Chapter CLXXI: Touch Wood

February 27, 2549 (UNSC Calendar)/ten days later

Udinia, Paris IV, Paris System

"In a thirty-year-long war you get to see some pretty... funky stuff."– Corporal Andrea Livingston

Someone slapped my feet off the Tortoise's seats and they slammed into the floor of the IFV with a loud noise. I jerked up violently, suddenly awoken from my power nap. My hand fumbled blindly for my rifle while the other one reached towards my thigh holster to draw my pistol. Only as my hand closed on the M6's grip did I open my eyes. Pavel was standing right outside the troop transport, he wasn't wearing his helmet but he had his M247L held on one hand.

"More good news?" I asked sarcastically.

"'Fraid not," he grunted, stepping in and offering his hand to pull me up. "Reinforcements."

I made sure not to bang my head on the ceiling and reached for my rifle. "Not ours, I take it? All of Battalion One is already within a couple of minutes by Warthog. So what is it? Did the covvies bring in more Wraiths? Another Daemon tank squadron? Oh, I know this. A Scarab backed up by Locusts!"

Pavel shook his head. "Try bigger."

I frowned.

"Another fleet," he said.

"What?!" I shouted, this time actually hitting my head on the ceiling. "What? How many ships, what class?"

"Reports are still sketchy, but it looks like another five ships arrived on the system, one of them is an assault carrier."

"What about the battle group? And the reinforcements form Reach?"

"No news from them yet, but sensors and telescopes based on this planet are just getting the light from the ships. They arrived about twelve or thirteen hours ago."

Space combat was so complicated. The Covenant ships moved at near-relativistic speeds and you could be fighting a battle where you wouldn't engage the enemy until hours later even though you knew exactly where they were and how many they were. The great distances involved meant that the actual position of the ships was different because it took the light some time to bounce off them and reach the observer. Complicated stuff.

"Twelve hours…" I muttered. "That means that they could be more than halfway through the system by now, even if they didn't rush."

"Yeah, that's why we're switching to full alert." Pavel stepped out of the IFV and waited for me to do the same. "Galván is flipping out. We were so close to winning back this neighborhood and cutting off supplies to the rest of the Covenant troops in the city."

"Shit. Are we going to be on full alert until we know what the enemy fleet is doing?"

"Dunno," Pavel said. "Galván wanted to talk to you."

"Alright," I said, hefting my rifle. "See you in a few."

People were moving about as fast as they could. Some of the younger Marines still kept their backs slightly hunched over, as if to make themselves smaller targets to snipers. Squads were getting together and platoons were organizing themselves. Even the tankers were yelling to their mechanics and the men in charge of loading the Scorpions with ammunition. The Tortoises were idling and several of the IFVs already had squads standing behind them, ready to board them at a moment's notice.

Captain Galván was discussing our current position with Lieutenant Ana Maya. They were using a portable holotable that displayed the city.

"Captain, Lieutenant," I said, making my presence known.

"Frank," Darius replied. "Come in."

"What's the situation?"

"Not sure yet," Ana said. "We're holding our position until we get further intelligence."

Darius nodded. "Command authorized the Air Force to completely level the enemy held-positions."

"But what about the damage?" I asked him. "They'll destroy every last building there."

"Yup," Ana agreed. "Lots of refugees are not going to have homes to go back to."

I nodded. It was kind of rough on the civilians, but at least no Marines would die. "When?"

Darius looked at his watch. "Fifteen minutes, we'll issue a warning five minutes before. Once the bombing is over we'll move in and clear the area."

"The whole Battalion?" I asked.

"No, just a couple of companies," he replied. "Lieutenant Maya will stay back here with Cutthroat."

"I take it that Apex and Boomer companies will be on cleanup duty?" I asked. After Darius nodded I went on. "What about Dagger, Enhance, Flamer, and Gorgon companies?"

Ana smiled. "You just love saying the names, don't you?"

I nodded with my own smile. "Except for Enhance, they could've made up a better name."

"The rest of the companies will be surrounding the bombed area, cordon it off and let us do our job better," Darius said, clearly not amused by our lack of seriousness.

Ana cleared her throat and I stood a little bit straighter.

"Our Ground-Attack Air Wing will be in standby in case we need to blast any survivors to hell and back." He paused. "Maybe not back."

I nodded and suppressed a smile.

"Cutthroat will be staying here to protect the artillery battery."

Lieutenant Maya nodded, doing her best to look professional.

"And us?" I asked.

"Not sure, we don't exactly need your expertise here," he said. "And Becker thinks that you might be recalled to help somewhere else, preemptive strikes on enemy landing zones. I don't know."

"Very well then," I said. "Is that all?"

"Until we have more information, yes." Darius looked over my shoulder. "Now, if youexcuse me, I have some business to attend to." He stalked off with a look of annoyance in his face.

Ana turned to look at me. "So."

"So this just became an even bigger pile of shit," I said.

She crossed her arms. "That's one way to say it. At least my men get to rest up."

"With my luck, my platoon will be sent off to a scorching desert or something like that."

She raised one eyebrow and pursed her lips. "You're right, we have been attacked more often ever since your unit's joined up with us."

"Hey!" I complained, pushing her shoulder back. "You also get less casualties."

