Ruins of Greivstor

EIGHT - COLLAPSE

The city was different now. It wasn't just the lighting that had altered the ruins, but the considerable increase in foot soldiers took them by surprise. 6651 hadn't seen much evidence of ground activity, aside from the troop he had tagged along, and although he'd seen the base and knew there must be more, he had never considered to see much more actual fighting. Shots rang around them as they made their way through the ruins.

They crossed the bridge once more. Though their helmets said otherwise, the pilot was sure it would crumble underfoot. He was at the front of the group of seven, Stellada at the rear, gun swivelling constantly. Everyone moved constantly at a crouch, and although they weren't moving through dead man's land, 6651 felt that it could become their dead land at any moment.

As they neared the other side a blast from near the rear of the group sent them all to their feet. 6651 hit the bridge's surface, cracking his visor. One of them screamed. He turned to see a soldier with rusted metal a good few inches into his leg.

"Grab him someone!" the pilot yelled. Stellada tried to lift him up, but at that moment the bridge ruptured in two. The soldier fell through the rift, plummeting into the abyss. Stellada stared for a moment longer that she should have done as the body fell into darkness, then realised the situation. "Run! The bridge is going!"

The company dug in to their reserves, the six soldiers running for all they were worth. It was only twenty yards or so but 6651 felt the structure rippling and crumbling behind him. He didn't dare look. Masonry crumbled. Rocks slid from the edge. Pillars collapsed and the ground threatened to give way at any moment.

Another blast from an invisible opponent hit the side of the bridge. The bridge seemed to stretch further in front of him that it was, running in a dream. At the very last moment he lunged for the other side. Bodies landed beside him as the bridge tumbled away.

"Everyone ok?!" 6651 turned to see how many had made it over the bridge. Only two. He ran to the bridge's edge, eyes open for sniper blasts. An arm threw itself over the side. He lunged for it. "I've got you."

"Don't fucking let go," Stellada growled. 6651 felt arms wrap around him as he and the others heaved Stellada up and onto the ground. They lay panting for a few seconds.

"We need to move now," 6651 said. He spied a side-alley off the main street. "Down there." The quartet dashed into the shaded cover of the skeletal buildings.

Once in the shadow of the buildings, 6651 tapped his visor. It was cracked and unresponsive. He used his Halo-Core.

"7251, 3373 and 10924 are dead. Proceeding with initial mission, main bridge to the western section is down."

"So what do we do now?" one of the soldiers asked. The pilot clocked his number. 6290.

"Maybe we can find a way back, get reinforcements," the other soldier, 11218 suggested.

"We're a rescue mission; you don't rescue a rescue mission. We proceed as planned. 11218, bring up a map on your Halo-Core, let's all see where we're heading." The soldier put the device on the floor and a 3d projection of the city sprang up before them. They huddled in a circle. 6290 swept the area.

"Right, we're here," 11218 said, "and we need to get here."

"Can we get there in the side-alleys as much as possible?" the pilot asked.

"We can try, but I doubt it. We'll have to go onto the main street here," 11218 said, pointing to a spot a few streets away from their destination. The pilot looked at it thoughtfully. He had planned to get to where he wanted as quickly as possible. He'd hoped their company would be large enough to hold off or discourage most attacks. He couldn't proceed with that mindset anymore. It was now a matter of getting there alive.

Behind him a ship plunged from the sky, flames and smoke trailing behind it like a comet.

"Let's go through here," the pilot said. He drew a circle in the air and pinched his forefinger and thumb together. With an invisible pen he drew out a route through the buildings, a bright luminescent green line appearing as he traced the path they were to take.

"That's going close to confirmed biomech territory," Stellada objected.

"Celestria's just brought in Hellfires. The biomechs will have massed their forces to move out and fight them off. If anyone is going to be there, Celestria will. I'm pretty damn sure that if you knew it was biomech territory, they did as well. If that place isn't a smoking ruin by the time we go near, we've got some really bad strategists up top."

"I'm down with it," 6690 said, "let's go before we're slaughtered."

"Agreed," said Stellada reluctantly. The Halo-Core was packed away and the four, weapons drawn, set out again.