Chapter 4

"You managed to get it to question its own beliefs. Interesting."

"I asked him a question. What happened after that is all on him."

Drake continued down the darkened tunnel, the flashlight on his helmet illuminating their way forward as they continued to look for the exit. Every so often Drake would hear light grumbling coming from behind him. He would glance over his shoulder and look at Tz'eal. The Elite would never look up and make eye contact, just keep his head low, his eyes locked with the darkened floor while being deep in thought.

It hadn't occurred to Drake what effect his questions would have on the Elite. They had been following the words of their Prophets for years, long before the war began and now, to have an enemy question that belief. Or force a follower to question their own belief. It had to have had a massive effect on him.

Focusing on his primary task Drake continued to push forward, wanting to make conversation with Tz'eal to break the silence they were walking through, but didn't know what he should say. Something that would benefit them both.

"Do you know if you have any patrols covering the exits of these tunnels?" Drake asked without turning around, his flashlight illuminating another tunnel exit, the rocks slightly glowing red as the heat from the overhead glassing beam heating almost to melting point.

"Why do you ask? I am not going to surrender information to you." Tz'eal growled in response.

"I don't want you to surrender information to me. However, I would like to know if I leave this tunnel with you only to be executed by some of your men." Drake replied with a shake of his head.

"We had no prior information in regards to these tunnels. If my men know about them I do not think they would be watching the exits. I doubt they would believe any of your kind would use them to escape." Tz'eal explained

"Alright. At least I don't have to worry about dying the moment I walk out of here." Drake replied with a chuckle before his flashlight and BR snapped across the tunnel, some small rocks and pebbles tumbling down the ramp. Drake slowly approached and scanned the area for threats before shaking his head and continuing down.

"What of your kind? Will I face execution when I leave?" Tz'eal asked, his voice showing a hint of concern.

"Well you do have your active camouflage to use so you're not seen. But, I doubt there will be anyone there to greet us. Once we're out i'm going to have to get on the radio and see if there are any other survivors out there. Then make our way to the nearest evac point to get off planet." Drake explained. He heard what sounded like a satisfied huff come from Tz'eal behind him as they continued.

"What about you? What will you do once we get out of here and go our own ways?" Drake asked, risking a glance over his shoulder. Tz'eal was looking down at him for a brief moment before sharply looking away.

"I will seek out my people. Return to them and never speak of this moment again." He admitted. Drake shook his head as he swept his rifle around a corner, scanning for any threats ahead of them.

"I understand never speaking of this again. You're working with the enemy, same as me. But doesn't this show promise? You and I are showing we, as a species, can both work together." Drake suggested as he watched several rocks and pebbles tumble down from another corner ahead of the pair.

"It does. Perhaps…." Tz'eal trailed off not finishing his line of thought before going quiet.

"I'm not suggesting anything to you Tz'eal. I wouldn't ask you to risk your life for something that would definitely get you killed. Just think about it." Drake said with a smile as he pressed up against a corner of the tunnel. Leaning to his right he could hear the sound of soft shuffling and a light grunting.

Drake raised his hand to Tz'eal who crouched down, drawing his plasma pistol. Drake raised his left hand, three fingers raised. He counted down to zero quietly before turning the corner, Tz'eal following behind as Drake crouched to get a shot on a potential target, Tz'eal standing over him. It was interesting to see Tz'eal even working with him in a potential combat situation.

Drake's heart sank slightly at the sight. Ahead of them was another collapsed segment of the tunnel with a lone figure slouched down where the floor connected with the rock pile. A marine donned in black combat armor, dusty and covered in dried up blood. Drake raised his hand again to Tz'eal, slowly lowered his BR before approaching the marine. Tz'eal not wanting to cause an issue activated his camo, slowly fading into the darkness and slowly approached.

"Hello? Who's there?" The Marine called out as Drake approached.

"Calm down. Friendly on approach, is everything alright, are you alone?" Drake asked, still keeping his BR at the ready incase this was a trap.

"I am. Everyone else in my team is dead. I've been stuck here for hours." The Marine replied. Drake fully lowered his weapon, glanced over his shoulder to see the shimmering outline of Tz'eal before crouching down next to the marine.

"ODST. Thank god. I was honestly expecting a split lip to come down and kill me." The Marine said with a chuckle as his eyes scanned the tunnel.

"You're in good hands here now. What's your name Marine?" Drake asked as he gently placed his BR on the ground, taking his backpack off and rummaging through it for some medical gear.

"Private Craig Michaels. You have no idea how happy I am to see you sir." Craig said softly as his eyes scanned the tunnel before him. Tz'eal stopped moving beside a settled set of rocks, making sure his form wasn't exposed in the event this second human spotted him.

"Sergeant Drake Taylor. I'm no officer. This should help with the pain for now." Drake explained as he used one of his few auto-injectors of morphine on the Marine. A sigh of relief coming from Craig as the pain he was feeling slowly dulled.

"You're getting us out of here right Sergeant? I don't want to die down here." Craig pleaded as Drake continued to examine him. The Marine didn't look to be badly injured. Some small cuts and bruises. The Marines leg did have a minor avulsion, it looked like as the tunnel collapsed some small rocks tore off some of the skin on Craigs leg. Drake grabbed some gause from his backpack, used a portion of it to fill the wound to stem the slow flow of blood before wrapping it up completely.

"Of course we're getting out of here. You're good to move right?" Drake asked as he finished wrapping the wound, looking up to Craigs face.

