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Chapter One: On The Horizon
The UNSC Frigate On the Horizon slowly crept through the milky blackness of space. The sleek grey ship had just recently exited slipspace. The hull of the mighty ship shuddered as the Shaw-Fujikawa drive slowly turned off.
Like all UNSC Frigates, On the Horizon was remotely shaped like a huge rifle. The ship featured few windows, and looked to be a tangle of symmetrical squares and triangles meshed together. Protruding from the back of the ship were two huge engines, and two smaller ones that splattered yellow fire into the void of space.
Admiral Brian Conner paced the metal flooring on the bridge of On the Horizon. His right hand felt at the small unshaved stubble that dotted his chin. Admiral Brian was a middle aged man who looked good for his age. He had short, buzz shaved blond hair that was flecked with grey on the sides.
His blond brows were usually furrowed with concentration. He had two pristine blue eyes and a small furry mustache on his upper lip. Brian was remarkably tall; he stood at 6’4'' inches, and towered over his lieutenants and fellow bridge crew. Brian was dressed in grey fatigues, and a matching cap.
Brian looked out of the large windows of the bridge. A huge gas giant dominated the view. The planet’s name was Polyphemus and it was the second of three gas giants that orbited the system’s star, Alpha Centauri A. The uninhabitable planet’s, massive red and orange clouds swirled endlessly. Brian admired the gas giant, thinking of similar planets like Jupiter and Hesoid, of the 23 Librae system. Polyphemus had no rings and it was slightly smaller and denser than Jupiter.
Alpha Centauri A was in the same galaxy as Earth, the Milky Way. It is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The most notable feature of Polyphemus was its fourteen moons. Brian's eyes then fell on the most striking of the many moons, which humans had come to call Pandora. Pandora looked like a minuscule Earth from Brian’s distance. It had similar white billowing clouds, dark blue oceans, and vibrant green continents. Although Pandora was missing deserts and frozen wastes. The whole moon looked to be covered by misty green jungles.
Brian gazed at the shimmering moon for quite some time. It had been many years since anyone had traveled to Pandora. The last human voyage to Pandora had happened in 2154. Brian felt amazed that it had taken humans approximately 377 years to return to the blue planet.
Brian had read the reports; the first venture on Pandora had been a total failure. Brian knew why the UNSC had then worked so hard to wipe the memory of Pandora from everyone’s memories. The place was dangerous, and they didn’t want to admit their failure. The Innies would have gone all over that.
No, the war with the Insurrectionists, and then the war with the Covenant had all but drained the UNSC resources and attention. They had no time to pay for future trips to Pandora, the place had become obsolete.
It made Brian think how fast technology had advanced in the 382 years since the last trip to Pandora. It had taken the last marines 5 years, 9 months and 22 days to reach Pandora, without a slipspace drive.
The journey had taken On the Horizon only a few days. Brian had been sent here to finish where the RDA failed. He was going to obtain Pandora's resources and then leave. The UNSC needed resources, the Covenant had all but sucked them dry; partly because of the destruction of nearly every Outer Colony world and many of the Inner Colony worlds as well.
Brian knew if he failed his mission he would be out of his job, demoted, and probably teaching, or working as a drill sergeant for the rest of his life. No, that wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t going to fail the UNSC, he was going to leave Pandora with every ounce of Unobtainium that it had, or he was going to die trying.
Brian walked away from the window, and looked over to the holographic image of the ships AI’s avatar.
The ships AI, Miara swept a piece of curly brown hair from her right eye. She had chosen herself the image of a beautiful and striking angel; intact with wings and all. Miara looked at Brian, and her purple glow brightened slightly,. “Your orders Admiral?” she asked.
Brian rubbed his chin again. “Send out the Pelicans. I want the Spartans ground side ASAP.” He said.
Chapter Two: Pandora’s Box
The lone Pelican-dropship swooped low over the green jungle below. Large tree’s swayed beneath the ship as it cut through Pandora’s atmosphere.
