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Survival, Chapter Eleven (Finale)

The Covenant war cruiser, The Ritual, was still dislodged within the hull of the Human-Covenant ship, Hybrid. As the Ship Master of the large Covenant vessel attempted to get its ship free, squads of Covenant boarding parties began loading up in the small landing pods located through the ship and prepared to board the disabled Hybrid. Still on board however, was a fight for Survival, coming to an end...

Fitzgerald remained perfectly still behind a huge piece of the wall inside the bridge of the Hybrid. The explosions were gone, indicating that the crash was over. However, still standing alive was the infected Captain Savard and Lieutenant Bishop. The two of them were doing a systems check, when the Captain eventually realized they had a prisoner missing.

"Where's Fitzgerald?" he asked, turning around from the destroyed console he was observing. Lieutenant Bishop looked up as well, and then looked at the Captain, a look of confusion and question on his face. Savard raised his M6D pistol that was in his one hand and walked into the middle of the bridge.

"Sergeant Fitzgerald, this is Captain Savard, are you there?" the Captain said. Fitzgerald fought hard not to laugh. The Flood form was trying to trick him and it wasn't working. Slowly, he began working his way over to Lieutenant Jonathan Bishop, who remained perfectly still, looking around the destroyed bridge. The large pikes of wreckage that was scattered across the deck, provided the Sergeant with good cover, and the low hum of the still running engines muted his footsteps. Savard seemed to realize this as well.

"Shut down the engines" he ordered. Bishop nodded and typed in commands into the only working console on the bridge. A few minutes later, the low hum disappeared, surrounding them in silence. Savard's eyes swept the room, while Bishop turned his back to the approaching Fitzgerald. David bawled his hands into fists, and without any warning, leapt from his hiding spot and onto the Lieutenant. The two of them collapsed to the floor, Fitzgerald on top. He kicked the pistol out of the Lieutenant's hands and ran for it. Savard stepped forward, but Fitzgerald dove right into him, smashing him against the wall. Savard yelled out and kicked the pistol aside, forcing Fitzgerald to stand. The two of them grappled with each other for a moment, before the sound of a gun being cocked made them stop. Lieutenant Bishop stood in front of them, his weapon up and pointed at Fitzgerald. The Captain smirked and stepped aside.

"Shoot him Lieutenant" he ordered. Jonathan didn't acknowledge the Captain, but kept his gun on the Sergeant. Fitzgerald could see his eyes beginning to change again. The cold sweat was returning and Jonathan's body began to tremble slightly. Fitzgerald grinning, Savard growled. The Captain walked forward to stop the Lieutenant, but Bishop turned suddenly and pointed the gun at him. Savard stepped back, raising his hands. Bishop continued to tremble as he kept his gun up at the Captain. While this was happening, Fitzgerald began backing up slightly. Savard's pistol lay on the ground behind him. He needed to obtain it, before Bishop lost the battle.

"Jonathan, don't do this, don't shoot your own Captain" Savard whispered. Bishop's head twitched slightly, and then he suddenly pulled the trigger...

"Gentlemen, this ship has been under Flood control ever since the Captain returned. Some sort of Flood being has infected his mind, and possibly some fellow marines of ours. They're taking this ship somewhere else, not Earth. We need to stop them. Lock and load your weapons and let's get moving!" Major Anderson looked around at the last of his marine security forces. He had twenty-three left, out of a majority of sixty-four. Majority of his men were lost when the hall was breached. They all floated somewhere in space now. Anderson pushed that thought aside and focused on the task at hand. Captain Savard had to die. He loaded his shotgun and began marching down the long halls that would eventually lead to the bridge. His marines quickly ran after him, scanning the area with their weapons. Not a second later, several access tube hatches opened and groups of Flood combat forms climbed out. Anderson quickly dropped to one knee and fired off his shotgun rapidly, killing the combat forms nearest to him. His marines surrounded him and fired as well, killing more of the combat forms. Several of them leapt at the men, but were shot in the air. Anderson was forced to back up slightly, as one dead Flood form nearly landed on him. No sooner did they kill those groups of Flood forms, more combat forms came running down the hall at them, wielding various weapons, which they used to open fire. Immediately, two marines fell, cradling large bullet holes on their bodies. Anderson quickly rolled off to the left and fired off several rounds from his shotgun, as bullets pinged off the deck around him.

