[Halo] The New Eden Incident

~Derek-077~

As soon as we get into another hall, a flood Stalker Form tackles me to the ground. I drop Captain Greene, and he rolls once to get away from the attacks. I pull my pistol out and put a bullet in its head, killing it. As I start to get up, I see more coming down the hall at us.
"Captain, run." I pull up my pistol.
"I can't," he says, trying to get up.
"Crawl." He starts moving, and I start picking them off with my pistol. It's not working very well. I hold them off for an amazing four seconds before a Carrier Form makes it up to me. It gets ready to explode, but I kick it back into the horde, slowing them down for a second. I go to take another shot, but I just hear a click. A combat form makes it to me, and I pull the Assault Rifle out of its hands. I get a few more shots off before grabbing Captain and running again.

"Aim for the chests people that it where the infection form is located, chest shots put them down quicker!" Sargent Wilkas' voice boomed above the sound of the battle, she moved at the same speed, from soldier to solider ensuring their fields of fire where correct while at the same time firing her DMR off. She had been hit but the nature of the conflict prevented her from spending any time examining the injury. "Don't let those monsters close in on us we have to hold until the Captain get's here" Assuming he was still alive and kicking.

Eve scrambled out of the duct and slammed the grate down. Turning, she ran into the supply room and crawled into the dennod boxes. Shutting her makeshift box gate, she went really quiet, the dead and eviscerated bodies of the former occupants of the station providing the camofkaging smell that kept her safe.

~David Verihue~

"Sergeant, what if Captain doesn't know we're here? What if he can't make it or he's pinned? We need to go in there and find him," I say, getting into cover beside her.
"Let's go!" ODST Greene yells, moving up to some cover dangerously close to the enemy.

~Derek-077~

"Hang in there Captain, we're almost to a safe room." I sprint down the hall with him over my shoulder until I find a room with the door control panel still intact. It opens, and I fly in, almost dropping the Captain. I push a bunch of buttons on the panel, and it closes just as they catch up to us.
"Take a breather," I say, leaning against a wall. "Make it quick though, Sir. We don't have much time 'til they get in here." I put a fresh mag in my gun.

"Fine a small strike team can move quickly but we are barely holding this EZ as it is" She stood up and opened fire once more cutting down a pair of combat forms and taking out a cluster of infection forms. Wilkas ducked back behind cover at the burst of smg fire from a combat form, she winced visibly, her left hand going to her injury. "See to it that it is done we'll hold out for as long as possible and if we can't we'll try to reinforce you"

~David Verihue~

"Thank you," I say to Sergeant Wilkas before moving up to Private Greene's position.
"What's up?" he asks, taking a few more targets out.
"Phillips, and... The other ODST, get over here. All four of us are heading in there!" I yell as loud as I can.
"Hughes, that's you," I can hear Phillips yelling in the distance. They both rush over.
"We ready?" Hughes asks.
"Clear us a path in there!" Phillips yells back to the troops guarding the pelican.
"Yes, Sir," a marine yells.
"John, get out of that pelican and help these marines," I say through the comms.

~Derek-077~

"You ready, Sir?" I ask Captain Greene, trying to hurry him up.
"Ready when you are."
I flick my flashlight on, scanning the room. There are a few bodies. I grab a pistol and some mags and give them to Captain.
"You're gonna need to help cover me when we're running, Sir."
"Okay. Just as long as you get out of here alive, Spartan."
"No. We need You out of here alive. We're gonna try to be sneaky coming out here."
"I can walk as long as you help me. That should help your aim," he whispers before we head out into the hall. He puts his hand on my left shoulder and we slowly walk out into the dark hall. I keep my flashlight off, and we start walking.