Inside the dropship sat a group of armored figures. There were two rows of seats inside the back of the Pelican, one on the left and right side, each facing each other. Occupying these seats was a group of armored figures. They were all clad in a suit of white MJOLNIR Mark IV Powered Assault Armor. These were no average UNSC solider; they were Spartans, the pinnacle of war. Each of their armors was in reality advanced exoskeleton suits; one of the most advanced pieces of technology in human hands.
The leader of the squad turned and looked at his comrades. This was his platoon, Hammer Team. Each of the eight Spartan’s present had a unique set of MJOLNIR armor, none of them were fully identical; however, each shared similar aspects.
One thing each of the individual armor’s had in common was the emblem of an orange hammer with a golden lightning bolt crossing the weapon. This was the icon of Hammer Team, it was a symbol of the team’s identity; they couldn’t be prouder to wear it.
Keith-032 was the leader of Hammer Team. 032 was a hansom individual. He had pale olive skin; from wearing his armor so often. His hair was sleek and dark brown, and was slightly long and messy, but hardly covered his ears, and descended down to his brow line. He has a square chin that was unshaven, and covered in black stubble. Keith had two intense forest green eyes, and a scar that crosses the bridge of his nose. Keith stands at 7’3’’ fully armored and weighs over 657 pounds. Beneath the armored exoskeleton Keith is intensely muscled and well toned, deep scars cover his back, chest and shoulders, signs of past battles and violent training.
The other seven Spartan’s included: Ammon-042, Cody-038, Ashlynn-023, Caden-54, Michael-094 whose armor features black, Rachel-063 and Kane-012. The Hammer Team leader currently had his helmet off and was staring at the rest of Hammer Team. “This is it boys and girls. Strap up, the **** is about to hit the fan.” He barked at his men.
Taking a deep breath Keith began to think about the mission at hand. This is Hammer Team’s first major mission, and already things look like they could get out of hand. He thought. A voice suddenly came over the Pelican’s speakers; it was Horizon’s AI, Miara.
“We are now entering Pandora’s atmosphere.” she said. While Miara spoke Keith was tinkering with his helmet, strapping a tube to a nodule on it, and connecting it to a piece of equipment recently installed into his armor.
“Before we touch down, there is some stuff you have to know if you want to survive. So listen to the lady.” Keith said referring to Miara.
Spartan Ammon-042 grinned. “I think we can handle some half naked blue-aboriginals.” He chuckled.
Keith didn’t join in on the other Spartan's laughter.
“Believe me; you don’t want to open Pandora’s Box.” Keith relied. “Everything down there wants to kill us on sight. This is the planet is filled with perfect predators.” He said.
Maria started again. “Pandora's atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, xenon, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. The high concentration of carbon dioxide in the Pandoran atmosphere makes it extremely poisonous to humans and will kill any human in four minutes. The hydrogen sulfide present is also quite poisonous; large concentrations can cause an immediate collapse with subsequent loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.” The AI said.
Keith listened. “So pretty much if you breathe the air, your **** out of luck.” Keith said.
“Luckily we have installed a special oxygen filtration system into each of your suits. This mean as long as you keep on your helmet your fine. I’ve rigged the filtration system to only enter out helmets, and sealed off the rest of the suit. This means that if your armor is compromised or broken, as long as you’re still wearing your helmet your not going to die.” Maria replied.
“Well that’s a relief.” Ashlynn-023 interjected sarcastically.
“That’s not the end of it.” Miara chuckled in her synthesized voice.
“The atmosphere here is very dense; combine that with increased air resistance, and a twenty-percent lower gravity than earth, that allows objects to fall at a much slower rate, and life-forms the ability to survive falls that would normally kill them, especially if they are over a forested are or water, with something to slow their falls further.” She said briskly.
