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DeathRain: The Final Fatality
Posted By: TheRedFaction<Hometokell@aol.com>
Date: 22 March 2003, 9:01 PM
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The Final Fatality
Humanity.
A single word, one simple, unsophisticated word.
Yet the irony is how this one word, no matter how simple or unsophisticated it may be, the way it can cause two worlds, two races, two enemies to collide and nearly destroy each other. The word that brings forth a war like none other, brings forth the inevitable death of many.
But one side, one race has to prevail. The side that is truly smarter, more advanced, and outnumbers the other is almost always destined to win.
Almost…
"Radio silence, starting now."
The radio received a static response, and then was quiet.
Lara lifted her assault rifle as she released her radio. The twin moons reflected off the weapon, something that usually is admired by artists or famous people, but yet the lethality of it silenced that theory.
A twig snapped, catching Lara's high-strung nerves. She spun around, gripping the trigger like there was no tomorrow.
Another snapped behind her. Again, she turned to confront the noisemaker. Nothing.
She increased the intensity on her flashlight, making it easier to find even the sharpest of covert enemies. With her light intensified, she crouched low to check her radar screen. Nothing could be read. She knew this was incorrect; she heard the faint laughter and whispers of something nearby.
Taking her attention away from her radar, Lara rose again. She let her assault rifle hang at her side. Very slowly, Lara began taking in short, quiet breaths rather than normal ones. She did her best to stand perfectly still. She closed her eyes.
Minutes passed. She remained standing quietly and almost lifeless. Then, with a very quiet rustling of leaves and limbs, Lara heard the faintest sound of gun cocking, a large rifle, most likely.
Her eyes snapped open. She knew now. A single click filled the silent air.
"No…"
She heard the gun as it burst with flame. At the last possible moment, Lara threw herself to the ground, landing on her back. She felt the wind of the sniper round as it ripped through the humid forest air and exploded against a tree. A trail of smoke displayed where it had passed.
Lara rolled over on her stomach and kept going, moving farther right as another bullet raked through the brush from an unknown location and blasted into the wet soil where she once lay.
She stopped rolling, raised her rifle, and began firing random shots into the brush in desperation. She heard another click.
She tried to push off the ground to move, but her foot slipped in the mud and she went nowhere. Thinking fast, she raised her foot and thrust it against a tree. She pushed off and landed behind yet another tree, just as two more rounds were fired; one at the spot where she once was standing and another at the tree, behind which she now hid.
The bark was stripped from the tree as the explosive round tore its way through it.
While more rounds blasted away at the tree, Lara cocked her assault rifle. When the barrage ceased momentarily, Lara jumped from behind the tree. She saw the smug face of a mysterious figure as it watched her through a scope. Lara raised her rifle, took aim…
There was a gunshot, a single bullet that passed between the two figures. Lara's eyes opened wide.
The round entered her chest cavity somewhere between her heart and left lung. She felt the ribs on her left side shatter as the round detonated within her. She gasped for air, feeling her senses fade and her vision become blurred. She released her rifle and heard it, barely, as it clattered to the ground with a thud.
She dropped to her knees, still in shock, and then her eyes closed and she fell to the forest floor.
"You know better than that, Lara."
Yes, I know.
"This is the second time you've failed, Lara."
My mistake.
Lara sighed. She felt the disappointed emotion that passed between her and Lieutenant Richard Powell. She tore the simulator helmet off her head, revealing her face. She shook back her dark hair, letting it reach a little past her shoulders.
The lights of the simulator room blinded her for a moment. She shielded her eyes as Powell shut the simulator system off.
"I don't understand," Powell said as he switched the lights off. "You are one of the best we have. Trained by the SPARTANs. You are the most elite covert soldier we have, and yet you are incredibly vulnerable to Covenant snipers."
"Everybody is."
"You shouldn't be."
Lara wiped her face with a towel. "There was more than one. There had to be."
"And how do you know?" Richard asked, rather knowingly.
"Too many rounds fired at one time. Covenant sniper rifles have three rounds per clip. I remember at least four, maybe even five."
"I see."
Lara continued to mop her face with the cloth. "Two snipers at the least, I'm sure. They used some kind of…strategy. A strategy where one sniper will distract the victim, and the other will proceed to eliminate it."
"Considering that yes, there were two snipers, I'd say you did very well. A strategy like the one used against you usually can take down five soldiers in just thirty seconds. You lasted two minutes at the least."
Lara smiled. "They got lucky."
Lara felt like she burned off two hundred pounds. When she awoke the next morning, she lifted her head and was surprised at how easy it was.
"Briefing in five minutes. All forces report."
