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Incident Part 2
Posted By: monitor101<wasup1989@hotmail.com>
Date: 28 March 2008, 2:38 am


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Reach / Gladiator incident report, continued

Dr. Kai, "It…or should I say he, reanimated, jumped right to his feet, as if nothing ever happened.

This interview will be intermixed with the one I conducted with Tech Officer Marsh, Kyle, who assisted in bringing Engineering officer "Seth" to the infirmary and was present at the time of reanimation.

Marsh, "He didn't even look human. His skin was a pale yellow, that's the only way I can describe it, pale yellow. Mottled, blotched with what looked like disgusting lesions. His forearms seemed to be swollen, like Popeye. His whole head leaned to one side with that bump on his neck, and those things sticking out of it. His face had these red lines, looked like when you scratch at your skin really hard and those red lines follow. They covered his entire face. They…pulsed, I could see his heart beat in them.

Dr. Kai, "He stood for a second, just staring. He seemed to be breathing rapidly, and it came in raspy, heavy breaths, ragged sounding. I was behind him. The three techs were in front of him, he was staring at them. I could see the wound where I had to pry the appendage out. There was no bleeding; I could see the green blood, the white of his shoulder blade, Thoracic vertebrae, a flap of the Trapezius muscle. What was peculiar to me was that the dorso-lateral musculature seemed to be more defined, exaggerated, as if all of a sudden they had increased in size and strength."

Was this part of the transformation, for the arm appendages?

Dr. Kai, "I assume so."

Marsh, "We just stared at him for a moment, he did the same. There was no facial expression, no show of emotion. Even his eyes conveyed nothing, they were so dilated and bloodshot and blurry, they were voids."

"I was frozen in place. We all were, just staring. The other two, Ross and RothRock, were right next to me, no one said anything. We were in shock; he still had two arms and two legs, but he didn't look human anymore. Whatever the hell happened to him, well, it screwed him up. I heard all these stories of people who tried to talk after someone reanimated, like that person was a friend of theirs or something, and then the person trying to talk got killed. I knew instantly, Seth wasn't human anymore. None of them were."

"None of us saw the stick (this is what crew members began naming the sword like appendages on the arms of the reanimated) that had formed on his arm. I remember RockRock taking a slight step forward and whispering 'Seth', and then he struck. It happened so fast. Seth raised his arm and swung down on Ross, the big guy who had carried him in, who was covered in his blood. I didn't see what happened, I instantly jumped away, in RothRock's direction. I fell into him and my momentum took us both to the floor. I felt a spray of hot liquid. It sprayed all over me, on my clothes, in my mouth, it tasted coppery."

Dr. Kai, "I acted on instinct. As a former Helljumper medic with five years experience in the field with the 105th Drop Jet, I had acted instantly on a number of battlefields, against hordes of Covenant. Plus with the training, how can I forget the training? They drilled it into your mind, into your very movements, quick reaction became a motor function."

"I knew he was hostile the moment he swung down on Ross, poor fellow, never knew what hit him. The gurney was right behind him, at waist level. I dashed forward and pushed it into his waist. He lost his balance. I kept pushing, it took all my strength; I'm an old man. I pushed him into the surgical prep room, pushed the gurney all the way through the doorway. Then I closed the pressure doors from the medical room where we were, and to the waiting room. He was locked in surgery prep. Through the door's window, I could see him get his footing. He let out a scream, it was a terrible throaty noise, and it didn't sound human. He lunged for the door and swung his arm appendage at it. It scratched the glass."

"I checked on the others. RothRock and Marsh, they were covered in Ross's blood but okay. Ross had nearly been cut in half, as it was a downward swing, his upper body was no longer recognizable. And a deep, deep wound ran all the way down to his crotch. Blood was every where."

Dr. Kai takes a moment.

"I went to contact the captain immediately and get a security detail down to medical. As soon as I went to the link and opened up the ship wide COM line, it was full of screams."

UNSC Naval HIGHCOM offices, Reach City

I sit in a conference room with Lt. Commander Sara Vega. A shorter woman with dark hair pulled back and a serious expression, she was present in the cryogenic bay, or "sleep chamber, during the event.

Vega, "I woke up in a haze, as I always did after waking up from an ice nap. The cold hit me in waves, running down my spin, intensifying as I slowly came out of it. I coughed up the surfactant, awful stuff, tastes like ass. After climbing out of the tube I looked around. Everyone was climbing out of the tubes, some doubling over. A fog seemed to hang in the chamber and the low red light of the overheads always made for a creepy experience for waking up from cryo."

"I heard coughs here and there, talking, footsteps, and then crawling."

Crawling?

