A/N: Hey guys, just letting you know that I am looking for a beta… even though I don't know half of what they do xD; I know they look over your story before you post it (maybe…) haha, if you're interested or have nothing else to do, I've got about 30 pages or more for you to look at.

Also, for this whole story because these are so annoying; I do not own Halo, only my own characters.

I slammed into something solid and looked up, gun ready. "Point that gun somewhere else, soldier." I immediately jumped into a salute. "Sir, sorry, sir!" He grinned. I snapped out of it and gave him a punch in the arm. "Sorry, but you always fall for that, Jay."

"Yeah, yeah. One of these days it'll be someone else and I'll get my assed kicked for not doing it. Just know that when that day comes, I'll come and kick your ass, Jac."

He laughed at that, leading me back to the squad. Sam, the heavy duty girl of the squad was talking to Jenny, the medic. I remembered with a pang of sadness that Peter and Matt had died right after we got here, being ambushed by a few sniper jackals. "Hey Jay," I snapped out of it and looked at Andrew, the explosion lover of the squad. His shaved head was blocked by his helmet and the shield covered his grey eyes, but a small check shaped dent on the already scratched and worn helmet gave away his identity. Why? I gave him that dent. "Where've ya been?"

"Had to check something out, thought I saw something back there." I sat down on one of the smaller crates nearby, behind Joan who was on the floor. "Well next time, tell one of us or stay nearby. We don't wanna go look'n for ya every five minutes." His grin gave away the seriousness. "Yeah, I'll get right on that. You know I can't resist."

A head banging boom stopped the grin from forming on my face. Immediately, I jumped off the crate and took cover, just in time to keep my head from not being blown off by a brute shot. "Take cover!" I heard Jacob shouted. A beam rifle shot burned through the wooden crate I was taking refuge by and gave me a perfect hole to aim my battle rifle. I looked through the scope and observed the enemy, taking out a few grunts along the way. The group mostly contained brutes and jackals, and a few grunts that were quickly eliminated. Aiming at a jackal, it's shield already up, I aimed at the hand and fired. The three bullets bounced off the handle and plunged into the bird alien's side.

I aimed at a brute next, luckily there were no chief brutes or anything with a gravity hammer, or we'd be screwed. Taking a shot, the bullets bounced of the shield before another two sets of bullets got through and into its helmet. A rocket suddenly detonated and sent it flying back into the wall, red blood leaving a nice splatter around it. I gave a glance at Andrew in thanks before taking out my sniper rifle and shooting another brute in the eye, it coming down after the bullet hit its tiny little brain. Jacob and Jenny were quickly killing off the jackals with their assault rifle and shotgun. Sam threw a grenade over to them, killing another brute and jackal while Joan finished the fight with a blow to a brute's head.

"Yeah! Suck it Covenant scum!" Joan shouted.

"You just sat there before killing ONE brute." Sam deadpanned.

"So? Killing one of those baby kongs takes a lot out of you." She grinned while Sam did a face-palm.

"Ok, that's enough chatter. No doubt other Covies heard that fight so we have to move out or risk being attacked again. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get low on ammo." Jacob stated, looking down at his assault rifle which read 23, and only having one more magazine for it. The rest of us grumbled in agreement. While our weapons take a lot of ammo to take a Covie down, Covenant weapons just required a few shots to take one marine down. I started walking over to the dead group, checking their weapons and how much ammo they have. I was out of bullets for my battle rifle and had a full bag of ammo for my sniper rifle, but I wanted to be ready for the upcoming close ranged battles.

"Hey Jay, what are you doing?" I heard Jenny ask. Without looking up, "Looking for a new gun." The rest of the squad came over and started looking too, while Jacob stood on look out.

"Where's that one gun the monkey had? I bet it'll cause a lot of damage to their own species." Andrew said. Without a word, Sam threw him the brute shot, earning a pleased grin from Andrew, even when he fell on his ass b te weight of the alien technology.

My eyes searched the bodies of the deceased enemies, before spotting something I've never seen before. I picked it up, examining it. "What'd you find?" I jumped before spinning around. I gave Jacob a glare before looking back down at the object in my hand. "I don't know, never seen one."

"Maybe you stab them in the head with it." Joan suggested. I rolled my eyes, like I'd last long enough to run up to one of them and do that. I turn it over in my hands before clipping it to my belt. I'll give it to the tech people and see if they can figure out what it is later. I pick up a beam rifle and strap it to my back, then grab two plasma rifles. From what I've seen, these weapons do a lot in little amounts of time. The others pick similar weapons and nod to one another, before Jacob gives the okay and we head off into another hall.

The door slid open and light blinded our vision before the sounds of war reach our ears. We look down to see bullets and plasma fly everywhere. "Did anyone notice going up a ramp or something?" Jacob asked. No answer. "Good, than it wasn't just me." He said before giving hushed orders for us to spread out along the outside of the second floor. Joan and I run along and set up behind some of the larger debris from crashed air ships and such, she setting up her sniper rifle and I with the beam rifle as the others do similar things. Jacob counts down from three, then we join the fight. I'm surprised by the little recoil of the alien weapon before aiming another shot at a Chieftain with a gravity hammer, it hits between his neck and torso armor, killing it and almost falling on top of the marine it was about to strike. We picked off most of the grunts and jackals, and worked together on the brutes. Soon, it was no one but marines. We jump off of the second floor, onto some boulders nearby and make our way down from there, regrouping with our comrades.

