Rifle

Chapter Two

Aron woke to the light. At first, she couldn't tell what the light was from. It wasn't a torch…it wasn't a flashlight. It was bright and intense. Not the sun.

She was in her bedroom.

Was it all a dream? She looked around, she could see people standing over her, all blurred. Her vision started to clear- to her right was Kyle, short dark brown hair and fiery eyes- a mystic brown. To her left was Elizah, a full-bodied woman with a crazy blue hair color that stopped above her shoulders and light brown eyes. Bant, ocean eyed and blond, stood next to Elizah. What are they doing in my bedroom?

She wasn't in her bedroom. She saw the white ceiling, the white bed sheets, and then the wristband… she was in the hospital. Smiles broke over everyone's faces as her eyes darted back and fourth. Her mood caused them to be almost a white color. Panic.

She didn't understand what was going on. Hospital?
We were in the cave…

"The mission! Did we fail the mission?" she pulled herself up to a sitting position. She almost fell back when pain surged through her.

"The artifact wasn't there… even though it was supposed to be…" Bant caught her gaze. "Are you okay?"

"She's my girlfriend, let me ask her that!" Kyle broke in.

"I'm no-one's girlfriend, I don't belong to you." She pushed Kyle away. "I'm fine, what about the artifact?" this time she looked to Elizah, her best friend and teammate. Elizah shook her head. Nothing.

"Can we have a girl-talk?" she looked to Bant and Kyle. They backed off, closing the door behind them as they left the hospital room. Elizah took a seat in a chair next to the bed.

"Kyle insisted we continue to search for the artifact. The artifact wasn't there when we got to it. When we got back, we found you unconscious. The officials are considering that you went AWOL in a way…" Elizah's sentences bounced together and jumbled. Aron could barely comprehend them all at once. Elizah kept looking back on that day so much, wondering if they should have listened to Kyle. She knew something was up, but she went with it. It made her angry- at herself. She wondered why something didn't click that Aron was in trouble.

"AWOL?" She looked at Elizah, this time her eyes reflected purple, but stayed a shade of deep blue. Elizah, once again, shook her head. "I just don't get it… you were unconscious… and…" Elizah filled with sorrow and confusion.

"When you got here, you had the Pry." Eliza gulped. "They thought you were gone…"

"The Pry?"

"It's a disease that just had an outbreak… Your neck…" Elizah looked away, towards the floor, starting to tear up. "My hand…" She held up her own hand and looked at it in fear, disgust, and sorrow. "It's like leprosy." Her gaze met Aron's.

Aron looked down at Elizah's left hand, it was swollen a little, and pulsing- it looked painful. It seemed to have it's own heartbeat. "That and the lack of Oxygen…"

"What…?"

"Do you remember anything? What happened?" Elizah broke from her melancholy silence. She wanted to know. She was always curious, so very curious. About everything, she hated to be left out of anything, especially among friends. Ad a child she always had felt Alienated and alone.

"I don't know…" Aron looked down, searching her thoughts for any indication of what went on, when she found the thought, she shoved it away."The last I remember was Kyle catching me off the cliff…" She looked around nervously… starting to weave a web of lies. How am I supposed to tell her what happened?
Elizah didn't notice, but looked once again at her hand.

"What do we do now?" Aron sighed. The answer would have been nothing, obviously, but she couldn't help ask it. She felt a little scared about the whole situation- Kyle turning into a yellow-eyed psycho- the artifact disappearing- the Pry- those creatures in the cave- the failed mission- the blame from the government- going AWOL- truth- lies. Everything.

Elizah was scared, too. Even as a soldier- Elizah wanted a fairytale of sorts. She feared the disease would cause her to never have any of that. Screw Marriage, her left hand was leprous… Screw marriage, she was a Spartan. She was always needed for some dangerous mission or another. She was forced to wonder why she chose to be one in the first place. With my luck, she thought, it's probably contagious and I'll die. The room was that bitter silence, Elizah had almost forgotten Aron said anything.
"I can only hope we can do something…" her eyes still locked on her hand- on the possibilities an the things that might never happen. The things that, she thought, might as well not happen in her life.

"They say the government is considering evacuating the healthy ones." Elizah swallowed, she could feel tears burning to escape.
Aron understood what it meant. No Bant. No Kyle. No family or friends; maybe even no more missions. Tension built in the air like a heavy fog.

"Our days as soldiers are over." Elizah leaned back in her chair; Aron handed her a tissue. Elizah accepted it.

"They say, they don't know." Aron caught Elizah's gaze, it calmed them both down. They both had the thought that it wasn't for sure. It wasn't certain what was going to happen. Both of them felt they'd never be certain of anything again. "I'm surprised they let you be a soldier with that hair color." Aron laughed, it made the mood even lighter. Happier.

It compressed all of the depressing thoughts either of them had; it took away their fears for but a moment- but that moment lasted. The moment wouldn't fade from either of them, ever. Their lives were jumbled messes.

"I'm glad we stayed best friends." Elizah smiled, one of those genuine smiles that kept the short happy mood, they couldn't stand the thought of it dying out.

"Me too…" Aron sighed.

"You know, you've been out for three weeks… it's been kind'a lonely." Elizah rested her cheek on her palm, with her elbow on the arm of the chair.

