THE FIRST GROUP

(Disclaimer: I don't own Halo)

James looked up as the Longsword flight came barreling overhead. The pair banked hard left and leveled out before turning around to bomb the tree line. A pair of Banshee's showed up a few minutes later and a dog fight was going strong overhead when the Covenant made their move. James waited in anticipation as they trudged from the tree line. Almost eighty led by a pack of Brutes, one of them a chieftain who looked to be heavily scarred and turning grey. An Elite in red armor stood next to him and it was the Elite James tagged first.

The Chieftain didn't even blink as the bullet buzzed past him to explode the Elites head and merely waved his arm causing them to all charge forward. James fired as fast as he could, but suddenly the Banshee fighters were back and strafing the ground with plasma. He cringed as several Marines were vaporized by the hot plasma and emptied his sniper rifle as the Covenant troops closed in. A plasma bolt impacted on his face shield and caused it to bubble up and become useless. He broke the seal and dumped it on the ground. The Longsword fighters came back and drove the Banshees off as the Covenant began mingling with the Marines.

Racking his shotgun James began yelling his head off as he ran for the Chieftain who was now bashing in a Marines head. Blasting a pair of Grunts out of the way he bent down to pick up the first thing he could find, a plasma pistol and hit the Chieftain in the head to get his attention. The Brute looked surprised to find James standing there with a smirk fixed to his face.

"Try that on me, bitch," he yelled pulling a grenade and activating it. He threw it at the ground so it would bounce up. The Brute Chieftain growled at him and charged. A sudden look of utter confusion showed on his face as the grenade bounced up into his chest and exploded. James smirked as he watched in that split second before he ducked to cover his head.

Coming erect as soon as the blast subsided he was surprised to find the Chieftain still coming for him. The look of surprise turned to a wild one that even he would admit later was the crazy coming out. The Chieftain was missing his hammer and dropped to all fours to rush James.

"Come get it fur ball," he shouted gripping his shotgun tight, refusing to allow the fear to turn to panic. Right before the Brute impacted with him James pointed his shotgun down and fired at the beast head. They collided with a sickening crunch and James was thrown back hard knocking the wind out of James. His ribs were broken and he was sure his shoulder was dislocated.

He hit the ground hard, splitting his head open as it struck a rock. Fighting unconsciousness he racked his shotgun through it all and raised it to send a shell into the Brutes face as it tried to stand over him. The beast roared and reeled back, blinded by the blast. James racked and fired, racked and fired. Dropping the empty shotgun he pulled his twelve inch combat knife. He was in too much pain to think clearly as he ducked around the Brutes outstretched arms before jumping on its back. Stabbing it over and over again in the neck the Chieftain finally fell over dead.

Breathing heavily James felt a pair of hands grab on arm and another pair pulling on his suit, lifting him up. His vision was fading fast and all he could see were the three black suits over him as they laid him down. One used a field dressing to wrap his head and another checked his vitals while the third who was probably Donald communicated with the Kiowa in orbit.

The battle had all but fallen apart as soon as the Covenant had attacked. The Banshees had been shot out of the sky by the arrival of another pair of Longswords and the Covenant troops had been almost annihilated by strafing runs. When James had killed the Brute Chieftain the leadership had all but disappeared. They were still down the hill but they were hurting.

James had no idea what was going on, his head was swimming and it hurt to breathe and he was now beginning to feel several plasma burns on his legs and sides. He fought back the coming darkness but he knew he was losing it. The one that he thought was Donald leaned over him and said something. James struggled to focus his hearing.

"You stupid bastard," Donald said and James just grinned, "You're gonna live, but I hope it hurts. I'm working on evac right now, so don't wander off."

James just grinned at him. 'Where could I wonder off to?" he asked himself, "I'm all kinds of fucked up right now."

Menendez retrieved his shotgun and sniper rifle laying them beside James and calmly reloading them. At James' insistence Tyler propped him up against a rock so he could see what was going on around him. He saw half a dozen dead Marines mixed in with several dozen dead Covenant.

"Any of them ours?" he asked Tyler, who nodded.

"Three of them are," he shook his head, "I can't believe this. I've been in combat for less than a day and already had nine men die on me. I just can't believe it."

"Well you better get used to it," James said, "It only gets worse. Wait until you try to find somebody from boot camp, or school, or even from home. They'll be dead, or ruined for life." He was speaking very bitterly but suddenly grinned to Tyler. "If you live you'll have something to tell your kids though."

Tyler just shook his head and James allowed himself to relax while Donald took control of the situation. Birchler came over and knelt next to him. Shaking his head at James he sighed while reloading his weapon.

"You always were a pain in the ass," he told James, "Now you're decrepit." He gave him a smile and continued, "We've got a Pelican coming in to pick up my crew, and you are going to have to come with us."

"Nah," James said wheezing through a fresh wave of pain. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Birchler just shook his head but true to his work James was walking around a few minutes later. He was light headed and it hurt to breath but he was set on finishing the mission. It was ten minutes later when the Pelican's showed up and Birchler placed all his Marines on it one with the dead on another along with whatever fallen gear they saw.

James stood with Donald, who was wrapping his ribcage, and watched them take off. He sighed and looked around at his ODST and Marine volunteers. 'Only six of us left now,' he thought. Donald looked up at James as a third Pelican swooped down onto their position.

"Captain Ambrose wants us ride as close as we can to the second group," Donald said, a second Pelican showed behind the other one and they both paused long enough to release a pair of Warthog Light Reconnaissance Vehicle's, both armed with LAAG Machine Guns.

James shook his head and trudged towards the first one. "Well let's get this show on the road then." He winced as he lifted himself into the passenger seat of one. "Fuck this is just one long bad day."