"Boy, are we glad to see you!" A marine exclaims. The marine I saved earlier comes up to me after spotting the beam rifle. "Hey, I owe you one." He smiles at me. I return the gesture and nod. Jacob and another marine are talking, then they turn to face us. "Ok, listen up marines. UNSC drop ships are going to pick us up for evac three units from this location. If we don't encounter anymore Covies, then we'll get there with fifteen minutes to spare. Understood? We make way towards the beach, then head north. Keep to the shadows and if we're spotted, I want you to run to those drop ships and get out of here. Understood?" A chorus of "Sir, yes sir!" is heard and we start running towards the beach that's in view. Keeping to the shadows, Jacob runs up beside me. "Jay, listen." By the tone of his voice, this aint gonna be good. "If I don't get out of here-" I cut him off. "You will. End of discussion. If you're gonna order me to leave you behind, I'm not going to follow it. We promised to mom and dad that we'd keep each other alive, and I tend to keep that promise."

He frowns. "And I will be keeping that promise too, I'm just saying, if I go down, I don't want you to put yourself in danger."

I smirked. "If you haven't noticed yet, we're in the middle of a war here."

He sighed. "Just… don't get killed, ok?" I grinned, not answering. "Jay…" He glares at me. I laugh before running on ahead.

Plasma fly passed me as I ran like hell across the beach. The others are either already on the pelican, or ahead of me preparing to. Why did I have to trip? Then again, it saved me from a shot to the head. What's with them and wanting to shoot my head? This would probably be the fifth time today that they tried to shoot me there. We were halfway to the pelicans when we were attacked, and now is the second time I wish that I was faster at running. The first time was when I wanted to beat another kid up but they were faster than me, they got away, but I hunted them down and got my vengeance. Heh heh. I swiftly turn around and run backwards, aiming the two plasma rifles at the enemy as I shoot.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE ALREADY?" I was answered with a plasma shot to my shoulder. The mere force of it made me fly backwards and land painfully on a boulder. "JAY!" I heard Jacob screaming, opening my eyes enough to see him fighting the other marines to come and get me. My head throbs, and my vision starts to go dark. I try to blink away the darkness, but they become heavier with every drop. The pain in my shoulder is excruciating, the pain feels like it's spreading down my arm and to my neck, like a cigarette would look and feel. I realize that I'm shaking, not the kind where you're cold, but that internal shake that you can control.

My vision is blurring now, my eyes transfixed on the pelican I tried so hard to reach. My head lulls to the other side, towards the incoming enemies. My eyes search the moving bodies, until I spot the one I was looking for. The bandages were still there, and his limp was obvious, but he didn't give up. He kept up with his comrades; in fact, he was running faster than all of them. I lift my sniper rifle form my back, using every ounce of will I had. I lined it up steady and took aim. Four rounds streaked through the air and four bodies hit the ground behind Zeuk as the rifle falls from my grasp and lands with a thud on the ground, striking up a cloud of dust while doing so. He glanced back at them, they were all brutes. Then he turns back around. Wait… what's this? Oh, never mind. I would have thought… just for a second I thought he was staring at me. But no matter, it doesn't matter now. He already raised his plasma rifle and aimed it at me. I closed my eyes, waiting for my end once more.

Again, it never came.

Instead of thanking whoever is watching over me, an annoyed groan sounds in my throat. Why wait? They should just get it over with already.

Pain racks through my body, a scream tearing out of my throat. My body is painfully half lifted, half dragged at an alarming speed as the scream dies in my throat, only to be renewed with my next breath. Gasping, I will my eyes to open; only to see dust coming up behind us and a few running legs in my vision. My head bobs up and down, side to side, and I use that momentum to see who or what was dragging me. All I saw were camouflaged uniforms and hands digging into both my arms and shoulders. Voices are muffled by my dying hearing as I hang limp in their grasp, legs dragging in the dirt, head slumped against my chest. The faint sounds of gunshots fill my mind, and I lift my head. My legs suddenly leave the ground, only to clunk harshly on the metal flooring of the UNSC pelican. I feel being let go, gently being laid on the floor. My head faces the closing door and I catch a glimce of the oncoming forms of the Covenant, seeing the one I met earlier. Why am I being concerned of him, while I'm the one bleeding to death? Why does he even stay on my mind, when I should be focusing on those around me? Why did I help him… when he's the enemy?

"Jay! Jay! Stay with me, you hear? Don't you dare die on me, damn it!" I hear Jacob yelling desperately at me, and suddenly his hands are on either side of my head, shaking me, and he brings his head down so he's looking in my eyes. "Don't you dare die!"

I cracked open my eyes again, looking him straight in the eye as my eyes struggle to focus. I smiled weakly at him, bringing a shaky hand up to brush his cheek. The words burned in my throat, but I didn't care. "Wouldn't dream of it."