“The increased mass of the air means that more force is needed to accelerate as it is moved out of the path of a moving object. When you run it will feel like a wing is blowing against you even when the air is still, giving you slight resistance. The reduced gravity will also cause out boots to slip more frequently than they would of paved or smooth surfaces, which will give you less traction to force your bodies forward.” Miara said.
“Sounds like a workout.” Ammon-042 added.
Keith ran a hand over his chin, feeling his stubble, it was an involuntary action he did while thinking.
“Miara, you still need to tell us what the **** we are doing once we touch down.” He said. Miara’s avatar appeared on a pedestal to Keith’s right. The purple angel put her hands on her hips.
“I was getting there.” She said pursing her lips. Miara then relaxed.
“Your orders come straight from Admiral Conner.” She said. Miara fixed her translucent eyes on Keith’s own. “Since it has been approximately 382 years since humans have been to Pandora, we predict that the military and science labs from before have been retaken by the jungle. That makes it impossible to land in the old landing zones. We are going to land about five miles away from the old base, it’s as close as we can get. You’re going to take your team through the jungle and to the base. Try to avoid any hostile locals that you may come in contact with; The Admiral doesn’t want a war. Once you get to the base, you are going to clear it of any animal or local activity that may be present. After that our intelligence reports that several machines and old military equipment were left behind. You are going to clear off one of the landing zones as best as you can so we can get some teams down there to start making the place habitable. Any questions?” she asked.
“I think we can take care of it miss.” Keith said shaking his head.
Miara’s then gave him a sly smile. “Oh, and I forgot to mention. I’m coming with you.” She said.
Keith raised his brows. “Are you allowed to do that?” he asked.
Miara nodded. “Yes. I am splitting my processors, and leaving some of myself behind on Horizon. But Connor wants me to make sure you guys don’t get yourself killed. Spartans aren’t cheap you know.” She said.
Keith laughed. “No ****.” He said.
“Alright Spartan, yank me.” She said. Her image faded and then dispersed, and a small holo-disc protruded from a slot on the pedestal, where Miara had transferred herself to an already present disc from her main on Horizon.
Keith grabbed the chip, and turned his helmet over on his lap. He then inserted the chip into an available slot.
“Great, that’s exactly what I needed. A woman in my head back-seat driving.” He mumbled. Keith raised up his helmet and pulled it down over his head. It clicked on perfectly. Keith’s eyes adjusted to the orange shield in front of his eyes, and his HUD blinked on before him.
“I heard that.” Miara said in what sounded like Keith’s own head.
“Of course you did.” He sighed.
Keith then grabbed his MA5K Carbine. He loaded the gun and set it against his shoulder. “Lock and load people.” Keith said. He watched as his squad began pulling on their helmets, and securing their gear.
After listening to Miara, Keith relayed a message to his Spartans; “Four minutes until landing.” He said.
Once all of the Spartans had their helmets on, Keith got out of his seat and walked over to the blast-door of the Pelican. He hit a button on the door, and it began to open. Wind rushed into the room, and Keith could feel the pressure change as the hatch was opened.
Keith was walking back to his seat when suddenly a loud shattering sound filled the ship. Because of his training milliseconds after the sound began his eyes were already locating the sound. Keith watched as a very long arrow cracked through the cockpit window, and embedded itself in the head of the driver. Blood splattered onto the slate floor of the Pelican.
Keith knew the pilot was dead, but he didn’t have time to worry. Only instincts kicked in now. Seconds later the ship went into free fall. All of the Spartans shouted as they were lifted out of their seats and smashed into the metal roof above. Keith knew there was no way to get to the cockpit and take control; the Pelican was already to close to the ground. He and his men had two options: either stay in the ship and possibly die by an explosion or powerful collision, or take their chances jumping out of the back. Keith remembered what Miara had said about the rate of falling on Pandora. He knew that they had more of a chance if they jumped out.
Keith looked at his Spartans. “Follow me Spartans!” he said. Keith steeled himself turned his head onto the blurry scenery before him and flung himself out of the hatch of the Pelican.
