Return of Spartan 117 - A Halo Story

CHAPTER 8 - Unwanted Friends

"Okay," Arbiter yelled, "everyone back on the Pelican...NOW!"

All the soldiers ran to the Pelican and scrambled on. Arbiter ran backwards watching the horizon. Some Flood had gone down and now approaching the Pelican. A group separated and went into the village.Screams came loud into everyone's ears. Another group of Flood went around another way to surround them once more.

Arbiter started shooting at the Flood. He turned around and yelled, "Start it!" A soldier ran to the front of the Pelican. Soon after, the Pelican's engines started. Arbiter took out three trip-mines and activated them all around the ship. He jumped on as the Pelican started to rise.

"Go! Go! Go!" he called out.

The Pelican started to rise but not fast enough. A Flood Combat Form jumped and Arbiter shot it down with a shotgun. The body became slump and hit the platform. Arbiter kicked it off.

Arbiter turned around. Three soldiers were all that managed to get to the ship on time. Arbiter slumped his head and walked into the cockpit.Ignoring the screams of the soldiers who didn't make it.

A hand appeared out of the wreckage. Out heaved Master Chief. After searching the wreckage, he found no survivors except for himself. But with that, he managed to get a lot of ammunition for his assault rifle and his shotgun.

He looked around him after he was done.

The ship has landed in a clearing right outside the forest. He walked onlooking over him and around. Scanning the air and the horizon. That's when he nearly fell off the edge of a cliff.

He stopped and looked at the landscape. He noticed that the village that Arbiter was supposed to visit was deserted and in flames.

There was a silence.

"Cortana?" he hadn't noticed that Cortana hasn't been talking a lot since the crash. He took a last look at the burning village and then turned around and started to jog back to the crash around the other side of the Holy Mountain.

Arbiter landed the Pelican quickly on the main base. He stepped out of the cockpit and paused. Something was wrong but he couldn't think what.The three survivors have stepped outside.

Arbiter decided to ditch the thought and walked off the Pelican for the briefing.

That night when the Pelican was being cleaned, the cleaner noticed a quiet squeaking behind the boxes of gun ammunition. He walked over to it and looked over the box.

That was when two Infection Forms jumped out. One covered his mouth while the other went around to the back of the neck.

"MMMMFFF!" he struggled. But all was lost. He slumped down as the Infection Form started to tap onto his nervous system and started the mutation process.