PHEW. OKAY GUYS. This is the last Chapter that's gonna be posted on the interwebs. I'm sorry for being such a freaking weirdo by making the ending exclusive...but the reason is...and I know it sounds stupid and is going to be outright impossible...but I hope to someday get a hold of the copyrights from Microsoft the get 'Rifle' and 'Shotgun Strategy' Published. Crazy, I know; but because of cache and various other reasons, I don't wanna put the whole thing up here. It would make it just over all super difficult (more difficult than it would be, anyways). I will be posting up a bonus Chapter, but after that, no more new Rifle chapters on this site, or any other. Kthnxbai
Rifle
Chapter Fifteen
"You know, I've heard this story a million times, mom." Lilac crossed her arms and looked up at her Mother.
"I mean, it's a nice story and all, but you've never tell me the ending and I'm tired of it." She uncrossed her arms and set her hands on her hips and stomped her right foot. She was right-handed just like her mother was, and resembled her, too, but acted completely different.
"Well…I thought it might be obvious…everyone always lives happily ever after in every story." The mother shrugged her shoulders, and smiled at the three children who sat around on the couch.
"That's not true." Lilac shook her head. She was getting slightly angry with her mother.
Aron had slipped outside when everyone had calmed down; they had really reacted when they heard about the HAZARD for real. She finally let them see the research and everything- even though it was risky with the HAZARD itself haunting the hallways. She didn't tell them everything, though…like about Kyle being alive and her taking care of him. She didn't tell them about how she let Kyle stay in their apartment without permission.
Truthfully, it was the only safe place he could be hidden- the monster had been at the Hospital and the UNSC Research Center the whole time that Bant and Elizah were- they had alibis. No one would suspect Kyle had gone there after his escape.
Still, the thought of the monster leaving the door open ate away at her. She couldn't pinpoint a single reason. She didn't want to assume it forgot, because that would have been too simple for a monster with a master plan. She didn't want to think it pitied her- what's there to pity? Do I really appear that pathetic to it?
She sighed and shuffled around the parking lot. Her sword was unsheathed and ready to spring at any given moment, but she felt like she wasn't safe- like she was being watched. She turned around every now-and-then to check, but nothing. Not even bits and pieces of Flood. The parking lot was too clean. She shuffled more and walked out of that parking lot into another.
Then another.
She ended up at the UNSC Research Center- it wasn't for finding cures, unfortunately. It was for other research- she had no clue, though. That was something Kyle would know.
The double doors had to scan her before letting her enter. The security had become better than the last time she was there- when she found out that the Kyle she thought she knew wasn't really Kyle. When she proposed to him.
She had to stop and think about that one- why did I do that?
She tried to erase the thought as quickly as possible, but the more she suppressed it- the more it surfaced. It was a slight predicament for her, and, in embarrassment at herself, she started to tint. She had to calm herself, though, or else the lady at the check-in-desk would get suspicious of something-or-another.
She sighed and returned to her normal pigment, as she avoided the desk and the eye contact of the lady that worked there. Walking through the hallways, she still had no idea where she was going- maybe to Kyle's office.
No. Haza had looked through his office already.
Haza… what was he doing in Kyle's office that day?
She stopped dead. As she was thinking, she had passed Campbell's office. The sign on the door was makeshift, but she figured that he was new to Lacid anyway.
Her head slowly turned towards the door. It wasn't closed- the door was ajar.
She gulped and started to think about it.
Campbell's office…I wonder if he's in there…what would he be doing in his office, anyways- scheming world domination or destruction?
She relaxed her shoulders and turned the rest of her body to face the door; her hand stretched out and grabbed the knob. She didn't have to turn it, just open it. She feared what might be behind the door. It was the office of the man she thought to be a monster, after all. Her hand almost started to tremble against the knob and she drew the door forward- away from herself.
Nothing.
The office was empty. There wasn't a person in sight- or a Hazardous monster, either. Her eyes flickered around the small room- trying to take in as much as possible. Normal. It was a normal Office. Not a single thing amiss. She couldn't understand it exactly-she thought that something would be off or strange in some way.
The thought quickly faded when it was replaced by a much different one- one that noticed the computer and, out of all curiosity, wanted to know what was on it. She stealthily trotted over to the big leather chair; she grabbed the mouse as she sat down. There were two pages minimized on the clear screen.
She clicked up the first one.
It was used for satellite transmission.
Bingo, she thought, what is that guy up to…?
She scanned it for a minute, trying to take in all she could muster.
Satellites. Lacid. Kalefront. Unity. Jailbird. It all sounded like Jargon to her- except for the fact that Unity was a colony planet she knew of. She wondered if the rest of the strange words were colony planets aswell.
Her eyes then noticed something else, though- the other minimized window. The bar showed it was called "Zombie" and was a written document.
It could be war plans or destruction of the human race or-
Click.
She opened it.
La'Shaun Campbell remembered the first time he was here on Lacid. He was born here. He had been in the academy like many other children, to become a Spartan. He fought in the war. The one where many of the Covenant fleets died, while most humans survived.
He had grown up in a broken family during that time.
Not only his parents had a horrid relationship, but his two siblings Sam and Kayla, too. Kayla was always afraid of their parents and went to her brothers for help, but they never helped her.
He stood there in that far stretch of grey stones. Four in a row he stared at as the autumn wind blew.