Vega, "Yes, I have no idea what it was. It sounded like a large bug, you know, crawling along on hardwood or something. Then there was this squishing sound. It got louder. Corporal Desmond, a Marine and who was right next to me, heard it too, everybody did. Then I heard screams."

Sergeant Kiley was present during the event in the cryo room

Kiley, "I heard the screams. I ran into cryo two, right across the hallway. There were these...things running around the floor. They looked like oversized, deformed spiders, they were like little pods. They ran around on several little legs, just crawling, and they moved fast."

What was happening?

Kiley, "There was a musty, thick smell in the air, and a haze in the room, it was hard for me to see. It was Chaos. I saw one of them latch onto a woman, she was naked and had probably just gotten out of her cryo tube. She fell to the ground, convulsing, then she didn't move. I ran over to her, trying to help. I was fully dressed in a jumpsuit and had my sidearm. I drew it on the thing and fired. The little bastard popped, pulp flew everywhere. I looked around; there were dozens of people with these things on their backs or chests, struggling to get them off. I realized there were even more bodies on the ground, unmoving."

"Then something jumped on to my back. I spun around, trying to get it off, but it stuck to me. I fell to my knees, flailing about. I could feel it digging into my upper back, ripping through my jumpsuit. It started to dig into my skin; I could feel the muscle tearing. With my other hand, I aimed the M6D over my head and down. I fired maybe six times. I felt the pop; it felt like a grenade concussion. My back was on fire. I could feel the inside of my jumpsuit was getting slick and I knew I was bleeding badly. I didn't know if it was just from the thing, or if I had shot myself. I hobbled out of cryo two into the hallway and grabbed my COM link. I called for reinforcements, for anyone with a gun."

Vega, "I was completely naked, I felt vulnerable. It was hell all around. I hid in between two tubes. Ahead of me there were people on the ground with the little things still attached to them. None of them were moving. There were people running back and forth with one of the things at their heels. I couldn't stay where I was; I had to get to the lockers, or somewhere safe. But that was on the other side of the chamber from me, and you know the size of cryo chambers, their gyms, huge. I took a deep breath, mumbled a prayer, and ran."

"I was in the very middle of the room. I stepped on bodies, almost tripped on one. I could feel the ground was slick and wet. With all the screams and gunshots, I felt like I was in crossfire, in the middle of some big battle, with people dying all around. A woman ran past me, her hair whipped me in my face. I could feel the blood that had come off her hair and onto my face. About ten feet from the door, I tripped and fell."

What did you trip on?

Vega, "A body, they were all over the floow. One of the things jumped on my chest. I grabbed it with both hands, it felt sticky and hot. I squeezed with all my might and it exploded in my hands. It's remains blew into my face and I couldn't see. I felt someone pick me up, I heard a door shut, and people breathing heavily, someone was crying. As soon as I opened my eyes I realized I was in one of the locker rooms and wrapped in a towel. This one was reserved for officers and it was smaller. There were maybe fifteen other people with me."

Kiley, "I had helped pull a few people into the officer's locker room with five other Marines. We closed all the doors leading to it. We saved only ten people. I looked through the window into the sleep room. There were dozens of the little pods still crawling around. I didn't hear anymore screams, no one was running away."

"People were beginning to get up off the ground."

The following is an audio recording of the UNSC Gladiator's bridge, recorded by the onboard after a ship wide alert was called.

Captain Flynn, "What the hell is the purpose of this alert? Who called it?"

Bridge officer #1, "No idea, sir."

Bridge officer #2, "Captain! I have another alert, this one in the cryo two chamber."

Bridge officer #2, "Sir, another's been called in engineering."

Captain Flynn, "What the fuck is going on!"

Bridge officer #3, "Sir, something is…"

Automatic gunfire.

Captain Flynn, "What the hell."

Bridge officer #3, "Sir! A Marine!"

Gunfire, louder.

Captain Flynn, "Don't discharge your weapon! Stop!"

Marine, "Sir, we need to seal off this section, now, their coming."

Captain Flynn, "Get security up here immediately."

Bridge officer #3, "Captain Flynn, I have Dr. Kai on the line, he says he needs to speak to you immediately."

Marine, "Sir, seal this place off now!"

Captain Flynn, "Tell Dr. Kai to wait. Send security details to the engineering decks, and to cryo one and two, have them secure all of them And get someone up here..."

Automatic burst, yelling, inaudible, screams.

Bridge officer #2, "What the fuck is that!"

Captain Flynn, "Mother of God."

Marine, "Shit, I'm out! Captain!"

A squishing noise in the background, unknown origin. Semi automatic shots from an M6D sidearm. Screams.

Bridge officer #3, "Holy shi–"

Bridge officer #1, "Captain hold still! HOLD STILL!"






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