"I should probably call a statistician," she said, chuckling. "Anyways, how's your platoon?"

"Better than most," I said. "We've been pretty lucky these past couple of years, but I'm amazed that the worst we've had during this battle is a banged up leg and two missing fingers."

"Don't jinx it," she said.

I nodded and looked around the room. I saw a wooden table and knocked on it twice.

"What was that?"

"Toca madera," I said. "Knock on wood."

"Oh, wow. I always thought that the expression was more of a… metaphorical one."

"Why would you say knock on wood and then don't knock on it?"

"Because people don't always have access to wood."

"It's an old tradition," I shrugged. "I think. How the hell can you not know? I mean, your name is Ana Maya. With one N on Ana. That's as hispanic as it gets."

"What? Maya is a Germanic surname!"

"Come on, when was the last time you heard of a Germanic guy with Maya as a last name?"

She paused for a second. "I'm thinking..."

"You're hispanic, aren't you?" I asked.

"Si," she admitted. "But I'm from Crassus, you can't expect me to be up to date with current hispanic traditions."

"Fair enough," I said.

"I barely speak any Spanish. My family has been on Crassus for at least eight generations on either side."

"I'm surprised you know that."

She shrugged slightly. "Believe it or not, I actually wanted to be a genealogist. It seemed so interesting, to find out about the deeds and lives of people long dead. Kind of like a historian that focuses on the background."

"Or whoever pays."

"That too," Ana admitted, "but Crassus was pretty small, and a time came when all I wanted was to get out of there. Too hot, toomuch sand."

"Ha, the sand in Jericho VII was the soft, white kind. Lovely beaches there."

"I bet that the glass there is also the soft kind," Schitzo said.

Ana smiled sadly. "You know, I don't know how some guys deal with losing their homes. Sometimes I feel like… I don't know, like if you don't have something to fight for…"

"Vengeance is a pretty powerful motivator," I said. "I see my uncle's face every time I kill a brute you know. I picture my home burning when I start to feel tired." I shook my head. "I also think about my friends, the ones that are still alive."

"Wow, very poetic."

I laughed. "I guess that you have to hold on to something that keeps you going, whether it be revenge or protecting loved ones…" I shrugged. "Whatever keeps me going, right?"

Ana nodded. "Sometimes I wonder what keeps me going." She suddenly looked a lot more tired than a minute ago. I knew that she was a few years younger than I was, but she appeared to have aged a decade. "But hey, as long as it keeps working."

I smiled and nodded slowly. "Don't crash down on me Ana."

"I'll be sure not to disappoint you Frank." She held my gaze before bursting out with laughter. "That sounded like something straight out of a war drama."

I laughed with her, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. "Look at us nutjobs, huh?"

"Anybody that joins the Corps is a nutjob. A Helljumper twice so."

I showed my agreement by nodding wholeheartedly.

"You plan to add her to your love triangle?" Schitzo asked.

Nah, she's just a friend.

"Well, I gotta go," she said. "Get some crap organized, wake up my junior lieutenants…"

"Good luck," I told her.

"Thanks. Try not to get yourself killed."

"That's what everyone says."

She smiled and left me alone, walking off to get Cutthroat ready to repel any attack that came our way.

I stayed with the holotable for a while, examining the slow movements of UNSC troops around Udinia. Most units held their positions, notably fortifying them on all sides. I kept a particularly close eye on the refugee camp where Katie was still in. It was defended on all sides by UNSC units with armored support as well as air wings. It was the biggest refugee camp in the city, so Command was making a big effort to keep it safe. I noticed some other troop movements that would allow the civilians to retreat past a corridor into the outskirts and towards one of the large air bases on Udinia's outskirts. The rest of the city was being cleared with the liberal use of thermobaric explosives in high quantities.

That worried me slightly. It meant that we would have less bombs to work with when the enemy fleet dropped reinforcements, and they would, it was just a matter of when.

"Frank?"

I turned around as Pavel threw my helmet and caught it in the air. Pavel was looking at me with a curious expression on his face, his weapon slung over his back and slightly to his side. He was rolling his helmet in between his hands.

"What?"

"You just looked so… focused," he said. "What were you thinking about?"

"Troop movements."

He walked up to me and examined the city map. "It wouldn't have to do anything with your mystery woman, would it?"

"Pavel, we talked about this."

"No! We didn't," he snapped. "You don't want to talk about it."

"Is this because of Chloe? Look, I know she cheated on you, bu–"

"Don't you dare make this about me," he growled. "This is about you, being a dick to a woman who loves you more than anything in the world."

"You think I don't know that? You think I don't feel guilty? You don't understand Pavel. I love Hanna, I know that for certain." I looked around to make sure that none of the Marines were within eavesdroppingrange. "But I don't know if I love her more than Katie."

"So that's her name."

"Yes, that's her name," I said. "Get your squad ready and have them move to the broken house. Keep watch on the two avenues."

"Frank…"

"Do it Staff Sergeant!" I boomed. "And make it quick!"

"Yes, sir," Pavel said, saluting and stalking off.

Schitzo walked past him, clapping slowly. "Now there's the insensitive asshole we all know and love."