Lara moaned. Her hair hung messily down to her pillow. She quickly threw herself off her cot, not wanting to be late after her mishap in training yesterday.
A knock came to the thick metal door of her quarters.
"Yes?"
"Private Lara Hicks?"
"Yes."
The door opened. A Marine, dressed in a uniform, stepped inside. Lara saluted him, and the Marine did the same. "Private Hicks, Captain Mishkin wishes to meet with you in ten minutes."
"What about the briefing?"
"The Captain dismisses you today. He informs me it is very important."
Lara looked at him. They were exactly the same height. "Very well."
"Thank you, Private." The Marine saluted her, then stiffly exited the chamber.
What now?
"Captain Mishkin?"
"Yes." The Captain turned. "Ah, Private Hicks. How are you this morning?"
A little creeped out right now. "Doing good, sir." She felt like a child.
"I've asked you here because we need your help."
We?
"With what?"
"A Marine unit was sent to the Surface three days ago. Their mission was to seek out and destroy a missile compound, which they reported to have been completed. But we haven't heard from them since, and we can't seem to make radio contact."
"How does this have anything to do with me?" Lara felt like she was being disrespectful and pushy, but wanted to get her point across.
"We need you and a group of our best men to extract them and bring'em home."
"How are we going to find them?"
"We have their landing sight coordinates. If they're alive, then they will be smart enough to stay put."
Lara wasn't so sure, but she knew she might a well go get them before they got lost somewhere else.
"Are you willing to do this, Private Hicks?"
Lara wasn't sure. Her mind spun with questions, questions that she knew had to be answered. To go to the Surface! Were they crazy? Sending someone in after someone else to the Surface was suicide. Everyone knew the Surface was heavily guarded and armed.
"Private Hicks?"
Lara wondered if she was dreaming. Maybe they were serious, about sending a group of Marines to the Surface to destroy a missile compound, about forcing her to go down there and make sure they were still alive.
No, not forcing her. They were giving her an option. She could say no to Mishkin's pale face right now and he would agree that she'd made a smart decision.
Or she could agree to do it and then Mishkin would agree that she'd made a smart decision.
Either way, Mishkin would approve. But if she chose not to go, then the Marines down there just may end up down there for eternity.
But even so, what if they weren't alive? She would put her own life at risk for nothing.
Suddenly it hit her: Chances are that there is a group of almost defenseless Marines who are probably hungry, tired and thirsty. They had lives, too. Lara knew she was thinking wrong and felt ashamed of herself for being so selfish. Even if the Marines were dead, she should still put her own life on the line to save them just like they put theirs on the line to save everybody else.
"I'll do it."
Her voice was weak and Mishkin had trouble hearing her. "What?"
This time, Lara stood straight upright, stared the Captain in the eyes, and boldly stated, "I'll do it, sir!"
"Ten seconds!"
They had better be down there, Lara thought.
"Five!"
This is it.
"Four!"
Lara stared down at the Surface.
"Three!"
Such a grand world, beautiful, elegant.
"Two!"
And yet, it is incredibly hideous.
"One!"
Lara looked at the Marine across from her. He appeared nervous.
"Restraints going!"
Lara slipped forward in her seat. She cautiously looked through the opening at the rear of the dropship to the world of suffering, of pain, and of unknown destruction.
The ship hovered about a hundred feet above the Surface. "Drop! Everyone, now!" The intercom faded and never came on again. Lara watched as Marine after Marine leaped from the ship and fell to the world below. Lara then followed as well, hurling herself to an unknown abyss of green trees and brush.
They had fallen only ten seconds when one Marine screamed as he took a bullet to the chest. They saw us!
Two more Marines took bullets, almost simultaneously. Now, only fourteen Marines, including Lara, remained.
Lara, against her best judgement, deployed her parachute and almost stopped falling entirely.
She glided to the treetops, her parachute the only thing that took a bullet.
She landed and immediately tore the parachute from her back and tossed it aside. She reached to her side and grabbed her nightvision helmet, which she slipped over her head. A few Marines landed nearby and did the same as Lara.
"Private Lara Hicks, we are in position. Estimated location of crash site: point five kilometers North, Northeast. Over."
"Copy that."
"Advancing towards position."
"Roger. Keep radio silence active at all times unless in emergency. Over."
"Copy."
Lara loaded her assault rifle and cocked it. Missile compound…that should be a sign.
She also loaded her pistol, which she subsequently slid into its holster. Before continuing onward, she flicked her flashlight on, then followed the Marines that awaited her.
They continued through the forest, slowed by the dense fog that had settled in shortly after their landing and also by the obstacles that lay on the ground. Every once in a while, Lara would have them stop and she would keep going to clear the area ahead. This, in return, also slowed their pace. Naturally, the Marines grew impatient.
