Chapter 3
A/N: Hello everyone! After having a very long writers block and a lot of Destiny gameplay, I'm back. Also exams as well. Hate those things.
And it's sad to see that Monty has moved on. But as what a fairly low I.Q blue armored Spartan has said. "He's not dead. He's just not here right now." And I'll keep moving forward.
Enough of my bantering, I hope you enjoy the next chapter. A small heads up that I might be a bit rusty for a bit since I haven't been writing for awhile so forgive me on that. I'll get back in proper gear either way.
And for those who are wondering if I'm abandoning my other stories like Metro, I'm not. I'm planning for them. Making outlines and stuff. I'm not.
Enjoy!
"Hey, I promised Mom that I'll look after you. I'm not leaving you all alone here. Besides, Pat said that he'll let us stay on his frigate since he is our older brother."
"Riley, I can take care of myself. I don't need to have a babysitter look after me all the time."
"Jackie, you gotta remember that Mom wanted us to stay together so the family won't be separated."
"And we haven't seen Patrick in over eight years-"
"That was because of him being in engagement against the Covies, kay? He's been on three tours already. Remember that."
"Fine."
"I'm gonna make sure that you'll be fine, little bro. As long as I can breathe, I'll make sure..."
Ghost snapped his eyes open with a startled gasp escaping his lips. Sweat was teaming around his forehead flowing down his face. They soaked his eyebrows leaving his face glistening faintly from the pale light that invaded the room from the dull morning sun.
"Jackson..." Ghost sputtered from his trembling lips. He placed his hands on his face and massaged his head to ease him troubled heart.
It wasn't uncommon for the ODST to have tormenting dreams. It was rare for him to catch some sleep without any delusions intruding into his head. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was always being haunted by the sight of horrors on the battlefield, his fallen men... Close people.
A dead air hung around him as he continued to ease his heart down for a couple minutes. Most times when he would be startled, he would immediately snap out of it. But after having numerous years in his military service, it was clear that he suffered from PTSD and would experience night terrors from time to time.
And it always reminded him of the true horrors of what war does to a man. And everyone has a breaking point. He just hasn't found his yet.
A few minutes later...
Ghost was seated on one of the heavily dust covered chairs and looked at a small square screen placed on the coffee table. Reaching over, he pressed on a button on the side. A bright blue light was emitted from the screen before it showed a reflection of him.
Ghost cleared his throat and smacked his lips together. "This is Sergeant Riley O'Neil. Journal entry hundred thirty two. Today is day two of wherever the hell I am. I was back on Planet Algolis." Ghost paused for a moment placing his hands together in front of his mouth and blew into them. I... I saved my men at the cost of my life. But instead I find myself here instead of being dead. Pff. Wherever I am. I encountered some weird black creature. Clearly wasn't Covenant. From my assumptions it acted purely on instinct. Had nothing giving it orders. Like my old dog. Walker didn't last long. Either way, top priorities is to find out where I am and to gather intel on this place. Ghost out."
He reached back and pressed the button stopping the recording. Ghost, or also now known as Riley from his audio log recording, pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the chair. He sighed deeply. "Been awhile since I've done that." Ghost turned his head to the cracked window and looked closely at the horizon. The same horizon where he saw the aircraft heading towards. "I should get moving in five. I should be there roughly in about an hour or two... Considering if there is somewhere over there."
All he did was chuckle and nod curtly to himself. "This is complete FUBAR."
Later...
His feet were begging to be amputated to stop their misery. But Ghost refused to stop his quick march towards the north, determined to get to the place. He has been marching for the past three hours. Three hours. And he didn't even have a break. He doesn't joke around when he wants to get things done.
But to his salvation, he felt a huge weight being lifted off his chest. He stood on a high clifftop with a pair of binoculars. He removed his helmet and looked through them. What he saw were tall walls surrounding some sort of city. Aircraft similar to Falcons and Pelicans were hovering about and people were walking peacefully down the bustling streets. And the good thing was that there seemed to be other ruins nearby. Not far from the place, but it was close enough where he could set up shop.
"At least I brought everything," Ghost muttered. "Now how do I get in?"
He scanned across the wall looking for any weak points. Ghost didn't want to break in and cause a huge commotion. That would just stain his reputation. So he was looking for a way to get in undetected and the same way going out. Besides from orbital drops and vanguard assignments, ODSTs were also specialized in stealth ops and infiltration.
Along with other ODSTs, Ghost has done a huge number of stealth ops deep within Covenant territory. And if he can sneak inside a heavily fortified Covenant military base, then he can sneak inside past these walls.
Ghost then locked his eyes on a manhole sticking out of the wall. Zooming in, he saw that the metal was rusting and looked rather brittle. A few rounds from his pistol should do the trick. Placing the binoculars away, Ghost placed his helmet back on and had it polarized. "Bingo."
He jumped over the cliffside and started sliding down the slanted side of the cliff. As soon as his feet made contact with flat ground, he dove forward and rolled along the ground back up to his feet. Ghost walked over to the manhole at the wall and took out his M6S/SOCOM Handgun. Aiming at the rusted bolts and hinges, he fired a round into each. Small pangs went off from the six shots at the weak points. It fell on the ground from the sixth shot and let out a thunderous thud, echoing out through the small ravine he was in.
He only winced slightly from that and grumbled wistfully to himself. "I should make sure I don't cause anymore commotion inside." Ghost flicked himself on his helmeted forehead before jumping into the pipe that lead into the city.