"Remind me what we're doing again, Lieutenant," Caboose asked me. He was looking down at the scarred cityscape below us, just on the edge of the Pelican's ramp.

"I told you already, civilian protection."

Caboose tilted his head slightly. "I know what we're doing, I just don't know why we are the ones doing it. Platoons One and Two are off hunting some hinge-head shipmaster and Four was tasked with planting a nuke near the destroyer on the outskirts. I thought that our unit was the one that was supposed to do the crazy missions."

"They were closer," I replied simply. "And protecting civilians might be very straightforward, but if the intel we got is anything close to reliable, we're going to have a pretty bad time down there."

"Sixty seconds!" Fightmaster called out.

"Ready men," I shouted, standing up and pulling back the bolt on my rifle. "Remember that we're protecting other people, we are expecting sniper fire from both sides and quick strikes from brute packs. We'll be counting with armored support in the form of Armadillos and the occasional Tortoise. All LAAG and Gauss Warthogs have been sent to units engaging the Covenant directly, whatever that means, seeing as we'll be getting shot at. But I digress, we'll be using troop transport 'Hogs. I want at least one machine gun on every Warthog." I confirmed that I was also transmitting to the other Pelican carrying the rest of my platoon. "Bamber and Carver will be taking shotgun on the front and rearmost 'Hogs. What else… right. Three gets to guard the column's left flank and we do the same for the right."

I could see the improvised housing set up by UNSC authorities as the Pelican closed in on the landing pads. Most of the camp was empty, with only a few stragglers running towards the trucks and troop transports. It would be tough having so many civilians with us. Most of this camp had already been evacuated to the main refugee camp near Fountain Base, the one where Katie was staying, but there were still slightly over twenty five hundred people to get to safety.

"Wow, they're packing them on trucks," Miri noted with some worry. "They do realize that some fabric isn't going to stop a plasma bolt?"

I hushed her. I didn't want any civilian hearing her and panicking. "Some of them have light armor welded onto them," I said. "And it's better than walking."

I did feel a little bit skeptical about the trucks, but most of the Armadillos and Tortoises were packed with civilians. If you were going to ride a slow-moving giant target you might as well ride one with armor on it.

I was greeted by a scrawny Army private who directed me towards a small group of Warthogs that was waiting for us. I started missing Snark right about then. Hayes had asked for her top-notch shooter back. It made sense, but I couldn't bring myself to not hate her for it. Annoying bitch.

"Four Warthogs," I said, pointing out the obvious. "Carver and Pavel take the rear 'Hog. Bamber, I want you and Lizzo on the front."

Both Pavel and Lizzo had M247Ls instead of the SAWs that the rest of the squad toted. They had a faster firing rate and a bigger magazine than the smaller SAWs, and would compensate for the lack of another machine gun on board.

"The rest of you, you know the drill."

"And what would that be, Lieutenant?"

"Andy!" Miri exclaimed. "You're… alive."

"And kicking," Andy replied, smiling widely. "I still have a few pieces of shrapnel inside my chest, but they'll get those out later."

My squad swarmed her with hugs and friendly pats on the back, welcoming her back to the squad. The other two squads shook her hand and sometimes shook her shoulders softly. Andy was a good looking girl, which meant that the guys liked her. She was also a girl in an outfit consisting mostly of guys, which meant that the girls pretty much had to like her too. Her armor looked strange with a brand new chest piece on it, the paint looked fresh and shiny, but that would probably be fixed soon enough.

"I'm glad you're back, Andy," I said after everyone was done welcoming her back. "Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore," she replied with a small shrug. She patted her chest piece softly. "I got worked on by Vinter, he's a good guy."

"That he is," I agreed. "Are you gonna scar?"

"Nah, the puncture wounds were pretty small, it was my insides that were a mess."

"Well, I'll tell Vinter that you owe him a six pack." She chuckled and nodded. "How's Hoff doing?"

"Ryan? Well, he's pretty shaken up by the situation. This planet is his home after all, but so far he's handling it pretty well, nobody close to him has died, but he's worried for them."

"And his leg?"

"Almost healed, but there's a small section on his calf that hasn't completely bonded with the muscle weave implant and it pulls when he tries running. Vinter said that it would be a few more days before he can fight, but he's helping with overwatch and other missions that don't involve moving past a fast walk."

I laughed. "Glad he's fine. Still drawing a crowd of fan girls?"

"Yup," she replied. "How come I don't get muscular Marines with broad shoulders and sexy scars to crowd me."

"You should try walking around with less clothing on," Sandor shouted from the Warthog's driver's seat.

I was glad he said it, because it would've been highly inappropriate if I had been the one to say it.

"Shut up Takacs!" Andy yelled back. "Your skinny legs sure don't get you any action!"

"Hey!"

The men that could hear the exchange laughed and ribbed Sandor. After I shot them a quick glare they returned to the matter and hand and threw pre-loaded magazines on the Warthog's back. They didn't really bother with securing them; speed wasn't a luxury that we would have in this mission.

"Andy, you're driving," I told her. "Let's go."

"Hey!" Miri complained, hopping off and going to the back.