032 flew out and into open air. He went spread eagle and prepared to brace himself for what happened next. He could feel his own heart pumping in his ears. He could feel his adrenaline picking up, and the air tearing at his armor. His stomach went into his head as he saw the ground far below him, and himself way up in the blue sky.
A sick feeling filled Keith’s body and he felt as if he was going to barf. He turned his head back to see his seven comrades flinging themselves out of the falling Pelican as he did. He watched as the massive ship tumbled above them. In some ways the fall felt like it took a lifetime, but in others it felt like seconds. Next thing Keith knew he slammed into the top of a tree, then a massive branch, next a huge leafy plant, and several more that helped cushioned his fall. Then the ground came racing to meet him. Even in full armor the impact hurt. It jarred practically every bone in Keith’s body, and sent up a spray of dirt into the air. He crashed down- helmet first; his HUD blinking off when he smashed into the earth.
Still lying in the ground the Spartan leader looked up and noticed that his vision was hazy. He shook his head to rid himself of it but the haze did not depart. Keith tried to move but found he was too weak. He felt the ground shake with a massive impact and knew the Pelican had crashed. Keith’s vision then went dark, and all he saw was blackness.
***
A Covenant CPV-class heavy destroyer, Righteous Fury continued to cut through slipspace.
Krakann Vakanree stood by Fury’s luminary. A luminary is a device used to locate Forerunner artifacts, technology and Forerunner descendants (Reclaimers/humans).
Krakann Vakanree continued to examine the luminary, looking for anything of interest. Suddenly an unknown planet was displayed on the device. The small hologram of the planet rotated. As Krakann watched hundreds of small runic-blue-glowing icons appeared on the planet. Krakann knew this certain symbol to mean that Forerunner artifacts were located on this planet. The Elite’s eyes grew wider as he continued to gaze at the planet.
A euphoric feeling coursed through Krakann. I must tell the others. This finding could change the fate of our journey. He thought.
The Sangheili’s mandibles twitched as he left the luminary and made his way to the bridge.
Chapter Three: Prey
Keith slowly regained consciousness. His mind buzzed, as a calm voice echoed in his head. “Keith? Are you alright?” Miara asked. Keith knew her question was rhetorical, Smart AI’s like Miara were the perfect multi-tasker, she was probably sorting a thousand files that second, while also checking each of his vital signs for damage. The first thing the Spartan did after he peeled himself from the earth was grab his MA5K Carbine. Keith stood erect, and quickly checked the surrounding area with the barrel of his weapon.
“You check out, try not to scare a girl like that will you?” Miara said.
“Sorry, my first priority is staying alive, not pleasing my girlfriend.” He said sarcastically. Even though Miara wasn’t human she sure acted like one, it was hard for Keith not to treat her like she was human sometimes.
Miara giggled, “Stop it you’re making me blush.” She said. Keith was about to reply when the bushes near him suddenly began to shake. Something was in the clearing with them. Keith looked at his HUD, and saw several red unidentified blimps around the perimeter of the clearing.
“You see that?” Miara said quietly.
Suddenly one of the bushes exploded with movement; a sleek dark colored beast skidded to a stop, it turned and snarled at Keith. The creature looked to be two meters in length and one meter in height. It had an almost reptilian looking head, with an elongated serpent-like snout; the beast’s snake-like maw was filled with long-obsidian colored, razor sharp teeth. The creature had two intense lime-green eyes, and what looked like two tails; or antenna of some sorts sticking out from each side of the back of its head. The creature was hairless and had dark black skin; its body was lithe and shaped like a predator. The creature had six legs and each paw had three toes and what looked like an opposable thumb. The beast had chitinous armor around its neck, which went down and turned to amphipod plating on the back of the neck and spine. Its tail was paddle-like and was probably used for stability.
“What the **** is that?” Keith asked.