First, he had left here after the war because of the four grey stones with rounded tops and epitaphs.
Mary, his mother, died at the hands of his father…
Kayla, his sister, died in an accident…
Trish, his wife, and Sarah, his daughter, died because of something that happened in the war…
He could remember each day as if it were the day before. Each day before each accident were the last days of his life- the last day he saw them living through. He died along with them in his mind. He barely spoke, ever since that last day. His brother Sam, named after their father, went off to study on a different UNSC colony planet. His father, Samuel Campbell, went who-knows-where.
He practically became a walking zombie after that, with nothing to truly live for.
Her eyes flickered up. Haza was standing in the doorway.
"Oh!" she hopped up from the office chair. "I was just checking my messages and the Colony Planet National News…um…this was the closest computer I could find." She reached down to minimize both windows again- as if closing her page. She hoped that was what it looked like, at least. It felt weird for her to lie to Haza- she thought of him as an ally, but she still felt like she needed an excuse.
"I just came to see if Campbell was here." He shrugged casually, and his devilish green eyes looked away.
Aron hesitated to leave. The awkwardness of it all almost kept her in place standing there and both of them averting their eyes in silence.
"I'll get going, then." She started to walk out; Haza just stood still by the door. They continued to avoid eye contact directly, but she caught his gaze on the glass across from her- the glass across the hall from the office.
He was watching her leave…through maddening yellow eyes.
Aron found Elizah and Bant in the makeshift research hallway. Elizah was being overly silent, which was not a positive sign, while one of the scientists talked to them. He was making hand movements and enthusiastically shaking his fists- some weird encouragement thing she guessed. As she got nearer, and was still unnoticed by the group, she saw that Elizah was distantly looking at the floor. Bant had an arm around her and was trying to talk to her; she seemed to be responding in broken sentences.
Aron started to rush towards the crowd- she was worrying that there was something wrong with Elizah. She was wondering if something happened.
She wondered if it was because of the HAZARD. If it were, all of Hades would break loose upon HAZARD via Aron and a glowing blue sword.
The group saw her shuffling towards them and turned to greet her. Elizah quietly looked up into Aron's eyes, she had a sort-of puppy-dog-rabbit-or-some-other-adorable-animal-pouting-frown-face. It wasn't the playful pout, either. She wasn't having fun or throwing a small tantrum- she was being quiet because she was scared. That was why she looked like a frightened doe- Fear.
"We were wondering if Elizah would participate in some experiments with Smkavinuislin and finding the cure." The scientist turned to Aron; his face blank, emotionless. Almost like Spartan soldiers were during war. It was sort of like a war to the scientist, though, in a certain way.
"I don't know…" Elizah looked down and shook her head. She wanted to- she needed to, but what would happen? Will it really work? She wasn't good at making decisions. She wasn't good at just deciding something that could easily cost her life. She couldn't just decide on it so quickly or so easily.
They stood there in silence for a short while. Aron's mind was turning and twisting.
"I'll do it."
Everyone looked up, their eyes away from Elizah and unto Aron. She volunteered to be the test subject. She volunteered to risk herself. Her case of the Pry was closer to her heart and organs- it almost covered her neck. Elizah's face had more fear in it than before. Fear for her best friend; fear that struck her to the core.
"Right this way." The scientist nodded and turned on his heel.
She followed.
Elizah just seemed to shrink- she was withdrawing- she was becoming a person they had thought she would never be again. She was beginning to lose all sight of hope and truth.
She started to chant old prayers out loud.
Aron was guided into a huge door- one that was heavily secure. She started to understand why they chose that area of the Hospital for 'lab' uses- it was heavily walled and guarded. She imagined that they could hold mental patients there fairly well. She continued to be led past that door through new ones. They turned a few corners before finally entering a room that looked like a room that could be used for surgical purposes. She wasn't surprised.
There was a small amount of 'lab' staff nearby that held containment units of sort. She guessed that they half expected for Flood to pop out of her stomach. A scientist or two motioned for her to lie down. She did.
They put a needle in her upper arm, while burned. Anesthetic started to pump through her; she couldn't feel anything anymore. Her eyes watched as the scientists strapped her down- she almost felt like a victim in a horror movie. Which would be hilarious to her if it weren't her current life situation- with HAZARD that walked about as whoever he pleased and an infectious disease eating half of her body.
One scientist held tweezers with a shard of something pinched between. Her body started to tremble and shake as it got nearer to her. That shard was making her skin feel like it was burning. She wondered if the Anesthetic wasn't working. Her Pry-infected area started feeling like it was trying to jump out of her skin- to escape- to run away. She screamed in horror and pain. She couldn't take it- she couldn't find out what was happening to her body.
Elizah was snuggled up in a blanket outside of the first huge door and heard the shrill shrieks that emitted from her. With each one, she prayed louder and louder- repeating old prayers she learned as a child.
It only got worse, though, the screams.
Elizah covered her ears. Your best friend is fine- something else is screaming- not her- she's fine. She's fine. She's fine. Elizah started to shake her head back and forth, which let tears loose. She wouldn't let Bant near her, then. She didn't want a hug or comfort when something horrible might be happening to Aron.
"Stop it! Please!" she yelled, jumping to her feet- she had enough. The blanket she had drifted to the floor. Who was screaming? She wondered, because she didn't hear anything anymore. No one. The screaming was gone.
It had ceased completely.