Chapter 5: Ensuring Survival
"Your Fear is 100% dependant on you for its survival."
Dr. Steve Maraboli
"HELP ME!"
A dozen agonized voices pierced through my helmet and burrowed into my head, causing me to flinch. I took a step back, eyes widened, in a fear. This-what the hell? Handling one was only slightly terrifying, but a dozen men, women, and children all screaming at the same time? That's like a dozen bloodthirsty Brutes all wanted to wear my skin!
No, no time to be scared. These people need help!
Right as they try and tear us apart!
My breaths were shallow and fast as my mind rebooted. Tensed muscles became relaxed, the tightening in my chest loosened, and fear crawled into the doghouse to get courage. I mentally prepared myself for their screams by replaying the events of the first one I encountered. Oh boy, my ears were going to ring again after this.
I placed my DMR onto my back, feeling the weight of all three weapons pressing down, and held out a right hand to signal to the Knight not to interfere. I didn't need unnecessary deaths, only pain to knock them out.
"Seer, can you send something to pick up these people after I'm done?" I said just as the infected rose up.
"I am certain that I can send retrieval units."
"Thanks," I said.
The group surged forth, screaming and wailing in such pain that I winced. I couldn't imagine the kind of agony they were in, but hopefully knocking them out would temporarily give them relief.
The group did not move as one and the children moved like cheetahs on sugar. I sighed asking why kids of all things had fallen prey to this. They were all around the size of a Grunt and mutated like any others expect their cries were much higher pitched than any other.
I stood still, waiting for the children to come close enough so I could lash out with bone shattering force as doubts roamed my mind. What if I actually kill these kids? But wouldn't they also like to be free of their insufferable pain?
"I just have to measure the force I'm putting in," I thought," and hopefully not cause accidental deaths. You got this."
Tell that to my shivering muscles and tightened chest.
The trio of kids launched themselves with drawn back tentacle-arms intending on whacking me. Both of my hands curled into fists and shot out to the one in the middle hitting it square in the chest. There was a snap and the infected kid flew backwards into the larger infected. The other two introduced their arms to my visor and my head bent back and I could feel my bones crack in protest.
The shields did flare up, absorbing the force and a glance at the meter showed it was a quarter gone. Huh, normally a hit like that drained all of the energy yet they were little so not much power was behind it.
The two kids dropped down and brought up their arms once again. I heard a swoosh of air and my eyes widened. No!
The Promethean mineralized in a blue flash behind them, bringing the flatside of its blade down onto the 'head' of a child while I grabbed one of the tentacles of the other and tore it off. Both proceeded to let a shriek shake the carven and falling to the ground, whimpering. And here I thought the Knight was going to kill one.
"Noble, have you sustained any injuries?"
"No," I replied. My ears perked when the scraping of rocks reached them and I turned to look at the now flying infected. They really love jumping about don't they?
Whatever, three down, nine to go!
There was a swoosh of the air and a flash made me repeatedly blink till the blue light was gone. In front of me was the Knight and the Watcher hovering above it. A ball of energy swirled between its two 'legs' casting a line towards the front of the Promethean. On the edges, I saw a transparent energy shield much like the one the Jackals used and the Flood slammed into it. Each one caused the Knight to slide back despite digging its feet into the ground. Two then went around either side and leaped.
I backstepped half a foot and saw the very tips scratch down on my visor. Before they could recover, I grabbed the largest tentacle of either one and grunted as I ripped them off with much more force than the children. The end result was the same however. Screams of pain, then falling down in agony.
Seven now!
"Aghhh!"
I looked up to see a infected flailing about as it fell straight down to me. I took a step back and lifted my arms. When its body perfectly landed on them, I let out a oaf. The tentacle-root parts of the Flood then pointed to me as if asking, "why the fuck did you save me?"
Well, I didn't want the actual person exploding into fleshy bits now did I? I proceeded to tilt my arms down and let it roll off before kicking its side. The infected's ribs snapped in response and I was rewarded with another scream. My ears started ringing, clearly annoyed at having to overwork themselves.