My platoon finished throwing grenades and ammo on their Warthogs and just sat in their places, waiting for the whole convoy to start moving. Already a few Falcon gunships were taking off. They had two gunners and a sharpshooter on them, some of the Falcons were clearly in bad condition. In fact, all of them appeared to have some kind of damage on them. Command had obviously sent every working Falcon to exterminate the covvies in the city and left us with the barely workable ones. Still, it was better than nothing, at least it would draw fire away from us.

"What we need right now is a pair of Hornets with chaff and flares," Andy muttered from the driver's seat.

I agreed, but Hornets were a lot more versatile than Falcons were, and therefore even the damaged ones were off doing something more… important. I quickly went over the convoy's elements. We had a dozen Armadillos and Tortoises plus about a hundred cargo trucks. Five Falcon gunships would be providing overwatch and in some cases early warning while the twenty something Warthogs we counted with would fight back any attacks. The man in charge of this evacuation hoped that we didn't have to use the armored troop transports, but with the covvies you could always expect the worst to happen. At least we had two Scorpions with us, one in the front and one in the rear.

The trucks suddenly roared to life and the sound of people was drowned by the engines. My own platoon revved the engines on their 'Hogs and I checked in with the commanding officer. Every unit checked in and the lead Scorpion started moving, passing the chain link gate that had been set up around the camp.

"Come on!" I shouted, hopping on the passenger seat. "Move it."
Bamber and Lizzo's Warthog shot forward before settling a short distance behind the one in front of it. To our left we had the troop transports and then the trucks carrying the civilians. Weller and her platoon were all the way across the column, helping defend the left flank.

Halfway through our route we still hadn't been attacked. Normally I would've been happy, but ONI had given a high probability of enemy action against us. They might be assholes, but they weren't wrong very often. If we hadn't been attacked yet it meant that we were only in it for something worse later on. The covvies couldn't be stupid enough that they didn't realize what the trucks and civilians packed in them meant. Easy pickings and a free meal.

Well, it was our job to make them pay for it, preferably before they sank their dirty fangs in human flesh.

I shuddered at the thought. My uncle had made sure that no brute ate him, but a lot of people didn't get that luxury, reports of eaten corpses were common these days, especially after the brute-led fleet arrived.

"This is Sparrow-1, we're seeing some movement in sector two-seven. Looks like a couple of packs moving through the houses."

"Roger that," the commander acknowledged. "Engage and destroy; Warthog units, do not engage until I give the order."

I looked up to see the Falcons breaking off to the left and banking hard in order to give their gunners the best possible range of fire. Gunfire started crackling from the ships and a few frightened cries came from the civilians, but the scarcity of the plasma bolts flying back at the Falcons meant that the unit below truly was a small one. I watched the Falcons fire tracers back down at the brutes for a while before I returned to look at the houses to my right. Most, if not all, of them were missing their windows and were riddled with bullet holes and scorch marks.

Suddenly four blue balls flew out of a large hose close to my Warthog. Three more groups of bright blue projectiles followed the first one. I traced them with my eyes, my mouth opening to shout a warning even though I knew that it was too late.

Four different Falcons were hit, barely even shaking from the impact, but I knew what that the small blue things were capable of, and a second later all twelve of them detonated, turning the four Falcons into fireballs and scrap metal.

"Plasma launchers from the right!" I shouted into the battle-net. "At least four weapons! Lose some altitude!"

One of the Flacons was hit by the second volley, two blue balls hitting its right rotor. Everything seemed frozen in place for a second before it blew up and started spiraling down, landing right in the middle of the civilian convoy.

"Bamber and Caboose, take your Warthogs and fry those guys," I ordered. "I don't– oh shit!"

Seven bright plasma mortars flew overhead in an arc, leaving behind superheated air in their trails.

"Evasive action!" I yelled.

"Sniper!"

Someone yelled, explosions rocked the Warthogs from side to side and something bounced off my helmet. I looked up and saw several heavily damaged Banshees taking off from our right. A dozen missiles rose up to meet them, cutting most of them before they could start firing. The rest of the Banshees managed to strafe the convoy, blowing up a truck and damaging several other ones. Small arms fire hammered the small attack craft from all directions, bringing several of them down. I couldn't help but noticed that one of them crashed right into a damaged Armadillo, blowing it up.

"Warthogs move aside, I'm engaging those Wraiths!" a Marine shouted. My helmet quickly designated the man as the driver of the rear Scorpion.

"Move!" I quickly ordered. "Pavel, hit the windows, I want those sharpshooters dead! Andy, don't drive in a straight line, are you an idiot!"

"Here comes the second volley!" Sandor shouted a warning. He was driving Bamber's Warthog, so he was closest to the Wraiths.

"Lieutenant, we're being hit on all sides!" Bamber shouted. "Small arms fire mostly, grunts and jackals… I see the Wraiths!"

"Take them out!" I shouted. "Fuck them up!"

I vaguely heard her Spartan Laser and a second later the mortar volley hit the convoy. I saw one Warthog spin twice in the air before coming back down hard, its occupants either burned or broken beyond saving. Another Warthog abruptly stopped as it was completely destroyed by another direct hit.

"Any of those were ours?" Andy asked, banking hard to avoid a crater.

"Negative corporal," I said. "Keep your eyes peeled."

Bamber came in again. "El-tee, we're being hammered from all directions, we can't keep this going for much longer!"