The sloshing of water was starting to become fairly annoying to the ODST as he walked through the enclosed space he was making way through. "Good thing I'm not on my hands an' knees crawling," Ghost cursed under his breath. He saw that there was a light at the end of the pipeline, but that was at least fifteen minutes ago. He's been wondering how wide the wall was since he passed the ten minute marker.
Once again, hope reared it's head again showing that he was reaching the end of his crouched march through the pipeline. The light grew brighter as he neared the other end of the pipe. "Finally..." The ODST muttered. Any longer and he would've grabbed one of the many rats scurrying along and threw it across to entertain himself. Safe to say that wasn't happening anytime soon.
He reached the end of the pipeline and saw that it was blocked off with a grate as well. Gladly, there was a gate that lead to the other side. But there was a lock keeping it in place. Without thinking, he pulled out his pistol and shot at the lock. He caught the broken lock and set it gently on the ground and placed his hands on the gate. Pushing against it slowly, it let out high pitched creaking as it opened gradually. Stepping forward as soon as it was wide open, Ghost stepped foot onto the concrete ground and did the same again to the door closing it.
Ghost found himself in a somewhat dark alleyway. Sunlight barely touched the enclosed narrow space which fitted perfectly for the ODST's black armor color scheme. Daringly walking through the ally, he made his way to the edge of the shadows that was fairly near the street. He then stopped near the edge of the dark and crouched down and he looked around to see what was going on.
"This doesn't seem to match anything in the UNSC Database. Buildings seem to be of European design, maybe like Florence. But it reminds me of Free Hold back on Reach." Ghost took down mental notes as he continued to observe the city he just snuck into. What surprised him deeply was seeing people with animal parts. Dog tails. Cat and rabbit ears. Bull horns. "Seems to be some type of hybrid."
His ears then twitched when he heard a faint scream from across the road. Snapping his head up, Ghost saw that a woman with rabbit ears was in another alley. She was pinned against the wall with a figure dressed in a black suit, slacks and fedora with a red tie. He had a knife drawn out with it inching closer to her neck. This just only triggered a faint memory in the back of his head reminding him of someone being in the same situation.
Clenching his M6S/SOCOM a little tighter in hand, Ghost stood up and drew in a deep breath. Without considering the consequences of what is to come, he sprinted out of the alley. He heard a car horn blow out from beside him and he turned his head to his side. He jumped into the air and vaulted over the hood of the car and continued his sprint. He raised his hands up and aimed at the thug's kneecaps. He pulled on the trigger twice and the screams were heard from him as he collapsed on the ground holding onto his obliterated joints.
The woman only covered her mouth in shock seeing what just happened in an instant. She looked up and widened her eyes when she saw a man suited up in black armor running over aiming his pistol at the man on the ground. "Get lost," Ghost snarled at the man pulling back on the pistol, cocking it loudly. The thug only whimpered in dread and agony as he tried to crawl away from him.
Ghost then turned his head over to the woman as he holstered his pistol. The woman only covered her face with her arms trying to make herself shrink as if she wasn't there. "Easy. Easy," He eased to her. He placed his hands on his helmet and removed it from his head. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe now."
The woman slowly lowered her arms down to take a peek at him. She still remained stiff when she saw that he was human. But why would a human save her? Wouldn't a human just pass by without bothering to help out? Then why was this one doing this? "W-Why?" She squeaked out at him.
"Hey, I'm not going to turn a blind eye to you, ma'am. A soldier doesn't walk away from the innocent," Ghost reassured her. He then reached out and lightly tapped her shoulder. "Relax."
The woman noticed that his eyes were rather weathered. Full of conflict. Rage. And sorrow. But the flame of kindness burned behind those eyes. And his presence just put her at ease. Taking a deep breath of her own, she nodded at him. "Well, thank you, Mr...?"
"Just call me Riley," Ghost replied to her. But at the same time, he was wondering why he was doing this. Was it that memory that just rose earlier that compelled him to do this? Was it him reacting just purely on instinct? Or was he reminded of by the words of Amy from her dying words? He mentally shook his head deciding to figure that out later. Right now, acting was his priority.
"Riley, what a nice name. I'm Zoey Scarlatina. Thank you for saving me from that mongrel. Crime is certainly running rampant through this city right now." Zoey then looked at his armor and his current firearm strapped to his thigh. "You said you're a soldier,, am I correct?'
"Yes."
"Are you from Atlas by any chance?"
Ghost just gulped silently when he heard that. "Atlas? Must be a place from around here. Just act. I'll figure things out later." He nodded at her. "Yes, ma'am."
"How come you're not stationed back in your kingdom?" Zoey asked him curtly.
"I'm just on leave right now. ma'am. I just, ummm, never visited this place yet so I wanted to check it out. I guess I just got lost," Ghost responded back on the go. He had no idea what she was saying, but he had to play along.
Zoey placed her hands on her hips and nodded at him. "Do you have anywhere to stay in Vale?"
"No, ma'am."
"Well, the least I can do for you is fill your stomach up and let you rest. You look beyond from the land of the living. You must be starving."
"Miss, I'm telling you, I'm fine-"
She grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the alley. "It's the least I could do. Just come along."
Ghost was grunting softly as he tried to pry himself from her grasp only to notice how tight of an iron grip she had. "What the fuck? How the hell does she have a grip like that?"
"Come along. I promise I won't bite. I'm sure my husband will be alright with you staying with us for a couple days."
Ghost just remained silent as he was dragged along the sidewalk. He looked around to see pedestrians staring at him with puzzled looks on their faces. "What have you gotten yourself into now, Riley?" He thought.
Well, Ghost has found himself in a rather awkward situation. Always think before you do or you might find yourself in a hole you might never get out of. What will happen to our fellow ODST?