"Cover and fire, Marines hold the EZ at all costs do not let the flood take one more step closer" Wilkas instructed using her own experience to try and benefit her allies. It was easier said then done, for she had soon burnt through the last clip off her DMR. Dropping the spent weapon, her hand went to the empty holster. She cursed loudly remembering the ODST who caused her to lose it, a dead combat form holding an smg offered the chance for another fire arm. Leaping over the cover, while doing her best to ignore the pain from her injury Wilkas scooped up the smg before dashing back to the crates she had chosen to hide behind. Even with a new weapon, it did little good. The flood where everywhere now, coming out of every nook, cranny and vent, not in their dozens but in their hundreds now, covering the ceilings, the floor and the walls almost as if they where converging on the Pelican to prevent the EZ from remaining open.

~David Verihue~

A small path has been carved in the oncoming flood, and we all see our chance. We sprint across, barely making it. We dive into a room, turning around and holding them off. We start moving backwards, until we reach a working door. Phillips messes with the controls and it closes.
"Let's move," he says, scanning the room.

~Derek-077~

"Contacts ahead," I whisper, putting my fist up. Captain leans against the wall as I slowly creep up on the two combat forms. In my right hand I hold my assault rifle up, and in the other I have my knife. I take them both out at the same time, without a sound. I motion for Captain to move up. He slowly creeps along the wall, trying to keep his balance.
"Good one, soldier."

Subject: Soren 'Roc' Taylor
Location: UNSC Dream Catcher
Status: Uneasy

Soren stood up out of his seat, looking around as he grabbed his rifle and began to spray-n-pray. If he could get someone else on the ship, then he'd be fine, but until then this was his Alamo.
As the horde swarmed in, he continued to fire round after round, watching the masses fall over themselves before he felt the corpses had formed a good enough defensive wall.

With one hand holding his rifle up, Soren reached up to the platform above the troop bay, and began to shimmy down his target. It took a lot of doing, and the enemy had only gotten closer, but finally the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun came down, and in a moment was set up. Soren stood behind it, grabbing the guns handles and smiled to himself as he began to fire into the oncoming wave, blowing them back as 7.62x51mm of FMJ blew chunks of their bloated corpses away.

"Come on you uglies! Give it your best!"
As chunks began to rain down back on him, Soren let out a sigh of relief, glad he'd kept his helmet on, of all things.

~Derek-077~

"Shh, I hear contacts in the next room." I leave Captain again, and move up next to the doorway. There are at least three sets of footsteps moving toward us slowly.
"How many?" Captain asks, back by my side.
"At least three," I whisper back.
"You got 'em?"
"Course I do." I jump into the doorway, pulling my trigger.

~David Verihue~

"Get down!" I scream, diving to cover. Everybody else follows.
"I'm hit!" Hughes says, clutching his gun.
"Jesus!" somebody yells. It's Derek.
"Derek? What the-" I start.
"I'm sorry! I thought you were flood!" he yells.
"Hughes, are you alright?" Phillips asks, assessing his wound.
"Yeah. Just grazed me."
"You gotta work on your shot, man," I say, walking up to the spartan.
"Flood don't usually dive to cover." Meanwhile, Private Greene and Captain Greene are talking to eachother. Private Greene probably thought he was dead.

Suddenly, there are more shots. A Combat Form has found us, and came in from behind. They all miss, and I take him down quickly, but there are more. They start moving in from the front and back. confusion sets in on all of us, sending us into the corners of the room, fending for ourselves. I'd be surprised if there wasn't any more friendly fire.

"We can't hold! Fall back to the Pelican! Fall back! Fall back" Wilkas yield tossing her only remaining grenade and sprinting back towards the Pelican as the flood swarmed over the position she had just exited. "If you can hear me..." Wilkas tried the radio. "EZ has been overrun, overrun do not approach we can't hold them!" The screams of dying marines drowned out her voice over the radio and she flung herself aboard, firing the smg into the horde.
"Pilot get the ship to safety, we'll circle around and try to find an alternative EZ"

I fall back into the pelican only because the man beside me had a face full of flood. I fired a shot into his head and continued firing into the now much closer horde. Then *click!* my last mag goes dry. And with nothing but a sniper rifle I was pretty much useless. 'Go! Go! Go! Get us outta here!"

Eve cowered in her cubby, shaking. Some people had come in and tried to barricade the door, but the flood came feom everywhere. Eve was sitting in the dark, afraid to turn the light on.
she shook in fear, praying for a miracle.