"Hit another Wraith and then get back here," I said. "The Scorpion will handle the rest."

"Aye, aye, si–"

"What happened?" Sandor asked, sounding shaken.

"Dana hit!" Lizzo shouted. "I repeat, they hit Dana!"

"Pull out, pull out!" I ordered. "Get the hell out of there."

Lizzo's M247L roared as he fired back and then the I switched the channel. "I need your Scorpion to engage those Wraiths ASAP," I told the tanker. "My men can't handle them!"

"I'm on my way," he replied. "But I need someone to cover me from fuel rods and launchers."

"I'll go," Pavel volunteered.

"Go," I said. "Caboose, what's your situation?"

"Heavy enemy fire, so far they don't seem overly coordinated, but there's so many of them!"

"Hit and run, hit and run," I shouted. "Don't linger!"

"Yes, sir!"

Sandor's Warthog appeared a few seconds later, only two men still standing in the back. Corporal Han hopped down from the passenger seat and went around to examine Bamber. He hopped on and immediately hopped back down and turned to look at my Warthog as Andy drove past them.

"She's gone," he said.

"Fuck," Pavel grunted.

"Fuck," I agreed.

"Andy, let's go," I ordered. "Hit and run, hurt them and retreat before they can hurt us."

She nodded and turned to the right hard, fishtailing the vehicle. "We'll hurt them good, El-tee."

I looked over my shoulder and saw Dotsenko and Ramirez nod back at me on one side of the back. To complement our numbers we had Miranda, looking determined with a firm grip on her DMR.

"Let's go," she said.

We broke through the first line of houses and suddenly we were being hit from both side and the front. I fired at a group of eager grunts standing on a rooftop, toppling down three of them and sending the rest driving for cover. Ramirez and Dotsenko lit up the windows with their SAWs, firing with extended bursts and sending little pieces of polycrete and debris flying in all directions. Miranda, on the other hand, fired once every two or three seconds, taking out a covvie every time she fired. Andy swerved and zigzagged, jerking me from side to side and throwing off my aim, but it was better than getting shot. I switched to full-auto and started firing long bursts at anything that moved. I made out the shape of a Scorpion move through what had once been a house and fire once.

"Come on, let's pull out," I ordered.

Pavel came in, his weapon's sound leaking through his helmet. "Frank we're facing heavy opposition, we need another Warthog!"

"What about Carver?"

"Not exactly the fastest reloading speed!" the man in question shouted back.

"Sandor, off you go," I ordered. "Don't skimp on the ammunition!"

I ducked as a needle whistled right next to my head and embedded itself in the hard foam headrest right behind Andy's helmet. She looked back at it and pushed herself forward as the pink crystal shard detonated. I felt a few pinpricks on my left arm and cursed, knowing the procedure that I would have to go through to remove the micro shrapnel.

"Aw fuck," I muttered. "Hate this shit."

"Same here," Andy grunted in reply, scratching the back of her neck. "This was shaping up to go so well."

"Newbie," I said. "Come on, let's fall back in line."

Caboose was driving his own Warthog in front of us. The poor jeep was battered badly, with scratch marks and spikes embedded on the hood and rear. It seemed a small miracle that nobody from his 'Hog had been hit. Both of our 'Hogs moved to the right as another pair of mortars were lobbed in our direction, but the sound of the Scorpion firing and a large explosion calmed me down somewhat. The same could not be said for the civilians, whose cries of help and pain were getting increasingly louder.

"We're stopping!" the commander came in. "Move the wounded to the working lorries. Come on, let's do this thing fast!"

"Hold position," I ordered. "Wait until the Scorpion returns."

Two more mortars were lobbed our way, one of which didn't hit anything. A minute later my two other Warthogs appeared over a big pile of debris with the Scorpion trailing behind them. The tank had been hit on the front treads and turret several time. It was putting out smoke, but it could still move and that was good news.

"Caboose, come on," I ordered. "Don't give them a moment's rest!"

We took off in the direction that the tank had come from. As we passed it I couldn't help but notice that the gunner was slumped over in the turret, several spikes embedded in his chest and face.

I averted my eyes and instead made sure to slap a fresh magazine into my rifle. They started firing at us before I could spot them; green plasma hit the hard plastic windshield and melted it slightly, making it more opaque. I saw some movement and started firing at it. Dotsenko and Ramirez followed suit and a second later Miri joined the party. I was glad that it was mostly grunts and Shield-bearing jackals firing at us, the brutes might've been… well, brutes, but they did have aim on par with elites, to say nothing about jackal sharpshooters.

Then the green carbine rounds and needles started flying.

"Target the sharpshooters!" Miri said. "Rooftops, rooftops!"

I ducked as I reloaded and snapped right back into action, taking out three more jackal sharpshooters with the next magazine. It doesn't sound like a good ratio, but considering that I was on a moving vehicle constantly hitting piles of debris and the occasional corpse.

"Ok, time to turn around," I yelled over the plasma fire. "Caboose?"

"On it!"

"Thank God," Andy said, hitting the handbrake and spinnigthe Warthog around. "About time we–holy shit."