“That is a Viperwolf. Not much is known about them, it seems that most of the Pandora data was purged years ago,” she said.
Suddenly more of the creatures began to pour out of the brush. They stood behind the other creature as if waiting for a signal. The first Viperwolf snarled again and then charged forward. As soon as the leader began it’s assault the other Viperwolves sprang into action, their sleek black bodies seemed to instantly blend into the surroundings as they ran around, attempting to circle around Keith.
The first Viperwolf drew near to Keith and suddenly jumped into the air, flinging itself at Keith’s armored neck. Keith was too fast for it; he grabbed the creature by the throat and slammed it into the ground. He then stuck the barrel of his gun into the creature’s maw and fired off three shots. The burp of his rifle tore into the air, as the Viperwolf’s head jerked back, dark red blood splattering onto Keith’s armor.
Just then Keith suddenly fell forward. He could feel Viperwolves all over the back of his armor, clawing at it, and slowly draining his shields.
“**** it…” Keith mumbled. He jumped to his feet and backpedaled to the nearest tree. He then threw himself against it, crushing some of the Viperwolves against the tree’s trunk. More of the beasts were throwing themselves at Keith. Some hung onto his arms, tearing at his armor. Keith grabbed them and slung them onto the ground, crushing some under his boot, and punching others out of the air. He decided to not waist any more ammo on these things since it was unnecessary.
When the last of the creatures were dead, Keith stood alone in the clearing once more. He sighed heavily, “This is my kind of a place.” He said. His next priority was finding the rest of Hammer Team. Keith quickly scanned his motion tracker, looking for any golden blimps that could be his fellow teammates, but he saw none.
The lone Spartan slowly began to walk through the brush, looking for his comrades, or what might be left of them. His dark green exoskeleton seemed to blend in with the brush as he walked. Keith examined several strange plants as he walked, some of them even seemed to be alive, not like normal plants alive, but like they had the ability to move. Everything around him was strange and new, it was a new world of bright color and outlandish plants. The place reminded Keith of one of the worlds that the Covenant could of come from, but he knew the truth, that on this very planet was another race of sentient humanoids, one called the Navi’. He also knew that no animal shot the arrow that killed his pilot, and possibly his fellow Spartans, no that was a native, that was a Navi’, and this meant war.
Keith moved his chin forward, activating his chin-mic. Keith then spoke into the mic. “This is Spartan 032, leader of Hammer Team, respond Hammer Team. Over,” He said.
Keith heard nothing for several minutes, but he kept trying, he repeated his message a few times, waiting for answers before he tried again. Suddenly Keith heard a crack and then static, someone had been attempting to reply. The static was followed by a familiar voice.
“Good to hear your voice Keith, I was afraid you had decided to take a nap.” It was Ammon. Keith sighed in relief to hear the voice of one of his fellow Spartans.
“What’s your location?” Keith asked.
“I traced the signal, already got him.” Miara said. She quickly added a NAV marker; the blue arrow on Keith’s HUD pointed in the right direction, and also told him how far away his destination was.
Keith began to sprint through the bright foliage, toward where Ammon said he was located.
In a few minutes he came upon where the NAV marker stopped. He came upon another small clearing. Resting in the middle of it was what was left of the Pelican drop-ship. The air-vehicle was half submerged in the soil, and flames licked at the sides of the ship, contained by the dirt. The ship was totally upside-down and its hull was covered in large dents. Standing near the Pelican was another emerald clad Spartan. The trained warrior turned his golden visor to Keith and nodded his head.
“I awoke a few feet from this thing, lucky it didn’t land on me.” Ammon said, walking toward Keith.
“Have you had any word from the others?” Keith asked, looking Ammon over for injuries as he spoke, he saw none.
Ammon shook his helmet. “No, been quiet on the radio till I heard you.” He said.
“You run into any hostile creatures?” Keith asked.
Ammon shook his head again. “No, saw some blue six legged monkey things though.” He said.
