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A Reason To Fight (II)
Posted By: Phoenix99<reverberation99@hotmail.com>
Date: 13 July 2004, 2:44 AM
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A Reason To Fight ( II )
"sit tight, it's gunna be rough!" A marine yelled to me while sealing his own harness. But I couldn't hear him, I couldn't see the ground rushing up to meet us, I could only see July.
"Oh shit hold on!"
The smoking Pelican I was aboard plummeted towards the ground. The air screaming as it rushed past the damaged craft. The engines roared as they tried to compensate for the rapid descent. My hands were rapped tightly around my restraint harness as I looked across the dim bay at the other passengers. Two of the three marines were strapped into their seats, gritting their teeth. The other was securing the man with the child in his arms, trying to clip the harness into place. The last passenger was a young man who seemed to be in his late 20's. He sat, strapped with his harness, with his eyes squeezed tight.
The world outside the Pelican had become a blur as it swept closer to our wounded craft. Burning buildings flashed by ever closer as the Pelican shuddered and bucked nearer to the earth.
"I'm gunna try an' land 'er in the street!" yelled the pilot over the intercom.
"Mac, get in your harness!" yelled a marine to the one who was trying to secure the man's restraints.
"Hang on, I just gotta... There he's in tight!" replied the standing marine. But as he turned to stumble back to his own seat, I saw fear fill his eyes as he looked out of the open bay.
"Oh God."
There was a loud crash as the pelican slammed hard into the ground. I was thrown against my harness with great force and felt the impact rattle my clenched teeth. The standing marine was thrown against the rear bulkhead of the bay. The Pelican rotated while still sliding down the ferrocrete road . The metal underbelly of the ship screeched as the road tore at the panels. The Pelican slammed into a crumbling building with a crash, throwing the occupants hard against their restraints. My head slammed against the metal bulkhead behind me and everything went black.
Visions of July played through my mind as I lay unconscious in the bay of the Pelican. I kept seeing her fall from my reach, to the burning city below. Every time I tried to reach for her, but was never fast enough. I relived the horror time and time again in my mind, until someone began to shake me.
"Hey buddy... You hear me?"
My eyes opened from my dream state and I saw a dark blur in front of me.
"Wake up man, com'on"
I blinked until the dark blur materialized into a marine.
"You were out for a couple hours man"
I turned to look around and winced as I felt a pain in the back of my head throb.
"Yeah man, you hit your head pretty hard. Hell I heard it from where I was sitting across from you in the bay!" The marine chuckled to himself.
I didn't find it too funny, but took the liberty to still crack a smile. The bay of the Pelican was a mess. Gear and medical supplies littered the ground. Shattered glass lay by my feet, and what looked like drops of blood were hear and there. All the other passengers must have had left the bay because I was the only one still in my seat.
"We disconnected your safety harness but didn't want to move ya, just in case you had hurt your neck or somethin,'" said the marine while taking off his helmet to scratch his head. He helped me to my feet and I moaned as my head began to swim in pain. " Com'on outside, I got some stuff you can take for that head."
Despite the distraught bay of the Pelican, I hobbled out behind the marine into a tepid sun that bathed my body in warmth. I covered my eyes from the golden rays. The sun felt good , but it could not hide the scenery that lay around me. We were at what seemed like the end of a street. I could only see a few fires still burning, but the damage to the buildings around me was severe. Many of the structures had been reduced to great mountains of rubble, but some had survived the bombardment. Walls were missing and it seemed that fires had charred every one of the once shining white buildings. I looked down at the massive gash our sliding craft had left in the street. Turning on my heels I looked back at our downed Pelican. It had skidded from the end of the street into a building, which had crumbled around it. The engines were still smoking and I could see that most of the craft had been ripped apart by the crash. I turned back to the marine who too was staring at the smoldering Pelican.
"They sure do make them damb things tough," he said with a look of pride, "I mean look at that plasma scarring!"
"I guess we really lucked out huh," I replied with mild interest.
"Lucked out, hell no! If we had lucked out, we'd a been a smear on that street."
"What?"
"Look man, if you havn't noticed yet, we're still alive."
"What do you mean?"
"Look man, those ass holes don't just attack a planet with a bombardment like last night. They don't leave survivors! Never!" the marine said forcefully.
"So you think there is going to be another attack?" I asked
"Look man, I don't know, all I know is that we're still alive, and there's bound to be others. The Covenant don't let that happen."
"You say it like last night was nothing!" I yelled in anger at the marine. The picture of July falling from the Pelican burned deep in my mind.
"You don't get it do ya? Ok, how much action have you seen against the Covenant?" asked the marine, cocking his head to the side.
"None"
"That's right. Listen man, I've seen these fuckers up close, I've come face to face with'em, I've seen what they can do! They've glassed worlds in one bombardment man! Just like that!" said the marine as he snapped his fingers.
"So why not do that to us?"
"Gotta let their troops have some target practice man!" Laughed the marine with a smile across his face.
"You have a sick sense of humor"
"Hey man, with a job like mine, ya gotta find the good in the bad, ya gotta. But I'll tell ya one thing, these Covenant may be some badass mother fuckers, but they can still bleed"
"Right," I replied
"Now lets go get some of that painkiller for your head huh?"
To be Continued...
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