UNSC COLONY WORLD NEW HARMONY, HESTIA SYSTEM, JUNE 18, 2537 (MILITARY CALENDAR), 0620.
Lance Corporal Alexandra Hall
The sharp static of comm chatter flared in Alex's ear, rousing her from unconsciousness. She slowly lifted her face off the ground, a few clumps of caked on dirt, and moss still clinging to it. A mild groan wheezed its way past her dehydrated lips as her face raised up from off the forest floor. Her normally dirty blonde hair was now more dirt than blonde as blood and mud had seemed to be interwoven in her tangled locks. Through the haze, she heard a familiar voice, that of Commander Danforth, which brought her back to reality. She hefted herself up and sat on a small root cluster against a nearby tree as the message continued.
"-point Echo, our comm's aren't reaching the Razor, so backup isn't gonna show up anytime soon. Do not engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary! Keep low and stay out of sight. Tanaka, Hall, Nux, if any of you can hear me, stay frosty. We'll be together soon." There was a momentary pause but the message soon repeated. "Bravo- Nine, if you can hear this, pull back to rally point Echo.."
'A recording? What… what happened?' Alex tried to recall what occurred what had felt like days ago, but her brain felt like it'd been set against a hornet's nest. Stinging pain shot through her head and Alex winced. The crackly recording started to repeat again, making her headache worse, and she went to shut it off.
Only, her dominant hand wouldn't respond.
'What the...?'
She switched hands and keyed her throat mic off hazily. Something felt wrong though. Her right arm felt sore and heavy, like she'd been beaten with a metal rod and had used that arm only to defend against the blows. The fog of unconsciousness clouding her mind slowly lifted as she shook herself awake; she tried again to bring her right arm up, but a searing pain in her shoulder suddenly grabbed her attention. Daring a glance, the Lance Corporal noticed a sizeable piece of twisted metal lodged in her shoulder. The ripped fabric of her charcoal-colored fatigues frayed out against the sharp fragment of blackened metal.
'Oh hell'
Hall's mind started to race. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, and instinctively, she reached to pull out the jagged spear of titanium, but stopped herself, remembering there was a small medkit in her ruck with a canister of biofoam in it. She looked around for it in her immediate sightline, and noticed the rucksack haphazardly resting a few meters from where she woke up, its contents splayed across the forest floor. She hobbled her way over to the ruck and saw the only thing inside the ripped-up canvas backpack was her canteen - and although severely dented and scratched up- was still holding water, and an extra set of clothes that was basically useless now, seeing as they had been shredded along with the ruck. Alex's stomach dropped slightly. She looked around and tried to catch a glimpse of the canister's dark grey exterior through the dense pack of foliage around her.
'Damn the UNSC and their stupid fucking color choices.' Alex grumbled to herself and started the search for the medicinal cylinder through the thick undergrowth.
She managed to work her way around the perimeter of the clearing, picking up her TACPAD, a couple of smashed protein bars, a flashlight, and her M6D pistol. The Master Sergeant hit the mag release button to find that all but 8 bullets in the magazine had been expended, with one round chambered.
She sighed, then slammed the mag back home against her thigh, and holstered the weapon somewhat awkwardly on her right leg, into the pistol's polymer hard case. Alex hobbled over to the ruined ruck, and crudely twisted a knot in the bottom of the ragged sack, so she could store whatever else she found. A warm feeling began to make its way across her face as she stopped to catch her breath, and a bright blinding light shone above the treeline. She stretched out her hand to block the light and covered her grass-colored eyes with the shadow from her hand. She looked up, finding the warmth to be coming from the sunrise; its golden rays finally poking through the tops of the trees and illuminating the clearing around her. She drew a short breath, and relished in the small comfort of heat, when she saw a glint out of the side of her eye. Looking down to trace the source, she found the reflection of light coming off of a cylinder, mostly buried in the mud.
Alex gasped, 'The biofoam canister!'