“I ran into a pack of creatures called Viperwolves, nasty things.” Keith said.
“I wonder what other hostiles they have on this forsaken planet.” Ammon said, looking around like he could imagine them popping out right that moment.
Suddenly a dark figure moved from behind a tree. Instantly Keith’s gun was up and pointed at it. But he quickly lowered it when he realized that it was an obsidian armored Spartan.
“Michael?” Keith said, realizing he hadn’t been checking his motion tracker.
Michael approached them nodding. “In the flesh, you guys are loud as ****; I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole forest heard you.” He said.
“Couldn’t tell us you were on your way here? Had to scare the **** out of us like you always do?” Ammon asked.
Michael nodded. “Yeah, like I always do.” He chuckled.
Keith felt more relaxed with his fellow Spartans, though he would feel even better when all eight were reunited.
“Some kind of an entrance we made huh?” Ammon said. Keith walked over to the downed Pelican, and stepped inside the still open backend of the ship. Walking on the roof of the pelican instead of the floor was a little trippy. Keith rummaged around the debris that filled the ship. He found a few health packets, and magnetically attached them to his belt for later. He carefully inched himself into the cockpit of the ship.
Since the ship was submerged into the ground, the floor, or roof rather, was slowly sloping downwards, it was hard not to slide forward. The cockpit was filled with earth, since the window had broken. The cockpit’s chair hung from the floor in front of Keith, the pilot hung motionless from it, his arms a few inches from the roof. Keith ignored the sensation of regret. He had known this pilot, hand-picked him for this mission, had used him before on missions, and now he was dead. Some scarlet blood dripped off the corpse and onto the plated roof. Keith reached up and carefully removed the pilot’s dog-tags. He did this with every fellow UNSC member he found dead, it was like a ritual he could not break.
Keith then closed his hand around the massive arrow sticking out of the pilot’s forehead. He tried not to look at the wide blank eyes, or the mouth screwed up in terror. A face hanging upside-down was strange enough, but a dead one was even more unnerving. Keith gave the arrow a hard tug and tore it free from the pilot’s head, blood gushed into Keith’s arm, but he ignored it. He carefully made his way outside and waved the arrow at Michael and Ammon.
“This was no accident, nor was it an animal. It was the Navi’. They are already engaging us in combat, I think it’s time we taught them a lesson.” He said; quickly snapping the arrow in half.
Ammon looked at Keith, his expressions hidden by his golden visor. “What do we do next?” he asked.
Keith thought for a moment. “Our main priority is to set up a LZ for Pelicans to land on so we can begin to assemble or planetary base.” He said.
“But we can’t just leave the others, we need to find them.” He said.
Ammon nodded. “Right,” He said. The three Spartans then moved out searching for other Spartans. Eventually they came across a golden blimp on their motion trackers. All three of them broke into sprints as they ran for the blimp; before they knew it the came across the form of a Spartan lying in a small crater. Instantly Ashlynn Spartan 0-23 flashed across Keith’s HUD, identifying her. Not that he needed it, her own armor upgrades were unique, and her visor was a pale blue not gold like the others.
Keith squatted down next to Ashlynn. He could see the rise of her chest through her armor. “She’s breathing, probably fell onto her backside, got knocked out and hasn’t woken up yet.” He said.
Keith imagined pulling off Ashlynn’s helmet; revealing her sultry pale face, complimented by un-regulation, short blonde hair. Ashlynn had full pink lips, a small well shaped nose, and a sleek forehead, befitted with two sapphire orbs. But he knew that the air was toxic to humans. Instead Keith placed his armored hands on each shoulder and gave her a good shake.
“Is this real or is this still my fantasy?” she asked.
“Though, if this was still my fantasy your armor would be, misplaced,” Ashlynn joked as Keith helped her to her feet.
“I bet.” Keith said, handing Ashlynn her weapon.