"Get down!" he yelled to his marines. Two more marines fell to bullet wounds, while the others found cover and ducked behind it. The Flood forms moved forward, their weapons drowning out the marines. Groups of them fell, but more came. Anderson was thinking that maybe all the combat forms were dead, but he was mistaken. As he continued to open fire, an access hatch opened up behind him. Anderson whirled around, pointing his shotgun at an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, who raised his hands.

"Sergeant Warren, Group B" he said quickly. He was covered in what looked like ash and soot. The twelve other Helljumpers that crawled out behind him were also covered in black smudges. They quickly joined the marine forces and assisted them in taking down the Flood. Warren knelt near Anderson.

"We're all that's left. Group A was crushed by something, dunno what, but the tunnels they were in are gone. Fires broke out in our tunnel, killed a lot of my men. The fact that there were Flood forces in there didn't help either. We retreated quickly though, thank god for the ladders" he explained, killing four combat forms with what ammo was left in his shotgun. Anderson nodded.

"Good to have at least a few of you. The ship is under Flood control. Some sort of Flood infection form has taken over the Captain and possibly other members of the crew. We're heading there now, hoping we can kill him, and then take back the ship" Anderson said quickly. Warren nodded and reloaded his shotgun.

"We're with you sir" he said and moved to a better spot. Anderson moved as well, but as he did, more Flood forms showed up, and forced him to stay down. He sighed and kept on firing.

The bullet flew straight out from the barrel of the M6D pistol in Bishop's hands. Captain Savard seemed to have sensed that the Lieutenant would shoot, and had already begun to dive out of the way. The bullet caught him in the upper forearm, spraying his uniform with blood. As Savard fell, he roared in pain. Fitzgerald was about to get the gun, but Bishop suddenly aimed at him. Without warning, he fired, but he was shaking so much, the bullet missed the Sergeant. It pinged off the wall behind him, forcing David to drop to the floor. Savard was up, but the Lieutenant turned to him again. Slowly, his eyes were beginning to glaze over again. But Jonathan was fighting still. The gun switched from Fitzgerald on the floor, to Savard with the bleeding arm. Without warning, he slowly began to turn the gun to point at him. It looked as if he was fighting some sort of invisible opponent, he was trembling so hard. Fitzgerald stood.