She hurriedly hopped over to it and dug it out with her good hand. Her smile grew wider as she brought it out of the grit. The canister had no punctures or leaks, so she could still use it! Alex dropped back against the base of a tree, grabbed the injector then folded it out using her leg as leverage, and prepared herself for what needed to be done. The Lance Corporal undid her chest armor, and let the right side of it fall limp at her side. Hall crouched down and slowly slid her butt down onto the soft earth. Her fatigues made a crunching sound as she laid into a small patch of dirt and leaves. She sat down fully and braced herself against the base of the tree, her legs finding purchase in front of her in the dirt.
"This is gonna hurt.."
Alex took three quick breaths, and gripped the titanium shard poking out through the front of her shoulder; which was now starting to become slick with her blood as the shard shifted inside her, reopening the wound and covering the previously coagulated blood on the outside of the metal with a new layer of crimson... and yanked. Alex whimpered in pain and nearly bit through her lip trying to contain her cries of agony. She tossed the shard away from her and it made a metallic clang as it clashed against a rock, humming gently as the reverberations rang out.
Her wound started to seep; the blood now free to flow out unobstructed. Through the throbbing in her right shoulder, she grabbed the biofoam canister between her legs, and started to insert the nozzle into her wound. She yelped in pain at the first touch to exposed flesh; hesitated briefly, then pushed onward, her hands shaking heavily from the adrenaline and pain. She pushed the nozzle deeper into the wound, her legs writhing in the dirt and good arm clenching tightly on the injector as the nozzle found purchase in her shoulder. Alex then squeezed the lever on the opposite side of the nozzle. A kashhhh sound, like a whipped cream can being sprayed, was all the trooper heard before a bubbly white froth puffed out and for a small, microscopic moment, the cool gel foam felt soothing against her injury.
Then a new pain emerged, as if a colony of fire ants had set themselves to digging their way into her shoulder. The adrenaline coursing through her body did nothing to soothe or numb the pain, and she was soon near tears again as the foam made its way to the front of her shoulder. A string of curses escaped her lips, as the canister emptied. After a minute or so, the pain gave way to a dull throb, and Hall found that she had the use of her right arm again, though limited. Her right hand clenched the dirt and she flexed her shoulder as she pulled the nozzle out of her arm, stretching the shoulder gently. The pain had all but subsided now as some of the aerosol leaked out between the new hole in her arm, the snow white of the coagulant chemicals clashing against the weathered black color of her armor and blackened fatigues.
She took a small moment to herself, the sun shining on her fair skin, illuminating her light auburn hair, causing it to look almost golden. Her brow draped in sweat, she wiped it with her forearm gently then huffed as she prepared to get up, collect her gear, and trek towards rally point Echo, where -hopefully- all of her squad would be waiting for her. Alex lifted herself to her feet and set to collecting the rest of the gear that was scattered further out through the clearing. She found two spare magazines for her pistol, which she immediately swapped out the old magazine for, re-buckling her armor and stuffing the partially spent magazine, and the full reserve into their respective pouches. She also managed to find her ODST helmet, though its glass visor was scraped up and cracked so badly that she could barely see out of it. The Lance Corporal pulled the data chip out of its port and set it in her back pocket, -the information recorded would be useful later on once she got the chance to review it- and used her TACPAD to set a heading for herself so she would be traveling the right way to the rally point.
A few hours had gone by when she stopped for a water break. Alex Hall took a deep, long swig from her canteen, the odd shape feeling awkward in her hands as she drank deeply. Some of it spilled out the sides of her mouth, and she groaned in annoyance and pouted her lips, trying to keep any more liquid from spilling. Alex swallowed the rest of the water in her mouth then surveyed her surroundings.