Keith looked around at the Spartans. “Three down, four more to go.” He said, referring to re-grouping with the Spartans.
***
Spartan 012, Kane looked around at his surroundings. Cody, Caden and Rachel stood nearby. They had all awakened in a small river, near a large trunk of a massive tree. The area was teeming with strange forms of life.
Kane shrugged at Rachel’s earlier question. “I have no idea where the others are, dead for all we know.” He said.
“We must carry on with the mission.” He said.
Suddenly a fierce roar tore through the surrounding trees. The roar sent chills down Kane’s backside.
“Now, what the **** was that?” he barked, his BR sweeping back and forth where the source of the noise originated. The other three Spartans had tensed up, and all four of them had formed a small formation to protect themselves.
Suddenly a massive form broke trough the brush, jumping over a massive fallen tree. The creature landed onto the earth, snarling at the Spartans. This creature was easily 10 feet tall and 20 feet long. It had six long legs, and two fingers and an opposable thumb on each paw. The creature was distinctly feline like, even though it had no hair and had sleek black skin. Its chiseled body was quite muscled; the muscles seemed to be perfect for protracted runs and leaps. Its head was large, and its upper lip curled backwards for maximum teeth extension.
It had an an armored neck and back, a massive distensible jaw, and twenty-three centimeter long sharp teeth. Like its skin the creature’s teeth were eerily obsidian. It had two menacing yellow feline eyes, ten sensory quills that sprouted from sections of armor it’s plating that encircled the rear of its skull. As the best pawed the ground, the colorful quills flared slightly, making it more menacing.
It also had two leaf shaped black flaps extending from the back of the skull that could also flare up, each of the ten quills was attached to a similar flap on the side of it’s head, three quills on one larger flap, and two more on a smaller flap, on each side of it’s face. An armored tail flicked angrily behind the creature’s backside.
“Should we shoot it?” Caden asked, in an unmistakable Irish accent.
The creature roared as if to answer his question, and then surged forward, running incredibly fast at them.
“Yes!” Cody yelled, taking aim and firing off a round from his rifle. The beast seemed to sense what was about to happen, and dodged to the left, the bullets completely missing it. By then the other Spartans began firing their weapons, some of the bullets tearing into the massive creature. Dark blood splashed down its hide, but it didn’t seem to notice.
The monster reached Kane first. Time seemed to slow around Kane for a moment. He saw every leaf fall through the air, every piece of soil upturned into the air, every smoking shell fling itself into the air before disappearing, but yet he couldn’t get out of the way in time. Next thing he knew the black blur of death had plowed into him. The air left Kane’s lungs, and instantly his shields were instantly depleted, the bar on his HUD representing their energy level completely gone, and flashing red. An annoying beeping sound echoed through Kane’s helmet as he fell back into the ground, muddling his thoughts even more as pain arced through his chest.
Kane knew that if he didn’t act fast this thing could tear through his armor, or worse tear him apart while he was still inside it. All the sounds around him were muffled and his vision was flecked with white spots, but Kane could still hear the dull burp of gunfire and feel the creature shudder above him. Its massive head came into view and it bit into his shoulder. Kane felt pressure, but the creature seemed unable to bite through his tough armor. Keith’s arm shot-forward and he pulled his BR up. Kane pulled the trigger; feeling intense anger that this creature thought that it could kill him, a Spartan.
“Die you overgrown kitty-cat! GET SOME!” he yelled, firing off more shots. The creature gave another ear-splitting roar, and jumped back, the shots clearly giving it intense pain.
Kane struggled to his feet only to see the monster leap off into the brush, roaring as it fled.
“Yeah, run you stupid little ****!” he said. Kane was about to relax when suddenly the beast returned, but this time it wasn’t alone, two more of the hulking predators ran beside it.
“Oh ****.” Kane said; raising his BR up once again and firing everything he had.
Edited by Flex Capacitor, Dec 25 2012 - 11:06 PM.