Not like I'm annoyed by it either!
But anyways, six more to go!
Squish-squash
I heard the telltale sign of a Flood trying to sneak up on me. I whipped around to face a giant of a man, larger than most of NOBLE, somewhere around seven feet.
"KILL ME!" It roared in my face as it delivered a tentacle-arm to it as well.
A metallic thud bounced about in my helmet and I felt my muscles tighten in response to the sudden lost of balance. Too bad they weren't faster, as evidenced by my fall and another thud merrily bouncing about when I hit the stone floor. A irritated growl came and I turned myself onto my back in time to get another roar as the large infectee jumped onto me. It raised its claws and naturally I brought up my arms in a cross in front of my face.
I cried out when it swiped, claws slicing my arms, and the shield alarms blared finally causing my ears to bleed.
I thrust my crossed arms in retaliation, putting as much force behind them as I could. The resulting howl grew slightly fainter as it backed off and I scrambled to my feet. As I regained my balance, the Combat Form charged, throwing its tentacles at my right side. Time slowed to a turtle's pace allowing me to think clearly.
My right arm soared up, extending itself passed the claws in a attempt to hook the actual forearm itself while my left formed a fist and shoot straight into its lower abdomen. The sounds of flesh being torn and the crunch of bone let me know I had put in too much power.
Shit, I did not mean that!
The Infectee let loose a earth-shattering screech and fell off my fist onto the ground. Looking at my hand, green bits of flesh and dots of liquid covered my glove. Looking back at the person, I wasn't sure if it was even alive anymore as there was no whimper or movement.
As much as I hated it, I think I just killed a civ, even if it was a fungus-zombie. Though on the bright side, there were only five left!
Turning back around, I stood corrected. None were left.
The other five were all on the ground, moaning and groaning, around the Promethean. It blankly stared at me, unmoving.
"Seer, we got them all," I reported.
"Delightful! I can make calculations based upon their state and even if we do not revert them back to their pervious status, we will have information in case something of a similar nature occur!"
"Got it."
I was about to start moving again when the clanking of metal and wet smacks echoed throughout the carven. It sounded as if it came from one of the shafts on the right and turning to it, I saw a form roughly the size of a SPARTAN-II. It stepped out and I let out a sharp exhalation of frustration. The full green armor was a dead giveaway.
It appeared similar to all other Combat Forms expect its left arm was entirely made out of hardened flesh or bone. To make it worse, I heard a lot more wet smacks.
"Uh, Seer, is there a way to destroy large amounts of Flood in a short time?" I said as me and the Promethean slowly started backing away
"One of the most effective countermeasures is sufficient amounts of fire."
A chorus of distorted roars shook the mines.
"So either get a flamethrower or a very big, fiery explosion."
The shadowed forms of Humans, Elites, Brutes, and the popcorn-squid appeared from the darkness.
"I would not recommend a explosion underground."
The infected SPARTAN led the swarm out of the shaft.
"I know, but it might just do the trick if we want to lose the Flood."
The ones that had weapons raised them.
"I suggest you run."
"Great idea! RUN!"
I turned and ran towards one of the shaft openings with a swooshing sound and panicked burbling behind me. The shrieks of weapons echoed as I felt the heat of plasma and heard the whizz of bullets miss me instead smashing into the stone. I rushed into a shaft opening.
My mind was only focused on running to survive. I ran and ran, jumping over or sidestepping mining equipment. Sometimes a Flood Form would pop out to greet me with its weapon and it would receive a punch to the chest. I wasn't sure if it killed the fungus-zombie, but it did at least stun it and I continued fleeing the horde, though almost always I did hear the Promethean's own weapon go off and the sizzle that followed when the body was burnt into ash.
I didn't know how long I ran. Could have been minutes or hours, but eventually I slowed down still feeling the surge of adrenaline powering my muscles. Looking around, I saw the Knight and Feather, now empty of the infectee, behind me. The Watcher, I guess, was back inside the Promethean all nice and cozy. I was still in one of the tunnels leading downwards and it was thankfully devoid of any Flood or Covies.
