I hate how I have to do so much research for this fanfiction. ;A;
I have read pages upon pages of Halo Nation on Wikia. I swear; if this doesn't line up with something that is known about Halo/1/2/3/ODST/reach/any of the books, please tell me OTL (I mean I haven't had any problems so far I think, but still)

Rifle

Chapter Four

That day was the day.
The day the Planet was to get evacuated.

People had been lined up and examined; it took a week, even with all of the Doctors and Nurses on Lacid. On that day, everyone had a wristband; it marked you either sick or healthy. The two girls pushed their way through the lines, the scrambling crowds. Sick. Both of them were sick.

They were getting close to the tables, when someone came from an adjacent hallway and forced them out of the crowd. Elizah struggled against him- not to get back in line but to keep from being pushed around. Aron struggled to. They hated to be controlled. He sighed and silently pulled them down the same hallway he emerged from. They turned to see their captor. Bant.

"Bant, what the what?" Aron tried to break free, she slapped Bant, and he let go. They were a good distance from the pushing crowds, now. Both the girls were shocked, and it was evidently displayed on their faces. What are you doing, Bant?

"You're not sick citizens." He nodded, his face stern and almost unreadable.

"Yes we-"

"No, you're sick soldiers." He did a quick nod. "You can't register as a sick citizen just like that." He snapped his fingers. "Follow me." he turned and walked down, farther away from the crowd and turned at the corner ahead. Reluctantly, they followed. They were curious what he meant, where he was going, what them being soldiers had to do with it. He knew they would follow, he made it clear enough, but blurry enough to taint their curiosity. Especially Elizah's, he knew she would follow him, whether she was curious or not.

They followed him a few more turns until they found The Lieutenant General standing alone by the wall; he raised one eyebrow as the three approached.
"These last two consented, we have a team of six now, sir." Bant nodded at the Phyllis. "I request you let us-"

"You two." Phyllis Squinted "You consented to do this?" he looked at them in interrogation.

Both of them were confused. Neither had agreed to anything, they had been rushed out of the crowd in a windstorm. Tempted down a few hallways and straight to the highest-ranking officer currently on this Planet. They couldn't hesitate. They had no time. Elizah decided that there was only one way to do this- Play along.

"Yes sir, we consent." Elizah nodded, she tried to hide the confusion. She didn't know what Aron did, but she kept her eyes on Phyllis as not to waver. She could only hope that for all of them, that Aron played along too.

"Alright, soldiers. You have permission to investigate; I'll give you access to any information that was obtained beforehand and any research done. I'll change the permissions so you can access it in the UNSC Database tomorrow." The General Blinked once through all of that, and walked away.

Both girls had minds full of questions. What did we just agree to? What is this? What research? Research what? Why would we need permission to do whatever we're doing? Why did I just play along to that?

He expected to get hit with a storm of questions in words, but they both stayed silent. They couldn't decide what to say- so many questions- but which to ask first.

"What?" Aron broke the silence first. She'd be the one to do that. Break silence. Bant had thought Elizah would speak up first; he was almost surprised to hear Aron's voice.

"We're gonna look for the cure. You're part of doing that." Bant smiled.

"You didn't tell us!" Aron yelled, "What if we didn't want to, huh?" she stepped forward in anger.

Pulse.

She grabbed her neck and right shoulder in agony. It had started to spread. Her infection was visibly larger in size, the skin throbbing.

"I know you two better than that, Aron." He looked both of them, in the eye, before helping Aron get to her feet. "You wouldn't just stand by and do nothing."

He was right, too; they couldn't just stand by, and they wanted to do something. They didn't want to be carried off by the crowd to wherever; they wanted to help find the cure. He knew they'd want to help find it. He knew.

"Tomorrow, we gain access to the research facilities, too. I already found a few scientists that are willing to deal with The Flood."

"What are you talking about?" Elizah finally spoke up. He mentioned something about a flood; she wondered about the weather- did they plan to flood the area? What use would that be? It just doesn't make any sense.

"Oh… uh…" Bant almost fell into a panic, he wondered whether to tell them or not- what to tell them, if anything. They might not exactly like to remember. Knowing them, he thought they might go full-on slaughter revenge on the creatures for making so many bad things happen. "Those creatures from the Artifact Mission… They're called The Flood. They caused the disease."

Once again, the girls both fell into silence. More questions needed more answers- and more answers would make more questions in a never-ending cycle. Elizah thought they'd never understand it, or fully comprehend everything, but her curiosity still raged. Aron could start to fathom what it all meant. The officials did know about it. The Flood. They didn't tell them and sent them on a mission. Did they know we'd contract this disease?

"Their not new, but the disease is. The Flood have been around for a while now- even long before the Covenant-Human war." He looked straight at them. His only intent was to tell them the truth- and the only way for them to both understand everything was to keep his face blank and calm. "It's a parasite that takes over the body."

