Chapter Two: The New Member
Outskirts of New Pheonix, Arizona
October 30, 2557
Michelle groaned as she woke up, vision blurring. She could make out the burning remains of a truck, and heard the distinctive cracks of a DMR. Sitting. " up, she felt dizzy, and that's when she saw that she was covering in her own blood.
All around her were the silver remains of Promethean Crawlers, and the orange liquid that went in them. Suddenly, a dissolving body of a Knight flew over the remains of the vehicle, and hit the ground several feet from her.
"Getu?" she asked, looking around for her compatriot. Remains of the Forerunner AI's were scattered everywhere, with the occasional small pool of orange liquid here and there.
"Yes?" the Elite replied, walking around the truck, DMR in one hand and activated Energy Sword in the other. "It's about time you got up. I've had to fight these Prometheans off myself."
Standing up, Michelle staggered to the side, but managed to regain her balance, thanks to Getu grabbing hold of her shoulder to keep her from falling.
"You've lost a lot of blood," the Elite said, flicking his wrist to deactivated the sword. "You might be disorientated for a little while." Getu handed her the DMR. "The vehicle's wrecked, and we need to get moving now, before more of the Prometheans arrive."
Michelle nodded, still lightheaded. "We're still outside of New Pheonix, aren't we?" She attached her rifle to the magnetic plates on her back, and started walking down the broken road, Getu following behind her. "We didn't get anywhere with the truck, right?"
Getu shook his head. "The Prometheans sabotaged all of the other vehicles once they saw how we almost escaped. We're going to have to go on foot."
Kicking a silver piece of a Crawler, Michelle looked back at Getu. "How can you species worship these things?" she asked, stumbling a little in the recoil of her kick.
Letting out a breath of irritation, Getu, folded his arms. "It's not all of my speices. Most of the sane ones are on the side of the Sephratists. At least our species have them same religion, not like humans."
"Fair enough," Michelle replied, sensing that she might've hit him with an insulting question. "Are you sure that all of the cars are ruined?"
"Most within the city, but I'm sure that the Knights informed others," Getu answered. "They're probably working on taking out as many as they can." To puncuate the sentence, there was a muffled explosion back in the city.
Michelle threw her hands up in defeat. "I guess we'll have to walk. This will take a while." She took two steps, and then shook her head. "But I'm not walking all the way to New York. That's just not going to happen..." she released a tired breath, even though she hadn't gone very far.
"Perhaps we should find a place to rest," Getu suggested, putting the hilt of his sword back on his hip. "After all, you are wounded," he added, gesturing to the scrapes and cuts covering her body. Dried blood was caked to the armor in several locations.
Michelle shook her head. "I can walk, I can shoot, and I'm fine," she insisted. "Just a little dizzy from loss of blood."
Getu scoffed. "So I noticed. You're stumbling around worse than a drunk on New Year's Day," he told her, falling back on some of his human holiday knowledge. "There." He pointed at a small building just off the highway they were walking on. "We should stop there, and see if we can get any supplies."
Michelle wrinkled her brow in confusion as she saw the sign for the building. "And just what worthy supplies will we find in an Exxon? Gas? I'm sure that such an easy target has already been raided."
"There just might be something worth something in there," Getu replied. "Food, water, maybe something more."
"Yeah, and while we're in there, I'll grab a few lottery tickets," Michelle commented, hefting her DMR into her hands. "Then again, maybe we should grab some booze and some cigarettes. That would be worth it."
The Sangheili sighed. "I forgot how sarcastic you humans can be. I've had to deal with several people like you, mainly during the Unggoy-Human Peace talks. Or rather, it was the humans that were doing the talking; the grunts were just sucking methane."
"And you say humans are sarcastic. That was pretty harsh."
"Harsh, yes. Unrealistic, no. That's almost exactly how it went. I was there."
"I see," Michelle said, side-stepping a pile of ash. She was still trying to comprehend the whole 'Prometheans turn humans into ashes' thing. No one really ever saw that coming. "And just what was an elite doing in the peace talks for grunts?"
Getu clicked his mandibles. "I don't know. Fleetmaster Vadum wanted me to be the one to report what exactly transpired there, so I went."
"Didn't you once tell me that Vadum wanted to kill you?" Michelle asked, rubbing the back of her neck. She was almost able to walk without stumbling again. "He made you fight that Shipmaster a while back?"
"That was back when we were in the Covenant," Getu explained. "I was exiled from the Covenant, and then I had began to take care of you after your pod crashed into the ring, and you were wounded, and all the other Sangheili weren't to happy about that. Especially the Shipmaster. So, he had us hunted down and captured."
"I remember," Michelle muttered, her mind flashing back to the event. They were still walking along the highway, weaving in and out of the myraid of flaming and smoking cars. The gas station was only a few more meters.
The Exxon station hadn't fared all that well in the Promethean take-over. The two 'x's in the sign had fallen off, and were no where to be seen. The glass windows where shattered, and there were holes in the walls where the hardlight from the Forerunner weapons had struck.
"Well, this looks lovely," Michelle commented, opening the door and holding it open for her elite counterpart. "Elites first. You're more likely able to take on any hostiles that will be in here."
The interior of the gas station was even worse than the exterior. Rows of empty shelves lined the walls, and the drink refrigerators in the back were also void of anything that would prove useful. The lights were out, and several shelves were overturned the middle of the room. Back in one corner, there were some crates forming a small barricade.
