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The Long Ride Home 11: Head Problems
Posted By: Joshua Barreto<jrunfire@yahoo.com>
Date: 30 October 2002, 9:14 pm
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The green fog within the inner corridors of VILO had gotten too thick for Rajihn and the rest of his Elites to continue on. His Banshee started to slow, and then landed itself on the corridor's floor.
"Attention, loyal Al'djurians. Our quest has been impeded by these unforeseen growths. We must now make our way to the 'head' on foot. Arm yourselves and prepare for battle.
Each Elite's apprehension grew significantly, as the massive amounts of bulbous sacs that grew from the floors and walls, burst open with floodlings.
As soon as the Bandits touched down, the Elites and Hunters poured out from their positions, and began their onslaught against the flood.
Bright green-white beams streaked across the air, 20-30 meters in front of the Covenant warriors. Plasma shotgun blasts took down warrior after warrior, as each one confronted its enemy.
"Council, guide me on this path, we are blinded by the cloud given off by these vile creations."
A mark went off in his HUD. They were approximately 300 meters from their destination.
"Elite warriors. Give our Hunter brethren your close battle support, let no flood warrior enter within five meters of him. Hunters, make the way for our walk to be cleared."
The covenant assault force gathered around into one body of 100 or so warriors. The green blasts from the fuel-rod guns were concentrated now, plowing a path for them, while taking down the 25 foot tall bulbous growths like trees in a forest. Everywhere, dead rotting flesh flew, either to attack the Elites or from their blasts. The glittering flashes lit up the dark corridor in its yellow-green fog.
"All warriors, proceed forward!"
Rajihn's voice created a bloodrush within the veins of his fellow warriors. They rushed forward with a renewed zeal as soon as they heard him over all of the chaos that was taking place.
As the Elites moshed forward, bones crunched, blue-white sparks filled the air, and flood warriors were thrown all over the place. In the melee, Rajihn could not help but wonder what exactly was so important about VILO that the human had to be captured before it reached the control center. His shields flickered from a flood warrior's tentacle attack. He hit it twice with his gun, then shot it away.
"GGGRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!! These creatures are countless!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a shrieking, agonistic yelp from one of his fellow warriors. He looked and saw to his right, tentacles protruding through the chest of one of his Elites. The floodlings from which these wretched tendrils came, deflated as the wiry limbs pulsated and glowed a dim yellow. He watched with frightening revelation as his fallen comrade began the blasphemous transformation. The Elite reeled as the poisonous juices flowed through his veins. His bones and flesh stretched and twisted, as his armor popped off his body. His skin began to turn pale and green, as it immediately rotted from the touch of these tentacles. With a gutwrenching movement, that would shake a seasoned warrior, the head and neck stretched upward and backward. His hands and arms grew outward into something other than what their gods had intended.
Rajihn felt a gurgling within the pits of his stomach. He aimed his weapon at the new flood warrior, and shot it. He looked away in fright and disgust, then continued on toward the mark in his HUD.
"Hunters, the destination await us, plow the way forward with the strength our gods have given you!!"
The huge, lumbering bulldozers of armor and orange flesh drove forward, blasting away and attacking with their shields numerous creatures. As the last blasts of plasma cleared away the yellowish- green fog, two huge arched doors of metallic alloy came into sight. Blue lights lined the side, along with the slime and blood of both species, dead and undead.
"All Elite warriors, let us race forward with greater speed."
The group ran forward, hustling and bustling their way through and around each other, and fallen bodies. Suddenly, as Rajihn and those loyal to Council were about to open the doors, the ground beneath them began to rumble. Just as soon as Rajihn barked his last order, the floor opened up, and swallowed the whole, now panicked, crew. * * * The elevator platform came to a screeching halt. It was intended to carry maintenance and cargo, so when it came to a stop, there was a strong sudden jolt.
