Jackson
Sweat poured down Jackson's forehead as he reloaded his sniper rifle again. The last ten minutes had drained his energy as he mustered every ounce of his concentration to line up killing shots so his ammunition would last. Every hit caused a feeling of elation to wash over him; the satisfaction of seeing an alien fall over from a slug to the head before it could harm one of his squad mates was intense. Even so, the amount of Covenant breaking through the marines blockade was beginning to deplete their numbers at an alarming rate.
Boom! Came the report of his rifle once more, followed a few milliseconds and several hundred yards later by the rough grunt of a Brute dying. He fired again and this time a Jackal and a Grunt standing next to it keeled over, the powerful bullet piercing through the heads of both aliens.
Suddenly a huge force struck him in the back and he catapulted across the ledge he was on, coming to rest only a few feet from the edge. He gasped with pain, and then realised he could no longer feel his legs. He heard a loud chuckle from behind him, and turned to see two Brutes, one with a large mace-like weapon and the other with its fists balled. The second had been the one to hit him.
Shit those brutes pack a punch! He thought. But I'll be damned if that's gonna stop me!
The unarmed Brute roared a challenge, the other urging him on. Jackson responded with a frag grenade. 'Take this you ugly bastard!'
The grenade bounced once and then exploded in front of the Brutes, causing their armour to spark and several pieces to fall off. Jackson threw another, and the Brutes turned and fled.
'That's right! You got fricken' OWNED!'
Rolling over once more, he resumed firing on the Covenant forces below.
Then he felt the ground shudder and heard a Brute charging towards him, berserker rage evident in the way it roared. 'I will feast on your flesh, weakling!'
Grimacing with pain Jackson forced himself to turn over once more, only to find the Brute a few feet away…
Walker
Sergeant Walker saw the explosion out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards the cliff face and yelled through his radio. 'Jackson! Respond!'
Only stony silence greeted him. 'Jackson!' He tried again.
But there was no response.
'Damn it…' he muttered, and then loosed off a few shots into a Grunt that had got a little too close for comfort. The short alien squealed as the bullets pierced it's body, and then fell over, still convulsing. He then turned on the open channel on his radio.
'Jackson isn't responding men. It looks like we're out of sniper cover.'
'Those bastards!' replied Hayden, one of the marines who had accompanied Jackson up to the ledge earlier. 'He was like a brother to me. These mofo's are gonna pay!'
Grabbing a spare Assault rifle from a recently killed marine, Hayden dual wielded the spare and his own Assault rifle, sending death throughout the Covenant ranks. Once they had both run dry, he tossed them both down and pulled out his SMG from the holster on his back. 'Die bitches!' He screamed as he peppered a Brute with bullets. When it too had run dry, he drew his knife and leapt towards another Brute that had just gotten over the barricades. Before the Brute could pull up its weapon, Hayden swiped down at its arm, causing the alien to release its gun. The Brute responded with a vicious uppercut, flinging Hayden several metres and stunning him. It then reached down and picked up its dropped weapon, which looked like a pistol with two bayonets attached, and leapt towards the stunned marine.
Sergeant Walker saw the whole thing in slow motion. Without any regard for his own safety, he began charging the Brute, firing his rifle at the same time. But he was never going to make it. He was too far away when the Brute reached Hayden and stabbed down with the gun at his unprotected neck.
In a daze Hayden saw the blades approaching him. So this is what it feels like to die. He felt the blades reach his neck and then…
Darkness.
Jackson
Jackson reacted without a thought, simply raising his rifle towards the threat, just as he had been instructed to do through countless drills. The Brute ran straight into it, its eyes full of surprise as the barrel of the sniper rifle entered its mouth.
'Feast on this, motherfucker.' Jackson said, pulling the trigger. From the front the only difference was that the Brutes eyes had now glazed over. The smoke trail now dissipating from behind the Brutes head told the story of another change. A second mouth to eat with. Jackson thought grimly. The body of the Brute then fell over backwards. The second Brute was nowhere to be seen.
It was at this moment that Jackson realised his radio had been displaced. He adjusted it just in time to hear the end of Walkers open transmission. Snapping his last clip into the rifle, he prepared himself to turn over once more. But then he heard the smack of the Brutes fist hitting Hayden's helmet, and once more relying on instinct, spun the rifle upwards and took the shot upside down that saved Hayden's life milliseconds before the blades pierced his skin.
The darkness Hayden saw (or didn't see, in this case), was actually the Brute falling on top of him.
'Don't count me out too fast guys.' Jackson said with a smile on his face.
Due to his now broken helmet, Hayden could not reply, but he raised his hand in thanks, which he knew Jackson could see through the scope on the rifle.
Jackson smiled again. 'I do still want that beer after all.'
Walker
Sergeant Walker could not believe his eyes when he saw the Brute collapse, dead, on top of Private Hayden. Then he heard Jackson's transmission and let out a cheer. Reaching Hayden he dragged the heavy alien off him and pulled the marine to his feet. 'Looks like Lady Luck was on your side today, Private.'
Pulling off his busted helmet, Hayden replied. 'Can't quite say the same for my helmet though.'
Walker then handed him his Magnum pistol and, responding to some sixth sense, spun around and put several rounds through the head of a Jackal that was just about to take a shot at them. 'Woo-ha,' he laughed. 'Bam, headshot.'
Hayden just shook his head and went back to what he did best. Sharing ammunition with the aliens, Marine style.