Meandering over to them, Michelle took a quick look behind the boxes and saw what she figured that she would see. Two piles of ash, each one with a weapon in it. The first had an M6C pistol, whilst the other had a full blown MA5 Assault Rifle. Not the new models, but the good old-fashioned kind that held 60 rounds.
"Well, at least we didn't come up empty handed," the Marine said, taking the pistol and slipping it into a pouch on her hip, and putting the MA5 on her back where the DMR had been. She was holding the M395 in her hands.
Getu was scavenging around in at the counter of the store, hoping to find some food. "There's nothing in here," he finally said, admitting defeat.
"Told ya." Michelle head back over to the bathroom areas. "Check the cash register, and them grab some lottery tickets and we'll make our way out of here."
The bathrooms were in the dark back hall of the Exxon station. The lights above the hall flickered on and off, casting an eerie feeling over the whole scene. Michelle felt tense, whether it was out of fear of the omnious setting or just her imagination, she didn't know.
Then, she heard movement. It sounded like footsteps and then a squeaking door, and it came from the men's restroom. Michelle raised her DMR at the door, and slowly walked forward. "I swore never to go into the men's room," she muttered to herself. "So much for that."
The men's room was almost what she expected. White tile floors and checkered wall tiles. The sinks were built into the walls, and were motion activated. There were three stalls open, and a fourth one close. In each of the open ones, she saw a pile of ash.
Heh. When the Prometheans came, they had been caught with their pants down. Literally.
She kept her rifle steady as she went for the fourth and last stall. The movement definitely came from back there. "Hello?" Michelle called out.
"Who's there?" came the reply.
Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was a human in there. "I'm with the UNSC," she said. "It's safe to come out."
Slowly, the ugly-green stall door squeaked as it opened, and a man poked his head out. He looked to be roughly in his mid-fifties, with graying hair, and some faint wrinkles on his face. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Positive, sir," Michelle said, lowering her DMR. "We've checked the building, and there's no Prometheans in here. They're all either in the city, or somewhere else."
"That's reassuring," the man said, stepping out of the stall. He was wearing a checkered buisness suit, almost matching the bathrooms walls. "I was afraid that I was going to have to hide there forever." Reaching back into the stall, the man pulled out two breifcases, and held one in each hand. "Well then, take me to your bird."
"What?"
"The evac ship. Pelican, Falcon, I don't even care if it's a Hornet, get me behind human lines," the man ordered. He held one of the briefcases forward. "There's some money in it for you."
"Well..." Michelle started awkwardly. "There's no easy way to put it, but we're going on foot. The UNSC abandoned this place, and left any survivors to fend for themselves. We've lost all communication with them. We're on our own out here."
The man sighed, and looked at the floor. "I guess that means that I'll have to stick with you and whoever you're with," he said, seeming as if his voice was full of regret. "I won't cause any trouble, I promise. Just keep me alive."
Michelle hesitated. They didn't have enough food for a single person, let alone three. She didn't even know how much an elite had to eat, since they were larger than humans. But she couldn't just leave the man here to die.
She stuck her hand out. "Welcome to the Screwed Survivors Club. I'm Michelle Collins. My partner is Getu Sel'gath."
The man set down a breifcase, and shook her hand. "I am Thurston Howell the Third," he said. "I'll try not to hold you back very much."
"You better not," Michelle warned, leading him out of the bathrooms. "Can you shoot?"
"Yes, I can."
"Can you hit a target?"
"Not in the slightest."
Sighing, Michelle reached into her pouch and pulled out the M6C. "I'm giving this to you. Use it only in emergencies, and do not by any means lose it. Someday, that weapon could be our last, and we all would have to depend on it."
"I understand," Howell said, struggling to take the weapon in one hand, forced to set down a breifcase again. He took the pistol and tucked it inside in jacket pocket. "I'll treasure it always."
"You better," Michelle told him. "What's in the cases?" she asked.
"Well, this one, " he held up the one in his left hand, "has my personal items. And this one," he lifted up the one in his right hand, "has my valubles."
"They won't slow you down, will they?" Michelle asked, shifting her DMR. "If they will, they'll have to be left behind."
"They shouldn't."
"Open them," she ordered. "I'll have to judge this myself." Michelle turned back to the main room of the store. "How's it going Getu?"
"Um...There wasn't anything in the cash register," he replied. "And I have no idea what a lottery ticket is."
"I'll get them in a minute," she told him. Howell had set the cases down on a small counter, and flipped the latches. The first one contained a pillow, a small blanket, and a teddy bear. The other contained...holy shit, that was a lot of money.
"All that is mine," Howell said proudly. "I earned it all with my own two hands. I couldn't simply leave it behind."
Michelle sighed and weighed each of the cases in her hand, all the while eyeing the stash of money in the one case. "Well," she said, setting them down. "I guess it's not too heavy. You can take them. But at the first moment we need to, you're going to ditch them."
"Fine," Howell agreed. "Although I have to keep Teddy with me. I can't sleep without him."
Walking out to meet Getu at the store's counter, Michelle rolled her eyes. Great, some psycho that had a teddy bear. Great. She snatched a lotto ticket from the case on the counter. "Let's go," she ordered. "We need to find some food and shelter."
A/N: A free, virtual cookie to whomever knows where I got the character Thurston Howell the Third from. And no, don't just go Google it, cheaters.