~John "Cobra"~

"We're just leaving my guys in there? And the captain?" I yell as I board the pelican.
"If we stay here, we're going to die anyway. We can't help them either way," Sergeant Steele says as we lift off.

~David Verihue~

"Jesus! How many of them are there?" I yell, regrouping with Private and Captain Greene.
"Regroup!" Phillips yells, moving out into the hallway. The three of us follow. That leaves Derek and Hughes left in there.

~Derek-077~

"We're trying!" I yell back, trying to fight through the horde while protecting the ODST. Finally, we make it through. I pick up the captain, and we all sprint down the hall, spraying bullets into the horde behind us.

Subject: Soren 'Roc' Taylor
Location: UNSC Dream Catcher
Status: Uneasy

Soren had heard the ladies yells and quickly let go of his turret the second the first marine was onboard, who quickly took control in his place. Soren leapt into the seat and, thankfully, had left the engine running when he got out. He gave it a few more moments before speaking through the comm.
"Everyone onboard? Good, if you're not, too bad!"
As the Pelican began to lift off, he could feel the weight pushing it down a little, and he only knew of one Flood form big enough to do that.
"Shit! Everyone hold on to yourselves, Tank Form on our wing! Commencing aileron roll!"
As the Pelican lifted up off the ground, Soren was forced to shut the back door of the ship, before hoisting himself back in the seat and lifting the ship straight upwards, and slowly beginning to spin.

"Get off you fat sack of-"
He heard a loud thud, and suddenly the Pelican felt lighter, and as he spun back down to look at that had happened, he saw the body of a pure Flood form in mid-transformation falling to the Earth.
"You guys and girls okay back there? Hope you were all strapped in for that little dance."

Unfortunately, I wasn't. I was thrown around and banged up. Thankfully I didn't break anything or at least it didn't feel like it did. "Jeez... why did he have to do that..." I say albeit exasperated, laying on the floor.

Sargent Wilkas was okay, she managed to get herself a hand hold using one of the seats and hand not really moved much during the maneuver. As soon as the craft stabilised she clambered into a seat, her left hand pressed against her wound, crimson slowly seeping through the gaps in her fingers. She did not answer the ODST, but it was blindingly clear that they could not hold the extraction zone any longer.
If they had tried to, most of them would be flood food by now. Wilkas' slowed her breathing somewhat each breath sounding as if it caused her immense pain when she did.

I coughed as I stood up. "Gah... is everybody okay?" I got a bunch of yeah's, I'm fine's and I'm okay's from the other Marines.

~John "Cobra"~

"What are we gonna do now? We only have a few guys left. We might as well get in there and grab the rest of them. The captain and the spartan could still be alive too," I say to the few remaining soldiers in the pelican.

~David Verihue~

"What are we going to do?" I yell, spraying more bullets behind me. The gun clicks empty, so I drop it to lighten my load.
"The hanger," Derek says.
"That's right, there's gotta be some sort of plane still left," Phillips says.
We keep going down the seemingly endless, the horde catching up with every step we take. Finally, we reach a safe room, just as my lungs are about to give out. We get inside, and somebody closes the door quickly. Nobody speaks. We just take the time to breath before continuing toward the hangar.

Sargent Wilkas shook her head. "We try to contact them and arrange an alternative EZ we lack the numbers and the fire power to fight are way to them" She sounded exhausted and looked rather pale.

~John "Cobra"~

"I'm sorry, but I've lost 3 men already today. One of them being my best friend since childhood. I'm not losing any more, no matter the cost." I ready my sniper, waiting for Sergeant Wilkas to say something.