Kelly was still getting accustomed to the suit again, after being so close to death. Glenn was busy figuring out how to fire the fuel-rod gun he had taken from the downed infected Hunter. Joshua and Hazel from Red team were still in shock, trying to process the information the Chief had given them. The last thing they remembered was being overtaken by the covies on the Planet Reach. Dana just finished giving Chief a heads up on Kelly's status.
"So our mission now is clear. We have to destroy this installation, capture a covenant vessel, and return to UNSC headquarters so we can devise a plan to defeat the Covenant."
He readied his plasma shotgun, and the others readied their weapons. Cortana gave them some last minute details. The shaft doors opened.
"Blue-two, are you motivated?"
She looked up at the Chief, wincing with pain. But whenever she looked at her leader, an overwhelming sense of hope welled within her gut. She remembered all the times they had come through together. He had just rescued her from her recent imprisonment, there was no way she was going to let him down.
"Sir."
"I need you to lead off across the way. Hold off your position until signaled to attack. Take these."
He handed her two frag grenades.
"We will move as one. Our shots will meet their marks, and we will win." He pointed at the spot Kelly needed to be."Go now."
Kelly jumped out of the elevator, rolled and got up, and ran across what seemed like a gooey-slime filled floor behind some fallen rubble. She kept her eyes open for the movement that she could barely make out behind her.
The Chief waved to Glenn, hid behind some rubble, and pointed in some direction. The others all took positions along the hallway walls and floor, aiming their weapons in the darkness. He spoke into the comm. link.
"Lights on."
In one movement, their headlamps flashed on. The area was filled with light, and shined immediately upon numerous flood warriors moving about, as if having a purpose.
"Bombs away."
That was kelly's signal. She tossed the grenades at different angles, blowing away about thirty or so flood warriors. At the same time, Glenn charged up and blasted away a huge line of the creatures. Instantly, the darkness of the hallway was lit up with plasma fire, green blasts and small flames. Flood warrior went down following the sound of each blast. Some managed to get up and whip the Spartans with their vine like appendages, causing a sudden flicker from their shields.
"Move forward."
With a harmonized, almost fluid motion, the Spartan cyborgs, led by Master Chief, surged forward to what seemed like an intersection in the hallway.
"Which way Cortana?"
"Follow the nav point Chief. We should be there any minute."
A nav point went up in all their HUDs. Just then, a rocket shell whizzed past his head.
"HIT THE DECK!!"
An explosion ensued two seconds later, sending a ball of fire upward and across the ceiling. The flood warriors now had weapons, and let the Spartans know it.
They returned the firepower, sending the flood wherever creatures of that kind belong. After Glenn blasted away the flood with the rocket launcher, he took it and hoisted it onto his back. Hazel was knocked off her feet when two of the warriors hit her across the abdomen and chest.
"Come, let's advance forward."
The Chief picked her up onto her feet. She resumed her fight.
"Green leader, give us some breathing room!"
Glenn blasted away through rows of flood warriors, creating what looked like a green spear going through the body of a rotting-beige animal.
They finally broke through the living wall of the creatures, and entered into a large, round room. It was circular, it's catwalk going around the entire circumference of it. In the middle was a small platform, with a bridge leading out of it to the circular catwalk.
"There it is Chief."
In the middle were different holopanels, each with their own holo-screens, displaying numerous things. And hanging from the ceiling was another, garganteous, pulsating sac, with rope like tentacles to support it. It had small 'fingers', moving methodically over the holopanels, punching in different commands.
The flood warriors did something, again, uncharacteristic of their usual behavior. They weren't attacking.
"Destroy every last one of them." The Chief led by example, running up to the nearest warior and shooting it.
The others soon followed, and did the same. The now stationary warriors went down, until Cortana yelled at the Chief.
"Cease firing!" Confused, he called the order to his soldiers. It sent them almost into shock, how could he order such a thing? Still, without question, they obeyed.
"The...the head!! It's communicating with me using the Covenant network!"