"I can't really feel my legs. My arms are heavy and don't want to move either. I...I don't know if I can." Craig explained as Drake looked over him again. There had to be something causing this. He slowly leaned over to inspect Craigs back before there was a rumble overhead. Drake glanced up at the wall of rocks, watched and listened. Dust began to kick up, pebbles began to tumble and steam began to hiss from the cracks.

"Oh shit." Drake mumbled to himself as he continued his examination of Craig. His heart sank as he looked over Craigs neck. A sharp piece of metal had stabbed through the back of his neck. It was surprising Craig was still alive but moving him was a death sentence.

"Fuck…" Drake grumbled as he stood up, diverting his eyes to the rocks and dust being kicked up.

"What is it Sergeant?" Craig asked, his eyes darting around scanning the tunnel without being able to turn around.

"The cleansing beam is overhead. If we do not leave now we will perish." Tz'eal explained quietly. He deactivated his camo as he stepped toward Drake before they both heard a sharp inhale.

"Sergeant! I can't reach my weapon. There's an Elite right behind you!" Craig called out sounding terrified. Drake didn't turn around. Only nodded at what Tz'eal had said.

"I know. Don't worry about him, he's...he's a friend." Drake said to Craig as he crouched down and began to pull out more medical equipment.

"A friend? What?" Craig asked, sounding scared but confused.

"He's a friendly one. He's not going to do anything to either of us." Drake said reassuringly as he glanced over to Tz'eal. Tz'eal slowly nodded his head before walking beside Drake.

"You have nothing to fear from me. I mean you no harm." Tz'eal explained as he watched Drake pull out three of the red objects he had used before.

"So what's the plan Sergeant? I can't move much so you're Elite friend here going to carry me out to a medevac?" Craig asked.

"That's the plan. However there's an issue." Drake began as he looked up to Tz'eal.

"If there's any enemy patrols down here we need to maintain stealth. If you're crying out in pain as we move you it'll give us away. I'm going to give you another shot of morphine. Enough to knock you out while we move you to safety." Drake finished as he slowly turned to Craig, kneeling down beside him showing a single auto-injector.

"Then the medics will be able to do me a once over, make sure I'm okay and wake me up when we're safe right?" Craig asked, sounding confident.

"Damn right. We're going to get out of here." Drake said confidently as he gathered the three injectors in his hand, lining them up with Craig's neck.

"We're losing Reach aren't we?" Craig asked quietly as Drake prepared himself.

"No. Infact from what my friend has told me, the Covies are about to leave. The Spartans have done their job much better than we thought. We're winning this today." Drake lied quietly as he injected the three sticks of morphine all at once.

"Awesome. I can't wait for this to be over. My family was out by Visegrad. I'm looking forward to getting out and spending some more time with them. Being in the military kind of sucks when you can't see family you know?" Craig asked as his breathing began to slow, his eyes struggling to stay open.

"Yeah. Not being able to see family does suck. But you'll be able to see them soon. Just try to get some rest. We'll have you up and moving in no time." Drake lied again as he stood up, taking a few steps back and simply watched.

Craigs breathing calmed and slowed with each breath. He glanced up to the odd pair that had just saved his life and smiled. He was getting home. Seeing his family again. Slowly everything went dark as he went to sleep.

Drake watched as Craig slowly died before him. Tz'eal looked on in confusion. Drake had done everything he could to save his own life but something was wrong with what Drake had done here. The atmosphere felt like death.

Minutes passed as before Drake picked his backpack up off the ground, slung it over his shoulders and picked up his BR looking to continue moving. Tz'eal looked from Drake to the human on the ground, the one named Craig was no longer moving, no longer breathing.

"You killed him?" Tz'eal asked, sounding confused.

"I did." Drake confessed without turning around, simply walking away from the scene. Tz'eal walked to catch up, anger slowly building within him.

"When I offered you mercy you didn't accept it. But now, you're killing your own men! How does this make us any different?" Tz'eal argued, his anger getting the better of him.

"Because I am alive and well. I was able to survive my wounds when you offered to kill me." Drake argued without turning to look at the Elite. His anger was building. The Elite not understanding what was going through his head.

"But that human, he looked to be well. Barely any wounds on him. Yet you killed him. Explain!" Tz'eal shouted as he stepped before Drake, placing his hands on Drake's shoulders forcing him to stop.

"There was a piece of metal cutting into his spinal column. I don't know how he was still alive after that but if I moved him from where he was sitting I would have killed him." Drake explained quietly.

"You offered him a mercy as I did to you. But you informed me your kind do not do this." Tz'eal argued as he let go of Drake but stood before him, not allowing him to move.

"I didn't accept your mercy because I was able to survive my wounds. I am still alive. We don't kill people who are wounded. If we can get them back on their feet and save their lives we will. But him. Craig, he was a dead man. I did what I could to make his death as painless as possible." Drake explained as he glanced up at Tz'eal. Tz'eal looked to see his face was wet, liquid slowly flowing from his eyes. He reached up and wiped the fluid from Drake's face in confusion.

"I don't like taking the lives of my comrades. But I couldn't bring myself to do that to the poor boy. If you had done something his last thoughts would have been of fear, knowing he was about to die. I lied to him so he would die thinking we were winning. Everyone should be so lucky." Drake concluded as he walked passed Tz'eal continuing down the tunnel into the darkness.

Still confused but learning more and more about human customs as he spent time with Drake Tz'eal glanced back at the ever darkening scene of the human Craig, his corpse being lightened by the slow red glow coming from the rocks as the heat from the cleansing beam began to glass the area behind.

Wiping his talons clean of the human fluid Tz'eal strode behind Drake, catching up to him as they continued through the tunnel looking for their exit.