`I don't seem too far off, if my NAV is correct.. I should just be half a click away from Echo.' Alex was just about to check her TACPAD to reconfirm her location, when she saw a slight glimmer out of the corner of her eye. She dropped her canteen -water spilling out of it as it fell- and immediately reached down to draw her pistol, fingered the safety, swinging it wide and pointing it to where she last saw the shimmer. She scanned the area, looking for any signs of life or movement but oddly, found none. Just the shifting of the leaves in the wind. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled, an uneasy feeling suddenly sweeping over her whole body.
'Rest'll have to wait'
Alex backed up slowly, her eyes still scanning the forest in front of her. She felt the soft give of her bag against the back of her boot as she stepped, then whirled suddenly; picking her bag up as she turned to run away from the area she was in. Her feeling proved true, she heard another set of footsteps off to her right side, behind her. They sounded larger, much larger than her own. LCpl. Alex Hall shouldered her ruck as she ran, and kept her pistol at the ready, as she checked her TACPAD to make sure she was running in the right direction. She hopped over a fallen tree, and used that small second to fire off a couple of rounds at the source of the noise. One of the rounds splintered a small tree, but the other found its mark. A swell of energy, like lightning, cascaded in a shockwave around where the bullet impacted. A loud PING of the bullet subsequently ricocheting, following after the energy flare silhouetted the creature for a moment, it's now slightly visible form well over 7 feet tall. The creature was stunned for a moment, then roared in defiance as it stalked towards her. The energy that illuminated the creature now flickered back to nothingness, and the creature vanished, blending in with the forest around it.
"What the fuck..?" Alex whispered under her hard breathing.
'Bastard has active camouflage, great.' She quickly scanned the area, then turned on her heels and got to running again.
'I've got to get to Echo, if I can manage that and link up with the rest of Bravo-Nine, we can group up and kill whatever the hell this thing is.'
LCpl. Hall rushed through a few low hanging branches as the invisible creature followed along, its footsteps getting lost in the sound of crunching branches and squishing mud. A streak of purple blue energy shot past her right shoulder, barely missing her. The heat from the burst was immense though and Alex immediately started to feel a sunburn starting to form under her armor.
'Energy weapons?' Alex jumped to the side and landed on her back, with pistol drawn, she pulled the trigger 5 more times and the gun burped in kind. The armor piercing/explosive rounds carved large paths through the foliage, ripping holes in the crown of the trees, sunlight shining through the pathways. None striking the creature.
It was just what she needed. The sunlight hit the creature as it stepped into the light, a small purple c-shaped weapon glinted; with glowing blue-purple energy between its tips. Alex smiled, then dumped the rest of the magazine into the beast, the slide locking back as she emptied the magazine.
The bullets impacted and sparked off the shielding and Alex heard a soft grunt then watched as the last bullet ripped through the creature's shielding and finally hit flesh. Purple gore spattered against foliage as the thing roared in pain. The cloaking dropped and Alex finally saw the beast in all its horrific glory. Its body was reptilian in nature, encased in a silvery metal armor with four dark claws gripping the energy weapon. But from the neck up it looked like something out of a horror movie. It didn't have a proper mouth, instead there was a set of four protruding split mandibles with 3 razor sharp rows of teeth lining the inside of each mandible. The head and mouth were covered in the same glinting chrome armor, but the face was exposed; letting the Lance Corporal catch sight of what seemed to be the monster's dark leathery skin, and angry golden-eyed glare.
"Holy shit you're ugly." Alex muttered with a fearful grin from behind the sight of her M6D pistol.
The creature roared in response and its mandibles split open as it yelled, revealing the back of its throat. It charged after her with surprising speed, and Alex barely had time to hear the empty click of the trigger before the creature leapt above and came crashing down onto her, the pistol clattering away from her hand. The creature was much heavier and stronger than she had expected. Alex reached toward her chest to grab her knife, but a huge blow from the alien's right fist crashed into her face. Immediately her head started to swim and she felt blood streaming out of her now split open nose.
It hissed at her in some alien language, but she replied with something much more human, "Eat shit!" She screamed back. Then with one last crushing blow to her head from the alien's weapon, Alex felt the world go dark.