Jackson
Jackson took a short breather after his upside down shot. His nerves were on edge, adrenalin was coursing through his veins, and his back hurt like hell where the Brute had punched him. But he was elated also. That shot would be the basis of some excellent bragging back on the Testament. He doubted even George; the sniper from Alpha team, and regarded as one of the best in the UNSC; could have made that shot.
Propping himself up on his elbows he took a deep breath and thought Three shots left. Better make 'em count. He closed his eyes for a moment. I could really do with that beer now.
When he opened his eyes again he swore, startled as the second Brute was now charging towards him, the huge mace raised above its head. Using all his strength, Jackson managed to roll out of the way just before the huge weapon struck him.
But this weapon, later named a 'Gravity Hammer' by the UNSC, was more than a simple mace. When it struck the ground, it caused a shockwave to spread out, sending Jackson hurtling over the edge of the cliff.
Hayden
He was surrounded by Grunts. Unfazed, he twirled around, using the Magnum he received from Walker like it was an extension of his own body. Hayden was in the zone, and quickly killed the Grunts surrounding him, one bullet to each head. He blew on the smoking pistol, cowboy style, and then reached down and picked up several of the alien Plasma grenades, quickly lobbing them into the seemingly endless mass of Covenant still approaching the marines.
There was no way he was gonna survive this fight, he thought to himself. All around him, marines were running out of ammo, and while several managed to pick up enemy weapons and use them to some degree of effectiveness, they weren't Spartans, and as a result only had an inkling of how to fire the guns.
He did a quick head count. Including himself and the Sergeant, there were eight marines left. No wait, seven. He corrected himself as another marine fell. Against several hundred Covenant.
So he did what most people would do in this situation. Laugh insanely and keep shooting.
Walker
With his Battle rifle now empty, and his Magnum in the hands of Private Hayden, Sergeant Walker deemed it a fitting time to retrieve his trusty shotgun and, like his old mentor Sergeant Avery Johnson used to, light a cigar. He threw his last grenade at the aliens, and in the confusion that followed, ducked behind a rock and pulled his shotgun out of the sack it was in. He also pulled out a satchel of shells, which he attached to his ammo belt. Finally, he pulled out a cigar from the now empty sack, and tried to light it with the Zippo from his pocket.
'Aww damn.' He said, disappointed when the flame didn't flare. 'She's all out of gas.'
Now quite unhappy, Walker strode out of cover, and then arched over backwards as a sizzling bolt of plasma came shooting towards his head. As it were, the bolt narrowly missed his head, but in passing managed to scrape the tip of his cigar, knocking it out of his mouth. With surprising reflexes he managed to catch it before it hit the ground. He then noticed that the cigar was now lit.
'Now that's something you don't see every day.' He chuckled taking a draw from the cigar.
Pulling it out of his mouth, he yelled, 'My thanks you ugly bastards!' and fired his shotgun twice, sending several Grunts stumbling, soon picked off by a nearby marine.
Jackson
As Jackson fell, face towards the sky, time seemed to slow down for him. He saw the Brute lean out over the edge of the cliff, and fired two wild shots at it, both of which missed. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the ground rapidly approaching. He suddenly became calm, at ease with the fact he was about to die. He looked through the scope of his rifle one last time, and lined it up with the Brute's head. The bastard is celebrating. Well celebrate this! Was his final thought, as he pulled the trigger mere milliseconds before he hit the ground.
Seconds earlier, the Brute peered over the edge to watch his enemy die. He laughed as the first two shots whizzed past him.
He was King!
Jackson lined up.
He was mighty!
Jackson pulled the trigger. The Brute saw Jackson hit the ground.
He was-!
Dead. With a bullet hole right between his eyes.
Hayden
Hayden watched as all the marines around him except for the Sergeant fell. His mind finally snapped and he was completely mad. Bullet after precision bullet pierced the skulls of both Grunt and Jackal, while Hayden laughed maniacally. His friends were dead. He had just seen Jackson fall to his death. But still he laughed, sending death in the form of a Magnum round to the oncoming aliens.
Finally a Brute faced him. He got three rounds off before click, he ran dry. He felt his pockets. No ammo left. The Brute bellowed at him and swung its bladed grenade launcher at him. Hayden was hit in the chest. A fatal wound.
Still chuckling, Hayden noticed something on the ground near him. He forced his near-dead fingers to curl around it. He chuckled again as the Brute towered over him and prepared to finish him off. Hayden would have the last laugh. Oh yes.
The Brute plunged the blade down at the laughing marine, and chuckled a deep throaty chuckle. Now I have had the last laugh! It thought to itself.
Then it was snapped out of its reverie by a high pitched whining sound. It looked down to see a plasma grenade stuck to its leg, Hayden's dead hand nearby. The Brutes eyes grew wide with shock letting out a 'NOOOOO!' before it's leg exploded in a brilliant burst of concentrated plasma. Hayden had the last laugh indeed.
Walker
Walker was down to his last handful of shotgun shells. He turned on the open radio channel, fired off another shot, and spoke his last words.
'Charlie is down. Repeat, Charlie is down. I'm the only marine-' Boom! '-Left alive. Covenant soon on route to-' Boom! 'Bravo team. Don't let our-' Boom! 'Deaths be in-' Boom! 'Vain, Bravo team. Send these bastards to hell.' Boom-Click! '…Walker out.'
Authors Note: This has probably been my favourite chapter to write so far. I hope it gave enough insight into the minds of some of the characters. Reviews always appreciated, and I hope people like the new labelling style. Also, I probably should have mentioned it from the start, but if anyone wants to be a Beta reader, I would appreciate it.
Cheers,
-Nickos101