~David Verihue~

"Let's move," Hughes says.
"Taking charge for once, I see?" Phillips says, starting to move.
"I am your superior."
"Not by much," Phillips snorts as we walk out.
We start jogging down the hall toward the hangar again until we hear voices. We move into a nearby room, where three marines are kneeling around something. They see us, and make room. There is another marine covered in Infection Forms, starting to turn before our very eyes.
"We gotta save him!" one of the marines yells.
"Nothing we can do except put a bullet in his head," Phillips says, pulling his pistol out.
"No!" the marine screams. The dead soldier suddenly comes back to life, murdering one of the other marines. Phillips takes them both out, leaving only two marines.
"Murderer!" one of them screams, moving toward Phillips. I pin him to the ground before anything can happen. That's when we hear movement in the hallway. The horde has caught up. I pick up the marine who was ready to kill Phillips, and throw him toward the oncoming flood, giving us a few seconds to escape.

I sigh. I didn't want to get involved in their conversation, but I could see her blood now. I stand up and walk over, taking the First Aid box of the wall. I take a knee in front of her. "You're bleeding ma'am, may I see it?"

"We don't have an option here, if we can establish radio contact with them we can pick them up but we lack the numbers and firepower to go charging off to find them" She responded logically. "I've lost most of my platoon and I've fought the flood before we have to plan our attacks carefully otherwise we will all end up paying the price" Wilkas really did not possess the strength to continue the argument but would pull rank if she had to. At the mention of her wound she moved her left hand away, blood dripping from the plasma wound, making both her clothing and armour sticky. "Hit in the gap between my armour" She informed him.

~John "Cobra"~

Without paying her another word, I try the comms. "ODST team Cobra! Do you read me?"
"J... is th..." There is too much static to hear a word. I try again.
"I repeat, ODST team Cobra. This is John "Cobra". Do you read me?"
"We... floo... em..." There's still too much static.
"They're still alive, Sergeant, I can tell you that."

~Derek-077~

"Almost to the hangar, Soldiers!" I yell to the ODSTs and David, who are all still following me. I am carrying Captain Greene on my shoulder at this point, since his leg isn't getting better any time soon.
We keep going, and finally spot the hangar. There are flood in here too, and only a few pelicans still here. Most of them are taken by the flood and are getting ready to take off.

I nod and grab the disinfectant. "You probably know this is going to hurt." The wound was positioned kinda awkwarding so I had to kinda splash it on. Afterwards I grab the biofoam canister and spray it into the wound. I could feel my face pale, I didn't like the sight of wounds or the way they were treated. Anyway, put some of the mesh stuff over and press onto it, then wrap the medical tape around her and tightened it up. It felt like it would hold so I stood back up and took a seat next to her. "Sorry..." I say as I stand up and take the seat across from her. After strapping in I go over how much ammo I had left. Three more mags for the sniper and... I don't even have the BR anymore. I think I left it on the ground.

Wilkas' winced refused to voice any pain as the disinfectant and then the biofoam was sprayed onto the agonising wound. Shaking her head as if to force the discomfort away she responded to soldier who had helped her. "Don't be, you did your job" Now turning to face the ODST. "I never said your squad was dead and if they where my guys down there I damn well would be searching for them, but we are exhausted, low on ammunition, out numbered and out gunned, we have to know where they are in order for a pick up" She took a deep breath. "Duty commands that we ensure the Captain is not captured but we cannot rush blindly against the flood, they will swarm us easily in our current state..." She wondered how they could find the ODSTs, Captain and the Spartan. "Pilot take us to the hanger bays, if our comrades are smart that's where they will be!" Wilkas ordered, they might not be able to fight the flood for long however they could try and rescue their friends if they are there. "Yo ODST your comms are better than mine try to contact your friends and tell them to meet us in the Hanger Bay"

~David Verihue~

"Get too the last pelican! Go!" I yell, leading the charge. The flood start closing in from the left, the right, and the back. I sprint as fast as I can, and I can hear the ODSTs keeping pace behind me. Suddenly I hear a scream, and look back to see them grabbing the marine.
"We can't stop for him," Derek says. Him and Captain are the last two in line. If we stop, they're both going down. I pick up my pace. Finally, I make it to the pelican. I haven't flown too much myself, but being the first one on, I take the pilot's seat. Immediately, I flip the engines on. I hear the flood grabbing onto the plane, so I take off quickly.

