chief asked the A.I.
"I don't know." She replied,
"You don't know?"
"That's right. I don't, but I do know one thing."
"What is that?"
"You're lost."
Zuka 'Zamamee swatted at the annoying bugs in the jungle. "Do you know where we are?" The Elite asked the Pirate impatiently and annoyed by the Earth pests.
"I follow the 'dark being'." The space pirate replied,
"Do not be wary, we are going in the right direction. Be patient."
'Zamamee grunted, it was freaking hot and the bugs were killing him. Yayap was walking along side the Elite, calmly. The heat wasn't bothering him, or the bugs.
"How can you stand up to these damned conditions Yayap?" he asked the Grunt once,
And he replied, "Don't let it bother you. Just pretend your somewhere else."
"Pretend?" 'Zamamee said in confusion, obviously something he didn't do so often,
"Wow, Elites don't know how to pretend eh? You learn something new everyday." Yayap said, and they continued their walk. They reached a small cave a couple of minuets later and they all stopped in from of it.
"We five 'dark beings' shall enter the cave, but we need at least five of each group to come with us." The 'Dark Being' directed, and five Space Pirates and five Elites were sent inside with the five 'Dark Beings'. 'Zamamee stayed outside with Yayap and waited.
Inside the cave the 'Dark Beings' walked in a few meters and told the others to approach. They led them not too far into the cave and there was a tombstone.
"Ah. Clever." A 'Dark Being' said, "A race presumed dead, and there's a tombstone, how ironic." There were fifteen stone pillars surrounding the tombstone each with a slot for a soldier's hand. Each soldier put their hand inside the pillar and waited. A sharp pain came a moment later, as needles came up poking their hands, drawing blood to open the tomb. Everyone took their hands from the pillar and watched as the tombstone opened. They heard this strange sound a moment later. Something...... squishy? Or slimy? They couldn't tell, but in a few moments later, it didn't matter. They all fought it, but they all died, and became infected.
'Zamamee heard screams and plasma fire echo from the cave. "What's going on?" a Space Pirate asked and each party sent two more members down into the cave. More screams. The two marines started to shake, scared.
'Zamamee radioed in for reinforcements and moment later, and the Space Pirates radioed in for the small army of warriors to proceed through the portal and lock onto their position. As soon as that was done, they all heard something come from the cave, something.......squishy.
"I thought I heard something." Samus said, referring to the screams of the Elites and Space Pirates and 'Dark Beings'.
"I didn't hear anything." The Master Chief said, "You guys hear anything?" he asked the marines,
"No sir, no!" they all said,
"Damn right you didn't hear anything. Let's get going." They grabbed their gear and continued forward. They walked through the foliage, and thick bushes and shrubs; then a noise.
"Hey do you hear that Chief?" Samus said,
The Master Chief signaled the marines to stop walking, and he listened. He heard something as well and so did the marines. Something...... squishy.
"Yeah," the Chief said, "I hear it. Be on guard men." They continued to walk.
They reached an open part of the jungle. The party looked at the small field that was an elliptical shape, about five or six meters across. They looked at the ground. There was tons of blood. Purple, that of Elites, and a different color, that of Space Pirates (don't know the color of blood Space Pirates have.) The only problem was, with all the blood, there were no bodies.
"What the hell happened here." A marine asked,
"Blood everywhere, no bodies. They couldn't have been bleeding to death then just get up and walk away." The Master Chief thought, "Something strange is going on." He looked at Samus and he knew she was sensing the same danger as he was.
"Let's keep moving." Samus said,
"Good idea." They continued to walk forward, until they reached the middle of the elliptical circle and heard the sound, from earlier, again.
"What is that?" A marine asked annoyed of the sound.
The Master Chief looked around and saw something. He saw something he never wanted to see ever again from the day that Halo was destroyed: a Combat form of a marine. A Flood. The Combat Form of the marine was a gruesome one. Its skin was flat and a few bones were showing, its face twisted and mutated. It moaned and aimed its plasma rifle.
"Fire at will!" The Chief yelled and fired a clip into the, once human, monster.
Suddenly, from all directions Flood Combat Forms seemed to pour out from the trees. And the small flood infection forms were moving across the field as if they were dancing. The marines fired like hell. The infection forms popped like balloons as the bullets hit them. Next came Combat Forms of the Elites, wielding plasma rifles.
"What the hell are these things!" Samus yelled firing madly into the group of monsters.
"There called, The Flood. Don't let the small ones get on you, they'll turn you into one of the mutated ones. And watch for the larger ones tentacles!" The Master Chief replied, slamming a fresh clip into his gun and continuing to fire at the horde of creatures.
A few moments later only Samus and the Master Chief were standing. The other marines were dead and probably infected.
"We have to kill those marines before they turn into those things." Samus insisted and aimed her gun.
The Master Chief grabbed her arm, the one with the gun on it, and forced it down,
"No! We kill them when we need to! Leave them alone." The Master Chief yelled. Samus did as he said and slapped his hand away. The Chief looked down at the fallen marines and the ones with their eyes still opened, he closed their eyelids for them and continued on.
"Chief I'm picking up movement up ahead." Cortana said, (Cortana doesn't play such a hot role in this book.)
"Got it Cortana." The Chief replied, "We got movement ahead." The Chief said to Samus,
"Then let us kill it." Samus replied, "Then it won't be moving."
They ran forward and saw a cliff, and a fall into water covered with sharp rocks. "No on is here Cortana." The Master Chief said,
"Someone is here ok! God, I'm never warning you again!" Cortana yelled.
The Master Chief and Samus heard something and both turned around, weapons rose, and looked for anything hostile. Suddenly, from the trees and thick foliage, came five 'Dark Beings' infected. They were still black, but their faces were twisted and mutated, their skin puffed up to, what looked like, breaking point. They looked very buff, buffer then they used to be. They still had their weapons and the hand without the gun, you guessed it, had lethal tentacles.
"Shit." The Chief said,
"Ok, Covenant, Space Pirates, and Flood I can handle, but I don't know what the hell that is."
"'Dark Beings.'" The Master Chief replied, almost a whisper, and the Combat Forms of the 'Dark Beings' began to walk forward.
............................................................................................
Oh! Cliff hanger!
What will the Master Chief and Samus do?
What happened to Zuka 'Zamamee and Yayap?
Will others become infected?
Find out in the next chapter!
Next Chapter:
434 Justice Spark and 343 Guilty Spark