"Can't we move any faster?" one whispered, trying to keep Lara from hearing it. Unfortunately, she did.
"I said quiet! Keep your mouths shut and your guard up unless you want to get greased."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," they responded, making note to shut up.
They kept going. Almost an hour passed of stopping and starting, checking and rechecking. They would walk, slowly, about a hundred feet, then stop, wait as Lara secured the next clearing, and start again. The whole process would be repeated constantly.
Finally, the same Marine grew impatient again and trudged ahead of Lara and into the next clearing.
"Get down!" Lara whispered, taking cover behind a tree. She took the liberty of quickly searching the foliage that surrounded the clearing.
"Why?" The Marine whispered back. "We're safe. Really."
He couldn't have been more wrong.
By the time he turned back around to keep moving, a loud shot rang out. The Marine stopped. Then he turned back to Lara, who stared at him in surprise.
"I'm sorry," he said, then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.
"No!" Another Marine, not wanting to accept the sight of death, ran into the clearing to tend to the fallen soldier.
He never made it.
Another gunshot cracked through the air.
The Marine screamed and fell to the ground as well, barely halfway across the clearing.
"We have to run for it!"
The last Marines were too nervous and frightened. "Are you insane? They'll slaughter us if we try."
"They'll also slaughter us if we don't. We at least have a chance if we get out of here."
Lara took in a deep breath, gathered her courage, and bolted into the clearing. She strafed to the right as she fired off rounds from her rifle. She was halfway across the clearing when she heard a piercing scream echo through the trees.
Got one!
The other Marines, surprisingly enough, followed her, yelling and shouting and watching each other's backs. The two races exchanged gunfire for almost five minutes when Lara suddenly tripped over a rock, a fool as she fell sideways to the thick mud below her feet.
"Oh, God…"
Time seemed to freeze. Lara had a split second to raise her head, in defiance, and glare at the smiling alien rebel who had the shining muzzle of a sniper rifle directed at her chest. She felt the burn of the lasersight as it positioned itself against her heart.
Click.
Lara screamed in fear, in hate, in frustration, in every other emotion that could be felt.
The bullet ripped across the clearing. Lara sensed it; heard the whistle of air it brought forward her inevitable death.
Then, in flash of light, the round burst through her chest cavity, ripping into her body as she continued to lay helplessly on the ground.
Her voice exploded in pain and agony, letting loose a scream that could be heard for miles in the windy weather.
The sniper smiled wider now and ducked into the brush and wasn't seen again.
"One down! One down!"
The dark sky became darker to Lara, whose vision was receding. She coughed as her own blood surrounded her.
A soldier approached her, regardless of the chaos around them. He ripped part of his shirt off and plugged her wound with it, pushing harder and harder until she screamed again.
He slid his hand under her head, doing his best to not let her go.
Then she started crying, for one reason or another. Her life coming to an end, an end which was not necessary. She would die here and now, at the young age of only twenty-four.
"Keep your eyes open," the Marine instructed, but his words were only jumbled phrases to Lara, who had almost lost her ability to hear and understand anything. She was not going deaf, nor was she going blind.
She was simply dying.
The Marine looked down at her with sorrowful eyes. He seemed to wish that he could have taken the bullet instead of her.
As her last breath drew closer and closer near, Lara attempted to gaze around her once more. Men and women, dressed in armor that shined in the fading moonlight, fighting, fighting the things that had brought her down.
Her vision was further blurred by the tears that filled her eyes. She sobbed lightly, wishing she could live long enough to enjoy the things of life she would forever miss out on. How she would let the Core down because of this.
Lara began to blink rapidly, her eyes burning.
Then her blinking ceased, her harsh breathing stopped, and she slumped in the Marine's arms. He felt her last warm breath press against his face as Lara's heart stopped beating.
At the exact moment of Lara's death, a pounding rain, part of a horrible Surface storm, fell on the Surface and didn't stop.
After the lost Marines were found and rescued, a ceremony was held in honor of Lara's bravery.
Deathrain was the name given to the storm that rained down on the Surface at the moment of Lara's death. The Marine Core forbids traveling to the Surface when the Deathrain storms overhead.
"I feel like it was….like it was my fault."
Captain Mishkin stared at the floor. "It's not. You know that."
"That doesn't mean I don't feel that way."
"If only you could see this world, Lara. It's so…beautiful, so elegant…but I think you would hate it, Lara…I mean, this is….this is where I felt your last breath…where you opened your beautiful eyes one last time…where you lived your life to the very end…but I know I'm glad I spent it with you…"
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