~Derek-077~

The pelican starts to lift off, leaving Captain and I behind. "Sorry, Cap," I yell, throwing him onto the plane before grabbing on.
"You okay?" somebody asks the captain, pulling him to safety. A couple combat forms grab my legs, but I kick them off pretty easily before pulling myself up. "Close the door!" I yell up to David. It takes a few seconds, but the door finally closes.
Bursting into the cockpit, I see that David is pretty new to this. He's still more experienced than me.
"We got flood all over the bird. Can you try evasive maneuvers?" I ask.
"You kidding? I can barely keep this thing in the air! Let's just get out of here before the flood fly a bird into us!" We soar through the sky, shaking back and forth. The flood are starting to tear the thing apart. That's when I remember we have more allies in the sky.
I grab the comms quickly, almost screaming into them. "Sergeant Wilkas, Sergeant Steele, John "Cobra"? Do any of you read me? We have a pelican with the Captain on board. We need these flood off of us or this thing is going down!"

"Anyone got a spare gun? I don't think my rifle will do much good when the little guys come along." I asked albeit louder then normal so everyone could hear. Honestly I didn't want to land again, hoping whoever's done there is already in another pelican.

"Here take my smg" Wilkas' ordered handing the weapon over. "Pilot! Change of plans fly us in front of that Pelican" She turned to the marines and ODSTs in the back. "Okay here is the plan when we are in front we open fire, small arms only so not to pierce the cockpit, no sniper rifles, grenades or rockets" Wilkas finally elected to respond to the distress message. "Okay we have a plan, try not to die until after we have saved you all, sit tight" With that she nodded to the soldiers in the troop bay. "Good luck"

~David Verihue~

"Thank God," I whisper, sitting back a little bit. I spot the pelican in the distance and start moving toward it, the flood doing more and more damage as we go.

~John "Cobra"~

The door in the back of the plane opens, and I pull my sniper up, taking out a few flood above the cockpit.

I grabbed her SMG and unstrapped myself. It was kinda annoying to have to keep doing that, but I"m not falling out of the back because it was irritating. "Thanks." I whispered and stood up. Once the back opened, I did the same with my gun. As did the other marines, firing at whatever looked worse than Elites.

Wilkas had no firearm of her own, but maybe it was the effects of adrenaline running out of her system, maybe it was blood loss. Either one the result was the same. "Keep firing, good job marines and ODSTs" With that said, Wilkas promptly slipped into unconsciousness.

~David Verihue~

"Keep the bullets coming! I'd rather live with a chance of getting shot than die in a pelican crash," I say over the comms. A couple more sniper rounds come, and one of them makes me flinch, causing the pelican to jerk to the side a bit. A bullet bursts through the glass, pinging off of Derek's armor.
"Well, good thing that wasn't a sniper round," he says jokingly before retreating out of the cockpit.

Soon the SMG clicked empty so I put it into my holster. But by now the flood on the other pelican (thank goodness it was already up) was pretty much gone. Just some stains on the hull really. There was a small cheer from the other marines. Honestly I wish I knew their names but... well this squad of marines was made a few days ago.

Wilkas was silent slumped in her chair, it looked like she was asleep almost. She was still unconscious having passed out from her injury.

~John "Cobra"~

"We need a medic!" I yell, sitting next to the Sergeant. She looks like she passed out from blood loss.

~David Verihue~

"Much appreciated guys, but this thing isn't staying in the air for much longer. Let's get somewhere safe quick so I can make a landing. Or a crash landing... Or just a crash."

I turn when I heard medic. "What? I just patched her up! Get her pulse!" I jog over to her along with the four, five other marines. They all just looked at each other sadly. One of them said "James was turned before we got back in the pelican..." I guess that was our medic. So I spoke up to the ODST's. "Don't you guys have a medic?"

Subject: Soren 'Roc' Taylor
Location: UNSC Dream Catcher
Status: Uneasy

"Hold on a sec, there's an extra medkit below the seat."
Soren let go of the controls for a split second as he pulled the white box out and handed it back. It had more gear than the average medkit, mostly due to it being reserved for pilots that needed a quick fix up to keep flying. He'd been forced to use it more than a few times.
"There should be some gel in there, to close up the wound. If not, just do what your heart tells you."