"Three weeks!" Aron's eyes widened. Three weeks. Three weeks was way too long for a Spartan of her stature to be out. The academy is probably talking their stupid rumors already, why do I care? Then she realized why, she missed a mission or two by now. Bad rep means low-ranked missions. After that though, maybe it was what she needed. Low-profile… Low-rank… The pain didn't seem to have healed at all in that time. Even worse, she missed the mission she really wanted to do. Kyle was the one who suggested that mission to find the artifact… Kyle.

"Yeah, like I said…they thought you were gone…" Elizah turned sad again.

"I'm surprised they have the Spartan program still, anyway… the covenant was defeated long ago… there's no reason for them, is there?" Aron referred to The Great War Of Wails two years ago- all of the hostile covenant armies were destroyed- leaving those few planets where peaceful Aliens lived. A few of the races were completely wiped out, like Jackals and almost the whole Hunter population. She figured that with a switching of subject, it might cheer her friend up.

"We have those… things." Elizah scrunched her nose; she could still remember how horrifying the cave was. How those monsters tried to eat at them. How they seemed to breathe and pulse and…

Pulse.

Elizah got up from her chair and went over to a nearby table.

"What is it?" Aron was surprised. Her topic change obviously wasn't a good one. It made her feel worse… she felt her own neck… it scared her, too. What is this Crazy disease?

"I just hate this!" Elizah slammed her right hand on the table; the old table wobbled like it was going to break. It stood, even beneath the Spartan strength.

Someone knocked on the door. The handle clicked and the door swung open violently but came to a quick stop when it hit the table- it almost closed again. Both the girls were tempted to laugh, but held their stature. The only type of people that would enter that way, were either soldiers or officials. Three men entered the hospital room. Three strangers. Two of them were dressed in green; the third standing in the middle was dressed in blue, adorned with at least three silver stars.

The only thing they saw- were the stars.

"Lieutenant General Phyllis, sir." Aron saluted from her hospital bed; Elizah also scrambled to bring her right hand to her forehead and keep a good posture.

"At ease- I'm here on less formal business, soldiers." Phyllis nodded his head, and the girls relaxed. The men with him were pretty well built, really tall… Spartans. Neither Spartan looked familiar. One to his left, had bleached white hair, it was thick and wavy and almost fell over his eyes. His eyes were a grassy green color.

Elizah saw him, and thought he looked like a Fey, with the way his sharp eyes looked. Elizah stopped herself before she started staring; she knew she stared off too much as is. The one on his right was dark-skinned, black hair, wide nasal bone, and yellow eyes. Aron fell backwards into her pillow. Yellow Eyes. She started to freak out in her head, while outside to everyone else, she started to look relaxed. Maybe a little tired, but relaxed.

The Lieutenant General started to introduce them, first he pointed to the Dark man with yellow eyes. "This is Spartan Campbell, or SL811" Campbell nodded. "This is Spartan Haza, or SL827" Phyllis motioned towards the Fey man. "They're not from around here."

Thank you, Lieutenant General Obvious.

"Soldiers, these are Ravel, or SL845 and Kitsume, or SL821. You two…" he pointed to the Female Spartans "Find SL846 and SL823- get them to give these two a tour." The Lieutenant General turned and left, leaving the two new Spartans there with the girls.

"I'll go find them for you." Elizah coughed and then left, leaving the room in an awkward silence. Aron only glared at the two new Spartans. The thought came to her that they were there to replace her and Elizah. It only made sense to her, why else would they transfer two new Spartans here? She contemplated; No one would request to transfer to this Hellhole.

Campbell took a seat by in one of the chairs against the walls, pretty far away from Aron and Haza. Making it less awkward. Spartan Haza just stood by the door, silently.

Meanwhile, Elizah looked the hallways to find Bant and Kyle. When she finally found the waiting room, she saw Bant. No Kyle anywhere. Figures… he's been weird lately.
"Where's Kyle?" She took a seat next to Bant, looking at him with a half-smile.

"Dunno" he shrugged "Why?"

"You and him are required to give some fancy-pants tour to a few guys who are newbs to Lacid." She laughed. She hadn't used that term in forever. Newbs. To her, it was a funny word.

"Okay…" They got up and started to navigate back to the Hospital room, getting lost at every other turn. "Who are they?" he asked her. He hadn't really realized it, but she was pulling him by the hand. It was violent, but it was by the hand. That was new.

"Lieutenant General Phyllis called them Haza and Campbell. They have SL-Eight-Hundred tags, so they might have fought in the war." She swiftly tried to get back to the hospital room; she didn't feel like talking anymore, she wanted to have some time alone soon. All by herself she could sort out her thoughts and everything else.

"But they're not from Lacid?"

"That's what I said. Not from Lacid."

They turned a corner, and once again she saw the room number; the room number that she had been in every day for three weeks, awaiting her best friend to wake up. Her condition had been critical, and the Doctors worried. But everything's okay now. The door was still open

She almost flung Bant into the room. He tripped as they walked in the door; it made Haza smirk for some reason she could not comprehend. "Here's B… um… Chloe…." She huffed between breaths. " SL846" she sighed and walked over, plopping herself down in the chair by the bed.

"Chloe?" Campbell snickered, covering his mouth to attempt hiding his obvious laughter; Haza at the door started laughing too.

"Shut up." Elizah looked at them annoyed, a little too loud. "Get to your tour." She looked down at her hand. Bant was tempted to approach her, but at the time it was way too unprofessional. It would just make everything more complicated than it needed to be.

"Yeah…tour…" Bant collected him self and headed for the door "Follow me."

Aron stared as all three men left, she couldn't tell what was up with those Spartans, but she knew she didn't trust either of them...especially the one with yellow eyes.