HRP Second Story Chapter 1

Ellie blinked her eyes open a few minutes later, groaning. Her short black hair had become soaked quickly. She turned her almost cerulean eyes to Katie.
"Yeah...And go ahead, say it." She sighed. "It's cold..." At the moment, Ellie looked strangely child-like for some reason. "Thanks...to all of you."

I shake my head at her.

Welcome to Dusk Squad. Everyone's replacements for a reason.

I grimace and sit down properly in the back seats, letting my rifle relax against the side.

We're picking up Sierra in a minute, then retreating to the Marine lines. They'll have a medic for you.

Skippy wrote:

Alright. Three, head for that waypoint, then keep going further in. Sierra, I'll brief you when we get there.

I turn to Ellie and pull her helmet off. A slow drizzle of rain starts to fall down, becoming heavier quite quickly.

You waking up anytime soon?

=I nod and hit the gas=

Roger that, two.

=I then steer the Hog towards the waypoint=

=the hog pulls up next to me and I hope on the back, just holding onto the frame while standing on the bumper=
Dusk 3, turn right up ahead, we need to pick up some survivors.

=I let the Hog idle=

Uhhh, Spartan...we don't exactly have a lot of room.

=I look to Two for orders=

It's a man and his son. I'm sure we can find room for them.

Garth wrote:

It's a man and his son. I'm sure we can find room for them.

=I nod and continue to let the Hog idle=

I'm a sucker for kids.

=I look to the Spartan=

We'll make some room.

"I can't do this any longer."
After hearing the Focus rifle sound off over the commlink, I turn around and dash off into the city and away from the group.
Quickly I unmute my link to Dusk Squad and almost sound desperate. But I keep my voice in check.
"Where is your location Dusk Squad? I'm coming to help, just stay alive." Please.

We'll make room. Sierra, get in the side seat. You're taking up more room back here.

I shift myself into a lying position, with my back up against the Driver's side. I slide Ellie onto my lap, so we're taking up less space.

Alright. There should be enough room now.

=i nod=
Yes ma'am.

=i move over to the side seat and get in, keeping my shotgun ready. I reply to the radio=
Placing a waypoint now, brother. We're picking up some survivors then heading over to the Marine lines. What's your location?

=i put a waypoint on us as I speak=

In response I place a waypoint at my location, turning out not to be extremely far. But I'm not close to them.
"Is everyone alright? I heard gunfire... uh... plasma fire over the radio."

(spoiler just has basic squad information)

Spoiler:

Jaysin, "It's early August, kid, we might being seing the first storm of autumn."

(matthias)

We were almost to our objective. The buildings rushed past as we sped through the streets. Empty, save for a few cars rushing about. Mostly police cars and ambulances and emergency vehicles.


-informational-
This city was huge. We, right now, were in QIV, Quadrant four. The quadrant closest to our military base. Each quadrant consisted of millions of people. Quadrant 1, the oldest part of the town, was filled with warehouses and refineries and, well, stuff like that. The majority of housing there was on corporate owned land, as in, the workers lived on site. It wasn't exactly the best part of town. QIV had business and residential areas, practically across the street from one another. I grew up in Quadrant III. Each of the Q's had schools and school systems, QIII was considered to be among the top in the city. At least, that's what the folks living in QIII said. I don't know, school was school. QIII was essentially suburbs, with a few marts here and there. There was more to it than that.








(I think the ODSTs would be in Quadrant II.)

I let out a long, drawn sigh.

"How bad does the weather usually get?

Yeah, we're okay mostly. One of us got hit, but it's not fatal, I don't think. I'm not a medic.

*As Dante

I felt us make a right turn, but I just kept on looking up.

You smell that, it's about to rain.


*In Justin's Warthog. As Jaysin

After some time Jaysin finally spoke.

"The weather here is usually good, doesn't get very hot here, a little rainy tho. Looks like it might rain later. Sorry about the other, probably don't want to speak. So how are you faring in Seven Echo?"

He paused.

"Oh look it's light raining."

I would look at Jaysin.

"It's hard. I feel unwanted, I guess. No one talks to me, and I feel as no one will have my six. How long have you been in Seven Echo for?"

*As Jaysin

"Look it is going to be hard at first but keep your head up and do your best and they will grow to you. You are also filling in some big shoes. Gonzales was very cared for here. It has been two years now, and I was in the same shoes as you are in now. Everything will get better."

"Do you still need help? Are you still under attack?"
As I run through the alleyways my thunderous footsteps echo throughout them.

I look at Ellie, almost having a panic attack.

"Shit. Pull over. She isn't going to make it to the marine line without some kind of treatment."

=I look at Way and sigh=

Get some biofoam in her, Four. She'll last till we get to our lines.

=I roll my eyes and keep driving=

Don't Pull over. Keep going. We haven't got time, not if we're picking these civi's up too.

This was going all wrong from waking up this morning

Ellie winces a bit, as she's jostled being moved to Katie's lap. She waits for the woman to give her orders before addressing her.
"Ya'know, this would be nice if I wasn't sporting a new breathing hole."
Ellie managed a small smile, keeping relaxed. "Sorry about this, Katie."
Good job, you're the CO and you end up pretty wounded. Good job, Ellie, making Mom and Dad proud.

=I shift the Hog into drive and step on the gas=

Copy that, Two.

=I keep driving the Hog toward the civvies' location=

"Look, you can't take a covvie round through the chest and make a journey across a city. It won't take long, but if we don't check if she's well enough to make the trip..."