"Seer, it seems we're in the clear for now, what's the current situation?" I asked as we followed the railway.
"The Flood severity has been reduced to forty-nine percent inside the Forerunner facility, but the surrounding area has increased to forty-percent."
"Oh great, they've ate all they could inside and now they're going out to find more food."
"That is correct Noble. I must also ask the question of how you plan to utilize nukes when there are none left."
"It's a rumor I heard."
"A rumor?"
"Yep."
A moment of silence.
"YOU FOOL!"
"My ears," I whimpered as my hands went up to the sides of my helmet. Seer's bellow of anger made them pop.
"WE CANNOT GO ON A RUMOR!"
"Stop the yelling."
"NOBLE! WE CAN'T GO ON A FUCKING RUMOR!"
"It's still worth investigating."
"Ugh," I could hear Seer's groan of sheer annoyance, "fine Noble. It is understandable as too why you don't want to warn the nearest Halo Ring."
"Yeah and I also ask that you stop yelling. My ears are not liking me right now."
"I will stop then as to preserve your audio functions. However, now I must ask how is this rumor plausible?"
"A warehouse somewhere near Castle base supposedly has unfinished nukes of somekind so we move in to see if it's true."
"Oh! That's is very much likely, I can attempt to locate it by utilizing the ONI database."
"You have access to the ONI database?"
"Yes, I was able to transfer the appropriate data to Light as Feather so it could improve your armor."
"Alright, can you hold till we get there?"
"Of course, Noble! Calculations-"
"I just needed a yes or no," I interrupted Seer. It was starting to become slightly aggravating at all of its mentions of calculations and percentages. It seemed to mean well and had so far been a annoying kindness, expect for the whole Halo blasting all life away. Still, I was stuck with it.
"Yes Noble, I can maintain current position till you arrive!"
"Got it," I said and began trudging along the railway. We eventually reached the bottom of the shaft. I glared at what I guessed to be a six-inch thick steel door with bolts inside the circle in the center indicting it was locked. Looking around, I saw the remains of yet another last stand and no bodies. However, I wasn't interested in that, but rather the control console embedded in the right wall.
I walked over to it and wiped away the dust to see that it was still online. I chuckled, somewhat happy that we finally got a stroke of luck in our recent series of misfortune.
Though a faint, echoing roar replaced that happiness with a groan. They followed us didn't they?
"Noble, sensors have detected large amounts of Flood inbound to your position!" Seer's panicked voice crackled over the comms."You must not allow them entry! I am sending in Promethean reinforcements to assist!"
Of course they would follow us!
I spun around, eyes quickly scanning and soaking in the details of the defense I had at the moment. A bunch of decently intact sandbags that could last another assault, army weapons laying on the ground, and duel machine guns on either side. That could be used in a crossfire! The shaft could fit three or four upright Brutes and while still not all that narrow, the Flood love their jumping and charging.
"Seer, is there a way your Prometheans can use the machine guns I'm seeing?"
"A Watcher should be adequate."
I wasn't even going to ask, just another thing to add to my fledgling weird list.
"Copy, we'll hold them off!" I said as I grabbed the right gun's handles. As much as I wanted to avoid fighting a SPARTAN-led Flood, I knew they would just keep banging on the door till it was knocked down. They were persistent in that regard. Eh, I partially wondered if this was how Elites felt at us Humans. A pestering cockroach that just keeps on coming and stealing all the food no matter what.
The faint shrieks and roars got closer and the first one I saw was none other than the SPARTAN. I was ready to take it on, though where the hell did it get that Energy Sword?
A/N: Hmm, here's a new chapter! Anyways, this one took longer as I had some trouble with the Flood fight scene and I took a break. It's also not grim and dark because I want to keep that T rating even if the mods don't seem to enforce shite on this site. As for the semi-infected Flood, they won't be forgotten. Seer plans on retrieving them, somehow.
Also, thanks for reading this! Don't forget a review either telling me what I did well at, the meh parts, and the horrible sections. It'll help me as a writer to provide better content.