"No!" he yelled. Bishop suddenly looked up at Fitzgerald and winked. David was about to smile, but the Lieutenant pulled the trigger. A second bullet exited the chamber and flew straight at Bishop's forehead. It punctured his skull, ripping apart what was left of his brain and the Flood infection form. Red blood and a green mucus sprayed out of the back of his head as the bullet flew through the other end. Following that, Jonathan Bishop's head exploded, showering Fitzgerald and Savard with brain and skull fragments. Fitzgerald stood frozen to the spot for a moment, mourning the death of the Lieutenant, but then realized that the leader of the Flood on this ship was still alive. He dove for the pistol, but Savard was already moving there. The two of them met halfway and collided. Savard was up first. His skin had fainted slightly and he looked a lot greener than he did before. His veins were popping out of his head and his eyes were blazing with anger. Ignoring the bullet wound in his arm, he lashed out with his fists, but David avoided each blow. He had trained especially hard in hand to hand combat and was a pro at this. He caught Savard off his guard after his one punch and slammed his own fist into his stomach. Savard doubled over and coughed up green mucus. Fitzgerald moved in, but the Captain leapt up and slammed his foot into David's chest. The Sergeant flew into a wall, amazing at the strength behind the kick. If the Captain had been strong before, he was even stronger now. The tentacles that were positioned throughout his body improved his overall body strength, making him ten times as strong. Savard moved in and punched Fitzgerald in the face, breaking his nose. The Sergeant slide off to the right and punched at Savard's kidneys. He hit them, but it did nothing. Malcolm Savard turned and grabbed Fitzgerald by the throat. He raised him above the ground, grinning evilly. David choked and gasped but received no mercy or air. He raised his fist and slammed it into Savard's head. Without warning, he was dropped to the floor. Fitzgerald looked up to see Savard screaming in pain as he held his head. David had found a weak point. Since the Flood form was located in the Captain's head, it was obvious to hit him in the head to kill him. Malcolm turned at David. He looked around him and grabbed a nearby pipe that had fallen. When he raised it, a small flame was present at the end. Malcolm laughed and twirled the weapon around. Fitzgerald watched it closely and jumped to avoid it as the Captain swung it at him. His swings were deadly and backed up by a lot of power. Fitzgerald waited for the right moment. He pushed his hands forward; catching Malcolm's hands as well as he raised the pipe over his head. Fitzgerald grabbed the base of the pipe and struggled to break it free from Savard's grip. The Captain grinned and resisted. David growled as he tried and get the pipe, but it was no use. Savard slammed his head into David's, hitting him in the nose. A huge surge of pain went through his already broken nose and the Sergeant was forced to let go. He backed up into a corner and held onto a broken handle that was hanging off the wall, at waist level. Savard grinned.

"You are beaten, now die!" he yelled, running forward, raised the pipe over his head. Without even thinking, Fitzgerald grabbed the broken handle, ripped it off the wall and stuck it out in front of him. Savard tried to stop, but it was too late. The broken tip of the metal handle sank straight through Savard's stomach and pierced his back as well. The Captain gasped in pain, unable to scream. He dropped the pipe in his hands and grabbed hold of the handle in him. He looked up at David, still filled with rage. Slowly, he began pulling himself forward, the end of the handle sticking out further from his back. Savard pulled himself in so close to the Sergeant, their faces nearly touched. Malcolm let go of the handle and grabbed hold of Fitzgerald's neck, attempting to choke him. David grinned. There was no strength left in Savard, he was barely hurting him. Fitzgerald broke free and grabbed the pistol out of Lieutenant Bishop's hand. He cocked the weapon and held it at Savard's head.

"So long Captain" he whispered. He pulled the trigger.

Captain Malcolm Savard smiled and saluted to the Sergeant through his own eyes. He then was plunged into darkness...

The bullet drove through Savard's skull, and shot out the other side. However, no blood or anything followed. In fact, the Captain didn't even die. David looked at Savard, then realized that was dead, the Flood form wasn't. Without warning, the top of the Captain's head exploded and a large Flood infection form flew out, covered in human blood. It staggered on its tentacles, obviously weakened. It looked at Fitzgerald, who grinned. Without even a word, David raised his boat and brought it down on the large head of the Flood form. The thing screeched and popped.

Fitzgerald was thrown into the back of the bridge as the large Flood infection form exploded, covering the bridge in green mucus and flesh. David landed hard onto the floor and lay there, unconscious...

Major Anderson reloaded his very last shotgun round and was about to fire it, when the Flood combat form in front of him fell over. Anderson looked around him and realized that the other Flood forms surrounding his marines fell over without a sound. Anderson stood over one and fired his last round into it. It didn't even growl or flip over, it just lay there. Anderson looked over at Sergeant Warren, who was supporting a broken arm. He shook his head and Anderson nodded. He looked around him.

"Let's go! To the bridge!" he yelled. Without a second look at the dead Flood forms, the Major stormed off to the elevator that would take him to the bridge. His marines followed him, still unsure of what just happened.

Fitzgerald awoke to the sound of whispering and footsteps outside the bridge door. He opened his one eye and could see shadows moving around the entrance. David grabbed his pistol and stood up, hugging the wall to avoid being seen. Without warning, two combat marines walked into the bridge, scanning the area with their shotguns. Fitzgerald sighed gratefully and fell to his knees. The marines turned, their weapons pointed at him.