Four. Shut up and watch the buildings. Get ready to cover the Spartan when he moves to get the civilians out of their building. Got it?

Rookies. Always worried. Ellie would be able to hold on until we got to our lines. Biofoam could hold any wound together for 4 or 5 hours.

I shake my head and turn to the buidings, watching for movement.

"Just try to stop her from falling unconscious."

=I roll my eyes and tunr my head to either side=

Please be quiet and let me drive...

=I keep head towards the civvies' position=

"Fall asleep and miss the chance to make sexual remarks to the fact I'm on katie's lap? Please, it would take Katie here smacking me over the head to make me go unconscious."
Ellie managed a weak laugh, trying to keep her squad at ease about her injury. "I'll be fine, just need a medic to look me over."
Ellie fell silent, blinking for a bit before lowering her voice.
"It's cold, this biofoam..."

"Yeah, well don't worry, we'll get you fixed up in no time ma'am. Let's just hope the Army medics are half as good as ours."

Negative Sierra 077. We are fine. We could use some cover though, if you manage to find a one man vehicle. We don't have a lot of ordinance on us.

=the warthog stopped outside the building. I put a hand up to Dusk to show "wait here." I walked up to the door, and knocked=
It's me. I brought friends. I'm coming in.

=i opened the door, the man aiming his shotgun at me from behind the counter. His son was peeking around the corner. I motioned towards them=
Come on. We need to get out of here.

=they hesitated, but then they came out, the man still holding my shotgun. I lead them over to the warthog=
Dusk Squad, meet Jerry and his son, Thomas.

=they both nodded at the others. I motioned to the back of the warthog=
Come on, let's get you two on here.

I closed my eyes. I could hear the patter of rain on the pavement. It was a soft rain. The sun was still out, warm. My right leg started to twitch. I was getting restless. I drowned out the dull roar of the warthogs engine. I gripped my rifle, tensed up, and then relaxed, tensed up, and relaxed, I continued this cycle for a few minutes. I shook my head and opened my eyes. I looked west(?) and saw storm clouds on the horizon. Autumn.

Storm'll be here in a few hours. Might complicate things if it's a thunderstorm. It'd be a bit early in the year for that though.

I looked left, at the warthog behind us. I could see Maurice, Radioman, and Dante. The roads were getting wet. I could see a light spray of water being kicked up by the warthogs' tires. I must have zoned out again, because when I looked up again, the warthogs were coming to a stop.

=I looked at the civvies, keeping the Hog's engine running=

=I look towards the Spartan=

Are those two strapped in?

I scan around the best i can with Ellie's SMG.

Let's go. Faster. We're sitting ducks out here.

=i double check them=
Yeah, they're in.

=i move around quickly to the passenger seat and jump in=
Go. We need to get to the Marines.

=I nod to the Spartan and shift the Hog into Drive=

Copy that, Spartan.

=I floor the accelerator and the Hog shoots forward=

Hold on boys and girls, this is going to get a little bumpy!

=I grip the steering wheel hard and head towards friendly lines=

Code:

*As Jaysin

"Look it is going to be hard at first but keep your head up and do your best and they will grow to you. You are also filling in some big shoes. Gonzales was very cared for here. It has been two years now, and I was in the same shoes as you are in now. Everything will get better."

"Gonzales? Who is he, and what happened to him?"

It came out rude, but he didn't mean any harm.

"Roger that."
The sound of the Warthog made me feel better. So with the emergency dealt with I turn around and start running again.
Just as I begin to run something slams into me from my right. Not nearly enough force to knock me over but enough to push me slightly.
I turn around to see what it was and find a pile of blackened armor on the ground. An ODST from the looks of him... or her. Whichever.
"Hey, I might've just found a Rio survivor. This time he isn't in a Warthog and most likely won't randomly explode."

*as Jaysin

"Well lets just say Gonzales was one hell of a soldier, but that story is for another time. But if you want to hear it Matt was pretty close to him. Come on, we got work to do."

He would nod, giving a "no."

"If I am hardly known, or hated here, I don't want to piss anyone off by doing so."

*Jaysin

"Look here kid we weren't pick for our looks look at Maurice. We were picked because of something Mar... Uggh."

*Maurice

"What's crackin Jay and Rook?"

*Jaysin

"God dammit Ernest, don't jump on me."

*Maurice

"Hey I told you never to call me that man, not cool."

*Jaysin

"Well don't mess with me and we wouldn't have a problem, besides I am just telling Justin to not worry about his position. That we are selected for a reason and not for our looks."

*M

Yeah that's true rook, if Marik picked you to join echo then he saw something in you. Remeber these fine words, "Trust is easy to obtain but respect must be earned." Look all you got to do is be yourself and people will naturally come to you so stop being a bitch and lets ge shit done. Wooooo!

Maurice ran off to his squad still yelling. Jaysin started to walk towards their group.

"Well he finally said somethig usefull, as rare as that is. Oh I am needed in front, be right back."

=I keep manuvering, looking for anything that had Marine green. Five minutes later, I get a lucky break=

Hold on people, we're near friendly lines.

=I try to look for any marines that might give us directions=

=Zuka and his squad had by now moved even further into the city, and were now on the seventh floor of an Apartment Building, tearing it up and looking for any humans that may be there. So far they had found three, and their end was swift. They expected to find more as they ascended=