I looked over her head and realized exactly why she had frozen. It wasn't every time that you saw something like this. The only thing that I could compare to it was the insane elites that attempted a charge at Pavel, me, and a group of Marines back in Jericho VII. They had been lead by a hingehead in an incredibly ornate armor. This time it wasn't elites, it was brutes and grunts and hunters.

"Why are they charging us?" Dotsenko asked dully.

"How can you protect against that? The moment they get close we're dead. The–" Andy spun completely around and started speeding away from the mass of aliens as they started firing at us. "–troop transports won't be useful." Ramirez seemed pretty satisfied with his assessment.

"Plus they get food," Miri added.

"Fire!" I yelled.

I tried to hit some of the charging brutes, but I couldn't get a decent shot off without going through an ODST helmet.

"Screw this," I muttered. "Keep it steady."

"What?"

I spun around on the seat and held onto the roll cage. A couple of red bolts whizzed past and I ducked. I kept coming with great ideas. After a few more bolts flew by I jumped over the seats and landed in the back. I slammed onto one of the small seats on the back and an empty magazine dug into my ribs, but Dotsenko yanked me back up and now there was four of us shooting at the massive group of aliens.

"Target the chieftain!" I ordered. "Hit the fucker!"

There was a big-ass chieftain right in the front of the charge, a larger than usual warhammer in its hands. That didn't bode us any good. In my personal experience the more primitive the brute looked the deadlier it was. I had seen the smaller ones tear a man's arm from his body, the bigger ones could rip you in half without even breaking a sweat.

"Banshee!" Andy cried.

The Warthog swerved to the side violently and a flash of green blocked everything as the fuel rod's explosion lifted the back of the Warthog. I blocked my face from the heat and next thing I know I'm holding Miri parallel to the ground with one hand while grabbing the roll cage with my other one. I didn't even remember dropping my rifle, let alone seeing Miri fall out of the Warthog.

"Pull me up!" she shouted wildly. "Oh my gosh pull me up, son of a–"

I yanked back up and both of us landed on our asses on the floor. Dotsenko and Ramirez helped us up and immediately redirected their attention to the Banshee trailing us.

"Caboose!"

"We're moving!" he shouted back. "Don't need to be told what to do all the time, you know?"

His Warthog appeared around the corner and they started hitting the Banshee from behind. Coupled with our two SAWs the Banshee took enough fire that it had to break off. I smiled when the turn was too hard and a damaged wing snapped off.

"Brutes are coming through the houses," Andy warned.

"Back to the convoy," I shouted, firing at the lead elements. "Commander come in, we have a large enemy force charging at your position."

"Yeah, our Falcon saw them, we're just loading up the last of the wounded."

"How long will it take?"

"A minute or so," he replied.

"We don't have thirty seconds," I said. "We need to move now or we'll get caught out in the open."

He sighed. "Understood. Delay them Lieutenant."

"I'll try." This time I sighed.

"Arewe turning around?" Miri asked.

"Just a little bit," I admitted. "Andy?"

"I hate you."

"Andy…" I warned.

"If we die, you might as well know what I really think."

"When we don't, you'll get laundry duty," I replied. "Turn it around, we'll plow through them."

Andy complied and Caboose promptly did the same. So it was two Warthogs without any heavy weaponry pitted against a hundred brutes plus a couple dozen hunters and some grunts thrown in to the mix.

"Don't stop accelerating," I said softly. "Don't try to get the Warthog to go in a straight line, let it move. Only turn if we're about to hit a hunter."

Andy took a deep breath," I got this." She floored the accelerator and we started closing in on the brutes. "I don't got this!"

Two brutes leaped out of the way, taking heavy fire from all four of us. Andy slammed into another brute right after that and then nicked a pair in the arm, throwing them aside. I smiled as we slammed into brutes and grunts, firing on them all the time. Then the impacts started slowing down the Warthog. Continually slamming into brute after brute couldn't have been very good for the vehicle. The hood was crushed under the weight and a brute that rolled over the windshield almost threw me out of the 'Hog.

"We went through," Andy said. "We made it through!"

"And back around," I ordered. "Come on, come on!"

This time we didn't receive as much fire as when we were moving against them, but some of the running brutes tried to slam into the Warthog, toss us out of it.

"Watch out!" Marina cried.

I ducked instinctively as a brute jumped right on the passenger seat that I had left unoccupied. It reached at Andy and clawed at her arm, only jerking back when she drew her sidearm and fired at it a couple of times. Ramirez then leaned over the side and emptied half the magazine on his SAW on the brute's ribs. The massive alien fell back off and we ran it over, jerking the car violently.

"Watch for the hunter, watch for the hunter!"

Andy served hard to the right just in time to avoid a hunter form slamming its shield arm into the side of the car. Some spikes flew in our direction and a stream of green plasma almost took Miri's head off, but we made it back out, with Caboose and his men right on our backs.

"Come on, back to the convoy!"

We came through the Warthogs and stopped, joining up with them to form up a wall. I quickly moved back to the passenger's seat and aimed down the street where the brutes would be coming from. I looked around and realized that there weren't enough of us. Most of the column had already left, with only one Armadillo and two trucks still here. The trucks were filled with wounded and I could see some Army medics working on the civilians.

"Get those trucks out of here!" I shouted. "Move, move, move!"