"Sergeant Fitzgerald sir" one of them yelled. David then watched Major Anderson rush into the bridge, a look of surprise on his face. He knelt in front of the Sergeant and grabbed him forcefully.

"What is your name?" he demanded.

"First Sergeant David Fitzgerald, Interior Security Forces" David said tiredly.

"ID number?" Anderson continued.

"09-42-13" Fitzgerald answered.

"Whom do you serve?" Anderson asked, looking into his eyes.

"UNSC Marine Core, Semper Fi" Fitzgerald said, quoting the term used by Fan Fiction commenter Walker (lol). Anderson stood up, pulling the Sergeant with him. He offered his hand and David took it.

"Damn good to see you Fitzgerald" the Major said. David nodded his tired eyes, and then looked at the body of Captain Savard, which was still suspended by the wall handle. Anderson looked at the prone figure as well.

"Both of them dead?" he asked, referring to Captain Savard and the Flood infection form.

"Yes, the Captain was under the influence of some sort of Flood overmind form. Looks like a regular infection form, but much larger" David explained.

"How many more were under its control?" asked Sergeant Warren.

"Lieutenant Bishop fell to its powers before the crash. The three marines, Taylor, McConnell and Lawley" David said. Anderson knelt beside the prone figure of Bishop, and then shook his head.

"Disgusting what those things are capable of doing" he said. There was a moment of silence, before a nearby marine looked up.

"We've got reports of Covenant boarding parties all over the ship. Also, the Flood aren't all dead. There are still a large number of them in the engineering room. One of those overmind things must still be alive" he said. Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside the bridge. Fitzgerald turned to see a group of Covenant Jackals and Elites rush into the bridge. He grabbed a nearby shotgun lying on the deck and opened fire. One of the Elites smashed its plasma rifle into the head of a marine. As he crumpled to the floor, the Elite turned and launched itself at Major Anderson, who dove backwards, firing his unholstered pistol. The Elite fell over him and growled as it slowly died.

A group of Grunts followed suite as the Jackals were killed off. The Elites retreated behind the Grunts and sent large squads of them in. However, their armor wasn't strong enough to protect them from the shotgun rounds fired at him. Before the Elites knew it, all their Grunts were dead and the marines were moving in on them. Two Elites attempted to fight, but were killed quickly. The remaining three tried to retreat, but a fragmentation grenade and dozens of shotgun rounds finished them off. There was a quick moment of silence, before the marines fanned out, waiting for more. Fitzgerald walked over to Anderson.

"We need to get out of here" he said. Anderson nodded, and then rushed to the last working console.

"Hmmm, not much left on this ship Sergeant. Bow weapons remain operational, but the enemy is stuck at the stern. Shields inoperable, the armor is heavily damaged, many of our critical interior systems are gone. The auto-destruct sequence remains an option though" Anderson quoted, looked up from the data board. He looked at the Sergeant, but Fitzgerald shrugged.

"Your call sir" he said. Anderson looked at the remaining marines with him. He then took a moment to look at the ring world that was still floating near them.

"I'm programming a landing solution for five of the nearest landing pods" he said, typing in several commands. Fitzgerald knew what that meant. They were abandoning ship. Fly to the ring world and wait for rescue. Fitzgerald noticed another console working, near communications. He walked over to it and accessed the distress signals. He began programming a distress beacon that would be sent out by one of the landing pods.

"I've got a distress beacon working here, what should I say in it?" he asked Anderson.

"Mention our ship name, situation, survivors, location and outtake on survival" he said without even looking at him. Fitzgerald nodded and began typing in the small text box that appeared. While he did this, another Covenant assault team arrived and harassed the marine forces. One marine took multiple plasma rounds to his shoulder and leg. He fell over, trying to hold both bleeding wounds. Fitzgerald ignored the fighting around him and finished the message.

