Return of Spartan 117 - A Halo Story

CHAPTER 9 - Quarantine

"Any news on Master Chief and the rest?" Admiral Archer asked onto his headpiece. "Yes... okay."

Arbiter stood still. He had been ordered to the Admiral's office after he rested. "This seems a bit odd," he said, "It seems that they planned this attack. The same time that you saw the Flood running down the mountain, is the same as when we lost contact to Master Chief."

Admiral Archer sat down and secluded into a moment of silence. "Wait, aren't these kind of Flood too stupid to think? I mean, they are only parasites that infect, attack and reproduce. They can't think of a plan this big!"

"Sir,"Arbiter started, "the Flood can also make forms that interrogate..."

"Like what happened to Captain Keyes all those years ago?"

"Yes,and they can make command forms that are known as 'Gravemind'."Arbiter continued.

"So is it possible that Gravemind did all this planning to get us?"Archer asked.

"Yes,"

Then suddenly the alarm started, "what now?' Archer murmured.

"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.

Master Chief jogged around the mountain, getting near the crash site. That is when he heard some noises nearby up ahead.

He stealthily went behind a rock and quickly peered around it.

He saw a few Flood Combat Forms hovering around the crash-site.

"Silence!"called out Gravemind to the other entire Flood,"obviously he survived.So we must find him. Spread out everyone. We must find him."

Master Chief stepped out into the open. "Well you don't need to look,"The Flood turned and before they could do anything, he took out the pin of a grenade and threw right near Gravemind.

"NOO!" Gravemind screamed and jumped out of the way but it was too late. He was caught in the blast as well.

Master Chief ran forward shooting the other Combat Forms and shooting their heads off. He approached Gravemind who was limping towards him preparing to attack.

Master Chief shot at him and Gravemind fell forward. Gravemind turned and lay on his back. Master Chief approached him.

"You...know,the rest will come for you. They...would have heard the...explosion."Gravemind choked.

"I know," Master Chief said. With that, Master Chief shot Gravemind's head off and bent down to grab Cortana's chip from Gravemind's clasped hand.

"Cortana,"he said as he put the chip back inside his helmet, "welcome back."

"Thank you," Cortana said.

Arbiter ran down the corridor with his Assault Rifle. He does not know what is happening but when he turned around the corner, he found himself face-to-face with a Flood Carrier Form.

The Carrier Form planted itself and exploded.