Now he was really perplexed. The huge crowd of the flood warriors opened up to let the Chief and his six warriors pass. They walked down the bridge, guns ready and aimed, into the middle. The huge pulsating sac still working away on the command consoles.
"It's saying, it is not the enemy. The Covenant are. Now it's giving me about a trillion things that I can't translate quick enough to tell you but...oh my God."
A huge image popped onto the big, holoscreen. At first, he blinked to take another look. But, sure enough, the image stood there. Each of the Spartan warriors stared at it, trying to keep their bearing. But nothing could remedy the dizzying, heart sinking feeling that ran through their spine, and into their stomachs. Nothing could keep Master Chief's blood from becoming so cold that it made his body fell heavy.
"Those bastards. Those Covenant bastards."
The Spartans all looked at the Master Chief, wondering what their next order would be. They were as confused as he, and as hurt. The image reflected off his visor.
"Earth." That's all he could mutter. After all his training, and years of harsh battle, nothing scared him and left him with a sense of hopelessness than this. He mustered all his strength just to move his lips, and say that word.
IT'S OVER, he thought. The Covenant found Earth. Even though he and many others hadn't actually come from there, or stepped foot on it, something in every human told him, that no matter what, Earth was home. Earth, was the birthplace of humanity.
"They've found Earth."
Suddenly, their anger swelled up their chests. Their existence came with newfound importance and purpose. The war has now gotten desperate. Cortana continued to translate.
"The 'head' says, our fate will soon be sealed. It says that, in order for the Covies to be defeated, we should be one."
One? As in allies? Things were now going off the wall. How were they going to actually ally themselves with a being that thrives off the death of other sentient beings?
"And be part of the guaranteed victors over the Covenant."
"How exactly do we become 'one'?" There was movement behind them. The Spartans began to feel uneasy, and reloaded their weapons. The gap between them closed, as the flood warriors surrounded them. "That's the catch. To put it in it's own elegant way, we must become a part of the collective." The small wires on the chests of the flood warriors began to squirm about as the low, weird sounds characteristic of the creatures filled the air. "How is that done?" He already knew the answer, but wanted time to make sure his Spartan warriors were ready. "By making ourselves the sacrifice." At that, all the Spartans cocked their weapons, aiming at the sac, as if on cue. "Tell it, we'll pass." Then, in one instant, they fired away at the sac. Two rockets and a fuel rod blast later, it fell, melting and burning away in flames, toward the control room's floor. "We need to destroy this base Cortana." "I'm already on it Chief. You do your job and keep us alive." All at once, the flood began their attack on the seven Spartan cyborgs. Glenn made a path for them again, leading through the bridge and onto the circular catwalk. The bridge itself was starting to take its toll from all of the plasma blasts and weight. The melting burn spots on the bridge created holes, making the Spartans wary of just running through. "Team, listen up. I know you're running low on ammo. Stay in line behind Glenn. Shoot only when directly threatened." A bunch of lights went off in his HUD to acknowledge his order. The battle's casualties were building up. Every one of them had to wipe their visor at least once in order to get the muck of the flood warriors off them. "We've got 25 minutes before this moonbase goes up Chief. Find a ride, and get us all the hell out of here!" "Sir, the bridge-look!" As they came to the end of it toward the circular platform, it began to shudder, and squeal as it buckled under all their weight. One of the energy support beams shut off, with a spark that left behind a mist of small blue flames floating in a diagonal line where, just a moment before was bright and humming with life. "Everyone, interlock arms!" The seven Spartans did so, and Glenn grabbed the edge of the platform. Looking like a huge, human chain, they hung, as the bridge they were just on, tilted, and then plummeted to the floor below. Their shields flickered intermittenly as the flood warriors whipped them upon their descent. One of them wrapped its tendrils around Dana's boot. She kicked it in the chest, and watched it fall, along with the others, and disappear into the the hazy-fog. "All right, everyone pull up!" They did, but it was in vain. Soon after they began to climb up each other, the platform cracked, and fell. They fell with it, and disappeared into the green-yellowish fog.
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