"Sending it to Pod 1" he reported.

"The Landing pods are ready, the countdown has begun. We got ten minutes to get off this ship, let's move!" he yelled. The marines didn't need to be told twice and pushed their way through the Covenant standing outside the bridge. As they were killed, the surviving crew rushed down several halls, and took two elevators to D deck. By then, they had seven minutes left. They rushed down two more long corridors, passing more Covenant boarding parties that were engaging Flood combat forms. The marines rushed into the battle, killing both of the enemies and not losing a single man. Anderson pushed them hard, not wanting them to stop. They have five minutes left, when they finally reached the landing pods. A small team of Covenant Grunts and Jackals were already there, but they were disposed off quickly. Anderson stood around there five landing pods.

"Spread yourselves up, get into these five landing pods and move quickly!" he yelled. The marines obeyed and jumped into the nearest pod. Pod 1 and 2 was filled immediately. Pods 3 and 4 were filled with the remaining Helljumpers. Anderson, Fitzgerald and Sergeant Warren climbed into Pod 5. The airlock doors were sealed shut behind them. Anderson sat at the controls of the pod and watched the countdown from thirty seconds. They were down to three minutes. Fitzgerald strapped himself in and helped out Warren. His broken arm prevented him from strapping himself in. Without a warning, the pod lurched forward as it blew off from its connecting lines and exploded out of the hatch, the other four pods right behind it. Anderson ordered the pod computer to go to full acceleration. Fitzgerald could feel the tension of the speed of the pod as they accelerated. Breathing became difficult and Fitzgerald nearly threw up. Slowly, as they entered the ring world's atmosphere, the intense pressure from space subsided and Fitzgerald was able to look out back. Through the airlock door, he watched the other four pods fly around there's, then he was blinded by an intense, huge explosion. Slowly, the white light disappeared and was replaced by a huge ball of flame.

The Human-Covenant warship Hybrid imploded, engulfing The Ritual was still remained stuck in its hull. The Ritual exploded and the two large explosions caused an ever bigger one. Fitzgerald could feel the heat just by looking at it. Flaming pieces of wreckage flew out from the burning fire which remaining in space. Slowly, the fires subsided, revealing nothing but empty space and a little bit of space junk. The Hybrid was gone. Several billion dollars, right down the drain, but Fitzgerald wasn't concerned about that. Good people had been lost during their battle on board that ship, and now, they would most likely have to continue this fight down on Halo. Major Anderson crawled into the back and strapped himself in.

"We're coming in hot, standby!" he yelled. Fitzgerald held onto his chair even tighter and prayed that they would make it. The squad of five landing pods flew over a somewhat dense forest. There was a very large valley near the middle of it. Slowly, the landing pod computers calculated their descent depth and angled the pods downwards, allowing them to safety crash into the lush meadow and remain there, until their rescue arrived...

The group of thirty-one ship survivors of the UNSC Hybrid remained on the second Halo ring world for approximately two months. During that time, surviving Covenant assault forces, who had been deployed onto the world as extermination forces, ran into the survivors and perished, providing the marines with food and weapons. By then, it was assumed all hope of being rescued was lost. However, during there third month on the Halo ring world, a UNSC ship known as the Hunter, picked up the weak distress signal from the small landing pod and investigated. The ship's landing parties found twenty-six marines, all camped out in a cave near a large lake. The marines were taken back to Earth, were they were questioned, and then awarded for their deeds. All twenty-six survivors left the Marine Core days after their return, starting new lives as citizens of the UNSC. First Sergeant David Fitzgerald started up a self-defense learning centre, where he advised children in how to defend yourself while being attacked. Major Anderson worked with Fitzgerald for several years, but eventually retired to a tropical island. He kept close contact with Fitzgerald and the two men remained good friends. This was their story of their survival...

THE END
By: Agent Shade (new display name: Nemesis)

~*Author's note*~

Thanks everyone for reading this series. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will enjoy my new series "MJOLNIR." Cheers

~*End note*~

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