One of the cargo trucks started moving out, taking a couple of Warthogs with it. As soon as the second one was full it took off, but by that point it was too late. The brutes were close enough that I didn't even have to bother with aiming. Brute after brute moved past us. Some attempted to attack us and were quickly cut down, but the rest moved in straight to the truck full of civilians.

"Let's get out of here!" I shouted.

"But he civilians–" Dotsenko cried.

"Too late for them. Andy, floor it!"

We shot forward, running over a grunt and nearly being hit by another hunter.

"Pavel, where the hell did that Scorpion go?"

"It took off," he replied. "We moving out?"

"Yeah!"

I vaguely registered my two other Warthogs moving out with Caboose and me. I glanced at the truck and saw that it was already overwhelmed. There was loud screaming for a minute and then it stopped. The Armadillo fired at the truck with its autocannon after some deliberation and ripped through the brutes near it with incredible ease. After that it turned its cannon on a pair of hunters and ripped them apart as it moved away.

"Watch out!" Andy yelled.

"Hit it, hit it!"

A particularly massivebrute was running towards us. It was the one with the giant warhammer. I hadn't noticed until now, but the brute went completely unarmored except for a giant shoulder plate and some weird sort of webbing that secured it to its chest.

"I didn't know that brutes had mohawks," Schitzo said. "And those mutton chops are pretty old-fashioned."

I yelled as I fired, but the brute seemed unaffected by it. In fact, some sort grey mist started emanating from the gargantuan alien.

"What the hell?" Ramirez complained.

The brute rolled forward and slammed its hammer on the Warthog's left wheel. I heard the metal crunch under the impact and a second later my neck jerked violently as the vehicle literally left the ground and spun sideways like a top. For some miracle we landed upright with a still-functionalWarthog.

"Hunter!" Miri cried out.

The ridiculously gargantuan alien bashed its shield against the Warthog and this time we spun onto our side. It was small miracle that we kept rolling landed right on our wheels, because otherwise we would've all been killed right then and there.

"Where's Sasha?" Ramirez asked.

"Dotsenko!" I shouted.

"Over here," he cried, twenty feet away from the Warthog. He seemed to be intact, but three brutes charging straight at him looked bent on changing that. I jumped out before I realized just what a stupid idea it was and hit one of the brutes. Ramirez and Miri took out the other one and I reached Dotsenko just before the brute. I fired at it, but my rifle clicked empty. It seemed like an decidedly heroic way to go, but I heard Pavel cry out an order and I immediately dropped to the ground.

The brute prepared to hammer me into a piece of pulp and then the sky went black for the briefest of instants and the brute was gone. I spun on my belly and pushed myself up, watching Pavel's Warthog move away from me. He had ordered whoever was driving to run over the brute.

"Good job, Marv!" Pavel shouted joyfully.

"If I survive this, I'm gonna kill you," I said, running back to my own Warthog.

"Mr. Mohawk's coming again!" Andy warned.

There was a lot of movement and shouting, but next thing I knew we made it out intact. All of us were still alive and we had left the massive melee without getting killed. Sometimes I didn't know whether my luck was good or bad, but right now it felt decidedly good. All four of my Warthogs reported no additional casualties and were moving to rejoin the refugee column. I looked up and said a small prayer of thanks before reloading my rifle.

"Remember Lambari?" Pavel asked over the radio. "That didn't seem half as bad as this."

"Agreed," I replied. "But this is not over yet."

And it wasn't, not by a long shot. There was still a long way to go and the convoy was still under attack. With the massive force of berserk brutes running behind us as fast as they could we would be hard pressed to fend off all attacks. I knew that more than a couple of trucks would be left behind burning by the time the day was done. And if we all got to Fountain we would still have to fight off the massive force that was behind us.

"Count your rounds men," I said. "And make them worth it."

Wave after wave of brutes attacked us. We repelled all of them, but not in time. They seemed to know exactly what our mission was. They'd charge straight for the civilians and then attack us as soon as we compromised our position to defend the civvies. The brutes would then intensify their attack on us while sending small packs to take out the trucks. And that was only when they didn't have heavy weaponry. I saw two Warthogs blow up and several Armadillos crippled by fuel rods before the shooters were spotted, but most of my men were still alive and well, and that was all that mattered.

"We're just about done!" I shouted. "We're right around the corner, this is the home stretch boys!"

Everybody knew that. The whole column lost cohesion and every vehicle shot forward. The few survivors still on foot started sprinting with newfound energy. Andy didn't hang back to provide a heroic rear guard and I didn't order her to do so. Brutes were nipping at our heels, and even with two machine guns we couldn't keep them back for much longer. We were almost out of ammunition and the Warthog could barely move. With several dents in the hood and smoke coming out of the engine it was a miracle that we hadn't been forced to walk a mile back.

"Hit the brutes!"

Gunfire came from the walls of Fountain Camp. The brutes paid it no heed. Only the hunters seemed to react. They stopped and took positions, firing long streams of green plasma at the men on the walls. Several Marines were hit and the fire slackened for a second, allowing the brutes to regain some ground and catch up to the rearmost elements. Unfortunately for Sandor, his Warthog was the one furthest to the back. A couple of brutes latched onto the Warthog and came with it through the gate. Before it could close a dozen more of the aliens dove underneath. Something was off about them, they were all wearing some weird black shoulder pauldrons and every last one of them carried a spiker in each hand in addition to a brute shot slung over their shoulder. They seemed almost like…

Shit. Special Forces.