With that, Soren flicked over to the other Pelicans comms, smiling to himself.
"This is Gamma 074, do you copy, over."

Sargent Wilkas was barely breathing, it then stopped. She would need CPR if she was to survive.

"Awwww shit." I pick her up under the arms and lay her on her back on the floor. Thankfully in the academy they taught us basic first aid. I, well... lean down, put my mouth on her's and breath air into her. I come back up and, hands clasped together, push down on her chest forcing her exhale. I as I repeat the process a second time I respond to the pilot. "No, if you get hurt somehow we're all fucked. We need a blood transfusion or something... but I don't know how to do that." I push down on her chest yet again, then lean down and breathe into her. I didn't want to lose anybody else today even if I didn't know who they are.

Sargent Wilkas' convulsed, her eyes flickering open weakily to see a marine with his lips against her's. She felt him breath air into her lungs, part of her wanted to move him away believing that she could breath on her own, the rest of her realised that she did not have the strength to push him away, or at the moment speak.

Not another... I'm not gonna let her... I try it again, coming back up for air and pushing down on her chest. It takes a moment for me to register her eyes were open. "O-oh... can you breathe? Are you okay?" I ask, maybe a little too worried. Which was strange for me because I was usually the "sniper who never showed emotion".

Wilkas smiled at him and let herself take another couple of breaths before speaking. "Yes I am fine... Thank you trooper" Carefully, Wilkas makes it to her feet and whispers so that only he could hear. "I am in your debt, you saved my life"

~John "Cobra"~

"You're alive? Good, we have to land somewhere. Why not land at that research station up ahead? It should be close," I say, still staring at the pelican behind us that is barely hovering.

"It's alright, you don't owe me anything... But uou should probably lay down or sit down or something. You've lost a lot of blood." I say as I patted her on the back, the other Marines dispersed and found their seats. The excitement dying down. I look up at the ODST that spoke earlier. "Do you know if this planet's research stations came with armories?"

Wilkas collapsed in a seat, unscrewing the lid on her canteen and drinking some of the water with it. She swallowed quietly, unwilling to reveal how exhausted she actually was. Wilkas wanted a weapon, no she needed a fire arm.

~John "Cobra"~

"I want to say yes, but it probably won't be anything too big. Just some back up weapons," I say to the soldier as we fly toward the station.

(LET'S KEEP IT GOING)
~John "Cobra"~

The anger and sadness is still filling my heart and mind, but it starts to ease up a little now that I know my squad and Captain are all probably going to be okay. I turn to the Sergeant leaning back in the seat and toss my helmet on a seat near her. She finishes drinking the water from the canteen and I pull out my pistol. I look her in the eye for a second before tossing it onto her lap.
"That's for what my boy tried to do to you. You're gonna need it more than I will."

I pull a small carton out of one of the pockets on my chest, and pull out a cigarette. I stick it in my mouth and light it before sitting down.

She picked up the pistol, placing it in her holster. "I am sure I will before all of this is over" Wilkas replied ignoring the fact that he was about to smoke. She wasn't a fan but if it happened to be his way of relaxing after fighting alien death parasites then fair enough.

~Derek-077~

"You okay? How's your leg?" the ODST asks Captain Greene frantically.
"I'm fine, considering. But we have far worse things to be worrying about," the Captain brushes his son off.
"Like what? You're leg is broken, Dad!"
"Like the fact that we're all stuck on a planet full of flood? And our pelican is going down if we don't land soon? Now get your head back in the fight, soldier. We're at war. You're not my son right now. You have to be a soldier."

~David Verihue~

I overhear Captain Greene talking to his son. "Cap, you're right about needing to land soon. I'm gonna have to bring this thing down before we get to the station."
I broadcast to the other pelican. "Hey man, we're not getting all the way to that station. We gotta bring it down before we hit the woods. You guys go ahead and secure any survivors. We'll be there soon."