At first, neither of them could understand what it meant- Aron got it first. It took over the body. It controls them…takes them over. Those things from the cave…were they once human? Did they live and breathe like we do? The Pry has been spreading and then…

"…No…" Aron looked in utter fear and terror. "…If we turn into those things you might as well kill us now." She was scared…but she was serious. She shook her head slowly back and forth, with wide eyes. She clenched her fists by her side over and over again, but she was attempting to hide some of her frustration. Her fear.

"You won't turn into those. Neither of you will, I'll make sure of it." He almost yelled. This time, Bant showed his emotions, he was scared, too- scared for everyone. He couldn't stand seeing his teammates-his friends- act like that- that they had no chance- that there wasn't any hope. All the while hope stood in front of them, out of reach and taunting them. He didn't want anyone to feel like the fate had been sealed. It wasn't a done deal. It was never a done deal. Never.

He saw the weak smile form on Elizah's face, and he was grateful for the support. Grateful that he made her smile again. It had been so long, now, with the disease and crazy things happening. He hoped it wouldn't get any crazier, for their sake.

"Tomorrow, the three of us will access the UNSC Database."

So they waited. No longer as patients to be sent off here and there, but soldiers who would find the problem.

Elizah sat crisscross on the couch in her apartment, tapping the makeshift computer desk, trying to get a connection. It was her coffee table in her living room holding the computer in place for her. Aron had shown up twenty minutes earlier, with Lunch for everyone- home-cooked fried chicken. The Database always lagged a whole lot- even with the many servers, it couldn't withstand filtering who to allow in and who to block out without making everything super slow. It wasn't the smartest idea for the whole Seventeen Colony planets in the area to share the same main site. She kind of wanted to punch whoever-came-up-with-the-idea right about now.

She had been trying to access it all morning, but it just was like that. It's good that we at least got access, right? -That this holy crazy stuff was approved. She fell over, and stretched out, taking up more than all of the room of the couch- being a Spartan, she was too tall.

"Having trouble?" Bant walked passed the living room, busy with other random things.

"Why aren't you the one doing this?" she threw her hands up in the air, but they only came back down and hit her. She groaned in annoyance. She turned her head to the computer. It logged in. It logged in.

"It logged in!" she almost leaped from her place on the couch- it took all she had to land of her feet. The other two rushed from where they were to see- they would have rushed from anything. They dropped everything they were doing- it was too important to miss.

They first button they pressed took long to load, but they all sat, waiting- the next button- the next. They searched the categories frantically- the research they were looking for was somewhere. Where is it? They thought it had to be somewhere in the Database. It took awhile for each section, part, category, and page to appear. Each one was a failure. Each one didn't have what they were looking for.

The hope was fading. The future was becoming bleak. Elizah wondered what she could do with her life besides die. What's the point of trying if the only thing I have to live for is becoming a monster?

Click.

UNSC DATABASE FILES

FLOOD

DATA UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME OR RESEARCH IS RESTRICTED
TRY REFRESHING THE PAGE.

RESEARCHERS IN PROJECT HAZARD;

KYLE RICHARD SL823
SAMUEL HAZA SL827
LEE ALVIN SL890
LA'SHAUN CAMPBELL SL811
JOSHUA LEWIS SL810

Kyle. Kyle was researching flood. Everyone sat silent. None of them knew Kyle was involved in advanced research. It must have been why he disappeared so much… but then why…

It made so much sense to Aron, the disappearing, the acting strange, everything…except the yellow eyes. She couldn't understand what could have been wrong with him that day- what made him throw her helmet out of reach. Hurting her was something he'd never want to do. She slumped over a little. He would never do that to her in his right mind. His right mind, she contemplated, what if he has the Pry? Wouldn't he have told me? No. He wouldn't have. He wouldn't want me to shun him anymore than I already do… A ray of sadness shot through her. I treat him horrible…

She sat up straight, regaining the posture she lost, trying to keep her calm. It didn't help that she told lies to Elizah about it- her best friend. It drained her to keep the charade going- it was hard to go through something so complicated alone. She had confidence she could do it, but it still just dragged at her. What am I supposed to do about Kyle? If…if it is Kyle…

And what's the HAZARD? What does it have to do with the flood? Why would Kyle sign up for that…? The other four names…does that say Haza and Campbell? The Spartans we met a week or two ago? They worked with Kyle on this? Why is the data unavailable or restricted? What does that mean?

"So… who's going to ask Kyle for his research notes?" Bant sighed and closed the laptop, everything they needed, was out of reach…or at least within someone Else's reach- Kyle's reach.

Aron almost panicked. Kyle isn't himself…or…that person wasn't Kyle. No. That's not Kyle. I know it. It's not. I can't have one of them asking that… person… about Kyle. No.

"I will." Aron stood up, and without another word, left.