Two of the brutes slammed into my Warthog, it had decided to give out right then and there. Their combined strengths easily overturned the vehicle anda ll of us had to scramble out before we became easy pickings. I turned around the Warthog and raised my rifle to fire at the closest brute, but its spiker was already up and I suddenly felt an impact on my chest.

I looked down to see a glowing spiker embedded on the right side of my chest and fell back down on my ass. The brute immediately closed in on me and lowered the bayonets to my neck before it was blasted off.

Marv offered me his hand, holding a shotgun in the other.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"I'm always around," he replied, firing at the other brute and sending it scurrying back behind my Warthog. Dotsenko and Ramirez were waiting for it and turned it into Swiss cheese with their machine guns.

"They're moving towards the refugees!" Pavel shouted. "Hit them, hit them!"

Most of the brutes were already disappearing through the buildings, but a few of them had stayed behind to kill as many of us as they could. I was surprised by how good their aim was. They didn't seem to miss a shot. Men fell with spikes in their faces, chests, and necks. I suddenly looked back down to my chest and saw that some blood was leaking out, a drop dripping over the spike. My chest started hurting. It started hurting a lot.

"Oh dear, El-tee…"

"I'm fine," I grunted, dismissing Andy with a wave. "We need to protect the refugees, move, move!"

And so it became a race, we had to kill the brutes before they reached the civilians. The camp's buildings were too tightly packed to drive anything in between them at anything faster than a walk. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but those buildings happened to be filled with people.

"Follow the screams!" I ordered. It was the most depressing order I had given in my entire career.

People were beginning to appear, running in the opposite direction. They all had looks of absolute terror on their faces. The occasional civilians became small groups and then mobs. I was separated from my group as I tried elbowing my way past them. I even fired a couple of times in the air, but they were so frightened that I didn't have any effect.

"Out of the way!" I shouted.

"Maybe you should fire into the crowd, eh?" Schitzo suggested.

I grunted in agreement.

"Help!"

I turned a corner and caught a brute cutting through a woman's throat with its spiker. I fired into its back, making it stumble forward. I slammed into it with my shoulder and the brute fell to the ground. After that it was an easy matter of emptying my magazine in the back of its head. The brute shook a few times and then stopped. I took a quick moment to notice the eight dead bodies around the brute and then took off, following the screams.

I heard another high-pitched scream cut short and turned around a corner before slamming into a fast-moving mass of flesh. I tried to regain my balance but both of us fell into the floor.

"Katie?!" I asked, shocked at seeing who it was. I depolarized my visor. "Katie!"

"Frank? Oh my God, Frank! You're shot!"

I looked down at my chest, it was hurting like hell. "It's nothing," I assured her. "Why are you running? Where's your cousin?"

"I don't know!" she replied. "I came here to get some–"

"Doesn't matter," I interrupted. "Get out of here, keep your head down!"

"Frank, where are you–"

Her voice was drowned by screams and I came into a small open space that had once been a marketplace or just an open area for people to hand out in. At least twenty civilians were dead in the floor, three brutes were firing at a group of Marines that were trying to take them out.

"El-tee cover me!"

I vaguely registered Marv running past me as I aimed at the brutes. I killed the nearest one with a long burst, hitting it right in the temple. I kept firing even as the second one turned to fire at me. The brute's shots went wild, its aim thrown off by the pain. The third brute had more time to react. It turned to face me and fired a short burst before Marv blasted its face off with his shotgun.

I felt pain and looked down to see a massive gash on my right side and yet another spike embedded on my chest, slightly above the first one and a little bit to the right. It was almost completely inside my body.

I fell to the floor, putting my hand against my side instinctively in an attempt to stop blood loss. The sky lost its color and shapes started becoming more vague. I couldn't faint, not here, not now.

"Frank!"

Katie's blurry face wasn't medically trained like Hanna was, but she was here and that meant something.

"I told you to run," I said, laughing for no discernible reason. "I told you to run."

I heard a sound like a bell and then my body decided that it had taken enough and sent me into unconsciousness.

Thank to SilasWhitfield for proofreading this chapter.

I don't want to sound like a resentful author, but I didn't get many reviews for last chapter, I was kind of hoping to get some of your opinions on my writing as a whole and not just the story, but then again, I can't force you to do that.

Writer's rant aside I hope you had fun reading this chapter. There were two cameos on this chapter, well, actually it was more like a cameo and a reference. Those of you who have been in the Halo fanfiction section for a long time should know what I'm talking about, the cameo is really more obscure, but a couple of you guys should figure it out.

So we had some funky stuff, Warthog cavalry charge at a brute infantry charge; strong and independent black woman is killed; Fountain Base is attacked by brutes; Katie is nice to Frank (in public!). That's about it, I think. Oh, and Andy's alive, hope you guys like her character, cause I do. This battle will get worse before it gets better. There will be deaths, there will be angst, there will be Spartans, there will be extreme prejudice, and there will be blood.

Let me know what you guys thought (nudge, nudge).

Stay strong.

-casquis